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

[floridalover5623]

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.

I just usually get an omelet or one of the pre-made fried eggs so maybe that's why I've never experienced those powdered eggs. I've got to at least try some next trip to see what they taste like.

[ExDean]

On the Royal In September 2015 we took the UST and the officer in charge of procurement listed the volume of food stuffs that would be boarded for their next seven day cruise. I recall one of the items she mentioned was they would board 60,000 eggs. Many of those, no doubt, would be used in baking and other dishes, but many would find their way to the breakfast buffet. Doesn't prove there are no "powered eggs" but that sure is a lot of eggs. For me, over easy on toast is the way to go.

[JF - retired RRT]

I just usually get an omelet or one of the pre-made fried eggs so maybe that's why I've never experienced those powdered eggs. I've got to at least try some next trip to see what they taste like.

 

On the Royal In September 2015 we took the UST and the officer in charge of procurement listed the volume of food stuffs that would be boarded for their next seven day cruise. I recall one of the items she mentioned was they would board 60,000 eggs. Many of those, no doubt, would be used in baking and other dishes, but many would find their way to the breakfast buffet. Doesn't prove there are no "powered eggs" but that sure is a lot of eggs. For me, over easy on toast is the way to go.

Scrambled is my go to breakfast egg and I've never tasted one that tastes like powdered...yuck!

[floridalover5623]

Scrambled is my go to breakfast egg and I've never tasted one that tastes like powdered...yuck!

I've never see it but they might use the scramble eggs that come premixed in a plastic bag.

[blakejared]

Interesting that the St Peter Port tender problem recurred. I did wonder to what extent they learned from their experiences (or not).

 

I haven't been on many cruises, but it did feel like we were often lining up for stuff. Getting off the ship at Cobh was a long line-up since they didn't realize everyone was lining up at one gangway (where the ship cruise excursion people were getting off) while the other one wasn't as busy. They sent us to the other gangway but there was a lot of confusion.

 

The safety/life jacket demo was poorly orchestrated. They crowded us into the stuffy hallway outside Explorers Lounge since there wasn't enough seating, and they formed multiple lines against the wall, and there was an extremely long wait without any indication what was going to happen.

 

Greenoch had a long line-up getting back onto the ship... in that case, the line was slowed down by the security check (looked like local officials).

 

They did offer free shuttle service at a few ports, which was nice... Dublin and Belfast were free. I didn't know if that was to make up for the tender problems at St. Peter Port or if it was standard. So was Kirkwall but I think that one was provided by Orkney Island, not by Princess.

 

I couldn't tell if the egg was powdered or not. Maybe it was just really watery. The true powdered egg is the low-cost breakfast they serve at Ikea... yuck. What made the ship's scrambled egg worse was the lukewarm temperature. Even the batch they just brought out from the kitchen wasn't hot.

 

In addition to the omelette (which I was a little disappointed by... but I couldn't pinpoint why), there was also the standard over-and-easy fried egg. That egg was real for sure.

[FritzG]

Interesting that the St Peter Port tender problem recurred. I did wonder to what extent they learned from their experiences (or not).

 

I haven't been on many cruises, but it did feel like we were often lining up for stuff. Getting off the ship at Cobh was a long line-up since they didn't realize everyone was lining up at one gangway (where the ship cruise excursion people were getting off) while the other one wasn't as busy. They sent us to the other gangway but there was a lot of confusion.

 

The safety/life jacket demo was poorly orchestrated. They crowded us into the stuffy hallway outside Explorers Lounge since there wasn't enough seating, and they formed multiple lines against the wall, and there was an extremely long wait without any indication what was going to happen.

 

Greenoch had a long line-up getting back onto the ship... in that case, the line was slowed down by the security check (looked like local officials).

 

They did offer free shuttle service at a few ports, which was nice... Dublin and Belfast were free. I didn't know if that was to make up for the tender problems at St. Peter Port or if it was standard. So was Kirkwall but I think that one was provided by Orkney Island, not by Princess.

