CharlieW Reviews Caribbean Princess June 2008
This review is very late in getting posted. After we got home, I got busy in work and was getting home late. I also had to get ready for a Board of Directors meeting. After all of that, Comcast decided screw around with the cables in the street and we were without internet for the last 2 weeks. Anyway, there will be 2 posts following this. The first one will be a summary of the cruise. The second one will be a review of the ship and Princess.

TRIP SUMMARY
Embarkation – June 22, 2008 Arrived at the Brooklyn terminal approx. 11:30am. Very orderly and efficient. Friends we are traveling with were on the Crown 2 years ago and they said the Brooklyn terminal was total disorder. Security was uneventful and quick. Checkin was even quicker. We were in our rooms by 12:30pm. Went to the Horizon buffet for a salad. Then we toured the ship. Had to find all the bars. It’s been kept in pretty good condition. Setup is similar to the Grand as I remember it from 10 years ago. Now in all our cruises we typically ask for a table for 2 (or 3) when our daughter traveled with us. And we never got it. This time we were traveling with friends and requested to sit with them. Guess what…they put us at a table for 2! Spent the next hour+ waiting for a maitre d’ to request a change. Of course he said he couldn’t do it today but would hopefully resolve it tomorrow. So we made reservations for one of the other restaurants – the Coral. Same menu so it was not really a big deal. What was surprising was that the maitre d’ did this all manually taking notes on a piece of paper. Most other ships we have been on were able to make changes on the spot with a computer layout of the dining room. The next surprise was a change in the itinerary and how it was communicated. We couldn’t understand why the excursion desk was so crowded all afternoon and evening. Well we found out late on departure day that there was a problem with an generator that was causing them to cruise a slower speed. As a result, we were going to spend a couple of hours longer in San Juan but we would arrive late in Bermuda. Now the only thing that didn’t make sense was the fact that there was 3 days between San Juan and Bermuda. I could see if we were going from San Juan to Bermuda and there was not enough time but we were going from San Juan to St. Thomas then Bermuda with a sea day in between. Never did get a straight answer. Plus some people found out early in the day, we found out in the evening and some people didn’t find out until the next day. The welcome aboard show was excellent! A taste of the Pricness singers and dancers and then a comedian brought on board. His name is Sarge. He has been on Late Night as well as a number of other TV shows. Day 1 – At Sea Nice relaxing day. Did nothing. Slept late and had breakfast. Went for a walk for about an hour. Skipped lunch. Sat in the lobby bar – no I didn’t have a martini. Had a latte. Then watched a martini demo in the lobby bar. The friend we are traveling with, Joe, got called to help with the shaking of the martini. They then gave him the martini to drink. He is not a martini drinker, so I got to have a watermelon martini. We got our assigned table for early seating. It was our 1st of 2 formal nights. Ended up at a table of eight. The ship is approx. ¾ from NJ. The other people at the table are from – guess – NJ. A little girl age 7 named Savannah, her grandma and grandpa and father. Her mom and 2 siblings stayed home. It was a birthday cruise for the 7 year old and we had a very nice celebration. Although it has been 10 years since we have been on Princess, we did remember that the food was very good. And so far, both meals have been excellent. No one at the table was disappointed. The first show by the Princess entertainers “Do Yo Wanna Dance” was not that great. The choreography was pretty bad. Mostly walking and very little dancing. We did go see a comedian / magician in the Explorers Lounge that was excellent. Ended the evening in the martini bar listening to the piano player. Day 2 – At Sea Another lazy day. Slept late. Hung out in the pools and hot tubs most of the day. Dinner was once again excellent. A lot of people on the ship were complaining about the mattresses. Ours is fine. One of the few cruises where we didn’t have valleys in the mattress. So ours must have been changed recently. The ship is going into dry dock in December for some needed TLC. Sarge was back for another comedy show. Totally new from the qst night and was excellent. Laughed for an hour straight. Then saw a comedic impressionist in the Explorers lounge. Went to Club Fusion for some drinks and music. Then ended the night about 1am at the Martini bar. Day 3 – Grand Turk Our first time in Grand Turk. Beautiful island and scenery. We had Dune Buggies rented and had a blast. Annette was not too thrilled that we were full of wet sand when we finished. Went over to Jimmy Buffetts Margaritaville for a burger and margaritas. We were running late from our dune buggy adventure and never got over to see the flow rider that just opened in Grand Turk. Our sailaway was spent in the pools for a nice relaxing late afternoon. Day 4 – San Juan First time in San Juan. It was nice. Weather was hot. The only problem in San Juan was that there was a construction accident that basically brought the whole island to a stand still. We were already out on a tour of Old and New San Juan. We ended up spending over half the time in traffic. We ended up walking back to the ship from the fort because the bus driver said he had no idea how long it would take to get back. When we got to the fort and parked on the street, there was a school bus sitting in traffic next to us. When we got out of the fort, 45 minutes later, the school bus had not moved! The traffic lasted well into the night. We were on deck at 10pm and traffic was starting to move but slowly. There was an Island Night Party on deck for the 11pm sailaway. It was a beautiful night and leaving San Juan was spectacular. Day 5 – St. Thomas Another beautiful day and another beautiful island. Again, our first time in St. Thomas. Took a bus tour of St. Thomas and went up to Mountainview for some really spectacular views of the island. Got great pictures from up there. Ended up in Charlotte Amalie for some shopping. Ended up in the pool and hot tub before dinner. Day 6 – At Sea Relaxing day spent in the pools and hot tubs. Another beautiful Caribbean day. This is where the ship was showing its problems. The captain let us know that we would not make Bermuda on time. We would get in at approx. 10am. Oh well, our 9:30am Segway rental just got canceled. That night he let us know we would not get in until 12:30 and we would leave by 6:00 and not 7:00pm. We ended up docking about 1:30pm and left at 6:00. Day 7 – Bermuda Hamilton is closed on Sundays but at the West End dockyard the shops were open. We all had been to Bermuda a number of times so for us and our friends Joe and Peg it was not so bad. Except this was the second time to Bermuda where our Segways got canceled. We ended up at the Bone Fish for some drinks before heading back to the ship before the crowds, Day 8 – At Sea Roughest day of the trip. 20 foot seas and 55 mph winds. By afternoon all pools were closed. There were huge waves in the pools. I had a 2pm tee time in the golf simulator. It was interesting trying to play with the ship going side to side. We went to see a hypnotist show in Club Fusion. The hypnotist had everyone bring their chair onto the dance floor to be closer. At one point when the ship heeled everyone’s chair started to slide across the floor. When you looked to the left out the window you saw water and to the right you saw the sky. It’s a good thing we don’t mind rough seas. It was actually fun. We went to the lobby bar (deck 5) for some latte and watched the waves hit as high as deck 4. Day 9 – NY By the time I woke up we were just about at the pier. Didn’t get off until around 11am. Once they called our color, we were off in no time, got our luggage. Our limo was there and we were home at approx 12:30. We stopped in to see our travel agent in the late afternoon to let her know the problems with the ship. She told us they thought something was up because they were getting a lot of itinerary changes. Plus they have a large group traveling on the Caribbean Princess in September.

