CB New England/Canada review (8/22-8/29)

[RTPGiants]

This is my review of the CB cruise that left NY on 8/22 and returned on 8/29. I know there have been a ton of reviews already, but maybe this will show something new. Overall the trip was a lot of fun. It had been a long time since I was on a cruise, and all involved in our party enjoyed themselves. It was a good vacation and I'd do it again. That said, there were highs and lows.

Background
This was my 4th cruise, but my first since 2000. This was my wife's second cruise, and my parents' (celebrating their 40th anniversary) third. I've been on every cruise anyone in the party has taken. This was our first on Princess, and as mentioned, first in a long time. My wife and I cruised in 2000 on Carnival. My parents and I cruised in 1990 and 1994 on NCL and RCCL. All of those were obviously on smaller ships, and all were to the Caribbean or Mexico.

Embarkation
The Brooklyn Cruise Terminal is easy to find even though our taxi driver from JFK had never heard of it. Of course, we shouldn't have even been at JFK, but Southwest basically screwed us on Friday night (a story for another review), and instead we arrived at around 9:00 AM on Saturday and cabbed it over. While we originally were going to drive in with my parents, instead we arrived well before them.

The embarkation procedure was fairly well handled, but looking back on it, showed a taste of what dealing with Princess employees was going to be like. After clearing the security area, we got to the waiting area and were given a boarding group. Here we waited about an hour without any indication of when we'd be allowed on board. Eventually some folks were escorted onboard and there was basically mass confusion. No grouping number had been called, so as you'd expect in the the now rather full waiting area, everyone decided to head to the lines. When the Princess boarding agents were asked which group was to board, they were non responsive and either didn't understand the question (or English?) or just refused to answer.

None the less, groups were then called after this pre-board, and we were quickly inside on the way to our stateroom. I'd give the procedure a B+. It was efficient once someone announced what was going on, but employee contact was poor.

Stateroom
We were booked in a balcony room far forward on deck 12, A215 with my parents next door in A219. The room was clean, reasonably sized, and reasonably well setup. Our cabin steward, Taslim, wasn't aound at this point, but that was pretty much the only time he wasn't around for the cruise. He was by far the best employee interaction we had on the cruise, always responsive, available, and eager to please. We submitted him for an employee of the month nomination, and he was the only crew we tipped beyond the standard gratuity.

I'll stop going chronilogically here for the moment and talk a bit more about hte quarters. The beds, as people have commented on numerous times, are hard. Taslim got us an egg crate upon request and had it on very quickly. This makes the beds better, but not exactly 5 star. They are, however, sufficiently large.

The balcony proved nice despite some cold/foggy weather. The doors between the balconies can be unlocked, and we had Taslim do so. This enabled us to play cards with my parents overlooking a nice view of the ocean.

Overall the room served its purpose well. I do wish you could check balances, etc. from the TV, but on the whole, the cabin was functional. Being far foward, the somewhat rough seas of the first few days did make for a large amount of movement, but it wasn't too bad. The deck was not noisy, but there was some smoking down the hall. I'd give it a solid A- on the whole.

Food
Getting back somewhat chronologically, we unpacked and then headed upstairs to get food at the buffet. My wife purchased a soda card along the way as she's a bit of a Diet Coke drinker. I did not, but did mooch off of hers from time to time. Now, this would bring up some good and bad things on thie cruise.

Firstly, the buffets on the whole were extremely well done. There were a ton of options, and most of it was good. While we never ate an actual diner at the buffet, we did use it for some breakfasts, lunches, and snacks. One of the best things on the buffet was the variety of pastas they offered. All of the ones we partook of were delicious and well prepared. The other food on the buffet was good as well. They buffet stations, however, are poorly laid out. With one exception (I forget which one), there's no clear order you're supposed to go through, so you're constantly dodging people (especially kids) running around the floor. Tables are reasonably plentiful excepting on sea days when everyone is up there.

Now, drinks on the other hand are an issue. While water and iced tea were easily obtained, other drinks are hit or miss. At breakfast, juices had to be sought out. At all times, if you flash the soda card to one of the table busers, you'll get what amounts to an eye roll followed by them disappearing for five minutes to go get the Coke (usually there was a sort of telephone chain where one passed the request on to the other). Note that this did not happen at bars if you went up to one, but it seems as if the buffet attendants are off put by this service.

Jumping ahead a little bit, let's discuss actual formal dining for a moment. We had the 8:15 seating in the Palm dining room at a table of 8. And honestly, this to me was where I saw the biggest drop-offs from previous cruises. The dinners at all 3 of my previous cruises were fantastic. The dinners this cruise were perhaps on par with a Lonestar steakhouse. This isn't to say they're bad, but it's sort of like going out on a Friday night vs. going out on a special occasion.

Part of the problem is service. Our waitress and junior waiter were good on the whole, but the dining room was ridiculously understaffed. Water and iced tea are almost never refilled without having to ask multiple times (to the point where my dad ordered two teas to start dinner, which he got consistently, but again it was never refilled when empty). Coffee at dessert was a hassle as it almost always was an afterthought to them and arrived after the dessert arrived. The problem, as I see it was sort of revealed by our waitress. She once mentioned that our junior waiter had to wait on line at the kitchen to get the dishes. This is fine in theory, but it prevents him from having enough time to handle drinks and bussing dishes. As you might expect, in the case of my wife, a diet Coke would arrive at the start of the meal, but there was basically zero chance of getting a refill no matter how much you asked. It's not that he wasn't trying, it's that he's too busy. Additionally, the first two or three days, the meals were very rushed. Courses arrived nearly on top of each other as if there was some requirement that we be out the door by 9:30. This did change a bit as the cruise went on, but it was not a relaxing experience.

