Live from the Caribbean Princess, Dec. 27-Jan. 3

[philv]

I'm enjoying your posts. Caribe deck balconies are awesome. I'm curious about what kind of device you are using for internet. I've brought a laptop before but now I'm thinking of just bringing iphone. We may be buying a tablet during post-holiday sales, might bring that. How's the internet connectivity and speed?

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

My Internet minutes from the first cruise are still working. I'm wondering what time they will cut off and I'll be forced to sign up for the new package. On our last back-to-back cruises, the people who changed cabins reported that their minutes did not carry over. Since we did not change cabins that time, our minutes did carry over. That was on the Ruby.

 

Same thing happened on the Royal recently & you had to request the new package. The internet manager told me that there's sometimes a glitch & the old minutes don't get erased but he wouldn't remove them.....so enjoy them.

We had over 500 extra minutes after our 3 cruises combined.

[geoherb]

I'm enjoying your posts. Caribe deck balconies are awesome. I'm curious about what kind of device you are using for internet. I've brought a laptop before but now I'm thinking of just bringing iphone. We may be buying a tablet during post-holiday sales, might bring that. How's the internet connectivity and speed?

I used my laptop for most of my posts. I type in Microsoft Word then copy and paste. I typed a few of the short replies directly. Those are the ones with any typos. Now I am doing posts on my Galaxy phone while we are back in Fort Lauderdale.

 

Occasionally I had problems losing my Internet connection in the cabin. When that happened, I'd go into the elevator lobby area right outside our cabin.

 

We have the best cabin steward for this leg -- Jeffrey. He was our cabin steward in August. He remembered our cabin number from then.

 

I am also excited that room service had the Ultimate Balcony Dinner available. We are having it the last night on the cruise, which is DH's birthday. I asked for a flourless chocolate cake for dessert. She said maybe. But even without that I know we will have a great time.

 

They are offering the Chef's Table again on this cruise. I haven't found out about whether they will have the Crab Shack.

[CORealtor]

Thank you for all the wonderful updates! We are on the B2B on the CB on February 21 and cannot wait! We, too, change cabins between the two cruises, but only next door. Thank you for the information on how that works!

[CruiserN1]

How are the beds in your Caribe balcony? We have C414 for our January cruise and wondering if we will need to ask for a mattress topper.

[geoherb]

How are the beds in your Caribe balcony? We have C414 for our January cruise and wondering if we will need to ask for a mattress topper.

The beds have been fine. They have some type of pad on top of the mattresses. I'm assuming all the beds have these.

 

Tonight the production show is Caribbean Caliente. Tomorrow night will be Born to Be Wild. Farrell Dillon and Phil Tag are repeating their shows the last two nights. Duo Push will be back doing little shows in the piazza. MUTS has Guardians of the Galaxy, a Edge of Tomorrow, and The Maze Runner listed.

 

The Platinum/Elite/suite event has the same schedule we had the first three days then herbed marinated goat cheese with the Brezza Marinated as the featured cocktail.

[Hobbsey]

The beds have been fine. They have some type of pad on top of the mattresses. I'm assuming all the beds have these.

 

Tonight the production show is Caribbean Caliente. Tomorrow night will be Born to Be Wild. Farrell Dillon and Phil Tag are repeating their shows the last two nights. Duo Push will be back doing little shows in the piazza. MUTS has Guardians of the Galaxy, a Edge of Tomorrow, and The Maze Runner listed.

 

The Platinum/Elite/suite event has the same schedule we had the first three days then herbed marinated goat cheese with the Brezza Marinated as the featured cocktail.

 

Thanks for these updates, very interesting.

 

Sail away is late today, is all well with the ship?

[geoherb]

I am not sure what is delaying us. I haven't heard any announcements. They pushed the muster drill back 15 minutes. I was enjoying the quiet of the spa pool with couple from Kentucky who are also doing the b2b.

 

I had time to check in with my mother, brother and boss. It is apparently a good time to be away from North Carolina. Everyone said it is cold at home.

 

We are moving now. We will have our Hurricanes flag for the webcam again in a minute.

[Dudleydog73]

I had time to check in with my mother, brother and boss. It is apparently a good time to be away from North Carolina. Everyone said it is cold at home.

 

 

I can confirm it is in the upper 30s in Raleigh. Have a great second half of your cruise!

