Back from Caribbean Princess – The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

[meatloafsfan]

 

figured it out!

 

this was entire spread each night. sandwiches looked soggy from sitting there ( i didnt dare to try one :) ...just 2 choices. I think one was with sunbutter (for allergies) and the other one was a banana and chocolate.

 

im not even sure where you would spread the peanut butter or jelly, since there was no plain bread. just very very strange. but again, such a small area, it didnt really take away from anything. The location was opposite the main desert area...and to the right of the sandwiches that you cant see in the picture were a couple deserts.

Thank you for the picture. I was kind of hoping for something more exciting (interesting jams and breads) but hey, it's just one more option available.

 

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[jovisoul]

Thanks so much for your review! We are sailing on her Oct 7th!

[Kenosha Cruiser]

Nice review, glad to hear the Caribbean Princess is in fine shape. Looking forward to the new renovations and new beds on our Panama Canal cruise in January. We have never received cookies in our cabin from the room steward, I assume he was doing it for your 11 year old, maybe why only one cookie. Glad you enjoyed your cruise!

 

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

[4x4bob]

Another big Thank You for the effort you put into your review.

 

In Sept we will be doing a TA on the Caribbean Princess and your information is helpful in balancing the negative reports that corp up now and then.

 

 

Bob

[gkacky]

Great review! Thank you for taking the time to write and post it. We were on the same sailing and we thoroughly enjoyed the cruise.

[FritzG]

Thanks for a positive well balanced review. We'll book the Edinburgh on Your Own tour; thanks for the tip that we'd be in an early group for the tender.

[loupana]

Thank you very much for the detailed information. Looking forward to our Panama Canal Cruise at the end of November...

[OCruisers]

Thanks so very much for your time to do this balanced review. (y)

Sort of thinking the one only cookie was for the child.

Were three (one for each) of the chocolate candies that are normally on our pillows at night were there as well?

Glad, overall, it was a great cruise for you and yours. :D

[lovevacadays]

Thank you for such a great review. I love the info on the tours you took. So great to read.

 

Disregard the one weird post that told you to STOP it. Who knows why someone would post like that. It's a good thing there is a feature on Cruise Critic where you can add someone to your ignore list so you don't see their posts. I rarely use it but I did add someone recently who only seemed to post to stir up trouble and the other one on my list I just don't need to see what they post.

 

I'd like to sail the Caribbean Princess at some point. Some of the new features seem interesting. :):)

[caribill]

 

Ultimate Ship Tour – We were fortunate enough to take this tour..... We also were promised a signed picture of us and the captain but instead got an unsigned group photo.

 

Thanks for your honest review.

 

When we have taken this tour on several ships we were never promised or given an autographed photo, just the unsigned version.

[Griller]

Another big Thank You for the effort you put into your review.

 

In Sept we will be doing a TA on the Caribbean Princess and your information is helpful in balancing the negative reports that corp up now and then.

 

 

Bob

 

We did not book the fall T/A as we heard that the ship has one engine which has terminally malfunctioned, and will not be fixed before this voyage, presumably the other engine or engines are the same age and are equally likely to quit, not what you want to happen in the middle of the Atlantic ocean.

How can Princess say the ship is fully seaworthy with a dead engine?

[Grego]

We did not book the fall T/A as we heard that the ship has one engine which has terminally malfunctioned, and will not be fixed before this voyage, presumably the other engine or engines are the same age and are equally likely to quit, not what you want to happen in the middle of the Atlantic ocean.

How can Princess say the ship is fully seaworthy with a dead engine?

 

If it were a "dead engine", she might not sail. However, from all real reports, the propulsion system on the one engine will not operate at full speed, but rather at a speed below that. In other words, instead of operating at 21 or 22 knots, it will do about 19 knots max. This being the case, the others have to match that output so as to not cause unfriendly vibration and possibly other consequences. The itineraries have been altered to allow more cruising time between ports by eliminating a port and replacing with others that afford a solution until the technical problem is fixed.

 

I'm glad most folks aren't playing "Chicken Little" but instead are getting the real story first before making conclusions.

[Keith1010]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

 

Keith

[geoherb]

Thanks for the update on the ports. This info is very helpful. You said you had anytime dining, but do you know if traditional dining was open seating any of the nights when the ship stayed in port late (or overnight)? When we sailed on the CB in December to the ABCs, they changed the traditional dining room to open seating two of the nights when the ship stayed in port late.

