CB review August 6th sailing

[boone2]

Just got in from our wonderful cruise aboard the CB.

A bit about us, DH and I are in our 50's, DD(17) was with us in our cabin and we sailed with friends from the UK who are also in their 50's, they had an adjoining cabin. We have now sailed 7 times on Princess, it was our friends first cruise. A note for those booking from the UK, they used our US TA, used their own address and had no problems with booking.

We met for a few days in NY first and then got to Port at approx 1145. We had priority embarkation and our friends were allowed to embark with us. We were on board and in our cabins by noon. We had Caribe 506 and 510 and enjoyed the large balconies.

Our Steward Jennylyn was great, all staff were extremely friendly and went out of their way to make our holiday enjoyable. The food was good to pretty good. We ate in both Sabatinis and Sterlings and enjoyed both. Our daughter made friends very quickly and we saw little of her, I think she was adopted by another family. We particularly enjoyed the bar on plaza deck and had morning coffee, pre dinner drinks and night caps there every night. The staff at the bar were wonderful, remembered our names and our drinks. We got a tour of the bridge which was a wonderful perspective, thoroughly enjoyed that.

There were a few negatives. Anytime dining was a fiasco, we have always had anytime and never encountered any problems. The first 2 nights we waited over an hour for a table, we went from one dining room to another and had a couple in each line seeing which could get a table first. The second night was so bad they seated us in the traditional dining room! We tried to eat at 8 to 8.30 every night. After 2 nights we booked a table for the rest of the nights. On the second night we were told by dining reservations that we could not have a table for 5 between 7.30 and 9.00pm anywhere on the ship. Some nights the line to get in, even with reservations was as long as the unreserved line. This tells me that more people wanted to eat later on this cruise and that traditional diners are using anytime, after the second night cards were checked by the head waiter. Did this spoil our cruise - absolutely not, just a little frustrating and I'm pointing it out as an observation.

No youth security - they were needed. We used the aft pool and there were kids in many times. This annoyed me as a parent I never allowed my kids into these pools and our DD didn't go in this time. At one point a 3 and 6 year old were in the hot tub at the back on deck 16 and their parent was told to take them out by a deck attendant. As soon as the attendant left, the parents took them back in again, what does this teach the kids? On the last day the front pool was closed as the sea was a little rougher and thepool was swishing and emptying. Some kids accompanied by an adult took the cover offand were DIVING head first into the pool from the hot tubs into about 3 feet of water. Iwent to the bar along with another concerned adult to report it but not much was done until another adult told them to stop being stupid and get out. I missed Youth security - it didn't spoil my cruise!

Entertainment - sorry folks I know there is big Bert Stratton fan club on these boards and I was looking forward to seeing him. I just don't get it! He is absolutley dreadful, yes he can play and yes he can sing but can he ever ruin wonderful songs with his diction and intonation. The gentleman who took some of the sessions in crooners was way better. The group Wavelength was excellent, great band great music, Sarge was reasonably funny, Kamike was good and the impressionist and mentalist were dire! Didn't do the production shows, I just felt the entertainment was a little lacking this time - it didn't spoil my cruise though.

Changed Itinery, would have preferred longer in each port, we did our own thing in each, was nearly left behind at St thomas as our cab driver never turned up at the beach, we made it back to ship with about 15-20 mins to spare, too close for comfort, - didn't spoil our cruise though

Delayed embarkation. I had flights back to Toronto booked for 1230 with a car service to pick us up at port. We triedto get our flights changed to a later time but all were booked with AA unless we wanted to pay $1000 each for a one way ticket. We eventually got a flight this morning and stayed the night at a Marriott at LGA. Princess travel insurance is reimbursing costs,. Princess covered the cost of the phone call (250$) and internet(75) to change all our plans. Didn't spoil our cruise though - stuff happens!

All in all a great time, our friends thoroughly enjoyed their first time and would like to do it again. We are going on the Tahitian in 2 months so weren't quite as sad as we normally are at the end of a vacation.

PS the a/c worked well too

Terry

[DonnaK]

Thanks for the review! We're on the CB's next sailing.

 

Who were the CD and Captain? Was Sarge still aboard?

[OuiOnboard]

Thanks for the review. Glad to read you had a great time.

[cabana]

Yep I don't get the Bert thing either. But I hear he's heading to Nashville maybe to wait tables. Kidding just kidding

[dforeigner]

Thank you for taking time to write a review.

[frofro]

Thanks for the review! We will be in same cabins (C510 and C506) next summer! I agree about anytime dining. Last year on Crown it went rather smooth. This year on CB it was dreadful! :eek: Can you please tell me what time you made your reservations for the rest of the cruise?