Now a few tips about the meals themselves. First off, skip the "Chef's Dinner" night. Somehow the chef has poor taste. All selections on that night were poor, and fewer were available than on other nights. Second, expect entrees to be fairly bland on the whole. Lamb was tough, steak was "ok", but that's about it, "ok". I did not order the lobster (afraid it'd be hard to eat on formal night), but as it turns out it's cut out of the shell for you, so order that if you have the chance. Fishes are ok on the whole (excepting the sea bass). There does seem to be some sort of bizarre fascination with asparagus as pretty much every meal comes with it. The appetizers were ok on the whole. The cold soups were poor. One that was supposed to be "frozen" (on the first night) was lukewarm. Desserts were good, but not mind blowing.

I'm going to lump room service in with this for a moment as well. We partook twice in breakfast room service. The selection is small, but the bigger issue is the timing. They let you specify a half hour window, and the first time, that worked great. The second time, however, it arrived fifteen minutes before our window and just ahead of our wakeup call. This also happened once to my parents. Additionally, we had ordered an anniversary champagne package for my parents which was supposed to arrive on Sunday. Instead it arrived almost the minute they boarded. They were able to have it stored until later, but still, rather poor service (though that might be on the Princess reservations person for all I know).

We did not try the specialty restaurants, but did have the pub lunch on the last day of the cruise. Here again service was poor. Having not had it before, we didn't realize there wasn't a menu, and the waiter was annoyed when the one minute he gave us from sitting to coming over wasn't enough to decide. Also, for whatever reason, iced tea is not available here, and they look visibly disappointed if you order water. I had fish and chips, which I had also had the previous day in a Halifax pub. By comparison, the Halifax pub was far better.

On the whole, though food was plentiful, it was by far the biggest gap between previous cruises and this one. I'd give it a C+

Newport
As you all know already, we skipped Newport due to rough seas. Unfortunately, this meant our sailaway was at 5:00 AM on Sunday, which we of course missed. None the less, this was probably the right decision on Princess' part. We had been looking forward to a Segway tour, but I'm sure we can do so another time.

Boston
We had booked separate tours in Boston on a duck tour. This was a lot of fun, but it's a lot cheaper if you do it yourself. This takes you through town, and into the river. It's a good introduction to a very historical city.

After this we parted company with my parents (who had been in Boston a year+ ago) and headed first off to Cheers. To be honest, this was a better meal than a lot of the ships' meals and was very much worth seeing. From there, we headed to the Freedom Trail and saw a walking tour about to leave (only $8 each). We jumped on this, and unfortunately, it began to rain. And then after that it poured. We got absolutely soaked, but ot the tour guide's credit, they soldiered on and it was a fun time.

There's a ton to see in Boston, and we had fun doing it. However, as there are plenty of ways to see it yourself, skip the Princess excursions here and do it yourself.

Bar Harbor
From Boston the ship headed to Bar Harbor. And this needs to be separated into two parts. The town itself is nice, quaint, a bunch of cute shops, etc. And I suspect, Acadia National Park would have been great.

However, unfortunately we had signed up for a whale watching excursion. Now I say unfortunately because this was an awful experience, and not just because there were no whales. Let me quote from Princess' excursion book:

--
The Gulf of Maine is home to a rich variety of marine life. Embark on a cruise in search o finback, humpback, right and minke whales. Experience the world's largest mammals up close aboard a whale-watching catamaran.

WHAT YOU SEE: Porcupine Islands, Egg Rock Lighthouse and Acadia National Park to an area where whales congregate and feed. We guarantee whale sightings or you receive a 50% refund to your onboard account. You may spot seals, dolphin, porpoise and seabirds as well. NOTE: Tour operates rain or shine, so dress warmly. Wear a sweater and a windbreaker or rain jacket. There is plenty of seating inside the vessel...
--

Now, nowhere in this description is there a mention of a 90 minute (each way) journey out to deep sea at nearly 30 knots. Nor is it mentioned that the boat overbooks, so in actuality, there are not enough seats for everyone even when you add the outside topside ones. As a consequence, my parents and I had to huddle near the back of the top level to avoid buffeting winds.

Now, all of this may have been ok if there had been whales, dolphins, seals, or whatever, but there weren't. What there were instead was about 50% of the boat throwing up and curling up in the fetal position across the floor inside below deck. We fortunately did not get sick, but the smell of vomit across the ship was awful. The men's room overflowed and there was urine all over the floor as a result. Manning the kitchen area was a teenage kid who looked like he didn't want to deal with anyone, and was obviously bothered when he had to get drinks/food for people.

Combine this with a PA system that's not loud enough to hear on top of the ship, so you had to strain to hear what was being said. And then what *was* said at one point was (and this was after about 2&1/2 hours of not finding whales) "OH MY GOD! That's the largest sunfish I've ever seen!". Indeed, it was a large sunfish. However, by this point, the people on the boat looked like survivors of a shipwreck, not a cruise excursion.

We were in fact credited half our money back, but even if we had seen whales, it wouldn't have been worth doing. I rated this excursion Poor on the end of trip survey. Avoid this excursion like a plague.

St. John's
We had originally been booked on a jet boat tour, but after the previous day in Maine, we canceled this (there was a waiting list, so we got our $$$ back). We would later see these jet boats, and realistically, it looks like their goal is just to get people wet with 50 degree water. Maybe it'd be fun, but I don't feel we missed anything.

Instead we decided to make our own way and picked up a city-provided tour bus for $16/person. This takes you around the city showing off historic sights and stops at a few such as the reversing rapids, city market, etc. Definitely worth it, and the bus driver was very knowledgeable.