[Hobbsey]

I am not sure what is delaying us. I haven't heard any announcements. They pushed the muster drill back 15 minutes. I was enjoying the quiet of the spa pool with couple from Kentucky who are also doing the b2b.

 

I had time to check in with my mother, brother and boss. It is apparently a good time to be away from North Carolina. Everyone said it is cold at home.

 

We are moving now. We will have our Hurricanes flag for the webcam again in a minute.

 

Still warm here in Jax, but damp. Enjoy the second half of your adventure and have a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

[Mackenzie1]

Our new cabin seems small after the handicapped accessible one on the last cruise. But I'm loving the large balcony we have with this one. We're on the Caribe Deck just a few cabins below and back from where we were. I'm hoping we don't get mixed up and try to go to the old cabin. If one of us does, I'm betting it is DH instead of me.

 

I think the thing I'll miss the most about the first cabin is the size of the bathroom. It's back to the tiny shower. I have to remember to step up into the bathroom again. But there's no metal plate to worry about. It clanged when you stepped on it in the middle of the night. (At other times, too, but I did not worry about the noise then.) The nightstands are also smaller and have less drawer space. But I like that the desk is a normal height. The desk in the other cabin was designed to fit a wheelchair user.

 

If I may ask, how are the mattresses on the Caribe deck of the Caribbean Princess? I have two upcoming cruises on the Caribbean Princess (Caribe balcony), and it would be so wonderful if the mattresses have been changed out for the new pillow tops!

[Sea&Me]

Do they have foot stools on the Caribe deck balconies? We just had two chairs on the Ruby, and were told they are replacing furniture. However, not all decks are getting it.

[geoherb]

I guess it could be a pillow top on the mattress. I can't tell if it's attached to the mattress or just on top of it.

 

We have the separate ottomans on our Caribe Deck balcony. They make the chairs more comfortable than the same chairs are without them like we had on the Baja Deck.

 

We enjoyed going back to the Platinum/Elite/suite event at Skywalker’s after our late sailaway. The sunset was beautiful. Once again the weather has been great, although I did think it was a little bit hot walking to Total Wine and Publix. It was about a 15-minute walk from Pier 2 to the stores.

 

Caribbean Caliente was OK. I liked Piano Man better—probably just the difference in the songs they included.

 

The food at Sabatini’s was wonderful. I’m so glad we had our reservations in yesterday. I recommended the couple we had lunch with make reservations if they wanted to eat at either specialty restaurant this cruise. I think the short holiday cruises make them more popular than on longer cruises.

 

I started with the artichoke soufflé, then the seafood spaghetti dish, and then the branzino. DH had the shrimp and white bean salad, manicotti, then the lobster three ways. Our waitress originally brought me the wrong entrée—another lobster. I’m glad I had the branzino instead. I’m not a huge fan of tarragon. For dessert, DH had the tiramisu and I had the napoleon. The tiramisu is one of Norman Love’s signature desserts. The napoleon was made of thin layers of nut brittle sandwiching blanc mange. Our tablemate on the first cruise was talking about blanc mange last night. I’m happy we went. The Italian wine I picked up at Total Wine went well with the dishes we had.

 

The Patter for tomorrow came. Apparently the shows listed in the embarkation day’s Patter were not in order. The feature in the Princess theater is comedian Phil Tag. We can skip going to see him again and relax between our evening cocktails and our time to eat at the Crown Grill.

 

New Year’s Eve is going to be celebrated in various venues throughout the ship. They’re having a big balloon drop in the piazza. Oliver Holland, the piano player/singer from Crooners, will be in Explorers. There’s a deck party too. It’s “dress to impress” night.

Edited December 31, 2014 by geoherb

[geoherb]

They took down the gingerbread display while we were in Fort Lauderdale--some time before the new passengers got on the ship. I noticed it when I went down to cancel our fixed seating reservation.

 

Things seem to be more hectic and crowded on this cruise. I think there are fewer families, although still plenty of kids. I was up in the gym about 6:30 and there were already a half dozen people working out. By the time I left at 7, another half dozen had shown up. At home, I get most of my exercise walking. I like walking around the Promenade Deck better than walking on a treadmill, but the treadmill helps me keep a good pace and there aren’t any people in the way.

