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LIVE - Caribbean Princess, Aug. 2, 2014

geoherb

By geoherb,
in Princess Cruises

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geoherb "Live from...." Rare

geoherb

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We are sailing on the Caribbean Princess from August 2 through August 9. The scheduled itinerary is Princess Cays on Sunday, a day at sea, St. Thomas on Tuesday, San Juan on Wednesday, Grand Turk on Thursday, then another day at sea before coming back to Fort Lauderdale. We’ll see if Tropical Storm Bertha changes this.

 

Our flights down were uneventful. Before booking the our airline tickets, I was trying to decide between a direct flight that did not land until 2:30 and a flight that had a layover in Tampa that got to Fort Lauderdale a little after 1. I’m glad we took the earlier flight. We had time to eat a quick lunch at Chipotle after checking in at the Renaissance next door. The hotel is very nice. It is undergoing renovations, but the workers stopped in the late afternoon. We only heard a little bit of noise before then and there was one hallway leading to the pool that was closed off because of the renovation.

 

After lunch we walked to Publix for a few last-minute items then to Total Wine to buy a few bottles to take on the cruise. We ended up with five bottles. That will give us two to enjoy on our balcony and three to take to dinner during the cruise. We had time to swim in the pool at the hotel. It’s very nice. Of the hotel swimming pools we’ve enjoyed in Fort Lauderdale, I’d rank it the second. The one at the Marriott Marina is nicer.

 

We met a couple from our rollcall for drinks at 5. We walked next door to the Bimini Boatyard Bar and Grill. It’s a nice place, and we were lucky to get there for half-price drinks for happy hour. If we hadn’t made dinner plans, I think it would have been a good place to have eaten. They also had some appetizer specials that would have made a meal for us. But after enjoying our drinks, we walked across the street to the Chef’s Palette for dinner. It’s the restaurant of the culinary school at the Art Institute. DH’s community college has a similar restaurant with its culinary program. He was eager to compare the experience to what we’ve enjoyed at his school.

 

Our dinner was very nice. I’d recommend it in spite of a few flaws. If you want to go, however, reservations are a must. The menu consists of a three courses—appetizer, entrée, and dessert. Drinks are not included. We enjoyed a reasonably priced bottle of wine with our dinners. I had an appetizer of shrimp, watermelon, cucumber, and feta that was very tasty. DH had seared pork belly on top of a spinach salad. He said it was delicious as well. My entrée was a grilled salmon on a bed of peas, fava beans, and artichoke hearts. His was a balsamic glazed chicken breast with spinach and a grilled tomato with mozzarella. He had the molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream for dessert, while I had warm apple cobbler with ginger whipped cream. I liked mine better. The dinner also included an assortment of chocolates and macaroons. We had to try a few of them.

 

As I am writing this, it’s 7 a.m. and raining pretty hard. Fortunately, the local TV station showed the weather radar and it’s just a scattered shower. We may get to walk to the top of the 17th Street bridge in about an hour. We always do this whenever we stay at one of the hotels close to the port.

 

I'm planning on heading over to the port around 10:30. Even though I had salmon last night, I'll order it again for lunch in the dining room. It's one of my favorite dishes out of all the Princess menus. I think that's partially because it has become such a tradition for us to start our cruises with lunch in the dining room whenever possible. The salmon means we're back on a Princess ship.

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schlot

schlot

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I've been watching the Caribbean Princess deck cam off and on since about 4am this morning as she came back into port.

 

Hearing your description reminds me so much of our cruise on the Ruby a few years ago.

 

Have fun and keep us updated on the cruise if you can!

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brentlym

brentlym

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How about the cabin? Is it nice? The ship is not new, renovated in 2009. That's my only concern.

 

I wouldn't let the renovation date deter you. I've been on the CB 3 times since March of 12 (most recently this past April) and our cabin was very clean and comfortable. In fact, I'll be back onboard over Labor Day weekend for a short getaway. :) Although, it did show some minor use, it definitely didn't deter from our cruise experience. The public areas of the ship are in amazing shape considering the thousands of people that give it a good workout each week.

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NDCROWx5

NDCROWx5

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Just got off this ship this morning! We had a great time, but have to say, she is in need of more renovations. She def has a lot of wear and tear... Service wasn't up to its usual quality in our opinion.. We def had the best bar service at crooners with Wilson and Ana ! We stopped in Nassau instead of Turks. Princess Cay was awesome! Entertainment was ok, nothing great.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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geoherb "Live from...." Rare

geoherb

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How about the cabin? Is it nice? The ship is not new, renovated in 2009. That's my only concern.
Yes our cabin is nice. I haven't noticed anything major wrong. We have a Caribe Deck balcony cabin toward the front of the ship. Jeffrey is our cabin steward. Someone recently posted a good review of him. He seems very nice.
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geoherb "Live from...." Rare

geoherb

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Thanks for all the well wishes. I am typing on my phone now, so please excuse any typos. We got to the pier a little after 11 this morning and were on board the ship shortly before noon. I put our names on the list for the Ultimate Ship's Tour, and we were seated in the dining room by quarter past.

 

My lunch was delicious. I already knew what I was going to order: a salad, the appetizer portion of ravioli, and the salmon. I had the fruit plate for dessert.

 

I called room service to set up our Ultimate Balcony Dinner. The woman I spoke to at least got us down for the date we wanted--Thursday night to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. She said she would have to have someone else call me about some of the specialization I want. While I had her on the line, I requested the items we wanted switched out in our mini bar. The guy just came to do that, much quicker than I anticipated.

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geoherb "Live from...." Rare

geoherb

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Some facts from the first Patter: captain is Tony Yeomans; CD is Lee Childers; chef is Antonio Cereda; and maitre d' is Mario Propato. Formal nights are scheduled for Monday and Wednesday. Production shows are Do You Wanna Dance, Born to Be Wild, and Caribbean Caliente. Other entertainers are magician Landon Swank, comedian Scott Wyler, and ventriloquist Jerry Goodspeed. Tonight the show times are 7 & 8:30. We have second seating, so I will make it.

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schlot

schlot

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Yes our cabin is nice. I haven't noticed anything major wrong. We have a Caribe Deck balcony cabin toward the front of the ship. Jeffrey is our cabin steward. Someone recently posted a good review of him. He seems very nice.

 

Ok....it's probably one chance in a million but I wonder if your cabin steward is the same Jeffrey we had on the Ruby in January of 2012? I can't remember if he was from Malaysia or the Philippines.

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Colo Cruiser

Colo Cruiser

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Some facts from the first Patter: captain is Tony Yeomans; CD is Lee Childers; chef is Antonio Cereda; and maitre d' is Mario Propato. Formal nights are scheduled for Monday and Wednesday. Production shows are Do You Wanna Dance, Born to Be Wild, and Caribbean Caliente. Other entertainers are magician Landon Swank, comedian Scott Wyler, and ventriloquist Jerry Goodspeed. Tonight the show times are 7 & 8:30. We have second seating, so I will make it.

 

 

Capt Yeomans must be filling in, I thought he retired.

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SteelMagnolia9

SteelMagnolia9

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geoherb ~ Thanks for posting your impressions. I'm going in December on a very short 3 night cruise. It is only a day on the private island and a sea day. It will be my first time on Princess. I'll be looking forward to hearing about the private island and what there may be to do around the ship on a sea day.

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