Just Back From The Caribbean Princess!

....and I hate being home - I was getting entirely used to be pampered and spoiled on this most beautiful ship!

Will try and post a review later but my first impressions are (in no particular order):

-the ship is AWESOME, very regal, huge and gorgeous...every nook and cranny is sparkling clean and well designed.

-food was good - nothing fabulous, but very well done given the number of meals they had to produce (ate in Horizon Court/Caribe cafe and traditional dining for dinner)

-Cabin Aloha 640 - wonderful cabin, great location, lots of space to store things - especially liked the RV size bathroom, but agree that you should not try to pick up the soap if you drop it! :D

Absolutely LOVED my balcony and enjoyed it every chance I could - preferred sitting there enjoying the ocean breezes rather than by the pools which were very noisy and sometimes very windy (aft pool especially). Had breakfast out there almost every morning (and yes you can "write" things on the menu and they will magically arrive!).

-Room steward Bongo was fabulous - there when we needed him (with lots of hangers, pillows, fruit, etc) and unobtrusive otherwise - seemed to know when we were in and out (was there a hidden camera somewhere? :eek: ). We rewarded him for his great service.

-Bars - service somewhat spotty at certain bars and a smile would go a long way for some of the servers! Otherwise service in most areas good and no problems getting served diet coke w/sticker on card.

-Pizza is amazing you must try it...burgers and hot dogs were average. Waiter service on decks and in buffet areas is quite amazing - you literally just finish eating and your plate is whisked away - and area cleaned up...and with a smile no less!

-Dining rooms - had PC dining twice with our CC friends, otherwise had traditional late seating - noticed a huge difference in service, and we did appreciate the more personalized and polished service in the traditional dining room and the great relationship we were able to develop w/our servers and table mates - we had loads of fun!

-Entertainment: too much to do.....so little time - tried to plan our evenings accordingly but hard to see everything that was going on. DO NOT MISS SARGE - he is a riot and did 3 shows on our sailing which were extremely well attended. Saw Kamika as well, very funny and entertaining but did not care much for "James the Kid" (a bit offensive if you asked me, especially w/the young children in attendance at the 7 pm show!!). The CP band is amazing as were all the musicians on board. We had a great time going from place to place catching all the live music. Island night w/Graham Seymour was fabulous and the Marriage Game was also lots of fun to watch.

I did not see the "shows" (Let's rock and Caribbean caliente) but reports were that they were not that great and I'm glad I did not go as I could not handle the disappointment! :(

-Movies under the stars - did not attend, but did walk by and it looked pretty awesome - got to see the Olympic highlights in the afternoon by the pool!

-Casino - lots of bright lights and smoke - played some of the slots but basically not a real gambler.

-Alternative restaurants - no reservations available for the night we wanted. Friends attended Sterling and Sabatini's - loved Sterling, food and service were very good. Mixed reviews on Sabatini's - great service and ambience - but food was not as good as expected - more quantity than quality.

-Pools: very crowded - but great fun for people watching. I am not one to sit by the pool all day so can't comment on the chair hogs - but looked to me like many towels were getting pretty lonely out there in the hot sun!

-Gym: quite nice - did a couple of classes and tried to sweat off some of my indulgences! Did not use the spa so cannot comment - however did hear a horror story of a gentlemen getting one of those mud bath things on his back and ending up w/first degree burns!!! Went down to the medical center and they agreed not to charge him for the treatment - I should hope not! We were all hoping he would get a free cruise or something as compensation.

-Ports - hot, hot hot.....yes the Caribbean is pretty hot in the summer so we loved dodging into all the air conditioned shops to browse and shop. Got a pretty tanzanite/diamond ring in St. Thomas (the longer you stick around the lower the price gets - quite amazing :D ). St. Thomas and St. Maarten saw a lot of money spending tourists - loved going to Marigot and feeling like I was in Europe - very French and quaint. Great time on princess cays - lovely weather all week in fact. Enjoyed snorkelling and relaxing on the sand.

-Embarkation/Debarkation - after hearing all the wonderful stories of a smooth embarkation I am sad to say we unfortunately ran into a glitch - no fault of Princess' of course and I must say we were very impressed with how they handled the situation given the circumstances.

