Just back from Caribbean Princess 10/21-10/28

[CrusinAgain]

This was our 2nd time on this ship this year. The first time was in April to the Eastern Caribbean. This time it was to the Western Caribbean. This was the last cruise this year that left on a Saturday and also the last cruise this year that went to the Western Caribbean for this ship.

This was another sister cruise and we are both in our 50's already.

This cruise had a nice mix of ages of people from young to older. No one should have felt left out.

Embarkation: My sister lives near Orlando so we drove down to Ft. Lauderdale and parked at the port. Daily parking is $12 a day in a parking garage directly across from the terminal. As it was in April, the lines were long after you got inside the terminal to stand in line for your deck. Each deck has two lines to check in at. However, an employee directed us to a shorter line that was a different deck than ours so that made it go faster.

Cabin: As this was an unexpected cruise, we got a great deal for an obstructed view on Emerald deck. We had room E416 with the small boat hanging with the lifeboats. At the time, it had the same pricing as inside and I would certainly book this room again as you not only saw daylight but could see the sky, ocean and ports. The room was conveniently midship and we never heard the elevators. We had the Riviera deck in April and will never want to hear the constant scraping of chairs again after staying on that deck.

The beds, of course are awful and unfortunately our steward was unable to get the egg crate toppers so he tried his best to add more blankets and added memory foam pillows for us.

The service was excellent and the room was always cleaned and well maintained.

Shower is small and the bathroom has 3 small shelves for toiletries and one shelf going along the bottom under the sink. I would suggest you bring a hanging shower caddy for your shampoo and the like as there is only a tiny space to put any items and you cannot bend over to pick anything up from the floor.

There is a large long closet with no doors between the bathroom and the beds so we used this area as a private dressing area. There is also a tall shelfed closet with a safe that uses numbers and not a credit card.

The TV is a 19 inch with RCA jacks on the front. There is a small refrig that keeps stuff cool but not real cold. There are two night stands and a desk with 3 drawers.

 

Dining: We enjoy Anytime Dining and upon other recommendations here at cruise critic, we asked for Rommel in the Palm Dining room and he was simply awesome and was just like traditional dining as he knew what we wanted starting from the 2nd day and also suggested choices of what to order. Our cruise in April wasn't that fortunate as we did not find a good server til 2 days before the end. So please remember Rommel in the Palm Dining Room. We had Table 139 which was a table for 2. He did have tables for 4, 6, and 8.

We had always intended to try breakfast in the dining room but time always ran out but on the last day we finally had lunch and it was great.

For breakfast and lunch, we ate at the Horizon court where hand santiziers are available and a good selection of fruits, cheeses, breads, salads, veggies, and entrees were available. No complaints here at all.

We did try the Grill once and had a hamburger but we were not too thrilled with it. We never got to try the pizza.

One time we remembered to try the free icecreme. It is not listed in the Patters or anywhere so you have to hunt it down. You will find it on the closed size of the Horizon court between 3:30 and 4:30. There were two selections when I went with toppings but no choice of syrups.

Seafood buffet was the first day and lobster claws could be had on the last formal night at Cafe Caribe.

 

Entertainment: The pools are fresh water and during the sea days are quite crowded. There was one pool in the front of the ship that we just found on this trip along with the Sports area that contained a tennis court and basketball court. On deck 15, the Lido deck, you can walk through the passenger cabin hall and out to the front of the ship for a whole different view. You will be standing on top of the bridge.

We did not see any of the nightly shows as we discovered Bert Stratton on our last cruise so our nights were spent watching him. He's a great piano entertainer and draws quite a crowd. You can find him at Crooners Bar which is located on Deck 7 at the Atrium.

 

The casino was tighter with the slots this trip and if you got lucky it would be at the 2 cents machines.

Movies Under the Stars did have the World Series and football in the evenings and then later would be a movie. There would be a movie playing in the Princess theater daily around 2:30. We did get to see Da Vinci Code and Click It in the theater and Over the Hedge at MUTS.

We did go to the Past Guest Captains Cocktail Party and saw the champayne waterfall. Both of these plus lobster was offered on the last formal night. Formal nights were Monday and Wednesday.