[Griller]

If it were a "dead engine", she might not sail. However, from all real reports, the propulsion system on the one engine will not operate at full speed, but rather at a speed below that. In other words, instead of operating at 21 or 22 knots, it will do about 19 knots max. This being the case, the others have to match that output so as to not cause unfriendly vibration and possibly other consequences. The itineraries have been altered to allow more cruising time between ports by eliminating a port and replacing with others that afford a solution until the technical problem is fixed.

 

I'm glad most folks aren't playing "Chicken Little" but instead are getting the real story first before making conclusions.

 

No way am I going to start out on a T/A on any ship which has a known engine fault.

Even for $199 for 14 days which is what they've been enticing passengers with.

[Bababooey Land]

Thanks for the update on the ports. This info is very helpful. You said you had anytime dining, but do you know if traditional dining was open seating any of the nights when the ship stayed in port late (or overnight)? When we sailed on the CB in December to the ABCs, they changed the traditional dining room to open seating two of the nights when the ship stayed in port late.

 

 

 

Hi. Yes, there were at least a couple nights that all dining rooms were anytime. Typically those are low demand nights. No waits to get a table. like you said, ship is either overnight at a port or leaving port late.

 

 

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[FritzG]

Hi. Yes, there were at least a couple nights that all dining rooms were anytime. Typically those are low demand nights. No waits to get a table. like you said, ship is either overnight at a port or leaving port late.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

In the past when the td has anytime seating our waiter has always asked if we'd come at the regular time, and if so, he'd save our table for us.

[Astro Flyer]

If it were a "dead engine", she might not sail. However, from all real reports, the propulsion system on the one engine will not operate at full speed, but rather at a speed below that. In other words, instead of operating at 21 or 22 knots, it will do about 19 knots max. This being the case, the others have to match that output so as to not cause unfriendly vibration and possibly other consequences. The itineraries have been altered to allow more cruising time between ports by eliminating a port and replacing with others that afford a solution until the technical problem is fixed.

 

I'm glad most folks aren't playing "Chicken Little" but instead are getting the real story first before making conclusions.

Thanks...well stated and hopefully anyone who is considering the Caribbean won't believe the presumptions & misinformation you quoted and instead will read technically accurate information about the true facts such as you posted.

 

For anyone who prefers to read the real situation & not ridiculous statements about a dead engine, here's a thread with factual information. Beginning with post #17 there is accurate information posted throughout the thread by a career ship chief engineer (chengkp75) about the situation which much different than in the post you quoted.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2508793&highlight=caribbean

 

Each of us decides whether we'd feel comfortable sailing the Caribbean but hopefully it's made based on factual information and not on false information & presumptions. And that decisions are not based on the sky is falling down and instead on the facts. :rolleyes:

Edited July 20, 2017 by Astro Flyer

[Goldiesmom]

Many of the posts about the CB have to do with the Propulsion Issue. It sounds as if no mechanical issues caused any problems on your cruise. Would that be correct ?

[AF-1]

nice review; thanks

[HleeCruiser]

We were on the Caribbean Princess in Jan 2016 and the carpet in our cabin (A Caribe Deck Balcony) was threadbare. I can not believe they have not replaced the carpets a year and a half later!!! Get with it Princess.

[riclop]

Thanks for your thoughts.

[pris993]

Enjoyed your review.. We have cruised Princess and Celebrity... among other lines. Do agree with your comparison giving Princess the edge over Celebrity... I would do so even on the new Celebrity ships.

 

We cruise a lot on the Grand, because it is home ported in San Francisco, where we can take a taxi to the ship, the Grand is older than the Carribean... but still in very good shape... so Princess does maintain ships.

 

We are going on the Royal in October...from your comments about the Regal.. am sure we will enjoy it.

 

Happy cruising to you.

[caribill]

We were on the Caribbean Princess in Jan 2016 and the carpet in our cabin (A Caribe Deck Balcony) was threadbare. I can not believe they have not replaced the carpets a year and a half later!!! Get with it Princess.

 

It is possible that the carpet in the cabin you had has been replaced. They do not replace all cabin carpets at the same time.

[Lucky TGO]

Thanks for the review.

Tony