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

[Ky Lady]

Great review, we were on the June 30th sailing and I totally agree with your review. I also thought it odd that they didn't replace the cabin carpeting as they needed it. The shower/ bathroom was small compared to the Regal/Royal.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[FritzG]

Is the closet in a balcony cabin smaller like it is on the Grand, or is it the standard full width?

[licram]

The closet isn't even a closet but an open coat rack and some shelves under the safe. Carpet was badly stained. We were on the June 30th sailing. Had a great time great weather great ports. Went by too fast.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[FritzG]

The closet isn't even a closet but an open coat rack and some shelves under the safe. Carpet was badly stained. We were on the June 30th sailing. Had a great time great weather great ports. Went by too fast.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Thanks, I know it's not a real closet, but is it the full length of the wall, or is it shorter like it is on the Grand?

[NMCRUISERS]

Thanks for the informative review! We leave on this itinerary in a few weeks and your information was very helpful

[caribill]

Thanks, I know it's not a real closet, but is it the full length of the wall, or is it shorter like it is on the Grand?

 

Only the Grand had that smaller size closet.

 

All new Princess ships since then have had the larger closet.

[FritzG]

Only the Grand had that smaller size closet.

 

All new Princess ships since then have had the larger closet.

 

Thanks, I was hoping that we'd have a "regular" sized closet!

[FritzG]

duplicate, sorry

[Mackenzie1]

Thank you for the heads-up about being able to hear conversations through the doors to the connecting cabins. This area of the Caribe deck used to be my favorite, but once Princess made the cabins in this area connecting, I've moved further toward mid-ship out of concern that the connecting doors would result in the cabins being noisier.

[Fl. Lighthouse]

We were on the Caribbean Princess a couple of months ago and found the British Isles Cruise to be excellent. The ship was recently updated and was beautiful, particularly the public areas with new carpet and new furniture. My guess is they updated the public areas and next they will work on the staterooms.

 

Linda and Herb

[pwake]

My wife and I were on the June 30 sailing of the Caribbean Princess in Fiesta 309.

 

We loved the ship and the cruise. Our stateroom carpet and furniture was in very good shape. I would be very happy to have the same stateroom for another cold climate cruise. The cabin location was really convenient being only a few steps away from the atrium and dining room. My only concerns was our cabin steward always seemed nervous around. My wife and I are really easygoing and couldn't understand his odd behavior.

 

We loved all the ports. The only problem we had on an excursion was in Cobh where we did the Best of Cork and Countryside tour. The tour description said that while we would be visiting Blarney Castle, there would not be enough time to kiss the stone. The tour ticket said, in all caps, KISSING THE BLARNEY STONE NOT GUARANTEED. But, apparently it is guaranteed if 6 of your fellow passengers are willing to hold the rest of the coach up for 45 minutes waiting for them. We didn't get to see Cork. This reinforced my dislike of coach tours!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[34TigerLily]

F309 on the Caribbean Princess is my favorite cabin of the Princess ships. We will be in that cabin for the fourth time in December.

[pwake]

In warm climates, I prefer a stern balcony suite to watch the wake. We had seen reviews of the Fiesta Suites and figured we didn't need a balcony when it's cold.

 

We were really happy in F309. Bright, comfortable and cheery with more closet space than we could use. We'd definitely do it again.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Bababooey Land]

Thanks, I know it's not a real closet, but is it the full length of the wall, or is it shorter like it is on the Grand?

 

 

 

Iv never been on the grand. But I was actually impressed with the size of the closet. It was about 3/4 of the length. The other 1/4 was the hallway. Plenty of hanging space ( we asked for more hangers) and space for a suitcase or

Two and lots of shoes or a hamper.

 

We had the two twin beds in the room. And under the beds were extra blankets and duvets. I asked the stateroom attendant to take them out as we put our suitcases under the beds.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Bababooey Land]

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 ?

