Caribbean princess - march 2017 - trip report

 

 

This cruise was for 14 daysdeparting from Fort Lauderdale onFeb. 25th and returning on March 11th. The first leg was 8 days going to Curacao, Aruba, Bonaire and then returning to Fort Lauderdale. 6 days wasthe second leg and we stopped at Roatan, Belize and Cozumel. Bonaire was the only new port for us. Caribbean Princess is an 113,000 tondisplacement ship and is a sister ship to the Emerald Princess we cruised onlast year and the Crown Princess from the year before.

 

 

Our stateroom, E 209, was anobstructed ocean view on deck 8. When webooked this room we went by the deck plan drawing which showed this room to bein-between 2 life boats. The room wasexactly as we expected and we had a good clear 85% view of the ocean on thestarboard side of the ship. This shiphad 3 banks of elevators, forward, midship and aft so we didn’t have too far towalk to get to the forward bank of elevators.

 

Our cabin steward, Romy, wasexceptional, among the top 3 we’ve had in 40+ cruises.

 

 

As usual I came down with acold on the first day of the cruise and it disrupted our plans for the wholefirst week.

 

 

CURACAO – Our plans were to go to the beach at theSeaquarium for a few hours, then go into the Seaquarium followed by shopping intown. What we did was go into town andafter an hour there was a torrential rainstorm for 30 minutes. We holed up inside a shop for the 30 minutes. On the way back to the ship we stopped at thecasino at the Renaissance center. Thereis no craps table there.

 

 

ARUBA – We had planned to go to Amsterdam Manor Resort onEagle beach and pay $10 each for a day pass. My cold ended this plan and we went into town and walked around andvisited the Crystal Casino.

 

 

BONAIRE – Most of the excursions are diving and snorkelingrelated which my cold kept us from doing. We wandered around town for a few hours. There is one tiny casino at theDivi Resort. This is within walking distance from the dock area but it doesn’topen until 8 PM. I thought Bonaire was a sleepy little island.

 

 

ROATAN – The ship docks at Mahogany Baywhich is a facility owned and developed by Carnival Corp. We went to the beach which is quite nice andspent a few hours followed by another hour visiting the shops in the dock area.

 

 

BELIZE – The ship anchors in Belize and the tender ride to the dock is 20 minutes. Wewandered around the shops on the dock for a few hours. There have been major improvements in thenumber and quality of the shops in the dock area in the last 3 years since wewere last here. What we found out isthat it is safe to go into town. Another thing is that if you go through thegates in the dock area out into town you can get all the same shore excursionsfor half the price the ship charges.

 

 

COZUMEL – We booked an excursion to visit some Mayan ruinsand a chocolate factory. This tour was 4hours and the cost was only $39.95 each. The tour guide, Margherita, wasabsolutely fabulous and filled us in on Mayan history and culture. Nobody seemsto know what happened to the Mayans and their culture. They justdisappeared. The Mayan ruins were calledSan Geravasio.

 

 

We ate in the buffet everynight firstly due to my cold the first week and secondly due to my wife being aVegan. She had many more choices of what to eat at the buffet than she wouldhave had in the main dining room. Because we were done eating dinner by 6:30 every evening we were able to go to maybe 7 shows inthe theatre. Many nights there were 3 shows with the earliest starting at 6:45.

 

 

Now it’s casino time. Hereare the table games in the casino:

 

 

1 Electronic poker pro

 

1 Craps ($5)

 

2 Roulette ($5)

 

2 Blackjack ($6)

 

1 Let it ride ($5)

 

1 Blackjack ($25)

 

1 Heads up Texas hold em ($5)

 

1 Blackjack ($10)

 

1 Fun 21 ($6) alteredSpanish 21

 

1 Three card poker ($5)

 

142 machines

 

 

The casino comped us aSteakhouse dinner one night in the second week. I think this was because we had a nice conversation with Stephania,casino manager. She was a veryattractive blond who was very friendly although we didn’t see her too muchduring the cruise.

 

 

Craps time:

 

 

I had absolutely no positiveexpectations for my craps play on this cruise. The last time I played was in early November last year and I only had 5practice sessions about a month before the cruise. For the 3 weeks leading upto the cruise I was working on a home improvement project.

