Review of the 7 Day Norwegian Coastal Cruise (out of Southampton) on the Caribbean Pr

Before I begin here is some background information....we are Craig & Tina (in our early 50's and late 40's respectively) and our 16 year old son, Scott. We are from Seattle, WA and this is our 24th cruise - all on Princess (sorry, I can’t compare Princess to any other cruise lines). And yes, we have cruised on this ship before as well; In fact we had just spent the two weeks before this cruise doing a 14 day Baltics cruise. I am a (cruise) research addict and so when we do big (out of the country cruises) I usually book a year in advance so that I have ample time to plan - well this cruise was different - we booked this cruise in March of this year (3 months before sail a way) AND not only did we book this one, but we went big...we also booked the 14 day Baltics cruise before this cruise (as a 'Back 2 Back') and then the 14 day Med cruise after this cruise (making it a 'Back 2 Back 2 Back'). So I needed to get busy planning. And so it begins....

So we began this (cruise) Saturday morning....we rolled out of our bed, hastily packed our shoes and toiletries back in our suitcases and notified our current cabin steward that we would be moving cabins. Due to the efficiency of the housekeeping manager, both our current and future cabin stewards were aware we were moving cabins and they took care of moving everything...super easy! So while they were doing that we were just enjoying the day and staying out of the hustle and bustle of disembarkation day.

THE SHIP:

(Our Room): We had originally booked a balcony room, but at some point we received an email from Princess, with a “move up” offer, it was such a great price that we “moved up” to the St Kitts Suite...deck 10 aft. The (suite) perks really are great (Sabatini's for breakfast - and after the first morning they kept a sirloin breakfast steak on hand to cook for Craig so that he could have steak and eggs every morning), also we also enjoyed the complimentary sail a way dinner at a specialty restaurant, free laundry (however, even being in a suite, I wash my own undies - I learned the hard way that the super-hot water used for undies, when you have your laundry done for you, made my size small undies a size extra large:-(). Also, we were, able to have entire afternoon tea delivered (tea, scones, sandwiches, cookies, etc), also we were able to order lunch/dinner off of the dining room menu for room service (lunch on sea days only), we had priority reservations for the MDR - anytime dining, complimentary flowers, a DVD player in suite with access to the DVD library - free of course, the nice robe/towels/sheets, and the Thermal Suite - which is awesome and we used that a lot. But mostly we loved the (extra) space. Because of being in a suite, it made us cruise differently this trip, we spent more time on our balcony (it was protected from the wind thus warmer), we ate in our cabin, there was no need to go 'look at the lunch/dinner menu' etc. While we are not anti-social, we just vacationed differently this cruise - not better or worse, just different. The cons...The St Kitts Suite was in fair condition...I will say the couch was stained, and the furniture was scratched. And the only other issue was that the pull out couch seemed to be short – too short for Scott and so we had to have a roll away bed brought in (and left in) our room.

(The Ship): The ship as a whole was again in ok condition, but could use some freshening up. The food....plentiful, although we didn't like that in the evening they move the burger/pizza bar to Cafe Caribe and it closed at 9pm. The shows/entertainment - again plentiful, but won't give an opinion since everyone's interests are different. And as always - whatever you want or can imagine, Princess will do their best to make it happen - just ask (egg crate, bath robe, request a certain food/ meal in any dining room - just need one days’ notice, etc). Casino - didn't use. I will say. it seemed like every evening we went into Skywalkers (for appetizers), we had to show our card…like they just could not remember us – in all fairness there were a lot of Elite on board, so maybe there were just too many passengers to keep track of. Pools - hardly used, too chilly. Shops - I am not a fan of Effy and was also disappointed that they have done away with their VIP program (if you had spent a large amount in the boutiques then you were invited for champagne and were given a swarzoski pen as a ‘thank you’ - whelp no more pen). Kids center: A fair amount of kids this cruise. Oh, and a shout out to parents of young children....the hot tubs are not meant to hold 10 small children who are all practicing their backstroke. C'mon parents while of course you love your little darlings doing cartwheels by the elevators, don't assume everyone else is impressed. Please contain your children! Our son, Scott was in the teen center - my tip: Encourage your teen/or any age child to attend the first nights activities that’s when groups and clicks are formed. Oh and Princess (and everyone else), if you are 'listening'.... We LOVE the Princess app to stay in touch with each other especially kids. For the rest of you that are unfamiliar...Once on board you can log in to the ship, set up a new user account and then you will have free messaging with others on the ship.....free! See the internet department for details, but basically it eliminates the need for walkie talkies and for searching the entire ship to try and find your teen/child, spouse or friends. Also the app will show you the Princess Patter. Again, LOVE this (FYI...it is not free messaging to loved ones back home and you do need a smart phone. Also, we did buy an internet package since we wanted to check in with our 19 year old back home – kind of pricey and yes kind of slow, but whatchya gonna do? And we did buy soda cards. I can’t tell you much about the 'all you can drink alcohol' package or the new 'wine' package. Oh and yes, in the laundry room you swipe your cruise card to buy washer/dryer tokens.

