Caribbean Princess still at dock

[Cruzin-K]

Can't wait to hear from someone on the ship who can let us know what they were told about the itinerary changes and when.

[MBandJSinUK]

Hi - we are on this ship and the story so far:

 

Left Houston Bayport 18 hours late as Capt said channel was not wide enough to navigate whilst it was so windy. Funny how the large cargo ship in the adjacent berth made it out on Saturday night?

 

Was then too late for Cozumel so had Sun & Mon at sea.

 

Tuesday was extra call in Costa Maya which was great.

 

Headed down to Belize and Capt announced that he tried to get into Belize twice but it was too windy so aborted the port stop. Today is (ANOTHER) sea day. He made no mention that the other 3 ships due in Belize today made it through the channel! - Perhaps he's a little more risk averse than the other Captains. He made 2 announcements citing the safety of all on-board and it down to the weather. No credit for the missed port either...

 

Tomorrow is the rescheduled Cozumel stop then Fri (YET ANOTHER) sea day before Houston on Saturday.

 

I guess other passengers may be a little frustrated about all the changes, we certainly are...

Edited November 27, 2013 by MBandJSinUK
Go my days wrong

[Cruzin-K]

Oh my :(

 

So sorry things got so messed up for you. Guess I will have to prepare for anything to happen next week. Fingers crossed there are no more problems getting to Coz and then home

[JeffandMelissa]

As noted above, no Belize today. Just too windy and choppy. Even if the CB were to make it into the channel and into Belize, I don't think I would have wanted to endure a tender ride in these waters. I'm good on a large cruise ship...but small ones...not so much :eek:

 

Sea day today, then. Cruise director's (Brett Sibore - sp?, by the way) is scrambling to provide enough activities today.

 

A note about Houston for those interested: Parking was a breeze. We stayed at the Springhill Suites (by marriot) in Seabrook. About a 10 minute drive to the Port. Arrived at the terminal about 1030am. DH dropped me and luggage off at the check-in area, porter arrived quickly and carted the luggage off. Cold and windy...felt sort of wrong going off on a Caribbean cruise and the porters were bundled up in gloves and earmuffs. Anyway, DH took the car around and parked. We had pre-paid and DH said there was no trouble at all finding my name and getting parked. Btw, when we woke up on Sunday, still docked in Houston, we could see our car parked all by itself at an end of an aisle. Wanted to mention to you all that there was a lot of empty spaces there still. Parking lot was probably about 2/3rds full.

 

Check-in was a breeze as well. Three lanes...one for regular check-in, one for those needing special assistance, and one for pre-ferred. We are platinum level and ended up in the special assistance line as the pre-ferred security scanner didn't open when they started scanning people....so they moved us into the special assistance line. Platinum, suites and Elites get the preferred check in line. Once through the security scanners, Suites and Elites move to the left into a separate check-in and waiting area behind glass doors. Platinums go to another line straignt ahead. I didn't see where regular check-in was.

 

Costa Maya was good. DH and I have been there several times. Walked into the port shopping area. Big purchase was 2 bottles of vanilla to replenish what I had purchased before from my last Western Caribbean. Expires May 2016, so should last me a bit...until the next time, right?

 

Cozumel tomorrow on Thanksgiving. To us, it has been a good cruise. We've been enjoying ourselves. But, we came with no expectations but to rest and relax and no intention of getting off the ship, except for the vanilla. 2 books done, 2 more to go! Booked the Sanctuary for the entire cruise, can't remember the full cruise price. We've only been able to utilize on the Costa Maya day because of the wind. Too windy today to utilize. Love the sanctuary though...hope to utilize tomorrow and Friday. Don't mind having spent for the entire cruise...cost of doing business and well worth the privacy.

 

I can appreciate other cruisers disappointment in the weather and itinerary, with all the families and kids on board, and it appears quite a few are new cruisers (blue cards). I hope they will give Princess another try if they are disappointed. The circumstances surrounding this one...weather and all, are not the norm and the captain/crew/staff are making the best of it.

