Just Back! Caribbean Princess cruise 7/24

Hello, all. Just returned this afternoon having sailed the 7/24-7/31 Caribbean Princess out of FLL into the Eastern Caribbean. Still rocking, rocking...

What I am saying is OPINION only, so remember, this is just my OPINION of how things were on the cruise, and some of my reflections vary greatly from those of my daughter, age 12, who also accompanied me. Random writings, in no particular order... Also, our sailing experience is Celebrity (7 times) Royal Caribbean 1 time, Royal Majesty 1 time, Seawind Crown (who?) 1 time....

First, the ship is massive. We sailed full and I was told by Marcia (Future Sales Consultant) that of the 3400 passengers on board, 1000 were children. I don't know how entirely accurate that is, but I do know that of the 10-12 age group alone there were 120 children. The ship felt full and very busy, but this was most apparent on the upper decks and around the pools, where it was hard to find a deck chair. Everyone seemed to be intent on sunning and sitting in the hot tubs/spas. On the other hand, public rooms away from the sun (example, library or card room) were seldom occupied by more than a few individuals. Living in Florida as we do and having had skin cancer, I very seldom ventured out into the deck in the middle of the day, so I cannot report on pool activities, bands, etc. but I can say things were lively!

Although there were many children onboard I did not see one example of bad behavior. A child racing up the corridor, once, about 5 in the afternoon, and more than a few "hanging out" in the stairwells between decks 15 and 16, with some noisy (cussing) language, but nothing I would want to report back to the parents. Actually, I was surprised by the manners of these children and actually how polite many of them were! after hearing about how obnoxious they can be--I guess we lucked out on this cruise.

Our cabin was on the Emerald Deck, obstructed view, but the view was pretty good because our window was between two tenders, so we could actually see about 3/4 of the scenery. The layout of our cabin was great and I have to compliment Princess on the cabin design, as the closet was huge and there was more than enough space for 2 people. The closet ran perpendicular to the main sleeping area, so it acted as a nice partition between the bathroom and the beds. Also, soundproofing was excellent and we couldn't even hear the toilet being flushed by one another! {Of course I must add that we were neither below or above a nightclub so I can't say this expertly!}

Our cabin stewardess, Chai (Chaiyada) was wonderful and extremely helpful. As others have said, these beds are HARD, so I asked Chai for an egg-crate pad. There were none available, so Chai devised an alternative pad which was something that went between 2 beds? and folded it and put it under my sheet, and boy! was it comfy. She was very unobtrusive and kept our cabin freshly supplied at all times.

Restaurant/food service was extremely varied. We ate dinner in all 3 dining rooms (one night we were put in traditional, although we were Anytime) and I spoke with many table partners about the dinner selections. Everyone I spoke to agreed that the dining room food was good, or at times okay, but nothing special...and Celebrity was always named as the best in dining (for ships in a similar price range). Not in just my words, but the overall feeling was that Princess was trying too hard to make "artsy" meals when in fact they didn't taste as well as they looked. In addition, the servers were not as polished as those we have experienced on X. However, everyone agreed that the informal buffets--and notably, Caribe Cafe-equalled or surpassed X in food choices. Also, Princess's pastry chef is very good, almost as good as Celebrity's. It's just the entrees and food combos in the Formal Dining Rooms that they couldn't get right--as an example, on American night, Turkey with cranberry sauce was served along with some strange stuffing and for potatoes, it was a sweet potato, when everyone at our table thought that mashed potato would have been more appropriate. There were too many sweet things on the plate--cranberry sauce, a corn muffin, a sweet potato--and one of them should have been swapped out for mashed (salty) potato.

On the other hand, we found more entertainment choice on Princess, and I am assuming that is where the dining $ goes. There were bands playing day and night, and many times simultaneously, so the scenery was never boring. I spoke with many "older" cruisers (let's say 65 and older, I am 43) and most were not real happy with this Princess Cruise, saying they preferred a calmer HAL or Celebrity over this particular cruise. Of course, the fact is that this was a family cruise in the middle of summer vacation and there was just so much energy emenating from the "younger" crowd. Also, the older passengers seemed unhappy with the lack of formality in dress (though formal night was very formal) whereas the younger families seemed to be satisfied with "smart casual" wear to dinner.

As Marcia told me, Princess is aiming at "Country Club formal", meaning a polo shirt and dress slacks for dinner, whereas X and HAL prefer sportcoats at dinner.

To me, the interior decor was pleasant and calming, not as simplistically chic as X but tasteful, done as someone said in a "Pottery Barn" kind of style, lots of light woods and cornflower blues and glass and white marble and lights. Nothing to take your breath away, but nothing to sneer at, either.