We purchased poutine from the farmer's market, and it was excellent, so get some if you go there.

Halifax
We had purchased a hop-on/hop-off bus tour with Express Pass that gets you admission to the Citadel and the Maritime Museum. This was a good choice as the bus guides were again knowledgeable and the stops useful.

The Citadel is a must see and there's a nice free tour around it that takes about an hour (leaves at 11:00). This means you're basically done with the tour for the firing of the noon gun (which you must see). Definitely a good stop.

From there, we headed to the Maritime Museum, where the express pass paid off as the line was long to get in. The museum wasn't bad, but I guess I have a bit of a limit for how much Titanic stuff I need to see.

From there, we had lunch at a nearby pub and then walked the boardwalk. If you do this, stop by the Beaver Tail stand and have that for dessert.

Shipboard Activities
The first sea day we had, my wife and I both played in a poker tournament on the PokerPro table. We were familiar with the table from Excalibur in Vegas. I won that tournament and then didn't bother playing again. The tournament structure is awful. If you're a skillful SnG player, then basically you'll understand what I say when I say you're in pushbot mode from the second level. My wife played another tournament later, but we didn't play cash games. They had a pretty consistent $1/$2 game going though, and to their credit, rake is capped at $7 (which is good for a cruise ship from what I understand). But basically we were either too tired or too busy to play the rest of the cruise.

The rest of the casino is about what you'd expect. Craps and Blackjack treated us poorly, and roulette treated my dad poorly. The quarter flipping/pushing machines are fun to kill some time at, but you'll not make money doing so.

We attended shows in the theater nearly every day. The production shows ("Do you want to dance" and "Piano Man") were ok. It's obvious why these singers/dancers are on a cruise ship and not on land somewhere. There were frequent synchronicity issues and missed lifts. The singers had almost no emotion to their songs, and I have no idea why you'd give Bill Joel, Elton John, etc. songs to women as they make for poor covers of the real versions.

Aside from the production numbers, we also saw the magician and juggler. Again, it's obvious why these guys are on cruise ships. Anyone can do the rope tricks / hidden card tricks with a little training. The juggler's ladder skill is fine, but he drags it on. And, though I appreciated the effort, the cruise staff's variety routines are tired. I saw the same "hit me here, hit my there" routine on all 3 of the previous cruises, spanning back 15 years.

In the lounges, the piano guy was ok, but not worth hanging around for. However, the group "Elements" is talented, and their lead singer performs a great show. Highly recommend them, although perhaps not on every night.

Skywalker's was fun, but perhaps due to the itinerary, it was basically 15 people each night we were there. This made it easy to get seats and dance, but the vibe was lacking somewhat. Also the lighting makes it near impossible to actually get a decent view out what should be the best windows on the ship.

Disembarkation
As we had driven, we carried our stuff off. This mostly worked ok, except for some reason instead of allowing people into the Coral dining room, they had everyone line up in a narrow hallway with the dining room maybe 10% full. Who knows why. But ultimately, it was fairly efficient and we were off the ship at about 8:30.

Other Odds and Ends
Wine tastings (both of them) were well done on the ship and we enjoyed both. Nice touch in the first cheap one that they give you some souvenir glasses. If you have the time, and enjoy wine, go to both of them.

I have a real issue with the photography pricing. While I expect prints to be over priced, I really don't understand the flash drive pricing in this day and age. I would have loved to buy electronic copies of a lot of the pictures, but to do so they make you buy the print and THEN spend $10 more for the file. That's a rip-off. Fortunately, we had coupons (thanks to our travel agent) to get $20 off formal portraits, so we bought a few that way for $5 each.

I also have a bit of an issue with the passenger service desk personnel. We made use of them twice, both times when there was no one else in line. Once to get a print out of our account, and once to apply a $5 coupon to the second wine tasting. Both times, I got eye rolls as if I was wasting their precious time. I realize these are trivial requests compared to some of what people may ask them for, but if you want me to feel valued as a customer, don't trivialize my requests and act as if you're doing me a huge favor.

Lastly, a question for the cruise veterans. On the last day or two, we saw a few cabins start having some sort of quilt placed over it and the facing wall. What was going on there? Did someone get sick? Die? Just curious.

Questions? Just ask

[Toto2Kansas]

Originally Posted by RTPGiants

Lastly, a question for the cruise veterans. On the last day or two, we saw a few cabins start having some sort of quilt placed over it and the facing wall. What was going on there? Did someone get sick? Die? Just curious.

Questions? Just ask

Thanks for taking the time for a very lengthy and informative review, it is appreciated.

The only thing I can think of to answer your question about the 'quilt', could this have been the protective cover they put on corners of the walls so protect them when they are going to be moving luggage to the hold for disembarkation maybe?

[RickEk]

Thanks for the review. The only time I've seen them use quilts is when they are moving luggage around. They put up the quilts near the crew access doors so as not to scuff the walls....

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the intensive review.

[jean s]

The quilts were set up near our room and I asked what they were at the passenger service desk. I was told the quilts are to protect the walls and to muffle the noise of moving the luggage.

[KCSungirl]

Thank you very much for your review. I especially appreciate your port reviews. That Whale watching trip sounded so awful. I am sure it wasn't funny at the time, but to hear you re-tell the story it sounds like a SNL skit. I pretty much want to avoid anything on the water at those temperatures. Many thanks, Sungirl

[mek]

Originally Posted by KCSungirl

Thank you very much for your review. I especially appreciate your port reviews. That Whale watching trip sounded so awful. I am sure it wasn't funny at the time, but to hear you re-tell the story it sounds like a SNL skit. I pretty much want to avoid anything on the water at those temperatures. Many thanks, Sungirl

Two years ago we did this itinerary on the Crown and we were booked on the Whale Watching tour in Bar Harbor, but it was canceled because of weather and we did an Acadia Natl Park tour instead - sounds like we came out ahead even though I was disappointed at the time.