PORTS OF CALL:

STAVANGER: Ahhh Stavanger...For me, this port stop in Stavanger was an opportunity to pay homage to my roots. My father lived in Jorpeland (a ferry ride away from Stavanger) before he immigrated to Canada first and eventually America. My Dad was confirmed in a small church in Jorpeland and went to primary school there. My Grandmother was confirmed in the Stavanger Cathedral and both Grandparents are buried in a cemetery on the outskirts of Stavanger. It is nice that the ship docked in town - so we got off the ship and walked the few blocks to the Stavanger Cathedral (which they are restoring the interior so unfortunately we could not go in). We then walked to the Starbucks (across the street) and bought a couple of mugs. And then we walked to the ferry terminal and took the ferry to Tau....BTW, for anyone who has an interest in climbing Pulpit Rock, they sold bus tickets at the ferry terminal (so you take the ferry to Tau and then hop on a bus at the Tau ferry terminal that will take you to the base of the Pulpit Rock climb.). Anyways, we were met by a family friend at the terminal and spent time exploring my father's past, took the ferry back and walked to the cemetery and after that we still had time to explore Stavanger and have lunch. It was an awesome day – emotional and awesome. And roots or not, Stavanger was an amazing port of call.

SONGEFJORD CRUSING/SKJOLDEN: I had researched Skjolden and really did not find much here to do and we did not want to do an excursion thru a national park. So knowing all that, we got up early and sat on the balcony while we cruised up the fjord. Once in Skjolden, we used the free wi-fi in the reception building on the dock. And then went for a walk - a long walk at that....to the "town" and got a walking map and walked up to a view point and then walked around the lower road by the lake to a waterfall and then walked back. Beautiful scenery, but very remote. There was one small grocery store and a small gift shop in the reception building. But the free wi-fi was great!

OLDEN: Here we got off the ship and walked to the far left of the (ship) parking area and took the city bus to Briksdal Glacier. Just ask where the bus stop is when you get off the ship, but again, walk to your left and at the end of the slip road/parking area, on the side of the road (the ship side of the road that is) there is a small bus sign and the bus schedule. The first bus picks up at 9:58am (the bus was 10 minutes late). We bought our tickets on the bus and it was a 30 minute bus ride. Once at the glacier we walked up the trail (about 50 minutes - including stops for photos). Once back down there is a gift shop and cafe and we took the 1:15pm bus back, getting off at the Olden City Center (10 minute walk from the ship). There was a grocery store and a couple of souvenir shops then we walked back (where there were a couple more shops). Olden had, again, beautiful scenery and the glacier walk was nice and again cruising up the fjord was beautiful. But Olden itself is very rural.

