REVIEW: Caribbean Princess - Aug 4-13 2009 - Family Suite

[marconoel]

Hi all,

I wanted to provide you my feedbacks from our first cruise on CB from Aug. 4-13 2009.

Cabin

We had the Family Suite (XS - Dolphin / Deck 9) which is front/left of the ship. Our 2 boys (17 and 14) were in D102 while my wife and I had D106. It was very reassuring for the mom to have access to them while keeping their privacy intact. We had the queen-size bed while they had twin beds. The boys mentioned how they slept so well in them. When they came back from the teen center in late hours, they had access to their own door. Just like home, we heard them coming while not being disturbed. Beds are great. The small living room between the bedroom was very practical. Although there was a plasma TV in every room (3 in total), the kids were watching it in the living room, just like home. The balcony is great when ashore but unusable while at sea. As mentioned in many threads, it was not recommended to go to the balcony when at sea. Our stewart arranged our balcony chairs and table in a corner of the balcony before leaving each port. When the ship approaches every port, it slows down which makes it great to go to the balcony and watch the scenery and docking. At every port, we had the greatest view of the cities and we enjoyed every bit of it. The balcony view is 180 degrees. When the pools are too crowded or too noisy, we went back to our cabin and still enjoyed some sun and some reading on the balcony.

Extras that comes with the Family Suite:

- Free Internet Access at the Internet Café only (wireless at a cost)
- Free first mini-bar setup (refills come at a cost)
- Free in-room breakfast, lunches, and snacks
- Free fruits every day
- Free hors d'oeuvres every day
- Free champagne glasses (welcome day only)


Rating: 4.7 / 5 - Great for family of 4. Great view.

Dining

We chose the "Anytime Dining" option because we wanted flexibility. With teens, you have to be flexible. With this option, it's very hard to make reservations in the Dining rooms because they have a very limited number of tables available for reservations. You have to line up at either Island (Deck 5) Coral (Deck 6) or Palm (Deck 6 AFT). Worst time to go dining is between 7h00 pm and 8h30 pm. We are not used to late dining but we had to during the first 2 nights. Learning the hard way.... After that, we went between 5h30 pm and 6h00 pm and we had plenty of availability (it was our usual time for dining at home anyway!) My suggestion is if you're part of a large group (6 or more), go with either Scheduled Dining or at 5h30pm - 6h00 pm if Anytime Dining. The food was OUTSTANDING (4-5 stars quality). You can choose anything from the menu (no charge). They have a theme every evening on one side of the menu, while still having standard choices on the other. Everyone was happy, including my boys which is not an easy thing, trust me!. If you have Anytime Dining, you do not have a designated waiter. We never had the same section. In our case, we did not have to provide gratuity since we never had the same waiter.

We did not go to speciality dining like Sabatini's because of our restricted budget. But we did not feel we had to because of the great food in standard dining rooms.

Our Rating: 4.8 / 5 - Awesome food

Breakfasts / Lunches

There are 2 places for breakfasts and lunches: Horizon Court (Lido / Deck 15 mid-ship) and Café Caribe (Lido / Deck 15 AFT). When you go towards AFT, you exit Horizon Court and go into Café Caribe). Both looks very much the same. Rush hours for breakfast is between 10h00am and 11h30am, and for lunch, 11h30am and 1h00 pm. As mentioned in multiple threads, it's hard to find a table. But, in some cases, we brought our plates outside where you have patio tables and chairs, and you can even bring it to your room if you wish. If you come earlier, it's quieter. I was surprised by the good quality and choices of the food. I read multiple threads where people were complaining about how the food was awful and the coffee was very bad. I definitely DO NOT AGREE with them. My family enjoyed the food there and the coffee was very good (of course, it's not like having an expresso or cappuccino, but it was good enough for me for regular coffee). You have coffee, hot water and ice tea available from fountains (included). If you want lemonade or orange juice, you have to ask a waiter but they are both included. If you want a soda or something else, you have to pay (approx. 2.50 US per soda). I purchased the soda card for my boys only and it was well worth it for 9 days. My wife and I enjoyed fine coffees at the International Café (Plaza / Deck 5) at a fee, with free pastries, but since we were not planning on taking lots of fine coffees, we did not purchase the coffee card.

Pizza at Prego Pizza, hot dogs and hamburgers at Trident Grill (Lido / Deck 15) near the mid-ship poolside were very good and included. I had pizzas with my young 14 year-old while watching MUTS at 10pm. I had a great time.

Our Rating: 4.0 / 5 - Crowded. Good food.

Activities

Let's start with the kids. Like mentioned earlier, we have 2 boys of 17 and 14. We registered them for the Teen Center (Sun / Deck 16 AFT) on the first day, which is reserved for teens between 13 and 17 yrs old. Teen Center is closed between 12pm-2pm and between 5pm-7pm. My kids were in there every single day from 2pm until 3am. They had a wide variety of activities to keep them busy and they enjoyed every minute of it. They made lots of new friends. No adult is allowed in there, but if I had to talk to them, I just showed up at the door, talk to the monitor and asking for one of my boys to come out. Other than that, my boys came back to our cabin at 2am-3am. They still talk about it today.

There are lots of things happening on the ship so I strongly suggest that you read the Princess Patter (ship's journal) provided the day prior. My wife and I tried multiple things like bingo, Movies Under the Stars (MUTS), cocktails demonstration at the Piazza, watching fun games at the Explorers Lounge, etc. etc.

The Sanctuary (Sports / Deck 17 at the front of the ship) comes with a cost (10$ US per half-day per person), but it was well worth it. It's hard to go while at sea because most of the chairs are reserved to the Lotus Spa users. When my wife and I showed up, there was no long chairs available, although 75% of them were empty (!!??). We requested regular chairs and were charged the same price, but that was ok for us. The standard chairs were still very comfortable. I brought a book to read and fell asleep.... It's sooooo quiet and fresh. Food there is charged and gratuity is recommended.

There were lots of great shows at the Princess Theater (Promenade / Deck 7 - front of the ship). It was to my great surprise of the good quality of the shows. We went to see musicals only, since my wife is not fluent in English (we come from Quebec City, Canada) which is not good when watching comedians. Shows lasted about an hour which is good if you want to do something else after.

We went to see the Skywalker Nightclub (Sky / Deck 18) which is something to see. Listening to music and enjoying a few drinks with friends.

Our rating: 4.5 / 5 - Enough things to do to have fun on the ship.

Pools

Ok. Where do I start?

When at sea, it's very very hard to get a chair at Neptune's Reef & Pool and the Calypso Reef & Pool (Lido / Deck 15 - mid-ship), unless you wake up at 6am-7am and decide to continue sleeping wrapped around your towel for the rest of the morning, which we saw a lot..... How can you have a good night sleep on a beach chair? - Duh! The other frustrating thing was people leaving their towel and a book on a chair.... for 2 hours or more without showing up. I've read threads about it and now I understand their frustration. Neptune is very loud when the band is playing. Just walking by was awful for my ears (I like loud music, but that....).

The Terrace Pool (Riviera / Deck 14) is the same.

If you want chairs, you have to go to Deck 16 and 17, directly exposed to the sun with no shadow!!

When the ship is ashore, the ship is basically empty. That's when we enjoyed the pools the most. We had all the chairs, shadow and spots we wanted. We still went ashore at every place we docked. We left the ship in the morning after the rush, we walked for a couple of hours then we headed back to the ship and enjoyed the pools. The Calypso pool with the MUTS screen is great, as movies are playing all day. You can watch a movie while in the pool. Lots of fun. When the other passengers came back from the excursions, we had enough of pool and sun anyway, and got back to our room to prepare for dining.

Our rating: 3.5 / 5 - Very bad when at sea, better when ashore.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review.

I agree about the FS, wind wind wind!

[nurserosie]

thanks for describing the family suite...it seems much larger on other lines...anyone found that to be true..??

we have 4 grandkids and 2 sons..wondering if we put THEM in the family suite is there room for kids to sleep?? or better to get two minis??

[Tyskie]

Thanks for your review, sounds like you had a great trip. I'm wondering if I understand you correctly concerning the sanctuary: if all the lounge chairs are taken/reserved, you can pay for the half day if you are willing to have a regular "comfy" chair?

[Colo Cruiser]

Originally Posted by nurserosie

thanks for describing the family suite...it seems much larger on other lines...anyone found that to be true..??

we have 4 grandkids and 2 sons..wondering if we put THEM in the family suite is there room for kids to sleep?? or better to get two minis??

I did not find it that big. It has 2 cabins side by side 1 is a mini and 1 is a quad 4 bed cabin (2 singles on the floor and 2 bunks). These 2 rooms are connected by a narrow living room. As stated both rooms have bathrooms and seperate entrance's. The balcony is probably equal to the extended minis at the end of Dolphin/Emerald decks, it has a steel wall not glass so you would have to be standing up to look out.

[marconoel]

Originally Posted by nurserosie

thanks for describing the family suite...it seems much larger on other lines...anyone found that to be true..??

we have 4 grandkids and 2 sons..wondering if we put THEM in the family suite is there room for kids to sleep?? or better to get two minis??

The second room of the FS can have up to 4 persons. The 2 extra beds can be unfolded from the wall above the 2 existing beds.

[marconoel]

Originally Posted by Tyskie

Thanks for your review, sounds like you had a great trip. I'm wondering if I understand you correctly concerning the sanctuary: if all the lounge chairs are taken/reserved, you can pay for the half day if you are willing to have a regular "comfy" chair?

About the cost, it's 10$ per half-day per person regardless if it's a long chair or a regular comfy chair.

You just show up at the Sanctuary and ask for a chair. if there are some left, you're good, if not, ask for a regular chair. If there are some left, they'll give you one.

[marconoel]

Originally Posted by Colo Cruiser

Thanks for the review.

I agree about the FS, wind wind wind!

The real benefits are when you are approaching ports and when ashore. When sailing, even if we could, we are too busy with other activities on board anyway.

[caribill]

Originally Posted by marconoel

Hi all,

I wanted to provide you my feedbacks from our first cruise on CB from Aug. 4-13 2009.

Cabin


Extras that comes with the Family Suite:

- Free Internet Access at the Internet Café only (wireless at a cost)




Breakfasts / Lunches

There are 2 places for breakfasts and lunches: Horizon Court (Lido / Deck 15 mid-ship) and Café Caribe (Lido / Deck 15 AFT).

Glad you had a great cruise. I presume you are hooked on cruising with Princess now.

A couple of items:

Wireless access should not have been extra cost. It is not on other ships.

Breakfast and lunch are also available in one of the dining rooms.

Being in a full suite, you also should have been able to have (at no additional cost) breakfast in Sabatini's.

Also, being in a full suite, you should have been able to order breakfast, lunch (and dinner) from the restaurant menus to be served in your suite.

[marconoel]

Originally Posted by caribill

Glad you had a great cruise. I presume you are hooked on cruising with Princess now.

A couple of items:

Wireless access should not have been extra cost. It is not on other ships.

Breakfast and lunch are also available in one of the dining rooms.

Being in a full suite, you also should have been able to have (at no additional cost) breakfast in Sabatini's.

Also, being in a full suite, you should have been able to order breakfast, lunch (and dinner) from the restaurant menus to be served in your suite.

For wireless, unfortunately, it was extra cost. I agree that it should have been included.

For breakfast, you are right, and if I recall correctly, it's the Coral Dining room that provides breakfast between 6h30am and 8h30am. Thanks for the reminder.

For breakfast at Sabatini's you are right also, but we never had the chance to try it and we were not sure if there was extra charge or not. Thanks for the clarification.

After checking, you are right also for all meals delivered to the room at no charge (breakfast, lunch and dinner). Only certain types of dinners with multiple courses have extra charge (I think they call it Ultimate Balcony Dining).

Great reminders. Thanks again.

[RickEk]

Thanks for the review. I, too, was going to mention that lunch and breakfast was served in the main dining room. Well worth it...