 

Melissa

[2Ccruisers]

Thanks so much for the updates! I hope you guys have a fabulous Thanksgiving in Coz :D

[5:00_Somewhere]

As noted above, no Belize today. Just too windy and choppy. Even if the CB were to make it into the channel and into Belize, I don't think I would have wanted to endure a tender ride in these waters. I'm good on a large cruise ship...but small ones...not so much :eek:

 

Sea day today, then. Cruise director's (Brett Sibore - sp?, by the way) is scrambling to provide enough activities today.

 

A note about Houston for those interested: Parking was a breeze. We stayed at the Springhill Suites (by marriot) in Seabrook. About a 10 minute drive to the Port. Arrived at the terminal about 1030am. DH dropped me and luggage off at the check-in area, porter arrived quickly and carted the luggage off. Cold and windy...felt sort of wrong going off on a Caribbean cruise and the porters were bundled up in gloves and earmuffs. Anyway, DH took the car around and parked. We had pre-paid and DH said there was no trouble at all finding my name and getting parked. Btw, when we woke up on Sunday, still docked in Houston, we could see our car parked all by itself at an end of an aisle. Wanted to mention to you all that there was a lot of empty spaces there still. Parking lot was probably about 2/3rds full.

 

Check-in was a breeze as well. Three lanes...one for regular check-in, one for those needing special assistance, and one for pre-ferred. We are platinum level and ended up in the special assistance line as the pre-ferred security scanner didn't open when they started scanning people....so they moved us into the special assistance line. Platinum, suites and Elites get the preferred check in line. Once through the security scanners, Suites and Elites move to the left into a separate check-in and waiting area behind glass doors. Platinums go to another line straignt ahead. I didn't see where regular check-in was.

 

Costa Maya was good. DH and I have been there several times. Walked into the port shopping area. Big purchase was 2 bottles of vanilla to replenish what I had purchased before from my last Western Caribbean. Expires May 2016, so should last me a bit...until the next time, right?

 

Cozumel tomorrow on Thanksgiving. To us, it has been a good cruise. We've been enjoying ourselves. But, we came with no expectations but to rest and relax and no intention of getting off the ship, except for the vanilla. 2 books done, 2 more to go! Booked the Sanctuary for the entire cruise, can't remember the full cruise price. We've only been able to utilize on the Costa Maya day because of the wind. Too windy today to utilize. Love the sanctuary though...hope to utilize tomorrow and Friday. Don't mind having spent for the entire cruise...cost of doing business and well worth the privacy.

 

I can appreciate other cruisers disappointment in the weather and itinerary, with all the families and kids on board, and it appears quite a few are new cruisers (blue cards). I hope they will give Princess another try if they are disappointed. The circumstances surrounding this one...weather and all, are not the norm and the captain/crew/staff are making the best of it.

 

Melissa

 

First of all, thank you very much Melissa for passing along all this info. We're keeping a close eye on this itinerary as we will be on the same cruise in January.

 

A little off topic, can you confirm that Brett Siborne is the Cruise Director? He is a long-time friend of ours with whom we have sailed many, many times over the years. But we hadn't been in touch for a couple months, and did not realize he was on the Caribbean Princess. If you see him, we would very much appreciate if you would tell him "The Boston Boys" (aka, Chris and Derrick) say hi and will be aboard in January. :-D

 

Thanks, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving and cruise. :D

Edited November 27, 2013 by 5:00_Somewhere

[whataboutport]

Hi - we are on this ship and the story so far:

 

Left Houston Bayport 18 hours late as Capt said channel was not wide enough to navigate whilst it was so windy. Funny how the large cargo ship in the adjacent berth made it out on Saturday night?

 

Was then too late for Cozumel so had Sun & Mon at sea.

 

Tuesday was extra call in Costa Maya which was great.

