CB 9/14-9/21 Canada New England Review

We are in our 40's and just had a fantastic time on a 7 night Caribbean Princess cruise on the to Newport, Bar Boston, Bar Harbor, Saint John's and Halifax. Last year we were on a 9N Caribbean Itinerary on the Crown the same week. Previously we've sailed Carnival, Celebrity, and NCL once each.

Cabin: We were in an interior cabin B747 which was on the 11th floor. Our cabin was literally the farthest rear interior cabin. There was more vibrations and movement here. The cleaning cart was kept outside our cabin and we awoke every morning around 6:30 am to dishes being loaded from the suites nearby who must have enjoyed early morning breakfasts. We felt the cabins on the CB as well as the Crown were very comfortable and well laid out. Our bed (two twins put together for a queen) was very comfortable. I asked for a top sheet and our stewardess quickly added that. There is a duvet with a cover and a bottom sheet, but unless you ask there isn't a top sheet between the fitted sheet and the duvet. The Blue bedspread was acceptable, but worn a bit and I asked her to leave that off. The separated closet area is nice and helps cut down on disturbing anyone sleeping if you get up first and want to get dressed. You couldn't even hear the shower running from the bed area. The showers are extremely small. Brought caddy for soap/shampoo and was glad as the little shelf doesn't hold much and it is difficult to pick up a dropped item without getting out of the shower, its that small. Since the bathroom was kept immaculately clean the small size was not a problem for us. Our room stewardess did an really great job and was in our room several times a day.

We booked about 7 weeks before the cruise and were not able to get traditional dinning. I was worried about anytime dinning and the recent negative reports, but gave it a try as the idea of flexibility sounded nice. We went to the Seafood Extravaganza the first night in the Horizon Court Buffet and were so happy. They had lobster claws, crab legs, as well as other seafood choices and carved meats. This was a first class buffet for sure and we ate far too much. They really loaded the servings on too. The rest of the nights we alternated between the Palm and the Coral dinning rooms where anytime dinning is held. We had no problems getting seated. We walked right in with no wait at all except for the last night and waited about 10 minutes. This was fine with us as we enjoyed a cocktail in the wheelhouse lounge listening to some live music and they let us know our table was ready with a beeper system. One thing that I found odd was that they wanted to have us sit alone 2 nights and I had to push to be seated at a shared table. I thought it would be the other way around. The one night the maitrade said it would be impossible to fill the table that late (I think it was 7:30 PM) but he could seat us and try. Less than 2 minutes five different people had joined us. This happened again the last night.

Food was very good to excellent. We especially enjoyed all the seafood offerings. The crab legs entree was a highlight and we enjoyed two servings each! The lobster and beef wellington were very good too. The warm soufflés are not to be missed there was several. I enjoyed a chocolate one and a mango.

Breakfast buffet had a huge assortment. Hot cakes and such are hard to keep warm in any buffet and here was no exception. We liked the buffet for the connivence and the variety. There was so much to choose from. Most of all the view from the Horizon Court/ Caribbean Cafe is really nice. We woke up most mornings and were wowed by the spectacular views of the ports we were just arriving in. We ate some breakfast and lunches in the dinning room. The food was very good & it is nice to be waited on. The views aren't there though and the curtains are not even open. Also the wait staff is not as attentive as they are at dinner. You need to order your dessert with your meals and they seem confused if you do things out of there order. A funny example of this is at breakfast a woman at our table ordered oatmeal, banana, and bacon. She got her oatmeal and banana and after a while asked for her bacon. The waiter said she had ordered that for her entree. He didn't want to give her it till she finished her oatmeal. Then when it came it was a huge mountain of bacon on a big dinner plate and he didn't want to leave it without taking her oatmeal away. The buffet is nice as you can take a little of this or that in any order you want.

Seating was difficult in the Horizon Court. There tended to be more available if you headed back to the Caribbean Cafe area, but even there it was often packed. Even finding a table to share often took some time. It made me wonder if I would have been upset if we were a large family or group as it was a challenge just for the 2 of us.

