Caribbean Princess - A WinksCruises Photo Review - December 12 - 19 2021 - Eastern Caribbean Sailing

[WinksCruises]

Good news, kind readers.

 

The previously imprisoned second installment of this trip report has finally been released from the CC "bad boy room."  Free at last!  Free at last!  You can scroll up above to find it or simply click below:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2821113-caribbean-princess-a-winkscruises-photo-review-december-12-19-2021-eastern-caribbean-sailing/?do=findComment&comment=62374186

 

[MissP22]

On 1/1/2022 at 6:39 PM, WinksCruises said:

Cruising has changed, there is no question.  Some changes appear to be great, like the ability to attend muster by phone or stateroom television. Just don’t try to game the system. Mrs. Winks, for instance, headed up to the pool deck to take in some pre-sailway sun. “Just do the muster for me,” she said, skipping out the door with a towel and her paperback. But when I signed onto watch the muster presentation, the television “knew” I was the only one in the room (because of Medallion technology) and asked if I didn’t want Mrs. Winks to join me for this important, and mandatory, safety information. The Princess Medallion, and Big Brother, are always watching!

 

You should have had her watch the safety video on the phone while you stayed in the cabin. 😁

[RNRcruisers]

Very enjoyable read! Personally I am happy that they haven't "improved" the private island. I just want a warm, beautiful beach with a mojito by my side, no water slides necessary. 😀

[Buckeye10640]

On 12/30/2021 at 11:09 PM, WinksCruises said:

 

O 161.3 kB · 0 downloads

 

Oh mercy! Please spare us the pre-cruise details. No one wants to hear how crappy your hotel bathroom shower was or how lousy your room view was or what you ate at breakfast. Just board the ship already!

 

I know and I hear you. And we hate to put on the brakes after building up such momentum after yesterday’s rip-roaring PCR tale, but so much of our pre-cruise experience involved new Covid protocols that it would do you, our dear reader, a great disservice to just skip over it like it didn’t affect us. ‘Cause quite frankly, I’m still deeply scarred by most of it - and I’m sure you will be too.

 

See, in the end, you have to wonder; has Covid changed the cruise travel experience? Or have we all become a little bit more like your pal Winks; older and more curmudgeony, desperately clinging to your pre-pause remembrances of cruising’s glory days: midnight buffets, a reasonable $10 specialty restaurant surcharge, and the now-extinct little pixie we once knew and loved as the upgrade fairy.

 

Interestingly enough, I was pondering all this while extracting myself from the interior taxi cab door I’d been embedded upon following our hell ride to the Embassy Suites from the airport.

 

The cab driver, who picked us up in his ‘80s Dodge Caravan, all windows down with no AC, made no qualms about it. When he saw us with our big bags outside the Jet Blue baggage claim at FLL, he thought he was in for a big fare – maybe we were off to Las Olas Isles or better yet the Port of Miami or even Port Canaveral - but when he heard we were only headed 6 miles away to the Embassy Suites and he couldn’t pawn us off on any of his Prius driving buddies, he transformed, radically, into Southern Florida’s Mad Max, intent on getting us to our bargain port hotel as soon as humanly possible

 

“You know, there’s a hotel shuttle for this kind of fare!!” he shouted over the blasts of air coming through the wide-opened windows as he launched the cab at Blue Origin speeds out of the airport.

 

“There WAS a hotel shuttle,” I corrected him. “They discontinued it…”

 

“Because of COVID,” he hissed, under his breath, finishing my sentence. “Because of Covid…”

 

A few blocks out of the airport, he hops the median dividing the lanes of traffic on 17^th Street and pulls an illegal U-turn, reaching G-force 7, into the hotel entrance, throwing us into each other (and our bags) as he screeches to a stop - taking out one of the valet guys under the portico at the Suites.

 

“Cruise trash,” he spits freely, ‘cause he’d long ago tossed his face mask out the window back upon learning what cheap fares we were. “Bon Voyage; I hope you catch Covid!”

 

“Need any assistance with your bags, ma’am,” asked the now crippled bellhop, crawling out of the

bushes and extending a hand to help Mrs. Winks up from the curbside where we’d been unceremoniously dumped.

 

It’s only 10:30 am, so of course our room isn’t ready. And because Mrs. Winks pre-paid for our accommodations using some shady, third-party lodging app (for the deal, of course, always for the deal!) the front desk agent’s welcoming smile immediately ices over as she begins pounding at her keyboard trying to lock down any available room.

