Caribbean Princess Photo Review – September 1-6, 2014

Loving the review so far! I will be on her for the same itinerary in less than 2 weeks. It will be my first Princess Cruise...I usually do Disney. I am so happy to see all your pictures. It is helping me familiarize myself with the ship.

Now I do have some questions. I noticed a little hut with towels. I am sure I have read this, but want to double check, with Princess do you sign your towels out? And can you sign them out for excursions?

Also the International Cafe, the treats are complementary...correct? You just pay for the drinks...right?

I am planning on getting the soda package as well. Were there any must do mocktales you recommend?

Thanks so much for a great review!

Now I do have some questions. I noticed a little hut with towels. I am sure I have read this, but want to double check, with Princess do you sign your towels out? And can you sign them out for excursions?

Also the International Cafe, the treats are complementary...correct? You just pay for the drinks...right?

I am planning on getting the soda package as well. Were there any must do mocktales you recommend?

Thanks so much for a great review!

They weren't signing them in and out, and were pretty liberal handing them out. I think we had 7 or 8 of them in our possession at one point. But there are two that come in your room and you can take them with you on excursion.

Yes, all the food at International Cafe is complimentary. You only have to pay for the coffee and other drinks.

I never tried any of the mocktails, but found that the ice cream shakes at Scoops were fantastic.

They weren't signing them in and out, and were pretty liberal handing them out. I think we had 7 or 8 of them in our possession at one point. But there are two that come in your room and you can take them with you on excursion.

 

 

 

Yes, all the food at International Cafe is complimentary. You only have to pay for the coffee and other drinks.

 

 

 

I never tried any of the mocktails, but found that the ice cream shakes at Scoops were fantastic.

These are all accurate statements :)

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Loving the review so far! I will be on her for the same itinerary in less than 2 weeks. It will be my first Princess Cruise...I usually do Disney. I am so happy to see all your pictures. It is helping me familiarize myself with the ship.

 

 

 

 

Now I do have some questions. I noticed a little hut with towels. I am sure I have read this, but want to double check, with Princess do you sign your towels out? And can you sign them out for excursions?

 

Also the International Cafe, the treats are complementary...correct? You just pay for the drinks...right?

 

I am planning on getting the soda package as well. Were there any must do mocktales you recommend?

 

Thanks so much for a great review!

I smiled when I saw your screen name the other day & didn't think there could be 2 jenseibs. I'm momof2n2 over "there".

I'm do glad you asked these questions as they are ones I wondered about. We are doing a non Princess excursion and will need towels. Thanks, OP, for answering.

I'm also eager to try the mock tails and milkshakes.

(Jenseib - please share your review either here or there afterwards. Or PM me. Please. I'm excited to try Princess, but as my only other cruises have been DCL I know I'll be apt to compare/contrast them.)

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I smiled when I saw your screen name the other day & didn't think there could be 2 jenseibs. I'm momof2n2 over "there".

 

I'm do glad you asked these questions as they are ones I wondered about. We are doing a non Princess excursion and will need towels. Thanks' date=' OP, for answering.

 

I'm also eager to try the mock tails and milkshakes.

 

 

(Jenseib - please share your review either here or there afterwards. Or PM me. Please. I'm excited to try Princess, but as my only other cruises have been DCL I know I'll be apt to compare/contrast them.)

 

 

 

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Hijacking for just a minute!

 

 

Hi! yes, You know me, I will be doing a review. I am still working on the Disney one as well and haven't gotten to the cruise part of that one from March, but I am going to try and do both at the same time. I am excited and nervous as it is a different line and I know DCL so well, but it will be fun.

This review has shown me some great pictures which really gets me excited!

This review has shown me some great pictures which really gets me excited!

AGREED!

OP - I've been checking daily for new pictures and it's been getting me so geared up for my 5-night in Nov. They are helping me know what to anticipate & as a "planner" I appreciate that a lot.

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Day 3 – Costa Maya

When we woke up at 7:30 PM, we were already docked in Costa Maya. This morning we proceeded to have breakfast up in the Horizon Court / Lido buffet which was actually far better than we had anticipated. We’d go on to have breakfast there every morning for the rest of the cruise. Food was excellently prepared in the buffet, the waffles and French toast were all absolutely delicious. We felt they also had a much better method for handling the production of omelets for cruisers, they had a cook with a sequentially numbered order pad that the request would be written on and a stub given to the guest. You could then grab more things from the buffet and they would call your ticket number when your omelet was done. This worked extremely well and they moved through the orders quickly. Table service was excellent here as well, with attentive waiters quickly locating a table for you and getting drinks along with anything else you could need.

