Some observations from the Caribbean Princess

[Australia08]

Yesterday in Bar Harbor was beautiful.  We usually like a bit later start in the morning, so I booked an 11:30 tour.  That meant we had time to have a leisurely breakfast in the dining room prior to our 9:45 appointment for our immigration clearance.  We put our tour ticket stickers on, joined the long line heading to Club Fusion and within a minute, an excursion staffer pulled us from the line, walked us to the immigration officer and we were cleared.  Then we still had an hour before we needed to meet our tour group to head to a tender.  It was nice for us since that gave us additional time to have a coffee and return our passports to our room.  We heard later that immigration for non-US citizens in the Princess Theater took forever.  The captain even apologized about it later in the day.  Princess was using their usual tenders, but also supplemented with Bar Harbor excursion boats (very comfortable). No real line when we returned late afternoon.  I heard there were tender problems at Bar Harbor on the cruise prior to ours so that may be why we got the extra excursion boats for tendering.  

 

Bar Harbor is beautiful, but Bar Harbor on a perfect weather summer day is stunning! We took a small van tour of Acadia which included the loop road that circles the park as well as going up to the top of Cadillac Mountain.  Our driver was very informative and entertaining.  He made lots of stops for us to get photos and walk to scenic points. We had about 20 minutes at the top of Cadillac Mountain to walk and enjoy the view.  I highly recommend this tour.  The van actually seated about 20, but there were only 10 on our tour.  Very comfortable!

 

 

Here are a few views from our tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 12, 2023 by Australia08

[Australia08]

Today in Boston, another beautiful New England summer day.  We have visited Boston many times over the years so did not take a tour.  But it was such a lovely day to walk the the revitalized wharf area and sample some craft beers.  I clocked 14,000 steps so far today so I guess I deserved my two beers - one at Trillium Brewing and one at Harpoon.

 

 

Here are a few other photos from our walk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cr8tiv1]

@Australia08  Funny, I have the same maple tree at the beaver pond.  There must be a sign that says:  "Guides - stop here."  

[jayred1]

@Australia08 How can you go to Trillium and only have one???  Great beer there!  Much better than anything on the ship.

[Australia08]

27 minutes ago, jayred1 said:

@Australia08 How can you go to Trillium and only have one???  Great beer there!  Much better than anything on the ship.

Trillium was my favorite. Nice food there also!

[Darkingnj]

8 hours ago, voljeep said:

I hope she is onboard when we take our Halloween cruise on CB  such a sweetheart and took good care of my wife when she wasn't feeling well in Crooners one night

We're also on CB for the Halloween voyage.

[wheezedr]

2 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Actually I am a wine drinker but honest enough to admit it would taste the same in whatever type of cup or glass was used.  Me thinks it’s all in your minds if it tastes different

So incorrect.  Reidel, the glassware maker, actually offers a class at wineries in which you taste different varietals from a variety of different shaped stemware.  The different shapes impact the bouquet and then also where the wine hits on your palate.  These truly do change how the flavor is perceived.  Think of a brandy snifter versus a champagne flute and then tell me it doesn’t matter.  Every aspect of the wine service, glass thickness, stemware shape, proper serving temperature will impact taste.  
I have drunk wine from many vessels but if offered I will take a fine, properly shaped and sized glass over paper or plastic every time.

[nursinadream]

@Australia08Your photos at Bar Harbor are beautiful.  We have enjoyed a visit there.  

Deb

[Australia08]

2 hours ago, nursinadream said:

@Australia08Your photos at Bar Harbor are beautiful.  We have enjoyed a visit there.  

Deb

Thanks!  We were so blessed with wonderful weather!

[Colorado Coasty]

7 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Actually I am a wine drinker but honest enough to admit it would taste the same in whatever type of cup or glass was used.  Me thinks it’s all in your minds if it tastes different

Me thinks that you are not a serious wine drinker.😁

[Cruise till you drop]

6 hours ago, Colorado Coasty said:

Me thinks that you are not a serious wine drinker.😁

Me thinks you are 100% wrong but not sure why you care so much

[rosevew]

How did you get from ship into Boston? Is there a shuttle? We are there in October.

[Australia08]

3 hours ago, rosevew said:

How did you get from ship into Boston? Is there a shuttle? We are there in October.

 

I did not hear of a shuttle.  We had just planned to walk around the waterfront area so it as a relatively short walk to reach the nice waterfront parks.  Since we have visited all the historic sites in and around Boston, we didn’t want to go in to downtown Boston.  There was a HOHO bus at the dock so I’m sure that’s a way to get downtown.  Many people were arranging for UBERs too.

