Review of Carribean Princess 4/23 cruise

[sherman931]

Live in Boynton Beach, FL so travel to the ship was not a problem. Left home at 10:30 and had the baggage unloaded and the car parked by 11:30 at which time wife and I got in line. The line was long, but moved quickly. By 12:30 PM we were in our cabin. We had crusied on CB last year...the 2nd cruise of the ship. One thing I noticed was that there was a lot more efficiency than last year. Waits were none existent, or at worst short. We had our luggage delivered by 1PM. Cabin was made up into queen bed as requested. Had to special order the robes we requested. It was our anniversary and they had ballons on our stateroon enterance. Henry was our cabin steward. Did an adequate job. Sailed an hour late...I guess some inbound folks were delayed ( probably travel booked via princess otherwise I don't think the ship would have waited.

Ship was full, but I am amazed that wherever we went you did not feel crowded. Although at sea, it did get crowded around the pool and depending upon the time of day (10AM - 2 PM was very crowded). Not too many kids on board...but frequently saw kids at shows by themselves sitting in front rows.

Selected PC dining. The first night we dined in Sterlings, the rest of the nights we dined in the Coral Dining Room. Mauro the maitre d was excellent. We never had to wait for a table for two. The menu was okay...I think it's time for princess to change the menus. Sterlings was okay, but would not do it again. Last year we ate in sabattinis, did not eat there this trip. We brought five bottles of wine on board...paid the $10 corkage as we had it with our dinners. Also bought a bottle or two.

Drinks and wines are very reasonable ( martinis 4.95, other drinks 3.95 to 5.00 avg.). Attended the first wine tasting. Cost was $9.50 per person. tasted four wines a chardonnay, a merlot, a sauvignon blanc and essentia. It lasted about 45 minutes, was very very basic. Did not get to keep any glasses. If you showed your entry ticket when buying wine in the dinning room they gave you $5 off your wine purchase (bottle).

Entertainment was good. Enjoyed comics and comic jugglars (sp). Didn't care for Carribean Caliente. Depending on the show you need to get to the location 30 minutes early for a good seat. James Lay was the cruise director. Loved Burt Stratton last year...unfortunately he was on vacation this week.

Enjoyed the casino...left about $400 behind for those of you sailing in the near future. Wife and I played slots, poker and roulette everyday for the seven days, so we got our money's worth from the loss. Played bingo twice, won once ($100 prize, had to split with two others). Won the "Question of the Day" once, goy a Princess Tote ($20 Value).

Enjoyed the Champaigne Waterfall at the Atrium on the second formal night.

Didn't purchase many photos, only two. Princess now has a video cameraman going around and they want you to purchase a copy of that video also. No way for .5 sec of fame!

Weather was fantastic...seas never exceeded 2ft. Few, if any clouds.

Great Cruise and now I am at work (supposed to be working and here I am doing a review). Oh, well...don't want to let go of a great week!

[laurashelby]

Sounds great, Bob! Our Caribbean Princess cruise is so far off, I love reading recent reviews!

Laura

[lawra09]

Wonderful cruise - Agreed with everything you said although we found a little secret with the corkage fees. If you cork your own bottle in your cabin & bring it to the table - we slipped the waiter $5 each night and never paid a corkage fee. I had read on one of the sites that it was up to the waiter's discretion. Evidently, we got a good one. Thought the food was excellent and overall would recommend this ship to everyone.

[dakotajeanmarie]

We were also on the 04/23/05 sailing. Henry was our steward too -- Baja 620. I thought Henry was adequate too, but not exceptional.

[sherman931]

Dakotajeanmarie

I don't think it was the same Henry as we were on the emerald deck (our Henry was Phillipino).

Some additional comments:

The Not So Price is Right

Singed up for that game with DW (glad I brought my book). It was something to do for an hour. Not very exciting, maybe because I wasn't called to "come on down". Although they did give away a couple $100 in prizes in the final showcase.

Horizon Buffet

Food was okay...depends what you like. Also depneds on what time you go there as to how crowded it will be. Hint: if it is difficult to find a table, many times the seating is open in the Carribe Cafe even though they are not serving food. Found a table there many times.

Also they do serve free ice cream in the Horizon Court around 3PM.

Hot Dogs/Pizza/Hamburgers/Etc

Always a good alternative for lunch or snack during sea days. All of this "fast food" is pretty tasty and enjoyable whne you eat at a table outside by the pool(s).

Drink of the Day

Bought the sticker for the drink of the day. However, always ended up getting a medium or large. The advantage is only if you purchase the regular (small) do you get a discount. Still, the prices for drinks, as I said in my other post, are very reasonable.

Exercise

There is a jogging track up on deck 16 (?) or you can use the promenade deck (7). I used the promenade deck; 2.7 times around = 1 mile, so each day I did 6 laps. Very pleasant and enjoyable, except for those who go in the wrong direction.

Misc.

Plenty of storage room in the cabin. Two night stands with two draws and a open shelf each. Long closet space with lots of hangers and a full lenght shelf above. A closet with all shelves (at least five) and the safe is in there also. The bathroom has corner shelves over the sink (3) for holding a goos amount of toiletries. There is also a long shelf under the sink for additional large items. Hair dryer is in the room mounted on the wall by the sink.

Did one round of laundry. Four washers, four dryers, four irons and ironing boards in laundry room. Change machine that takes bills of any denomination. Vending maching has detergent, bleach and fabric softener. Washing machine and dryer are both $1.00. Takes about 30 minutes for a wash and the dryer last one hour. Wasn't crowded when I used the services.

Attended the Martini Making Demonstration, very enjoyable. Fruity the waiter was one of the best. They also had a guy flipping a bottle and martini shaker. He kept droping on or the other and finally dropped and broke the glass bottle. He wasn't very good. I felt sorry for him and wondered if his boss made him perform.

Capt Romano was very visible and would stop and chat if you asked him a question.

That's it for now. If you have any questions I will be glad to answer them if I can.

[Ziggy7]

Great review! Thanks for sharing it with us! Welcome Home!

[atlcple2]

Thanks for the nice review. My husband and I are going to be on the 9/3 cruise on the Caribe deck. I have been reading a lot of reviews and am conflicted on the food. I have read good reviews, but a lot of bad ones. This is our first Princess Cruise and we have sailed on the Spirit and Pride on Carnival and were always blown away by the food. My husband doesn't like seafood at all, is there going to be plenty of other foods for him to eat during the day and at dinner? We are very excited about the ship and all it has to offer and this is the only area I am concerned about. Any light you can shed on that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much! Scarlet

[sherman931]

Atlcple2

There is plenty of food, multiple venues where you can eat, there is a wide variety of selections. Dining room always has selections of seafood, meat, etc. Go to this site and you can view the menus...they are current as that is what we had on the 4/23 cruise:

http://www.cruisingthecaribbeanprinc...m/wmenusA.html

[jam110]

You said you could bring wine on board. We have been on cruises before and no alcohol was permitted to be brought on to drink. We are sailing on June 18th. Please let us know if we can bring wine

Judy

[pmc7704]

What is the sticker for the drink of the day? The only one I knew about was for soft drinks, is this something new?

[britsbest]

Did you find the patisserie. I believe you can get great coffee there. Theres one on Golden but missed it. Any one know where it is on Caribbean????