Carribean Princess Review Jan 29 to Feb 5th

[matthewL]

Just got back from a week on the CP and will provide a brief review of the ship and services imho: If you are already booked on CP for an up-coming cruise, do not read the section on service, you will enjoy yourself and no sense worrying. We had a great time and are responsible for making sure we did.

 

I was onboard with dw and 6 yr old son and other family members. This was our 4th cruise, having sailed on the Golden Princess, Disney Magic and Carnival Legend.

 

Here are three categorys of reivew, most of which I will classify under "Service" as this is where the bulk of your experience is made or lost when cruising.

 

The Ship:

 

If you have sailed on any of the Grand Class ships before, there are very few differences other than some extra features like movies under the stars, etc.

 

Overall the ship is fine, very clean and I never felt crowed given the extra deck of cabins. 8 out of 10

 

 

The Ports:

 

We were scheduled to go to St Thomas, St Martin and Princess Cays but only made it to the first two ( I will get to PC under service) Upon the advice of other posters we took the taxi's and ferry to St. Johns and went to the beach on St John's. Overall I would definitely not do this again, the other option for us was to go to Meagan's Bay on St. Thomas where weve been twice before. Dont get me wrong, the beachs on St. John's are very nice but not really any different then Meagan's Bay. The downside is the cost, to get to Meagan's Bay on your own will cost you $5 per person in Taxi fare and $3 to get on the beach and this is for adults, young kids are free. So to get to Meagan's Bay for two adults and a child and back to the ship is $26

 

We spent as follows to get to the beach on St. John's Cab fare to Red Hook was $20 ($8 per adult and $4 per child) Ferry to St John's is $7 ($3 per adult and $1 per child) then another cab to the beach $10 ($5 per adult, child was free) and then $4 per adult to get on the beach and I think $1 per child. Grand total for the round trip was approx $85 plus beach chair rental. So at over three times the cost, for us it just was not worth it as the beach is the same as Meagan's Bay. Gald we did so I know not to do it again :) and no regrets.

 

On St Martin, we made our 5th trip to Orient Beach and loved every second of it for a total cost of only $20 return for the three of us. Still my favourite beach anywhere.

 

Service:

 

This is where the dissappointment of the cruise was. CP was not what we expected at all. Other than our stateroom teammate and a couple of waiters in the Coral Dining room (Sebastin from Poland x2, yes there are two different Sebastian's and they are the best employees on the entire ship) and the staff in the kids program, we encounter the most highly disengaged, unhappy employees on any vacatation we have ever been on. The number of times that we experienced rude and uncaring service was unbelieveable and frankly embarrassing for me as I recommended this ship to my other family members who came with us. The level of caring service starts at the top on this ship, yes the captain himself is arrogant and rude. As you may know, we pulled up to PC almost an hour late and just as we approached and hundreads of people were ready to get off, the Captain told everyone that he didnt think this would be possible but would confirm once we got closer. As we pulled up in front of PC, he said "sorry folks but the swell on the beach is rough and wont be stopping here today as it would not be be safe" However, the weather is great and we will find some calm waters and spend the day there. (the week was filled with rough seas and was quite windy on deck)

 

So as dissapointed as people were, we thought ok, lets move on any enjoy the day. Well the captain clearly decided to prove his point about how rough the seas were and after 30 mins of calm he decided to plow us enroute back to FLL and hit has much wind as possible. 45 mins later the deck crew was out closing down the pools with the tie up ropes. All the while people were fuming and could not understand why we were moving into rough waters and wind when the Captain just said he would sit tight. I personally could not understand this, the 30 mins the ship was near PC the weather was great and the water was calm and almost no wind on deck. To top it all off the captain comes on the speaker system again to make fun of an upset passenger who had written a note to the captain stating his dissatisfaction with the decision not allow people to go to PC. He made it clear that it was his ship and that the ship is the destination and those could feel free to contact princess management. Just unbelieveable. Abort PC, ok if its the right thing to do, but I was just there two years ago with weather that was the same as Friday's and we had a great safe day on the beach. The fact that we arrived there at almost 10am was clearly an indication that he did not plan on allowing people off.

 

 

Service C'ont: For those who are still interested, here are some of the "expereiences" we encounter through-out the week to give this ships service level a 3 out of 10.

 

At dinner on the second night we were taken to a different dining room from where we were supposed to be for Personal Choice. No big deal to me, but then as we were just begining our coffee, we asked to leave so they could make the table over for the next seating. We were walked down there at 7:40 and were to eat and be gone by 8:30. The waiter even had the head waiter come over to tell us that we needed to be understanding and vacate the table.