Graham Seymour was on this cruise and for the first few days had the goatee, then voila! on day 5? it was gone, he looked like a new man. He was really funny (as was James Michael the Kid comedian) and what a dynamic duo those two could be!

The first Production Show, Let's Rock, seemd to fall flat with our audience and elicit little, if any, applause. The second Production show, Caliente, was much more lively, better pulled together, and got a decent audience response.

I can't say much about the Kid's Program, as daughter would not participate. She is 12 and walked out (never to return to) the Kid's Club when she heard Britney Spears music being played--too young for her middle school tastes)--but I can say that the "younger" 10-12 year-old children, meaning, the ones who aren't socially or physically mature--seemed to have a good time coloring T-shirts, making friendship bracelets, etc.

I have to take a moment to address something that Monk888 said earlier about his 11 year-old son being bored BY THE KIDS PROGRAM on this ship. At first I didn't understand, but now I see exactly what he means. The kid's program in this age group is just too juvenile. The activities that these children were doing are things my daughter did in 3rd grade. The music is music that is listened to by 4th graders. But some of the 12 year-olds who could--but chose not to--participate in the Kids' Program are 7th graders! That is a really big spread in personal development and intellectual abilities. Personally, I think Princess needs to look at this and reconfigure the age groups as well as the activities, because these 12 year-olds and some 11 year-olds are middle school students who have far more social advancement and educational background than this program addresses. Thank goodness my daughter brought an armload of books and magazines and her CD player to entertain herself, because that was her entertainment for the cruise.

kimanjo,

Sounds like you had a good time overall on the ship. I was wondering how it was going to work out for you. Yes, the pool areas and deck areas are very busy throughout the day since, as you correctly observed, it is still Summer vacation season. Sounds like you had loads of kids on the ship, but I'm glad to hear they were well behaved.

Yes, your daughter and my son feel the same about the Kid's programs. They need work. These 10, 11 and 12 year olds these days are so advanced it's ridiculous! It takes a lot to keep their interest. My son felt it was too "babyish" for him. He's 10 going on 30! I hope your daughter at least found some kids to hang around with since there were so many on board. As I've said before several times, I really think this ship needs a gaming arcade. It is more than something to do, it's a place where kids can meet each other, form a bond and then do other "stuff" together. If the CP adds that, I think that ship will be very hard to beat as I still think it's a wonderful ship and would sail on her again in a hot second.

How did you like the Cafe Caribe? I thought the food in there was extremely good and varied. Did you get to relax by the Aft pool any? Hope the cruise was enjoyable for you and your daughter overall.

The Monk

Did you happen to attend a movie, if you did what was your impression? Also, what movies were showing?

Monk888, you are right-on with the Kids program. Although my daughter is not a big fan of arcade games, she certainly would hang out where the action is (and that would be an arcade). I agree, an arcade is needed...and a few comfy chairs, nearby, just a place where kids can gather without actually making it look like they are gathering.

About the Cafe Caribe, I agree, the food there was the best that I had eaten on the ship. I must confess, we went to formal dining every night ('cuz daughter wanted to get dressed up) but after a few nights I got wise and ate very little of my meal in the formal dining room. Instead, after a token dinner in the formal dining room, I would sprint up to Deck 15 and go to the Cafe Caribe and REALLY ENJOY a great meal there. The dishes were authentic and tasty, as well as much more varied and--to my palate--a better dessert assortment.

RE: theatre movies, saw two of them: Love, Actually with Hugh Grant and Mystic River with Sean Penn. Also remember Big Fish and Mona Lisa Smile playing but didn't get to see either of them. In-room movies included The Haunted Mansion, Lord of the Rings (3) and Cold Mountain.

I loved the Rice Table and Pepperpot nights in the Cafe Caribe. They were awesome. Did you get to stuff yourself with the Seafood Extravaganza on Thursday night? I wish I had a plate of those grilled Caribbean lobster tails with drawn butter right now!

Kimanjo - did your 12 year old attempt the teen program? I am concerned with this as my 12 year old is taking a friend (13) from his class at school (7th grade) in October and my son has been on RCCL & Disney which he loved. NCL had the same problem you are describing above and he complained the entire week. Since he is an only child, we are allowing him to take a friend this time. Both my son and his friend will not participate if the program is doing elementary things too. I think I'll let them bring the playstation!