 

 

The craps table on the shipwas 12 feet long with red colored micro fiber. $5 minimum bet, 2X odds and theonly proposition bets were the horn and the hardways. The table bounce in myopinion was a 9 with 10 being the max. This was my impression on the first dayand it stayed that way though out the cruise.

 

 

Now my next concern is thequality of the corners and edges on the dice. For the last 2 to 2 ½ years I’ve had issues and problems with the dice on all Carnivalowned ships. I was told before thiscruise that I would not see the same dice being used more than once during the14 days. I recorded the serial number ofthe dice for every night that I played. There was a different serial numberevery single night. I found no issues with the dice at all on this cruise. My guess is that the dice were brand new outof the foil wrapper maybe 4 nights. Onall the other nights they felt like they had only been used once before whichis fine on a cruise ship since they don’t get the same amount of play as in aland based casino.

 

 

Here are our throwingresults:

 

 

 

 

 

FEB 25 SATURDAY SERIAL # 037

 

 

EVA 9,5,6,11,4H,7 OUT

 

6 THROWS

 

 

BOB 5,8,6,8H,9,6,2,3,10H,5PT,8,7 OUT

 

12 THROWS 1POINT

 

 

EVA 9,2,6,6H,8,9PT,11,10H,9,5,11,12,4,9,3,8,7 OUT

 

17 THROWS 1POINT

 

 

Before I could get in asecond hand the table was filled so we left.

 

 

FEB 26 SUNDAY

 

 

NO PLAY TABLE NOT OPENED UNTIL 9 PM I WASBEAT FROM THE COLD

 

 

FEB 27 MONDAY SERIAL# 028

 

 

BOB 8,8PT,8H,3,11,8PT,9,8,8,3,7 OUT

 

11 THROWS 2POINTS

 

 

This was craps lesson nightfor newbies starting at 8:15.I never got to play until 10 PM.

 

 

FEB 28 TUESDAY SERIAL# 035

 

 

EVA 8,9,5,9,6,4,9,5,12,6H,2,5,6H,9,4H,3,9,6,5,8PT,7,11,8,3,12,11,6,3,8PT,7,3,6H,7OUT

 

33 THROWS 2POINTS

 

 

BOB 4,6,8,8,5,11,6,3,8,6,6,4PT,6H,10,5,5,8,8,7 OUT

 

19 THROWS 1POINT

 

 

Table filled with playersagain.

 

 

MAR 1 WED SERIAL# 030

 

 

BOB 7,8,8PT,7,8,9,10H,9,9,6,6,9,8PT,12,10,10PT,11,2,9,9PT,3,4,2,4PT,7,8,5,5,6,7OUT

 

30 THROWS 5POINTS

 

 

EVA 6,2,5,5,9,10H,5,7OUT

 

8 THROWS

 

 

BOB 8H,8HPT,4H,11,5,9,8,6,7OUT

 

9 THROWS

 

 

Table filled with playersagain so we left.

 

 

MAR 2 THURSDAY SERIAL # 055

 

 

EVA 8,10,9,7OUT

 

4 THROWS

 

 

BOB 8H,10H,6,6,9,3,3,9,11,6,9,5,3,10,5,6,11,4H,3,3,9,10,6,8HPT,4,11,7OUT

 

27 THROWS 1POINT

 

 

EVA 8,8PT,6,5,8,4,5,5,12,3,11,7OUT

 

12 THROWS 1POINT

 

 

BOB 7,8,3,4,6,5,8HPT,9,7OUT

 

9 THROWS 1POINT

 

Table filled with players again.

 

 

MAR 3 FRIDAY SERIAL# 017

 

 

BOB 3,4H,8,8H,6,4PT,8,4,5,6,5,6H,6,10,9,7OUT

 

16 THROWS 1POINT

 

 

Table filled with players.

 

 

MAR 4 SATURDAY SERIAL # 029

 

 

BOB 4,4PT,8,2,9,11,7OUT

 

7 THROWS

 

 

Table again filled withplayers.

 

 

MAR 5 SUNDAY SERIAL# 045

 

 

BOB 3,8H,8PT,7,4,10,5,8,7OUT

 

9 THROWS 1POINT

 

 

BOB 9,8H,5,10,6,5,10,6,5,11,7OUT

 

11 THROWS

 

 

BOB 10H,2,8H,5,8,10HPT,5,9,4,4,10H,9,3,8,7OUT

 

15 THROWS 1POINT

 

 

BOB 9,6,3,9PT,6,9,2,11,7OUT

 

9 THROWS 1POINT

 

 

Good night. I got in 4 handsbefore the horde showed up.