 

“For this pre-paid rate, I can give you something here on the lobby level, over there, by the water feature,” she waves dismissively.  “It’s really nice,” she smirks. “You do have to scoot behind the waterfall, but most of our families love that, but just be careful as the marble tile there is almost always slippery.”

 

To be fair, more than Mrs. Winks’ killer instinct for a good deal, the blame for this fiasco lands squarely in the lap of YouTube vlogger Cruising with Dum. A couple of weeks ago, that channel reviewed the Embassy Suites, touting all the plusses of booking a property so near the port and all the fellow cruisers we’d be just thrilled to meet. I’m not sure why we fell for that malarkey, but ultimately it was the cheap room price that sealed the deal for Mrs. Winks, as well, it seems, as our fates.

 

“You’ll need to sign this liability waiver,” says the desk clerk, handing us a pen, the multi-page waiver, and a pair of complimentary (used) water-shoes.

 

Minutes later, halfway across the lobby, the bellman points us to our room. “It’s best if you climb in first and I lower the bags down to you.” I look on in disbelief at the cavernous room that is literally part of the lobby fountain. “There’s a free reception at 5pm,” he continues donning a slicker and still holding out hope for a tip. “I’d get there early, as they tend to run out of the Suite Punch real fast.”

 

 

 

A little bit later and a few blocks away, outside Total Wine (everyone’s favorite pre-cruise emporium), I almost collide with a middle-aged mother who has pulled up short at the entrance.

 

“Dag nab it! I forgot to pack the Pedialyte,” she announces loud enough for everyone within ear shot.

She does an about-face and pushes past me, broadsiding my cab-ride bruised ribs, calling over her son. “Jason, do your mom a favor and run back to Publix and pick up some Pedialyte.”

 

She pulls a twenty from her purse. “I’m not going to ruin this cruise being all hung over again.”

 

With nothing more than blank expression, her 10-year-old Jason takes the cash and heads back to the supermarket as she yells after him, “Get enough for the whole family – and be sure you get the powered form. It’s got to be powder form, sweetie, ‘cause security will confiscate the bottles like they did last time - and your father refuses to go down to that room to claim them.”

 

It’s not an uncommon scene down here by the port. Everyone within a 5-block radius of the Embassy Suites is a cruiser, waiting for their hotel room to open up, wandering the endless chain of strip malls, like zombies, stocking up on liquor (and Pedialyte), many pulling their carryon rolie-bags behind them.

 

It’s all a scary reminder of the types of passengers that will be infecting our ship, and I took no solace in Mrs. Wink’s assurance that these must be “Carnival people - and won’t be on OUR itinerary.”

 

I’m beginning to question the wisdom of our return-to-cruising timing when back at the hotel, we make the mistake of attending the complimentary Manager’s Evening Reception.

 

 

It’s a long line of thirsty humanoids waiting to redeem the two drink tickets they got at registration, so they can sit around in overcrowded communal space, unmasked, laughing, shouting, and oversharing. It all seems like a needlessly risky event to be hosting giving the rise of Omicron and Mrs. Winks and I abandon all hope of taking advantage of the reception, handing off our drink tickets to more desperate people on line.  “See you on the ship!" the lucky drink ticket recipient gleefully warns us.

 

Staying at the Embassy Suites and amenities along 17^th Street has been blogged about to death here.  For many, it’s a fun and convenient spot to pre-cruise. But ultimately, there’s that the sticky familiarity of being with cruise passengers before you even get on the ship that’s a little unnerving. (On Jersey Shore they call it "the shirt before the shirt"). It’s the same set of weary eyed people, roaming the streets with their bags, aimlessly killing time until their room at the hotel opens up. Eating at the same places and stocking up on the same contraband at liquor stores and drug stores and Publix. It was a little too TMI for me.

 

Up early the next morning, we could have seen the Caribbean Princess come into port if only the water feature hadn’t drowned out the ringing of our mobile phone alarms.  As it turned out, the Caribbean Princess was docked within eyeshot of the hotel, and we were able to get a glimpse of her peaking over the building tops, including my personal Holy Grail of cruising: the Skywalker’s Lounge.

 

 

Next up: Yes, incredibly enough we don’t turn tail and flee Florida! (Can you believe it?) We actually board the ship.  What was that like?  Hint: I don’t end up getting my test results from drive-in healthcare facility!! Ruh Roh!  Stay tuned.