Entertainment

Princess has a lot to offer and a nice variety. We went to some shows and after the first night we adjusted our schedule so we would eat later and go to the later shows. Being a much older crowd on the ship the early seating were really packed. We enjoyed comedians, impressionists, and the dance shows. My husband had really enjoyed the band in the Explorers lounge on the Crown last year who played some classic rock and was disappointed to not find as much of this. The New Deal was good, but lost us when they resorted to playing 2 Michael Jackson pieces each night. Maybe it's me, but does anyone really like Michael Jackson anymore? Crooners was packed every night with Bert Stratton. Not our type of thing, which was just as well as you they had a huge crowed and it would have been hard to find a spot. It was nice to pass through though and hear bits and pieces. No need to complain on the CB about entertainment as there are options for everyone.

Our favorite spot on the ship was the Skywalkers Nightclub. During the day the view is spectacular and you can see 360. Sunset is great here. We enjoyed a quieter sail-away here too. Missed the cruise critic meet and greet that followed the muster drill. Our muster drill was held in Club Fusion and there weren't enough seats. Standing in the corner of the dance floor where they herded us, I got so hot I started to feel faint. I need a break after that.

Speaking of temperatures our cabin was comfortable. At times too cold and we would adjust the thermostat to our liking. Some public areas were warm, but not too bad. The only time it was a problem was at the muster drill.

There was a nice selections of games for loan in the jokers card room. Scrabble, Uno, checkers, etc. The library was nice too and they sold embroidery kits there for $5.

Casino was nice and for once in our favor so that made us happy. We are not big gamblers, but like to play a little bit on the slots. There were some smoke free nights which were really nice.

Ports:

Newport- This was might have been our favorite stop. It was off to a great start with smooth and easy tendering. No hassles at all and only a few minute wait. We sat on the top level of the tender and said if we didn't do anything else all day we would still have had an excellent time. The tender ride was that enjoyable. What a nice view of the harbor from the tender. We would have paid $ for an excursion ride like the tender. The way back we had to sit inside and had a view of a wall, so if you can grab a seat up top. In Newport we went to the visitors center and received a map and instructions for the public transportation trolley. It was only $1.75 if I remember correctly or $5 for an all day pass. You need exact change, but there is a change machine in the visitors center. We took it to the start of the cliff walk. There was a bit of walking from the trolley to the Cliff walk, so a cab may have been more efficient if you want to start it there, but we didn't mind the walk. The Cliff Walk was spectacular. You have a nice view of the water on one side and pass one after another of mansions on the other. The weather was beautiful and the pathway is wide and easy to use. We went as far as the Breakers and exited. We toured the Breakers mansion for $16. We bought our tickets at the Mansion. Waited in a small line for about 10 minutes for our tour. No need to take an excursion to do this. They alternate between people off the street and tours. Either way you wait in one of two lines to get in. In the Basement of the Breakers is a classy museum gift shop and we purchased several nice things. We had planed on continuing the Cliff Walk, but were worn out and caught the trolley outside the Breakers back to the ship. Our day was a Bargain at $20 pp.

Boston

There was a cab area with a lady matching people up to share cabs to their chosen destination. Cab(which we spit with another couple) was $24 with tip to the area between the Gardens and the Freedom Trial. Oddly enough our return Cab was only $12. There was also a shuttle to Quincy market, but we were glad to have the fexiblitly of ending where we wanted. We bought a guide book at the visitor center for $7. There was also a man in colonial costume offering a tour for about $14 pp. We wanted to do this at our own pace and he looked a little dirty. The Freedom Trail takes you throughout the city and has a red stripped path on the walk and streets guiding you about. The book we bought was nice to tell about the sites, but also helped us stay on track. We bought a ticket combo to go inside 3 sites, but you can pay for just one or enjoy if for free from the outside. We ended our day at Paul Revere's House. The Black Falcon Cruise Terminal is not an especially attractive place and there is nothing nice to do right there. You will need to take transportation into Boston, but it is easy and reasonable.