[Australia08]

Here is a photo of the Juice Bar menu on the Caribbean Princess.  Its only location is the Calypso Bar on Deck 15.  When I went at 10:30 this morning, they were already out of my preferred drink so I had to get another.  I’m not sure that one juicer in one area of the ship is really a good idea.  It seems like it should be made available at more locations.

 

 

 

[Australia08]

 One complaint I have regards the ship running out of specific drink items.  One wine we ordered (minor issue since there were reasonable substitutes). Of more concern was the ship running out of sparkling water.  We have this every night at dinner instead of still water.  We also often order it when having a drink at the bar in order to slow down our alcohol consumption. Two nights ago, our dining room waiter apologized that the ship had run out of Pelligrino (or any other sparkling water). Sure enough, later at the bar we asked and they confirmed that the ship had none.  We realized that Bar Harbor was a small port and resupplying there would be a problem.  But we assumed they would be able to stock more in Boston.  No, we were told, they would not restock until NYC (when we leave the ship).  I realize that Boston might not be their regular restocking point, but surely, whoever was responsible for miscalculating the supply needed could have picked up the extra cost for this item.  We would have been fine with any sparkling water brand.  This is just an annoyance, but it is a negative to us.  It’s ironic since we had just received a comment card from Princess, soliciting comments about the cruise so far and it as entitled “Attention to Detail.”  We chuckled and thought that someone who ordered sparkling water had definitely not been trained in attention to detail since a third of the cruise days would be without this beverage we drink daily.

 

I think I mentioned this before, but we had missed having a bar snack when having a cocktail.  Princess used to have these and I’m sure that it disappeared due to Covid, but other cruise lines have developed ways to provide a small bowl of nuts or crunchy snacks for couples to share or use individually.  While we have access to the P/E cocktail snacks from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm, sometimes we want to have a drink at one of the regular bars.  When walking in Boston yesterday, I saw a Trader Joe’s and we popped in to buy some cashews so we have our own bar snack. I put some of the nuts in a snack size baggie and when we got to Vines last night, I divided them discretely onto two small cocktail napkins and our problem was solved.  Shouldn’t have to do this, but it worked.

 

Again, a problem we encountered that may impact very few cruisers is the lack of a variety of live dance music. Princess used to excel at this.  Club Fusion, Wheel House Bar, and Explorers all have nice hardwood dance floors.  While there was one evening that the Party Band was in Explorers, that venue had been used most evenings for game shows.  Wheel House has had a nice jazz ensemble, but no dance music.  They have pre-recorded music in Club Fusion some nights, but that is truly uninspiring.  On our last pre-Covid cruise on Princess to the South Pacific, they had a stellar duo in Wheel House Bar every evening (on the Emerald).  They played a variety of music - swing, rumba, salsa, waltz, cha-cha …. The dance floor was packed every evening.  They also had a party band that played almost nightly in Explorers.  We miss that type of entertainment so much.  We are sad that Princess has left that model.  We were excited because the Party Band was going to play for the Piazza Party.  The Piazza is not a good place to dance because it is small and does not have a wood floor, but we were ready.  We danced two or three numbers, them the cruise director took over and it became a game show for the next half hour.  After that the band only had time for one last dance.  We were disappointed.  Now to be fair, we haven’t found another cruise line that provides a lot of dancing opportunities.  Viking only has one dance floor and they tend to just have pop music for dancing, but I guess that is the best we can expect.  The era of cruise dancing seems to have reached an end.  Princess drew us back because they had it, but this is just another reason that this is probably our last Princess cruise since they seem to also have directed their interest to all huge ships (the newest one having all the Royal Caribbean toys that we know we don’t want). We will be looking for cruises of 1000 passengers or less with traditional promenades. I know that Princess has a market that wants what they are selling now.  It just isn’t for us any longer.

[dogsdogs]

I am so sorry to hear this about the dance music.  We are going to be on that ship this month and we so look forward to the music.  We live in a small town that is a live music desert.  We have been on several different ships this year and we noticed that there seemed to be much better attendance at the trivia games, etc., than there was to the dance music.  Too bad!

[Colorado Coasty]

5 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Me thinks you are 100% wrong but not sure why you care so much

Well gee, maybe for the same reason you cared enough to comment that how a glass can affect the taste of wine was all in one's head.

