LIVE - Caribbean Princess, Aug. 2, 2014

[Colo Cruiser]

Have you heard how much longer Tony Yeoman will be on board? Hope he is there when we sail the end of the month. We sailed with him on his last sailing of the Crown in Feb.

 

That would be Yeomans. ;)

[caribill]

I had played the slots earlier today while the ship was in Grand Turk.

 

The casino was open while the ship was in port?

[geoherb]

The casino was open while the ship was in port?

Yes, but just the slots and just in Grand Turk. It must be something the cruise line has worked out with the government of the Turks and Caicos. The cashiers were not working, which is why I had to go back.

 

I don't think Captain Yeomans is going to be on board still at the end of the month. I heard that next week is his last, but I've also heard that this week was his last.

[Pia1913]

Pia, I know I speak for many on CC when I say that I have really missed your "live from" reviews. I hope you are able to cruise again soon, not just because we miss cruising along with you, but because I know you and Mike really enjoy the experience.

 

All the best,

 

Susan

 

Thank you Susan. We're heading in the right direction.

[geoherb]

One last relaxing day at sea today before our cruise ends tomorrow. It has been a great one.

Our cabin is in the perfect location, forward of the stairs closest to the bow. We love the extra large balcony space. Even the room service waiter who set up our balcony dinner commented about how much nicer it is for them on the Caribe Deck than the other decks.

 

We ate breakfast in the dining room this morning and will go back for lunch this afternoon. They’re also having the pub lunch again today in the Crown Grill. We’ve eaten that a few times on other ships. It’s a nice alternative and something good to try at least once. I keep saying that one cruise we may try anytime dining again and go all out by going to Sabatini’s, the Crown Grill, the Crab Shack, and even eating in Café Caribe for some of the specialty nights. Last night’s German night food looked tempting in the Horizon Court.

 

We placed second this morning in trivia with 16 out of 20 possible points. The winning team included the people we had breakfast with. She was eager to win a water bottle. They had 17 points. If they had not won, we could have given her our extra water bottles.

 

It’s time to start thinking about packing. It’s going to be nice to have some clean clothes to pack instead of all dirty ones. I think I’ll really enjoy the Elite laundry benefit when we can take longer cruises. Our goal was to reach Elite before retirement, so we made it a couple of years early. We’ll go to the free wine tasting this afternoon as well for the first time. I think we’ll carry our bottle of champagne up to the Skywalkers event this evening. We also have a bottle of wine that we’re paying the corkage fee on to drink tonight at dinner. We can pack the leftover mini bottles from our mini bar. I’ll find someone who’s staying next week to give the Sprite Zeroes to and maybe the remaining beer if I don’t drink it this afternoon. The other one was great with a slice of pizza.

[michelle.zhang.90]

One last relaxing day at sea today before our cruise ends tomorrow. It has been a great one.

 

Our cabin is in the perfect location, forward of the stairs closest to the bow. We love the extra large balcony space. Even the room service waiter who set up our balcony dinner commented about how much nicer it is for them on the Caribe Deck than the other decks.

 

 

 

We ate breakfast in the dining room this morning and will go back for lunch this afternoon. They’re also having the pub lunch again today in the Crown Grill. We’ve eaten that a few times on other ships. It’s a nice alternative and something good to try at least once. I keep saying that one cruise we may try anytime dining again and go all out by going to Sabatini’s, the Crown Grill, the Crab Shack, and even eating in Café Caribe for some of the specialty nights. Last night’s German night food looked tempting in the Horizon Court.

 

 

 

We placed second this morning in trivia with 16 out of 20 possible points. The winning team included the people we had breakfast with. She was eager to win a water bottle. They had 17 points. If they had not won, we could have given her our extra water bottles.

 

 

 

It’s time to start thinking about packing. It’s going to be nice to have some clean clothes to pack instead of all dirty ones. I think I’ll really enjoy the Elite laundry benefit when we can take longer cruises. Our goal was to reach Elite before retirement, so we made it a couple of years early. We’ll go to the free wine tasting this afternoon as well for the first time. I think we’ll carry our bottle of champagne up to the Skywalkers event this evening. We also have a bottle of wine that we’re paying the corkage fee on to drink tonight at dinner. We can pack the leftover mini bottles from our mini bar. I’ll find someone who’s staying next week to give the Sprite Zeroes to and maybe the remaining beer if I don’t drink it this afternoon. The other one was great with a slice of pizza.

