Caribbean Princess Jan 6-13th

[woodmill100]

This isn't so much of a review but our thoughts on the week. This was our first cruise so everything was a new experience to us!

 

Background is that we are 36 and 40 from the UK. This was to be a late winter holiday as we had plans to see Alaska (HAL) and New York in May however, I have fallen pregnant so that trip was cancelled. Looked at upgrading to a suite with the cash saved and our TA gave me such a good deal on the Grand Suite it would have been rude to say no!

 

We flew to Miami the night before and stayed at the Marriott - awful and won't do it again. Hired a car and driver to get us to the ship and we arrived to massive lines which we both made a face at. Realistically, we were onboard in 15 minutes. Now I booked the Grand Suite without hubby knowing. When we got onboard, we came to deck 12 through midship so when we got the deck heading to our cabin, I knew the double doors at the very end were ours but he didn't :D That first walk was a bit like an optical illusion - I kept thinking I was walking into myself and I was going to hit a glass wall.

 

Arrived at suite doors and allowed hubby to walk in first. He swore a little and just wandered around the cabin (I had seen photos before and believe me they don't do that cabin justice). The funny thing was he walked around 2-3 times and didn't put the carryon down once! Anyway, fabulous cabin with loads and loads of space, huge deck, huge bed, fabulous bathroom and of course in room pc!

 

We were anytime dining and enjoyed it. Hubby did more I think because we encountered a dreadful woman at breakfast (shared table) in the diningroom on day 2. We are both Scottish and my husband is from a building site background so his accent is strong but he tries really hard to speak slower and to make sure people can understand him. However, this female after about 10 minutes asked for her and her husband to be moved to a different table as she didn't like being seated with foreigners :eek: . I was mortified and husband said no way was he sharing a table with anyone for the rest of the cruise. We actually did the next morning and had a blast with our group discussing all sorts of things. We ate in the diningroom most mornings as we didn't really care for buffet eating.

 

No problems getting a table in the Palm Court and we ate in Sabatinis on the final night. I didn't think it was worth the money but hubby loved the food and said it was worth the money. Didn't eat at the steakhouse because of restrictions on what I can eat being pregnant.

 

The ship was full but it never felt like it. The two big pools at MUTS etc were usually quite crowded but we stayed towards the back of the ship where it was quieter - For information, the age group of this cruise was quite young. I'd say our ages were pretty average. There were a few children but all very polite and well behaved.

 

Went to the spa a few times which we both really enjoyed. Lovely staff too. We didn't use the Lotus Spa because I can't with being pregnant.

 

Enjoyed our time in St Martin and especially St Thomas. Also enjoyed Princess Cays. We hired a cabana but didn't use it - there is plenty of space for shelter from the sun so my recommendation would be not to waste your money on the cabanas and bungalows unless you really have to.

 

Arrived back in FLL after a very quick week. We had no problems with the exception of a quick call to verify my credit card on the final night - they thought my bill was a fraudulent transaction! Huge lines at passenger services and I can't help thinking that if Princess made their narration on the bill a little clearer, most of those people would have been happy. There were a lot of people in line who had payment problems - wonder what happens if your credit card is declined and you have no other method of payment!

 

Got off the ship in about 10 minutes!

 

Would we do it again - yes! Wouldn't do the Grand Suite again as we don't need the space. When our Cabin Steward was in other cabins we saw balcony cabins and we're sure these will do us just fine on any future cruise. The Grand Suite is right at the back of the ship and we encountered quite a lot of movement which you didn't get midship.

 

Our Steward did keep everything clean and tidy for us but he wasn't overly chatty and we very rarely saw him. In fact, the laundry ruined a sweater of mine and asking him to deal with that was quite a job plus he never seemed to smile.

 

I think that is everything but I will probably think of more and post it later. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask and I'll happily help as much as I can.

[woodmill100]

Just one other thing that really did impress me was the food. Quite often, there was food in the Palm that I couldn't eat again due to being pregnant. I was simply asked what I would like instead - 10 minutes later it was sitting in front of me. Service was perfect.

[negn]

Sounds fabulous ! Sorry you encountered such a rude passenger. I, myself, love Scottish accents

[Love Boat Dream]

Sounds like a great trip! We are on the CB in July.

 

Did you take a look at the other cabins? Now that you have been in a suite, you are spoiled! you won't want to travel any other way! And, when you travel with your little one you will want the space!

 

Thanks for your review! Sorry you met such a rude person the first day. I love meeting people from all over! I have a NY accent so we could have fun trying to figure out what each other was saying!

[deppong]

I am an American and I always find it funny when we travel out of the country or even in the south (we are from the midwest) that we always think everyone has an accent. We are the ones with the accent! Maybe a better more politically correct way to say it is I love your dialect? I always worry about offending people but I do love the different accents that we run into with our travels. I find it hard to beleive that someone feel they have the right to be so rude. You should have said "I agree with you I would like to be moved to because I don't like foreigners either. That would have fixed his wagon!

[rubegoddess]

People like that (the table switchers) should be thrown overboard.

 

Congrats on your pregnancy!