[Casshew]

Thanks for your review, we are sailing on the CB next week :)

 

I'm disappointed to hear the entertainment was crap... I am travelling with friends that have never cruised before and I was hoping they would be blown away by the shows etc...

 

I think we will stick to the lounge shows (did they do newlyweds or family feud?) and MUTS

[frofro]

Thanks for your review, we are sailing on the CB next week :)

 

I'm disappointed to hear the entertainment was crap... I am travelling with friends that have never cruised before and I was hoping they would be blown away by the shows etc...

 

I think we will stick to the lounge shows (did they do newlyweds or family feud?) and MUTS

 

 

They did Newlyweds. If theyve never cruised before try out at least the comedian, if it's Sarge. The mentalist might be interesting to them, alot of people loved his show.. it's hard to get seats, get there early!

[noobiecruiser]

Thanks for the review ... it helps me get mentally prepared for next summer's CB cruise!

[boone2]

Thanks for your comments all, I was rather afraid I would be shot for my Bert review, (still shaking our heads over him!!!) The CD was Dan something or other, an Ozzie who was very funny, the Captain was Commodore Guiseppe Romano who was filling in for a vacationing Captain. Apparently he is head of the whole fleet. Sarge's wife is having a baby in 5 weeks, not sure if he will be there then or not.

We booked our table for 8 pm every night and eventually settled on a couple of very nice waiters in the midship deck 6 dining room, i get mixed up on the diningroom names, just know where they are.

This is the first time I have eaten in the traditional dining room though!!

Liked our cabin's position, midships so handy for everything. It seemed rather small at first as last year on the Emerald we were upgraded to a full suite. Still it was bigger than our hotel room in NY!!!

Terry

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review, :)

and ditto on the Bert comment. :rolleyes:

[Love Boat Dream]

I was on the CB on July 1. I was told that they no longer have youth security because they were getting no respect! They have put on more "official" security in the white uniforms. They were on top of the teens on our cruise. Sorry to hear they didn't do their jobs on your cruise.

 

We had one night when there was a long wait for dinner (1st formal) so we made an early reservation for the 2nd formal night. The other nights we had no problem.

[Casshew]

Love Boat Dream, what do you mean 'you were told' ?

 

 

Someone randomly just approached you and told you that? or did you ask someone? how did it come up?

[NeurosurgeryNP]

Thanks for the review. A day on a cruise is better than any day on ladn and at work! Can't wait for our upcoming CB cruise.

[kc.cruiser]

Thanks for the review. We will be on the CB in two weeks. Do you know what excursions Princess is offering for NYC post cruise?

[boone2]

I don't know anything about excursions post cruise but NY is so easy to do on your own. On our first visit 2 years ago we too the NY party shuttle (which you can google) and took a 6 hour tour of NY with stops at many places. There were only 12 people on the tour in an a/c bus with a great tour guide . I think it was about $60 and worth every penny.

This visit we took the subway all over and felt really safe, it was clean and quick but a native NYer told us we would be as quick to hail a cab. We did Spamalot on Broadway and loved it, maybe because we were all British and brought up on Monty Python. I researched using the East Coast departures forum on these boards to find out all I needed to know.

Terry

[Sandytoes]

Terry ~

 

Sorry I didn't get a chance to meet you at the meet & greet. (That's if you went)

 

I have to a agree... We're not big Bert Stratton fan's ourselves. That's one act we always by-passed.

 

Sarge had the same act as he did on the Crown a few years back. We were disappointed in that.

We thought after all these years he would have new material....Guess not...:rolleyes:

We did happen to catch the Liars Club Game Show. Which was a hoot to watch.

 

Thanks for writing your review.

 

Chris

[Colo Cruiser]

.

 

Sarge had the same act as he did on the Crown a few years back. We were disappointed in that.

We thought after all these years he would have new material....Guess not...:rolleyes:

 

 

 

The worst with the same act is Lorenzo Clark and the pickle joke, OMG I could do his whole routine right now!!

 

A couple of years ago he appeared to be drunk during one of his shows, now that is a painful one to sit through, and yes I know if I don't like it then don't go and I won't. :eek:

 

Now Sarge I have watched many times and I still enjoy him.

[dewats784]

Thanks for the review of the CB. My husband and I sailed her in May on one of the short cruises to Princess Cays and back. We were in cabin C510 (thought it was a great place to be on the ship.) We too enjoyed the balcony. Glad you had a great time!