 

 

 

Hi. Thanks for the question.

 

This is a tricky question. I'll give you the facts

 

1) we left guernsey late because rough weather delayed tenders back to ship.

 

2) we were unable to make up time arriving at our next port cobh. In fact we arrived slightly later than what the captain told us.

 

My opinion: if ship had fully use of all engines. We probably could have made up most of the lost time.

 

From reading all the message boards here. There seems to be a "technical issue" with an engine. Not allowing us to run at full speed. I tend to agree with that school of thought. I don't think it's anything serious. I wouldn't worry about personally. Almost the entire cruise we sailed at about 16 knots. Slightly faster at other points. If there is a technical issue, It's not noticeable AT ALL once on board. I think many are blowing this out of proportion.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Goldiesmom]

Thanks, Bababooey Land, for your response regarding the Propulsion Issue. We are booked on the CB for a November Cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to the Panama Canal - with a final payment due in mid-September. There had been so many comments about the Propulsion Issue, I was starting to get somewhat concerned. Given the quality of your review, I thought that you would be a good source from whom to get an honest evaluation. Thanks again. :cool:

[Grego]

Upcoming voyages and their itineraries are planned around the technical propulsion speed issue. All propulsion systems should operate at the same output to prevent vibration and other mechanical situations. The problem system can do a max of about 3-4 knots slower than the others, so the max the ship can operate is about 19 knots until the ship is in a place where the solution can be effected.

 

We are scheduled to be on the TA back from the Western Europe itinerary and then the next voyage doing the circle Caribbean itinerary and we are not concerned about any safety issues regarding this situation.

[gkacky]

My wife and I were on the June 30 sailing of the Caribbean Princess in Fiesta 309.

 

We loved the ship and the cruise. Our stateroom carpet and furniture was in very good shape. I would be very happy to have the same stateroom for another cold climate cruise. The cabin location was really convenient being only a few steps away from the atrium and dining room. My only concerns was our cabin steward always seemed nervous around. My wife and I are really easygoing and couldn't understand his odd behavior.

 

We loved all the ports. The only problem we had on an excursion was in Cobh where we did the Best of Cork and Countryside tour. The tour description said that while we would be visiting Blarney Castle, there would not be enough time to kiss the stone. The tour ticket said, in all caps, KISSING THE BLARNEY STONE NOT GUARANTEED. But, apparently it is guaranteed if 6 of your fellow passengers are willing to hold the rest of the coach up for 45 minutes waiting for them. We didn't get to see Cork. This reinforced my dislike of coach tours!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

We were next door in F311 and loved the location, as well. We were happy with the cabin steward and he was extremely prompt with our very few requests. I understand your concern on the tours. We had not done many ship excursions until our last few cruises, which had been pretty good. However, we had a similar negative experience on our Best of Edinburgh tour. The same group of people were late back to the bus THREE times that day. It was disappointing that the guide did not take more control of the situation.

[Travljunky]

Thanks so much for the review. We leave for London in 4 days. Very excited and glad to know things are as nice as we expected then to be.

[blakejared]

I just came back from the British Isles cruise on this ship, and overall, I liked the ship. I concur with a lot of the review.

 

For us as well, there were long waits for Anytime Dining. The food was fine, though some of the fish dishes weren't that good. I agree the lunch and dinner buffets were better than the breakfast one, which was surprising. The scrambled eggs and sausages were not good, and the selection was always exactly the same in the morning. The staff was very attentive and quick. I'm glad it wasn't just me who didn't like the soft serve ice cream.

 

The only kerfuffle for our cruise was the slow tendering returning to the ship at St. Peter Port. The wait was 1.5-2 hours in the hot sun. This resulted in several hours' delayed departure from the port, and a delayed arrival the next morning at Cobh. However, they extended the port time at Cobh for an extra hour, so it ended up fine.