 

 

So last month I was choosing between Embassy Suites and Hilton Marina. You just made me glad I chose the Hilton....lol. We had a great stay there!

[PMGS247]

17 hours ago, Mrs. Winks said:

I enjoy the more secluded beach on the right side. The bbq lunch didn't look very appetizing. We headed back to the ship, had a great lunch and then I spent the afternoon at the pool, which was delightfully lacking crowds! Like DH said, it was a lovely morning and a better afternoon. But even without the whistles and bells and water slides, I do enjoy Princess Cay. Although I think younger families might find it a bit boring. Just my #2cents. 

 

Just visited Princess Cays on the Sky the week before your sailing.  This was the first time we'd tried the right side and loved it.  We must have met the bare minimum for the lunch area on the right side as it was open for us.  Sky's a little bigger of course but it was running well under capacity as well.  Having said that, going back to the ship for lunch definitely wasn't a bad idea.   You missed nothing with the barbecue lunch.  We put up with it for the additional beach time.

[Mrs. Winks]

3 hours ago, RNRcruisers said:

Very enjoyable read! Personally I am happy that they haven't "improved" the private island. I just want a warm, beautiful beach with a mojito by my side, no water slides necessary. 😀

I totally agree!!🍹

[WinksCruises]

 

There’s nothing like a day at sea to really drive home the point that cruising has changed since the re-opening. The pandemic has transformed many aspects of cruising  - some big and some small. And as you come across one of these changes over the course of your voyage, each one feels like a fresh stab to the heart - and the ones that hurt the most are the ones you never saw coming. 

 

 

Case in point: It was at the Wheelhouse Bar on the Caribbean Princess that we experienced one of our smallest but deepest cuts.

 

 

The Wheelhouse Bar has always been one of our most favorite lounges on the Princess fleet. Dark, quiet, and reserved, it’s a terrific venue to enjoy a pre-dinner cocktail. There’s typically a string quartet or an acoustic guitarist playing - and several couples dancing in front of the band, some amazingly well, as Mrs. Winks is quick to point out, handing me a crumpled coupon for Fred Astaire Studios she’s clipped from the local paper and brought all the way to the seas with her. “We should learn how to dance,” she threatens me regularly. 

 

 

The Wheelhouse was always a place where you could lay back in the embrace of a cushy, leather couch or belly up to the bar and have the barkeep entertain you with corny pub brain-teasers or simply share the latest crew gossip he was privy to.

 

 

Knowing we would face countless Covid related hurdles and restrictions on this cruise, I took great solace in knowing at least there’d be the novelty of the Skywalkers Club and the familiar comfort of the Wheelhouse Bar to keep me going.  That is, until we stopped at the Wheelhouse the first night of the sailing and learned to our deep chagrin that they no longer offer a bowl of dry wasabi snack mix when you sit down to drink. 

 

 

For years, the salty mix of peanuts, rice crackers, and spicy dried wasabi peas had been their signature (and complimentary) bar snack at the Wheelhouse. It was a simple and addictive mix that encouraged you to drink, especially when you’d bite down on one of those hot pale-green wasabi devils… it was like getting a mouthful of raw horseradish! And we loved it!

 

 

When we asked about the fate of the missing mix, the bar staff, of course, was quick to blame the virus. Didn’t want to promote the communal sharing of a snack mix. Can’t let the CDC inspectors see that kind of carnage going on.  But knowing each couple usually takes mix from their own serving glass and doesn’t lean over to swipe from others (at least you'd hope not!), there seemed very little risk of germ commingling here, so I started to wonder if this suspension of snack mix wasn’t just another one of Jan’s schemes to cut costs and let Covid take the heat for the change.

 

 

Whether it was an act of corporate conspiracy or a legitimate virus mitigation solution, once the Wheelhouse Bar stopped offering wasabi mix, we found little reason to frequent it any longer. Not even for the chocolate mint martinis Mrs. Winks discovered while there.  A sad and painful turn of events…

 

 

Seen below: The titular ships wheel at the Wheelhouse Bar, the missing bowl of wasabi mix, and Mrs. Winks’ new favorite cocktail: the chocolate mint martini.