 

Headed down to Belize and Capt announced that he tried to get into Belize twice but it was too windy so aborted the port stop. Today is (ANOTHER) sea day. He made no mention that the other 3 ships due in Belize today made it through the channel! - Perhaps he's a little more risk averse than the other Captains. He made 2 announcements citing the safety of all on-board and it down to the weather. No credit for the missed port either...

 

Tomorrow is the rescheduled Cozumel stop then Fri (YET ANOTHER) sea day before Houston on Saturday.

 

I guess other passengers may be a little frustrated about all the changes, we certainly are...

 

Yes I agree Capt Street is very careful. Perhaps CB was a larger ship than the others that made it into Belize? When we were boarding the tender it was very rocky and the tender kept slamming into the temp dock. They had to stop loading pax onto the tender for the crew to retie the lines. Better missing a port than someone getting hurt, but of course if I was on that sailing I would be upset too.

 

But I don't understand why they won't refund the port fees? It's a measly amount, but I think it's the principle.

[whataboutport]

First of all, thank you very much Melissa for passing along all this info. We're keeping a close eye on this itinerary as we will be on the same cruise in January.

 

A little off topic, can you confirm that Brett Siborne is the Cruise Director? He is a long-time friend of ours with whom we have sailed many, many times over the years. But we hadn't been in touch for a couple months, and did not realize he was on the Caribbean Princess. If you see him, we would very much appreciate if you would tell him "The Boston Boys" (aka, Chris and Derrick) say hi and will be aboard in January. :-D

 

Thanks, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving and cruise. :D

They changed CD's already? So the cold turkey Neil Roberts was on the tail end of his contract, then I suppose that's why he wasn't on his A game on our sailing?

[ASeaPrincess1]

First of all, thank you very much Melissa for passing along all this info. We're keeping a close eye on this itinerary as we will be on the same cruise in January.

 

A little off topic, can you confirm that Brett Siborne is the Cruise Director? He is a long-time friend of ours with whom we have sailed many, many times over the years. But we hadn't been in touch for a couple months, and did not realize he was on the Caribbean Princess. If you see him, we would very much appreciate if you would tell him "The Boston Boys" (aka, Chris and Derrick) say hi and will be aboard in January. :-D

 

Thanks, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving and cruise. :D

 

We're going on Saturday, and Brett is the CD.....if that helps.

[RickEk]

Yes I agree Capt Street is very careful. Perhaps CB was a larger ship than the others that made it into Belize? When we were boarding the tender it was very rocky and the tender kept slamming into the temp dock. They had to stop loading pax onto the tender for the crew to retie the lines. Better missing a port than someone getting hurt, but of course if I was on that sailing I would be upset too.

 

But I don't understand why they won't refund the port fees? It's a measly amount, but I think it's the principle.

 

It's always possible that the other ships made it in early and by the time the Caribbean Princess was making her approach the winds had increased.

 

And if they missed the port, they will certainly get the port fees back.

[5:00_Somewhere]

We're going on Saturday, and Brett is the CD.....if that helps.

 

Thank you SO much!!! Assuming he'll still be there in January, that has erased all our concerns about this cruise. Even if we make no ports, I would enjoy the cruise just because we'd get to see Brett again. It's been a few years since we were fortunate enough to sail with him.

 

Hope you have a GREAT cruise! And please feel free to tell Brett we're stalking him if you see him. :)

[kerryA]

When did Brett join the Caribbean Princess he was on the Coral Princess when we sailed the 24th of October with him?

[ASeaPrincess1]

Thank you SO much!!! Assuming he'll still be there in January, that has erased all our concerns about this cruise. Even if we make no ports, I would enjoy the cruise just because we'd get to see Brett again. It's been a few years since we were fortunate enough to sail with him.

 

Hope you have a GREAT cruise! And please feel free to tell Brett we're stalking him if you see him. :)

 

Thank you........I hope we don't have to deal with the same problems the other cruises have had.