 

 

MAR 6 MONDAY SERIAL# 988

 

 

BOB 6,11,3,7OUT

 

4 THROWS

 

 

Table filled with players.

 

 

MAR 7 TUESDAY SERIAL # 600

 

 

BOB 2,6H,3,5,3,11,8,7OUT

 

8 THROWS

 

 

EVA 9,8,8,5,8,8,2,8H,10H,6,7OUT

 

11 THROWS

 

 

BOB 3,10H,10PT,8,6,11,7OUT

 

7 THROWS 1POINT

 

 

EVA 5,2,6H,6,12,5PT,6,5,3,8,3,10,7OUT

 

13 THROWS 1POINT

 

 

Table filled with players.

 

 

 

MAR 8 WEDNESDAY SERIAL # 036

 

 

BOB 6,6HPT,8,3,10H,11,11,5,6,7OUT

 

10 THROWS 1POINT

 

 

EVA 6,9,8,6HPT,8H,9,9,9,10,7OUT

 

10 THROWS 1POINT

 

 

BOB 5,3,4H,9,9,3,9,8,10,9,4H,7OUT

 

12 THROWS

 

 

EVA 8,4H,8PT,8,4,8HPT,2,7,8,3,5,10H,10H,5,8PT,5,7OUT

 

17 THROWS 3POINTS

 

 

Table filled with players.

 

 

MAR 9 THURSDAY SERIAL # 005

 

 

EVA 7,10H,5,5,12,5,5,9,5,8H,11,4,6,7OUT

 

14 THROWS

 

 

BOB 4,3,6,5,6,8,7OUT

 

7 THROWS

 

 

BOB 11,6,4H,4,5,6PT,7,8,6,7OUT

 

10 THROWS 1POINT

 

 

BOB 6,10H,5,9,2,2,6PT,10,7OUT

 

9 THROWS 1POINT

 

 

BOB 4,8,3,6H,11,6,11,11,5,9,7OUT

 

11 THROWS

 

 

BOB 7,8,8HPT,7,8,11,7OUT

 

7 THROWS 1POINT

 

 

5 hands tonight. Most forthe whole cruise.

 

 

MAR 10 FRIDAY SERIAL# 017

 

 

EVA 6H,10,9,6PT,6,6PT,4H,5,7OUT

 

9 THROWS 2POINTS

 

 

BOB 5,10,10,5PT,7,2,12,11,8,10,7OUT

 

11 THROWS 1POINT

 

Table filled again so weleft. This was fine because we had to pack to get off the ship the nextmorning.

 

 

Princess does not haveenough dealers in the casino to open the craps table in the afternoon on at seadays. This eliminates quite a lot ofplaying time that I usually have for example on a Carnival ship.

 

On at sea days the crapstable would open at 9 PMand on days in port it would open at 8 PM.I don’t know why they don’t open the craps table at 7 PM. This alone would havegreatly increased my playing opportunities. For all 14 nights the table wouldbe filled with 10 to 13 players within a half hour of opening. Maybe on 2 nights I got to play enough to getwarmed up to the table.

 

 

To summarize our play wemade 32 points in 36 hands for a ratio of .89 points per hand. Eva made 11points in 12 hands and Bob made 21 points in 24 hands. Eva had 7 come out winners and Bob had 17. Eva’s average hand length was 12.5 throws andBob’s was 11.67 throws per hand.

 

 

We were winners at crapsbeing up about $300 craps but gave more than that back at slots and the othertable games that Eva played.

 

 

The dealers, pit bosses,hosts on this ship were absolutely great. If there had only been half as many craps players on this cruise itwould have been great. When you wait 24hours to play craps and only get in 1 or 2 hands, it is very disappointing.

 

 

 

Dicenator

Very good report. Later this year we, with my wife, are going on the Regal Princess. Looking forward to playing at the craps table. Since Princess Cruise Line seems to have bouncy tables. A little harder to deal with, but, will try it out. Have you sailed on Cunard? I like the table on the QM2. Not that much bounce.

Thanks for the report!