 

 

The crew itself was in high spirits and we found ourselves continuously greeted with smiles and hellos (something that irked me to no end, as you can imagine). Even the captain stopped to say hello when he ran into us exiting the aft elevators one evening. We’d met him (for all of two seconds) on the reception line of the Captain’s Circle event the night before, but he remembered us and we went through the motion of sharing inane pleasantries.

 

 

Our best crew experience on this voyage by far was with the staff of Sabatini’s, the Italian specialty restaurant, where, as suite guests, we were afforded a quiet breakfast room every morning.  They worked together as a truly well-oiled machine, from the maitre d' to the servers - who attentively took care of us on a daily basis. 

 

 

The runners-up for service on this trip were the crew running the Skywalker’s Club when it served as the Elite Lounge every evening. They were the cheery, familiar faces who waited patiently to greet us as we creeped up the walkalator - never failing to check on our drinks or point us in the direction of the most freshly plated appetizers.

 

 

But the shining star of our Elite Lounge experience was the Captain’s Club Loyalty Ambassador, Michelle, who made it a point to stop by every evening and see how we were doing.  The interaction seemed genuine and unforced, and Michelle had a great sense of humor and effervescent personality. She even got some of my jokes, or at least pretended to… a skill after 20-years of marriage Mrs. Winks is still busy working on!

 

 

Below: Happy Crew = Happy Cruise!  And with Michelle, the Princess Loyalty Ambassador

 

 

If the crew members were the big winners on this trip, the real loser was the cuisine (if you could call it that). The meals, overall, were truly subpar, in our opinion, with exception of the breakfasts at Sabatini’s and the specialty restaurant dinners.  The buffet in particular, with its new crew-serve policy, was a big letdown.

 

We weren’t alone in this assessment of the ship’s food quality. One afternoon, being optimistic, we went to take a peek at the dinner menu that was posted outside the main dining room. Maybe they had served all the bad food already, we hoped!  There we ran into another guest doing the same. He told us it was a nightly challenge for him to find something palatable to eat and then pointed out one of the entree choices on that evening’s menu. ”Look, Chef’s Meat Loaf,” he scoffed.  “I can get that slop at my local diner. You don’t come on a cruise ship to be served meat loaf.”  He had a point, and except for maybe one or two nights, we found the dining room selections pretty weak, at least compared to our pre-pause dining experiences.

 

So what ended up happening was Mrs. Winks and I would end up supplementing many of our meals with a visit to the Salty Dog Grille or the Pizza Place up by the pool. Not the healthiest of choices, but the stomach wants what the stomach wants! One late afternoon (read: drunken), we chose to order room service for an early dinner, and both agreed, surprisingly, it was our best meal of the cruise (other than Crown Grille and Sabatini’s, of course).

 

Below: Pizza? again?  (Well, it is the best at sea!) and Room Service on the Aft Balcony

 

It was the Horizon Court Buffet, though, that proved to be the biggest disappointment.  Because of Covid restrictions, each of the food stations is manned by a server – well, occasionally anyway.  Most of the time, you had to wait a minute or two for either the server to stick his head out from the back kitchen and notice you salivating or a server from an adjacent station to take pity on you and come over from their station to fill in.  Plates and servings were small, and up to the complete discretion of the crew member.

 

There was also an attempt by the buffet to allow self-serve, where guests were permitted to grab pre-plated tea-cups (if they were even that big) of pre-portioned selections. A dipping sauce bowl with a couple of potato chips wedged in it, for instance, was a grab-and-go choice. Three carrot sticks and a wilting celery stalk might be another. Serving sizes were minuscule and there was always someone policing your movements to make sure you didn’t violate some new CDC ordinance or another. 

 

 

Oh, and just try to “cut through” the buffet to get to the back pool or rear elevators (as we often had to, residing in the aft as we did). There was a washy-washy cop at each end of the buffet, enforcing a zero-tolerance hand washing policy, and after the first day, my fingertips were pruney and wrinkled - just from having to wash each time I needed to go to the pool to report to Mrs. Winks just how bad the night’s food menu they’d just posted was.

 

Food Choices at Buffet and International Cafe

 

Coming up next (don't worry;  it gets better).  St. Thomas in the rain!

 

 

 

Edited January 5, 2022 by WinksCruises
Formatting

[Waynetor]

I recall from the back pool you can avoid the buffet and the need to wash just to pass through by taking the steps next to the pool and go down a deck and then head along the hallway.