[caribill]

Originally Posted by RTPGiants

The Brooklyn Cruise Terminal is easy to find even though our taxi driver from JFK had never heard of it. Of course, we shouldn't have even been at JFK, but Southwest basically screwed us on Friday night (a story for another review), and instead we arrived at around 9:00 AM on Saturday and cabbed it over.

Ready for the Southwest story now.

[julia]

VERY VERY good review! Thank you so much for taking the time to post.

One comment about the "eye rolling" since you mentioned it a few times. I am a very "direct" person and will always look someone in the eye as I'm speaking with them. To me, this is a sign of respect. If I saw someone roll their eyes in response to a question or request, I would immediately (and firmly) say "excuse me... is there a problem???" That behavior needs to be called out (and I hope you did!)

[julia]

Originally Posted by caribill

Ready for the Southwest story now.

Hahahaaaa! Yes, let hear it!

[RTPGiants]

Originally Posted by caribill

Ready for the Southwest story now.

Ok, fine the Southwest story...

Understand that we live in Durham, NC. It takes us about 20 minutes to get to the airport, and even with parking, etc. we'd be at baggage check in about 25. The airport is small, and never crowded especially at night.

We had a flight scheduled to leave at 7:05 to Philly. We had checked in the day before, gotten "A" passes, and I signed up for flight status text messaging.

At 3:10, I get a text message that the flight is on time.

At 4:10, I get a text message that the flight is delayed until 9:45. So at this point, it's pointless to get the airport terribly early.

At 5:10, I get a text message that the flight is delayed until 10:05. No real change.

At 5:35, I get a text message that the flight is delayed until 10:30. Now this was getting annoying, but it did give us some extra time to make sure everything was packed, etc.

At 5:55, Southwest actually called me (automated) and told me the flight was at 10:30. This is not part of the flight status service, so I assume they called everyone.

At this point, my wife and I are at home, eating, and checking the Southwest flight status web page about every 5 minutes. It stays consistent.

At about 8:00, we're getting ready to leave for the airport.

At 8:10, Southwest again calls me, and now says the flight is leaving at 10:00. A text message follows instantly. This is a little disconcerting, but no big deal as the airport is close to us as I mentioned above.

We're in the car at 8:20, and at 8:40, we're about 2 minutes from the airport. Southwest now calls again and says the flight is leaving at 8:55

I have my wife drive us up front as I frantically run inside at about 8:45. There's a single Southwest agent, who is obviously ready for this, and basically says it's too late to get on. She calls down to the gate and confirms with them and gives me a "nope, sorry" response. As you might expect, as this is going on, people start piling in behind me with the same issue, but they won't budge. The agent repeatedly gives us all the spiel that we should have been at the airport in time for a 7:05 flight ... this despite the fact that they had told us 3 hours ahead that it was delayed because you never know when a "window will open up" to get the flight out.

Ultimately Southwest rebooked us on a Saturday morning flight, but it was easier to end up canceling that and picking up a cheap American Eagle flight to JFK.

In general we like Southwest, but this was poorly handled. I can only imagine that there were like 3 people on the flight they actually flew.

[Luv2escape]

Originally Posted by RTPGiants

This is my review of the CB cruise that left NY on 8/22 and returned on 8/29. I know there have been a ton of reviews already, but maybe this will show something new. Overall the trip was a lot of fun. It had been a long time since I was on a cruise, and all involved in our party enjoyed themselves. It was a good vacation and I'd do it again. That said, there were highs and lows.

Background
This was my 4th cruise, but my first since 2000. This was my wife's second cruise, and my parents' (celebrating their 40th anniversary) third. I've been on every cruise anyone in the party has taken. This was our first on Princess, and as mentioned, first in a long time. My wife and I cruised in 2000 on Carnival. My parents and I cruised in 1990 and 1994 on NCL and RCCL. All of those were obviously on smaller ships, and all were to the Caribbean or Mexico.

Embarkation
The Brooklyn Cruise Terminal is easy to find even though our taxi driver from JFK had never heard of it. Of course, we shouldn't have even been at JFK, but Southwest basically screwed us on Friday night (a story for another review), and instead we arrived at around 9:00 AM on Saturday and cabbed it over. While we originally were going to drive in with my parents, instead we arrived well before them.

The embarkation procedure was fairly well handled, but looking back on it, showed a taste of what dealing with Princess employees was going to be like. After clearing the security area, we got to the waiting area and were given a boarding group. Here we waited about an hour without any indication of when we'd be allowed on board. Eventually some folks were escorted onboard and there was basically mass confusion. No grouping number had been called, so as you'd expect in the the now rather full waiting area, everyone decided to head to the lines. When the Princess boarding agents were asked which group was to board, they were non responsive and either didn't understand the question (or English?) or just refused to answer.

None the less, groups were then called after this pre-board, and we were quickly inside on the way to our stateroom. I'd give the procedure a B+. It was efficient once someone announced what was going on, but employee contact was poor.

Stateroom
We were booked in a balcony room far forward on deck 12, A215 with my parents next door in A219. The room was clean, reasonably sized, and reasonably well setup. Our cabin steward, Taslim, wasn't aound at this point, but that was pretty much the only time he wasn't around for the cruise. He was by far the best employee interaction we had on the cruise, always responsive, available, and eager to please. We submitted him for an employee of the month nomination, and he was the only crew we tipped beyond the standard gratuity.