REVIEW
Review: EMBARKATION Went smooth. We arrived at approx. 11:45am. Moving cars in and out of Red Hook was very well coordinated. We had never been to the Red Hook pier. Our friends, Joe and Peg, had been there two years ago and said it was unorganized and terrible. Our friend Joe recently had surgery on his knee about 4 weeks prior and was wearing a knee brace. We got onto the check-in line to go through security. One of the Princess staff saw him and got a wheel chair so he would not have to walk even though he tried to decline it. We went right through the line although it didn’t save us any significant time because the line was not long and moving quickly. We checked in, got on the ship and in our rooms by 12:30. SHIP Overall the ship is beautiful. If it wasn’t for the engine problem, the cruise would be almost perfect. It’s Princess that needs some work. We haven’t been on Princess in 10 years. Today’s Princess is not the same as the Princess we knew 10 years ago. Of course, that was on the Grand in the Med pre Carnival. I think Carnival has worn off on Princess. ROOM We had a mini suite that was just the right size for two people. It had a full bath with shower. Large closets and ample amount of shelf space for clothes in a separate closet. The bed was very very comfortable. However, there were a lot of complaints from our table mates and our friends that the mattress sucked. We must have lucked out with a fairly new mattress that was firm with no peaks or valleys. There was an entertainment center that included 2 TV’s – one facing the bed and one facing the sitting area. There was a refrigerator, and a lot of shelf space that was great for all the stuff you accumulate – Princess Patter, books, magazines, cameras. The only thing it needed was an electric outlet for all the battery chargers we carry. Across from the entertainment center between the bed area and sitting area was a desk and chair. Here was the phone, lamps, and electric outlet. The sitting area was nice sized with a sofa – I assume this was a pull out bed but we didn’t try it and a coffee table. There was a sliding glass door to the balcony. The balcony was also nice sized with 4 chairs and a table. Great for having coffee in the morning, or drinks in the evening while watching the water go by. The only complaint here was because of the location of room – Dolphin Deck 6 and the size of the room, there was no covering over the balcony. So the couple of times it started to drizzle, you either sat in the rain or moved inside. The air conditioning was straining during the day because of the dead engine and consequently the generator not working. But at night it was fine. PUBLIC AREAS The ship layout is pretty good for people flow. Even though the ship was fully booked with 3,200 passengers, you never really felt like there was this many people on the ship. The only bad time was when the main theater finished and one of the lounges broke at the same time. This caused gridlock. The biggest complaint we had was the Princess Theater is too small for this ship. It seats about 800 – 900 people. We constantly had to get to shows 45 minutes to an hour before the show to be able to get a seat. This wasted a lot of time. The lounges are also too small. They were many good shows in the lounges that was difficult to get seats. Many time we ran from the theater to a lounge to get seats 30 – 45 minutes before a show to be able to have a seat and table. Late night was spent either up in Skywalker’s Lounge or in the Martini Bar. Skywalker’s had loud DJ music and dancing. The martini bar had a piano player. FOOD and DINING Since we were traveling with friends, we made sure our booking and their booking was cross referenced that we were traveling together and eating together. Our booking confirmation supported this. Guess what? We were at separate tables. The funny part is that when my wife and I travel alone, we request a table for two. But in 17 cruises, we never got it. Except this time. We were at a table for two and didn’t even request it! So we shleped down to the dining room to get this changed. We got our number to be called. It was 47 and they were on 29. Good thing we got on early. So this was going to take some time. Only the Maitre d’ was handling the changes. And doing it manually. No computer screen. Just a yellow legal pad. An hour later we got called and went and told him our plight. He said he would probably be able to fix this but most likely not until the next day. By now you can probably figure out we took traditional seating not open seating. So for the first dinner we booked a reservation in one of the other dining rooms. We did get a table together the next day. But we did get to try the Princess version of FreeStyle cruising and were not impressed. We felt that the service was not as good. This was confirmed when we got our table the second night and the service was outstanding. Our friends had been on the NCL Gem recently and loved the FreeStyle cruising. But they also felt the service was not as good. We will get our first taste of FreeStyle cruising on the NCL Gem in December. Food was generally good, not great. And there were a couple of nights we were not thrilled with the selections. One night we did go to the buffet for their German fest because the main dining room selection was horrible. The German fest was outstanding. We did not like the layout of the buffet. The main walk areas were very narrow and you constantly were bumping into other passengers. The buffet lines were in gated contained areas. The layout also was congested and we kept bumping elbows. The food and selection in the buffet was very good. The buffet area is open 24 hours. We did go up a couple of times around midnight to see what was going on. It was amazing how many people were up there eating again. One night we tried some shrimp and another night we tried some nachos. Just can’t eat that late. PORTS of CALL This was our first trip to the Eastern Caribbean. 3 of the 4 ports visited, we had never been to. So we would have liked to spend more time in each especially since we were getting in late to the ports. Getting on and off the ship in the ports was mostly uneventful. The only exception was Bermuda. Because we got in so late, everyone wanted to get off immediately. It took close to an hour to get off because of the lines. Our only complaint was that too many tours got cancelled or rescheduled because of the change in arrival times in the various ports. DEBARKATION It takes a long time to get 3,200 passengers and luggage off the ship. Because we were not with a group or catching a flight, we were scheduled to be one of the last to disembark. So we took our time with breakfast and getting out of our room. We made our way to our scheduled meeting place at our assigned time. We were supposed to disembark at 10:30 but they were running about a half hour late. We finally got off the ship about 11:05. We got our luggage and got out in no time at all. Everything was very organized. Even getting the cars in and out. We found our driver and we were out of Red Hook by 11:30. OVERALL We had a great time. But we would have a great time regardless of what was going on. Our disappointment was with Princess and their lack of communication on the ship problems. We had intended to book another cruise on the new Ruby Princess in February. Friends of ours are getting married on the Ruby. But we decided not to book and probably will travel on Princess again. And at one time they were my favorite cruise line.

