Just returned today... Caribbean Princess Review 7/1-8/07

[Boytjie]

Did anyone in your party swim in the lap pool?

 

I used it on our (full charter) cruise in February. I'd go for a swim around 8 am on sea days and was the only one using it atthat time. I saw only a few other people swim against the current at other times. It was fun swimming agaist a current in a pool where the water also moved sideways with the slight roll of the ship.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I used it on our (full charter) cruise in February. I'd go for a swim around 8 am on sea days and was the only one using it atthat time. I saw only a few other people swim against the current at other times. It was fun swimming agaist a current in a pool where the water also moved sideways with the slight roll of the ship.

 

I'm very lazy so when I cruised on the CB I swam with the current.;)

 

Bill

[Boytjie]

I'm very lazy so when I cruised on the CB I swam with the current.;)

 

Bill

 

Which means you always ended up on the steps of the lap pool. :D

[travelchick79]

My mother (53) and I (27) were also on this sailing and I must say that we both had a great time as well! The ship was beautiful and we loved the MUTS! The Skywalkers night club was also great. I enjoyed the art auctions and the cooking demonstration was lots of fun.

 

We had both been to St. Thomas and St. Maarten before, so we decided to do the St. John Island Tour while in St. Thomas. The ferry was almost an hour late getting to the pier because of delays in clearing immigrations coming from Tortola, but that was the only thing that wasn't great. St. John has some of the most beautiful beaches! In St. Maarten we went to Marigot and did a little shopping, then some shopping in Phillipsburg and that was about all. This was my first trip to Princess Cays and it was good, very similar to Royal Caribbean's Cococay. A nice, relaxing (although very hot) beach day!

 

Our cabin attendant JR from the Philippines was fabulous and such a nice guy! Always smiling and taking time to talk with us, and of course always keeping our room so clean and nice. Anything we needed he was always right there to help! We did give him a little extra tip at the end, he was such a hard worker.

 

We had traditional 2nd seating dining in the Island Dining Room. Our waiter was Sebastian from Romania and his assistant was Diyan from Bulgaria. Sebastian was absolutely wonderful! Always friendly and smiling, and very helpful with his recommendations. We had a table for 6 and only 1 night did we have dining companions, so finally on the second to last night Sebastian asked us if we would like to join the table next to us (table for 8 with only 4 people every night) so we did and those last two nights were so much fun! The other 4 at that table were all from England and we had a great time getting to know them! I honestly don't have anything really good to say about Diyan, he was just okay, didn't do anything extraordinary and wasn't really all that friendly either. Sebastian made up for it though by being so great, and we gave him an little extra tip at the end of the cruise! I will definitely miss him!

 

My only real disappointment was in the arrangement of the buffet restaurant. The buffet itself had 3 different entry points and no clear line or order to anything once inside. It was completely chaotic to try to get through there and the food arrangement was quite interesting as well. You could find a dessert right between the chicken and pasta! It could have been set up much better. Seating in the buffet was also somewhat difficult at times. They had lots of large tables and not nearly enough tables for 2 or 4 people. I did enjoy the buffet and thought the food was usually really good and they had a pretty good selection and variety as well, I just think there are ways to improve this area.

 

All in all, I had a great time and I can't wait to go back again!

[cbpanda]

Hi All,

 

Have managed to upload my pictures. Feel free to take a look if you're interested.

 

Thanks.

 

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/559825627SzonYA

[tvaud]

Caribbean night was Tuesday night.

 

And yes, Captain Romano is still on board.

 

We're also on the CB the 15th. I spoke to my TA today and she called Princess for something. While she was on the phone I asked her to find out if Capt Romano would still be on board for our cruise. The Princess rep said he'd be on for one more cruise....ours:D ...after that, he'll be going to another ship. The rep did not know which ship though.

[hula girl 808]

We just returned today from a 7 day trip to the Eastern Caribbean aboard the Caribbean Princess. To give you a bit of background, we are a party of 7 people total. Myself (38), my husband (43) and son (14), my mother (63) and father (54), my sister (24) and her boyfriend (24). All except for hubby, son and myself were first time cruisers.

 

Pre-Cruise

 

 

We stayed at the Renaissance hotel on SE 17th Street. This is a beautiful hotel with a fantastic location. We were located across the street from the cruise port and in walking distance to several liquor stores, drug stores and grocery stores. The afternoon we arrived, we went to the Crown Liquor superstore and bought several bottles of wine and soda to carry on. The restaurant in the hotel was a bit pricey so we ordered in pizza and pasta for dinner that night. The only down side was that the bell captain was insistent on arranging a van for our party of 7 to take us to the port. The cost was going to be $7 per person ($42) and when hubby insisted on just taking cabs he was not happy. We ended up taking 2 cabs and the total cost for both including tip were $12.