 

I couldn't tell if the egg was powdered or not. Maybe it was just really watery. The true powdered egg is the low-cost breakfast they serve at Ikea... yuck. What made the ship's scrambled egg worse was the lukewarm temperature. Even the batch they just brought out from the kitchen wasn't hot.

 

In addition to the omelette (which I was a little disappointed by... but I couldn't pinpoint why), there was also the standard over-and-easy fried egg. That egg was real for sure.

 

From what I've read on other threads, the port officials in Guernsey only allow 2 tenders to be used. That will definitely make long lines with long waits especially if there is more than one cruise ship at anchor. You can't blame Princess for that.

[Bababooey Land]

From what I've read on other threads, the port officials in Guernsey only allow 2 tenders to be used. That will definitely make long lines with long waits especially if there is more than one cruise ship at anchor. You can't blame Princess for that.

 

So I can only tell you what happened on our cruise. but it was not the reason above, that I read as well from many cruisers.

 

there were 2 ships that anchored in port...us and I think the Azure. they were 1/2 mile apart from each other?? something like that.

 

we got there about an hour before departure, line was moving...about a 45 min wait. (due to reason above as you said)

 

all of a sudden line stops moving....meanwhile, the Azure. ZERO wait to get back to their ship. no line.

 

fast forward to what happened:

2 hours later we were back on ship. with lots of people behind us. the people at the back of the line had a 3 hour wait in the sun.

 

Seas got too rough near the ship and tenders were halted. Captain finally decided to move the ship to near the Azure as seas were better. meanwhile, the 2 or 3 tenders full of passengers, were left in the water for 60-90 mins as the ship moved to another location. We were told some people threw up on the tender among other problems.

 

Captain did apologize afterwards but took zero blame.

 

Could this have been handled differently? should the captain been quicker to move the ship? should the tenders have gone back to shore to disembark passengers until seas were less rough? Better communication to the 1000 or so people in line waiting to get back to ship (there was almost zero)? Is there anything princess can do to avoid this problem in the future? Azure was clearly in the correct spot with no tender problems. I dont have any answers. im just thinking out loud :)

[blakejared]

I think the excuse for our cruise (not officially, just overheard in line when someone asked a staff member) was that one of the tender boats weren't working.

 

There was a Canard ship at port as well, and they had no line, though I think they were leaving the port later so they didn't have the volume of people all at once (I started waiting about 1 hour before the "last tender" time). I must say it was rather humorous to see their people waiting on chairs being handed lemon and orange flavored water in these clear cups as we stood in line. We got water too but it was more basic.

[goodsailors]

Don't know about the Channel Islands but I know that at other tender ports the port authority give the ship co-ordinates of where it is to anchor, so the Captain has no choice in the matter.

[caribill]

I think the excuse for our cruise (not officially, just overheard in line when someone asked a staff member) was that one of the tender boats weren't working.

 

 

That makes no sense. The ship has at around 24 tenders. Since four or less are used for tendering, it should not be hard to have four working ones.

[Grego]

That makes no sense. The ship has at around 24 tenders. Since four or less are used for tendering, it should not be hard to have four working ones.

 

I doubt that they were not "working". If that were the case, there is a bigger issue at stake here. More than likely, they could only launch from one side of the ship due to either weather or wave restrictions. That would limit a number of tenders that would be in use at one time.

[FritzG]

So I can only tell you what happened on our cruise. but it was not the reason above, that I read as well from many cruisers.

 

there were 2 ships that anchored in port...us and I think the Azure. they were 1/2 mile apart from each other?? something like that.

 

we got there about an hour before departure, line was moving...about a 45 min wait. (due to reason above as you said)

 

all of a sudden line stops moving....meanwhile, the Azure. ZERO wait to get back to their ship. no line.

