Jump to content

Just Back from Caribbean Princess 11/27/04


jt72978

Recommended Posts

Just got back this afternoon from Caribbean Princess. I will write a longer review tomorrow but here are a few things I remember...

 

We travelled with me (26) , my husband (27), two daughters (9yrs and 15 months) and my parents (47). We booked a pre-cruise stay at the Renaissance Hotel. Too corporate for my taste. Would have liked something with a little more of a resort feel to it. Expensive dining.

 

Embarkation...a breeze, 45 min's and we were on the boat.

 

We booked a balcony stateroom - B621, our room stewart was Edgar - he was great. Having four of us in one room, we thought was going to be very tight, it wasn't too bad. Shower way too small!!!

 

Cruise was great - because we were travelling with an infant, there was a lot that we were unable to experience. Our kids were very well behaved but without the "run of the land" at home, it was a little hard. Will wait to cruise until our baby gets to be old enough to enjoy the kids club. Our 9 yr old loved the kids club and begged us to go there every waking hour. I can't say enough good things about the kids club.

 

I just a read another review about this same cruise by someone who mentioned the age group being highly populated with the elderly. I've travelled with Princess before and never run into this problem until this cruise. People on this board have previously mentioned kids as being behavior "challenged"...besides one episode of two kids being totally unsupervised by their parents and dumping food and drinks into the swimming pools, all the kids on board were very well behaved. The problem we experienced had to do with rude elderly people. I am not one to generalize but wow, this was turning into a major problem by the end of the cruise I was at my wits end. On several occasions my daughter was using the bathrooms by the pool and was told rather rudely by elderly women that she had to wait to use the toilet until all the elderly women in back of her were done - while she stood there and did the infamous "pee-pee" dance. Also, when waiting for elevators, they would push themselves in front of everyone regardless of who was waiting first.....and complain, complain, complain. It was very frustrating.

 

Meals - we tried Sterling and it was fabulous. Not for kids though, no kids menu. We only ate in the dining room one night and it was wonderful. The baby acted up a tad though so we decided for the sanity of everyone else around us, we'd stick to the buffet for the rest of the cruise. It was much easier and I did see a lot of other parents with yound children doing the same thing. Buffet food was ok. Not bad, but not wonderful - we aren't seafood eaters though....a lot of seafood on the buffets.

 

Drinks at the bars were great.

 

Disembarkation was a breeze - made our flight for 11:20 with no problems.

 

We really did enjoy ourselves. Have any questions, let me know...I will try to answer them. For anyone who has been reading the boards for the last few months - don't worry about all the negative things being said; you will still enjoy yourselves. Anything is better than work, right???

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't have any children but someone a few months ago asked if the toddler would be charged a full price at Sterlings if the toddler went to dinner with the family. I didn't think so but am curious if you had to pay for your toddler there?

 

Sorry about the rude people.

 

Thanks for the review.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm glad you had a good cruise. We were aboard her in September and didn't have any major problems. I work in a retirement community and believe me, the behavior at the elevators is not reserved for cruise ships! Some folks are just darned pushy-anywhere, and very short on patience--not that they have anywhere else to go! So,I hope that makes you feel a little better-it wasn't because of you and your children.

We ate in the Buffet and Caribe Cafe most of the time because it was more relaxed and we could eat when we were ready. In fact, our first formal night was spent up there. We were casual, but had a wonderful dinner, bottle of wine, great one to one service and a lovely sunset. It was great. Take care. Lynne

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just got off this cruise too! (see my review). I had a ball but I agree with you on the elderly rude problem. The children I encountered were well behaved, but several of the elderly were rude. (I'm 48, by husband is 50, but we look and act younger and are physically active...triathletes......so we consider ourselves young).

 

Several of the over 65 crowd did what you said on the elevators and we had an experience in the Horizon court that really pissed me off. It was lunch time and crowded (as usual). We finally found a table where nothing was on it except for a nearly empty cup of coffee. We started to put our plates down when a woman came up and rudely informed us it was her table and how dare us to sit at her table. How the heck was I to know anyone was sitting there, since when you leave, you leave cups, plates on the table for the staff to pick up? She was very rude, but I killed her with kindness. I hope she was embarrassed by her behavior.

 

Glad you had fun. Oh, I was on B629 and Edgar was my steward too. I thought he was great!

 

Jennifer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I booked on 11/26/05 PC stateroom # B704 , tell me about the Balcony, is it covered, can peoples above and below can see on our balcony and are we on the good side for afternoon sun and can we see land from balcony on port

 

Thanks in advance :)

