tpmartin
May 16th, 2004, 09:04 AM
Well, we just got back yesterday and finally got a good night sleep, so I'm ready to go and give you all a fair review of my personal opinions of the Caribbean Princess, so here goes.
4 days before the cruise we were upgraded from a inside II to a Outside DD this cabin was E109 Starboard side forward, and as you all know E stands for Emerald and if you look at the Deck plans this is right above the Princess Theatre, we only heard the music while we were walking to our cabin or from our cabin. So the upgrade was nice.
we left a day early from New York LaGuardia and ended up on having a 2 hr delay because American Airlines had to replace a Flap Actuator. The delay sucked especially having our 2 boys with us.
When we Finally arrived in Fll we stayed at the Bahia Cabana Beach Resort (Days Inn) which the Hotel is a Water Taxi Stop. We did the usual we went to Beach Place for Dinner and Coctails and we decided to walk the mile back to the hotel instead of the water Taxi it was gourgous weather outside.
The next morning we went to the ship around 10:45 and there must of had been 4 to 500 people in front of us. When the doors finally opened at 11:30 it took us about 15 minutes to get to the check in agent who gave my wife a hard time about her birth certificate, it is a NJ Certificate but she was born in Canada and adopted, we never had a problem before, they wanted her to have a passport, I had her call her supervisor over and he didn't know what to do, so he had to get his supervisor and than they said it was fine and I explained to them we have always cruised this way. Of course they blamed 9/11 for this and than I took their heads off and told them that this is our 3rd cruise since 9/11 and then They gave us our cruise cards and we walked away we looked at our cards and noticed she gave us the wrong cards since we were upgraded, she gave us the cards of the people that were in our old cabin, and went back and she appologized and gave us the correct cards.
After the Normal welcome aboard Photo the crew was directing us to the elevators to go to our cabins, while we did'nt want to go but instead go and Make our Dinner Reservations for Sabatini's for Mothers Day and Dining room reservations for the rest of the week, No problem we had a standind reservation in the Dining room every evening for 6 and Also Sabatini's. When we got to the cabin The beds were not put into the config I wanted so I called the cabin steward and he said he would see what he can do, That evening we had a Lobster Claw and Crab Legg feast in the Horizon Court, it was delicious. We went to the Welcome aboard show and there were the chair hogs. This person had 15 seats reserved, and i explained the Law of the Sea to him, my wife wanted me to relax but I couldn't, so I wipped out my Patter and showed him where it says no reserving of seats and he didn't care so The cruise staff saw a little comotion going on because they were trying to get everyone in and I explained it to them and because none of his people were there yet they made him move all the way in and sat us and 10 other people. (Who says there is no justice).
We got back to our cabin and the beds were not done the way we wanted which was the queen config on the bottom with the bunks coming down. We slept that way.
The next morning I was up at 5am and went to take a shower and noticed there was no soap or shampoo in the cabin, I used my wifes shampoo as soap and then went down to the passenger service desk and spoke to Manuel and by the time I had my coffee and walked around a bit he had it sitting outside my cabin Like I told him to. So as you all know by know Our Steward was the Worst we ever had. Usually the steward is waiting in the hailway the first day to welcome you aboard and introduce themselves but he was no where to be found.
The 2nd day we were in Princess Cays and had a wonderful time we were on the First Passenger Tender ashore we didn't have any problems. However once ashore I noticed the got rid of all of the hammocks and replaced them with chairs under the huts, I was looking forward to swinging in the hammocks and drinking Bahama Mama's all day so instead I sat in a lounge chair and drank Bahama MAma's.
We went on the Banana Boat and had a blast My wife Paula and 2 son's A.J. 7 and T.J. 13 had a great time on our way back in we hit a wave and everyone on the right fell off including myself and my son A.J. As soon as we were in the water they had a waverunner out to us and checking on us and the banana boat came around and they got us back on.
We ate lunch and headed back to the ship because we had our Lotus Spa appointments.
My wife and I booked a 50 min swedish massage and we went a hr earlier so we could use their relaxation rooms, it was wonderful. I did't want to leave.