[Mrs. Winks]

24 minutes ago, Waynetor said:

I recall from the back pool you can avoid the buffet and the need to wash just to pass through by taking the steps next to the pool and go down a deck and then head along the hallway.

Yes, we used that route a few times but it became a bit arduous after a while. Our cabin was on deck 9 aft facing and we had to walk the hallway to take the stairs or the elevators up to 14 (?) then, walk the hallway back to the aft pool to take the hallway to avoid the buffet. Anyway, you get the idea. 😁

[MissP22]

10 hours ago, WinksCruises said:

Because of Covid restrictions, each of the food stations is manned by a server – well, occasionally anyway.  Most of the time, you had to wait a minute or two for either the server to stick his head out from the back kitchen and notice you salivating or a server from an adjacent station to take pity on you and come over from their station to fill in.  Plates and servings were small, and up to the complete discretion of the crew member.

 

There was also an attempt by the buffet to allow self-serve, where guests were permitted to grab pre-plated tea-cups (if they were even that big) of pre-portioned selections. A dipping sauce bowl with a couple of potato chips wedged in it, for instance, was a grab-and-go choice. Three carrot sticks and a wilting celery stalk might be another. Serving sizes were minuscule and there was always someone policing your movements to make sure you didn’t violate some new CDC ordinance or another. 

I'm nor sure that this style of serving & small selections has been caused but the Covid virus protocols. They were doing likewise a few years ago which I never did like. Some people on this board are thrilled with this type of self service but as you found out it's tedious at best and although it might halt the spread of the virus it's one of the main reasons we never returned to the Caribbean Princess.

 

[cr8tiv1]

@WinksCruisesand @Mrs. Winks thank you so very much for your delightful presentation.  It is late in to my evening and this is just what I need to read before going to bed.  The world is full of downers.  Your cruise reports are so refreshing.  Looking forward to tomorrow's posts.  First time fan here.  

 

Don't get me wrong.  I enjoy the other "lives" that are also happening.  Yours is just extra special.

[jimbri]

Enjoying your review and photos.  

[WinksCruises]

5 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

just what I need to read before going to bed

So glad you found us and are enjoying the installments.

And yes, a lot of our readers report that our posts help put them to sleep!

 

[Grammyluvs]

Waiting for updates. 

[Mrs. Winks]

1 hour ago, Grammyluvs said:

Waiting for updates. 

Me too! I never know what to expect from my DH  and enjoy reading his reviews just like everyone else when they come out. Let's go @WinksCruises!  Where is the next installment? Can't wait to see what we're up to next. 🤣

[WinksCruises]

 

Rummaging through all the photos we took on this trip, I’m reminded that our best ones usually end up on our Instagram accounts. Unable to contain ourselves when we snap them, we upload photos and short video clips, usually to our Instagram Stories, where they disappear after 24-hours - no incriminating evidence, see? But that means, when it’s time to compile these fond trip reviews, a lot of the good material in our content well has already been used up. 

 

 

This is our roundabout way of plugging our Insta accounts, where you’ll get the best material, as it happens, whenever we cruise. So be sure to search for WinksCruises and MrsWinksCruises on Instagram ‘cause, quit honestly, Cruise Critic is only going to put up with our ramblings for so long and I know you don’t want to miss out on our hijinks.

 

 

Okay, so after the sunny day and mediocre meals that marked our day at sea, the Caribbean Princess pulled into the Charlotte Amalie harbor in gorgeous St. Thomas, USVI.  We were the first ship to arrive that morning, so secured the first berth.

 

 

Tip: It’s much better when your ship docks in Havensight, the closest dock to downtown proper - as opposed to the Crown Bay, which is “quite a stretch (over 2 miles) to Charlotte Amelie and not particularly pleasant until you get close to town,” indicates one tourist brochure we saw, published by the local cab company, no doubt.  Unfortunately, passengers really don’t have any say in which port their St. Thomas cruise stops at, but if you’re ever faced with two itineraries, pick the one that docks at Havensight Port.

 

 

So after our usual breakfast at Sabatini’s, where Mrs. Winks downed a mimosa or two (this is called foreshadowing), we got ready to depart the ship. We’ve been to St. Thomas a number of times over our cruising history and even spent a week there on a land vacation (not recommended unless you are exceedingly rich!) and while we both enjoy the island, there was no need this morning to rush off as we had no shore excursion planned, or anything planned for that matter.

