Review of CB May 24-June 2

[vowsatsea]

Welcome to my review of our cruise on the CB this past week, we had a great time and to give a heads up this was our 4th cruise and our 1st on Princess so not a vet but not a newbie......

 

1) Embarkation in RedHook, NY....

Does it get any better than this. We wizzed through the line and were on board by 1230pm....Bit of advice for others..get a transfer!!!!We almost didnt and TRUST ME, cabbies dont really know where the pier is.

Room was ready as soon as we stepped on board. Hats of to Princess for this one..

 

2) Our cabin.....

This is a gray area for most of us fellow CCers. Depends on what you like and pay for. We had the Grand Cayman Suite on Aloha all the way Aft and I must say, the best cabin I have had on our cruise's yet! Very large and Princess by far has the biggest balconies in the Aft..(Highly recommended) Had a quiet room steward, always greeted us and gave us top service(we really didnt ask for much). No towel animals on Princess but that really didnt bother us....

 

3) The ship.....

We loved the CB, first time on Princess and already booked another one for next year, sorry NCL and RCCL but they really out did themselves as far as we were concidered..(we always book a suite so that didnt matter)

 

MOVEMENT ON THE SHIP.....I know this has been a topic for some time on the boards so let me put my two cents in here, we sailed on the NCL Gem and RCCL voyager and this ship BY FAR moves less than those two in some hairy conditions.....we missed the port of Bermuda because of strong winds and high seas(I know it sucks)...I didnt even know we were in bad weather that day when I woke up soooooo....The CB really handles well...and we were in the Aft!!!

 

4) Food......

Food on the ship was great in my opinion..Had a wonderful meal at the Crown Grille..Pizza on Princess is the BEST I have had on any cruise(Hats off to Princess for that!!!!!) The area I would like to touch a bit is the Buffet.....My wife and I are pickey with food but conciderate to others and I saw some of the worst mutiny in the Horizon Court and the Caribe that I have ever seen in my life....People just expect way too much from the workers in the buffet....Think about it when your there, do u tip them? Chances are no.....Bring a drink with you to your meal and you wont have to wait for them to come to you....(not hard) Anyway we enjoyed our meals in the buffet but flavor for some is subjective.....

 

5) Ports.....

Grand Turk was very nice but they are still building from the hurricane....Go shopping right off the ship and have fun in Margaritaville(Its a blast)..

Puerto Rico was also great, went to the Barcardi distillery and traveled the city with my in-laws( wife is from there)

St. Thomas was our favorite stop...just a beauty of a place, would love to go there again....

We missed Bermuda on this trip due to bad weather so had to make an extra sea day out of it.....(didnt mind that, bought our total sea days to 5)

 

6) All in all......

We really had a great time, missed our meet and greet but that was my fault....Princess is a wonderful line and look forward to booking our Alaskan trip with them....Any questions please ask as I will try to be helpful...

 

John

 

 

P.S. Little hint for the Beer guys out there, bring your empty bucket back to the bars when your ready for a new on and they give u a discount, and if you tip the bartenders a little extra, you get a little extra.....Happy Sailings:D:D:D

 

 

 

 

I agree with your review except the Horizon Court and Cafe Caribe drinks.

 

Like I said in my review, I have NO problem waiting to get my water glass filled or waiting to be asked if I want to have a drink IF I see that they're busy or short staffed. However, when I see six employees standing around chit chatting, or playing around with each other, that's what I think is inappropriate.

 

This was my ONLY complaint from this cruise. I love the ship, the staff and the line. They are my favorite, and will probably always will be, but there was a noticable decline in the service for the buffet areas.

[noobiecruiser]

Hi there!

Thanks for your review! We are sailing this ship in August out of Red Hook too. We live in NJ so we have no option but to take a taxi to the pier. Any help you can provide as far as where I should tell them to go in case I also have a cab that doesn't know where he is going and we end up driving around in circles? :)

 

Thanks ever so much!

 

When in August are you sailing? We are on the CB on August 22 (for my husband's 50th birthday). We're from NJ too -- Cherry Hill area.

[prg2101]

Was the order of the ports the way you listed them in your post: Grand Turk, St. Thomas, San Juan and Bermuda? It's the opposite of what my itinerary is for next week and I know that some of them do the opposite itinerary. Just curious...thanks also for the great review. It's so nice to hear that someone else shares the same love for the CB! This is our second time on the ship! I can't wait for my first slice of their pizza and a 3 Berry Daiquiri!