We had dinner at Sabatini's that night for the 4 of us we new the Waiter from the Dawn Princess and he greeted us by name. His name was Felipe. The food as you all know was out of this world and of course my wife and I split a 2nd dinner which was a seafood delight. Afterward we walked around the ship and had some coctails, we ran into Captain Romano and he said welcome back aboard, and said I looked familiar to him and we told him we sailed with him on the Grand in 2002, he said hello to the boys and after about 10 minutes of getting interupted he excused himself and went on his way.
We headed back to our cabin and the beds still were not done the way we wanted them done.
Monday sea day) I was up early again and went down and saw Manny and told him about it and he said he would get it done and he did.
I got us 3 chairs by the Calypso pool(Movies under the Stars) and we stayed there all day. THey showed a cuople of videos but mainly they did a exercise class on the deck above us and her her voice over the speakers and than they set up the band to play there, they did their pool games there and played vollyball also.
We left around 4 to get ready for our first formal night and Captains welcome aboard Party,
Once dressed we headed to deck 6 and was right across from where the Captain Spoke, but before he spoke he walked up to my 2 boys and said hello and than he Invited us to the Bridge Wing on Friday at 4:30 and said he will send us a Invitation. How Cool is This!
We had dinner in the Coral Dining Room. The show afterwards was their New Caribbean Caliente and it was great.
Afterward we took the Kids to see the Magician James Michael (we saw him on the Grand in 2002 and he is the best there is) My son was up helping him and I was involved in another gag also. We than called it a night.
Tuesday Montego Bay.
We took the Jamaican PArty Cruise and had a great ime snorkling the crew was great we even stopped at Margarativille and thought that was a joke so we went back to the ship and had lunch than we took a cab into town and we were attacked by hundreds of Jamaicans it made my boys feel very uncomfortable, we looked in a couple of stores and than decided it was 2 much going on all around us we headed back to the security of the Caribbean Princess. That night we had Jose the Asst Maitre'd who we new from the Dawn Princess change our 6:00 reservation until 8:30 because the kids wanted to do the Wizard of Oz Sing Along what fun we had. We went to dinner and than to Island night which they moved into Club Fusion, because a threat of rain.
Once we got to the club it was so packed we could not even move around so we gave up on the way out we saw Adam from the cruise directors staff and said they can ruin the equiptment if they have it outside and I said the band played under tents they set up but he had no answer. So we went and listened to a band in another lounge and than off to bed.
Wednesday Grand Cayman (2nd Formal)
we booked a private tour thru Soto's for Stingray City. $24.00 PP. THey picked us up to the right of the Tender Pier and we did 3 snorkel stops 1 was to the gardens, 2 the Barrier Reef and 3rd stingray city, they were a bunch of fun.
They took us back and we had 3 hrs for shopping. We bought 6 Liters of alcohol and 6 blackbeard rum cakes. than we went back to the ship to get ready for Formal night and the Captains Circle Party.
Once we said hello to the Captain again, we said hello to paul and since no one was behind me I asked him about Graham Seymore and he said he is coming onboard in 2 weeks I also asked about Frankie and if he was going to be promoted to a CD and he said Frankie is lacking some skills and he is great in the position he is in he is probaly the best Deputy Cruise Director the fleet has. But he has some issues in Managments Eye's to become a CD. ( Sorry All). We ate dinner than saw the Marriage Show and the Magician again in a it was even better than the first show. IT was Rated PG13 and that was for a reason, he lost his Pants twice and was wearing a thong.
Thursday Cozumel.
We ended up renting a Jeep for the day it was 66.00 since we been there before many times we wanted to see the rest of the Island.
The other side was pretty there wewe restaurants every couple of miles so you can stop and have some beers overlooking the sea.
We went to the ruins but that was really not interesting at all (Chi Ch Nitzu on the Mainland Mexico is better) we had lunch in town and walked around than we dropped off the rental car and spen time on the Pier shopping and having coctails in fat Tuesdays.
Once back on Ship we went to dinner and saw the Hypnotist show and we thought it was the worst show we ever saw. It was just 2 fake. After that we had Movies under the stars reservations and saw Intolerable Cruelty, we had some stall cold popcorn and the kids ordered candy $1.95 each. Afterwards we headed back to the Cabin.
Friday last sea day.