 

Another night, our kids were given the menu for children but not pencils or crayon's to draw or color with, which is the point of an activity menu. We asked the waiter for some and he said he only had one pen available, we suggested maybe that there were some at the front, he told us "this is not classroom and we dont have pencils or crayon's" while laughing, (you have to stay calm) we pointed out the point of the activity menu's.

 

We now thought it would be best to leave the kids in the program and order room service for them before taking them to the program at 7pm. Room service was ordered for 6pm. at 6:30 we called them to find out what happened and they told us they delivered it but no one was there, we found that funny because we had propped the door wide open to make it easier for them to just walk into our suite. Finally the room service waiter who came actually told us the truth, he said he had mixed up the room number and went to the wrong deck, we thanked him for his honesty and tipped him for it.

 

We purchased a Coke card, and they put the sticker on my card instead of my son's who drinks the pop. So after getting quite tired of making the trips to the bar for his pop, I decided to send my wife who was told that she breaking the rules and it was illegal for her to try and get a coke on my card.

 

On another ocassion, I ordered a coke for my son from a waiter on deck who asked for my card and took it, I found that strange, he came back with a can and a bill for the pop and said that they dont have fountain at that bar.

 

I don't know what happened to Princess or if it is just this ship but the service was just awful other then the few motivated employees in the Coral dining room (Sebastian's) and the caring staff of the kids program.

 

I suspect that now under the ownership of Carnival, the culture of cost cutting and in-different service has crept into the operations of Princess. I am also convinced now that the practise of automatic gratuity and the pooling of tips has created a union like environment where few really care on the service they provide.

 

The ship is fine, the food was good enough (though it was not nearly as good as the Golden) but the service that makes or breaks your holiday based on people treat you is dismal.

[APH]

Matthew - was the Captain still Nick Nash? If so, your comments surprise me, as for the past few weeks, I've read nothing but complementary views on the Captain.

 

Sorry you didnt get to stop at Princess Cays. We sail next week, hopefully we will ahve better luck!!!!

 

Andy.

[zurmoly]

Thanks for your review..Sailing in two weeks. Just a thought. To get to Red Hook, when you get off the ship go left and walk down the main street about 2 blocks and grab an open air bus. About 1.00 will get you to Red Hook. Just stomp your foot when you want to get off.

[seattlekckckc]

I am really sorry the cruise did not met your expectations. We were on the Jan 15th sailing two weeks before you, and had the same xperience as your on not stopping on Princess Cays. We also starting heading towards home and encountered rough seas. We were disapoointed about not stopping, yes, but I understand why. We were told there were 4-5 foot waves crashing on the shores, which carry a very dangerous undertow with them, as well as a wild tender ride! (I have had several of these, and on the smaller boat you can get really sick!). Frankly, from Princess's POV, they cant win. If they cancel the stop, people are disapponted and complain. If they go and the tender is rough and dangerous and the waves are strong, people are disappointed and complain. That would have been nice if they had stayed in the area, yes, but who knows the reason why they didnt.

 

On our cruise, we were told by the some crew that we could make a slower way home and reduce they very rough seas we had encountered the rest of the trip. That part was much nicer, and many more inside activities were added to accomadoate for the worsing weather.

 

If you aptain was Nick Nash, we too (as well as another posted) found him friendly and imformative, not mocking in any way) in his announcements. Captains in general seem very "just the facts" in their announcements, to me anyway.

 

I appreciate your warning for future cruisers about your review - personal experience IS so subjective. We had an AMAZING time with the crew, this was #17 on Princess for me, and I had some of the best service ever! Granted, I was not traveling with a child personally, but the 10YO in our group loved the kids program. Again, totally subjective. Hope you give Princess another try!

 

Casey

[cynbar]

My husband and I were on the Diamond the week of 1/22, and we also returned disappointed in the service. We had anytime dining -- two of the nights, the service was great (with Virgil in Santa Fe), three of the nights, it was adequate but nothing to praise, and 2 nights it was so bad that we felt the need to complain to the maitre d's on the way out of the DR. We are Platinum members and have always been big Princess fans, but we came home thinking that maybe the automatic tipping really is causing problems with motivation. I do have to say, however, that our steward and room service waiters were fantastic. I hope Princess tries to do something to address this, or they may find a lot of past passengers abandoning them for other lines---

[CruiseFever]

I sure hope you left comments reflecting your experience on the passenger questionaire at the end of the cruise. In addition, I'd sure send your review verbatim to Princess HQ as your experience is surely not what they want.