Bar Harbor-

Another favorite place. We took Olies' Trolley to Acadia National park. This was a 2 1/2 hour tour for $29. I booked this online and glad I did as the people behind me were told the morning tours were sold out. We really enjoyed this tour. The trolley was very comfortable and had less than 30 people. The seats were cushioned and the sound system and guide could be heard very nicely. We stopped at Cadillac Mt, Thunder Hole, and some garden area. Each stop was only 15 minutes. If we go back again we hope to explore for longer. This was a really nice overview and well worth it. After our tour we enjoyed a great lunch at Stewmans right on the water by the tender area. We had excellent Lobster Rolls and Local beer. I had the blueberry ale. Shopping is nice in this area. I bought some blueberry jams and other souvenirs. A great day.

St. Johns-

We had the St. Marins Bay of Fundy tour booked but I had decided to cancel this. I wanted to time it right with the tides and the Princess Excursion desk could not tell me the order of things on the tour and I knew it would be tight even if they went straight there. My back up plan was to rent a car, but when I called from Boston there were no rentals available. My third option was taxi there, but when we arrived in St. John the weather was questionable, so I didn't want to invest in that. We stumbled upon a bus tour for $17 through the local transit. We enjoyed the full 2 hour narrated tour and stopped at the market and the reversing falls area. The guide was very nice and bought us a bag of local seaweed called dulse? and passed it around for everyone to try. Yuck! But if was fun to have tried. Tasted like paper soaked in rotten fish. Overall there isn't much to do here, but the people are friendly and hospitable. I got a beautiful rose at the pier and we got some nice souvenir under the tent shopping area.

Halifax.

This is a beautiful city. We were here once before. We walked around in the morning with no real plan. Spotted the Citadel and walked to it uphill! It was $7 to get in and they suggest spending 1-3 hours. Try to time it to be there at noon when they fire the cannons. We had to leave before that, but if was very nice. Bagpipers, war artifacts, and nice views. There was an option to have a guided tour too. We were worn out by our walk that we took a cab back to the ship. Stupid on our part to take the cab back as it was the downhill part. If I had planned better, a cab to there would have been the way to go. We took the Historic Pub Tour in the afternoon. We enjoyed this and had a lot of fun. They take you by bus to the first stop give you matching seamans hats to wear and give you a small beer at each of the 3 pubs. A bagpiper leads your around and there were two other musicians that played folk story songs. For $79 pp it seemed over priced, but we enjoyed ourselves and it was a happy group to be with.

I was frustrated with the excursion desk. Long lines and no system of posting what tours are still open and which ones are booked. Each person needs to personally talk with a rep about this. Making for a long process. The crown had a list of things still open. They really should have computer terminals there for when it is closed. It is so easy to do from home prior to to trip, they could easily offer in on board. Years ago on Carnival they had it all accessible from you cabin tv. You could also check your onboard account that way. Princess you need to request a printout from the pursuers desk to see how much you have spent.

Passenger make up:

Definitely an older crowd. I think it is the itinerary as we found an equally older crowd when we took Carnival to New England. People were friendly and for the most part upbeat. We met many nice people at meals. If you looking for a trip with no kids we found Sept to be childless both years. If you are troubled by mostly 60+++ crowd this is not the itinerary for you.

We took the motor-coach service to and from Brooklyn offered by Princess for $79 pp and were glad we did. No driving and it would have been more with parking and gas. It takes longer to get there, but worth it for us as we are not city drivers.

I hope this was helpful to people planing a trip. I appreciated all the info I received from this board when planning our trip. We had a great time and were very happy with this cruise. The service was great, always with friendly greetings from staff, the ship is beautiful and well maintained too. I'd be glad to try to answer any questions.

Hi CMM, thanks for posting your review :)

I'll have to get around to posting my review one of these days... Funny, Newport was our least favourite port!

Thanks for the excellent review. We are planning to take this cruise next year, and the information you gave was quite helpful.

Sorry you missed the meet and greet , but if you had read the Patter you would have seen that we did another one on Saturday which was the sea day. We had a great crowd and you really did miss a nice time. Glad that you enjoyed the cruise so did we. Linnette:D

Thank you for taking time to write a review.

thanks for the review, we are doing this next year. Reading your review has made me even more excited to do this cruise.

Thanks for the review. It was very interesting. I will take note.

We are doing these ports next year.

We are on a B2B and are in an aft cabin near to your cabin on the second cruise. I hope the vibration wasn`t too bad.