If I get a chance to talk to Brett, I will certainly tell him you are stalking him! :D

I'll ask if he'll still be there in January.

[ASeaPrincess1]

When did Brett join the Caribbean Princess he was on the Coral Princess when we sailed the 24th of October with him?

 

He must have just joined this past week.....from what I gather.

I'm just glad we don't have the one no one seems to like....:eek:

[5:00_Somewhere]

When did Brett join the Caribbean Princess he was on the Coral Princess when we sailed the 24th of October with him?

 

Yeah, last I knew he was on the Coral, as well.

 

Thank you........I hope we don't have to deal with the same problems the other cruises have had.

If I get a chance to talk to Brett, I will certainly tell him you are stalking him! :D

I'll ask if he'll still be there in January.

 

Yeah, we've been watching the posts on here. Never knew about the fog thing, though we have experienced issues with wind and rough seas cancelling ports. Thanks muchly for passing on the message if you see Mr. Siborne. :)

[trabeler]

I'm on this sailing as well.

 

Brett joined for this cruise straight from the Coral. Not sure how long he'll be aboard, however. Not sure if this was a planned transition since he seems to be coming up to speed on the programming. Plus it hadn't been helped by our constant itinerary changes.

 

We've been reimbursed for about $32 in port fees per person.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[trabeler]

Forgot one thing... There was one couple that missed departure in Costa Maya. Saw them drive up to the pier in a golf cart just as we pulled away.

 

I feel bad for them if they traveled to Belize hoping to join us there.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[caribill]

Forgot one thing... There was one couple that missed departure in Costa Maya. Saw them drive up to the pier in a golf cart just as we pulled away.

 

I feel bad for them if they traveled to Belize hoping to join us there.

 

 

This is why one should have a passport even if on a closed loop cruise where a birth certificate and picture ID is sufficient for boarding the ship.

[Debe7ing]

Hey, it would be HARD for us to complain about much after being the cruise from Galveston on the Conquest when Hurricane Ike washed away not only our cars in the port...but left us stranded at sea an additional 2 days with an alternate port of New Orleans where we could pay our way home OR remain on the ship as a "hotel only" without food or conveniences for an "indef" period of time until they could return to home port.....guess after 32 cruises we have pretty much seen it all....refugee pick up at sea....medical emergency helicopter rescue at sea, dropping of a sick pax during the Panama Canal locks, and finding our own way home from NO after our car at the port of Galveston was washed out to sea during Hurricane Ike! :0 From here, the rest is gravy!!!!!

Edited December 1, 2013 by Debe7ing

[Dudleydog73]

We were on this cruise as a group of 8 and definitely were a bit disappointed to miss every one of our scheduled excursions as Cozumel had just about everything cancelled due to weather conditions when we arrived, which left just a shopping / drinking day for us before heading back to the ship. We missed Roatan and Belize as well completely.

 

What can you do though except enjoy not being at work? The crew cannot change what the weather hands them and they did an amazing job at keeping everyone as happy as they can be under the circumstances.

 

They did have approximately 3500 pax onboard with almost 800 of those being children 16 and under. This was definitely a different demographic then what we were used to on Princess, and there were those times when we wished parents were more involved in their kid's lives onboard, but we survived.

 

We had a great cruise, but definitely did not get to experience the western caribbean itinerary. Perhaps another run is necessary before passing judgement, but I really do think that Princess made a grave mistake moving to the Bayport terminal. Only time will tell.

Edited December 1, 2013 by Dudleydog73

[Mary Ann 2]

I was really curious about Belize, so I posted on the NCL page and just got this reply:

 

 

"I just got off Dawn 10 min ago. Yes, we were able to tender to Belize. I booked a ship excursion (cave tubing) and we were on one of the first tenders which was around 8:30am.

 

We were told Carnival Legend and Caribbean Princess weren't able to tender due to high wind. But Dawn and another NCL ship Jewel(?) managed to tender. I feel very lucky the Dawn captain made the effort to tender because once we got on land the weather was just fine, even sunny sometimes. And the excursion was fantastic.