We then quickly packed up and headed out to Costa Maya. Overall, I wasn’t particularly impressed with the port (admittedly I was comparing it to Cozumel). In the port market area, the merchants are overly aggressive and ‘grabby’, getting in your way, reaching out to touch you and try to get you into your store. Not pleasant at all. We later found out that our ship was the only vessel they had visiting the entire week, so that does explain (but not excuse) some of this. We booked a beach-break type thing at Nohoch Kay, and found getting there to be slightly frustrating. In order to get a taxi, you actually have to exit the entire port facility and walk about 50 yards to the taxi stands. The port authority runs a bus service, and the port staff are very unhelpful if you’re looking for a taxi. We were told several times that there were “no taxis, only buses” which was very annoying and frustrating. The buses looked rather run down and beat up (like much of the area around the port), and we were very happy with our taxi once we got to one. It took us to Nohoch Kay for only $3 USD.

As I mentioned, the area around the port really left something to be desired. It looked like there was a big effort to build up a mall and market areas, but they never took off and stood mostly empty/run down. Once you get into Mahuahal town things looked much better though and we found Nohoch Kay to be a simple but very friendly and welcoming place. The owners and staff are extremely hospitable and take care of anything you could ask for. Drinks were strong and tasty, food was delicious, and the entire experience was rather relaxing. The beaches aren’t near as nice as Cozumel as it’s an intracoastal type area, so there’s a good deal of seaweed (there were workers constantly raking it up from the beach and in the water). However, the waters appeared to be packed with fish as we watched another guest manage to catch a couple good sized fish which the staff took into the restaurant and cooked up for him. Can’t get much fresher than that. We were very pleased with Nohoch Kay and the folks there, and while we weren’t crazy about the area, if we ever came back we’d return there.

Getting back on the ship was a rather quick and well organized process. We both went and took a little nap before getting ready for a night I’d been looking forward to long before we got onboard…the Crown Grill.

Some expensive sunscreen, lol:

Nohoch Kay pictures:

The food at Nohoch Kay was fantastic:

A friendly fella looking for a treat:

That was pretty much my thoughts of Costa Maya when we went in 2012. Very pushy and not much there. We don't have any plans that day and I think we'll go to the market area for a bit and then just get back on the ship.

I thought about the ruins, but I just don't want a 2 hour ride each way. Plus my friend did it several years ago and her bus was stopped and robbed and so the port kind of scares me. LOL.

Enjoy reading your review! We'll cruise on CB in Dec with two toddlers (4 and 1.5), did you see many kids on it?

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Enjoy reading your review! We'll cruise on CB in Dec with two toddlers (4 and 1.5), did you see many kids on it?

 

 

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We were on the same cruise and we were told there about 60 passengers under 18 years old. I compare this to my last Carnival cruise were there were between 800 and 1000.

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I'm really enjoying your review, especially the pictures! We just booked this ship for the Grand Cayman and Cozumel itinerary in Oct. The ship looks beautiful! I know we will have a great time! :D

Great photos and review! Thanks for posting :)

Getting excited about our upcoming cruise on the Crown Princess. I'm assuming that these two ships are very similar. Correct? And although, we sailed on the Grand many years ago, I had forgotten how beautiful this class of ship is.. . . .

WOW... awesome photos - keep 'em coming!!

What a wonderful travel diary! Please come back and finish!!

Thank you so much for sharing!!!

Thanks for the review. Just booked our first Princess cruise on this ship. Very excited and those pictures are wonderful!

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Thank you for the review. The putting green area was the place where I waited and watched the ship go back into Port Everglades at the end of our 9/20-29/14 cruise. It was a great vantage point, and to the side of the Sanctuary where you took your shot out to the side.

Crooners Lounge-one of my perches was in one of those barrel chairs right inside the hall entrance at the Explorer's Lounge end of it-where the posts are on each side. I was right at the end of the piano. My other spot was to the left of the piano.

The Aft pool area (Terrace Pool) was one of our favorite places. We ate almost every meal in the Horizon Court-usually going back to the Cafe Caribe or out to the back. we have some fond memories with some roll call friends back there.

Thanks so much for your review. We were in Cozumel pre-and post hurricanes and the far pier with the outlet mall feel is new since 2004 or more recently. We used to dock at the International Pier and go through a white building with duty free things. Senor Frogs and Carlos and Charlies was right across the street in a shopping complex. We used to shop in the stores across from the ocean/beach area. Now, this time, it wasn't worth the trouble to us, to try to walk into town-much too far. Also, many years ago, we learned we couldn't haggle with the shop owners in the complexes because the prices weren't set by them. This time, we did buy a bracelet for me on a "side street" with vendors. One of the sales guys, used to be a staff person for Princess-(worked in the kitchen?).

Anyway, we cruise to relax, too, as we've been to most of the ports in the Caribbean now. We don't go too far if we get off the ship.

Thank you for the photos. This was a reunion of sorts for us, as we were first on the Caribbean Princess in Sept. of 2004, during Hurricane Jeanne week. It was one of the best cruises we ever had.

Lynne

Great pics! Hungry now!

I was on that sailing and enjoyed both stops very much. I really liked Costa Maya and all I did was walk to the other end of the pedestrian street and back and a little shopping (well, and drinking. Much cheaper for a margarita than in Cozumel!)

Fabulous review and photos! Thanks!