Whimsy

Hmmmm..upon further investigation hubby says that in the past when he has played let it ride they scan his princess room card. They don't know how much he is betting or if he wins or loses but they do scan it. This has not been very often but obviously enough to qualify for these rates

They know exactly what he is betting, winning, losing, etc. By scanning his card he is checking in. When he buys in it's recorded and when he leaves it's recorded what he "colors up". While playing they will makes notes of his bets and come up with an average.

As for qualifying for the rates, my daughter received the offer and she said she put a $20 in the slot machine one night on a 7 night cruise 2 years ago. Casinos have a whole marketing system in and of themselves and they look at "theoretical" by wooing a casual player to come back.

How was the noise from Club Fusion below your cabins. I understand you also get thruster noise when docking - How was it?

You do get the thruster noise and vibration being in the aft. We always think of it as our wake up call for port days!

We didn't hear anything from Club Fusion, Starboard side less likely to have any noise from Club Fusion. I have been in E730 on the Emerald and had some bass noise but nothing that bothered us or would keep us from booking that cabin again.

Have you tried posting on the roll calls? Might not hurt. Also, if you are on FB you might want to create a post and see if it would get shared around. Would be wonderful to find the owner.

I have sailed in both types of cabins and I would grab the mini suite too! Love the extra space, full size bath.

They were turning it on in phases. The cabin next to us had it a day before we had it.

Thanks for the review, I enjoyed reading it.

 

I had to cancel at the last minute just 2 days before we were to leave. I was sad at first, a little bit anyway, but my dog is better now and I would have been too worried about her to enjoy the cruise and it wouldn't have been safe to board her anyway. So we got an FCC for the entire amount we spent on the cruise minus the cost of insurance and I have booked us on the Royal TA this spring and still have enough left over for another cruise.

I am so sorry you had a to cancel but I understand your worry about the dog. Thankfully, your dog is better now but being a pet lover I understand the worry.

Thanks for a wonderful review; you covered all the things I am interested in. Was the ship full to capacity? Was your cruise director Corey?

The cruise director was Micheal Reitano. He was very visible as well around the cruise and very personable.

As for the ship being at capacity, I doubt it. There were still several cabins available days before sailing, including a great offer on a window suite!

Your travel agent should be able to reach out to their Princess Business Development contact and they might be able to investigate what is going on. I needed more group spacing once and when Princess said no, the contact was able to get more allotment.

There are several recall dates on group space. The groups department might be able to tell your agent the recall dates for that sailing.

Have your agent keep checking. I know when I have looked at some cruises that are just released it shows no cabins available but suddenly a whole section that shows sold out becomes available.

Have you checked with your travel agent? If they are part of a consortium they might be able to grab a cabin that space for you. If there are several cruises linked together you might not be able to get space on that particular voyage but if you look at another portion of it you might be able to book a longer version.

We returned yesterday from our 2 week Circle Caribbean cruise on Caribbean Princess. I am not going to do a day by day review but will try to break it down into categories. Any questions, I'll try to help as best I can.

Pre cruise: We flew in the day before, stayed at the Hyatt Place. Publix within walking distance for picking up cruise supplies. We had dinner at the Bistro Mezzaluna next door, excellent food!

Embarkation: We took a cab to the ship around 10:30. The Elite area was already crowded. The let us on the ship before the rooms were ready, not sure I like that. Also, no more fried scallops on the buffet. It was a tradition, sorry to see them gone. No more life jackets at muster, that was nice. We were able to go directly to the aft for sailaway and toast the cruise, not having to go back to the cabins to take the life vest back. I was pleasantly surprised at the passenger make up. I heard 12 children on board but there were also many younger people (20's, 30's) on board which was nice.

Cabin: We had 2 mini suites side by side on Emerald, E729 and E731 with the extended balcony. We opened the door between for ease, E731 has covered extended balcony and was perfect for dinner for 4 the night were were in St Thomas for the balcony dinner. This was 3rd time in this cabin on Caribbean Princess. Tile is work, some rust on the balcony but nothing that was going to spoil our experience. We are pretty low maintenance people, just grateful to be on vacation. The door dividing the 2 balconies never banged, even the last day when we had very rough seas. It actually was pretty amazing it never moved as we were rolling along. Our cabin steward, Menardo, was one of the best we have had, genuinely sincere when talking to us about our day and telling us about his years on the ship.

Dining: We chose anytime dining, some nights shared to avoid a wait but if you usually checked between the 2 dining rooms there was not a way. We figured out the rhythm and would go down around 6:30 and never had a wait. Early diners arrived around 5 and would finish up around that time. If we wanted to see the show we dined earlier when necessary or caught the late show. Food was excellent as usual. Fettuccine was never served in the Parmesan bowl but I personally like it that way, I think the bowl absorbs the cream. We are not buffet people so we only ate breakfast there for speed and variety as I don't like most breakfast dishes and stick to yogurt, fruit and cereal. Had quite a few burgers by the pool and pizza, all were hot and fresh as usual. Some lunches in the dining room as well. No complaints about food or service.