I'll stop going chronilogically here for the moment and talk a bit more about hte quarters. The beds, as people have commented on numerous times, are hard. Taslim got us an egg crate upon request and had it on very quickly. This makes the beds better, but not exactly 5 star. They are, however, sufficiently large.

The balcony proved nice despite some cold/foggy weather. The doors between the balconies can be unlocked, and we had Taslim do so. This enabled us to play cards with my parents overlooking a nice view of the ocean.

Overall the room served its purpose well. I do wish you could check balances, etc. from the TV, but on the whole, the cabin was functional. Being far foward, the somewhat rough seas of the first few days did make for a large amount of movement, but it wasn't too bad. The deck was not noisy, but there was some smoking down the hall. I'd give it a solid A- on the whole.

Food
Getting back somewhat chronologically, we unpacked and then headed upstairs to get food at the buffet. My wife purchased a soda card along the way as she's a bit of a Diet Coke drinker. I did not, but did mooch off of hers from time to time. Now, this would bring up some good and bad things on thie cruise.

Firstly, the buffets on the whole were extremely well done. There were a ton of options, and most of it was good. While we never ate an actual diner at the buffet, we did use it for some breakfasts, lunches, and snacks. One of the best things on the buffet was the variety of pastas they offered. All of the ones we partook of were delicious and well prepared. The other food on the buffet was good as well. They buffet stations, however, are poorly laid out. With one exception (I forget which one), there's no clear order you're supposed to go through, so you're constantly dodging people (especially kids) running around the floor. Tables are reasonably plentiful excepting on sea days when everyone is up there.

Now, drinks on the other hand are an issue. While water and iced tea were easily obtained, other drinks are hit or miss. At breakfast, juices had to be sought out. At all times, if you flash the soda card to one of the table busers, you'll get what amounts to an eye roll followed by them disappearing for five minutes to go get the Coke (usually there was a sort of telephone chain where one passed the request on to the other). Note that this did not happen at bars if you went up to one, but it seems as if the buffet attendants are off put by this service.

Jumping ahead a little bit, let's discuss actual formal dining for a moment. We had the 8:15 seating in the Palm dining room at a table of 8. And honestly, this to me was where I saw the biggest drop-offs from previous cruises. The dinners at all 3 of my previous cruises were fantastic. The dinners this cruise were perhaps on par with a Lonestar steakhouse. This isn't to say they're bad, but it's sort of like going out on a Friday night vs. going out on a special occasion.

Part of the problem is service. Our waitress and junior waiter were good on the whole, but the dining room was ridiculously understaffed. Water and iced tea are almost never refilled without having to ask multiple times (to the point where my dad ordered two teas to start dinner, which he got consistently, but again it was never refilled when empty). Coffee at dessert was a hassle as it almost always was an afterthought to them and arrived after the dessert arrived. The problem, as I see it was sort of revealed by our waitress. She once mentioned that our junior waiter had to wait on line at the kitchen to get the dishes. This is fine in theory, but it prevents him from having enough time to handle drinks and bussing dishes. As you might expect, in the case of my wife, a diet Coke would arrive at the start of the meal, but there was basically zero chance of getting a refill no matter how much you asked. It's not that he wasn't trying, it's that he's too busy. Additionally, the first two or three days, the meals were very rushed. Courses arrived nearly on top of each other as if there was some requirement that we be out the door by 9:30. This did change a bit as the cruise went on, but it was not a relaxing experience.

Now a few tips about the meals themselves. First off, skip the "Chef's Dinner" night. Somehow the chef has poor taste. All selections on that night were poor, and fewer were available than on other nights. Second, expect entrees to be fairly bland on the whole. Lamb was tough, steak was "ok", but that's about it, "ok". I did not order the lobster (afraid it'd be hard to eat on formal night), but as it turns out it's cut out of the shell for you, so order that if you have the chance. Fishes are ok on the whole (excepting the sea bass). There does seem to be some sort of bizarre fascination with asparagus as pretty much every meal comes with it. The appetizers were ok on the whole. The cold soups were poor. One that was supposed to be "frozen" (on the first night) was lukewarm. Desserts were good, but not mind blowing.

I'm going to lump room service in with this for a moment as well. We partook twice in breakfast room service. The selection is small, but the bigger issue is the timing. They let you specify a half hour window, and the first time, that worked great. The second time, however, it arrived fifteen minutes before our window and just ahead of our wakeup call. This also happened once to my parents. Additionally, we had ordered an anniversary champagne package for my parents which was supposed to arrive on Sunday. Instead it arrived almost the minute they boarded. They were able to have it stored until later, but still, rather poor service (though that might be on the Princess reservations person for all I know).

We did not try the specialty restaurants, but did have the pub lunch on the last day of the cruise. Here again service was poor. Having not had it before, we didn't realize there wasn't a menu, and the waiter was annoyed when the one minute he gave us from sitting to coming over wasn't enough to decide. Also, for whatever reason, iced tea is not available here, and they look visibly disappointed if you order water. I had fish and chips, which I had also had the previous day in a Halifax pub. By comparison, the Halifax pub was far better.

On the whole, though food was plentiful, it was by far the biggest gap between previous cruises and this one. I'd give it a C+

Newport
As you all know already, we skipped Newport due to rough seas. Unfortunately, this meant our sailaway was at 5:00 AM on Sunday, which we of course missed. None the less, this was probably the right decision on Princess' part. We had been looking forward to a Segway tour, but I'm sure we can do so another time.

Boston
We had booked separate tours in Boston on a duck tour. This was a lot of fun, but it's a lot cheaper if you do it yourself. This takes you through town, and into the river. It's a good introduction to a very historical city.