[startedwithamouse]

1 hour ago, Australia08 said:

 One complaint I have regards the ship running out of specific drink items.  One wine we ordered (minor issue since there were reasonable substitutes). Of more concern was the ship running out of sparkling water.  We have this every night at dinner instead of still water.  We also often order it when having a drink at the bar in order to slow down our alcohol consumption. Two nights ago, our dining room waiter apologized that the ship had run out of Pelligrino (or any other sparkling water). Sure enough, later at the bar we asked and they confirmed that the ship had none.  We realized that Bar Harbor was a small port and resupplying there would be a problem.  But we assumed they would be able to stock more in Boston.  No, we were told, they would not restock until NYC (when we leave the ship).  I realize that Boston might not be their regular restocking point, but surely, whoever was responsible for miscalculating the supply needed could have picked up the extra cost for this item.  We would have been fine with any sparkling water brand.  This is just an annoyance, but it is a negative to us.  It’s ironic since we had just received a comment card from Princess, soliciting comments about the cruise so far and it as entitled “Attention to Detail.”  We chuckled and thought that someone who ordered sparkling water had definitely not been trained in attention to detail since a third of the cruise days would be without this beverage we drink daily.

 

I think I mentioned this before, but we had missed having a bar snack when having a cocktail.  Princess used to have these and I’m sure that it disappeared due to Covid, but other cruise lines have developed ways to provide a small bowl of nuts or crunchy snacks for couples to share or use individually.  While we have access to the P/E cocktail snacks from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm, sometimes we want to have a drink at one of the regular bars.  When walking in Boston yesterday, I saw a Trader Joe’s and we popped in to buy some cashews so we have our own bar snack. I put some of the nuts in a snack size baggie and when we got to Vines last night, I divided them discretely onto two small cocktail napkins and our problem was solved.  Shouldn’t have to do this, but it worked.

 

Again, a problem we encountered that may impact very few cruisers is the lack of a variety of live dance music. Princess used to excel at this.  Club Fusion, Wheel House Bar, and Explorers all have nice hardwood dance floors.  While there was one evening that the Party Band was in Explorers, that venue had been used most evenings for game shows.  Wheel House has had a nice jazz ensemble, but no dance music.  They have pre-recorded music in Club Fusion some nights, but that is truly uninspiring.  On our last pre-Covid cruise on Princess to the South Pacific, they had a stellar duo in Wheel House Bar every evening (on the Emerald).  They played a variety of music - swing, rumba, salsa, waltz, cha-cha …. The dance floor was packed every evening.  They also had a party band that played almost nightly in Explorers.  We miss that type of entertainment so much.  We are sad that Princess has left that model.  We were excited because the Party Band was going to play for the Piazza Party.  The Piazza is not a good place to dance because it is small and does not have a wood floor, but we were ready.  We danced two or three numbers, them the cruise director took over and it became a game show for the next half hour.  After that the band only had time for one last dance.  We were disappointed.  Now to be fair, we haven’t found another cruise line that provides a lot of dancing opportunities.  Viking only has one dance floor and they tend to just have pop music for dancing, but I guess that is the best we can expect.  The era of cruise dancing seems to have reached an end.  Princess drew us back because they had it, but this is just another reason that this is probably our last Princess cruise since they seem to also have directed their interest to all huge ships (the newest one having all the Royal Caribbean toys that we know we don’t want). We will be looking for cruises of 1000 passengers or less with traditional promenades. I know that Princess has a market that wants what they are selling now.  It just isn’t for us any longer.

How long has it been since you sailed Princess?  The game shows and nightly trivia always draw huge crowds and most are family friendly. 

 

There is dancing in Skywalkers as the DJ spins up there well into the night.

 

You can also bring snacks from Elite Lounge anywhere on the ship.  We brought them up to Outriggers to enjoy last week. 

[abbydancer2003]

2 hours ago, Australia08 said:

 

 

Again, a problem we encountered that may impact very few cruisers is the lack of a variety of live dance music. Princess used to excel at this.  Club Fusion, Wheel House Bar, and Explorers all have nice hardwood dance floors.  While there was one evening that the Party Band was in Explorers, that venue had been used most evenings for game shows.  Wheel House has had a nice jazz ensemble, but no dance music.  They have pre-recorded music in Club Fusion some nights, but that is truly uninspiring.  On our last pre-Covid cruise on Princess to the South Pacific, they had a stellar duo in Wheel House Bar every evening (on the Emerald).  They played a variety of music - swing, rumba, salsa, waltz, cha-cha …. The dance floor was packed every evening.  They also had a party band that played almost nightly in Explorers.  We miss that type of entertainment so much.  We are sad that Princess has left that model.  We were excited because the Party Band was going to play for the Piazza Party.  The Piazza is not a good place to dance because it is small and does not have a wood floor, but we were ready.  We danced two or three numbers, them the cruise director took over and it became a game show for the next half hour.  After that the band only had time for one last dance.  We were disappointed.  Now to be fair, we haven’t found another cruise line that provides a lot of dancing opportunities.  Viking only has one dance floor and they tend to just have pop music for dancing, but I guess that is the best we can expect.  The era of cruise dancing seems to have reached an end.  Princess drew us back because they had it, but this is just another reason that this is probably our last Princess cruise since they seem to also have directed their interest to all huge ships (the newest one having all the Royal Caribbean toys that we know we don’t want). We will be looking for cruises of 1000 passengers or less with traditional promenades. I know that Princess has a market that wants what they are selling now.  It just isn’t for us any longer.

