Caribbean Princess Christmas Cruise Review

[terry55]

We're back from a wonderful holiday/family reunion on the Caribbean Princess. We were a group of 10, ages 16 to 87. A great time was had by all and it will definitely be a Christmas with many fond memories!

 

We flew down to FLL the day before the cruise, staying at the Hampton Inn - Plantation. I would highly recommend this hotel to anyone. Like other hotels, there was free airport and cruiseport transportation. With so many people flying in on Saturday it was busy waiting for the shuttle (arrived around 1:30 pm) but they had a few shuttle vans and it seemed to run fairly smoothly. There are many restaurants within walking distance and a mall across the street, which was great to pick up a few items we forgot (and also to get a couple "boxes" of wine to bring on board!).

 

On Sunday we took a shuttle around 1:00, got to the pier and walked right onto the ship with no waiting at all. Santa was sitting in the atrium for photos and our 4 teenagers took advantage of the photo opportunity! We had some inside and a couple obstructed view rooms, all of which suited us fine. And of course, we had to go see the Patriots/Bills game on the MUTS screen after settling in!

 

We had "Anytime Dining" as the traditional dining room was full. It worked out better than we could have planned it. We ate in the Palm Dining

Room on Sunday evening. As the combination of the table and waitstaff was to everyone's liking, we made a standing reservation for every evening. Phillippe was our waiter and was the best...highly recommend asking for him. The Palm was recommended to me on this board for having a large group wanting a table together, so thank you for that suggestion. As many posters say the food was very good overall, with only a few selections being disappointing. Great variety of foods in both the Horizon Court and Cafe Caribe, as well.

 

The entertainment was as good as we had on the Star a few years ago. The comedian Sarge was there for 2 shows. A few of the other Princess Theater shows included comedian Chris Bliss, a Variety Adventure Showtime with the Princess dancers and the favorite of all being the Beatle Maniacs. What a fantastic show the Beatle Maniacs put on; the audience loved every moment of it!! There always were other shows and entertainment in the other lounge areas as well. There definitely was a great variety of movies if you wanted to see any, both inside the Theater and on the MUTS screen. We took advantage of a number of the daily activities (which had something for everyone to choose from).

 

Christmas on the ship was beautiful. The decorations were plentiful in the Atrium - very festive and "elegant" was a word used to describe them. There was snow as promised, too!! We sang Christmas Carols with the staff on Christmas Eve in the Atrium during one of the snow showers as well! The dining rooms and other areas of the ship did have some decorations, although I must admit I thought there might be a little more done. A nice touch from Princess was a small decoration placed in all of the "mailboxes" outside the staterooms on Christmas Eve Day. Formal night was Christmas Eve, which I believe was the night of the Captain's Reception in the Atrium. The other formal night was Friday evening. There was a reception for folks who had cruised with Princess before later in the week, as well.

 

The weather was just as we wanted, coming from the snowy northeast! Only a few showers while on St. Thomas that lasted only a few minutes, followed by a very colorful rainbow. Sunny and in the 80's for the whole week. Princess Cay was a great day to have at the end of the cruise ... picture perfect. Some of our group did a ship tour "Art Around the Island" in St. Marteen, while the others arranged a tour with a cab at the pier. Both were enjoyed. On St. Thomas we had an informative and beautiful ship sponsored tour "In Focus Photography Tour". This one was 3 1/2 hours long with a professional photographer there to help you with your photography on the scenic tour.

 

I liked the way the photographers had spots set up around the ship on just about every evening for them to take photos before or after dinner. This made it easier for all and you weren't limited to just getting pictures taken on formal nights.

 

Being Christmas there was a full ship, and as others have stated it certainly didn't seem like like it at all. We felt that even tendering to Princess Cay and getting off the ship at the end of the cruise went smoothly.

 

We all had a great family holiday and vacation; being there with my in-laws being 84 and 87 was especially nice. The "young adults" in the family kept them quite busy. We're all hoping we are fortunate enough to be able to arrange this holiday vacation again!

 

Am sure this is long enough, but if I left anything out please ask!

[stoneharborlady]

Thank you for a lovely review. Someone mentioned that Princess is the only line to maintain the seafaring tradition of having a Christmas tree tied to the mast for the holidays. Did you see this?

 

How very refreshing for you to enjoy having your elderly inlaws along to share your Christmas trip. You must be a lovely family. Glad you enjoyed your cruise on that fabulous ship. Love the CB.

 

Karen

[DiTomCruisers]

we're on it next week!!!.. We'll hit the Palms as we have a large group too.. Can you request a specific waiter?

[Colo Cruiser]

Great review, thanks. :)

[terry55]

DiTomCruisers ... Ask for table 118 (we had it for 10 people). Phillippe was our waiter and he was the best! He's on the CB for 4 more weeks, then has 2 months off (lives an hour or so from Paris) and then will be back on the CB. Please say hello should you be lucky enough to have him as your waiter!!:) The table is in a great spot off to the side and in a quiet location. Enjoy your trip!