 

Embarkation

 

 

We checked out of the hotel around 10am and after getting everything all together arrived at the cruise port around 10:30am. We settled in to the waiting area with our #2 boarding numbers and waited. At exactly noon, they opened the gates and we were through the embarkation process and in our cabins by 12:20pm. We shared our cabin steward, John, with my sister. He was extremely efficient and received an additional tip when we departed. He was so excited all week long -- apparently he was at the end of his contract and was headed home after our cruise. My mother’s cabin steward, Mariana, was also very efficient and we were pleased with both. We were in two balcony rooms and an inside across the hall. Our room had a third bed that dropped down from the ceiling. According to our son, this bed was a lot more comfortable than the mini suite we had last year.

 

The Ship

 

 

The ship was as beautiful as we remembered from last year. The upkeep is constant. Throughout the week we witnessed painting, varnishing and polishing in all areas. The atrium is impressive and it gives a fantastic first impression as you walk on.

 

We had early traditional dining set up for this trip mainly since we were such a large party, we wanted to be able to sit at the same table for dinner each night. In all honesty, I don’t think I will do that again. Early traditional is a bit too early and late seating was too late. We missed every sunset and most of the sailaways from port because we were either at dinner or getting ready for dinner. Also, it seem like we were rushed every night trying to get ready. On the port days, there was no down time between shore trips and dinner -- no time to just relax. I missed the convenience of anytime dining and the ability to go at anytime if we needed just another half hour.

 

Food is so subjective that I won’t go into detail. Suffice it to say that most of our meals were excellent. DH and son said the pizza was not up to par, but the rest of us enjoyed it. Buffets and other venues were exactly as you would expect them to be. However, we did not ever have problems finding seats in the buffet.

 

One thing I was completely amazed at was we could walk through the pool areas around 9am on a sea day and there were tons of chairs by the pool unoccupied and unsaved! I honestly couldn’t believe it. The ship definitely felt empty even though we were on a full sailing.

 

My sister and her boyfriend loved MUTS. Having never had the opportunity to see a drive in movie they loved sitting out under the stars and watching the movies.

 

We had a cruise critic meeting set up for the first sea day at 2pm at the aft pool area. This was the first time I have done anything like this and was a little hesitant but, it was really great to meet everyone that I have been chatting with for the last six months and to be able to put faces to names. And to top it off, I have to say that I made new friends in the process. ***You guys are great***

 

Entertainment

 

 

I only saw one show, The Piano Man. I liked the music and thought the show was just the right length. As soon as I reached the point of wanting it to be over, it was.

 

In my opinion, the best night was when we closed down Crooners with Bert Stratton. I realize that he is the kind of entertainer that either you love or hate, but I have to say – he makes me laugh. That’s all I need (that and a good martini). My mother, myself and two of my new cruise critic friends (Denise and Cindy) sat and listened to him. He spent the late evening dedicating songs to us. :D

 

Everyone else in our party saw the hypnotist, the comedian, and several other shows. All were raved about.

 

Ports

 

 

In St. Maarten, we split up. DH did the Americas Cup Regatta booked through the ship. He did like it, but said that he was unable to see much from the position he was assigned to work. However, his boat won, so he was happy. My mother, my father and myself, went to the butterfly farm. As lame as it sounds, we enjoyed it. My sister, her boyfriend and my son went horseback riding on the beach. We did not book this through the ship and arranged everything with Bayside Riding Club on the French side of St. Martin. According to her it was a fantastic excursion. 9 out of 10. The ride was from 9am-11am and they reached the stables after approx ½ hour cab ride from the ship; saddled the horses and they were off. My sister said the horses were wonderful and well taken care of and the stable owner and employees were friendly and helpful. She said the only drawback was that some of the horses did not want to swim that day, so it was a bit difficult to get them in the water. We were all back by early afternoon and able to do some shopping before the ship departed.

 

In St. Thomas, DH, the only one in our group who is certified for open water dives opted to scuba dive in St. Thomas. We booked independently with Blue Island Divers. They are located right at the port in Crown Bay. He was scheduled to do two open water dives during the morning. Unfortunately after the first dive he was not feeling very well and opted out of the second dive. Overall, the excursion was very well done and he said that he would book with them again. But wished he’d been feeling better.

 

The rest of us (6 ppl) charted a sailboat and sailed to St. John. We called Rumbaba Charters and were absolutely completely satisfied. The cost was $80 pp (for cash) or $90 pp (for credit) and believe me it was worth every penny! This excursion far exceeded our expectations. This company is fantastic. He can only take 6 people so it’s a very personal excursion. We took a ½ day sail between 10am –2pm. We grabbed a taxi from the port and boarded the sailboat in Red Hook. From the time we got on to the end of our trip, Captain Bobby took perfect care of us. We sailed from Red Hook to one of the beaches in St. John (sorry, I can’t remember the name of it). He was personable, friendly and funny. His first mate (and wife) Karen, was also wonderful. We moored off shore and some of our party went snorkeling. My sister’s boyfriend said that it was right out of National Geographic. He had never seen so many beautiful fish and coral in his life. Karen made us a yummy lunch….grilled chicken wraps, pasta salad and fruit. Open bar was included in the price. On the way back, Capt Bobby took us on a short tour of around the other islands in the area and the history behind them. Then the sail back to St. Thomas. The only problem with this trip was that we didn’t book the full day. :) We highly, highly recommend this trip for anyone who wants to go to St. John. Here’s to Rumbaba…the Hindu God of Irresponsibility!!!:eek:

 

In the Princess Cays, we did not get off the ship. It was way too hot!

 

Miscellaneous

 

 

My sister and her boyfriend received a couples massage during our port day at the Princess Cays. Yes, ladies and gentlemen it is possible to have a positive spa experience. She said the massages were wonderful and her only regret is that they got them on the last day instead of the first.

 

The ship was beautifully decorated for 4th of July. Lots of balloons, banners, and carvings. The MUTS screen played the Star Spangled Banner at sailaway and showed video of fireworks during the deck party.

 

To sum up…we had a great time and would sail this ship again. All of our first-time cruiser companions had such a good time they booked future cruise credits.

 

I should have our pictures up by tomorrow. Please feel free to view them.

Hi,

Thanks for your review, very informative. We will be taking this cruise Sept.9th. We are booked at the St. Regis but you did state the Reinassance is beautiful w/great location? The St. Regis is away from everything, but I thought since we were arriving about 8pm we would just enjoy the ambience. However, it is appealing that the Renaissance is located next to a liquor store. Did they have a good selection of wines, w/fair prices? We were going to bring the wine w/us from Hawaii, but would prefer to buy it there. Another question, when you sailed to St. John did you have time to shop afterwards?

Thank you.

Aloha,

Wanda:)

[cbpanda]

Hi,

Thanks for your review, very informative. We will be taking this cruise Sept.9th. We are booked at the St. Regis but you did state the Reinassance is beautiful w/great location? The St. Regis is away from everything, but I thought since we were arriving about 8pm we would just enjoy the ambience. However, it is appealing that the Renaissance is located next to a liquor store. Did they have a good selection of wines, w/fair prices? We were going to bring the wine w/us from Hawaii, but would prefer to buy it there. Another question, when you sailed to St. John did you have time to shop afterwards?

Thank you.

Aloha,

Wanda:)

 

The Renaissance is a beautiful hotel and very convenient. However, just to be clear the liquor store is about 2 blocks away, not next door. It is not a bad walk at all. We did it in the heat of the afternoon and still managed to walk back with our purchases. The Crown liquor store is huge. They sell just about anything you can imagine and the prices were good. Also, right there within that block (where Crown is located) are a Total Wine, another smaller liquor store, a Publix and a Winn Dixie (the grocery stores sell wine and beer). I would definitely recommend waiting and getting your wine in FL.

 

We opted for the 1/2 day sail to St. John so that we would have time to shop. The sail was from 10am-2pm and we had to pass right through downtown in order to get back to the ship. So we stopped, did some shopping and grabbed a taxi back to Crown Bay. We got back to the ship around 5pm. Just in time to get ready for dinner.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[OhioDogLover]

Cbpanda,

 

Thanks for the review and the pics. They were terrific. It made me sad that we are not going until 1/08!:eek:

 

Ohiodoglover

[julia]

Hi Claire:

 

Just wanted to say thanks for such a great review... especially the part about Rumbaba! We are booked with them for a full day on the 8/12/07 CB sailing and are really looking forward to it. There are still a few spots available on this excursion, if anyone out there would like to join us!!

[cbpanda]

Hi Claire:

 

Just wanted to say thanks for such a great review... especially the part about Rumbaba! We are booked with them for a full day on the 8/12/07 CB sailing and are really looking forward to it. There are still a few spots available on this excursion, if anyone out there would like to join us!!

 

You will love it! I can't say enough great things about these guys!

 

Enjoy your cruise...

[loge23]

Terrific review, cbpanda, well-written and succinct - and thank you to all the others who posted their own as well!

We're looking forward to our CP cruise in the near future. Your review just adds to the excitement and expectation of good things to come.

No matter how many times you go, you gotta love the feeling of an upcoming cruise!

Thanks again, good luck to you and your family!