BERGEN: Bergen was an awesome port stop! The ship docks in an industrial area and so the port provided a FREE shuttle to the town center! Rarely do we run across a free shuttle when cruising with Princess. Anyways we got off the ship as soon as we could and took the 10 minute shuttle ride. The majority of the city center is nearby the harbor - a 5-10 minute walk. We strolled thru the fish market...and while there was amazing fresh fish/shellfish, please do not think the price is amazing...it was expensive. We sampled whale meat, strolled around the harbor and then walked the few minutes to the funicular - mind you we did not take the funicular up....no, we walked up! We got a map and directions from the girl selling tickets and up we went. It was a moderately strenuous hour hike, but we made it and the views were spectacular and then we bought tickets to go down. One tip: if you are planning to take the funicular up, do it early, when we got down the line (to go up) was very long....remember lots of ship tours have tours that include the funicular so the line was very long. Once down we shopped - I felt the panic of it being the last port stop (PS, Stavanger had a fair number of shops, but Bergen was by far the best shopping of all the ports). I did pick up a Norwegian sweater, a gold charm, some (more) marzipan bars – of course, a sweatshirt for my son and a few other souvenirs. Another big souvenir from Bergen was cavier (purchased in the fish market) we are not a fan so we passed on that. We walked up to the cathedral, and stopped at a take-out restaurant for cod sandwiches and fish ball soup - odd to some maybe, but again, I grew up on fish ball soup so tasty to me, but worth a try! Bergen was a great town - I wish we would have been there longer.

And once back on board, for the first time, it rained. It was also crazy windy - in fact we were two hours late arriving back in Southampton.

DISEMBARKATION: As for disembarkation (for Craig), we packed him up, and when it was his group we all walked him off the ship (he carried his suitcase off himself) and we walked him to the Princess transfer shuttle (going back to Heathrow). Craig said Air Canada was not bad and he did arrive home safely (13 hours later). As for Scott and I, we just took the elevator back up to the check in area and showed a staff member our 'in transit' cards and we were escorted thru security and to the ramp to get back on the ship - no problems! Otherwise, we were not required to disembark, nor did we have to go thru customs.

IN SUMMARY: It was a great cruise! Awesome ports of calls! Lots of Brits - not saying that is negative - just an observation. I will say, we were told (by more than a few crew members as well as passengers) that the Brits tend to remove their tips from their ship board account - so we were told. But apparently not too many know that if you remove your tips and then decide to individually tip a few crew members that that money (that you individually tip) has to be turned in by crew members (if they hide it and are caught they can be fired). So when you individually tip (say, your cabin steward or server) they will either ask for your cabin number or not (if they do not ask it is because they know it) and then after the cruise if it turns out that you took your auto tips off then that money is put into a "pot" and divided by ALL (service) crew staff to counter act you removing the tips from you ship board account. Only if you leave you auto tips on will those specific crew members get that above and beyond tip money back. To take tips off or leave them on is really a personal choice. We feel that those auto tips are just a part of cruising with Princess. We feel like those auto tips cover the basics…we know our beds will be made, our bathroom cleaned, we will have fresh towels, our room service trays will be removed and our room will be generally tidied up. We know there is bar service and my (bar) order will be taken and drinks brought throughout the ship. I also know that I will have servers that will be efficient, polite, professional and helpful…that’s what we believe those tips are for. Now towel animals and the going above and beyond, that’s when we tip on top of that on a (crew member by crew member) individual basis. We did think the crew was awesome! Our only negative: We did feel that the ship was a bit tired looking.

Well that’s all folks. I look forward to reading your comments and answering any questions you may have. Otherwise, go Cruise Critic and happy cruising everyone! As for us...look for our reviews of the 14 Day Baltics Cruise and the 14 Day Mediterranean Cruise.

Excellent review.

Keith

Great review! :)

Thank you for your recent 2nd review on the Caribbean Princess...good info. :):):)

Thank you Tina Ann for your great review

Did you happen to notice the size of the shrimp cocktail?

Are they now large enough to be seen without glasses? Is freshly squeezed orange juice now available?

Both these items were a disappointment on our last Caribbean Princess cruise

Howard

Thank you Tina Ann for your great review

Did you happen to notice the size of the shrimp cocktail?

Are they now large enough to be seen without glasses? Is freshly squeezed orange juice now available?

Both these items were a disappointment on our last Caribbean Princess cruise

 

Howard

None of us had a shrimp cocktail, however my husband and son would order a Caesar salad with shrimp on it and the shrimp were large and plentiful for sure. And I'm not sure about the OJ either.

Thanks for the review.

Is freshly squeezed orange juice now available?

I have yet to be on a Princess cruise that did not have fresh squeezed OJ.

However, there is a charge for it at all times except for suite passengers having breakfast at Sabatini's.