Michel sorry for my english

Link to comment
Share on other sites

JT - thanks for posting. Nice to hear your nine yr old had a good time, hoping my 10 year old will too. Thank you for mentioning about the problems with some of the elderly passengers as they also could be annoying as some children. Far too much negatives are posted here about children, IMO. When we were on the CP in July, they were many children on board, and did not see one misbehave.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was also on 11/27 sailing w/my family and we couldn't believe how blatently rude all the old people were...very disgusting...I guess you can't buy class. Also they complained about EVERYTHING!!! Life to me is too short ..I felt so sorry for the crew on the ship that has to try and please these people...I'm convinced it's impossible...Great cruise otherwise but the old crabby people did me in by the 3rd day...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a problem with cranky old people AND rude, mannerless, crude young people. Age has nothing to do with behavior...bad behavior comes in all age groups. Most folks are well mannered and considerate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We were on the Caribbean Princess last week also. Very surpised at the ratio of seniors to middle aged. I'm 50 and hubby is 44. We were waiting for an elevator when a senior couple came to stand next to us. She appeared to be physically in good health. He on the other hand was struggling with his wheel chair. It appeared that he was trying to get into it. I made the mistake of trying to hold the chair, so it wouldn't move in order for him to be able to maneuver himself into. I was very rudely yelled at and told to leave him alone. That he wanted to walk from the cabin to the elevator and therefore he can manage to sit in the chair all by himself. I was very embarassed for the gentlemen who appeared to be quite nice and rather embarassed by the shrew that yelled at me. I have learned my lesson on that occurrence and did not try to help anyone else because I was afraid I would get yelled at or perhaps mistakenly try to help when the person didn't need it. All in all, we also feel there were many very rude people on this cruise, but the cruise, no matter how they complained, was still wonderful for us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yes this cruise seem to have a higher amount of elderly people on it. every time we ask we people were from they said florida and/or new york. could be for the rudeness all around. meet serveral older women who we had alot of fun with doing trivia and such. we are in our mid 30's and still enjoyed watching the older couple dancing and talking. newlywed game was a stich.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought I was going to die when the lady who was married 56 years gave her "johnson" answer! The MC was about to have a stroke! Our best friends were the middle couple - Ed and Marianne from Florida. They had a blast up there. Yes, unfortunately, it did seem like most of the passengers were from Florida. it doesn't say a lot of "good things" about us. But you can't judge a book from the cover, as the saying goes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just remember, most of the older folks were from somewhere besides Florida before they invaded us!!!

Actually, there are many really great seniors here if Fl. For uture reference, these weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are generally sold at rock bottom prices down here!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Raydon, nice to see you again. I encounter seniors everyday at work. Some are very special and others are utterly obnoxious. It's unfortunate on a cruise to be subjected to the not so nice ones all the time. However, just keep smiling-and don't be afraid to say what a nice outfit the woman is wearing, or the neat watch the gentleman has on. It diverts their attention!! Take care. Lynne

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not to pick on the elderly, because as with all age groups, there are the nice and the not so nice. However, if I am fortunate enough to make it into my late 70's, 80's and even beyond, I hope I remember that each day is a gift. Especially if I'm able to travel and cruise, I want to have a happy outlook on life. If not, I have instructed my friends and family to give me a swift kick on the backside and if that fails to get my attention,shoot me and put me out of my misery!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Raydon hit the nail on the head folks!

Actually, there are many really great seniors here if Fl. For future reference, these weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are generally sold at rock bottom prices down here!

I sailed on the Summit last December and there were passengers in each decade from their 20's to their 90's and the average age would still have been about 79!!! My husband and I are 54 and I walk with a cane, but I have never seen so many walkers and wheelchairs in my life! You could hardly get around on the pool deck for all the walkers! Getting an elevator was a nightmare and the rudeness of these people was unbelievable! I knew we would have more older people on an 11 day cruise but I wasn't prepared for this! I think they emptied every retirement home in Florida! I choose not to sail at this time of year again! By the way we only had 22 children onboard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It sounds as if you won the "hit the jackpot" week, where it was a seniors cruise. I will agree that there are rude people in every decade. At times, though, I don't understand why so many of the more mature folks need to feel so angry, or have a lack of patience. I encounter it at work, too. It's not as if they have that much to do to have to run over people with their scooters or push others out of their way with their walkers. It's a shame, really, because most folks I encounter are very pleasant. Lynne

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Holy cats it seems like there was a whole deck of CC members on this cruise! Great to hear everyone's opinons about it - sounds like a good cruise for the most part!

 

Can't wait to get on board... We're almost down to single digits here!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

LOL. We were on the Golden Princess exactly one year ago today, and

we too expected a fair amount of seniors, but not nearly the entire ship!

Just like another poster said, walkers and wheel chairs everywhere. But the

thing that stands out most in our minds was the RUDE factor. Never again will we travel at that time of the year out of Florida. I've also seen several

rude people in every age group for sure, but that sailing we were on topped them all. Glad to know it's not just us!

Just an observation: When we sail here out of L.A., most everyone is so

polite and laid back. We never heard any screaming or yelling when on the

Diamond or the Star Princess and we had lots of older people on the Star

in Feb. However, the yelling and screaming was unprecedented on that

Golden cruise out of FLL. I mean, not just older people, but people in their

40's and 50's just squawking at the top of their lungs. You could hear em

all the way across the dining room. Oh, yeah, and I was kicked off of my slot machine by a woman who reminded me of "Maxine" on the Hallmark greeting

cards. Yes, it's a very true story.

 

Oh, my point is, I would take a shipload of children any day, and happily.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...