After this we parted company with my parents (who had been in Boston a year+ ago) and headed first off to Cheers. To be honest, this was a better meal than a lot of the ships' meals and was very much worth seeing. From there, we headed to the Freedom Trail and saw a walking tour about to leave (only $8 each). We jumped on this, and unfortunately, it began to rain. And then after that it poured. We got absolutely soaked, but ot the tour guide's credit, they soldiered on and it was a fun time.

There's a ton to see in Boston, and we had fun doing it. However, as there are plenty of ways to see it yourself, skip the Princess excursions here and do it yourself.

Bar Harbor
From Boston the ship headed to Bar Harbor. And this needs to be separated into two parts. The town itself is nice, quaint, a bunch of cute shops, etc. And I suspect, Acadia National Park would have been great.

However, unfortunately we had signed up for a whale watching excursion. Now I say unfortunately because this was an awful experience, and not just because there were no whales. Let me quote from Princess' excursion book:

--
The Gulf of Maine is home to a rich variety of marine life. Embark on a cruise in search o finback, humpback, right and minke whales. Experience the world's largest mammals up close aboard a whale-watching catamaran.

WHAT YOU SEE: Porcupine Islands, Egg Rock Lighthouse and Acadia National Park to an area where whales congregate and feed. We guarantee whale sightings or you receive a 50% refund to your onboard account. You may spot seals, dolphin, porpoise and seabirds as well. NOTE: Tour operates rain or shine, so dress warmly. Wear a sweater and a windbreaker or rain jacket. There is plenty of seating inside the vessel...
--

Now, nowhere in this description is there a mention of a 90 minute (each way) journey out to deep sea at nearly 30 knots. Nor is it mentioned that the boat overbooks, so in actuality, there are not enough seats for everyone even when you add the outside topside ones. As a consequence, my parents and I had to huddle near the back of the top level to avoid buffeting winds.

Now, all of this may have been ok if there had been whales, dolphins, seals, or whatever, but there weren't. What there were instead was about 50% of the boat throwing up and curling up in the fetal position across the floor inside below deck. We fortunately did not get sick, but the smell of vomit across the ship was awful. The men's room overflowed and there was urine all over the floor as a result. Manning the kitchen area was a teenage kid who looked like he didn't want to deal with anyone, and was obviously bothered when he had to get drinks/food for people.

Combine this with a PA system that's not loud enough to hear on top of the ship, so you had to strain to hear what was being said. And then what *was* said at one point was (and this was after about 2&1/2 hours of not finding whales) "OH MY GOD! That's the largest sunfish I've ever seen!". Indeed, it was a large sunfish. However, by this point, the people on the boat looked like survivors of a shipwreck, not a cruise excursion.

We were in fact credited half our money back, but even if we had seen whales, it wouldn't have been worth doing. I rated this excursion Poor on the end of trip survey. Avoid this excursion like a plague.

St. John's
We had originally been booked on a jet boat tour, but after the previous day in Maine, we canceled this (there was a waiting list, so we got our $$$ back). We would later see these jet boats, and realistically, it looks like their goal is just to get people wet with 50 degree water. Maybe it'd be fun, but I don't feel we missed anything.

Instead we decided to make our own way and picked up a city-provided tour bus for $16/person. This takes you around the city showing off historic sights and stops at a few such as the reversing rapids, city market, etc. Definitely worth it, and the bus driver was very knowledgeable.

We purchased poutine from the farmer's market, and it was excellent, so get some if you go there.

Halifax
We had purchased a hop-on/hop-off bus tour with Express Pass that gets you admission to the Citadel and the Maritime Museum. This was a good choice as the bus guides were again knowledgeable and the stops useful.

The Citadel is a must see and there's a nice free tour around it that takes about an hour (leaves at 11:00). This means you're basically done with the tour for the firing of the noon gun (which you must see). Definitely a good stop.

From there, we headed to the Maritime Museum, where the express pass paid off as the line was long to get in. The museum wasn't bad, but I guess I have a bit of a limit for how much Titanic stuff I need to see.

From there, we had lunch at a nearby pub and then walked the boardwalk. If you do this, stop by the Beaver Tail stand and have that for dessert.

Shipboard Activities
The first sea day we had, my wife and I both played in a poker tournament on the PokerPro table. We were familiar with the table from Excalibur in Vegas. I won that tournament and then didn't bother playing again. The tournament structure is awful. If you're a skillful SnG player, then basically you'll understand what I say when I say you're in pushbot mode from the second level. My wife played another tournament later, but we didn't play cash games. They had a pretty consistent $1/$2 game going though, and to their credit, rake is capped at $7 (which is good for a cruise ship from what I understand). But basically we were either too tired or too busy to play the rest of the cruise.

The rest of the casino is about what you'd expect. Craps and Blackjack treated us poorly, and roulette treated my dad poorly. The quarter flipping/pushing machines are fun to kill some time at, but you'll not make money doing so.

We attended shows in the theater nearly every day. The production shows ("Do you want to dance" and "Piano Man") were ok. It's obvious why these singers/dancers are on a cruise ship and not on land somewhere. There were frequent synchronicity issues and missed lifts. The singers had almost no emotion to their songs, and I have no idea why you'd give Bill Joel, Elton John, etc. songs to women as they make for poor covers of the real versions.

Aside from the production numbers, we also saw the magician and juggler. Again, it's obvious why these guys are on cruise ships. Anyone can do the rope tricks / hidden card tricks with a little training. The juggler's ladder skill is fine, but he drags it on. And, though I appreciated the effort, the cruise staff's variety routines are tired. I saw the same "hit me here, hit my there" routine on all 3 of the previous cruises, spanning back 15 years.

