Carribean princess 9-25 to 10-2 review

[coltsgal1]

My DH and I are 58 and 63 and chose this cruise to celebrate our 35th anniversary. This was only our second cruise ever and the longest and we enjoyed it alot.

 

Embarkation was easy as we came in to Brooklyn the night before and the ride to port in am was quick. We had expected to have priority boarding as we were full suite passengers but we were denied access to the elite lounge and herded into the hall to await our number called. Knowing this was not right, I finally tracked down an agent who scurried us onboard with the early groups. We really enjoyed being on early when the ship was quiet and were able to sign up for the Ships Tour and Chefs Table. Our luggage arrived to our room in a reasonable time and we then explored.

We tried lunch at the Coral Dining Room but the maitre-d there ( green jacket guy) was quite rude as we asked for a table for 2 he totally ignored us and told the seater- table with 8 even tho room was nearly empty. We did not stay. My husband is in food service and has no tolerance for rude staff. So we ate lunch at the buffet. We found the food there okay all week except for terrible coffee.

 

Breakfast at the Coral Dining Room again found the rude maitre-d acting in the same manner but we stayed and enjoyed the company of our tablemates and the very nice wait staff. We also had traditional early dining at 5:30p which was strange as we were assigned the Coral dining room but no one else came to our table of 8 until 20-30min later when Anytime diners were seated with us. We had already ordered and were eating salads then our entrees were held up to accomadate our tablemates making our dinner hour rather long. I think our tablemates were alittle uncomfortable with this arrangement, too, but we had a good time talking with them.

 

We enjoyed an evening at the Crown Grill and Sabatinis as well-very good service and excellent food both places. We esp liked Crown Grill as we chose to share a filet 8 ounce and they just then charged us only 1 cover charge. Nice.

 

We REALLY enjoyed our night at Chef's Table, our anniversary day. Had to talk my husband into this but he really enjoyed it, too. We highly recommend this experience. We were serenaded also-sweet!

 

We liked all the ports-kept us busy. Newport tendering was easy as we were with a tour and went together. Enjoyed the scenic drive and stop at Rosecliff mansion-very interesting to hear about and see. We then walked around near the pier and shopped, had lunch at a pub-great fish sandwich!

Boston we took a trolley tour-guide was fun and informative. Rainy and foggy day but we enjoyed it. Would like to come back and do more in depth sightseeing here. We went to Quincy Market to look around and ate at the Cheers pub.

Bar Harbor was beautiful-loved this area. Foggy again so on our tour could not see from the summit of Cadillac Mt. but could see at some areas a great view of our ship in the harbor. We had lunch at Jordon Pond House which was very good--the famous popovers were fabulous as was the choc sauce on the ice cream. We then walked around the shops and went to West St Cafe for coffee and yummy blueberry pie.

Halifax we were late as others have mentioned. Long wait in the theater for our tour which ended up starting 90min late/ this tour was just okay- went by Citadel not seeing much there. But the Titanic cemetery visit was quite moving and interesting.

St John was a very friendly place, again foggy. We took a short horse drawn trolley tour around with Steve and Brenda-they were delightful.

Then we walked around and lunched at Steamers near the port, good lobster roll and Moosehead beer.

 

Our final day at sea was rough due to Hurricane Nicole influence. We got along okay with it, made it kind of fun. We took the Ulitmate Ship Tour this day and it was quite a workout walking and climbing all over the ship and keep on our feet esp up on the bridge. Very cool! The theater production had to be canceled this night.

 

We enjoyed the shows we went to, the young people work very hard.

We loved the piano guy Martin Kaye who did a Elton John tribute in the theater one night to a packed house. I think I heard this was his last cruise? Very talented. Carl Strong the commedian was very funny.

 

We enjoyed our full suite perks altho not always easy to come by. We went to Skywalkers predinner for cocktails after getting an invitation and we were told this was a private event--had to explain before getting in.

Trying to use free internet minutes prompted a : who told you you have free internet? before a manager intervened and got us set up. All our minor annoyances were taken care of quickly.

 

After a mixup with our registration for Express Walk Off we were able to do this and it went well. We had an early flight and were glad to be in a cab at 8am and at LGA by 8:40.

 

We splurged for a PH suite on Riviera and we loved it. The space and comfort were great. We had read about noise issues in this area but it did not bother us. You could hear chairs moving and people walking mostly when out on the balcony. Perhaps on a warm weather cruise there would be more activity on the outdoor decks ( above us) causing more of a problem.

 

I was impressed with how clean CB was everywhere. Staff were good but I think the automatic tipping affects service sometimes. Most were very nice and tried their best. Really wonder why the buffet area coffee is so bad. I usually can drink just about anything.

 

First time on Princess and will probably try them again altho since we are so new at this we'll probably try others, too. Anyone recommend a cruise to Alaska???

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. Sounds like you had a wonderful cruise.....:):):)

 

Bob

[Clutterlady]

Thank you for your review. Glad you enjoyed your Princess cruise:)

[cruzinchris]

Thanks for the review. It's interesting to read about the experiences of others who were on the same cruise.

 

DH and I did not encounter any rude crew/staff at any time. We never went to lunch in Coral Dining Room but had breakfast there all but two mornings. We shared a table the first day, but I have difficulty hearing when there is a lot of background noise and find it difficult to engage in conversation at a large table. We asked for a table for two after that and were promptly seated.

 

Sounds like the fog, mist, rain, or the rough day at sea (Friday was DH's birthday) didn't hamper your enjoyment of the cruise. It must have been truly special to attend Chef's Table on your anniversary. Congratulations to both of you!

Chris

[Coolmama_1]

Thanks for the review. Sounds like you had a great time.

[jrzebird]

The coffee is coffee syrup mixed with water. It is truly awful. I got the coffee card and had a latte every morning with breakfast and one at dinner. No complaints. I also had brewed coffee using the card. No charge with the card.

[David148]

Great little review! I love reading reviews of ships/cruises that i will be on. I will be on this one in 10 DAYS! woohoo. Sounds like you had a good time! Anyways, did you happen to get any pictures of the ship? Would love to see if you have any!

 

-David

[cruise pup]

Sorry about your unpleasant experience with the maitre d' at boarding lunch. Last time I was on Caribbean Princess was the the May '09 repo cruise and I enjoyed a marvelous boarding lunch in the main dining room and I asked to be seated by myself which they did with no problem. I'm going again on the repo on 10/23 and I will most likely head for the dining room for lunch and request my own table. If this maitre d' knows what's best for him he will be honoring my request. The dining room lunch on boarding day has a very limited menu (almost like a set menu) but everything served was excellent. Sorry about the coffee too but I have an old coffee card with enough unused specialty coffees on it to get unlimited regular coffee at the cafe and dining room. That card is a great investment.

[cs4225]

Thanks for your review. We did the same cruise two years ago and really enjoyed it. We also did a 4 day post cruise stay in New York. We were assigned to anytime dining and we were never had any problems from the staff when requesting a table for two. Although a couple of nights we had to wait 30 minutes for a table. As for a cruise to Alaska check out the Golden. Its a smaller ship so it didn't feel as crowded.

[coltsgal1]

Thank you!