Thinking of Trying Caribbean Princess

[BarbinMich]

On 1/23/2019 at 8:05 AM, skynight said:

 

That is the current gap in the schedule. It's been discussed quite a bit here on CC. We also heard from the staff while on board in January 2018 about the proposed April 2019 dry dock to fix the propulsion issue. It has also been reported that the time had to longer than originally planned. It must be a very major job.. . .

It's about time they fixed this--the ship started (?) having propulsion problems when we were on her when we were on a TA in fall 2016.  We weren't able to tender at Lerwick (Shetland Islands) because of high wind so they decided to drop anchor off the west shore of the islands where it was calmer and sent frogmen down to try to do whatever needed to be done.  Obviously, they didn't fix the problem permanently.

[floridalover5623]

On 1/23/2019 at 12:46 PM, richsea said:

Hi floridalover5623. I am curious as to why you don’t like Caribbean Princess. I’ve seen that you have made many comments dissuading people from cruising her. Did you have a bad experience? Is it her layout?

Most everyone has their most & least favorite ship, but it seems there is something about her that rankles you.

It's mostly mainly the food change (in the buffet). I didn't appreciate anything about it. The way it was prepared and the way it was served.

Of course there was always the AC system that wasn't working properly for many cabins. This never the case with Royal class ships since each cabin has a separate AC unit for each cabin in addition to the AC ducts.  

If sleeping in a hot in your cabin isn't  a problem for you, you'll be fine. (ours was sweltering) 

This week we're on the Regal, with the typical Princess buffet and many selections offered on a Royal class ship & it stands out over the CB in many ways. 

[AF-1]

Floridalover5623,  are you saying that the cabins on Caribbean have no control setting like on and off switch for air conditioning?; Also, are you saying that most cabins on Caribbean Princess don't have good air or just bad air flow? Thanks

[richsea]

1 hour ago, floridalover5623 said:

It's mostly mainly the food change (in the buffet). I didn't appreciate anything about it. The way it was prepared and the way it was served.

Of course there was always the AC system that wasn't working properly for many cabins. This never the case with Royal class ships since each cabin has a separate AC unit for each cabin in addition to the AC ducts.  

If sleeping in a hot in your cabin isn't  a problem for you, you'll be fine. (ours was sweltering) 

This week we're on the Regal, with the typical Princess buffet and many selections offered on a Royal class ship & it stands out over the CB in many ways. 

Thanks for your reply. We all have to choose ships & cruiselines according to what’s important to us. We love Royal (even Princess Live), & put up with her tiny balconies. Her buffet is head and shoulders above those on other Princess ships we’ve sailed (Star, Crown, Emerald), but not as good as Celebrity S class ships, so we’ll have to see about CP buffet when we board today. Celebrity tried serving food in individual containers on Summit, & it went over like a lead balloon. We spent 10 nights on Emerald with faulty AC; it wasn’t fun. AC problems can happen on any ship. Hope not these 2 weeks because we love a cold room.

We are lucky that we have the health & financial means to still enjoy these great vacations. Happy cruising.

[floridalover5623]

On 1/26/2019 at 11:13 AM, AF-1 said:

Floridalover5623,  are you saying that the cabins on Caribbean have no control setting like on and off switch for air conditioning?; Also, are you saying that most cabins on Caribbean Princess don't have good air or just bad air flow? Thanks

They have individual thermostats like all princes ships BUT for some groups of cabins the AC isn't cool enough to keep the cabin comfortable. I'm not saying cold but just comfortable. The system for some groups of cabins cannot handle the hot weather & there's nothing they can do to fix the situation no matter how many times they visit your cabin to "make adjustments". The adjustments they tried to make didn't have any effect on air flow at all, even when I removed the air deflector trying to get more air. The temperature of the air being delivered just wasn't cold enough.

I can't speak for all the cabins, but for our cabin & others around us on our cruise it was terrible. 

We're currently on the Regal & their system is fine in comparison. 

The thermostat actually works. 

[FritzG]

When we were on the fall 2017 British Isles/TA for 28 days we had consistent plumbing problems such as taking up to 45 minutes for the toilet to flush, not flushing at all, and water in the shower going from cold to hot with no warning.  Numerous visits to PS were useless. One crewman came in, turned the shower on for 20 seconds and told us it was fine.  It took 3x for them to fix it. The toilets in our section of Baja aft were a problem for the entire cruise.  Many times long after we went to bed we were awakened by the toilet finally flushing or else the loud vacuum noise of the water running out entirely .

For the British Isles portion the weather was chilly so the a.c. wasn't an issue. On the TA portion our cabin was consistently hot--78 degrees.  We were told that 1. that was normal, 2. it can't be fixed, 3. if we turn yours down someone else will be too warm.  

