CB 10/22/05 Eastern with kids review

[Gaynors]

We just returned from a wonderful week aboard the beautiful Caribbean Princess. My family of 4 (2 adults, 4 year old and 2 year old) had a great time. We were traveling with a large family group of 25 people that also included 5 other children under the age of 10.

 

We sailed on the CB last year for only 5 days due to hurricane Jeane so were looking forward to a full 7 days this year!!:D Thanks to hurricane Wilma cooperating and waiting until Monday to come ashore on FL we were able to sail as scheduled on Saturday!! Yipee...

 

We were in A510, which according to the Princess brochure is a room for 3. Well, there were 4 of us... we were told there would be a rollaway bed...:eek: After asking several times on these boards for information on a rollaway on the CB I still had no idea exactly what we were going to end up with. However, since the youngest is only 2 we weren't extemely worried as she doesn't take up much space and could share if necessary.

 

Ah, the rollaway, we were greated by our room steward Eduardo upon arrival in our room. We asked him about the bed situation and the rollaway. Well.... there is no "rollaway" it is actually like a trundel bed that is kept under one of the twin beds. The pluses... it actually goes back under the bed during the day so you don't have the extra obstacle of a rollaway in the room... the minuses.. if you aren't a kid or a midget you will have a problem, the bed is approximately 3/4 length of the regular beds. It is perfect for kids but I wouldn't want to be an adult using that short bed for an entire week!:eek: It worked out great for us though.:D

 

More to follow...

[Gaynors]

We had first seating traditional dining and Eduardo of Portugal was our waiter. He was excellent and made for an extremely enjoyable week. We enjoyed the dining room food a lot but seemed to think the food was a little better last year. Last year they had rack of lamb that was to die for... this year they had leg of lamb. The leg of lamb was good but not like the rack of lamb. Once again we greatly enjoyed the pizza and was a great staple for the kids. We ate most of our breakfasts and lunches in the horizon court or cafe caribe. As a pointer for those of you going to sail on the CB don't forget to check the cafe caribe as well as the horizon court for their lunch selection was different in the two places.

 

The service on the ship was excellent, we had few complaints, almost everyone always greeted you with a smile and a hello.

 

My husband and his family really enjoyed watching the World Series on MUTS but were disappointed that the 4th(and final game) was not shown on MUTS :( so they had to watch it in their room. Monday night football was also great on MUTS (even with the disappointment of all my NY relatives on the outcome of the game) Go Falcons...

It did seem the movies had better attendance on MUTS than the World Series though.

 

The Islands...

On St. Thomas we didn't do anything but a little shopping at the grocery store and the dock.

 

On St. Martin we took the water taxi into town and spent the morning at front beach. If you are interested in renting an umbrella and chairs, check the prices because they varied quite a bit from person to person and some of the people renting we a bit more negotiable than others.

In the afternoon we did a little shopping in town. It was a bit crowded because 4 ships (including 2 RCI Voyager Class ships) were in port with us because of hurricane Wilma (they were suppossed to go western).

 

Princess Cays we go off the ship early and headed out to find a shady spot. There were some sand fleas bitting up by the chairs but down by the water it was beatiful. The water was crystal clear and cool it felt great! Princess also has a wonderful kids facility on Princess Cays - Pelican Perch. It has a nice wooden playground (that is covered from the sun) another covered play area and a POOL! It was so much nicer than kids area on Coco Cay. The kids area has its own shower and bathroom too.

 

More to come...

[Gaynors]

Fun Zone

 

First of all I was extremely suprised at the numbers of kids on this cruise. I was told that there were 59 kids eligible for the 3-7 year old group, that was a lot more than we experienced last September on this same ship.

 

My son loved the fun zone. It was actually nice to see that one of the staff from last year was still there and in the 3-7 year old room and the other girl that was there last year was now in the 8-12 year old room. Since my son was joined in the 3-7 year olds with 3 of his cousins they had a great time. There were lots of fun activities to keep them busy and have a great time. One cousin was in the 8-12 year old group and also really had a great time.

 

My 2 year old and her 1 year old cousin enjoyed playing in the outside play area where they had some tricycles, a playhouse, table and chairs, and hula hoops. There were more toys out there than last year.

 

The kids pool (on Deck 17) is kind of small and sometimes was a little over run by kids a little big for a wading pool. We mostly went there first thing in the morning and it would be quiet.

 

On sea days the main pools were very crowded from about 11 -4 pm and it was really just a mass of bodies.

 

There were always plenty of deck chairs, even in the shade if you just looked around. They might not be right next to the pool but they were there.

 

I hope someone finds this useful. Any questions just ask.

 

Until next time....:D

[WhereIBelong]

Gaynors:

 

Thanks for the review. We sail on 11/19 with three kids ages 7, 12 and 15. Can you tell me: did your kids mention finding a video arcade on the ship?

[Gaynors]

Where I Belong:

 

We didn't see any video arcade on the ship, but they did have several (about 6) PS2 stations setup in the 3-7 year old room and about the same in the room next to it. I'm not sure what that had in the other 2 rooms (teens).

 

Hope you have a great cruise.

[traci28]

The teen room also has PS2 set ups.

[cruzinchris]

Gaynors,

Thanks for the nice review. DH and I will sail on the CB again in January, 2006 (were on in January of this year). We will be very disappointed if there is no rack of lamb as that has been one of our Princess favorites.

 

Even though we don't cruise with children any more, it's good to know that they are entertained and supervised while aboard Princess ships.

 

Glad you had a great time.

Chris

[bickee]

We had Eduardo second seating!!! He was awesome!

[roe2ship]

Glad you had the full 7 days this time. It must be nice when the little kids have cousins to join them in the program.