 

 

Oh I did not know there's laundry room on the ship! How much to do a load?

[ar1950]

Oh I did not know there's laundry room on the ship! How much to do a load?

 

There is a self-serve laundry on every passenger deck. $2 to wash and $2 to dry. Detergent is extra (we bring out own in the form of Tide detergent pods).

 

Geoherb has reached Elite status so he gets free laundry service.

Edited August 8, 2014 by ar1950

[michelle.zhang.90]

There is a self-serve laundry on every passenger deck. $2 to wash and $2 to dry. Detergent is extra (we bring out own in the form of Tide detergent pods).

 

 

That's great! Do you need the boarding card or quarters for it?

[ar1950]

That's great! Do you need the boarding card or quarters for it?

 

It depends on the ship. On our last cruise we brought our own quarters. There was also a change machine in the laundry.

[michelle.zhang.90]

It depends on the ship. On our last cruise we brought our own quarters. There was also a change machine in the laundry.

 

 

What about CB?

[MJSailors]

All Princess ships have passenger laundry rooms on the decks that have cabins.

We bring our own laundry detergent and fabric sheets as well as quarters.

There are vending machines for these things in the laundry rooms,but sometimes they are empty.

You can also get quarters from the Passenger Services Desk.

Sometimes,you have to run a dryer twice to get the clothes dry.

There are also irons and ironing boards available in the laundry rooms.

This is a "perk" that Princess offers to passengers that other cruise lines do not.

[michelle.zhang.90]

All Princess ships have passenger laundry rooms on the decks that have cabins.

We bring our own laundry detergent and fabric sheets as well as quarters.

There are vending machines for these things in the laundry rooms,but sometimes they are empty.

You can also get quarters from the Passenger Services Desk.

Sometimes,you have to run a dryer twice to get the clothes dry.

There are also irons and ironing boards available in the laundry rooms.

This is a "perk" that Princess offers to passengers that other cruise lines do not.

 

 

Great! Thank you! Indeed, it's wonderful that I will be able to do laundry on the cruise. Of course not because I'm a super fan of laundry lol!

[geoherb]

Thanks for answering the laundry question. I haven't looked this time. The only time I've done laundry was on our Alaskan cruise a couple of years ago when we toured on land for five nights before the cruise. It was a treat to get it done for us for free this time.

 

The wine tasting was just OK. I am glad we tried it once. I had done one about a dozen years ago on a different cruise line. I am glad we did not have to pay. We’ve had better samples at our local wine shops as well as learned more about wine there.

 

We have not been up to the pools today. The CB sailed through some early morning showers, but it has been very bright and sunny from about mid-morning on. Our last lunch in the dining room was good. The super Elites were at the luncheon in Sabatini’s.

 

I watched the egg drop before lunch in the atrium. That was fun. Landon Swank performed a couple of shows in the atrium today as well. I saw the Spanish dancers for a bit last night. They were good, too.

 

It is time to head off to our final trivia of this cruise. The brother and sister from Canada who have been playing some games with us said they’d be back as well.

[islandatsea]

Did anyone give feedback regarding how Sabatini’s food was on this cruise ? We have been reading fair reviews on the food there & was wondering if the quality was better. We have read that the Crown Grill was much better. Don't remember if it was mentioned in your live report about Sabatini’s .We will be on Caribbean Princess tomorrow :D:D.

[michelle.zhang.90]

Did anyone give feedback regarding how Sabatini’s food was on this cruise ? We have been reading fair reviews on the food there & was wondering if the quality was better. We have read that the Crown Grill was much better. Don't remember if it was mentioned in your live report about Sabatini’s .We will be on Caribbean Princess tomorrow :D:D.

 

 

How exciting!

Hope to read live report from you too!

[Daniel1313]

All Princess ships have passenger laundry rooms on the decks that have cabins.

We bring our own laundry detergent and fabric sheets as well as quarters.

There are vending machines for these things in the laundry rooms,but sometimes they are empty.

You can also get quarters from the Passenger Services Desk.

Sometimes,you have to run a dryer twice to get the clothes dry.

There are also irons and ironing boards available in the laundry rooms.

This is a "perk" that Princess offers to passengers that other cruise lines do not.