 

This was our 22nd Princess cruise, and we've been on many of their ships.  We are big Princess fans, but we will avoid the Caribbean P.   We've taken 4 cruises since that one, and we've had a great time on all of them.  

[BarbinMich]

We haven't been able to cruise for the last two years or so, but several of our last cruises were on the Caribbean P (Apr, Sep '16 and Jan '17).  We never had a problem with our cabin which was usually an outside on Plaza, except on the Jan '17 cruise when we had a balcony.  No problems with the latter, either.  Perhaps things have deteriorated in the last two years, although the ship was "refurbished" in 2017.  Incidentally, the CB (2004) was an "enhanced" grand class ship (they added an extra deck--Riviera) so maybe that's the problem (i.e. perhaps they didn't sufficiently upgrade all the mechanicals when they added that extra deck).  You don't hear the same complaints about the Grand, Golden, Star -- the older grand class ships.  The CB was followed by the Crown class ships:  Crown (2006), Emerald (2007) and Ruby (2008)--all seems to be good re those ships.

[Ep010835]

The CB is a real gem. Just do it! 

 

Youll be so happy you did. 😃😃

Edited January 29, 2019 by Ep010835

[janetz]

I agree. 

Go for it. CB is a great ship, with a great crew 😊

[AF-1]

Thanks everyone for their feedback.  We leave in two weeks for CB cruise to western caribbean

[JEH]

Just  off the CB after taking  its 14 day Circle  Caribbean  Cruise ,  we found the updates made to be outstanding . The crew was excellent  and always smiling  happy that we were their  passengers. Already booked the 2020 CB CIRCLE  CRUISE for next February   . Book your CB cruise !

[floridalover5623]

Yesterday I asked one of the sous chefs on the Regal if they had any intention of changing their buffet food similar to that of the CB. It was a definite NO. He also said that he's heard many complains about the CB setup & buffet food.

They're continuing to do their own thing on the Regal since so many people are satisfied with it the way it is. 

[Ep010835]

4 minutes ago, floridalover5623 said:

Yesterday I asked one of the sous chefs on the Regal if they had any intention of changing their buffet food similar to that of the CB. It was a definite NO. He also said that he's heard many complains about the CB setup & buffet food.

They're continuing to do their own thing on the Regal since so many people are satisfied with it the way it is. 

 

Good, no,  great decision. The WFM is awful.  my $.02 worth. 

[richsea]

On 1/26/2019 at 6:46 AM, floridalover5623 said:

It's mostly mainly the food change (in the buffet). I didn't appreciate anything about it. The way it was prepared and the way it was served.

Of course there was always the AC system that wasn't working properly for many cabins. This never the case with Royal class ships since each cabin has a separate AC unit for each cabin in addition to the AC ducts.  

If sleeping in a hot in your cabin isn't  a problem for you, you'll be fine. (ours was sweltering) 

This week we're on the Regal, with the typical Princess buffet and many selections offered on a Royal class ship & it stands out over the CB in many ways. 

Well, we are just back from 14 nights on Caribbean Princess and I have to say that I pretty much agree with all of your points. While we were never a fan of the Grand class ship’s Horizon Court (Royal Princess’ was a BIG improvement), this ship’s buffet is the worst by far. What are they thinking serving pre made hot sandwiches in paper baskets? The bottom piece of bread gets petrified & inedible. In general, the food in the MDR also leaves a lot to be desired. The beef dishes were pretty much all tough, & and how many times & ways can they serve Red Snapper? 

The coldest our room got was 72, & that was by morning after cooling down from the sun, even though we kept the drapes closed all of the time to minimize the sun’s effect. Maintenance checked it, cleaned it, & said that was the best it could get.

It’s also not fun arriving to the theater 45-60 prior in order to get seats for a 30 minute show.

It may sound like we did not enjoy our cruise, but despite those things, we really did. We met so many nice people fleeing the cold of the north. The service was excellent it both the restaurants and bars, the activities staff were super (CD Micca did remind me of Bill Murra’s lounge lizard though), and the entertainers were very good.

We will most likely pass on Caribbean Princess in the future.

[floridalover5623]

1 hour ago, richsea said:

It may sound like we did not enjoy our cruise, but despite those things, we really did. We met so many nice people fleeing the cold of the north. The service was excellent it both the restaurants and bars, the activities staff were super (CD Micca did remind me of Bill Murra’s lounge lizard though), and the entertainers were very good.

We will most likely pass on Caribbean Princess in the future.

We also enjoyed it BUT the Regal was so many time better. We had AC that worked properly, DR & buffet food that you couldn't find a thing wrong with and the best thing there were no little cardboard containers they forced people to take if you wanted a serving. 😄 Unfortunately you would have to get to the shows early to get a seat just as on the CB.

Talking to one of the sous chefs one evening, he also heard from many people about what they did on the CB & said they have no intention of doing it on other ships (at this time), especially the Royal class ships.