[monakayk]

Thanks for sharing your wonderful holiday experience with all of us. Sounds like you had a great time!

BTW, do or will you have any photos? If so, please post the link to them in this thread. I would love to see how the ship was decorated.

[myangel]

Nice review! We were on her the wek before you, and had a fabulous time as well! I want to back on NOW!!!!!! :):)

[JanMD]

We were on the ship also. We had been on her this past Feb- and it was great. This time- the food was not as great.

 

In the Horizon Court, this is where we noticed the big difference- cutting costs. There were no stawberries each morning. They had those huge bowls of 15 bananans in them. Looked very cheap. They didn't have as much fresh fruit as they used to.

The pizza-- had been the best around- it barely had any cheese on it. We all know that cheese costs are up.

The dinning Room we did PC and ate in the aft one and the service was 2 hours for dinner.. It would take 20 minutes just for shrimp cocktail. We continued to miss the shows because of the slowness. We kept going down earlier.

 

We all thought it was like the ship didn't have enough food on board. We are all thin people. Just felt like they cutting corners. And it showed. We talked to many people in the explorers lounge where the plat/elite sat and everyone was saying the samething waiting to get off the ship. This was my favorite ship.

 

Checking in was great/ and the silent getting off was excellent. No more calling of peoples names. Muts was perfect. The entertainment really missed Bert. In the Explorer's Lounge/Club Fusion they would have to have games for the pass. We had 2 mini sutes and opened up the door out on the balcony to pass to/from.

 

If you get the soda card- the sodas in the aft pool machine taste alot better. The bar by the Muts not as good- but it is open early in the morning.

 

They said that New Years cruise (this week) had more people on it than Christmas Cruise. Did enjoy seeing Santa in the atrium.

Talked to Princess people and when the ship goes into drydock- for 21 days- still not sure what they are doing with the atrium area- but they are now looking at putting suites where the internet cafe is. All the rooms are going to be outfitted also. Which means new beds.

 

We stayed at the Embassy Suites by the pier and they have been redecorated since Feb. They were fabulous. Excellent rooms. Everything was brand new.

 

Jan

Happy Sailing

[sircruisealot]

Really? Your complaint is there weren't any strawberries in the morning? Really?

[terry55]

We enjoyed the different melons and pineapple that were in the Horizon Court in the mornings...noticed some papaya towards the end of the cruise, also. The Horizon Court did have a better selection to offer than the Cafe Caribe (but we sat in the back of the Caribe as it wasn't as crowded and we could get tables for all of us to eat together).

 

What time did you go to dinner? We had reservations at 6 each evening and made it to the show without rushing through dinner. Am sure it might have to do with just how orders are placed through the kitchen. We often had soup, appetizer and salad before dinner, too. Guess we were lucky. I think it was on Xmas Eve when we wanted to be sure we were through with dinner early enough so we could make it to the Captain's Cocktails and then the early show, so we let our waiter know and we were done in plenty of time (even had dessert!). The final night dinner went longer than usual, but we had a 22nd birthday to celebrate and took photos during dinner. It wasn't crowded in the dining room so we had extra coffee and went to the second show. As for the pizza, I am also a cheese lover, but the couple times I did get pizza for a late night snack I found it to be fine (especially liked the thin crust).

 

Glad you also enjoyed the cruise.:)

[wubbat]

We were also on the cruise and agree with terry55. Thought everything about the cruise was wonderful.

 

For stoneharborlady, the tradition of the Christmas tree is alive and well....although not at the top of the mast, it was close..........

[Sandytoes]

 

Christmas on the ship was beautiful. The decorations were plentiful in the Atrium - very festive and "elegant" was a word used to describe them. There was snow as promised, too!! We sang Christmas Carols with the staff on Christmas Eve in the Atrium during one of the snow showers as well! The dining rooms and other areas of the ship did have some decorations, although I must admit I thought there might be a little more done. A nice touch from Princess was a small decoration placed in all of the "mailboxes" outside the staterooms on Christmas Eve Day. Formal night was Christmas Eve, which I believe was the night of the Captain's Reception in the Atrium. The other formal night was Friday evening. There was a reception for folks who had cruised with Princess before later in the week, as well.

 

Thanks for your wonderful review.

I was wondering about the "snow showers".. How cool is that....

I hope you took pictures...Would love to see them

[Elizabeth K.]

Terry55,

 

Thanks for your review. We sailed her last Feb. and enjoyed every minute:) . We also took the art tour around the island in St. Martin. Rarely see posts about it but for anyone who enjoys original art it is very worthwhile, plus you get an island tour at the same time. Happy New Year.

 

Elizabeth