I think the live music problem is just this ship, as I've been on a few since the restart and usually we've had good dance music.  On the Royal class it's in the atrium, but I was on the Crown twice last year and they had a duo in the wheelhouse for dancing and the party band played a few times in either Explorers or Fusion.  

The recorded dance music is bad on both Princess and Celebrity.  Last time on Princess it was almost all foxtrot and cha cha.  On Celebrity, it's elevator music.

 

Too bad it's not good on this ship, since we're on for 10 days soon.

Edited August 13, 2023 by abbydancer

[cr8tiv1]

Lots to address here.

 

1.  Princess is doing away with ballroom dance music in the Wheelhouse and Explorers Lounge.  Dancers are drinkers (blanket statement that will be contested, I'm sure).  The Piazza is NOT a dance floor.  I do miss the great dance bands Princess used to have. Token recorded dance music for an hour each night.

 

2.  The Piazza is NOT the place for the Explorers Lounge band.  It is too noisy and just clutters the Piazza and decks above.  It is already way too loud for all the events in this central area (as registered on my Apple Watch).  Princess:  please heed.  Chamber music, violins, piano, guitars do not need to me mic'd in the Piazza.

 

3.  No shuttle bus to Boston from the terminal.  Outside the terminal had the Hop On/Hop Off as paid by Princess Excursions.  The bus stop was around the large building opposite the terminal.  Turn right and walk around that building to catch the bus.

 

4.  San Pellegrino is only at the Good Spirits Bar.  The CB never had enough to start with.  I was able to score an exchange for some of my mini-bar.  I was standing right at the bar when I ordered a bottle.  I could see that there were 3 passengers sipping at the bar.  Bartender told me that they were out and offered me Perrier.  

 

5.  Jody, cruise director, had mentioned in one of her talk that they were only taking on shipments at certain ports.  Don't know if that was contractual.  You made a run to Trader Joes.  Don't think the ship can do that.

 

6.  No. bar snacks since the restart.  Occasionally, Vines will have token tapas.  Not consistent across the fleet.  My opinion, another cost cutting.

 

All minor annoyances but they do add up.

[Sun Queen II]

Does anyone know where the CB disembarks in New York?  We’re on the Quebec to NY on September 9 and our itinerary doesn’t specify which port the CB will disembark passengers on September 19. 

[abbydancer2003]

40 minutes ago, Sun Queen II said:

Does anyone know where the CB disembarks in New York?  We’re on the Quebec to NY on September 9 and our itinerary doesn’t specify which port the CB will disembark passengers on September 19. 

I looked at the departure schedule for the Brooklyn port and saw Caribbean was departing on September 19th, so presumably that's where we'll be.

[Host CJSKIDS]

On 8/12/2023 at 11:16 AM, voljeep said:

I hope she is onboard when we take our Halloween cruise on CB  such a sweetheart and took good care of my wife when she wasn't feeling well in Crooners one night

Yes she is!. I'll reach out to her and see what I can find out. I know she has been on board since April. 
 

Just May see you on board your sailing. 

[Sun Queen II]

29 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

I looked at the departure schedule for the Brooklyn port and saw Caribbean was departing on September 19th, so presumably that's where we'll be.

Perfect! Thank you. We have an excursion booked that will take us from the ship through NY and to Newark for our flight home. 

[wrongwaywatson]

22 hours ago, wheezedr said:

So incorrect.  Reidel, the glassware maker, actually offers a class at wineries in which you taste different varietals from a variety of different shaped stemware.  The different shapes impact the bouquet and then also where the wine hits on your palate.  These truly do change how the flavor is perceived.  Think of a brandy snifter versus a champagne flute and then tell me it doesn’t matter.  Every aspect of the wine service, glass thickness, stemware shape, proper serving temperature will impact taste.  
I have drunk wine from many vessels but if offered I will take a fine, properly shaped and sized glass over paper or plastic every time.

My $3/bottle Moscato tastes great in a glass with ice and a straw! 🙂

Obviously, I'm not much of a wine drinker.  But I do like the sweet Moscato!