DavidsNana

@emory2001Sorry I did not see your questions sooner. I haven't been monitoring this board for awhile. 1. We paid in US cash for everything we purchased. Did not check to see if they were taking credit cards, sorry. Unless something is expensive, more cash than I have taken, I usually use cash. 2. Yes, the walk was 45 minutes after the 1 hour bus ride. However, we stopped along the way for the guide to tell us about the various plants we were seeing and also offered for us to try tasting ants!! So the actual walking was not 45 minutes worth. Looks like you might be visiting Belize on your Wonder cruise. Hope you have a fabulous time.

@melodyina Just a hint about soft side luggage and rain. Maybe this will help. I use large trash bags and line my luggage with them bottom, sides and top so that if they are sitting out someplace in the rain, the clothes inside stay dry even if the outside gets wet. So far so good. So sorry about your problems on the Caribbean Princess. Sailed on her with my grandson and his wife the first week of April and had none of your problems and we had a full ship. I am wondering if they have had an extensive crew change since then.

@Gladys KravitzGladys, please go to the LFK website listed above it is the official one. And read the review and comments linked in that post also. Larissa is a lovely person and is very easy to work with. Although our cruise ship was unable to dock in April, for which we were very disappointed, she answered all of my pre booking questions promptly and honestly. They do not have sloths at LFK (or at least they did not in April) they take you to a sloth park for that portion of the day if you book the pkg with the sloths. When we had to pass by Roatan, I called Larissa on Whatsapp just to make sure she knew that we were not docking and she couldn't have been kinder. Hope you make it and have a great time. We plan on going when we get back to Roatan.

Yes, showers on most ships are small unless you get a mini suite or suite. I have large family members, son and grandson, 6'1 and 6'3 and well over 200 lbs. They seem to do just fine getting a shower on the Caribbean Princess. Is it as big as they would like, no but does the job.

Was on the Caribbean Princess with my grandson and his wife 4/1-4/8 of this year. Had 2 balcony cabins on Caribe deck (great extended balconies on that deck). We had a fabulous time. Like someone else posted, I have been on her 4 times over the years and she is my favorite ship for layout. Crew were fantastic, food great with few exceptions and entertainment enjoyable. Yes, we missed 2 of our 4 ports (Western Caribbean) due to high seas and winds but that is mother nature not the ship or crew/captain's fault. Do I find the picture and report of roaches disturbing, yes. However, I have been in some pretty nice restaurants as well as old favorites and have seen a roach on occasion. I won't let this bother me or stop me from sailing the Caribbean Princess unless it becomes a widespread problem.

Very disturbing. Have been on Caribbean Princess 4 times over the years. It is one of my favorite ships. Last time was first week of April. Had two balcony cabins on Caribe deck. Did not see or hear of any roaches. Bugs don't bother me in general but roaches are the exception. Kind of makes me feel like in the future I should bring some of that eco friendly bug spray. The first week of April, we did not find that the ship was terribly understaffed. Only understaffing seemed to be in the buffet at busy times and then difficult to get served a drink so we just got our own. No problem. I'm wondering if lots of contracts ended and they couldn't get the ship fully staffed right now. At any rate, no excuse for things not being cleaned properly.

It happens to me every time. My last name is 14 letters long. First is 7 letters. Just won't fit on that thing. No problem, the bartenders all see my name on the record! Not just Princess Medallions. My whole name won't fit into my electric company's computer apparently either as my bill has always been first initial and last name. Have a great cruise. Wish I was planning for another one right now.

Visited Belize on two cruises in early March and again early April. March went to Lamanai, loved it! April did cave tubing. Also loved it but totally different experiences. If I had to do one over again, it would be the Lamanai excursion. We had Costa Maya on both cruises and missed the port both times due to heavy seas and strong winds. But I have been to Costa Maya several times before and while I find things to do there, it is not my favorite port.

