July 19th Caribbean Princess

[Kathy130]

Just returned this morning and wanted to have a quick post out there today. This was my 6th cruise, 1st with Princess, and will NEVER be my last.

 

I am totally impressed with Princess. We had a wonderful cruise....perfect weather, fabulous service and great food. Anyone leaving from Brooklyn still this summer shouldn't be worried at all with the one engine down. Yes, it did cut down on port times.......... and we dealt with it. Months ago Bermuda was planned for 9-5pm. With the problem with the engine, one week before we left the time was changed from 1-6.....not great, but lived with it. Then the captain made an announcement about 10 am stating we regretfully wouldn't get there until 2pm. EACH PERSON was given a &75.00 OBC and complimentary wine and soda with dinner that night was offered. I've been on RCCL, MISSED a port altogether because of weather and was ONLY offered free drinks for one hour during the afternoon we missed.

 

This was just a quick review. I'll try to write more later.

[LoraJ]

Welcome Home!

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. :)

 

I posted some photos of you all sailing from NYC in your roll call thread.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the comments on the CB. :)

[SandG]

I just came off the Caribbean Princess today too. We also had a wonderful time, and so did my nearly 17-yr old daughter. She hooked up with a nice group of kids and we didn't see much of her.

 

The three of us shared a triple oceanview w/balcony on the Baja deck, and it was quite comfortable for all of us. In our last cruise, she was in a sofabed, and it blocked the entrance to the balcony when it was open so I preferred this setup much better. The berth was also more comfortable than a sofabed since it doesn't have a crease in it. The area next outside the bathroom and next to the closets also created a private dressing area, which gave us more privacy than in our last stateroom.

 

We chose this itinerary because it was supposed to spend a full day in Bermuda so we were very disappointed when we ended up with only 3 hours there. (It was 2:30 by the time we got off the ship and we had to be back by 5:30.) We grabbed a taxi right away, and spent about an hour and a half at Horseshoe Bay. At least we got to see it, and it whetted our appetite to go back.

 

I agree the $75 credit/pp was a nice token. And you didn't have to spend it on something extra, it was a credit to your on-board account. Our gratuities ($10.50/day/pp) were billed there, so it ended up helping to offset that cost.

 

As Kathy130 noted, everything else was wonderful, the service was great, and we had beautiful weather (aside from a rather exciting storm at sea last night!!) I'm going to miss the voice of our cruise director, Dan Styne, in the morning. (He was terrific.)

 

I also plan to write a review later on, with some more details. This was also our first cruise with Princess and we ended up buying future cruise credits yesterday!! ;)

 

Sue

[Casshew]

Thanks for your reviews :) We are heading off on the CB next month.

[LENORA516]

I too just got home from the July 19th cruise (boo hoo). The weather, the food and the staff were all fantastic. We renewed our vows with the Captain in a lovely ceremony and he couldn't be nicer. We also enjoyed the chefs table , it was a great experience. :D

[roe2ship]

Glad to hear you had a great first cruise on Princess.

[Clutterlady]

Welcome home to everyone:) Glad you enjoyed the CB as much as we did!!!

[NeurosurgeryNP]

:cool: THanks for your quick review. Can't wait to sail her again in October.

[noobiecruiser]

Thanks for your positive review. We are looking forward to our cruise next summer.

[frofro]

I don't get it....I was on July 10th sailing, missed Bermuda altogether and only got $25 OBC, this sailing misses a few hours and gets $75! :confused: What would be the reason for this?

 

Anyway, glad you enjoyed, thanks for posting, we loved it too!

[SandG]

I don't get it....I was on July 10th sailing, missed Bermuda altogether and only got $25 OBC, this sailing misses a few hours and gets $75! :confused: What would be the reason for this?

 

Anyway, glad you enjoyed, thanks for posting, we loved it too!

 

It's not fair, but here is my guess:

We were supposed to have approx. 7 hours in Bermuda but we got in late and only had 3 hours because one of the engines was down, whereas your missed port, due to the hurricane, would be considered an "act of God" and out of their control.