 

The notion of who owns who is irrelevant. Your experience, as reported, is unacceptable under any flag.

 

Sure, it's the Captains call where the ship goes and I don't think we as passengers are qualified to second guess his decisions which indeed could affect our safety. But you ARE on a cruise ship, not an aircraft carrier, and you should be treated like and talked to in a manner consistent with your realistic expectations.

 

It's good to hear that you were able to overcome the negative experiences and that crowding was not an issue on board. Your statement, "We had a great time and are responsible for making sure we did", IMHO goes a long way in making that happen.

 

Good for you, sorry for your experience.

[JanMD]

I am sorry about the cruise. I had pulled up the web cam on Friday and it said PC but the ship was moving! We had a similar problem last year on the Golden and we had to dock in the harbor of St. Thomas and they had to tender everyone in that way. We have noticed the service going down since Carnival took it over. I still can't figure out why the ship was sailing so fast on Friday-- to close down the pools, etc.

But, it does not stop us. We are leaving sailing out on the 26th on CP and can't wait. Thanks for posting and warning us ahead of time.

[spongerob]

Sorry you ran into so many issues. I agree with others, though, in suggesting that it is difficult to second-guess the captain of the ship. He might have been aware that bad weather was moving in, since it sounds like you didn't have to go far to find it. The worst possible scenario when tendering is being unable to bring passengers back to the ship safely, should conditions deteriorate.

[Boatlovers]

Thanks for posting what happened.

I looked at the ship cam a few times on Friday, and noticed it wasn't docked at Princess Cays. It said enroute to Port Everglades early.

I realise they can't control the weather, or the rough seas, but I agree with you that if the ship could have sat for awhile in a calm sunny area, then that's what should have been done.

I understand your disappointment.

The Caribbean Princess made it to PC once out of the last three Fridays.

(I've been paying attention)

Hopefully we will get to step foot on it. If not, we'll have to make the best of it.

Hope your next cruise is better.

[jerseygirl3]

I don't think the fact that Carnival owns Princess has anything to do with it. Carnival also owns some very exclusive cruiselines (Seabourne, for example) and that has no impact.

 

I believe the current captain on the CP is Captain Guiseppe Romano. I have to tell you, I've cruised with him twice, and he is the most personable Captain I've ever met. In fact, he made a point to stand at the end of the gangway every time a ship was in port and spoke with passengers and posed for pictures. Before I realized who he was, my sister and I were sitting at the adults only spa pool one day when we decided to stay on the ship in port. Captain Romano approached and asked us if we were having a good time. At first glance, I thought he was a bar attendant. Then I saw his name badge and realized he was the Captain. I told him I almost ordered a drink from him. He laughed and said it would be his pleasure to get us a drink! I've never heard a bad thing about him.

 

As far as the weather at Princess Cays, you can't tell when you are sitting on a huge ship what the swells are like. One time on a cruise, we were told we couldn't port in Grand Cayman due to large swells. The weather looked beautiful. It wasn't until we saw a small fishing boat bobbing up and down in the water that we realized just how rought it actually was. People have been injured tendering in good weather; there is no chance the will take a chance with passengers safety in bad weather.

 

As far as your other complains, hopefully you voiced your dissatisfaction on the comment card.

[Newcruiser16]

I am sorry to hear about your bad experience.

We were on CP last June and had a great time. The stop at Princess Cays was just wonderful where we snorkled and saw so many colorful fish in the very clear water. I think you should let Princess know about all that went wrong for you.

As for service, we had great service in the PC dining room except for once, where they were just quiet and non-social.

We were thinking of booking another cruise on CP with our family members, but this makes me think twice about it. Thanks for posting.

[Coral]

I am curious who the Captain is also - I have heard negative things about Captain Nash.

 

Some of your experiences on the ship were inexcuseable. I can't think of a bar which doesn't have fountain drinks (if true, they should have told you upfront), I can't imagine switches tables at dinner, etc. .

 

My experience on the Star Princess is the exact opposite of your cruise. I hope you give Princess another try.

[cruzinchris]

DH and I were on the CP the week prior to your sailing. We absolutely loved the ship and found the service in all areas to meet or exceed our expectations. Having sailed on several other lines/ships, and 4 times with Princess, we have found that Princess offers the best all-around product, and we plan to cruise exclusively on this line.