 

 

We disembarked from the ship and quickly discovered nothing at the pier mall had changed. It was the same collection of souvenir shops, a casino, and a couple of bar grilles, one of which the crew all swarmed to for the free wifi and alleged best burger in the Caribbean.  Instead, we decided to take a morning hike into town, safe in the knowledge that “the stretch” from Havensight is both manageable and sidewalked.

 

 

Everything was going just fine until 5-minutes into our trek, blue skies gave way to sinister black clouds and in seconds the heavens opened up in true tropical storm fashion. We ran for the cover of some oversized umbrellas at a public space by the marina, hoping the sudden gusts of wind wouldn’t pull the large masts out of their stands.

 

 

Can you say monsoon? It was a torrential and surprisingly cold rain, that didn’t pass by like most squalls do.  This one seemed to stall over the island, where it was happy to unload with all the fervor of a 4-year-old not getting their way. We looked out over the port, in view of the Caribbean Princess and a soggy 18-foot tall Christmas tree. But we couldn’t even sit down, as the seat cushions were getting soaked from the rain as it blew in from the sides, sometimes horizontally.

 

It never rains in port St. Thomas, but girl, don't they warn ya? It pours. Man it pours.

 

Well, as we all know from bitter experience, when paradise gives you a stint of liquid sunshine, the best course of action is to ride the storm out at the nearest watering hole.  Today, that watering hole was an establishment called the Navy Beach. It wasn’t even opened yet, but some of the workers, setting up the restaurant for lunch, took pity on us sheltering under the increasingly flimsy and soaked umbrella and waved us into their much sturdier pavilion.

 

 

Mrs. Winks was already buzzed from her morning mimosas, and I found myself  soon catching up with her downing a house specialty cocktail that was sort of a Dark & Stormy rum concoction, but much lighter, made with mint and cucumbers. Suddenly, the rain didn’t seem so depressing, and we wasted away the rest of the morning having fun in our makeshift storm shelter and chatting the bar staff and a few other groups that ended up coming in from the deluge.

 

 

At one point a bicycle-powered delivery cart showed up to stock the bar with bottled beer.  Now in full bravado mode, Mrs. Winks tossed the hapless delivery boy from his bike saddle and commandeered the vehicle to enjoy a few wobbly laps around the patio. It amused a couple of the patrons, but needless to say, that cycle-jacking represented a “last call” for us and we were cut off from the bar, proudly setting a new record for us –  being before noon!

 

 

Mrs. Winks on her alcohol-fueled joy ride

 

 

Everything was a little fuzzy after that.  The rain had let up, fortunately, and while I’m not sure how we got back to the ship, I do know we showed up dry and managed to pass through security with no further incidents.

 

Back in our stateroom, we ordered room service mainly because I didn’t want Mrs. Winks visiting the buffet in her current state - as she might be tempted to let everyone know what she really thought of the cuisine or attempt to commandeer the flower cart for another impromptu joy ride.

 

After a decent lunch of Club Sandwiches and French Fries on our aft balcony - in full view of lookie-loos on the Norwegian Encore which we faced ship-butt to ship-butt - we both passed out on the bed and recharged with a lovely afternoon nap.

 

We awoke sometime around 3 o’clock. Normally, that would be a time to watch the ship prep for departure or get in some spirited pier-runner action, but for this port of call, the Caribbean Princess was scheduled to be in port until an unusually late 10 pm.

 

Now, getting our second wind, the day was suddenly young-ish again.  So we decided to head off the ship, and this time head up to Paradise Point to catch the sunset, something we had never done in St. Thomas before.

 

Fortunately, the cable car station for the ride up to the scenic overlook was located right across the street from where the ship was docked. And even more fortunately, because of Covid restrictions, only passengers in the same party could share a car to the top. So Mrs. Winks and I got our own private gondola for the always gut-wrenching SkyRide up the hillside.

 

Once safely to the top, we were met by a long line of people waiting for available cars going back down the mountain.  These were passengers from other cruise ships – those that were getting ready to leave port. Because of the Covid restrictions, they couldn’t just jam 6 or 8 people into each returning gondola.  So the process was much slower than anytime we have ever seen it, and we wondered if everyone got back down in time, especially those who might need to return to the Crown Bay Port all the way across town at the height of the city’s rush hour.