The Fitness Center was located on top and we used it daily, thank goodness! I was lucky to come home with no weight gain.

Attire: There is so much talk on the forum about attire that I made sure to check it out this time. I never saw a man in a tuxedo and ladies wore everything from plain pants and a half way fancy blouse to a formal night gown. However, there were more in between for the ladies such as sparkle tops and nice pants. Men wore suits.

Also it was a mixture of people changing back to casual attire after dinner as the games were on upstairs on the Lido deck.

Ports of Call:

Princess Cays: We didn't get off this time, but this is a little part of the Bahamas that Princess uses for the cruisers to have relaxation and water sports plus a BBQ. The lifeboats are used for tendering. There are stands there for souvenirs from the Bahamas.

Jamaica: We took a tour with A-Z Planners and had Mickey as a driver. It was wonderful. We went to Dunns Rivers Falls, Shaw Park Gardens, Fern Gulley, Wassi Art Pottery Factory and then ended the day with shopping and Margaritaville.

Grand Cayman: We tried getting off here but the lines were horrendous to get off at noon due to choppy waters and we wanted to see a movie at 2:30 so we stayed on the ship since we had just seen Grand Cayman in December and didn't have any plans there anyway.

Cozumel: Was not impressed with shopping here, but we had a fantastic time at Carlos and Charlies.

Debark: You are called by decks starting with the uppers working down. We were the last deck called even though Plaza was the lowest passenger deck, they got called with Lido deck. We finally got off at 10:15 only to find a long line to show your passport or ID and birth certificate. Make sure you don't pack these things.

Final Comments: Not all of the elevators went to all of the decks. To get to the Palm Dining Room in the back of the ship, you had to walk all the way to the back and go down as that was the only way you could get to it. The atrium elevators did not go to the Sun Deck.

The halls are long and you could smell they were replacing carpet in various parts of the ship.

I do hope they upgrade their bedding like they did on Carnival and Holland America.

If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them.

[sea_breaze]

No weight gain-BRAVO. The best I've been able to do is up 2lbs.

 

We have used Anytime Dining on our last 4 cruises with Princess and it has worked out great with little wait. Starting to read alot about standing reservations in the AD Dining rooms. Wondering how this worked out for you. I was thinking of using the Palm as it is in the back of the ship and maybe won't be quite as busy.

 

Really looking forward to checking out Bert Stratton after everything I've heard about him. Does he change up his shows from night to night? Guessing being as popular as he is you need to get there early to get a seat. Any recommendations on how early?

 

Sorry to here about the bedding. Was hoping they would get this taken care of.

 

Thanks for the review and taking time to answer questions.

[Coolmama_1]

Sounds like you had a great time! Thanks for sharing.

[CrusinAgain]

No weight gain-BRAVO. The best I've been able to do is up 2lbs.

 

We have used Anytime Dining on our last 4 cruises with Princess and it has worked out great with little wait. Starting to read alot about standing reservations in the AD Dining rooms. Wondering how this worked out for you. I was thinking of using the Palm as it is in the back of the ship and maybe won't be quite as busy.

 

Really looking forward to checking out Bert Stratton after everything I've heard about him. Does he change up his shows from night to night? Guessing being as popular as he is you need to get there early to get a seat. Any recommendations on how early?

 

Sorry to here about the bedding. Was hoping they would get this taken care of.

 

Thanks for the review and taking time to answer questions.

 

We never made a reservation for the Palm DR but we have been told that you could through the phone or make a standing one between 5:30-6:30 and 8-10. Less people go to this one since it is not as easy as the Coral to get to. We always walked right in and never had a wait. Only one night when we walked out we saw a huge crowd waiting but found out it was a wedding party.

 

As far as Bert, he changed his shows this time where every show was different. In April, they were pretty much all the same with some changes. He has two shows one at 9:00-10:30 and the 2nd at 11:15-12:30. Its a calmer show at 11:15 and if you wanted to request a song its easier at that show. For the 9:00 show seats were starting to fill a little after 7 but we never got there until 8:30 and always managed to get a seat. He does play one night in the Explorers Lounge which is a totally different show.