 

Ours was the one cruise in the past few weeks that was able to anchor at Princess Cays, and the visit was most enjoyable. Even with seemingly calm waters, though, the tender trip was a tenuous. The final two nights of our voyage were among the roughest we've experienced. The ship was rockin' & rollin', and at times I worried about our safety at sea. The show in Princess Theatre was cancelled with the safety of performers in mind, and the Promenade and exterior deck surfaces were off-limits, as well. At times like this, one must place explicit trust in the ship's Captain.

 

Speaking of which, we enjoyed Captain Nick Nash and found him to be a charming, dashing, and very personable young man with a rye sense of humor. We enjoyed meeting him at the Captain's Circle Cocktail Party.

 

I wish your voyage had been more pleasant, and I hope you will give Princess another chance. DH and I plan to sail on the Caribbean Princess again soon and are already booked on a January, 2007 voyage of the yet-to-be-released Crown Princess.

Chris

[Coral]

Captain Nash has an interesting history with Princess. I have met him before and found him delightful as a person but have not been impressed with his history as a Captain.

[DeltaOne]

We were also on the 1/22 sailing and found the service to be quite good. I hope your review doesn't unnecessarily worry future cruisers. The cruise is what you make of it...I'm positive the majority of passengers on the Caribbean Princess leave the cruise with nothing but positive experiences.

 

I purchased a Coke sticker and had it placed on my wife's card. I used her card to get cokes at least 15 or 20 times and no one asked to see whose name was on the card. Not that I hid the name from the server, I'd just flash the coke sticker on the corner and they gave me a coke.

 

Nick Nash is the ship's captain, as he signed the letter granting us a bridge tour.

 

We also had rough weather that began about an hour after leaving Princess Cays. The captain made an announcement asking everyone to be careful walking about the ship and that he expected the seas to improve in about five hours. They did, we had smooth sailing beginning around 10 or 11 pm that night.

[Casey12]

So Crash Nash is a Captain again. He has crashed 2 Princess ships and was demoted after the Diamond incident. Not my favorite Captain.

[Fleetwood]

My wife and I were on the same Cruise (Jand 29th). We were dissapointed to miss the princess Cays, but made the best of it. We did often see many people saving chairs all over the ship in groups of 4 to 6. Deck space seemed at a preimum to me, and often we hade to be very creative with our chair placing. We did not enjoy the PC dining, and ended up going to the Caribe the last 5 nights.

 

 

The level of service has droped off imho. We had seats for a movies under the stars and I saw folks with popcorn, so off I went to get some. I arrived at the line and waited for the 4 or 5 folks in front of me to get their bags, then asked for mine. Along came a "head waiter type" and proceded to tell me I could not have any because they had baskets to fill to pass out to the movies guests! Well I was a ticket holding movies guest but I sheepishly made my way back to my seat to wait for my popcorn. Moments later here comes a line of folks with fresh hot popcorn, that I was not allowed to have. I stewed for a few moments the went back down and got back in line for some. I have no touble with not handing it out but I do have a serious problem with making me march back to my seat like a scolded child then giving it out to others.

 

I realize that this is a small thing ( mountain from a mole hill) but it is an example of service dropping off. I follow the rules the cruise lines make, and expext them to be applied evenly. I guess it's my own fault for not speaking up and being too polite.

[cruzegirl]

I read MathewL's review and some of it I agree with and some of it was unfortunate that it happened to him.... We sailed 1/22-29 and also sailed with Capt. Nick Nash. While I didn't meet him personally, everything on his end seemed professional and courteous. My only complaint on the anything with the Capt. was he had someone else do the daily announcment one day and I couldn't understand the guy.. His accent was way too thick....We did have rough waters a couple of nights. I think wed or thurs and friday after leaving Princess Cays. They even cancelled a show due to the rough waters for crew safety. I kept feeling like I would roll out of bed. lol........ My friend went scuba diving and the capt. was on the boat to dive...He said he was very nice...

Our room steward, Alfredo, was top notch. Polite and fast. My only complaint here was that they should have the complimentary bathrobes in the room ready. You shouldn't have to ask for it.

In the dining room, Jun was good.... But he didn't open up or loosen up until the last formal night. I want professionalism but to know they are having fun too. I think part of the problem is that this ship has so many people that I doubt if they had to put all pass. in the regular dining rooms at the 2 seating times, I don't think they could fit them all in. Thank gosh they are other options. But we had a good time. Good food....except Sailaway night...But see my review...That's a shame that you guys were removed and I would have been really angry too....

