Caribbean Princess 6-Day Western Caribbean. F305-Grand Turk Suite.

[sunsetbeachgal]

This is a wonderful review, love the photos and I am hungry after seeing many of my Princess favorites!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[easyboy]

Glad you had your scanner back. Very nice photos!

[Eagle_and_hawk]

On Wednesday, we made it to Belize and had booked the BZE115 - Lamanai Mayan Ruins, Mangrove River Cruise & Lunch excursion through Princess. It's an all day tour, lasting approximately seven hours.

 

You depart the ship early, and take a 15 minute ferry ride over to Belize.

 

P1060828 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

Once there, you take a bus over to where you board the boat for the river cruise. This takes about one hour and the tour guide points out things along the way along with discussing Belize in general.

 

Once you arrive at the boat dock, there are several boats that hold about 22-24 people, to take you to the ruins on the Mangrove River.

 

P1060710 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

P1060709 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

[Eagle_and_hawk]

When you read the description of the cruise, it sounds like a leisurely float down the river:

 

Your excursion begins at the pier where you'll board your air-conditioned transportation for the transfer up Belize's Northern Highway to Tower Hill. From here a semi-covered riverboat will take you on an approximately two-hour guided river cruise.

Enjoy the scenery as you cruise up the New River, stopping along the way at various points of interest.

From the description, it sounds like the trip will be 1+ hours, like this 30-second video I took here on YouTube:

 

 

The above video was coming back, right before we returned to the dock and was taking a "short cut", in which he had

to go slower as a narrow, shallow path.

 

In reality, these boats all had (2) 200-HP engines on the back, and they only knew two speeds, slow and full throttle.

 

P1060712 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

If was a fun ride to the ruins & back, as the river was twisty, so it was full throttle in the straight parts, (sometimes) slow down if a sharp bend in the river, then full throttle coming back out of the bend. This video is 2.5 minutes, and gives some idea of the ride to/from the ruins:

 

 

We had a lot of fun on the boat, although we tour on a motorcycle all the time, so this was twisties in the river for us.

 

 

I don't some of the other folks enjoyed it as much. When we returned to the dock, I asked the pilot what the top speed was, and he said 40mph with the current capacity onboard.

[Eagle_and_hawk]

After the boat ride on the river, you arrive at the ruins.

 

P1060745 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

P1060808 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

 

Then the tour starts as the guide takes you on a walk around the ruins:

 

P1060765 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

 

P1060760 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

[Eagle_and_hawk]

This was their ball field, where they played their sports:

 

P1060770 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

 

They had preserved a lot of what was there:

 

P1060774 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

 

P1060780 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

These faces were not original and the government had re-created them out of plaster, as the originals has eroded away.

 

P1060799 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

[Eagle_and_hawk]

You could climb to the top, however not the obvious way of going up the front. They had installed steps on the left side, to take you almost to the top.

 

Then you could go the last 20-30 feet, up the very top, on the original steps.

 

P1060785 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

There was a nice view from up there:

 

P1060786 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

P1060784 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

[Eagle_and_hawk]

After the ruins tour, it was about a 45 minute boat ride back to the dock, where lunch was served. There was also the option to buy the local beer.

 

P1060827 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

Once you were done with lunch, you could walk around the area as a couple of small stores to pick up trinkets.

There was also a small museum you could walk through, with some things they had preserved from the site.

 

P1060813 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

P1060809 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

[Eagle_and_hawk]

We really enjoyed that excursion. A couple of things to note, is take extra sunscreen as you are in the sun, a lot of the trip. You may get splashed a little on the boat, especially if you sit in the back, and only the back half of the boat has shade. They did provide water at the start of the boat ride and at lunch, however we had packed 4-5 more bottles to take with us from the ship, and went through most of that too.

 

The last ferry back to the ship leaves at 4:00PM, and we did not get back to the ferry dock until just after that. There was a long line of probably 100+ people, waiting to get on. Since we booked through Princess, they had to keep sending ferries to take people back, and was finally onboard by 5:00PM.

 

It did turn into almost 8 hours by the time we returned as we left the ship at 6:50AM.

[Eagle_and_hawk]

On Thursday, we had arrived at Cozumel and had the CZM305- San Gervasio Mayan Ruins & Chocolate Experienced booked.

 

It was about a 30 minute bus ride the ruins. It was not as big as the ruins we had seen the day before in Belize. The story we were told by the guide, was the land was bought by a private individual. He didn't know what was there until he uncovered some of the ruins. He also had not told anyone what he had found and starting looking for gold, by blowing up the structures with dynamite. He never found any gold, and at some point, it was turned into a tourist attraction. A few of the structures had roofs built over them, to try and protect what was left, the best way they could.

 

Here is a few pictures around that are:

 

P1060904 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

P1060909 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

P1060915 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

P1060916 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

[Eagle_and_hawk]

Cozumel Continued.....

