Review of Caribeean Princess 11/20 Thanksgiving Cruise

[lawgirl]

Hello! I actually wrote this review yesterday and wouldn't you know it didn't post! So, here I am again re-typing! Oh well. I have always liked these boards and find good and bad reviews helpful. I know some reviewers are criticized when they say anything negative about a cruise, but I think its important to be honest and that its beneficial to everyone to share thoughts and observations even if not always positive. So, I am going to give a summary of what we thought were the positives and negatives of this cruise.

 

As background, my husband and I took this cruise. We are in our 30s and this is our first Princess cruise. We took it to compare to RCI, which we like. (We love Celebrity, but knew that given the price differential Princess would likely not be in line with Celebrity). My thoughts are based upon our comparison of this cruise to others we've been on.

 

POSITIVES:

 

Nice rooms -- good layout, plenty of storage, large closet, nice bath products. We were in a balcony room on Caribe - large balcony!

 

Great variety of entertainment especially at night -- The acts and singers were very good especially BURT STRATTON -- don't miss him!

 

Lots of pools -- hard to find a chair, but that's typical.

 

Drink of the day is a great deal. Try the large - its triple sized for only $7. Other drinks on board also reasonably priced.

 

Pizza was very good and avaliable until midnight

 

Movies under the Sun/Stars. This was the best feature of the ship. We loved watching Grease, Jurassic Park and Toy Story while sunbathing! At night it was fun too, but get there on time or you will have a hard time getting a seat.

 

Staying on ship while in port -- quiet, relaxing, less kids

 

Graham - I thought he was a riot and a great cruise director

 

Spa - nice (sometimes loud) and I even won a $100 gift certificate the first night of the cruise !!! Yeah!

 

Ultimate Balcony dinner - I will write a seperate review but I wanted to recommend it - despite our loud experience, you will enjoy it! Alexander our waiter was great and he's now received a much-deserved promotion.

 

 

NEGATIVES

 

Ship crew in general -- lots of passengers commented on how the crew seems tired and unenthused. We agreed. For the most part they did not go out of their way - not rude, just kind of there. There are always exceptions (Fernando and Larissa in Palm were great), but especially the waiters at dinner seemed to not care about correct service (they served different courses at different times to people at the same table) or being friendly. It could be because the ship was way overcrowded. On embarkation the lady who checked us in said the ship was booked for 3800!!

 

Embarkation - be prepared to wait a long time

 

Ship layout/decor -- we just were not impressed with the decor in the ship - uninspired. No cool art work or fresh flowers. Some areas seemed worn for a ship only a few months old. The public areas are all just one story for the most part which is confining. Even the dining rooms are only one story, which is odd. There is nothing wrong with the decor, its just kind of bland and could definitely be more elegant. Also, layout can be confusing - just try to find the Palm dining room!

 

Indoor/Outdoor carpet at pools. OK - this seems small I know, but the carpet was always wet - which means your cover-up, book, etc. are wet from laying on the carpet. And its kind of gross to walk on - food gets imbedded. Wood decks are much better

 

The strange hoarding of beach towels - why can't Princess put towels at the pool so I can get a fresh one if mine is wet? Why do I have to hand in my towel to my room steward before I can get a fresh one -- I guess they think we're all going to steal these blue and white beach towels or something.

 

Kids kids kids - all over -- very loud -- which we expected because of Thanksgiving but I swear it was like a daycare at times.

 

No atrium/enclosed pool for rainy or windy days

 

The adult pools are near kid zones so they are just as loud as other pools

 

Mediocre food - This was our biggest complaint and again maybe its because they were overbooked. The food at the buffets was abundant but just OK. At dinner on other ships we've had such great innovative food and desserts. On this ship the steak tasted funny, my lobster was overcooked, fish was dry, presentation unexciting (The turkey at Thanksgiving was actually very good, though). (Also, food and service at Ultimate Balcony dinner very good)We missed musicians in the dining area.

 

No midnight chocolate buffet - champagne tower was cool though.

 

General informality/dress code -- we love formal nights, but on this cruise for the most part passengers did not dress up that much. Few gowns and tuxes. Again, maybe because families on board. It just feels more special if everyone is dressed up and elegant. I'm sure that there are many who like it to be informal, but we like to dress up.

 

 

SUMMARY

 

We certainly had a great time on the cruise - it was also a very inexpensive cruise as well so worth the money. We met nice people and enjoyed the movies and entertainment. But, overall, we prefer RCI and Celebrity. We largely cruise to feel pampered and eat great, well-prepared food and just to feel special. On this ship we felt like one of the masses. This is just our taste however -- I am not saying Princess isn't good, it's just not our taste. If food/decor/pampering are not important to you and you like lots of pools, activities, anytime dining, less formality, then this is a good choice.

 

On a final note, many prior Princess cruisers said they like the Golden and Grand better and felt Princess was cutting corners and being "Carnivalized." I haven't cruised with them before so I can't comment. If we do go again on Princess, we will try a different ship. For now, we are booked on the Jewel in 6 weeks! Aother cruise!!! Yeah!!!!

[LARGIN]

Great review.. I suggest for your next Princess cruise you try either the Coral or the Island. You will be pleasantly surprised.

[Northender]

Super review :) Looking forward to reading about the Ultimate Balcony Dinner.

