Trip Report - W. Caribbean on Caribbean Princess (Aug 10-18, 2018) with many pictures

I already submitted a short version of this trip review to Cruise Critic. I'll post the link once it's published. This one has more details with pictures and I can respond to comments and questions should there be any.

Why did we choose this cruise?

Reasons:

1) need REAL relaxation time after the 16-day port intensive Danube river cruise in July

2) We had travel credits ($200 from United & $200 from American Express) to spend before the end of August 2018

3) TA sent me a good deal in April (US$1600 for 2 in a balcony room with refreshment drinks package, $100 OBC, tax & gratuities all included)

4) $100 Princess ship board credit plus elite perks (free WIFI, free laundry, free mini-bar...)

5) recharge before going back to teach in September

6) DH had 10 vacation days left for 2018

7) Though we've been to W. Caribbean many times, there were 2 ports Roatan in Honduras & Costa Maya in Mexico that we have never visited - a good itinerary for W. Caribbean

I usually spend a ton of time doing research for various shore excursions, but for this cruise I basically did nothing. I only asked DH to pick a ship excursion for each port of Roatan & Costa Maya one week before we sailed. With the cruise, pre-cruise hotel & flights that I booked in April, off we went!

Day 0 - August 10, 2018 (Fri) - Toronto to Fort Lauderdale

In order to spend the $200 from United, I could only choose a UA flight but not a codeshare one. It's very hard since we're flying to Fort Lauderdale from Toronto in Canada. The best and most economical way was to fly with 1 stop.

Here are some tips for travellers: If legroom is important for you rather than the seat width, purchase the exit row. Check your flight configuration to know which your exit/bulkhead row is. I paid an extra $58 (usually over $80) for sitting at Row 7 for both flights (Toronto to Chicago & Chicago to Fort Lauderdale). This was the first row of Economy Plus. Business class was the row in front of us. For those who don’t have priority boarding, pay $30 to have United Airline’s premier access so you could skip the line to the front of security and have priority boarding. It’s totally different for long flights. I always book a year in advance and pay extra for the bulkhead seats. There is NO chance to get those seats during check-in. One disadvantage for having those seats will be that you CANNOT put anything in front of you during take-off and landing, as there is NO seat but just a partition in front of you most of the time. All hand luggage & purse must be put in the overhead bin. It might be inconvenient for some people.

However, this flight type is different. Not only was there extra legroom (almost 3 ft. from seat to the pouch containing airline magazines and safety cards), but this bulkhead seat was also one that I could still put our little backpacks under the Business class seat in front of me, as the bulkhead didn’t go all the way down to the floor. We even had more legroom than those in the Business class. Rows 1 - 22 had electrical outlets in between 2 seats. Here is a picture to show how much legroom we got on United 737-800:

For our connecting flight, we had the same seats on Row 7 but the flight was a different model, an airbus A320. Other than the extra legroom, there was a partition that separated the economy plus and the business class seats.

For this flight, both DH & myself had our own space for our backpacks and we didn't have to share.

After an hour's delay, we landed at 4:26 pm, got our luggage at 4:50 pm and took a taxi for $12.10 fare + $3 airport charge + $1.90 tip ($17 total) to our hotel, Four Points by Sheraton Fort Lauderdale Airport and Cruise Hotel. We booked this hotel mainly because I had an SPG reward night that’s only good for a Category 4 hotel. There are only 2 Cat 4 hotels that are close to the cruise port but this one is closer to the airport. I didn’t opt for a free hotel airport shuttle as I didn't feel like waiting. It’s better to get to the hotel earlier to rest after a whole day of travel.

Although it’s a small hotel, the front desk personnel Jason & Tabitha were very nice and friendly. Even the cleaner and the bar tender said hello and made us feel really welcomed. Our room was on the second floor which was really basic and old, but it’s free and we’re only here for 1 night, it’s okay since it’s quite clean. There was a very old-fashioned safety deposit box about 2-inch deep in the closet, so we locked our passports and money there before stepping out for dinner.

Originally we wanted to walk to a nearby seafood restaurant (0.7 mile away) highly rated by TripAdvisor, called Kelly’s Landing New England Seafood, but it started to rain and it was very windy, so the hotel called us a taxi for $6 to get there.