 

DH is feeling a little under the weather with congestion and a sore throat. He doesn’t have a fever. I keep thinking back to the people we’ve seen on the trip that he could have picked up his cold from—it could be the waitress, who was wiping her nose with the back of her hand, or maybe the guy who came to breakfast with a box of Kleenex. I picked up some salt packets in the Horizon Court for him to use in a gargle. We have until noon to cancel our snorkeling shore excursion. He’s encouraging me to go without him. I might upgrade to the longer one that includes lunch if I do. He’s talking about going to see the ship’s doctor. I don’t think he needs to with his current symptoms.

 

This morning’s activities include a ping pong tournament, Zumba, Wii bowling, knitters and natters get-together, fruit and vegetable carving demo, morning trivia, steel drum class, hole in one putting challenge, and bingo. MUTS is showing Ferris Bueller. This afternoon will be a steel drum class, pool games, cha cha dance lessons, slot tournament, line dance class, and trivia. MUTS is showing Hitch and a Stevie Wonder concert. I’m leaving out all of the spa and shopping events. If anyone has any questions about those, I’d be happy to look up an answer.

[geoherb]

It’s a wonderful relaxing day at sea today. The sky has some distant clouds on the horizon, but it’s mostly clear and sunny. The temp is nearly 84 degrees. I finally got a win in the morning trivia playing with two guys who were also on the previous cruise. None of the questions were a repeat. We tied another team with 16 out of 20 points. The staff member running it gave prizes to both teams—magnetic clips. I then won a Princess pen doing the 60-second frenzy challenge. I got lucky in getting to shoot rubber bands to knock over drink cans. I’m not sure I could have done the other challenges—moving a balloon 15 feet using only your head and dropping it into a paper basket or moving Skittles with a straw from one plate to another. The plates were about 15 feet apart. The other two people who tried knocking over drink cans failed. I guess they didn’t shoot rubber bands at their brothers growing up like I did.

 

The dining rooms have posted tonight’s menu. They’re having some special dishes for New Year’s Eve. The ones I remember are an appetizer with caviar and potatoes, a shrimp bisque, lobster three ways (which sounds similar to Sabatini’s preparation but slightly different), and a fancily described filet mignon. It’s not tempting sounding enough to get me to give up our Crown Grill reservations.

 

After the afternoon trivia at 3:15, I’m planning on going back up to the spa pool to relax. It should be in the shade according to how our balcony is shaded now. I met a couple at lunch today who were pleasantly surprised after they got on the ship yesterday. They went to their cabin, but their cards wouldn’t open the door and someone else’s names were on the tag. When they went to passenger services, they found out they’d been upgraded from an ocean view to a window suite. They were making plans to go the Platinum/Elite/suite event tonight, so I may run into them again.

[scubacruiserx2]

They took down the gingerbread display while we were in Fort Lauderdale--some time before the new passengers got on the ship. I noticed it when I went down to cancel our fixed seating reservation.

 

Things seem to be more hectic and crowded on this cruise. I think there are fewer families, although still plenty of kids. I was up in the gym about 6:30 and there were already a half dozen people working out. By the time I left at 7, another half dozen had shown up. At home, I get most of my exercise walking. I like walking around the Promenade Deck better than walking on a treadmill, but the treadmill helps me keep a good pace and there aren’t any people in the way.

 

DH is feeling a little under the weather with congestion and a sore throat. He doesn’t have a fever. I keep thinking back to the people we’ve seen on the trip that he could have picked up his cold from—it could be the waitress, who was wiping her nose with the back of her hand, or maybe the guy who came to breakfast with a box of Kleenex. I picked up some salt packets in the Horizon Court for him to use in a gargle. We have until noon to cancel our snorkeling shore excursion. He’s encouraging me to go without him. I might upgrade to the longer one that includes lunch if I do. He’s talking about going to see the ship’s doctor. I don’t think he needs to with his current symptoms.

 

This morning’s activities include a ping pong tournament, Zumba, Wii bowling, knitters and natters get-together, fruit and vegetable carving demo, morning trivia, steel drum class, hole in one putting challenge, and bingo. MUTS is showing Ferris Bueller. This afternoon will be a steel drum class, pool games, cha cha dance lessons, slot tournament, line dance class, and trivia. MUTS is showing Hitch and a Stevie Wonder concert. I’m leaving out all of the spa and shopping events. If anyone has any questions about those, I’d be happy to look up an answer.

 

If anybody would like to see some photos of the Gingerbread houses , they can be found at the bottom of the page on this thread .

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2094420&page=32

[geoherb]

Happy New Year! We are not making it to midnight for the onboard celebrations. DH is already snoring away. I walked around the various venues before coming back to the cabin around 11:15. Most seemed pretty sedate. The most fun one looked to be in the piazza where they’ve set up for the balloon drop.