Got to the port around 11:15 am expecting to be on shortly only to find out there was a power failure at the cruise terminal (workers at marriott marina cut a power line) and cruisers were not getting off til noon (I felt sorry for them actually as I'm sure many missed their flights home!). We were stuck standing outside for approx 2.5 hours! At least we found a shady, windy spot so we did not expire (very hot and muggy outside)....a few elderly people were having trouble w/ the heat and those in wheelchairs were given priority. Those individuals arriving at 1 pm assuming they would get on as the crowds would be gone had a big surprise when they arrived!

We were finally all given numbered stickers (in groups e.g. about 25 w/#1 and 25 w/#2, etc). We were in group 6......when your group was called you were escorted across the road to the building on the opposite side where a "temporary" registration area was set up. Once inside things did go smoothly and we lined up by deck, registered, had to board a bus to be driven to the ship (just yards away!) then proceeded on board as usual. Boy did that air conditioning feel good - and of course lots of crowds at the buffets eating a very late lunch!

So.....everything was somewhat delayed - w/muster happening at 5:15 pm instead of 4 pm and it was about 6 pm before we left port - got to watch the Celebrity and HAL ships leave before us.

Other than that the cruise was amazing - and we have booked 2 future cruises to enjoy at a later time. Debarkation certainly made up for the late start. We had an early debarkation number/tag as our flight out was at 11:25 am - they started calling colors at around 8 am - we were off at around 8:30 am and at the airport sitting at the gate by 9 am - no problems there!

Would be glad to answer any questions!

Glad you had a great cruise as the CB is my favorite ship of all time!

Tell me,

-who were you traveling with (ages etc)

-what was your most favorite part of your cruise?

-what would you do over if you could?

-any recommendations as to things to do on shore?

-favorite meal, dessert, drink, etc.?

-Isn't Graham the greatest!?

-Did you make it up to Skywalker's, if so, what did you think?

Can't wait for the review!

Welcome home Froufie!! :) So glad you had a great Cruise!!! :D

In answer to your questions:

-Travelled w/dh - left kids at home (we are late 30's/early 40)

-Most favorite part was a) seeing the ship when we first got to port - it just made me cry it was so exciting to finally be there,b) sitting out on the balcony watching the scenery or ocean and just relaxing! and c) finally meeting all my CC friends who I had been "chatting" with on the roll call - it was so fabulous to put faces to the names (and get the real names at that) and a few of us hung out together during the cruise and had a great time!

-What would I do over? Maybe make reservations for things earlier? Try and clone myself so I could be in two places at once - I hated missing things and it was hard to decide my "agenda" for the day. Take more pictures. Do more stuff - needed more than 24 hours in the day to do everything I wanted to do!

-On shore: did the Godfrey's tour in St Thomas - got to see most of the island and enjoyed the warm blue waters of Sapphire beach. Just did our own thing in St. Maarten - missed getting to Orient Beach tho - but something to save for our next cruise??? :D

-Favorite meal....gee there were so many?? Pizza was a great afternoon snack....loved the fresh fruit on the Horizon Court buffet. The Love boat dream is to die for - very rich and chocolately (and our waiter always sang the Love Boat theme song as the dessert was placed in front of us!). Lobster tails, prime rib were very well done, as were the soups and desserts. Did I mention I was a smoked salmon addict? and was trying desperately to feed this addiction on a daily basis? :p

-Graham is a riot - not only funny but talented - I love his routines and enjoyed him immensely!

-Skywalker's - yes we did visit - I just now realized I never made it there during the daytime (which I think would have provided a great view of things!). It was pretty crowded the night we visited - loved the moving sidewalk....but found it to be very noisy, smoky and a pretty young crowd mostly hanging out there.

Wish I was still cruising! :(

Your review brought back some great memories from our Caribbean Princess cruise last month...minus the Embarkation marathon!

Thanks for sharing

Thanks for sharing!

Did you feel the ship was too big? We are concerned that the ships are getting bigger and bigger!! Kind of like the Sun class size, although we have been on Grand class as well. The Caribbean just seems like too many people???

Looking forward to reading your full review Froufrie! Glad to hear you had a good time. More details on Cafe Caribe would be nice, if you have the chance.

TinaLee

Glad you enjoyed the wonderful CP. We were on the July 31st sailing and absolutely loved each and every minute of it. We met up with 3 couples from our cc roll call. They were the best. We had a great week, just not long enough.

