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

[geoherb]

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!

Of course we remember you. That is one thing that has been missing from this cruise--conversation at Skywalkers. I guess it's because we don't have a full week with the same people. We also did not have a meet and greet the first cruise and did not make it to the one this cruise because it was during trivia. I have to have my priorities. Our roll call threads were also pretty threadbare.

[TLC535]

Glad to hear you are enjoying your cruise :D quick question, we are considering an 8 day New Years cruise on the Emerald and wondering if there are allot of kids aboard & if so, have you had any issues ?

 

Also, a little tip....bring a gallon ziplock bag along next cruise to put your valuables in and then put in the safe....keeps everything together plus much easier to grab & go if the need arises :eek:;)

 

Continue to enjoy & Thanks for the "Live" :D

[cruz chic]

Glad to hear you are enjoying your cruise :D quick question, we are considering an 8 day New Years cruise on the Emerald and wondering if there are allot of kids aboard & if so, have you had any issues ?

 

Also, a little tip....bring a gallon ziplock bag along next cruise to put your valuables in and then put in the safe....keeps everything together plus much easier to grab & go if the need arises :eek:;)

 

Continue to enjoy & Thanks for the "Live" :D

 

I like that tip about the ziplock for the safe. Thx.

[Loucat]

Of course we remember you. That is one thing that has been missing from this cruise--conversation at Skywalkers. I guess it's because we don't have a full week with the same people. We also did not have a meet and greet the first cruise and did not make it to the one this cruise because it was during trivia. I have to have my priorities. Our roll call threads were also pretty threadbare.

 

I understand about the M & G but it was so great to talk to you both on the CB in August. Hope that we get to meet you again! I know how good you are on the trivia games; we would love to partner in a future cruise.

I hope that overall you had a good experience and a safe trip back to NC.

I will have to follow your future posts to see where you are sailing.

I thought about you both every night in Skywalkers!! I wanted to be there!

Hope you were able to do your balcony dinner.

[Loucat]

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.

 

YUM!!

Thanks for letting us know we missed this in August and now have to find another ship to enjoy! CB is moving to Houston.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Did they have a MTP function on this leg of your B2B cruise? If so, do you happen to know the cutoff number?

[geoherb]

Did they have a MTP function on this leg of your B2B cruise? If so, do you happen to know the cutoff number?

No. The Captain's Circle hostess said she did not schedule the functions for the 3- and 4-day cruises. She said sometimes it's hard for her to schedule them even on the 5-day cruises. I don't know what they did for the top three couples.

 

There have been lots of kids, but they're easy to avoid if you stick with adult activities. I like the quiet of the spa pool, for instance, and we do things like trivias where there are not a lot of children. We had second seating on the 3-day cruise and have been eating in the specialty restaurants this one.

 

After dinner, I played the evening trivias with the family we played with earlier. This time it was two music trivias. The first one was the 1950s music trivia. We did poorly, getting just 4 out of 10 points. The winning teams had 8. (Although one team thought it had 14 because they were going by the points on the screen instead of the one point per question that the guy running it said each question was worth.) The son-in-law was great at the power ballad trivia. We placed second, however, with 37 out of 40 points. The winning team had 38.

 

Last night was no-smoking night in the casino. I don’t think it hurt Princess. It was packed. We’re back to movies today on MUTS instead of football: The Proposal, Mamma Mia, and The Maze Runner. They have the usual assortment of activities scheduled. The new one is the egg drop challenge at noon. I have my entry ready to go. The evening starts with the Jewish Sabbath service. The production show in the theater is Born to Be Wild. In addition to music in Explorers, Wheelhouse, and Crooners, they have urban myth trivia, the quest, and karaoke going on in Club Fusion. They don’t have Princess Pop Star on these short cruises. Comedian Phil Tag is doing an R-rated show at 11:15.

 

It’s DH’s birthday today. We’re having the Ultimate Balcony Dinner to celebrate.

[geoherb]

The last lunch this cruise in the dining room had spotty service. The guy at our table ordered the herring mop. He wanted crackers with it. I told the assistant waiter, who went to check on getting some. When the waiter came back to the table, he noticed the man wasn’t eating. The man told him the assistant was checking on crackers. The assistant came back a minute later saying that they did not have any crackers. A few minutes later, the waiter came back with crackers. Later on, we saw the assistant bring the tray with our desserts on it. He placed it to the side as he helped the waiter serve salads and appetizers at the table next to ours. The tray crashed to the floor. He had to go back to get our desserts again.

 

We turned in our card for the wine tasting and went in just to get our shot glasses. It was too soon to stay for the tasting. We just heard the head waiter’s stories about wine four days ago. Plus I just finished the last beer from our mini bar. Tonight we will finish the bottle of wine we started at the Crown Grill, and we’ll get our two cocktails that come with the Ultimate Balcony Dinner and the half bottle of champagne. DH still needs to use his cocktail ticket that we got since there wasn’t a repeat passengers party. We also have a dozen of our mini bottles to take home. We did not drink many of the sodas. I don’t drink any except for tonic water. DH traded out most of them for Diet Coke and ginger ale.

 

It’s almost time for our final trivia of the cruise. Our teammates will be doing the evening ones but we won’t make it. Our dinner starts at 7. If it’s like the previous ones, it will take a couple of hours. I’m wishing they had the R-rate comedy show earlier in the week. I need to get to bed earlier than midnight to get ready for the drive back to North Carolina. We’ll also skip going to the production show. We saw it in August.

 

The highlight of this cruise has been the nice people we have met: reconnecting with our cabin steward from August on the second leg, some of the waiters and servers (especially Geraldine, the bar steward in Skywalkers, and Genesis, the food server from the International Café and Skywalkers), our trivia teammates, and various folks around the cruise ship. I’m glad we got to try all the alternative restaurants for a change. I don’t like to miss a meal in the dining room when we have traditional dining. The most we have done on past cruises is one meal out of seven out of the dining room—and all of those were either for the Chef’s Table or the Ultimate Balcony Dinner.