We mostly encountered great staff on board. Stephanie in the pursers desk was the best....So much so, I would always wait for her. At the photo gallery they were awesome too. They made mistakes on the dates for some photos but corrected them and gave credit on purchase errors.... And now Princess in trying to fix another error for me.. The only attitude I encountered was the excursion desk. For my date, not me. But the staff person was rather rude and could have fixed the problem right then but chose to make an issue of it. Finally it was fixed.

I would go again, had a great time but they do have some areas to work on. But I went intending to have fun and did...... I hope others give this ship a chance but I also hope they look at what I wrote on the comment card and make some changes.....

 

[TorontoTL]

I just got back from the Jan 29/05 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise aboard the Caribbean Princess I have to say that my friends and I had a different experience than the original poster. For those who don't want to read the long version, it was an amazing cruise. The ship and crew are all great, if you have any doubts about a cruise on the CB, don't worry, you'll have a great time if that is what you want. I was worried about booking on this ship because of a few previous posts about the extra number on PAX on this ship compared with other Grand class ships. I was very pleasantly surprised that I could not tell any difference between the number of PAX on this compared with the Star and Golden. The only differences were that embarkation took at bit longer and the line up appeared to be longer. But despite a very long line and arriving at the peak of embarkation, I was on the ship within 40 mins of arrival to the terminal around 130 pm. The only other difference was that I seldom saw a hot tub that was actually empty. I did not have to wait to get a table for four or six at either the Coral or Palm dining rooms between the hours of 6 and 7 pm without a reservation. In fact the longest I waited was 5 mins when I did have a reservation because everyone else with a reservation was there at the same time as well. Once those ahead of us in line were seated we got our table immediately. I thought that the ship accomadated the extra 500 PAX well with the addition of the Caribe Cafe. The Caribe Cafe is a great addition to the dining options on the ship since it offered different food at dinner and somtimes at lunch as well from the Horizon Court. Another change from older Grand Class ships is the Club Fusion instead of the Vista lounge. With the many plasma screens around the lounge it was easy to see what was happening on stage even though you might not have a clear view of the stage. In the Vista lounges I often found you would not be able to see the stage in certain spots behind a pillar, but with the plasma screens in the Club Fusion showing the action it didn't really matter where you were in the room. One big change from all the other Grand Class ships is the conservatory retractable roof is gone and instead of that you have the MUTS instead at that pool. I felt the MUTS addition was very well done and didn't look out of place whatsoever. The mini put golf was moved and in it's place is more sunning chairs with a view to the ocean and the MUTS screen. We watched the MUTS on two nights and during the day a few times. Each time I marvelled at how great the picture was and how good the sound was. I did not find there was much in the way of sound bleeding to other areas of the ship, however, I did not have a balcony cabin so I cannot comment on sound affecting the balconies below. Certainly it would not be worse than the music from Island night at the Neptune's reef pool though since it wasn't as loud as the music. Because these Grand class ships have so many pools I found it very easy to find a quiet area by either the aft pool or the Lotus Spa pool. It was also very easy to find a sun lounge but not always immediately beside a pool, instead maybe just steps away. I didn't find this to be any different from the other ships I had been on in the past. The additional PAX certainly did not affect the service or food in any of the restaurants. The food was always excellent and the service that I received from all the waiting staff was friendly and efficient even when we missed Princess Cays because of strong wind and waves. The waiters had to work much harder that day than they had anticipated since the PAX did not get to leave the ship for a beach day. Despite this they were still great and provided great service as usual. Missing Princess Cays was very disappointing but we cannot control the weather. From what I could see from the distance they have done a good job repairing what must have been terrible damage to the area. The palm trees even looked good which I didn't expect. I did not think that N. Nash the captain was condiscending in any way in his announcements. I did think the wind was picking up as we left PC and you could see the clouds in the distance as well. I actually agreed with the captains comments in that it is the captain who should decide on whether or not the PAX go to a port and not the decision of the PAX. Who would be responsible if the weather worsened and we couldn't get off the island safely?

 

I would be glad to answer any questions from anyone who might have any. Overall the cruise was amazing and I will continue to cruise with Princess as I have yet to be disappointed with any of my cruises I've taken with them.