The food was very good, especially the appetizer New England boiled clams in broth and butter, so fresh and delicious!

Thanks for all the info so far! Looking forward to hearing about your experience!

Day 1 – August 11, 2018 (Sat) – Embarkation

This morning we left the hotel at 11:30 am, called a taxi & paid $7.30 to get to the port. A port shuttle from the hotel cost $6 per person, which was very expensive compared to going by taxi. Besides, the shuttle didn’t stop at just the Princess pier but to all piers where there were ships docked. Today there were Carnival Conquest & RCI’s mega ship Harmony of the Seas.

We arrived at the Terminal at 11:50 am & stepped inside the beautiful Caribbean Princess at 12 noon. The whole check-in process took only 10 minutes. We went to the dining room for lunch & it was only half full. I gathered that most people went to the buffet & many tried the new dining venues Planks BBQ & Steamers Seafood.

Our stateroom was ready at 1 pm & our luggage was delivered at 2 pm. Then we went to the spa to do a tour, booked some embarkation specials & went to the muster drill at 3 pm. Our muster station was in the Princess Theatre.

Then we went back to the stateroom to unpack. Here is a video of how I used the cruise card to operate the Ocean Medallion pad to open the door:

https://wismergirltravel.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/img_8020.mov

The WIFI was very good, probably because not that many people were using it yet. It was $9.99 per day per device if you want to pay for the entirety of the cruise, which I think is quite reasonable. Pay by day would be $19.99. As elite members, we got it for free for the WHOLE cruise, instead of just 150 free minutes. This was another great perk that we had with the new Ocean Medallion. This was our first Princess cruise that we had complimentary WIFI for the whole duration of our cruise.

This was our 1st time staying in a balcony stateroom. For all the Princess cruises that we went on, we have always stayed in a suite. The room was smaller than what I expected. I think this was the smallest stateroom that we’ve ever stayed out of the 30+ cruises that we have done.

Another thing I didn't like about the room was that there was only one electrical outlet with 2 sockets that we could have access to. There was one more outlet behind the big TV that was almost unreachable. We plugged in a nightlight and left it there till we left.

Many guests mentioned that their stateroom furniture was tired and outdated. We found the opposite. The padding of the chair and armchair and those on the wall above the bed were all new and fresh. We found no stain or scratch on the off-white chair and the beige wall covering looked entirely new (as seen from the picture below). Probably not all rooms were revamped and we were lucky to get Riviera 230 (Port Side Forward) on Deck 14.

After unpacking we went to the Palm Dining Room on deck 6 aft for traditional dining. The food was the same as the other dining rooms, just a different location. The service was very good and the prime rib that I had was juicy & tender.

After dinner we went to the spa for our treatments. DH had a Man’s Package (3 treatments for $99) & I had a seaweed massage $209 for 100 minutes ($50 discount). The spa was beautiful. This is the locker area:

This was the treatment room with a shower stall inside the room, so I didn't have to step out to rinse off my seaweed.

I think we were the last customers there so the waiting room was empty. It looked very new and gorgeous after last year's dry dock. I'll post the waiting room photo on the last sea day.

Thanks for all the info so far! Looking forward to hearing about your experience!

Thanks for reading my post! Will share more soon.

Here is more info regarding hotel choices:

I forgot to mention that many passengers stayed at Embassy Suites for their pre/post-cruise. It was the red/white building right below the road label "Florida State Road A1A" on the map I showed in Post #1. It's a more convenient location going to the port and to the plaza right opposite the hotel. Renaissance, Hilton & Pier Sixty Six Marina were also close-by.

We also stayed at W Fort Lauderdale & Westin near the ocean on previous cruises. They were just further away from the airport and the port, but a lot more night life was going on there.

Day 2 – August 12, 2018 (Sun) – At Sea

Today was a super relaxing day! We started with a Cruise Critic Meet & Greet in the Skywalkers Nightclub with over 20 members there. After 1 hour's informal chat we went to the casino to do a Slot Pull together. It was fun!