 

On a slightly seperate note, I overheard (not 100% sure) that a Royal Caribbean ship missed Roatan we were there, also due to the weather. Again I felt very lucky that we were on the Dawn."

 

We had a good time on the cruise and were more bummed about missing Roatan where we had a whole day at a spa planned. But we've learned to roll with it and any day at sea is a great day IMHO. We also had a great time in Cozumel at Nachi Cocum. We e-mailed onboard and they moved our reservation. Little windy but great service and top notch drinks!

[djh]

I was really curious about Belize, so I posted on the NCL page and just got this reply:

 

 

"I just got off Dawn 10 min ago. Yes, we were able to tender to Belize. I booked a ship excursion (cave tubing) and we were on one of the first tenders which was around 8:30am.

 

We were told Carnival Legend and Caribbean Princess weren't able to tender due to high wind. But Dawn and another NCL ship Jewel(?) managed to tender. I feel very lucky the Dawn captain made the effort to tender because once we got on land the weather was just fine, even sunny sometimes. And the excursion was fantastic.

 

On a slightly seperate note, I overheard (not 100% sure) that a Royal Caribbean ship missed Roatan we were there, also due to the weather. Again I felt very lucky that we were on the Dawn."

 

We had a good time on the cruise and were more bummed about missing Roatan where we had a whole day at a spa planned. But we've learned to roll with it and any day at sea is a great day IMHO. We also had a great time in Cozumel at Nachi Cocum. We e-mailed onboard and they moved our reservation. Little windy but great service and top notch drinks!

 

I was wondering about that, since we were supposed to be the first ship into Belize and I could see from my balcony that the other three ships were anchored outside of Belize. The whole trip was just disappointing. I can honestly say that in my cruise experience (40 +) this is the worst that I've had. Granted, the weather had a great deal to do with it, but I feel that they could have handled the situation a bit better. I also didn't really care for the ship (too closed in) and they definitely did not have enough for the 800 children on board to do. My first and last Princess cruise, I'm afraid. I just wasn't impressed.

[Ollie_WA]

I was wondering about that, since we were supposed to be the first ship into Belize and I could see from my balcony that the other three ships were anchored outside of Belize. The whole trip was just disappointing. I can honestly say that in my cruise experience (40 +) this is the worst that I've had. Granted, the weather had a great deal to do with it, but I feel that they could have handled the situation a bit better. I also didn't really care for the ship (too closed in) and they definitely did not have enough for the 800 children on board to do. My first and last Princess cruise, I'm afraid. I just wasn't impressed.

 

My husband and I totally agree with you! First & Last Princess Cruise. We stopped eating in the Palm Dining Room since we felt we had the worst waiter on the ship!

When we ate in Sabatini's the head waiter was talking with us and said they were all surprised how well most of "The Texans" were taking the changes....he said they mentioned at the morning meeting that there was no way a NY group would be so friendly about all the changes...I never told him I am originally from NJ...just let him think I am a friendly Texan...which I am now! LOL

 

We went on this cruise to just relax and it's exactly what we did...we have never watched so many movies in a week!

 

This was the first cruise we carried our own luggage off and we were in the first group off the ship...we were in our car pulling out of the parking lot at 7:11...doesn't get any better then that!

[kellor]

While I understand first impressions.... I am curious why those of you that said this was your first and last trip on Princess. It sounds as if the weather was the main factor with this sailing and I don't think this should be held against a cruise line; especially one with such high standards.

 

So my question for you becomes this: If you take away all factors of the weather what made you not enjoy your cruise?

[RickEk]

We had a great cruise, but definitely did not get to experience the western caribbean itinerary. Perhaps another run is necessary before passing judgement, but I really do think that Princess made a grave mistake moving to the Bayport terminal. Only time will tell.

 

Quick question... if fog was a factor at Bayport, wouldn't it be a factor in Galveston too?? :confused: