short review of the Caribbean Princess 8/7-8/14

[dsnyfan62]

We were a family of 4 on this trip since our oldest son at 22 didn't want to come along.

 

Embarkation was great, it took us about 25 min from the time we dropped our stuff off until we got into our cabins. We had Baja 505 and 503. We had Patrick open the door connecting the balcony, it worked great for us and didn't have to go into the hall to get to our daughters cabin. Patrick was great and had the robes and fruit in our cabin in no time.

 

The ship is huge, very pretty, but had to many people for us. We prefer the smaller Grand or Golden Princess. If you weren't in a lounge chair on the deck by about 10am it was hard to find a chair. I ended up waiting for the sun to hit our balcony and would lay out there. We had a few negatives but still had a great time. A big negative for us was how warm Horizon Court would get. We ended up taking our food to Cafe Caribe or back to our cabin so we could be cool. I also missed the walking/jogging track. The promenade (sp) would get busy in the morning/early afternoon. We did enjoy the chairs they have put on the promenade, much better than benches. We also noticed a vibration much of the time on ship. Even while in port you would feel this, we hadn't noticed it on the Grand last summer. You couldn't put your head against the head board without your head being vibrated about.

 

We found the crew to be very helpful and fun to talk to. Our room steward would tell us if our daughters had left their cabin or tell them if we had left ours and where we had gone. Patrick also left us towel animals and would refill the eyes of the animals each night for us since some how during the day the animals chocolate eyes would vanish. The crew always made sure we had plenty of everything.

 

We really enjoyed the movies under the stars. It was like the "old days" when we would go to the drive-in. The candy was $1.95 each, at least what I had, and popcorn was free.

 

Our cabins were nice and cool and everything was really clean. We did hear a comment that we thought was funny. The crew was varnishing the deck chairs and ship rails when we overheard a guy say that they should have had the ship done already and shouldn't still be doing things like that. I guess he doesn't realize what the salt air and weather etc.. will do to a ship in a small amt. of time.

 

Disembarkation was very slow since the power was out at the terminal. It wasn't the ships fault so we just went with the flow and didn't worry about it since we couldn't do anything about it. We did have relatives calling to make sure we were ok with the hurrican hitting the day before.

 

I'm sure I rambled and spelled a few things wrong and for that I am sorry. I bet I also forgot a few things. To sum things up we enjoyed the cruise, but will stick with a smaller ship, at least during peak times. We really noticed the extra people. We did two of the ships tours and enjoyed both. We were not able to tender into Princess Cays because of the high seas but that Captain did find great weather for us that day.

 

If any questions please feel free to ask.

 

Judi

[Tigger15]

THANKS FOR THE REVIEW, sORRY TO HEAR THAT IT WAS TOO CROWDED, BUT GLAD YOU STILL ENJOYED YOUR TRIP!!:rolleyes:

[fivebucs]

The deck diagram shows a jogging track! Whats up with that? sb:confused:

[dsnyfan62]

They put lounge chairs on the jogging track from 8am-8pm and you can use the track from 8pm until 8am.

[crsshiplover]

dsnyfan62-

 

What can you tell me about the two tours you took? Were they the same, or different? How did you learn about them? Were they worth it? Did they last long? Did you learn anything you couldn't have learned on your own? Thanks.

[kruisey]

The more I read the reviews of Caribbean Princess.........the more I feel its not for me. The Sun class is more my style..Just love my 3 mile walk on the teak floor (Think its teak) the 'Sun Class' on Promenade deck in the mornings.

Caribbean Princess seems to be the ship for family groups thats great,a ship for teens and children like Disney ships.Princess has ships for all types and tastes.

[Shipkicker]

We prefer the smaller Grand or Golden Princess.

Wow, a good example of how far cruising has come. My first cruise in the mid 1980's was aboard the Azure Seas (Admiral Cruises), now the Albatross! I think that ship was 16 or 18 thousand tons, it was HUGE!! As the poster noted, the Grand Princess ( 100,000 tons +) is now a smaller ship! WOW!

[CruiseFever]

We were a family of 4 on this trip since our oldest son at 22 didn't want to come along.

 

Embarkation was great, it took us about 25 min from the time we dropped our stuff off until we got into our cabins. We had Baja 505 and 503. We had Patrick open the door connecting the balcony, it worked great for us and didn't have to go into the hall to get to our daughters cabin. Patrick was great and had the robes and fruit in our cabin in no time.

 

The ship is huge, very pretty, but had to many people for us. We prefer the smaller Grand or Golden Princess. If you weren't in a lounge chair on the deck by about 10am it was hard to find a chair. I ended up waiting for the sun to hit our balcony and would lay out there. We had a few negatives but still had a great time. A big negative for us was how warm Horizon Court would get. We ended up taking our food to Cafe Caribe or back to our cabin so we could be cool. I also missed the walking/jogging track. The promenade (sp) would get busy in the morning/early afternoon. We did enjoy the chairs they have put on the promenade, much better than benches. We also noticed a vibration much of the time on ship. Even while in port you would feel this, we hadn't noticed it on the Grand last summer. You couldn't put your head against the head board without your head being vibrated about.

 

We found the crew to be very helpful and fun to talk to. Our room steward would tell us if our daughters had left their cabin or tell them if we had left ours and where we had gone. Patrick also left us towel animals and would refill the eyes of the animals each night for us since some how during the day the animals chocolate eyes would vanish. The crew always made sure we had plenty of everything.

 

We really enjoyed the movies under the stars. It was like the "old days" when we would go to the drive-in. The candy was $1.95 each, at least what I had, and popcorn was free.

 

Our cabins were nice and cool and everything was really clean. We did hear a comment that we thought was funny. The crew was varnishing the deck chairs and ship rails when we overheard a guy say that they should have had the ship done already and shouldn't still be doing things like that. I guess he doesn't realize what the salt air and weather etc.. will do to a ship in a small amt. of time.

 

Disembarkation was very slow since the power was out at the terminal. It wasn't the ships fault so we just went with the flow and didn't worry about it since we couldn't do anything about it. We did have relatives calling to make sure we were ok with the hurrican hitting the day before.

 

I'm sure I rambled and spelled a few things wrong and for that I am sorry. I bet I also forgot a few things. To sum things up we enjoyed the cruise, but will stick with a smaller ship, at least during peak times. We really noticed the extra people. We did two of the ships tours and enjoyed both. We were not able to tender into Princess Cays because of the high seas but that Captain did find great weather for us that day.

 

If any questions please feel free to ask.

 

Judi

 

Thanks for trying the Caribbean Princess and taking the time to tell us of your voyage AND your feeling the a smaller ship is more for you. I'm sure there are other members "on the fencepost" trying to weigh the decision of which ship to sail on. Your review might be just what someone needs to make an informed decision!

[pmcd404]

My wife and I were on the same cruise (Aug 7th) Caribbean Princess. Had Caribe Cabin 242 with big balcony - which was great. There is still a great deal of 'seat saving' going on; at any given time no more than half the seats around the pools were occupied - some of them sat with a towel or a book on them all day. My advice; if they're bold enough to break the rules, just move their stuff an smile when they show up.

We had one interesting encounter - wife and I settled in two empty loungers overlooking the sternmost pool. After some minutes woman appears and says to me, "have you seen my book?" 'No" says I, and I hadn't.

"you're not supposed to save chairs!" chastised the guy next to me.

"I wasn't" says the woman, "I left my stuff here at 7.30 and only went to breakfast" - it's now 10.30! She eventually found her book three rows back (Not guilty - honest!) and stormed off in a huff - falling down the last three steps of the stairs. Poetic justice - we all laughed.

Everything was great, I didn't think it was too crowded. Acoustic were bad on 'Movies under the stars' - maybe it's me getting old. Sterling great, Sabatini's overrated - ok if you like seafood. Me; I like traditional Italian food which they didn't have - but what do I know - I'm British.

Brought my own wine to Sterling's- they charge $10 corkage. The waiter did everything just proper, poured me the little sampler the way they do - for my approval. "I don't know why you're doing this" I said, "It's my own wine."

""And if it's not satisfactory." declared the waiter, "it will be sent back to your cabin!" Priceless!

[kruisey]

I agree with you 'unique' and priceless.

You gave me my 'giggle' of the day