We dined at Planks and Steamers. Food was okay but I wouldn't go back. I had a broiled seafood platter but it was pretty tasteless, The ones that had BBQ seemed to be happier. They did let us order from both menus only being on one side. 2 of us wanted seafood, 2 wanted BBQ. We also dined at Crown Grill one night, excellent as always.

Entertainment: The cruise director staff was very active and mingling. Duval was the highlight at any event we attended and he was a part. That young man will be the cruise director someday with his great talents.

Shows were hit or miss. My major complaint was that to get a seat you had to get there at least an hour early. I wonder if they should start thinking of having 3 shows a night. Just a thought. They had an overflow feed in Explorers lounge but that too would be packed and most of the time was out of sync. The first comedian was awful. He actually was much of the conversation on the ship, about how bad his material was. He told us he had a sarcastic sense of humor but so do I and I get more laughs at a dinner party then he did the whole 2 shows we saw him perform. The second one was more entertaining and we enjoyed the ventriliquest as well. We did not see any of the production shows.

Ports of call:

Princess Cays: We didn't get off the ship as I figured the water would be too cold to my liking. We wanted to watch a movie around the pool but all we had were commercials for Princess. It seemed the MUTTS did not have as many movies as were normally would see on board. Disappointing but we just moved on and read a book.

St Thomas: We had a friend who had never been there and was into jewerly so we took a cab downtown and took her shopping. We had a fun day then came back to the ship as it was my birthday and we had the balcony dinner. Wonderful exprerience, great food, excellent service. As an added bonus you have nice flowers in your room for the rest of the cruise. A very nice experience that we feel is worth the upcharge for a special treat.

St Marteen: We took a cab to Maho Beach. I read not much of the beach was back so we didn't bring swimsuits. We were sorry as there was plenty of sand on the far side from the Sunset Bar. They do not have the chairs and loungers back yet but at least half the beach is back. We had a nice time watching the planes, lunch and drinks. I have no desire to use the pool there, it looked cloudy. We have a pool and are pretty picky about getting in public pools. It is what it is. The devastation to the island, especially the French side, is awful. It will take them a long time to recover

St Kitts: We did a 4X4 tour of the island with a beach stop. The guide was very knowledgable and we enjoyed seeing the rain forest and sights, The beach stop was not long enough though but we knew that when we booked the tour,

Barbodos: We did a swim with the turtles and snorkel. One of the best tours of the cruise. The craft was nice, the water was perfect. We saw 3 turtles and the crew was very helpful. Rum punch after snorkeling and while we had free time to swim and sail back.

Martinique: We took the ferry to a beach area and it was very nice. It was a beach behind a hotel that one of the crew told us about, we took the ferry to the Les Trois Islet area. Walked about 10-15 minutes then off to the right were it was less crowded. We found out there was a spot to catch the ferry to the left when we left. Round trip on the ferry was $7 and they took American dollars. No chairs, food or drink but it was a pleasant area to enjoy the water.

Trinidad: It was raining and we had a beach excursion. About an hour over the mountains to the beach and we got lucky, it stopped raining and we salvaged our time! Some people hired a cab back but we rented 4 chairs and 2 umbrellas for a few hours for $25 for the 4 of us. I'm sure if it would of been a sunny day the price might of been more but it worked out fine for us. We enjoyed the scenery on both rides. I heard some people were upset the shops were closed as it was a Sunday. The shopping around the port is limited.

By now we were exhilrated we had a sea day to rest up!

Bonaire: We did a 4 wheel drive of the area. Lots and lots of catcus, saw wild donkeys and flamingos. We stopped for a while at a hotel for a drink and looked at the beautiful water and wished we were in it. We saw the salt mines, light houses and slave houses. Bonaire is just as lovely as I remember from our last visit. We picked up some nice pieces at Elements. By the port and down town are all the same pricing, let me save you from looking.

Another blissful day at sea!

Grand Turk: I know many people bash Grand Turk but I personally love it. We rented 2 beach chairs and umbrella for $15 for the day and the place had free wifi, food and drinks. We were at the place with the padded blue loungers. Bathrooms were clean, food was good, internet was pretty fast before the Carnival ship arrived and it got more crowded. The only negative was they tie up the party boats right in front as they day goes on but we just entered the beach away from them. We had a few drinks after at Margaritaville to enjoy the fun then back to the ship.

The last sea day we were rocking and rolling until dinner time. Packing and swaying was quite a challenge! I wanted one more afternoon by the pool but you can't have perfection everyday. Instead we had lunch in the dining room and just relaxed.

Casino: Dealers were very friendly while they took my shirt! Gamblers were lite on this cruise I was told.

Disembarkation: We used EZ Check and have Global entry. From the Coral Dining room to our gate at Southwest in 25 minutes. Very smooth and easy!

A few notes: There were 3 formal nights. They installed new 43 inch TV's throughout the cruise and they are really nice with movies on demand, etc. They are very user freindly.

The were many elite guests so there was a note that laundry service would take 3 days. I sent a few things out but do prefer to launder my own clothes.

Platinum and Elite lounge was in Club Fusion every night from 5-7. The usual cheese, crackers, shrimp, drink specials. It's a nice place to unwind and enjoy a drink. I also enjoy people watching from Crooners.

I know the Caribbean Princess is older but it was our 4th time and we were happy to be back on again. Our last cruise was on the Regal and it's a lovely shiny new penny but the balconies are so small, It was nice to have room to stretch out again. The crew was very freindly and we seen them handle rude people very professionally. It never ceases to amaze me how rude some people can be. The first night at dinner a man put on a spectacular show over sparkling water and for the next 2 weeks we would see him and he was "that guy" the whole time. He might of been the nicest person otherwise but you know what they say about first impressions....

We were very happy with the cruise even though they had to substitute some ports due to the problems with the Caribbean Princess. I know some people were disappointed and cancelled but we had been to the other ports so it made no difference to us. We loved having 14 nights of vacation to enjoy, weather was good and we had wonderful service. My husband retires this spring and we look forward to planning even longer adventures when it works with my schedule.

Do you know if they replaced both of the TV's in the mini suites with a 43" TV?

Yes, we were in a mini suite and both TV's were replaced. The new features are very nice!

Sunset Bar is definitely open. The beach right by Sunset is mostly big rocks at the moment so there are no chairs/umbrellas on that spot, but you can still sit at a table at Sunset and see the planes. Driftwood Beach Bar, on the opposite end of Maho Beach is also open and they do have some chairs and umbrellas set up in a small area - maybe 6-8 chairs total. It looks like they have imported or moved some sand to accomodate these chairs.

 

In Mullet Bay - a short 15 minute walk from Maho - there are plenty of chairs and umbrellas - $5 each. There is no restaurant there, but there is food and drink available via a portable barbeque and ice and coolers.

Thank you!

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Do you know if the Sunset Bar was open by Maho? Was there chairs and umbrellas for the beach area or is still not back up to those amenities yet?

We have sailed with our daughter and opted for the mini suite. More room in the cabin plus the full bathroom. Our adult daughter chose to sleep in the pull down from the ceiling over the sofa bed as she didn't want us to have to go around her on the sofa bed if we woke up early. She said the pull down was quite comfortable and she felt all snug up there!

My vote is for the Coral. We sailed on her twice and both times the forward and aft viewing decks outside our staterooms were very nice for different views. The Dolphin mini suites are wonderful in the aft, just don't book the very last ones as they are not covered. I found the staff to seem more relaxed and at ease on that size ship than the larger vessels too. I think less passengers gives them less stress.

Thank you for all the advice. It think I will be safe to book it for one of the island nights.

I'm interested to see how they will do the menus with it being a true 14 night cruise.

We will be with you in 3 weeks on the Caribbean. It looks like we have 4 sea days, one of with is the last day. So I assume it will be the other three sea days. That would be Jan 15, 22 & 24. You can check the patter when you board to me sure.

I'm figuring the 15th since we dock late in St Thomas. I just can't decide which one of the others it might be with all the ports being early in the morning. I'm trying to make reservations online for The Crown Grill for a non formal night.

Our itinerary in October was probably a little different than yours due to the post Irma changes. That said, we only had two formal nights, not the expected three. The first one was on the first sea day. Unfortunately while I know the second formal night was on a sea day, I don't remember which one.

Interesting that they only had 2 instead of 3, it's fine with us, just trying to figure out which one it might be. Thank you!

I am sailing in January on the 14 night Circle Caribbean cruise on the CB. I believe there was a sailing back in October, does anyone remember what nights were formal nights? There will be 3. I want to make reservations for the Crown Grill one evening but we like to go to formal nights and I don't want to miss. I am anticipating the first one will be the first sea day as we arrive late into St Thomas the next day. Any help would be appreciated.

There are notes kept on your booking every time something is added, changed, etc by Princess in their log. Have your TA set up a 3 way call and ask Princess to look at the notes and see when the promotion was changed. If you show a booking made with them and they do not have changes in their notes then it would be their fault and customer relations should be called in to correct the problem. If you TA changed a promotion on you then he/she should have to answer.

I disagree about undesirable cabins. I took an upsell from a mini suite to an aft facing full suite and we LOVED the location. I surprised my husband with the upgrade.

I know someone who went from an interior to an ocean view in Alaska this past season and was very pleased with the offer. While you don't get first choice over a large inventory like you would when a sailing first opens it's a wonderful opportunity to enjoy an upgraded cabin at a discount and the best part is no one is making you take the upsell if you don't like the offer.

The advice about calling back, getting in queue and then pulling up the sailing is excellent! You can always say "No, thank you" when they call back if you are not happy with the choice. Nothing lost but some minutes of your time while you research.

Going from an oceanview room to a mini suite for 3 people is worth the extra $198 for the extra room and full bath. Great offer and great move! Enjoy!

I like to book rooms near the laundry for myself and I recommend the location to others on longer cruises. No noises what so ever! Relax and enjoy the location!

The itinerary for the 1-13-18 Caribbean Princess has been changed again.

Yes, they are moving St Maarten to the 17th, taking away Antigua, adding St Thomas on the 16th, arriving an hour later at Princess Cays on the 14th and giving everyone $50 OBC.