Murphey,

We did not feel as though the ship was too crowded. Sea days the pools on the Lido deck are busy. There is always some where else to enjoy. As Froufie said, there is not enough time to do all you would like to. We were on the Grand last year same time and really did not notice that there were 500 more people this time.

Is the bus to the ship just because the power had been out or does everyone have to be bussed?????

The bus to the ship was ONLY because of the power outage, normally you would just walk through the terminal after check in to board.

Since we had already gone through security, we were not allowed to walk across the parking lot to board the ship, we had to be escorted to the buses for the one minute ride over.

Froufie - when you went home did you go through Philly again? If so we had to be on the same flight! Can't believe I didn't see you. Where did you sit on the plane? Wasn't row 24 was it?

Sydney - I thought I might answer your questions as well:

-who were you traveling with (ages etc)

--Me (25) Boyfriend (26)

-what was your most favorite part of your cruise?

--seeing the rainbow the one morning was awesome! island night with Graham! spending time with my boyfriend.

-what would you do over if you could?

--go again? I loved every minute! Maybe would eat in Sabatini's though - didn't do that and tried to get a table on the last night and could not.

-any recommendations as to things to do on shore?

--more people should go to Marigot. maybe they would have more open if more people went.

-favorite meal, dessert, drink, etc.?

--Pork on caribbean night was great. Loved the chocolate bananas and mai tais. Baked alaska (aka something diplomat) was delightful

-Isn't Graham the greatest!?

--You bet. My sister actually cruised with him when she was on the Sea Princess in March 2003. Said he was a nut. Would totally go on a ship with him again. Also enjoyed Scott (Deputy Cruise Director) you can tell they are training Scott to be a full blown CD because he was shadowing Graham the whole time!

-Did you make it up to Skywalker's, if so, what did you think?

--Loved it. What a neat place. A little smoky on the one side but it was one of the coolest places I've ever seen!

GG - were you on the US airways flights to Philly at 11:25 am?? What a riot if we were on the same plane! I think dh and I were in row 26, middle and aisle (d and e I think? - I was in black jacket and pants and striped black and white t-shirt with the sad look on my face as we were heading home :p ).....wish I would have known you were on we could have compared notes!

I loved all the seafood, smoked salmon and the fabulous desserts -dh had the pork and loved it! Graham was fabulous and added to our enjoyment of the cruise. Did not do sabatini's or sterling - maybe next time? :o

Would like to still do "movies under the stars"...and visit some of the beaches and sights we missed at our ports.....awaiting the next cruise! ;)

GG-

We are on Aloha Deck (401A) this Jan. By reading your review it sounds like the balcony on this deck is a good choice.

Was it the standard 2 chairs and a table? Was it fairly private?

Thanks,

Dan

Rusty -

I was on the Caribe deck in the 700s. A401 should be a nice room because it will be away from the vibration felt in the back of the ship (I tried so hard to not notice it - it was not 24/7 but often). You will be 2 decks above me and closer to the pools, pizza, and trident grill. All were fabulous. We loved the large balcony on the Caribe but my next cruise on the Diamond will be on the Baja deck with a regular sized balcony cabin and that's ok with me. Yes, those balconies have 2 standard chairs and one table. Not cramped at all (cramped = balconies on Sun class ships). The glass railing gives the illusion of openness but you have tons of privacy.

Froufie...

Thanks for posting the review. I would be interested in hearing an elaboration on the difference in service you experienced in traditional and PC dining rooms. We used PC and believed the service wasn't quite up to the qualitiy we expected as well as experienced on the "Grand". We wondered if the more experienced staff was assigned to the traditional dining room. We've often heard that the wait staff want's good comments on their cards because they can receive better assignments. Just curious. Thanks

Froufie - yep - I was 2 rows in front of you!! We were on the left side of the plane. You might have seen me when I asked the young girl in front of me where she got her pillow (big cushy red pillow!!) - I fell asleep on the way home and needed one badly - the airplane pillows just don't cut it and there were few to be found especially after the lady to my right was found to be using two.

Did you have a problem with young adults (20-21) on your deck? They must have had a sale on the cabins across the hall because they were occupied by 3 or 4 people in each cabin and there were 3 or 4 cabins of them - shouting all day and drunk and shouting and cussing all night. I tried to call the front desk but there was no answer and the one night they tore down the muster station sign.