 

Yes our trip and one sailing in July is backwards from the rest of the summer trips....Enjoy your trip(and the PIZZA!!!!)

[RickEk]

Yes our trip and one sailing in July is backwards from the rest of the summer trips....Enjoy your trip(and the PIZZA!!!!)

 

 

mmmmmmmmm.... pizza! :D Can't wait!

[prg2101]

First off, thanks for the great review. Sailing in July on her. What kind of discount do you get for bringing back the bucket? I always brought them back and walked away. Then I'd go to another bar for another bucket. A discount is a little incentive to just keep on getting buckets, lol!

Also, do you know who the rest of the CD's cruise staff is? We had a great time with the best cruise staff last year.

Thanks,

Freddie

 

Freddie,

By bringing back the bucket to the exact bar you got it from(and make sure the bartender clearly sees that your returning it), I got 2 dollars off each bucket!!!

 

Other Staff members were:

Captian- Marco Fortezze

CD-Is now Tim Donavan.....lucky for some of u!!

PSD- Peter Hollinson

Executive Chef- Nilo Palma

Maitre d- Giuseppe Franchina

[prg2101]

Thanks for your review. I noticed that you didn't mention the Sanctuary. Do you know anything about it (cost, etc). I've read different accounts on different threads.

 

This morning I called Princess to try and get some real information. The operator was totally unfamiliar with the ship and the Sanctuary. You could hear her turning the pages of her reference document. All she could share was $10/half day. She had no knowledge of how you reserved (by day or cruise).

 

Princess' website seems not to have been updated.

 

thanks.

 

We didnt visit the Sanctuary but there is a great thread that one of

my fellow CCers posted from this trip....LidoLiz has a thread called

"I lived in the Sanctuary......check it out;)

[RickEk]

We didnt visit the Sanctuary but there is a great thread that one of

my fellow CCers posted from this trip....LidoLiz has a thread called

"I lived in the Sanctuary......check it out;)

 

And here's that link... http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=998735

 

We're definitely looking into it... sounds like a great time...

[Sandytoes]

John ~~

 

Enjoyed reading your review.

 

Pizza :p They do make it good, don't they? :D

 

 

 

How was the International Cafe?

The cookies? :D

[CateW]

Thanks for your review. I noticed that you didn't mention the Sanctuary. Do you know anything about it (cost, etc). I've read different accounts on different threads.

 

This morning I called Princess to try and get some real information. The operator was totally unfamiliar with the ship and the Sanctuary. You could hear her turning the pages of her reference document. All she could share was $10/half day. She had no knowledge of how you reserved (by day or cruise).

 

Princess' website seems not to have been updated.

 

thanks.

 

The first 20 people can reserve for the entire cruise; it's $15.00 pp/per day. After that, you can reserve for the entire day $20 per day or 1/2 days at $10 for a half day. The staff and service was second to none and one of the best things we've ever done.

[JulesNJ]

When in August are you sailing? We are on the CB on August 22 (for my husband's 50th birthday). We're from NJ too -- Cherry Hill area.

 

We are in Northern NJ - the Little Falls/West Paterson border and we are sailing Aug. 13th from Red Hook :D

[Solstice23]

Glad you liked it

 

I agree I hate sailing on NCL, But prefer RCCL ships over princess I call them even, But love Celebrity

[prg2101]

John ~~

 

Enjoyed reading your review.

 

Pizza :p They do make it good, don't they? :D

 

 

 

How was the International Cafe?

The cookies? :D

 

My wife had to have a cookie every afternoon:rolleyes::D...you can smell them

baking all the way up on the promenade!!! They were good.....

[DonnaK]

There is a wonderful private parking lot at the pier. There is usually lots of room and we have parked there several times and the car was never touched and is very easy to get in and out of. Think about driving to the pier. However there is a charge per day. Notsure what that is right now.

 

This is what I was going to suggest too. According to the website for the pier, the cost is $20/day. It couldn't have been easier or more convenient to park at the pier. As well, we got directions to the pier from MapQuest and it was very accurate and not at all confusing! IMO, this is the way to go if live locally.