 

Dinner tonight at the Crown Grill was great. I had very few complaints. One was that the shrimp bisque was too watery. I ended up not eating it. Our waiter did offer to bring me something else. My ribeye was cooked rare for the most part. I probably should have ordered the fillet mignon since that would have been easier to cook rare. We had a side of the lobster. It was much better than Sabatini’s presentation. Sometimes simpler is better. The molten chocolate cake that DH had for dessert tasted wonderful—better than the lemon meringue I had. Overall, I’d rate the food better at the Crown Grill than it was at Sabatini’s the night before.

 

We have to put our clocks back an hour tonight. That will help some of the people who over-indulged for New Year’s Eve. The Caribbean Princess should arrive around 8 in the morning. All-aboard is 5:30. We’re not planning on doing anything on shore since DH still needs to get more rest to get better. We were there last in May. We took the Tulum excursion, which I’m glad we finally did even though it wasn’t perfect.

 

Since the ship is in port, there are not many activities scheduled during the morning and afternoon. MUTS is scheduled to have the Rose Parade in the morning and the bowl games in the late afternoon and evening (“satellite permitting”).

 

Farrell Dillon is repeating in the Princess Theater. Café Caribe is have the Crab Shack. We may go to it or may just eat light after all the food we had tonight.

[geoherb]

I wasn’t happy to find a cigarette butt on our balcony this morning. Apparently someone was bold enough to ignore the smoking policy and stupid enough to throw the butt over their balcony. Whoever did it must not have seen the photos of the Star Princess balcony fire.

 

In looking at the Patter for today again, I see that they’re going to show the bowl games in Club Fusion and Churchill’s as well as on MUTS. Afternoon trivia is scheduled for 3:30. There’s also a morning trivia at 10:30. I wonder how many passengers will be on board for those. So far, the trivias on this cruise have been better attended than on the 3-day one. We joined up with a family (father and his daughter and son-in-law) to win yesterday’s afternoon trivia. We had 22 out of 25 possible points. I remembered some of the answers to the questions from a previous cruise but we need our teammates for some answers.

 

The ship’s horn sounded at midnight—several blasts. I was still awake but in bed. Some sort of alarm signal went off about an hour later. It was a loud high-pitched whistle and an emergency call. They made an announcement about 10 minutes later that it was a fire in the deck 5 galley according to what I remember. The announcement was to let us know everything was OK. I’ll ask this morning to make sure. The alarm and announcement both were on the speaker in our cabin, not just the speakers in the corridors like when they make general announcements during the day.

[geoherb]

Currently it’s mostly cloudy and hot in Cozumel. We had a nice breakfast in the dining room. I ordered an omelet with spinach and Monterrey jack. The waiter said he’d have to check to see if the galley could do it. They did. The spinach might be the closest thing I have for greens for New Year’s Day. I told DH we’d have to look for some type of bean salad in the Horizon Court for lunch because they probably won’t have blackeye peas. The two couples we ate with were planning to go to beaches. The young one (probably in their 20s) were going to rent a moped and ride around the island. The young man had done that before. The older couple remembered a nice beach they had been to in October—all except the name of it. I hope they find it again.

 

The laundry DH sent out the first day of the 4-day cruise was delivered yesterday afternoon, or, in other words, overnight. He sent out only a few items, a few pairs of boxers, a T-shirt and a polo shirt.

 

When we ate at the Crown Grill last night, I wrote an extra gratuity on the charge slip. It hasn’t appeared on my account. When I checked at passenger services, the guy told me it might show up later. The cover charge appeared already. If I knew it wouldn’t be charged to my account, I could tip him some cash tonight. Next time I’ll know to bring along some cash for tips. We have reservations for the Crab Shack tonight in Café Caribe.

 

There are two Carnival ships (Triumph and Breeze) that came in right after us and are docked at the pier farther away. HAL’s Nieuw Amsterdam is at the far away dock near the downtown area. A Royal Caribbean ship (Brilliance of the Seas) is pulling up beside us right now. They made an announcement that the CB’s passengers would not be allowed off the ship while that one was being tied up. There’s a little bit of a logjam of passengers now waiting to get off our ship.

[CruiserN1]

Looking forward to hearing about the Crab Shack, especially whether or not king crab is on the menu.