@cruzin4usNo not a dummy regarding the 2 thermostats in the Mini Suite. My son and I did the same thing on the Caribbean Princess when we were sharing a mini in March 2022. It happens to the best of us!! LOL

@Jeter02I totally agree with you about the photo gallery on the Sky Princess being too large. We had a full ship in March of this year and never saw very many people around there. Also agree about the Good Spirits bar being much too small. Otherwise, we enjoyed the ship. Well, other than the narrow obstructed promenade deck. Sitting at a window table in Crown Grille and looking at all sorts of apparatus rather than the sea.

Terrible tragedy for this man and his family. In 2007 a 30 year veteran pilot fell while disembarking the Island Princess off Nawiliwili Harbor in Kauai. So it does happen. Thank heavens, not often. While on the Caribbean Princess in early April, I was talking to my grandson and his wife about how dangerous the pilot's job is.

@We_like_to_cruiseThank you so very much for this. I will never be able to do a WC but have always wanted to, so I enjoyed your running commentary about your activities and the ship. And your beautiful pictures were the best. I'm hoping that you will give us the date of your HAL Circle Africa cruise so that I can follow you there. Thank you again.

@Rick&JeannieI love those pill bags that you posted the link to. I have been using small jewelry bags that I get at the craft store but I like yours better. I'm going to order some before my next trip. I stopped carrying the weekly pill containers years ago as they took up too much space in the carry-on. By-the-way, the plug adapter that you posted the link to and the advice about the CPAP and how to hook it up, worked great for my granddaughter-in-law on our 4-1-23 cruise on the Caribbean Princess. Thank you so much.

Thanks so much for your wonderful detailed reports. I have been on 3 Panama Canal cruises but always the old locks. I'm loving your pictures of everything but especially the new locks so as to get a perspective between the old and the new. So interesting.

@Jeter02I was thinking and I wouldn't want to discourage you from doing something that you might like and be able to do. What I do when I am undecided is to watch some YouTube videos of the excursion. I hope I am allowed to do this but there is a video from 2019 by a couple from Texas who travel and have a YouTube channel. It is Life with Favor (her name is Favor) she is not a travel agent so I think it is OK to mention this. But they have a video of the Cave Tubing and it is a Carnival excursion with the same company, Chakka and it gives a very good idea of this excursion and shows the rocks etc. I said I had some trouble getting out at the end due to the rocks but I think I got out in a place that was steeper than most of the others got out so found the large rocks a little difficult to negotiate. If you search Life With Favor Belize Cave Tubing you should be able to find the video easily.

If you look a little farther down from your post, you will find my review of the Princess Cave Tubing excursion that we took a couple of weeks ago. I will add that I did find the rocks coming out of the water to be softball size and yes, I did some slipping and sliding but my granddaughter-in-law gave me her hand to hold on to. As I say in my review, if you do this, just make sure you wear water shoes with some sturdy soles as it is much easier on your feet. The guides were very accommodating so I'm sure if you need some help that just asking would be sufficient and they would help. I have to say that if I had a knee that was prone to giving out, I might think twice about it. However, there are various companies that do this excursion other than Princess. Princess used Chukka but I have read that some others enter the river in other places. Hope this helps.

@jbrinkmYep, we saw you docked at Coxen Hole as we sailed by to Mahogany Bay. I was out on our balcony and was pretty sure we weren't going to make it into the port. I must say that the captain did start to go in so gave it a good try but the wind was just too high. So you were unable to dock at Costa Maya too! I have done this exact cruise a few times before also and had never experienced the seemingly constant winds like on this one. For the life of me, I still don't understand why Carnival Corp built that port on Roatan given the difficulties in docking there in strong winds. Same for Costa Maya. Glad that you were able to still do your snorkeling excursion.