We had lunch at Steamers. I quite like their Ramen as we could choose our own ingredients & the kitchen staff would add broth or stir fry the noodles for us. We like seafood so we booked dinner at the Steamers for tomorrow night. Here's the Ramen:

After lunch I took a long nap before room service delivered the evening canapés to us.

At 5 pm, we went to the Skywalkers Nightclub for the elite members Happy Hour & had some pre-dinner hors d'oeuvres.

Dinner was very good. The French onion soup had lots of onions & it was cooked perfectly.The leg of lamb was also tender & juicy.

We had fried banana & ice cream for dessert. It was delicious.

I highly recommend the show "Bravo"! The whole singing & dancing team plus the soprano were so good that we went to the 9:30 pm performance again. Both shows were packed.

Humming the beautiful melodies that we heard from the shows, we spent some time in the casino before going to bed.

Enjoying your review.

Subscribed. I'm really enjoying your informative review and the photos are great. I hope you'll keep it going!

Thanks for the report.

Day 3 - August 13, 2018 (Mon) -Georgetown, Grand Cayman

After a very relaxing breakfast at the buffet, we heard the announcement at 10:30 am that tender tickets were no longer required to go ashore. We then went to Deck 4 midship to use the gangway off the ship.The tender line was very short with only 10 people in front of us, but the 8:30 am excursion passengers were returning so we had to wait for at least 5 more minutes for them to go through security before we could board the tender as we used the same gangway. That was definitely not a good system but I guess there is nothing we can change due to the very limited space in the boarding area.

Most people just sat on the top deck of the big tender.

It took about 5 minutes to go to the shore, then we reached Royal Watler Terminal. There was practically no one there at 11 am.

Since we've been to Grand Cayman many times, we already did the stingrays & various underwater activities. So this time we intended to take a public bus to go to the Cayman Turtle Centre. At the pier, a taxi driver approached us and offered a discounted rate of US$8 one way or $12 return per person to the farm. We happily accepted the offer & rode the taxi there. The journey took 20 minutes. The taxi driver, Daniel Lowe, was so good that he even took us inside the farm & showed us around like a guide.

When we paid for admission, the staff asked how we came & we told them by taxi, so they only charged us US$11 per person instead of the regular US$18. Let's do some math here:

By taxi: $12 x 2 people + $11 x 2 admission =US$46

By bus: $4 x 2 people + $18 x 2 admission = US$44

With only 2 dollars difference, I would definitely take a taxi to save time, though we gave the driver $6 tip. The comfort level with lovely air conditioning was totally worth the extra bucks.

The green sea turtles were huge. They're 3-4 feet long & weigh 240-420 lbs. Look at how one would span a few steps.

We also saw an iguana & a crocodile.

Day 3 - August 13, 2018 (Mon) - Cayman Turtle Centre, Georgetown, Grand Cayman

We passed through a baby turtle pool & there were kids in the water holding the baby turtles.

In this picture, you can tell how big the turtles are with us standing beside them.

Next we went to an air-conditioned display centre to learn about the breeding of the turtles.

One turtle would lay about 1,000 eggs in 10 days.

After the eggs were hatched, the little turtles would take around 10 days to climb up & instinctively look for water to swim.

We spent about 10 minutes in the gift shop and I bought a little turtle soft toy for my grandson for $8.

Day 3 - August 13, 2018 (Mon) - Tortuga Rum Store & National Museum, Georgetown, Grand Cayman

Next we drove to a nearby Tortuga rum shop to try their rum cake & flavoured rum.

DH bought a 200 ml bottle with Banana flavour for US$10. There was no problem bringing this on board the ship when we returned.

The scenery behind the rum store was beautiful.

There was a seafood restaurant next to the rum store.

On the way back, there was a bit of traffic jam & it took us 25 minutes to get to the National Museum opposite the pier.

We paid US$8 each to spend about 30 minutes in the air-conditioned building with very good displays & an informative film.

Then I went to Del Sol next door to buy a pair of life-guaranteed sunglasses, on sale for $50. Here the same Del Sol sunglasses were almost $20 cheaper than Roatan & Costa Maya. The walk back to the tender pier from the store took only 5 minutes.