 

P1060923 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

P1060925 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

P1060930 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

P1060947 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

P1060953 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

[Eagle_and_hawk]

After leaving the ruins, we went to the opposite side of the island from the pier. This excursion circles the island with these stops, in about 4.5 hours.

 

The part of the island has no electricity and closes up at night. There were a couple of small bars and places to grab a bite to eat, as most people went for the water. We stopped here for about 15 minutes.

 

P1060956 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

P1060960 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

P1060963 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

[Eagle_and_hawk]

The last stop on the circle tour was the Mayan Cacaco company for the chocolate experience.

 

P1060966 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

You took a short walk around the grounds to see various things about where it comes from,

what they do with it there, etc.

 

P1060970 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

They put on a 15-minute demonstration about chocolate & what they mix with it.

 

P1060984 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

 

Then there was some time to shop in their store before returning to the ship.

 

A couple of thoughts on this tour as overall, we didn't think it was the best. The ruins were interesting, at least what had been preserved. The stop on the other side of the island was Ok to take a couple of pictures, however would have liked to have maybe an hour, grabbed a drink and watched the ocean. The chocolate experience is not what we expected, as thought their would be more tastings. One tasting that listed was chocolate on a tortilla, and we didn't get that. When we got there, they gave you about 1/4 teaspoon of chocolate before the demo. At then end, you got a small cup of a chocolate drink, and they had several things to mix with it, like sugar, honey, pepper, etc. That was about the extent of the experience.

 

The timing was a little off for us, as started the tour at 10:50, and back at the ship around 3:00 - 3:30pm, with not much of an opportunity to eat during the tour. At the ruins, they had a small shop selling some tacos & chips. We grabbed a couple of those, but was not very good to us, along with the meat filling was in a big bowl, that was barely warm. We didn't each much and decided to wait until we got back to the ship, so if you do take the tour, might want to get some prepackaged snacks from the ship's store when you leave. They Cozumel Officals were checking all the bags as everyone entered, looking for food items, along with other things, so if you do pack somethng, be sure it's OK to take it or they will confiscate it.

 

There was time to walk around & shop at that area at the pier. We spent a little time there, and headed back to the ship for something to hold us over until supper.

[Eagle_and_hawk]

Friday was the last full day & also a sea day. We havd signed up for the Ultimate Ship Tour as soon as we got onboard, and I believe we were already number 9 & 10 on the list. The cost is still the same as it's been for a few years at $150 a person.

 

On Wednesday, we received the letter in our stateroom that we were on the list and they were doing a tour. They don't always do a UST as been told it depends on how many sign up for it, or various other reasons.

 

UST1 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

The tour started at 8:25am that morning, as the meet up place was in Vines bar.

 

I don't remember the exact order of the tour, except the bridge was last.

 

In the Princess theater, we went back stage and they had two performers in costume. They showed us how things work behind the scenes, the clothes, stages, props, etc. We could ask questions of the performers and anything else in general. One question was about how long they run the shows, and they said it depends on customer response, that some last only a few years, while others have been going for 10+ years. She said when they decide to start working on another show, it's automatically two years and starts with a two million dollar budget, and goes up a lot in cost from there.

 

We went to anchor room in the front & seen that area for a few minutes while they told us about how they work, the red links on the chains, etc.

 

The visit to the hospital was interesting as the doctor who was there, said they can do most things a land based hospital can do, except major surgeries or extensive heart work. They are under the same guidelines as a land based hospital. There were 4-5 private rooms, and if I recall correctly, two doctors and two nurses. She said that could be more staff with larger ships. It seems like I seen a sign at the desk that just the visit was $95, and all charges were billed to your onboard account. No insurance taken onboard, however they do provide detailed billing for submitting to insurance. I hope we don't have to visit there, but good to see what they have available if out in the middle of the ocean.

 

The Engineering Control room is always fun. As some already know, you don't go to the engine room as to much noise, so the control room is what you visit. As usual, everyones asking about the fuel, how much the ship carries, the range, burn rate, etc. Some people were surprised the diesel generators not only provide power for the entire ship, but also the electric motors that turn the props.

 

We went to the print room, where they print all the daily patters, menus, and all those wonderful sales flyers we get every day. The photo room was next, where they print all the photo's you see on board.

 

The galley is always a place of interest to see how they prepare & try to keep all the food warm. They had pictures of the items in the MDR that changed each night, so the servers could be sure they were presented correctly. They had big pots of the chowder they were making that night, along with a demo of the bread making machine. There was a few snacks, and drinks at this stop. This is information they passed out at that stop:

 

UST2 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

 

UST3 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

UST4 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

UST5 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

[Eagle_and_hawk]

The last stop was the bridge to meet the Captain. Always plenty of questions there about how it's ran, the flags, procedures, etc. This is the info they passed out there:

 

UST6

by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

UST7 by

Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

UST8 by

Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

UST8 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

 

Then later that night, they bring the group pictures they took, bath rob, picture frame, cooking apron, and a scratch pad with your name on it to the room:

 

UST2017 by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

[Eagle_and_hawk]

That brings us to the end of the cruise as the next morning, we were back in Ft. Lauderdale early. We were brought back to a different pier than we departed from, and there was a free shuttle bus to take you back over there, if that is where you parked.