We agree with all aspects of your description of the food in the dining room as well as the Cafe Caribe and are glad you were able to work your meals in a way that you were able to take advantage of both. Had we read your review before sailing we would have been better prepared and would have followed your example...especially on the first night (a fantastic assortment of seafood in Caribe Cafe) and Thursday, the second formal night (massive amounts of lobster tails being grilled in Caribe Cafe). Your review of the food will probably enable many future passengers who are interested in the food of the Caribbean Princess to have a better experience. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Sounds like a good trip, overall. It's not just "kids these days" that would be bored by the activities as described - I would have been just as bored, and it's been a long time since I've been that young. :eek:

Don't give away that Cafe Caribe secret, or it will turn into a "for-fee" establishment. Now I'm all hungry. Geez.

Thank you for taking the time to relate your experience on the 07/24/04 sailing of the Caribbean Princess.

My impression is that you prefer Celebrity Cruises.

Is that correct?

Again, thank you for taking the time to relat your experience on the 07/24/04 sailing of the Caribbean Princess cruise ship.

Kimanjo and Monk. Just curious did you happen to mention the arcade or getting more age appropriate activities for the tweeners to the kids club staff or in the suggestion form? If you mentioned anything did it seem to you like they might be working on it?

We're travelling with a a 7 and an 11 year old in Nov. and I am sure they won't add the arcade (seeing they say they took it out for money reasons...or so I read) but hopfully they will review and adjust the kid program a bit.

Thanks;

Scott

Thanks for your review and comparisons. We are booked on the CP in Feb 05 and are looking forward to it. After 7 Celebrity cruises we wanted a change. I know it will be tough to beat Celebrity's food but it has been slipping over the past few years and the entertainment is predictable.

CRUISINGISLIFE: Hmm, you make me pause. I think I prefer Celebrity as an overall package, and the food is a big portion of that package. I would prefer to sail Celebrity during a peak period vs. the Caribbean Princess during a peak period and on a traditional Caribbean route. However, during a non-peak period or for an extended, exotic voyage, I might lean towards Princess Grand Class, as those ships are designed much the same as the Caribbean Princess (without all the extra guests) and the VERY BIG PLUS of the laundromat. The biggest minus w/Princess is the inflexibility of the age groups...both RCL and Celebrity allowed my daughter to advance into the next age level, and it was one less thing for me to be worried about.

We are now planning a cruise in the Mediterranean/Europe next year, and I would love to put Princess at the top of my list (due to cabin configs and laundromat) but daughter will still not be 13 at that time and the last thing I want is for her to be on the ship with us for 14? 15? days and not have the opportunity to mingle with other children at her intellectual and physical level--which by then may be taller than me! So I may have to go to RCL (drawback: small cabins), Celeb (drawback: no laundry, fewer shore excursion options) , or even Carnival (sigh) based on the children's program alone.

To look at it another way, though--I did like the Princess product enough to go ahead and "book" a future undetermined Cruise with Princess for a $100 deposit.

SOOHOO: We talked to several of the youth counselors about my daughter (who is 5'1" and looks about 15) so there was no question about her appearance nor the way she handles herself (very mature). But they insisted she utilize the Kid's 10-12 club. When I asked how many other girls who were 12 were utilizing the club, they looked over their sign-in sheets and reported that a total of 2 girls out of the 18 twelve-year old girls on board were utilizing the facility. That means there were 16 girls, 12 years of age, who were NOT using the Kid's Club. What does that tell you? Among 12 year-old boys (if I recall correctly there were 31 of them!|) we did not see many in the Kid's Club, and I would go up frequently to check the logs and note the ages. We did meet one boy who was 12, but I felt so badly, at the elevator I asked him how he liked the Kid's club, and how old was he? nine? to which he replied, no, 12...he was so very short! and acted young (face paint all over his face) which I cannot imagine a 12 year-old boy wanting to do...That night when I went to see Let's Rock I sat next to a polite, mature-looking boy and I asked him if he was in the Teens' Program to which he replied, "no, I am only 10". His parents said that he was not involved in the Kid's 10-12 program, he had tried it and found it not to his liking...the t-shirt coloring on the first day turned him off. His parents said that he was amenable to doing sports things but the ping-pong tables were never available (always busy) and they had hoped for basketball but there was no court!

The Teen club is pretty exciting, but I must advise you, I don't know about your 12 year-old son and his 13 year-old friend--are they "into" girls? Because for a teen girl the Teen Club at night was fantastic, and for the older teen boys--meaning 15 or 16, it seemed to work really well--a great place to socialize with those of the opposite sex in a wholesome, secure location. In the daytime it was more innocuous, kind of like a hang-out place, where board games were played, table tennis, a lot of gossiping and laughter...also scavenger hunt teams (of 5 or 6 kids) were formed there. But this is assuming your son will even be allowed into the Teen Club!