We sat at the Neptune pool all day there was this lady with her 3 kids next to us which one of the kids kept telling her how stupid she was, If that were my kids I would have done something. But anyway my wife and I went into the pool when we came back one of her kids was sitting in my lounge chair, I was furious and she said why, I said why back to her because your son Sat on my had and destroyed it and my new Sunglass which was under that he bent the frame she didn't even say sorry. We left early and Got changed because we were going to the bridge. When we got there the Captain had invited a coiple of more people I would say there was about 10 to 12 of us altogether. It is amazing up there the views of the ship are gorgeous we learned how most of the ships functions are there we learned about the GPS systems on board and there is so much to talk about we even saw the control for the Web Cam Thekids were able to stand at the helm and sit in the chairs. We went to dinner and spent the rest of the night at the Piano Bar.
Saturday the shipped arrived at 6:00 Am we had breakfast in the dining room and were off of the ship at 8:15am After we got our luggage, the Captain came over to us and said Good-bye.
When we went thru the finals customs check with our luggage 1 of the Drug Dogs came over and sniffed my 13yr old from head to toe and my son started petting him because he didn't know anybetter the customs agent was a jerk and told him not to touch the dog. we were at the airport in10 minutes and on our way home from a Great Cruise.
PS my son used the 7- 9 year old kids club on both sea days and had a great time.
My 13 yr old went to the teen club twice and was board.
THere is NO ARCADE ONBOARD and won't be according to the Kid's club director because they have PS2's.
The pool wait staff were not pushy at all.
Any questions please ask.
Tom Martin
Chandris Brittanis & Gallileo
Celebrity Zenith
Carnival Destiny
Dolphin IV,Dolphin Seabreeze Dolphin Oceanbreeze
RCCL Song of Norway & Explorer of the Seas
Grand Princess & Dawn Princes
<FONT color=blue size=4>[i][b]Caribbean Princess here we come!!
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=00bfff&cdt=2004;5;8;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500
http://www.gifs.net/animate/hullamod.gif
<FONT color=blue size=4>[i][b] UNTIL PURE RELAXATION ON THE ISLAND PRINCESS IN HAWAII!!!
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=228b22&cdt=2004;10;6;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0800
4 days before the cruise we were upgraded from a inside II to a Outside DD this cabin was E109 Starboard side forward, and as you all know E stands for Emerald and if you look at the Deck plans this is right above the Princess Theatre, we only heard the music while we were walking to our cabin or from our cabin. So the upgrade was nice.
we left a day early from New York LaGuardia and ended up on having a 2 hr delay because American Airlines had to replace a Flap Actuator. The delay sucked especially having our 2 boys with us.
When we Finally arrived in Fll we stayed at the Bahia Cabana Beach Resort (Days Inn) which the Hotel is a Water Taxi Stop. We did the usual we went to Beach Place for Dinner and Coctails and we decided to walk the mile back to the hotel instead of the water Taxi it was gourgous weather outside.
The next morning we went to the ship around 10:45 and there must of had been 4 to 500 people in front of us. When the doors finally opened at 11:30 it took us about 15 minutes to get to the check in agent who gave my wife a hard time about her birth certificate, it is a NJ Certificate but she was born in Canada and adopted, we never had a problem before, they wanted her to have a passport, I had her call her supervisor over and he didn't know what to do, so he had to get his supervisor and than they said it was fine and I explained to them we have always cruised this way. Of course they blamed 9/11 for this and than I took their heads off and told them that this is our 3rd cruise since 9/11 and then They gave us our cruise cards and we walked away we looked at our cards and noticed she gave us the wrong cards since we were upgraded, she gave us the cards of the people that were in our old cabin, and went back and she appologized and gave us the correct cards.
After the Normal welcome aboard Photo the crew was directing us to the elevators to go to our cabins, while we did'nt want to go but instead go and Make our Dinner Reservations for Sabatini's for Mothers Day and Dining room reservations for the rest of the week, No problem we had a standind reservation in the Dining room every evening for 6 and Also Sabatini's. When we got to the cabin The beds were not put into the config I wanted so I called the cabin steward and he said he would see what he can do, That evening we had a Lobster Claw and Crab Legg feast in the Horizon Court, it was delicious. We went to the Welcome aboard show and there were the chair hogs. This person had 15 seats reserved, and i explained the Law of the Sea to him, my wife wanted me to relax but I couldn't, so I wipped out my Patter and showed him where it says no reserving of seats and he didn't care so The cruise staff saw a little comotion going on because they were trying to get everyone in and I explained it to them and because none of his people were there yet they made him move all the way in and sat us and 10 other people. (Who says there is no justice).
We got back to our cabin and the beds were not done the way we wanted which was the queen config on the bottom with the bunks coming down. We slept that way.
The next morning I was up at 5am and went to take a shower and noticed there was no soap or shampoo in the cabin, I used my wifes shampoo as soap and then went down to the passenger service desk and spoke to Manuel and by the time I had my coffee and walked around a bit he had it sitting outside my cabin Like I told him to. So as you all know by know Our Steward was the Worst we ever had. Usually the steward is waiting in the hailway the first day to welcome you aboard and introduce themselves but he was no where to be found.
The 2nd day we were in Princess Cays and had a wonderful time we were on the First Passenger Tender ashore we didn't have any problems. However once ashore I noticed the got rid of all of the hammocks and replaced them with chairs under the huts, I was looking forward to swinging in the hammocks and drinking Bahama Mama's all day so instead I sat in a lounge chair and drank Bahama MAma's.
We went on the Banana Boat and had a blast My wife Paula and 2 son's A.J. 7 and T.J. 13 had a great time on our way back in we hit a wave and everyone on the right fell off including myself and my son A.J. As soon as we were in the water they had a waverunner out to us and checking on us and the banana boat came around and they got us back on.
We ate lunch and headed back to the ship because we had our Lotus Spa appointments.
My wife and I booked a 50 min swedish massage and we went a hr earlier so we could use their relaxation rooms, it was wonderful. I did't want to leave.
We had dinner at Sabatini's that night for the 4 of us we new the Waiter from the Dawn Princess and he greeted us by name. His name was Felipe. The food as you all know was out of this world and of course my wife and I split a 2nd dinner which was a seafood delight. Afterward we walked around the ship and had some coctails, we ran into Captain Romano and he said welcome back aboard, and said I looked familiar to him and we told him we sailed with him on the Grand in 2002, he said hello to the boys and after about 10 minutes of getting interupted he excused himself and went on his way.
We headed back to our cabin and the beds still were not done the way we wanted them done.
Monday sea day) I was up early again and went down and saw Manny and told him about it and he said he would get it done and he did.
I got us 3 chairs by the Calypso pool(Movies under the Stars) and we stayed there all day. THey showed a cuople of videos but mainly they did a exercise class on the deck above us and her her voice over the speakers and than they set up the band to play there, they did their pool games there and played vollyball also.
We left around 4 to get ready for our first formal night and Captains welcome aboard Party,
Once dressed we headed to deck 6 and was right across from where the Captain Spoke, but before he spoke he walked up to my 2 boys and said hello and than he Invited us to the Bridge Wing on Friday at 4:30 and said he will send us a Invitation. How Cool is This!
We had dinner in the Coral Dining Room. The show afterwards was their New Caribbean Caliente and it was great.
Afterward we took the Kids to see the Magician James Michael (we saw him on the Grand in 2002 and he is the best there is) My son was up helping him and I was involved in another gag also. We than called it a night.
Tuesday Montego Bay.
We took the Jamaican PArty Cruise and had a great ime snorkling the crew was great we even stopped at Margarativille and thought that was a joke so we went back to the ship and had lunch than we took a cab into town and we were attacked by hundreds of Jamaicans it made my boys feel very uncomfortable, we looked in a couple of stores and than decided it was 2 much going on all around us we headed back to the security of the Caribbean Princess. That night we had Jose the Asst Maitre'd who we new from the Dawn Princess change our 6:00 reservation until 8:30 because the kids wanted to do the Wizard of Oz Sing Along what fun we had. We went to dinner and than to Island night which they moved into Club Fusion, because a threat of rain.