*This did not wreck the trip but it did put a ding in my beauty sleep!*

Overall the people on the ship were very well behaved and the only time I encountered teens on the stairs was the set of stairs right outside the off limits teen center. They were not bad at all. They younger teens and children (ages 4-14, IMHO) were the best behaved of them all and I would like to thank the parents and guardians for doing good things with the little angels.

Glad you had a great time. We will be sailiong with the "infamous" TinaLee in October. Welcome home!

Christine & Terry

2000 Ocean

2000 Ocean

2001 Grand

2002 Grand

2003 Sun

2004 Caribbean

2005 Grand (Galveston to Rome)

Glad to hear you all had such a good time in spite of the problems at embarkation. I've got a little over 4 months until I sail on her and I can't wait. All the reviews make her sound so wonderful!!

Terri

Froufie, thanks for the great review. My only questions were regarding the Godfrey tour. Did you like it? What time did you get picked up?

We're sailing on the CP in October and I booked Godfrey. I booked the early pick-up (9am) but now I'm thinking that might be too early :confused: .

Any info/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

GG - I remember the girl w/the bright pink cushy pillow and yes we also found the airline cushions to be quite lacking....we were on the right side of the plane if you were sitting facing the front of the plane...too bad we did not connect.

No problems w/young adults or teens at all from our perspective - lots of kids/teens on board but frankly did not seem to be troublesome - no noise on our deck (except for the occasional slamming door?)

Rustynail - the Aloha deck balconies are small but quite private - altho you can "hear" others on either side of you should they be chatting or "clinking" cutlery/dishes, etc. We had two chairs and a table and it was ample size for us - and we did have breakfast out there almost every day! :) Unless you lean out and crank your head around the side you won't see anyone - of course you will be able to look down on the Caribe and Dolphin balconies below you. We were fourteen cabins away from the aft on the port side and felt very little vibrations....very comfy!

Beachnative - I do agree with you that the more seasoned wait staff finds its way to the traditional dining rooms - very polished service, with a personal touch. In the PC dining room we noticed courses were not "coordinated"....so some might be having soup while others had salad, and those that had both ended up slowing down the line. In traditional you basically "sat out" those courses you were not eating....so everyone was eating the same courses at the same time. Also first PC dining experience was very impersonal - no smiles/interaction from the staff, while the next time we did PC (Palm) we had some "fun" waiters who did make the experience better.

ML64 - the Godfrey tour was very professional and well done. We opted for the 10 am pickup which gave us two hours to shop!.....we did miss the 9 am rush off the ship (intentionally!)...but if you want more shopping time that should do it. Godfrey was very informative and seemed to keep track of all of us at all times! ;). We were able to leave our swimming/snorkelling stuff in his truck while we shopped which was a good idea! 9 am is the best choice if you want to do some major shopping - if you're just browsing you might want the later pickup.

Thanks for the info and your very thorough review. You are yet another reason why I love CC boards. Thanks again.

Thanks for the review. Can anyone tell me if their are beaches on the Marigot side of the St. Martin? Which "side is Orient Beach on?

Thanks. We cruise Saturday and are on the Baja Deck B314 :)

Disneycruiser#1

Yes there are many beautiful beaches on the French side of St. Martin. In fact IMO they have the nicer of the beaches.

Orient is indeed on the French side and truly one of my favourite beaches. Looking forward to visiting there on the CP end of October. It is a very busy beach with lots of water activities, shops on the beach and restaurants. It is a long wide sandy beach that is great to walk. Lots of chairs and umbrellas. Also very nice on the French side are Grand Case, Baie Rouge, Baie Longue. We have rented a car an driven the island and visited all the different beaches. You can also get a taxi at the pier and they can do a tour for you or take you to the beach of your choice.

The Dutch side also has Dawn Beach, Mullet Bay and Maho beach where you can watch the planes fly in right over the beach. The seem close enough to touch.

enjoy St. Maarten/St. Martin and your cruise :)

Emmy

Thanks for a great review. Glad you had so much fun. I was wondering if the balconies on the Aloha deck are covered or open on top. We are thinking of booking a cruise and the lowest price balcony cabins are on the Aloha deck right now. So I was wondering if there is a reason why these balcony cabins are the lowest price ones? Would the Caribe deck be a better choice because of the larger balcony? Also I have been on a coule of Voyager class cruises and was wondering if anybody can compare the differences and similarities of these two mega cruise ships?