[lfy]

I have always wondered about the decision to use tenders. Last year on Carnival we tendered to Grand Cayman. Later we learned there were three other ships in port that day. HAL and Carnival tendered, RCCL and Celebrity did not. We had friends on RCCL we were going to meet that day in Georgetown and did not because their Captain thought the seas were to rough. There did not seem to be a problem when we tendered to shore. Also we had arranged a private tour to swim with the stingrays. Carnival's ship tours for this excursion were cancelled. Our private tour was not and again the ride out to the stingrays was a little rough but nothing terrible. I know it is an individual judgment and it is always better to err on the side of safety but from personnal experience it seems what is dangerous on one ship is not dangerous to another ship and if you are a Princess passenger it does seem they are bypassing Princess Cays alot these past few weeks.

[merela]

If you sat in the front of the tender, it wasn't so bad. If you sat in the back, you can smell the diesel fumes from the engine, potentially, you can get quite sea sick from the rocking motion of the tender and the smell of the diesel fume.

 

The tender had to keep the engine running when we try to get back on the ship to avoid the tender from hitting the ship if its engine wasn't running.

 

The trip back from Princess Cays to FLL was a rocky one that night, I couldn't even pack my bags because the ship was moving so much.

 

Although it is terrible to miss Princess Cays, it's better to be safe than sorry. The thought of capsizing tenders must flash by the Captain's eyes when he made the decision to not go to Princess Cays.

[KansasScrapper]

Any cruise line is going to have places "they can make improvements" on.

 

 

Our first cruise was on Star Princess, GREAT vacation and turned us onto cruising.

 

For our next cruise we decided to try a different cruiseline. We had only heard bad things about Carnival, so didn't and still don't want to try it. Some of the others are pricey (Holland). So we decided to try RC NOS. We also brought my parents. BAD MISTAKE. Althought we did all enjoy our cruise (it is what you make it, period). And I wont say we would never do RC again, we have decided hands down to go back to Princess. It will be in Sept on the Caribbean Princess.

 

Any vacation (on land, in air or on the sea) will have good and bad to it. Different people like different things.

[CRLess]

I read the OP's review and I am glad that he posted both positives and negatives. My only comment about his post his that I think he was a bit harsh on laying blame with the captain for the motion on the ship. Being that I live in South Florida and often take weekend trips to the Bahamas on a private boat, I can say with great certainty that this was not the captain's fault. Princess Cays is on the lee side of Eluthera island. The only way to get to Port Everglades from Eluthera is to skirt Eluthera on the Eastern side of the island. The closest land mass to the east of the ship as it heads north is Africa. When the wind is blowing from the northeast as it has been for a few weeks, the ocean in that area is VERY rough. There is nothing anyone can do about that.

 

Being a fisherman and a boater, I respect the sea. The decision the captain made was for the safety of his passengers and crew. I would bet bottom dollar that his decision was not motivated by anything other than safety of the passegers and crew. The seas on the Eastern side of Eluthera can be brutal at this time of the year. I respect the captain for the decision he made.

[Miralago]

I agree with you totally, we came off the CP Jan 15 and I posted my review, I know others did not appreciate it but unfortunatley it was what it was.....we (24 people) thought that it was very badly organized, they all seemed to be lost (the staff) except for our room steward, which we rewarded on numerous occassions. It's too bad cause I loved cruising Princess...(Crown & Golden) but it has gone down in quality all around. Shows were amateurish, forget pc dining....might as well take traditional since they give you the same times anyway 6pm or 8:30pm. No Princess Cays (not their fault). Boring after 1030pm (ghost ship)only good thing that remains is the food in dining rooms & specialty resteraunts. It's time to move I guess ?

[martink]

We were on the CB during that week. Yes, it was Captain Nash who sailed that ship. I did not have any problem with him cancelling Princess Cays. It was for everyone's safety. Sometimes in the past, other cruise lines will make a different stop. Maybe all ports were bad that day.

 

As far as the CB goes, it is a very nice ship. It is very contemporary and not as lavish as some of the other ships, but it is overcrowded with passengers and not enough service personnel. We never had to wait in long lines, but the waiters in all food service areas really worked. There was no time for personalization. This is a minus in our eyes, because it takes away from the cruise. We felt like "get in em" get em out faster."

 

The food quality was good. We felt the entertainment could of been better.

Bert Stratton was excellent and we hope he continues to be on Princess ships.

 

I agree with the tipping - that has taken away from ther personalization some what.

 

We still had a lovely time and certainly would cruise princess again.