In the lounges, the piano guy was ok, but not worth hanging around for. However, the group "Elements" is talented, and their lead singer performs a great show. Highly recommend them, although perhaps not on every night.

Skywalker's was fun, but perhaps due to the itinerary, it was basically 15 people each night we were there. This made it easy to get seats and dance, but the vibe was lacking somewhat. Also the lighting makes it near impossible to actually get a decent view out what should be the best windows on the ship.

Disembarkation
As we had driven, we carried our stuff off. This mostly worked ok, except for some reason instead of allowing people into the Coral dining room, they had everyone line up in a narrow hallway with the dining room maybe 10% full. Who knows why. But ultimately, it was fairly efficient and we were off the ship at about 8:30.

Other Odds and Ends
Wine tastings (both of them) were well done on the ship and we enjoyed both. Nice touch in the first cheap one that they give you some souvenir glasses. If you have the time, and enjoy wine, go to both of them.

I have a real issue with the photography pricing. While I expect prints to be over priced, I really don't understand the flash drive pricing in this day and age. I would have loved to buy electronic copies of a lot of the pictures, but to do so they make you buy the print and THEN spend $10 more for the file. That's a rip-off. Fortunately, we had coupons (thanks to our travel agent) to get $20 off formal portraits, so we bought a few that way for $5 each.

I also have a bit of an issue with the passenger service desk personnel. We made use of them twice, both times when there was no one else in line. Once to get a print out of our account, and once to apply a $5 coupon to the second wine tasting. Both times, I got eye rolls as if I was wasting their precious time. I realize these are trivial requests compared to some of what people may ask them for, but if you want me to feel valued as a customer, don't trivialize my requests and act as if you're doing me a huge favor.

Lastly, a question for the cruise veterans. On the last day or two, we saw a few cabins start having some sort of quilt placed over it and the facing wall. What was going on there? Did someone get sick? Die? Just curious.

Questions? Just ask

"Quilts" placed in stategic places are to protect walls during luggage removal for disembarkation process.
We also we on this cruise and had a nice but not great trip. There were definite problems with the size of the ship -sailed full 3500 people (500 kids) Anytime dining has problems especially the 6th deck dining room, long waits for seating and table service not the best... 5th Deck Anytime dining much more organized and wait staff seemed more experienced. We have sailed this ship once before in the first season (2004) and we are convinced although a beautiful ship bigger is not always better. Sorry for your negative experience on your whale watching tour.
Dot & Paul

[tteettimes]

RTPGiants
I also live in Durham in Croasdaile
I especially thank you for the heads up review as DW and I are sailing the CB
on the identical itinerary September 12th---we have an aft cabin and are really looking forward to it but hate to hear the negatives about wait staff

sorry you had rough seas as we watched the storm tracking hoping we don't have one occur on our trip

this will be our first Princess cruise-----as you can see we have been on
Celebrity and have had no bad personnel experiences only great ones and
as you said we were generous for extra great service with a smile
we will not book the whale watch tour----thank you very much

hope next one is much better

[MommyJamiex4]

Originally Posted by RTPGiants

Ok, fine the Southwest story...

Understand that we live in Durham, NC. It takes us about 20 minutes to get to the airport, and even with parking, etc. we'd be at baggage check in about 25. The airport is small, and never crowded especially at night.

We had a flight scheduled to leave at 7:05 to Philly. We had checked in the day before, gotten "A" passes, and I signed up for flight status text messaging.

At 3:10, I get a text message that the flight is on time.

At 4:10, I get a text message that the flight is delayed until 9:45. So at this point, it's pointless to get the airport terribly early.

At 5:10, I get a text message that the flight is delayed until 10:05. No real change.

At 5:35, I get a text message that the flight is delayed until 10:30. Now this was getting annoying, but it did give us some extra time to make sure everything was packed, etc.

At 5:55, Southwest actually called me (automated) and told me the flight was at 10:30. This is not part of the flight status service, so I assume they called everyone.

At this point, my wife and I are at home, eating, and checking the Southwest flight status web page about every 5 minutes. It stays consistent.

At about 8:00, we're getting ready to leave for the airport.

At 8:10, Southwest again calls me, and now says the flight is leaving at 10:00. A text message follows instantly. This is a little disconcerting, but no big deal as the airport is close to us as I mentioned above.

We're in the car at 8:20, and at 8:40, we're about 2 minutes from the airport. Southwest now calls again and says the flight is leaving at 8:55

I have my wife drive us up front as I frantically run inside at about 8:45. There's a single Southwest agent, who is obviously ready for this, and basically says it's too late to get on. She calls down to the gate and confirms with them and gives me a "nope, sorry" response. As you might expect, as this is going on, people start piling in behind me with the same issue, but they won't budge. The agent repeatedly gives us all the spiel that we should have been at the airport in time for a 7:05 flight ... this despite the fact that they had told us 3 hours ahead that it was delayed because you never know when a "window will open up" to get the flight out.

Ultimately Southwest rebooked us on a Saturday morning flight, but it was easier to end up canceling that and picking up a cheap American Eagle flight to JFK.

In general we like Southwest, but this was poorly handled. I can only imagine that there were like 3 people on the flight they actually flew.

OMG you were the people we chatted with on the bus in St. Johns! We were the people who had to kick the other people out of our seats! Nice to meet you LOL!

[LARGIN]

Thanks for the review.. Did the ship feel crowded to you?

[RTPGiants]

Originally Posted by MommyJamiex4

OMG you were the people we chatted with on the bus in St. Johns! We were the people who had to kick the other people out of our seats! Nice to meet you LOL!

Ha, small world. Yeah, I didn't mention the seats thing in St. John's, but at least that got worked out. Hope the rest of your cruise was good.