 

But since we weren’t leaving ‘til 10 pm, we didn’t need to worry about that.  And against our better judgement, we ordered a pair of creamy Bushwhackers, the signature drink of Paradise Point, and enjoyed our view overlooking Charlotte Amalie as the sun started to approach the horizon.

 

The cable car ride up to Paradise Point - always a near-death experience!

 

 

We spent a couple of hours at Paradise Point, enjoying a few more Bushwhackers but this time having the good sense to temper our drinking with some menu items which, admittedly, actually made the food on the Caribbean Princess look good!

 

It was a rare treat to be up at the Point during the evening hours, and it made for even a scarier cable car descent in the darkness.  But it was an enjoyable day after all, despite its rainy start, and departing St. Thomas at night was a sight all in itself.

 

Coming up next:  St. Kittus Interuptus!

 

The Caribbean Princess at night in Charlotte Amalie

 

Edited January 8, 2022 by WinksCruises
Formatting issues

[Grammyluvs]

Love,love your sense of  . Can’t wait to hear about St. Kitts.

[Grammyluvs]

Just now, Grammyluvs said:

Love,love your sense of  . Can’t wait to hear about St. Kitts.

Love your sense of humor. 

[4hunters]

1 hour ago, Grammyluvs said:

Love your sense of humor. 

Agreed.  Fantastic writing style!

[WinksCruises]

 

As much as we enjoyed our long day in St. Thomas, everyone was excited to move on to a more exotic non-US island like St. Kitts.

 

 

Originally, there was some question as to whether we would port in St. Kitts at all.  In fact, the posted itinerary on the Princess website kept swapping it out for Grand Turk, ping-ponging as each country’s Covid restrictions either loosened or tightened, seemingly on a daily basis. 

 

 

In addition, we were also originally informed we couldn’t get off the ship in St. Kitts - unless we were booked on an official Princess excursion and traveling safely within a self-infecting cruise passenger bubble.

 

 

You can just imagine that, donning our tinfoil hats, Mrs. Winks and I speculated how this was just another one of Jan’s conspiratorial money-grabs, shutting out the independent shore excursion companies and blaming it all on Covid! 

 

But it turns out our theory totally fell apart the day we set sail from Fort Lauderdale. That was the same day that St. Kitts passenger restrictions were rescinded and we were told, by an informational paper left in our state room, that we would be able to freely disembark in St. Kitts as long as we were vaccinated and were free to explore on our own - or book excursions with independent vendors. Hurrah!

 

 

That said, we soon found out firsthand that all these rules and stipulations can flip on a whim. So let this serve as a word of caution to any of you planning an upcoming cruise. Expect the unexpected… like on steroids!

 

 

So back to our story.  It was a gorgeous Caribbean morning as we sailed smoothly towards the port city of Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis. Like a ghost ship, we silently slipped by lush, green, becalmed, volcanic hills, whose summits were enshrouded in puffy white clouds - until suddenly they weren’t. It was a surreal and serene scene, especially when a mega-sailing ship scuttled up by our side and we cruised towards our destination as a couple of awkward kids hooking up on a mismatched Tinder date.

 

 

Mrs. Winks and I scurried to the top deck to witness the docking. The ship was arriving at port later in the morning than usual - owing to the previous night’s 10 pm departure from St. Thomas - so there were already a couple of cruise ships in port ahead of us.  We counted three major liners spaced out between the two piers, and it was simple to eyeball the vacant fourth slot that was obviously reserved for us.

 

 

But then the Caribbean Princess’s forward progress slowed to a complete standstill.  All was eerily quiet. “Probably waiting for the local pilot boat to get here,” I muttered under my breath, as if I knew what I was talking about. 

 

 

The motorized mega-sailing yacht that had been accompanying us was now puttering past us and in no time left us in her tiny wake.  “They’re going to get into port ahead of us,” whined Mrs. Winks, wondering if this was a quality-of-life issue she should later raise with Michelle, our loyalty host.

 

 

After what seemed like 15-minutes, we felt the ship move again.  She was spinning around now, literally on a dime. “They’re going to back her in,” I spoke presumptuously. “This should be fun. Let’s go back to our aft cabin. We’ll have the best seat in the house.”

 

 

 

After our mandatory hand washing and a sprint through the buffet, we came out at the rear pool where we noticed that St. Kitts was actually getting smaller and smaller in the distance.  “That’s funny, we appear to be headed back out to sea,” said Captain Winks Obvious.