This is strange. On the Sky Princess in early March I asked one of the bartenders at one of the bars for 3 cans of coke and told him that I realized that I would be charged, I had the Plus Pkg. Never charged. I thought it was a mistake when I got my bill online. Then on the Caribbean Princess 4-1 through 4-8, I called room service and asked for the can coke pkg that has always been 6 cans for the price of 5. The guy kept asking me if I had the drink package I kept telling him yes. He left and came back and said OK. When I got my bill for the end of the cruise, I was again not charged. Wonder why some are being charged and some not. Are the canned sodas indeed included in the drink packages now.

Me too. I have done 3 cruises with it now and I find it works for me and my family too. Now, they have not been B2B cruises so maybe that makes a difference.

@wrongwaywatsonSmall world!! Glad that you felt the same way about the experience. @JimmyVWineYes, I have been to Roatan several times and have enjoyed it very much. This time we had such fun plans and neither my grandson nor his wife had ever been there. In fact, it was my grandson's wife's very first cruise so extra disappointing to miss two ports. But we respect the judgement of the captain totally. I knew before it was announced that we were not going to be able to port in Roatan or Costa Maya. I was out on my balcony several times during the very early morning and knew that the winds were too high. We actually missed Costa Maya on my 2/25-3/4 Sky Princess cruise too.

Me, 75, my grandson 27 and his wife 25 in balcony cabins C618 and C622. Were on this cruise. I stayed at the Renaissance Hotel 2 nights prior and family joined me one night before. I had read bad things about the staff and the rooms and almost cancelled shortly before the cruise but since I used points, decided to stick with it. Glad I did. The rooms are dated and do need updates but all was clean and comfortable. The negative reports that I read about the staff were totally opposite from what I encountered. All the staff that I dealt with were smiling, helpful and efficient. I used a cab from airport to hotel and used Uber for other short trips. When my family arrived on 31 March, I wanted to take them somewhere on the water and had eaten at 15th Street Fisheries years ago and it was good. The atmosphere was just what I wanted with outdoor dining and the boats and yachts pulling up to fuel and then the large tarpon at the doc to watch. The service was excellent but the food and drinks were mediocre at best. Boarding the ship was fast and efficient and everyone happy and eager to please. Our cabins were clean and everything as it should have been. Only problem we encountered was that the cabin, C622 that my grandson was in, was not cold enough for him but then he likes things fridged. Maintenance came twice and were able to adjust things more to his liking. The day we were in Belize the toilet in their cabin stuck in the flush mode. Called Guest Services as couldn't locate our cabin steward and it was fixed when we got back onboard. I made dining reservations for each night on the app in the DMW section in the Island Dining Room. The only glitch that I had was that I made them for a private table and about a week prior to the cruise, I checked and all had been changed to a shared table. I went back and changed them back to private table with no problem. We ate in the dining room 4 out of the 7 nights and never had a problem. I cancelled the other 3 nights as we went along deciding not to eat in the dining room that night. We did not request the same table but all 4 tables that we had were in a nice location and all the dining staff were great. Fernando the HW in that dining room assisted my grandson each night with his choices as he has an allergy to red meat. All the food we had was great except for the Mahi Mahi that I had one night and it was mostly the dark part and very fishy tasting. I did not send it back as I had enough to eat with the appetizer and the sides. We ate at slice pizza, the grill, buffet and the international cafe. All were good. The drink service in the buffet was a little slow due to a full ship but nothing to complain about. My granddaughter-in-law likes special coffee and she found the best at the Coffee and Cones venue. We only ordered food from the app a couple of times and it was pretty prompt and delivered as ordered. Drinks we mostly just got ourselves from the various bars. Service at Good Spirits was exceptional. There was a noro outbreak on the day after Belize. I first noticed no salt and pepper on the tables and told my family what the situation was due to previous experiences. Then that night no bread or butter on the table in the dining room and foods being served in the buffet. Also, no galley tour after the culinary demo. Still surprised at how many people just passed by the hand washing stations as they had been before the outbreak. We did not get sick, we are hand washers. Due to the noro outbreak and the need to sanitize the ship for the next group of passengers, they "kicked" us off the ship extremely early. We had a 9:30 disembarkation time and we were told to disembark at shortly after 8 am. In fact, I have a tracker in my luggage and it was on the pier at about 5:50am (ship arrived at 5:30 or so). Immigration and customs were exceptionally fast and even with us taking our time, we arrived at the airport over 5 hours before our flight. Luckily, the skycap at the American Airlines terminal checked our bags for which I gave him a nice tip! I was very grateful to be able to check them and go through security and on to the gate area to wait it out. As others have stated here, we missed 2 of our 4 ports due to wind and high seas. Missed were Roatan which was a great disappointment to us as my family had not been there before and we had plans to do the sloth hugging and then go to Little French Key. And Costa Maya was also missed which was not as disappointing as we had no firm plans there. I felt that the entertainment crew were very quick in putting together alternate activities but some others might disagree. We made the best of a bad situation that was nothing that anyone could control. It is mother nature after all. We got a letter in our cabin the afternoon that we missed Costa Maya informing us that Princess was giving us each a $75 non-refundable OBC which I felt was very generous as missing the ports was not their fault, was weather related. In Cozumel, we did an independent tour through Trikes-Cozumel. It was fun (especially for my grandson our driver) and well organized. In Belize, we did the cave tubing excursion through the ship. We almost got left ashore years ago in Costa Maya due to the Carnival ship that we were on leaving early rather than the planned 5 pm. We were on an independent tour at that time and were lucky that our guide was informed by another tour guide of the change due to the high seas at the pier. We were on top of the pyramid about an hour away and it was noon. Luckily, we got back to the ship about 15 minutes prior to a bus full of a ships tour people so the ship waited for them. So, I now book tours that are far away from the port through the ship. We really enjoyed the cave tubing. There were a few minor glitches and I put a review of that excursion on the Caribbean Ports/Belize section. The only minor complaint that I have is that Guest Services was extremely busy due to having a full ship and lots of cabins with 3 and 4 people in them due to the number of kids aboard. This was the 2nd cruise I have been on that was full in the last 2 months and there are no structured lines at Guest Services and it makes for a bit of a chaotic situation with people just making lines behind others when there is a long line off to one side. I found that the best time to go was early in the morning around 8 am. Also, I asked that my credit card be used for both of our cabins and the young lady seemed to do what she was supposed to do. However, she neglected to link the two cabins folios so the last day, my family had over $200 non refundable OBC that was going to go back to Princess while I paid a bill that was $200 more than it should have been. Luckily, I checked and got it taken care of. The only charge that we had on one of our bills was a small one which was promptly taken off. Entertainment was very good in our opinion. We had two comedians who each did 2 shows and both were good although one of them was better than the other. The two production shows that we saw were well done and enjoyable. I thought that the singers were excellent. We had no complaints. In summery, we had a wonderful time in spite of missing the 2 ports. Yes, the Caribbean Princess is one of the older ships in the fleet. In fact, my late husband and I took our grandson on his first cruise on it when he was 9 years old, but it is still in good condition and has always been one of my favorite ships. I love the full wide promenade deck even with the two flights of stairs that must be negotiated to go the full time around. I love the two center pools being separated so that the one without the MUTS screen is a little more quiet. The buffet set up is a little crowded and it is true that the newer ship's buffet areas are better layout but I don't find it a problem. I would not hesitate to sail her again anytime.

@llarsenYes, we made the best of it and enjoyed our extra sea days although I too cruise for the ports. The only thing that made this less disappointing was that I was spending time with my grandson and his wife and I don't get to see them often. So the time whether in port (which we would have rather had) or onboard was precious time. I agree maybe some day we will meet again on a cruise or in the airport as before. Yes, we all love cruising and will keep doing it. Thanks again and enjoy the better weather that we are having now.

My family of 3 were on the Caribbean Princess cruise 4/1-4/8 that had the noro breakout towards the end of the cruise. None of us got it but we are hand washers. I have to say that I noticed early on in this cruise how many people were just passing by the hand washing stations and not washing their hands. And yes, I agree about being served in the buffet. I would much prefer it so as to hopefully avoid these noro outbreaks or the increased threat of them possibly occurring. When my son and I took our first cruise after the start up, it was also on the Caribbean Princess and it was nice having the crew serve everything. Of course, we only had 1400 passengers on that sailing. I would imagine it would take a lot more crew to serve 3200 + in the buffet. But they seemed to be doing it pretty well last week after the noro cases were breaking out. Sometimes people just don't have a clue as even 2 days after they started serving in the buffet, I saw a lady picking up tongs to serve herself when the server standing there was busy with another passenger. And people still passing the washing station even though there was a crew member there telling them to wash their hands.

Took the Princess Cruises Cave Tubing excursion on 4/4/23 as the river is so far away from the port that after almost being left ashore years ago I am leery of doing an independent excursion when an hour or more away. We were taken in large buses to the river. It was about an hour away from the port. When we got to the area where the excursions start, it was pretty chaotic as there were many people there. We needed to rent a locker for our things that we could not take on the tubing. Lockers were $10 each. They had water shoes for rental if you needed them (sorry that I did not note the price). No flip flops are allowed so you need some kind of footwear that will stay on your feel. We had water shoes of various kinds but the rest of our group of 7 had either crocs or wore their athletic shoes. Warning, there are about 99% rocks of various sizes on the walk down to the river and when crossing and getting out of the river. I would advise the crocs or athletic shoes as it was uncomfortable walking on the rocks wearing just water shoes. I had kind of thin soled water shoes and I actually got stone bruises on the bottom of my feet. Also there are stairs (approx. 20-25) to get down to the river and also when getting out. Lunch was included and consisted of chicken, rice and beans and coleslaw. No drinks were provided with the lunch, not even water so you need to buy drinks or take your own water. Cokes were $5, did not notice what bottles of water were. Fresh made blended drinks were $16 each. One problem we had was that we did lunch first before the tubing and we were told to rent our lockers first and put everything in them then go get lunch but were not told that there were no drinks provided. So all our money was locked up so had to go back and get money out for drinks. Just a miss communication. The guides were great and this excursion was fun inspite of not having the best footwear and the small miss communication about the money for drinks with lunch. There were lines for everything though so just be prepared. A line for the lockers and for lunch and for drinks. Lines don't bother me so it was not a problem. The water was very refreshing and the tubing fun and interesting. The guide stopped and pointed out plants along the walk down to the river and gave a running commentary while we were in the caves about what we were seeing and the history and folklore. You do need to be able to walk over the uneven path down to and from the river which probably took us 45 minutes down and less back out of the river and climb the stairs. I would do this again in a heartbeat but I would definitely either wear the crocs or old athletic shoes with sturdy thick soles.

@llarsenHi, I would love to be able to give a review of Little French Key but we were unable to dock in Roatan due to high winds and seas. We were very very disappointed as it was the port that we were most looking forward to. I know that Larissa monitors the ships so she knew that we weren't docking but called her on Whatsapp anyway to make sure and to express our disappointment. She was very gracious and sympathetic. Said she hoped to see us in the future and I assured her that when we are able to get to Roatan in the that we would definitely be visiting LFK. Thanks again for all your great information and I will use it for a future visit. We also were unable to dock in Costa Maya so only made 2 of our 4 ports. In 38 cruises I have never missed a port before. Now missed Roatan and Costa Maya on this cruise and Costa Maya on our Sky Princess Cruise. Considering the experience we had at Costa Maya years ago, I'm wondering if we should even plan to make that port on future cruises that include it. Princess did give us a $75 per person non-refundable onboard credit. I felt it was very generous as the missed ports were due to weather and not under their control. We put it to good use!! Thanks again for your kindness in answering all my questions.