 

By 9:00am , we were off the ship, through customs & immigration, and already heading North for the drive home.

 

Overall, it was good cruise, although we will probably stick to a little smaller ship in the future as that is what we enjoy. Already looking forward to Alaska in August, on the Coral :D

 

Hopefully, all the pictures will help anyone who has not sailed on the CB, to give an idea of life onboard, at least for this trip.

[easyboy]

Thank you for the great review. We enjoyed the photos!

We will be on the CB this Sept for our British Isles cruise.

[rocklinmom]

What a great review and photos! One of the best I've seen on CC. I am looking at the Caribbean Princess for summer 2018 and am considering booking two window suites for my family...since you were just in one, do you happen to recall if F307 and F309 had entry doors next to each other? You had mentioned it in your photos of the window suites hallway. Or if F309 and F311 have doors next to each other? Would appreciate any info you can remember about it (since we'd prefer to have our entry doors next to each other rather than next to someone else, if possible).

[Eagle_and_hawk]

What a great review and photos! One of the best I've seen on CC. I am looking at the Caribbean Princess for summer 2018 and am considering booking two window suites for my family...since you were just in one, do you happen to recall if F307 and F309 had entry doors next to each other? You had mentioned it in your photos of the window suites hallway. Or if F309 and F311 have doors next to each other? Would appreciate any info you can remember about it (since we'd prefer to have our entry doors next to each other rather than next to someone else, if possible).

 

F305 & F307 share a common entrance door wall. F309 and F311 share a common entrance wall, if I understand what you are looking at. I assume you are wanting this to reduce noise.

[rocklinmom]

Thank you so much! Exactly what I needed to know. Since the rooms don't connect it's nice to be able to pop next door to talk to the other half of our family without disturbing a neighbor (or if knocking on the door for the same reason).

[cr8tiv1]

Thank you for taking the time to do this review with lovely photos and commentary. I will be on the Caribbean in the fall (have been in Window Suites on the Golden and the Grand). I would like to add a few more thoughts:

 

It was nicer when they didn't have "Fiesta Suites" door labeled. Then it was a truly "secret" door.

 

I once ordered the "Pub Lunch" through room service. I explained to them that since they were already delivering a chef salad, if they wouldn't mind dropping by the Crown Grill (just outside my stateroom) and pick up my fish and chips. They did!

 

I am very surprised that they hold muster in Churchill's. Surprised they don't get a lot of complaints. I'm not happy about this.

 

I have a lot of compassion for the Fiesta Suite stewards. They have these cabins AND a few more a couple of levels up that they have to split their time between. I've always had super great stewards and thought they were assigned these stations because they were experienced and very good.

 

I remember the days when nobody knew about these suites. Now I have to "fight" with several passengers that I have met through the years for MY cabin.

[NavyVeteran]

I remember the days when nobody knew about these suites. Now I have to "fight" with several passengers that I have met through the years for MY cabin.

 

It's your own fault. You told us about them.:) If you would keep quiet, they would be a lot more available.;)

[cruzsnooze]

Why would you take traditional dining when in the suite you get club class dining? I am looking forward to my window suite through the Panama Canal next year. Also since you get to eat breakfast in the specialty restaurant we never used room service for breakfast.

 

Did the suite come with daily complimentary water?

Did you get the canvas suite tote bag?

Did you get slippers?

Did you get complimentary access to the thermal spa?

These are the reasons I prefer a suite.

 

Thank you for so many pictures.

[Eagle_and_hawk]

Why would you take traditional dining when in the suite you get club class dining? I am looking forward to my window suite through the Panama Canal next year. Also since you get to eat breakfast in the specialty restaurant we never used room service for breakfast.

 

Did the suite come with daily complimentary water?

Did you get the canvas suite tote bag?

Did you get slippers?

Did you get complimentary access to the thermal spa?

These are the reasons I prefer a suite.

 

Thank you for so many pictures.

 

There was no Club Class dining in February as I believe that started after the dry dock. We had a WS on the CB booked for the PC next March, however we cancelled it after this cruise.

 

 

We ate breakfast every morning in Sabatini's, except the last day, since it is not open then and one other day as had to be off the ship early for the excursion.

 

 

I don't recall if there was daily water or not as we ordered the water package and had 12 bottles in the room when we arrived. I am not sure our cabin steward would have put them out every day even if it was included as he was just not that good. It was day five before he showed up with an ice bucket & ice, although didn't really miss it, just an observation.

 

 

We did get one blue tote bag & two pairs of slippers.

 

 

I am not sure about the thermal suite as we are not interested in that or anything spa related.

[cr8tiv1]

It's your own fault. You told us about them.:) If you would keep quiet, they would be a lot more available.;)

 

I am looking forward to the day when we sail again. The Golden is doing a round trip LA to Alaska in 2018. Window Suites are already sold out. We are on a waitlist.