Live from the Caribbean Princess

Boarded yesterday, 9/17. Change in itinerary. We headed straight to Princess Cays today rather than later in the week, and Captain Romano has made the decision to switch us over to the Western Caribbean. Since we were originally scheduled to head to St. Thomas and St. Maarten, there are two tropical depressions (soon to be hurricanes) in our path. I think this is a wise decision, and he promses sunny skies and calm seas over on the WesternCaribbean. So we'll be doing Cozumel, G.C., and Ocho Rios. No big deal to us; we're on vacation and having a great time no matter where we are!. The shp is beautiful; the day in Princess Cays was wonderful today. Sunny, warm tropical breeze.

The ship is great; only negative is there are some (make that "many") rude people on board. Oh well, I believe in Karma!LOL

What would you say is the most common age group of travelers on your cruise?

Hi, Jerseygirl 3. You have a wonderful attitude for having plans changed on you all of a sudden. Hope the western itinerary is smooth sailing. One question though - we'll be on the CB on 10/22/05, eastern itinerary. We have one excursion in St. Thomas with a private company (Godfrey) and one in St. Maarten with Princess (Golden Eagle catamaran). When they have to change ports and/or itineraries like this, are you given any way to contact the non-Princess excursion people? I assume if you have a Princess excursion reserved, they will either not charge you or give you the option for a similar excursion in the other ports. And Godfrey's been around for awhile, so I'm sure he can figure it out pretty quickly if there's a hurricane in the area and no cruise ships are docking. Thanks and have a great week. Kellie in Texas

Whenever I book excursions that are NOT with the cruiseline, I always ask what their cancellation penalties are. Some will let you cancel if you don't make it to port, others will not. I don't use the companies that won't.

Hi, Jerseygirl 3. You have a wonderful attitude for having plans changed on you all of a sudden. Hope the western itinerary is smooth sailing. One question though - we'll be on the CB on 10/22/05, eastern itinerary. We have one excursion in St. Thomas with a private company (Godfrey) and one in St. Maarten with Princess (Golden Eagle catamaran). When they have to change ports and/or itineraries like this, are you given any way to contact the non-Princess excursion people? I assume if you have a Princess excursion reserved, they will either not charge you or give you the option for a similar excursion in the other ports. And Godfrey's been around for awhile, so I'm sure he can figure it out pretty quickly if there's a hurricane in the area and no cruise ships are docking. Thanks and have a great week. Kellie in Texas

Thanks, Peagreen. Actually, Godfrey only takes cash at the end of his tour, so in this case, if we should get rerouted, it shouldn't be a problem (he doesn't even require a credit card number or anything like that to book). But I know lots of people would fall into this situation and I was just wondering how that worked.

What would you say is the most common age group of travelers on your cruise?

I was on the CB last week. I found it to be all ages but I noticed there to be many couples.

Hi! What is the average age of the people on ship? We are sailing on the carribean on 10/8 with our two adult children. Also, we were thinking about skipping one of the formal nights and going to the seafood buffet. Would we be disappointed with the seafood?

We are planning on doing Western on the Crown Princess. Which side of the ship should we book a room on? Port or starboard?

Laura

Hi! What is the average age of the people on ship? We are sailing on the carribean on 10/8 with our two adult children. Also, we were thinking about skipping one of the formal nights and going to the seafood buffet. Would we be disappointed with the seafood?

We sailed CB last year and will be sailing her again on Saturday. Hmm, ages vary widely. You can find people within your age group without a problem. I would say that a majority of people are in their late 30's through their 40s. Some of the younger people we were hanging with did notice that there weren't as many 20 somthings on the cruise.

As far as the seafood buffet, we didn't go last year but are planning on going the first night this year. I have heard good things about it and will at least look at the selection and feast on a few crab legs before a sit down dinner later in the night if we chose to do both.

My Sister is on this cruise. I talked her into taking a Princess cruise but told her she would be taking a chance going before October. She was looking forward to the eastern cruise since she had been on a western cruise last year.

I'm on the 10/8 cruise. I was on the CB eastern cruise just last year, so any change would be fine with me.

Hope it remains smooth sailing.

