Review of CB 8/13-8/20

OK. Here are some of my feelings on the Caribbean Princess.

First of all, let me start by saying that this was the most amazing vacation that I have ever been on to date!!!!! My Fiance and I were on this cruise together and we had a blast!!! I didnt think that I could have such a good time on a cruise. I always enjoy the cruises that I go on but this one was over the top.

Usually, the shows in the "smaller lounges are good but I feel the ones in the Princess theater are usually lacking. This time I have too say otherwise. Every single performance on this ship was out standing!!!

For the most part, all of the crew members that we interacted with were very nice. there were only a few instances where we noticed that they could have been a little bit nicer.

Our cabin was Caribe 325. I have been on 5 cruises (4 with Princess) I always book a balcony cabin. I never had a balcony like those on the Caribe deck. They were more than double the normal size balcony. Maybe almost triple the normal size. I think the ones on the dolphin deck (down one deck) were just double the size. Our Balcony was half covered and half uncovered. At first, while I was very excited about the extra large Balcony, I was a little apprehensive also. I was concerned about the privacy issue from balconies above. This proved to be a NON-ISSUE. It was such a good desicision to go with the caribe deck. We spent so much time on the Balcony. and we even fell asleep out there one or two nights. We sometimes slept with the door open so we could listen to the ocean. That was so nice!!!

Our Statroom Steward (Marius, from Romania) was the best that I have had on any of my 5 cruises. He catered to our EVERY need He almost seemed to know what we wanted before we even asked for it.

We asked him for a few special requests. We asked him to put 2 lounge chairs on our balcony. He did so without hesitation. He also put a pad on our bed to make it softer. our supply of fresh ice was endless!!! and our room was always kept spotless. I take my hat off to Marius!!!!!!!!!!

The ship was Huge and Beautiful. It was so big that by the end of the week, I still had trouble getting around. I had a similar problem on the Golden Last november. But the Caribbean seemed to be more difficult to navigate.

There were a few problems that we had that are DEFINATELY WORTH MENTIONING!!!!!!!! they are as follows.

1.) Too crowded. way too many kids especially. I dont know if its because schools were closed and everyone went on the same cruise . I was under the impression that Princess put a limit on how many kids they accepted on each cruise. I dont know what happened there.

2.) The buffet was also too crowded. it was often impossible to get a table unless we went outside by the pool.

3.) As usual, Princess didnt seem to inforce the "no reserving Deck chairs" rule. This didnt really surprise me that much because every time i have ever gone on a cruise, its the same thing. When My fiance and I sat down in front of the Trident Grill to eat our lunch, I put my towel on my chair and went to get a drink. before i got back, some guy picked up my towel and tried to move it claiming that he was already using the table. The funny thing is, we are both very easy going people. if the guy had just handled it a little bit nicer and not beed so rude, we might have actually gotten up and given him the table. but instead, we stayed where we were. I guess that Guy never heard that you can attract more bees with honey than you can with vinegar.

4.) The toilets on the ship had a strange oder imminating friom them all week. it smelled like an ash tray full of cigarette butts was dumped in there. it was nasty.!!! the smell never seemed to go away.

5.) There seemed to be a much higher number of announcements this week on the cruise ships P.A. system. after a while i was able to kind of tune it out a little. and every afternoon, we went to our room to take a nap. it was so great except for one thing. we both started to fall asleep when the Captain made his "daily" announcement. (which was played through the speaker in the cabin.) so that always woke us up.

6.) I think my biggest problem was with the Hot tubs. We enjoy using the hot tubs sometimes several times a day. Unfortunately, it was difficult to do so. they always seemed to be crowded with kids. Even the ones that were for adult use only. We figured we would go in the hot tubs late at night, which we always did on the Golden In November. and on all previous cruises.

unfortunately, EVERY SINGLE HOT TUB WAS CLOSED AT MID NIGHT!!!! I can understand that they need to be cleaned. but why not rotate cleaning times. so some of them can always remain open??

Other than those things, the cruise was an awesome one. the food was excellent.

We ate in the Sterling Steak house and Sabatinis. the food was excellent in the steak house. the food was very good in sabatinis but i dont know if id say it was excellent. but it was a fun experience to go there and basicaslly eat everything on the menu.

We ate in the Palm dining room on both formal nights. The food was unbelievable. The first night our waiter was fantastic. He was from the Phillapines. and he sang to us almost the entire time we were in there.

Our waiter (from Mexico) the second formal night was a bit rude. I know he was very busy. but we asked him to take our picture. He told us "im kind of busy" but he took the picture anyway.

The Cafe Carib was nice but not at all what I expected. we didnt seem to go to the Buffet nearly as much as in the past.

The pizza by the pool was probably some of the best pizza that i have ever had. this is always how pizza is on Princess Ships. the pizza is always the best.

The Grill was also very good the cheese burgers and fries were a favorite for me.

We only used room service once. Every time we would call, we would wait on hold for what seemed like forever. then just gave up.

all ports were great except for Grand Cayman. I wont miss it if I never go back there.

All in All. I think I will stick with Princess. just never on the Caribbean Princess. simply because for its size, it holds too many passangers. the Golden Is cutting it close. If the Caribbean Princess was the same capacity as the other Grand class ships, I think most of my complaints would be nonexistent.

Any Questions?

Thank you for the review. We will be on the Caribbean Princess 9/17/05 on the Aloha deck. Hope there are not a pack of kids on this cruise!

Little Feet

Great review. You can tell how your attitude makes for a great cruise!

dontstopcruisin...thanks for the review.

LittleFeet...We are also on the CB Sep 17. There is a large group, check out our roll call thread. We have some activities planned, hope you can join us. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=4584058#post4584058

I see you are from MI...when are you going down? We are flying out of Metro on Fri. Hope to see you on board.