 

If I recall correctly, when we were on the regal last February, the laundry took tokens not quarters. Not sure if the older ships are still quarters or if they went to tokens also.

[BearHug]

Hi,

 

Thank you for your live posts. Can you comment on the bands on board and the TV in the state room? Thanks.

[Colo Cruiser]

If I recall correctly, when we were on the regal last February, the laundry took tokens not quarters. Not sure if the older ships are still quarters or if they went to tokens also.

 

The Regal was not even out of the shipyard in February. :eek:

[geoherb]

The siblings did not show up for afternoon trivia, so we played with our former competitors whose teammates did not show up either. It was a hard multiple choice trivia. We ended up with 9 points out of 20. Two teams tied with 13 apiece. The cruise director’s staff has been terrific. We particularly liked Ian, Susan, Harry, Bianca, and another American guy whose name I don’t remember.

 

We drank our bottle of champagne at the event in Skywalkers. I took the flowers from our balcony dinner to the couple from our rollcall. It turned out they are not staying for the next cruise, so I ended up giving them to a woman we saw at the champagne ring toss events who was. She was thrilled to get them. I think they should last a few more days, and some of the flowers could last all week if she picks out the faded ones.

 

Our friends who are the most traveled passengers came up for cocktails. It was great to see the one last time on this cruise. I’m certain we will run into them again, although the wife said she wasn’t planning on taking a cruise at New Year’s, which is our next possible time for us with DH’s school vacations.

 

We missed Landon Swank’s show. We had seen him in March on the Ruby Princess. Our tablemates said he was good. Everyone showed up at our table for dinner for the first time since Monday night. I tried the New York strip steak since I did not want the fish in a curry sauce. I should have ordered the always available salmon. My strip steak was overdone. At least they now serve decent potatoes with it instead of the french fries that used to come with it.

 

Our waiters surprised us with two anniversary cakes—one apiece. The baked Alaska parade was less tedious than usual. Our assistant waiter did not look very happy. He was very efficient, but a little bit reserved.

 

The CB has just arrived in Fort Lauderdale. We are carrying off our bags and still need to pack them. The Oasis of the Seas and Vision of the Seas have also arrived. I’m expecting the Carnival Liberty to be here soon.

 

Overall we had a great time. I noticed some things that need repair throughout the ship. Yesterday, in particular, it seemed hot in some interior spaces. The controls in our room worked very well. I’d lower the temperature during the day and raise it to sleep at night. I don’t like to sleep in a cold room. Everything in our bathroom worked fine. There are workers painting and varnishing, polishing, shampooing carpets, etc. all day long trying to keep the ship in good shape. Fortunately everyone we talked to was having a good time as well.

[mollyanne]

What about CB?

 

 

Bring lots of quarters as the change machines NEVER work!:)

[geoherb]

Hi,

 

Thank you for your live posts. Can you comment on the bands on board and the TV in the state room? Thanks.

I thought the musicians were good. There's one group who does cover tunes, the mariachi band, jazz groups, the steel drummer, the pianist, and of course Bert. If you have a favorite group, you might have to search the Patter to find out where they'll be. They move around a bit.

[geoherb]

Did anyone give feedback regarding how Sabatini’s food was on this cruise ? We have been reading fair reviews on the food there & was wondering if the quality was better. We have read that the Crown Grill was much better. Don't remember if it was mentioned in your live report about Sabatini’s .We will be on Caribbean Princess tomorrow :D:D.

Our tablemates said the Crown Grill was excellent. I did not talk with anyone who had dinner in Sabatini's. They must have been hurting for business--a waitress came through the dining room at lunch one day trying to drum up business for Sabatini's.

 

We only talked with people who got to eat at Sabatini's for breakfast since they were in suites and a couple who had eaten there for the most traveled passenger lunch. I think the cutoff was 300 days to make the top 40. We'll be there eventually.

[coldinerie]

Thank you for your week long post. I am going on the CB in one week. Thanks to you, I really am looking forward to sailing. I will try and post daily as well, I now know how much fun it was to get up every day and look for your posts. I want to share that with others as well. Thank you for taking your time to do this. :o

Edited August 9, 2014 by coldinerie

[schlot]

Great reporting on your voyage. Takes some of the mystery out of our January cruise!

[michelle.zhang.90]

Bring lots of quarters as the change machines NEVER work!:)

 

 

Thank you! Will do!