[RTPGiants]

Originally Posted by LARGIN

Thanks for the review.. Did the ship feel crowded to you?

Honestly, no. While there were a lot of people in the theater, or at the buffets near peak eating times, it almost felt that the ship was deserted after dark. As I mentioned Skywalker's had like 15 people. Most of the other lounges were the same. We didn't use the pools, but it didn't seem like they were crowded either. It's possible that this itinerary attracted early sleepers due to the itinerary compared to a Caribbean one.

[toronto25]

I have to agree with some of your thoughts,,,I wish we would have had a better room steward that would have made it a but more positive for us

"I also have a bit of an issue with the passenger service desk personnel. We made use of them twice, both times when there was no one else in line. Once to get a print out of our account, and once to apply a $5 coupon to the second wine tasting. Both times, I got eye rolls as if I was wasting their precious time. I realize these are trivial requests compared to some of what people may ask them for, but if you want me to feel valued as a customer, don't trivialize my requests and act as if you're doing me a huge favor."

"Now, drinks on the other hand are an issue. While water and iced tea were easily obtained, other drinks are hit or miss. At breakfast, juices had to be sought out. At all times, if you flash the soda card to one of the table busers, you'll get what amounts to an eye roll followed by them disappearing for five minutes to go get the Coke (usually there was a sort of telephone chain where one passed the request on to the other). Note that this did not happen at bars if you went up to one, but it seems as if the buffet attendants are off put by this service."

Jumping ahead a little bit, let's discuss actual formal dining for a moment. We had the 8:15 seating in the Palm dining room at a table of 8. And honestly, this to me was where I saw the biggest drop-offs from previous cruises. The dinners at all 3 of my previous cruises were fantastic. The dinners this cruise were perhaps on par with a Lonestar steakhouse. This isn't to say they're bad, but it's sort of like going out on a Friday night vs. going out on a special occasion.

"Part of the problem is service. Our waitress and junior waiter were good on the whole, but the dining room was ridiculously understaffed. Water and iced tea are almost never refilled without having to ask multiple times (to the point where my dad ordered two teas to start dinner, which he got consistently, but again it was never refilled when empty). Coffee at dessert was a hassle as it almost always was an afterthought to them and arrived after the dessert arrived. The problem, as I see it was sort of revealed by our waitress. She once mentioned that our junior waiter had to wait on line at the kitchen to get the dishes. This is fine in theory, but it prevents him from having enough time to handle drinks and bussing dishes. As you might expect, in the case of my wife, a diet Coke would arrive at the start of the meal, but there was basically zero chance of getting a refill no matter how much you asked. It's not that he wasn't trying, it's that he's too busy. Additionally, the first two or three days, the meals were very rushed. Courses arrived nearly on top of each other as if there was some requirement that we be out the door by 9:30. This did change a bit as the cruise went on, but it was not a relaxing experience."

"Here again service was poor. Having not had it before, we didn't realize there wasn't a menu, and the waiter was annoyed when the one minute he gave us from sitting to coming over wasn't enough to decide."

I agree same things I wrote some of the same issues concerning service in our review also!

[coiran]

Originally Posted by RTPGiants

Ok, fine the Southwest story...

Understand that we live in Durham, NC. It takes us about 20 minutes to get to the airport, and even with parking, etc. we'd be at baggage check in about 25. The airport is small, and never crowded especially at night.

We had a flight scheduled to leave at 7:05 to Philly. We had checked in the day before, gotten "A" passes, and I signed up for flight status text messaging.

At 3:10, I get a text message that the flight is on time.

At 4:10, I get a text message that the flight is delayed until 9:45. So at this point, it's pointless to get the airport terribly early.

At 5:10, I get a text message that the flight is delayed until 10:05. No real change.

At 5:35, I get a text message that the flight is delayed until 10:30. Now this was getting annoying, but it did give us some extra time to make sure everything was packed, etc.

At 5:55, Southwest actually called me (automated) and told me the flight was at 10:30. This is not part of the flight status service, so I assume they called everyone.

At this point, my wife and I are at home, eating, and checking the Southwest flight status web page about every 5 minutes. It stays consistent.

At about 8:00, we're getting ready to leave for the airport.

At 8:10, Southwest again calls me, and now says the flight is leaving at 10:00. A text message follows instantly. This is a little disconcerting, but no big deal as the airport is close to us as I mentioned above.

We're in the car at 8:20, and at 8:40, we're about 2 minutes from the airport. Southwest now calls again and says the flight is leaving at 8:55

I have my wife drive us up front as I frantically run inside at about 8:45. There's a single Southwest agent, who is obviously ready for this, and basically says it's too late to get on. She calls down to the gate and confirms with them and gives me a "nope, sorry" response. As you might expect, as this is going on, people start piling in behind me with the same issue, but they won't budge. The agent repeatedly gives us all the spiel that we should have been at the airport in time for a 7:05 flight ... this despite the fact that they had told us 3 hours ahead that it was delayed because you never know when a "window will open up" to get the flight out.

Ultimately Southwest rebooked us on a Saturday morning flight, but it was easier to end up canceling that and picking up a cheap American Eagle flight to JFK.

In general we like Southwest, but this was poorly handled. I can only imagine that there were like 3 people on the flight they actually flew.

Perhaps this is why SW can offer such good prices!! They already had your ticket money, non - refundible - and probably sold your vacant seats to people who were waiting for a no show!

This is known as Creative Business - I hope you had a recording of their announcements to you so you can get refunded.

Will you fly SW again?

Ron

[Live4Vacay]

Great review. Sounds like a lot of the stuff we encountered back in Feb. How was the temperature onboard, please?