Don

Jerseygirl3: We just got off the ship Sat. as well. Don't know if you've already made plans for Jamaica, but the canopy tour was a lot of fun. Make sure to see Bert at least one night at Crooners! If you see him, please tell him Marilyn and Dave say hi and Marilyn is having severe Bert withdrawal. Thanks.

Waterrats: We always enjoy Cafe Caribe. I don't care for the lobster, but everything else is good. My favorite was the mussels and clams in garlic sauce.

Can someone on this weeks cruise please update me on your itinerary? I am curious to know if you guys are going to Cozumel, then GC, then Ocho Rios or are you going the other direction across the Caribbean. Thanks.

We are onboard also. Glad the Captain made the decision to change to the Western Caribbean. Looks like hurricane Rita is behind us as we proceed along the route between the US and Cuba.

Will be on the CB for B2B2B and will be providing an indepth Review at the conclusion of the 3 cruises. Today there will be a get together for all the Crise Critic's.

BigTimeCruiser: B2B2B? Wow!!!!! Shall I describe the color green I am? Have a great time!

Marly

WOW BigTimeCruiser...B2B2B...When I grow up I want to be just like you!!!!!!

I have never been on a Princess cruise, but I will be sailing the Crown Princess in June, I believe the your on the Crown's sister ship so I will be looking forward to your review. Have a wonderful time, your soooooooo LUCKY

to sail for that amount of time. ENJOY

Susan

We are planning on doing Western on the Crown Princess. Which side of the ship should we book a room on? Port or starboard?

If the western itinerary includes Priness Cays, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Ocho Rios (and unless you have reasons for wanting the sun at a particular part of the day), the answer is port. Particularly true for Cozumel and Ocho Rios.

Hi from the CP again. Today was partly cloudy, but that wonderful Captain Romano managed to find us lots of sunshine. The seas are very smooth, considering Rita sounds like she is right behind us. To answer a few questions, the age ranges are very scattered. Not too many older folks like you see during the winter months. I guess if I had to average it out, I'd say the average is 30-50's. Some of the people are very rude, both to other passengers and staff as well. That really irks me. Little things like letting a door slam behind them rather than holding it for the next person, pushing ahead in a line, stuff like that. But like I've said before, I'm on vacation and in no rush to get anywhere, so I just go with the flow. As long as they keep the little kiddies out of the Adults Only pool, I'm a happy camper (love kids, but when I don't have mine with me, I prefer to avoid them!).

The food (especially the pizza) is very good. Did the seafood buffet last night instead of formal night. It was okay, but I wasn't overly impressed. Lobster was a bit chewy, and I prefer Alaskan King Crab, not the other kind of snow crab legs. But it was still good; just very warm in the back of the ship.

The staff is outstanding, everyone very pleasant and not one person walks by without saying hello.

I'll try to take note of the sun...port vs. starboard. We're in port, Caribe balcony 708.

While I think I preferred the Golden and Grand more (can't exactly say why just yet, give me a few days to mull it over), we like the CP enough that we booked one of the coveted Emerald Deck mini-suites (E731 for this same week next year. We also did another open booking.

Oh well, anymore questions, ask away. We'll be in Cozumel tomorrow.

Jo-Ann

Can someone on this weeks cruise please update me on your itinerary? I am curious to know if you guys are going to Cozumel, then GC, then Ocho Rios or are you going the other direction across the Caribbean. Thanks.

we are going to Cozumel tomorrow (Costa Maya dock) from 9-5, then Cayman from 12-5 and then Oco Rios from about 9-5 to really the "reverse" itinerary from the usual western run which ends up in Coz on Thursday... with as you can see a shorter time in Coz.. Was able to get a tour for a lot of the CC'ers on board in Cayman which was great since our others were cancelled (obviously)... it's very choppy today and cloudy but otherwise okay. We are doing this itinerary bec. Rita is expected to be North of Cuba and closer to Coz end of week and this puts us south of Cuba!