Thanks for your review.We were on the Crown with you last year and thinking of doing this cruise next year.Glad to hear you enjoyed the ship.

Laura

Thanks for the review. I love the Canada/New England cruises. Been there twice and never tire of it.

Marilyn

Thank you very much for an enjoyable review.

Sorry you missed the meet and greet ' date=' but if you had read the Patter you would have seen that we did another one on Saturday which was the sea day. We had a great crowd and you really did miss a nice time. Glad that you enjoyed the cruise so did we. Linnette:D[/quote']

I made the second meet and greet, I got there a little late.

 

 

Caber- the vibrations were not that bad. Mostly noticeable when docking, but not the kind that vibrate your brain or anything! They were worse in the dinning room one day. You'll have a great time.

I too was on the 9/14 sailing. I am sorry I have not posted since we returned however I have been buried at work since I came home. I will try to post a detailed review soon. I just want to say that I echo all the comments in the earlier reviews. The CB is still in great shape and will be even better after the drydock. We were at the far end of Emerald Deck (E731 Mini-Suite) and there was more vibration than we had previously experienced. However, we knew that would be the case due to the fact that we were under the thrusters. The only problem we had was debarkation. We were given White 6 (Emerald Deck) which was scheduled to be the last ones off at 10:30 (we were fine with that since we live 35 minutes away). When we went to the Coral Dining room at 10:30 the room was overflowing. We told that only 4 out of 10 customs agents showed up and everything was held up. We finally got off at 11:30. (9:30 group got off at 11:00). Not a real problem for us but there were alot of gumpy people waiting to leave. All in all a great cruise and it was wonderful to meet everyone in the meet and greet, especially James Deering, on the last seaday.

I too was on the 9/14 sailing. I am sorry I have not posted since we returned however I have been buried at work since I came home. I will try to post a detailed review soon. I just want to say that I echo all the comments in the earlier reviews. The CB is still in great shape and will be even better after the drydock. We were at the far end of Emerald Deck (E731 Mini-Suite) and there was more vibration than we had previously experienced. However, we knew that would be the case due to the fact that we were under the thrusters. The only problem we had was debarkation. We were given White 6 (Emerald Deck) which was scheduled to be the last ones off at 10:30 (we were fine with that since we live 35 minutes away). When we went to the Coral Dining room at 10:30 the room was overflowing. We told that only 4 out of 10 customs agents showed up and everything was held up. We finally got off at 11:30. (9:30 group got off at 11:00). Not a real problem for us but there were alot of gumpy people waiting to leave. All in all a great cruise and it was wonderful to meet everyone in the meet and greet, especially James Deering, on the last seaday.

I was also on this cruise....hello to the CC members I met while on board. Not having enough customs agents at Brooklyn is not uncommon. Because Manhattan has more ships in port on a Sunday the major group of agents get sent there. This has happened to us each time we have used the Brooklyn terminal. This something that Princess has no control over. I am surprised however about your delay....we were to get off at 10:00 and we were picking up our luggage by 10:25.

Hi Larry - I know Princess had no control over this, Sunday was a very busy cruise day in NY with 3 ships in Manhattan and the CB in Brooklyn. We were last simply due to the luck of the draw where Emerald Deck was scheduled last. Unfortunately, all passengers who needed wheelchair assistance (those with walkers or canes) were also sent to Coral which also held things up as there were not enough gangway wheelchairs to go around. Anyway it was a pleasure to meet you and Linnette and thank you for all the work you guys did on the rollcall.

Does anyone know if you can get cell phone service. Our son is in Coast Guard Basic Training and we think he should be getting his 1st phone call on the weekend of the 18th of Oct.

Does anyone know if you can get cell phone service. Our son is in Coast Guard Basic Training and we think he should be getting his 1st phone call on the weekend of the 18th of Oct.

I know when we were in port we got service but when we were at sea sometimes we were too far out to get service. I think it may depend on your phone company, we have Verizon.

Thank you for your review! Can't wait to board the CB!

We have Verizon and in Boston, Bar Harbor and Newport it was not an issue being the US. In St John and Halifax there was a signal, but roaming.

Even in port we did not get a signal in our room and had to go up a deck to club fusion for a signal.