[CORealtor]

I'm loving your updates! Thank you! It only makes me more excited for our B2B in February! Happy New Year!

[LynnMW3]

I'm loving it too...we're set to embark on April 4 for 14 days (West/East itinerary)...We've been on the Emerald a couple of times, but never the CB...thanks so much!

[geoherb]

We got off the ship for about 45 minutes after eating lunch in Horizon Court. We took first place in the morning trivia but it was one that we remembered a lot of the questions from a previous cruise. Our teammates helped fill in a few of the blanks. DH and I gave our prizes (mini flashlight key rings) to people on two of the losing teams. This afternoon we placed third again with 15 out of 20—tied with a lot of other teams. The winning team had 17 and second place had 16.

 

They’re showing the Rose Bowl on MUTS and in Club Fusion, but we’re watching it in our cabin on the TV. We will watch sailaway from our balcony or else may go down to the Promenade Deck to see if there are any last-minute passengers. Then we’ll head up to Skywalkers for our mojitos. I walked by the Explorers Lounge near the end of happy hour. It was about half full. There will probably more tomorrow for our last day at sea as we sail back to Fort Lauderdale.

 

Quite a few passengers stayed onboard today or else got off for just a quick time at the pier like we did. I tried the chipping challenge mid-afternoon. No one was able to get a golf ball into the hula hoops in the pool. I finally managed to get all three of my shots over the pool wall but none of them came close. The closest one of my shots came was 10 feet away. One guy had three balls get within a foot or so of a hoop.

 

I traded in our disembarkation tickets to get the first walk-off group. I’d like to drive back to North Carolina in one day if possible then sleep in on Sunday morning. If traffic is bad, however, we might have to stop in South Carolina and finish our drive home on Sunday morning. We talked to a couple from New York at breakfast. They had driven down halfway on Christmas Day and finished up on Boxing Day. They said the first day was a breeze through Baltimore and Washington, D.C., where the traffic usually backs up.

[Loucat]

We sailed with you both on CB in August; not sure if you would remember us.

We last saw you both in Skywalkers (good place!).

I hope that you have had two good cruises and would love to have been there!

[geoherb]

Looking forward to hearing about the Crab Shack, especially whether or not king crab is on the menu.

The Crab Shack was great. I had the Alaskan king crab legs and peel-and-eat shrimp. DH had the Caribbean’s mixed steamer of snow crab cluster, jumbo shrimp (peeled except for the tails), clams, mussels, and kielbasa. His was in a white wine and garlic and butter sauce, which wasn’t included on the menu description. His pot was also missing the king crab that the menu said it would have. He got some of mine, and I got to eat most of his snow crab since I’m better at cracking the claws. The Alaskan king crab legs come split, which makes them really easy to eat.

 

We started with the “popcorn” shrimp and hushpuppy basket. The shrimp are closer to jumbo shrimp in a tempura batter. The hushpuppies were the worst I’ve ever had. I need to get them a good hushpuppy recipe or else just tell them how to order House-Autry hushpuppy mix.

 

The Manhattan clam chowder was very good. It did not have too many clams, which is good for me. I’m glad they do this style instead of New England.

 

Before eating at the Crab Shack, we watched sailaway from Cozumel. I’m always amazed at how many people get back to the ship late. The all-aboard time was listed in the patter as 5:15. People were still moseying down the pier at 5:35. There was a large group of them, so it might have been an excursion getting back late. A lot of them had one matching “2015” T-shirts, so they might have been just a family that wanted to push the limits. The last passengers got onboard at 5:40. Then they pulled up the gangway.

 

DH found his car key. He had left it behind in the safe when we changed cabins. He did not discover it was missing until we had gone through Immigration and were in our new cabin. We unpacked after lunch, and by then the new passengers were already in our old cabin. He was pretty sure it was in the safe. We went through all of our luggage looking for it. He reported it to our old cabin steward and to passenger services. They said they would ask the new occupants of our old cabin to look for it. Apparently they never did. He finally decided to knock on their door. The wife was very nice, telling him to come back in about 15 minutes since her husband was asleep. The key had gotten pushed under the lip. I think we’ll have to bring along a small pillowcase and put everything going into the safe in it next time.

 

When he reported to passenger services that he had gotten the key, the woman was very apologetic. At least she realized that they should have done a little something to see if it was in the safe as he told them he thought it was. I also think the cabin stewards should be trained to check the safe since the design obviously allows things to get overlooked under the lip.