Day 3 (con't) - August 13, 2018 (Mon) -Georgetown, Grand Cayman

This time the line-up for the tender was long & the boat was packed. We had to sit on the lower deck. It took us 20 minutes to get back to the ship as we had to wait for passengers to fill the tender boat.

There was a good view of the Caribbean Princess.

Once on board, we went to the Coral dining room on Deck 6 to have our afternoon tea. Then we went to the Wheelhouse Bar for a drink before dinner. Today the elite lounge at Skywalkers was closed due to the Captain's party later. I like the non-alcoholic Key West Cooler a lot.

The bar was really empty with only 5 people there.

Originally we made a reservation at Steamers.Once we knew they had Surf & Turf for the night, we changed our mind to eat in the dining room instead. However, my filet mignon was too well done instead of medium rare, so I had to switch it. The head waiter Filippo brought a second one to me which was like a medium. A bit disappointing with the main course tonight.

The dessert creme brûlée was okay.

Day 3 - August 13, 2018 (Mon) - Captain's Party

After dinner, we went to the Captain's cocktail for platinum & elite guests at Club Fusion. Some people started lining up half an hour before the 7:30 pm start time. It was a fun time to know about the different guest types on this sailing:

◦ Blue - 1971

◦ Gold - 476

◦ Ruby - 228

◦ Platinum - 406

◦ Elite - 257

It was interesting to know that over 50% of the guests were new to Princess.

The most travelled guest had over 1500 days on the Princess ships. Wow! Over 4 years on board!

We went to the comedian show afterwards. It was okay.

Great review, with wonderful photos ! :p Thanks so much. - EBC

What is the captains cocktail party? We will be platinum soon and would like to know what is in store for us. Thanks for all the great info and photos. We loved the CB!

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Great review and photos!

What is the captains cocktail party? We will be platinum soon and would like to know what is in store for us. Thanks for all the great info and photos. We loved the CB!

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It's a 30-minute long event hosted by the Captain Circle's personnel. All Platinum & Elite members received an invitation to attend the party. This was a Welcome Back Party and you would have one on every sailing. You were offered free drinks (both alcoholic & non-alcoholic) and hors d'oeuvres. The top 3 guests who travelled on Princess the most got recognized with special gifts. There were also lucky draws to give away prizes like champagne. There was also life entertainment so many people were dancing before and after the event.

Thanks for your excellent pictures and posting style...and posting them here on CC instead of being directed to go offsite to read and view

much appreciated...:halo:

Thanks to all those who have been reading my review and sent me posts so I know you're enjoying it. Here comes my favourite day of the whole cruise.

Day 4 - August 14, 2018 (Tues) - Roatan, Honduras

We slept in till 10 am, then we went to the Marketplace buffet to have our brunch. The ship docked at Mahogany Bay. Carnival Magic was already there.

I could see the beautiful Mahogany Beach from my Port side balcony.

At noon, there were only people from Carnival Magic, but later, there were hundreds of Princess passengers going there. Many guests came back to say that the beach was too crowded for them to enjoy. Besides, it was a long wait to get on the chairlifts to take the 6-minute ride from the port to the beach.

The chairlifts

Many people were taking pictures in front of the big terminal sign.

Enjoying the review

Thanks for taking the time to do it

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Day 4 (con't) - August 14, 2018 (Tues) - Roatan, Honduras

We had a ship excursion with the meeting time of 1:15 pm at the plaza right outside the terminal. It was HOT! We had to line up together with many other excursions, which made it even hotter under the sun. That's why I never liked ship excursions. However, we used the ship one for safety purpose in Honduras.

The plaza was actually very spacious and beautiful.

We had to wait for another 20 minutes before walking to the bus.

Our excursion was to do clear-bottom kayaking and snorkelling at Gumbalimba Park.

Gumbalimba Park sent an air-conditioned bus to pick us up from the port.

The seat had very little leg room on the bus.

WOW! I can't believe how nice Roatan looks now. I have not been there since 1999. After that cruise there I never want to return again. But now it looks nice. Thanks for the pictures.

Enjoying your review! Is there a charge to ride the chairlift to the beach at Mahogany Bay?

Enjoying your review very much!