 

Speaking of alternative dining, a lot of people on this cruise were disappointed that they were not able to get reservations for the Crown Grill or Sabatini’s. The couple we had lunch with today are going to Sabatini’s tonight, but their first choice was the Crown Grill. They did not board the ship until 2:30 on Tuesday. They were one of the ones whose boarding was delayed by the computer glitch. That was why the ship delayed the muster drill and sailaway from Fort Lauderdale.

[geoherb]

We tied for the last afternoon trivia with three other teams but lost the tie-breaker question. That’s OK. The prize was more water bottles. We had 15 out of 20 points. We really enjoyed playing trivia with the family. It was cute that one of the daughters had been to see Farrell Dillon teaching card tricks. She was showing them to us.

 

It’s time to start packing. We will go up to Skywalkers to see Geraldine and Genesis one last time this cruise. When we get home, we need to start planning our next cruise. Overall, if two short back-to-back cruises work out to be a much better price than one longer cruise, we would do them again. We did notice some things missing, but overall we had a great time.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Sorry about asking about the MTP again. I thought this leg of your trip was slightly longer & they might have one.

Thanks for the heads up about the egg drop contest. I'm going to pack my cushioning material right now. I'm determined to win that cheap bottle of wine this time. ;)

 

[momK]

Not trying to hijack thread, but thought I would mention this: we received a notice this evening that our stay in Naussau 1/4/15 will be from 5AM until 9PM. Though unspecified, they said the change was due to some maintenance work which needed to be done. Other than the longer stay in Naussau, the rest of the cruise will remain as is.

 

Happy travels to those of you joining the CB tomorrow!

[michele143]

My mother and I will be going on the CP on 1/31/15. This will be my 1st cruise with Princess. Flying down from Clayton, NC the day before. Thanks for a great review that has gotten me very excited for our upcoming cruise. Any recommendations for a first time cruiser with Princess?

[Disconnections]

Not trying to hijack thread, but thought I would mention this: we received a notice this evening that our stay in Naussau 1/4/15 will be from 5AM until 9PM. Though unspecified, they said the change was due to some maintenance work which needed to be done. Other than the longer stay in Naussau, the rest of the cruise will remain as is.

 

Happy travels to those of you joining the CB tomorrow!

 

Thanks for the heads up!

[CruiserN1]

Not trying to hijack thread, but thought I would mention this: we received a notice this evening that our stay in Naussau 1/4/15 will be from 5AM until 9PM. Though unspecified, they said the change was due to some maintenance work which needed to be done. Other than the longer stay in Naussau, the rest of the cruise will remain as is.

 

Happy travels to those of you joining the CB tomorrow!

 

How did you hear this? We are sailing tomorrow and I didn't get an email. Cruise Personalized doesn't show it either.

[bassfisherman]

Thanks for the on going review. We were on the Regal the beginning of December and are going on the CB Jan 26th. We are going with 4 other Air Force friends with whom we were stationed in Arkansas over 40 years ago. This will be a fun cruise for lots of reasons. We also live near Raleigh, NC and be thankful you have not been here the last week. Safe travels home.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

My mother and I will be going on the CP on 1/31/15. This will be my 1st cruise with Princess. Flying down from Clayton, NC the day before. Thanks for a great review that has gotten me very excited for our upcoming cruise. Any recommendations for a first time cruiser with Princess?

 

I'm not trying to be critical but the abbreviation for the Caribbean Princess is CB not CP. Who knows why?

 

You should join their roll call at,

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2005150&page=14

[Canadian_J]

Thanks for the review! I'm on CB this Thursday for my first Princess sailing and all the details you provided really have me looking forward to it :)

[Hobbsey]

I'm not trying to be critical but the abbreviation for the Caribbean Princess is CB not CP. Who knows why?

 

You should join their roll call at,

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2005150&page=14

 

I think that CP was already taken by Crown.

[bhopal21]

I think that CP was already taken by Crown.

 

 

The Crown is KP, CP denotes the Sea Princess.

 

Mike:)

[Hobbsey]

The Crown is KP, CP denotes the Sea Princess.

 

Mike:)

 

LOL, now that is confusing!!

[Cruisecrazy25]

Hey it's Stacey!!! Just wanted to say hi and that it was great playing trivia with you!! We all have the Cruise Blues and are ready to book our next one. Hope you have a pleasant and safe drive home.

[elaine5]

hi. do you know what time self disembark was? deciding on which flights to book home.

[geoherb]

hi. do you know what time self disembark was? deciding on which flights to book home.

We were in the first group. We met at the dining room at 7:15 and made it out of the parking garage right at 8.

[geoherb]

Sorry about asking about the MTP again. I thought this leg of your trip was slightly longer & they might have one.

Thanks for the heads up about the egg drop contest. I'm going to pack my cushioning material right now. I'm determined to win that cheap bottle of wine this time. ;)

They did not give a bottle of wine as a prize. The people whose eggs survived got water bottles. We had already given the ones we won in trivia away. I brought one from a previous cruise with us but never used it since we had our mini bar water.

[geoherb]

Hey it's Stacey!!! Just wanted to say hi and that it was great playing trivia with you!! We all have the Cruise Blues and are ready to book our next one. Hope you have a pleasant and safe drive home.

Great meeting you as well. I still can't believe how you and your husband rocked the power ballad trivia. I would have gotten about 10 out of 40 points on my own--primarily guessing the song titles from the lyrics. We don't have anything booked, but I hope to go on a couple of cruises this year during school breaks.