VERY INTERESTING, Charlie :D :D THANK YOU :!:

Really enjoyed reading your review, Charlie :D A lot of good information. Thank you :D

Charlie. Thanks for the review. Glad you enjoy the Caribbean Princess. We have sailed twice and agree with you about the lounges. We enjoy dancing and they seem small for the size of the ship. Thanks again.

Debbie, We have done the Triumph to Canada and the Pride to Nowhere. Did not care for either ship ie did not care for Carnival. As I said in my review, Princess was our favorite. That was replaced with RCL. And RCL has since been replaced with Celebrity specifically Constellation. Of our 110 nights at sea 34 have been on Celebrity and 27 of those on Connie. we have enjoyed Connie so much that we are planning to do the Panama Canal on Connie in 2010. Likes and dislikes of a particular ship and/or cruise line is very personal. I know there are a lot of people on the forum that love Carnival. We are not one of them. Just not our preference. Costa, Carnival and now Princess are three lines we will not visit in the near future.

It makes me wonder if this ship should have been allowed to cruise, with a 'dead engine!' I am sure Ruby would be an improvement, as she is so new. However, I agree with you about Celebrity; my favourite line, for both price & service.

Great review Charlie, but sorry to read that things did not go as well as they could have.

Debbie, It did not upset me. I never took it that way. you are reading more into the words than was intended. :) In re-reading what I wrote, I can now see how it can be interpreted that way. Sorry.