 

 

It was then that the real Captain came on over the loud speakers and addressed the ship. He claimed that it was too windy to safely tender at St. Kitts, so that with great regret and an abundance of caution, he was forced to cancel this port of call.

 

 

Of course, there was something very fish with his cover story.  According to all the itineraries and print outs we saw, we had never been scheduled to tender at St. Kitts. And the cruise director had made no announcements about tender tickets. There was no mention of tender times in the day’s Princess Patter. And the shore excursion we had booked also made no mention of a tender group meeting location on the ticket – which it would have had this been a tendered port. And to top it off, the seas were way calmer than they had been at Princess Cay, where has successfully tendered.

 

 

At the prospect of gaining an additional sea day and not having to cram into an excursion bus with Covid carrying strangers to waste an hour traveling for some inane beach day, I was too elated to seriously think about the discrepancy in the Captain’s story.  I was too busy celebrating the good news! Those of you who followed our Instagram accounts were subjected to a video clip of ole Winks doing a spirited jig in sheer exhilaration. My apologies for that. But it was with ecstatic joy I greeted the news of our port cancellation.  For Mrs. Winks, not so much.

 

 

After some after thought, we now believe the Caribbean Princess was turned away from St. Kitts.  We knew from the beginning that we were traveling on a CDC designated “Yellow” graded ship.  That means, there were a small number of Covid cases reported on board, most likely involving crew members who had (hopefully) been quarantined.

 

 

But the fact still stands that we were a ship with Covid cases on it, and if the Captain had to report those numbers to the officials in St. Kitts, it’s quite possible we’d surpassed their tolerance threshold for what they deemed acceptable.  And we were told to go hiking.

 

 

The Captain’s “we were supposed to tender” and “the seas are too choppy” explanation simply held no water.  Especially when we recall seeing the empty berth at the port that was clearly slated for our use.  In the days that followed, we started hearing about other cruise ships being denied port access because of their Covid numbers, and we are pretty sure, in retrospect, this is what happened to us at St. Kitts.

 

 

In the meantime, we were now faced with three, count ‘em, three days at sea, and a very slow sailing back to Fort Lauderdale. Some notes on how all that went (Spoiler alert: Strange but true; neither of us ends up pushing the other into the drink!) are coming up in our next installment. 

 

Thank you for your continued readership.... stay tuned.

 

 

Edited January 11, 2022 by WinksCruises
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[AF-1]

Great review, with great pics and funny stories.  I needed some cheering up and you've provided that

[mellon1]

Great review!  We were supposed to be on 1/16 for 42 days.  Nice we can tag along with you on the review you are doing.   Who is the Maitre D?  Thanks and Cheers!

[WinksCruises]

19 hours ago, mellon1 said:

 Who is the Maitre D?

I believe it was Oscar Perego. At least that was the dining room "official" who had a bottle of wine sent to our stateroom after we showed up to Club Class dining one evening and there was no table available. Apparently that is unheard of and was considered a major faux pas. We were happy to wait, but the dining room staff began flipping out! After a brief hullabaloo and whirlwind of waitstaff flying about, apologies abounded, and a bottle of wine was proffered. And we ended up seated in a different section from that point on, which was fine with us. 

 

This reminds me, we still need to write about the sham Club Class dining is...  Thanks!

Edited January 12, 2022 by WinksCruises

[mellon1]

2 minutes ago, WinksCruises said:

I believe it was Oscar Perego. At least that was the dining room "official" who had a bottle of wine sent to our stateroom after we showed up to Club Class dining one evening and there was no table available. Apparently that is unheard of was considered a major staff faux pas. We were happy to wait, but the dining room entrance personnel began flipping out! After a brief hullabaloo and whirlwind of waitstaff flittering about, apologies abounded and a bottle of wine was proffered. And we ended up seated in a different section, which was fine with us. 

 

This reminds me, we still need to write about the sham Club Class dining is...  Thanks!

Thanks!  We did Club Class one time and we preferred traditional dining room.  We liked having the same waiter/assistant waiter and getting to know them.  They also knew us and what we liked and had it ready!  Do you have any pictures of your suite and the balcony?  We are looking for a larger balcony covered aft.  Mini suite or suite.  Cheers!

[JF - retired RRT]

35 minutes ago, WinksCruises said:

I believe it was Oscar Perego.

Love 😍 Oscar! He's our favorite MD.