[DonnaK]

He usually does a 4- 6 month contract so he may be there in August. That can always change based on the needs of the company.

 

 

I hope you are right! I wasn't very impressed with Dan Styne last year, and it would be nice to have a different CD on our upcoming cruise (especially when I've read great things about Tim Donovan)

[beckcab]

Jules, hop on over to our roll call!

[Love Boat Dream]

Thanks for the review! I'll be on the CB on July 8. I sailed on her last year but it was before the refurb.

[Caribbean Sunsets]

Thanks for the review. I'll be sailing on her later this year.

[AAAAmerican]

West Paterson

is now a Naught....:eek: not a knot...

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are in Northern NJ - the Little Falls/West Paterson border and we are sailing Aug. 13th from Red Hook :D

[flipflops84]

Thanks for the great review- very well organized! I'm glad to hear that you didn't think the ship was rocky- I was a little worried about that. We are sailing in August and may have to deal w/ hurricanes :(

[omarchs]

Thanks for the review. I was on the same trip and haven't had time to post mine yet.

 

I am a veteran Princess cruiser and was extremely disappointed with this trip compared to past cruises on them.

 

Pack a lot of short sleeves for the ship/dining room since it is always warm on this ship and the staff seems tired about the comments. I didn't really feel the motion on the ship that others have complained about, but the ship is always vibrating which is quite annoying.

 

I will sound old with this comment, but I am only in my 40's. The bands at the pool and in the lounges were too loud. The bands were good, but you had trouble talking to people next to you especially in the lounges when the two pool bands were on. I love music, but you shouldn't have to shout to the person next to you to be heard over them.

 

Food in the dining room was hit or miss and mostly miss. Selection and quality have detiorated over the years, but also has on other cruise lines.

 

Got sick multiple days from the pool grill and are Maitre'd told me at night to eat crackers - customer service at it's best!

 

Service was decent, but not exceptional. Everyone was talking about the automatic tipping as a reason that there service has gone down. Our waiter in the dining room was very good, but we felt strange when we gave him an extra envelope on the last night and he wanted our cabin number/account code to write on it even though we said it was extra. We thought we were doing a favor, but it felt like we were being tracked that we didn't give any tips!

 

Certainly felt nickled and dimed the whole trip. No more drink specials, getting mugged by the Pirate getting off the ship in St. Thomas since nobody was getting their pictures done. Everyone has their own opinion, but his frequent Princess cruiser is not going back.

[mollyanne]

Service was decent, but not exceptional. Everyone was talking about the automatic tipping as a reason that there service has gone down. Our waiter in the dining room was very good, but we felt strange when we gave him an extra envelope on the last night and he wanted our cabin number/account code to write on it even though we said it was extra. We thought we were doing a favor, but it felt like we were being tracked that we didn't give any tips!

 

The reason your waiter asked for your cabin number is because it is his responsibility to check to make sure you left your auto-tips in place...otherwise he is not allowed to keep your extra tip and must turn it into the tip pool. We learned this several cruises ago and now I just automatically put our cabin number on our extra trip envelopes.

 

As long as you left your auto-tips in place the extra was his to keep.

[JoeyBoyDee]

We have booked same cabin on July 8 Cruise. Can you expand on some of the amenities you received please ie. did you get priority embarkation or any preference with dinner seating or reservations. Sounds like the cabin was fine. Was thee enough room on the balcony? Thank you.

[JulesNJ]

West Paterson

is now a Naught....:eek: not a knot...

 

 

 

Yes, we had a name change - Woodland Park now! But did you know they are voting on it AGAIN in November! Ridiculous situation lol

[AAAAmerican]

At least they kept the same initials...

:eek: lol:D

 

 

Yes, we had a name change - Woodland Park now! But did you know they are voting on it AGAIN in November! Ridiculous situation lol

[prg2101]

We have booked same cabin on July 8 Cruise. Can you expand on some of the amenities you received please ie. did you get priority embarkation or any preference with dinner seating or reservations. Sounds like the cabin was fine. Was thee enough room on the balcony? Thank you.

 

Sorry our suite was on Aloha deck A-751,, the Grand Cayman Suite....

We didnt request prio embarkation cause it was fast anyway....The balcony was HUGE but that is the balcony on Aloha deck....different from suite on caribea deck