Once we got to the club it was so packed we could not even move around so we gave up on the way out we saw Adam from the cruise directors staff and said they can ruin the equiptment if they have it outside and I said the band played under tents they set up but he had no answer. So we went and listened to a band in another lounge and than off to bed.
Wednesday Grand Cayman (2nd Formal)
we booked a private tour thru Soto's for Stingray City. $24.00 PP. THey picked us up to the right of the Tender Pier and we did 3 snorkel stops 1 was to the gardens, 2 the Barrier Reef and 3rd stingray city, they were a bunch of fun.
They took us back and we had 3 hrs for shopping. We bought 6 Liters of alcohol and 6 blackbeard rum cakes. than we went back to the ship to get ready for Formal night and the Captains Circle Party.
Once we said hello to the Captain again, we said hello to paul and since no one was behind me I asked him about Graham Seymore and he said he is coming onboard in 2 weeks I also asked about Frankie and if he was going to be promoted to a CD and he said Frankie is lacking some skills and he is great in the position he is in he is probaly the best Deputy Cruise Director the fleet has. But he has some issues in Managments Eye's to become a CD. ( Sorry All). We ate dinner than saw the Marriage Show and the Magician again in a it was even better than the first show. IT was Rated PG13 and that was for a reason, he lost his Pants twice and was wearing a thong.
Thursday Cozumel.
We ended up renting a Jeep for the day it was 66.00 since we been there before many times we wanted to see the rest of the Island.
The other side was pretty there wewe restaurants every couple of miles so you can stop and have some beers overlooking the sea.
We went to the ruins but that was really not interesting at all (Chi Ch Nitzu on the Mainland Mexico is better) we had lunch in town and walked around than we dropped off the rental car and spen time on the Pier shopping and having coctails in fat Tuesdays.
Once back on Ship we went to dinner and saw the Hypnotist show and we thought it was the worst show we ever saw. It was just 2 fake. After that we had Movies under the stars reservations and saw Intolerable Cruelty, we had some stall cold popcorn and the kids ordered candy $1.95 each. Afterwards we headed back to the Cabin.
Friday last sea day.
We sat at the Neptune pool all day there was this lady with her 3 kids next to us which one of the kids kept telling her how stupid she was, If that were my kids I would have done something. But anyway my wife and I went into the pool when we came back one of her kids was sitting in my lounge chair, I was furious and she said why, I said why back to her because your son Sat on my had and destroyed it and my new Sunglass which was under that he bent the frame she didn't even say sorry. We left early and Got changed because we were going to the bridge. When we got there the Captain had invited a coiple of more people I would say there was about 10 to 12 of us altogether. It is amazing up there the views of the ship are gorgeous we learned how most of the ships functions are there we learned about the GPS systems on board and there is so much to talk about we even saw the control for the Web Cam Thekids were able to stand at the helm and sit in the chairs. We went to dinner and spent the rest of the night at the Piano Bar.
Saturday the shipped arrived at 6:00 Am we had breakfast in the dining room and were off of the ship at 8:15am After we got our luggage, the Captain came over to us and said Good-bye.
When we went thru the finals customs check with our luggage 1 of the Drug Dogs came over and sniffed my 13yr old from head to toe and my son started petting him because he didn't know anybetter the customs agent was a jerk and told him not to touch the dog. we were at the airport in10 minutes and on our way home from a Great Cruise.
PS my son used the 7- 9 year old kids club on both sea days and had a great time.
My 13 yr old went to the teen club twice and was board.
THere is NO ARCADE ONBOARD and won't be according to the Kid's club director because they have PS2's.
The pool wait staff were not pushy at all.
Any questions please ask.
Tom Martin
Chandris Brittanis & Gallileo
Celebrity Zenith
Carnival Destiny
Dolphin IV,Dolphin Seabreeze Dolphin Oceanbreeze
RCCL Song of Norway & Explorer of the Seas
Grand Princess & Dawn Princes
<FONT color=blue size=4>[i][b]Caribbean Princess here we come!!
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=00bfff&cdt=2004;5;8;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500
http://www.gifs.net/animate/hullamod.gif
<FONT color=blue size=4>[i][b] UNTIL PURE RELAXATION ON THE ISLAND PRINCESS IN HAWAII!!!
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=228b22&cdt=2004;10;6;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0800