 

The tendering at Edinburgh was handled much better. The wait in the morning was about half an hour and the only wait coming back was due to making sure a tender was full before it left, and they could load the next one (they decided not to load them simultaneously).

[caribill]

 

The only kerfuffle for our cruise was the slow tendering returning to the ship at St. Peter Port. The wait was 1.5-2 hours in the hot sun. This resulted in several hours' delayed departure from the port, and a delayed arrival the next morning at Cobh. However, they extended the port time at Cobh for an extra hour, so it ended up fine.

 

 

You were lucky.

 

Our wait for the return tender was in the pouring rain.

[Bababooey Land]

I just came back from the British Isles cruise on this ship, and overall, I liked the ship. I concur with a lot of the review.

 

For us as well, there were long waits for Anytime Dining. The food was fine, though some of the fish dishes weren't that good. I agree the lunch and dinner buffets were better than the breakfast one, which was surprising. The scrambled eggs and sausages were not good, and the selection was always exactly the same in the morning. The staff was very attentive and quick. I'm glad it wasn't just me who didn't like the soft serve ice cream.

 

The only kerfuffle for our cruise was the slow tendering returning to the ship at St. Peter Port. The wait was 1.5-2 hours in the hot sun. This resulted in several hours' delayed departure from the port, and a delayed arrival the next morning at Cobh. However, they extended the port time at Cobh for an extra hour, so it ended up fine.

 

The tendering at Edinburgh was handled much better. The wait in the morning was about half an hour and the only wait coming back was due to making sure a tender was full before it left, and they could load the next one (they decided not to load them simultaneously).

 

Glad to hear you had a nice cruise. Seems like you had very similar experience to us!

 

We had the same tendering issue on our cruise in St. Peter Port. Same hour extension Cobh. our tender wait was up to 3 hours. miserable. 2 cruises in the row? same problem. seems to me Princess should figure out a better way to handle these tenders at this port.

 

Breakfast was definitely better on the Regal, as we too were surprised the poor quality at breakfast. Scrambled eggs were powdered, which is a shame Princess needs to serve that.

[floridalover5623]

Scrambled eggs were powdered, which is a shame Princess needs to serve that.

Although they might have changed to powdered on some itineraries lately but I've yet to encounter it. It doesn't sound appetizing at all.:(

Are you sure they were powdered? :confused:

[Bababooey Land]

Although they might have changed to powdered on some itineraries lately but I've yet to encounter it. It doesn't sound appetizing at all.:(

Are you sure they were powdered? :confused:

 

100% sure? no. But they tasted and looked powdered to me. When you stay at a Fairfield Inn type hotel with the free breakfast buffet. they appeared exactly like that. and i know those are powdered. the egg consistency is alot different than fresh scrambled eggs. i always got the fried eggs next to the scrambled, those were fresh.

[Bababooey Land]

Although they might have changed to powdered on some itineraries lately but I've yet to encounter it. It doesn't sound appetizing at all.:(

Are you sure they were powdered? :confused:

 

I did a quick search online .many people said cruise lines use either powdered or liquid eggs for the buffet. which is typically what I have found too. If you go to the omelette station, you can get fresh eggs. scrambled, omelettes, over easy, etc. many times they will crack the eggs in front of you.

 

 

This was an interesting post from 2009 with a possible reason. no idea if its true or just an excuse for cruise lines to cut costs.

 

The US Public Health Service tries to make it as difficult as possible to serve fresh eggs onboard a ship. They claim that there is a danger of salmonella poisoning.

I haven't seen too many salmonella outbreaks at breakfast anywhere in America - despite the fact that just about everyone there is cooking and eating fresh eggs. Don't know why the government would expect it to be different on a ship.

 

So the USPH / CDC more or less force cruise lines to use processed, frozen eggs without the shells.

Just look at this as your tax dollars hard at work.

 

As mentioned, it is possible to have fresh egg products on a ship. But it is usually a special order and you should be prepared to wait a bit to get them.