But as long as your son has his friend with him I don't think they will be bored at all, especially if they hang out in the pools (just wandering the decks from pool to pool and climbing the stairs will give them a workout!). If they are like typical boys that age they like to eat and the continual hunt for food will be a quest for them. But by all means, bring the Playstation! as I heard one boy on the ship complaining that the video games on board were "old" and they didn't have Spiderman II (which he had brought along with him), they only had Spiderman I.

BEACHNATIVE and SPONGEROB: Agreed! on the Cafe Caribe dining, really enjoyed the Pepperpot and Seafood items...while aboard RCL Splendor a couple years ago during an Asia cruise we ended up eating in the buffet just about every night, as the foods prepared there were more exotic and reflected the native Asian cuisine with usage of east Indian spices...I think it may have to do with the mulitcultural mix of the crew--seems the exotic and/or native cuisines are tastier!

We just returned from the 7/24 sailing and have a few opinions as well. My family traveled with 10 others of various ages and have agreed on several points. The ship was beautiful, food was good and glad we finally tried a Princess ship (previously sailed on 1 Disney and 3 RCL Voyager ships). But, we also agreed the CP lacked a sports deck for playing and mingling amongst the teen group, no video arcade for the kids to meet up at and my younger ones did not want to go to the kids club (they are 11) - not up to RCL standards. The older teens were stuck - 17 years old. Too old for the "teen" club, but too young for Skywalkers! The Caribbean Princess definately needs to re-evaluate the age groups and put more in to attract different age groups. We enjoyed the week, very "sleepy" ship, will probably do RCL Voyager ships next year again.

Princessb, would you go more into detail when you describe this ship being "sleepy"? What were the differences between this and one of the voyager class ships you have sailed on?

Thanks for the reply.

That's one extremely consistent comment that comes up is about the exceptional food on Celebrity. I get some that its not what it once was but what is? I found it interesting that you'd choose Princess for an off peak sailing, I thought it would be the other way around. I'll have to file that away for later use.

Which Celebrity ship did you like the most and why? One thing I keep seeing mentioned on this board about the Caribbean Princess is the entertainment and the amount of it. Did you find that to be superior to the Celebrity ships that you have been on?

No matter what the original post is, every time I see a review on the CP, I get excited to be cruising her soon. ;)

Princessb, would you go more into detail when you describe this ship being "sleepy"? What were the differences between this and one of the voyager class ships you have sailed on?

Having now sailed on both lines (was on the Explorer and the Navigator) I felt that Princess offers more entertainment and much higher quality of food(on the Explorer food ranged from good to very good, on Navigator range was more like good to close to awful).

I found the voyager ships easy to navigate around, the promenade had everything more centrally located.

I found the teen program and things to do(ie climbing wall, roller blading, basketball, ice skating, video games) much better for that age group on RCL but again even with so much more available on RCL, my almost 17 yr old had a blast on Princess.

Wendy

Just a random comment about Europe vs. Carribean cruises. Europe cruises are so port intensive that I don't think the kids programs make much difference there. If you are in port 12 to 13 days on a 14 to 15 day cruise there is very little time for "traditional" kids pursuits.

Don't get me wrong, we enjoyed the Caribbean Princess, but we all felt since it didn't have a Promenade as a center "meeting" place or walk around place, people were just scattered. The Centrum on the CP was beautiful, but it lacked chairs to sit and watch like the Promenade. The Voyager ships always seemed to have people waiting outside the Pig & Whistle or at the Promenade Cafe sitting. On the CP you were either at a show, in a bar or trying to find somewhere to go. The CP didn't have a central place to "hang". The overall atmosphere was "sleepy" after 11:00 or rather quiet. On the Voyager or Explorer, people were still walking around (probably because of the Promenade) or going places. Don't get me wrong, we had a great time and everyone agrees it was a fun week. But the teens and younger ones were disappointed with the lack of activities for them (kid programs, teen age grouping, no aracade, no sports deck). But, it was a beautiful ship and they still had fun. The next time though I think we'll go back to the Voyager Class.

I agree with most of what you said. When traveling with different aged kids, the Voyager Class seemed to handle it the best. Our group did have a great time, but certain things from the Voyager were missed! We agreed the food was

very good on the Princess, but some of the menu choices were odd (rabbit over pasta?) At least to us it was. We always felt RCL's food was good, but had a few more choices.