 

PS. I'll take the champagne over the chocolate :D :D

[Toto2Kansas]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on your Thanksgiving Cruise. We have always wanted to sail during Thanksgiving but your 'day care' comments are the reason we have drug out feet on this one. Sounds like we have made the right choice by waiting until after the holidays.

 

Thanks for taking the time. ;)

[geoherb]

We went on the Golden for Thanksgiving three years ago. I said I'd never go again on a holiday because of all the kids. (But we're going Christmas on Celebrity.)

 

The Caribbean Princess looks too big to me. We started cruising in the '80s on 40,000-ton ships. When we went on the Golden, we knew that was about as large as we could stand. We enjoyed all of our Grand-class cruises and have been on the Star Princess and Grand Princess as well as twice on the Golden.

[Rustynail]

Where was your balcony cabin located?

[ahracer]

As others have mentioned don't judge Princess solely on your experience on the Caribbean Princess. It is a product that is slightly different than Princess's other ships.

 

Scott

[trepid]

We will be on the Caribbean Princess this coming January can you tell me if there was any rocking or motion. I'm curious to know if we should be bringing along some motion sickness pills or bands that type of thing.

Any information would be most appreciated. Thanks a lot.

Wayne :D

[Justmetalkin]

Very nice review. Thanks for taking the time to share. I want to try RCL as well as other Princess ships.

[lawgirl]

Thank you all for the nice words about the review. Trepid - the seas were fairly calm so not much rocking on the boat. However, my husband thought one of the rotors may be misaligned because the egine vibration was quite noticable in the back of the ship, especially in the cafe areas. If you have a cabin in the back, you might be bothered - or maybe they will make adjustments and it will go away. It never hurts to bring along medicine.

 

Rustynail - we were in C254.

[amy hood]

That is why my 21 year old daighter doesn't want to sail on Carnival again.:eek:

We were on the Golden at Thanksgiving 3 years ago and I can only remember 1 episode with children running down the Dolphin deck hall in the middle of the afternoon. I just opened my door and kindly asked them not to run and they didn't.

I have read other post where things were much worse than that. We loved the Golden and are waiting patiently for are CP Thanksgiving next year.

Thanks for your report!:)

I wonder if there just were too many on board or just too many new employees.

[CruiseAholic]

Interesting to hear differing opinions, have friends who just came back from the same cruise/ship and absolutely loved it and have no complaints.

 

I pretty much discount comments about food, everyone has their own opinions about food and what one thinks is gourmet, another thinks is fast-food.

[pxgrant]

CruiseAholic (love your name - :) ) We were also on this cruise/ship. We absolutely had a WONDERFUL experience. We booked another one on the Golden in 4/2006.

 

My husband gained 3 lbs. and my daughter gained 7 lbs. Food was good-excellent. Sterling's was phenomenal.

 

Different strokes for different folks I guess.

[Coolcruise02]

Can someone help with the "kids" issue? I have read on here the Princess limits the number of children on each ship. What is that number? This is not the first review I have read recently that speaks of many children being on board.

[SeaTrailer]

Lawgirl,

 

Thanks for taking the time to write a review. We are booked for a March cruise and enjoy reading all the comments, good and bad.

 

A couple of observations if I may.

 

You like to dress up (so do we) and want to feel pampered yet you book a lesser expensive cruise on a mega-size ship on a holiday week. I'm just not certain that is a reasonable explantion. Celebrity is certainly a much more expensive line, thus catering to an older crowd that will dress up more.

 

It is also my opinion that you will get much more attention on a smaller ship. I have no facts to back this, just my impression.

 

Pretty much the same comments regarding kids. Lesser expensive cruises mean it is more affordable for families. Also, parents these days are not shy on pulling thier children out of school for any reason. We cruised to Bermuda this past summer and I was amazed on the number of children.

 

On this board I have read just as many good comments on the food as bad. Think this is just a matter of taste.

 

Thanks again for your comments.

[CruiseFever]

Thanks for your review, glad to hear you liked Movies Under The Stars too!

 

Thanks too for your frank comments on other areas which could have been better on your cruise. I hope you took the time to also fill out the guest questionaire as Princess takes them very seriously and is eager to act to correct things to make all elements of Personal Choice Cruising spectacular.

 

It's always refreshing to read of passengers who can find a good time when everything is not quite to their liking.

[CruiseFever]

Can someone help with the "kids" issue? I have read on here the Princess limits the number of children on each ship. What is that number? This is not the first review I have read recently that speaks of many children being on board.

Sure

 

Princess limits the number of kids in each age group with a predetermined formula for applied to each voyage. On Princess there is a voyage number for each sailing. There are a number of elements that are variables which apply to each sailing based on time of the year, ship, itinerary, etc. For example, on holiday sailings more kids ARE allowed on board.

[Catriona]

Can you elaborate further on how Princess limits kids? I know they only have so much room for kids in the Princess Kids area, and they have age restrictions on some voyages, but I didn't know that they actually limited kids from certain ships based on numbers. Do they actually tell you that they have too many kids already when you try and book a cruise?

 

Thanks!

[CruiseAholic]

I personally don't have much desire to sail on the Caribbean Princess, I think she will be too big. But, some like that size of a ship, as for me, my favorite ship is still the Royal Princess, such a shame that she is leaving the fleet.