Seafood extravaganzas are marvelous IMHO and today they had a great Sushi and Asian buffet in Club Caribe at lunch.. which a lot of people who "stopped" at Horizon Court missed.. Wonderful comedian named Jim Berghart aboard.. if you can go to a show if he's on the future don't miss it!!! Hilarous and I'm not usually into cruise ship comedian's acts!

Sterlings was excellent. well worth $15 IMHO ...

Wow, it's so nice of you guys who are aboard to take the time to post and answer questions.

We have PC (e.g.anytime) dining. How much time do you think we should we allow for dining in the Palm (table for 4)? We'd like to see Bert after dinner a couple of times during the week, and we understand we need to get there at least 30 mins early.

Also, if you like room service for breakfast, have you writen in any HOT items (eggs, bacon, grits, etc) on the door-hangar menu, and were they delivered?

I'd also like to know, for dinner, whether you can order room service from the dining room menu during serving hours.

Thanks so much for any answers you can provide.

Great board... take good care of the CB as I'll be boarding in 19 days.

Jeff

I just read a different thread stating that Princess officially said this weeks itinerary was switched and they weren't sure what time it would be arriving back in FLL. I'm supposed to board the 24th so if you hear of anything on that, please let us know.

Thank you, and I hope your trip is just amazing.

Rachel - please take a deep breath and relax. There are lots of rumors that circulate on the boards. At the moment there are no indications that CB will be arriving late on Saturday (due to weather). We will see you after the muster drill on Saturday about 4:30pm.

If you run into Rich and Fran (Richarch), Rick and Deb and others in their group, give them a big hello from me. We were on the same ship, the same week, with them last year and got diverted West at the last minute-although most in our group had the notice.Capt. Romano is my favorite Capt, and I know he made the right decision. However, I know that some in my last year's group must be disappointed. Lynne

PS. Thanks for posting from the ship.I was wondering if you all made it through the clouds.

Hi from the CP again. Today was partly cloudy, but that wonderful Captain Romano managed to find us lots of sunshine. The seas are very smooth, considering Rita sounds like she is right behind us. To answer a few questions, the age ranges are very scattered. Not too many older folks like you see during the winter months. I guess if I had to average it out, I'd say the average is 30-50's. Some of the people are very rude, both to other passengers and staff as well. That really irks me. Little things like letting a door slam behind them rather than holding it for the next person, pushing ahead in a line, stuff like that. But like I've said before, I'm on vacation and in no rush to get anywhere, so I just go with the flow. As long as they keep the little kiddies out of the Adults Only pool, I'm a happy camper (love kids, but when I don't have mine with me, I prefer to avoid them!).

 

The food (especially the pizza) is very good. Did the seafood buffet last night instead of formal night. It was okay, but I wasn't overly impressed. Lobster was a bit chewy, and I prefer Alaskan King Crab, not the other kind of snow crab legs. But it was still good; just very warm in the back of the ship.

 

The staff is outstanding, everyone very pleasant and not one person walks by without saying hello.

 

I'll try to take note of the sun...port vs. starboard. We're in port, Caribe balcony 708.

 

While I think I preferred the Golden and Grand more (can't exactly say why just yet, give me a few days to mull it over), we like the CP enough that we booked one of the coveted Emerald Deck mini-suites (E731 for this same week next year. We also did another open booking.

 

Oh well, anymore questions, ask away. We'll be in Cozumel tomorrow.

 

Jo-Ann

Hey there,

We had Caribe 708 in May and had Caribe 709 Sept. 3rd. Do you have Sumeth as your cabin steward? He was fantastic! We preferred the port side, but that was the eastern itinery. Don't know about the western. Sure hope you like it. We loved our room and location and especially Sumeth. We also loved our cabin steward in Caribe 709 Sunan. He was great also.

We found that everyone was very friendly on our cruise. Have a great trip! Thanks for the updates!

Rachel - please take a deep breath and relax. There are lots of rumors that circulate on the boards. At the moment there are no indications that CB will be arriving late on Saturday (due to weather). We will see you after the muster drill on Saturday about 4:30pm.

:o I'm quite a bit concerned with making this trip. It's my first cruise in almost three years and I'm so worried it will be canceled. I'm breathing now, it's fully into last minute mode. I am now too busy to be too worried.