 

I'm sorry you missed Bermuda altogther, I was happy we had a short visit at least.

 

Sue

[AJTWC]

Hey Kathy - glad you had a great time! We leave in 12 days, RCCL again to Bermuda. SO SO looking forward. Hope Nancy had a great time as well.

 

Audrey

[Kathy130]

Hey Audrey......Glad you find my quick short review. Yes, we had a fabulous time. But Nancy will never be the cruise nut I am............so her take might be different. Was just TOTALLY IMPRESSED WITH PRINCESS!!!

 

I KNOW you'll have a wonderful time. Now that you're a veteran, you'll enjoy it even more.

[dforeigner]

Thanks to those who wrote the mini reviews.

[Pixelator]

Sue, Kathy and Lenora -

 

Welcome home! and thanks for all your reviews! DD Emily (17) and I are sailing on the CB Aug 15 and I'm looking forward to check CC on days the CB is returning for fresh review posts! Thanks for letting us live (and anticipate) vicariously through your great posts! Please post and let us know if you put any photos online!

 

Bob

 

CB Aug 12 2007 Eastern Caribbean

[Solara]

Thanks for your review. Glad you love Princess as much as we do!!!!

[caribill]

I don't get it....I was on July 10th sailing, missed Bermuda altogether and only got $25 OBC, this sailing misses a few hours and gets $75! :confused: What would be the reason for this?

 

Didn't your cruise miss Bermuda because of a Hurricane, something that Princess has no control over?

 

This cruise had the short time there due to the engine problems that Princess does have responsibility for.

[vickie_bernie]

would love to hear about what you did in each of the ports

[SandG]

Hi Vickie,

 

Here's what we did on this cruise (7/19): We didn't book any excursions because we were traveling with our teenaged daughter (almost 17) and we knew she would want to sleep in late every morning.

 

Grand Turk: My husband and I were awake for the docking at 7:00; we had to be back on board by 1:30. We wanted to do a beach day so got off the ship fairly early and got a nice pair of beach chairs in the shade under the coconut trees in front of Margaritaville, which is right at the dock. DD joined us mid-morning and we had a good time going back and forth between the beach and the huge pool. Everything was free. ... well, except for a margarita which was about $9, but I thought it was fun to be drinking the margarita while sitting in the pool. :)

 

San Juan: The ship didn't leave until late that evening, so we let our daughter sleep in and then the three of us went to town for lunch. We happened upon a place called Raices, just a couple of blocks from the dock that served Mofongo (stuffed plantains) which was a little pricey but had a nice atmosphere. We'd been in San Juan a few times before, so we took the ferry across the bay (only 50 cents) and then caught a taxi on the other side to the Baccardi factory. The tour didn't take you into the factory. It included a film, informational area and museum, but it was free and included 2 free drinks. My daughter got 2 free Cokes and took advantage of the cell phone service since we were in the US again. It was very easy to get there and if you're thinking of booking this tour through the ship, it only cost us $9/pp including the taxi and ferry ride and we got a nice view of our ship from the water. I think the ship excursion included a driving tour of old San Juan, but since we'd seen it before, we didn't feel like we were missing anything.

 

St. Thomas: Another early port and we had to back on board by 2:30 so DD slept and stayed in the room all day. My husband and I grabbed a taxi to Magen's Bay. We stayed there a few hours then took a taxi to Blackbeard's Castle where we looked around and then walked down to the town from there (it's right above the main shopping district). After a little bit of shopping, we headed back to the ship. There were plenty of taxis because only 2 ships were in town that day.

 

Bermuda: Really only 3 hours here, so we grabbed a taxi for Horseshoe Beach but only had about 1-1/2 hours there before we left to go back. We got back with a half hour to spare but hadn't wanted to take any chances.

 

All in all, we enjoyed all of our days on the islands, although as we've all mentioned already, we needed more time in Bermuda. :(

 

Sue