 

fast forward to what happened:

2 hours later we were back on ship. with lots of people behind us. the people at the back of the line had a 3 hour wait in the sun.

 

Seas got too rough near the ship and tenders were halted. Captain finally decided to move the ship to near the Azure as seas were better. meanwhile, the 2 or 3 tenders full of passengers, were left in the water for 60-90 mins as the ship moved to another location. We were told some people threw up on the tender among other problems.

 

Captain did apologize afterwards but took zero blame.

 

Could this have been handled differently? should the captain been quicker to move the ship? should the tenders have gone back to shore to disembark passengers until seas were less rough? Better communication to the 1000 or so people in line waiting to get back to ship (there was almost zero)? Is there anything princess can do to avoid this problem in the future? Azure was clearly in the correct spot with no tender problems. I dont have any answers. im just thinking out loud :)

 

I doubt that they just sail in and anchor where they choose, nor can the captain move whenever he wishes.

[Colo Cruiser]

Not sure why the Captain would need to take the blame for anything.

Passenger safety is #1.

Sometimes there are mechanical issues with tenders.

Sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate.

Sometimes tendering operations need to be moved from one side (windward) of the ship to the other side of the ship (leeward) for tender/passenger safety. This takes time.

I agree bobbing around for 90 plus minutes in the heat and waves is not pleasant and people will get seasick.

[triple7tahoe]

This at least the fourth time we have taken a cruise that involved ST. Peters Port-Yes there was a delay and somehow on one of the websites I read indicated the Captain was relieved because of the problem? Fake News??

As I said this was our fourth attempt but it is the FIRST time we have actually made it:D. For me that made this one of our better cruises:p

[FritzG]

This at least the fourth time we have taken a cruise that involved ST. Peters Port-Yes there was a delay and somehow on one of the websites I read indicated the Captain was relieved because of the problem? Fake News??

As I said this was our fourth attempt but it is the FIRST time we have actually made it:D. For me that made this one of our better cruises:p

 

He was already scheduled to go on vacation during that cruise which is not an uncommon occurrence.

[tjwa]

Not sure why the Captain would need to take the blame for anything.

Passenger safety is #1.

Sometimes there are mechanical issues with tenders.

Sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate.

Sometimes tendering operations need to be moved from one side (windward) of the ship to the other side of the ship (leeward) for tender/passenger safety. This takes time.

I agree bobbing around for 90 plus minutes in the heat and waves is not pleasant and people will get seasick.

 

As always - ever the supportive one.

Edited August 1, 2017 by tjwa

[geoherb]

I think the eggs are pasteurized liquid or frozen egg products. I usually order fried eggs, except for omelets. I'm betting the quantity of eggs is given in equivalent amounts, i.e., 1 carton = 2 dozen eggs.

[bobmal99]

Were you on the Regal???

 

That is a brand new ship, maybe a little over a year old.

 

 

Hi all – We got back several days ago from a British Islescruise. This review will focus mostly onthe ship rather than the ports. Clearly,after reading a bunch of reviews post refurb, we were very hesitant sailing onthis ship…I was expecting another “Slummit” i.e. Celebrity Summit from a fewyears ago. I am happy to say we werepleasantly surprised and the ship is in very good condition. Inaddition, the service on the ship was excellent. Allthe crew members we came across were very pleasant.

 

 

 

About us - I am 45,my wife is 40, and son is 11. We havebeen on 7 Celebrity Cruises, mostly to Europe and Bermuda…last year we sailedon Princess Regal…this cruise would be our 2nd Princess cruise.

Ship Condition: MUCHHHHHH better than I expected. In fact, much cleaner and nicer than many older Celebrity Ships we havebeen on. All the public carpeting isnew. In fact, the only carpeting that didn’t seem new on the ship were in thestaterooms. Everything on ship wasclean. Public Bathrooms clean and inworking order. All the tables and chairsin buffet area, planks and steamers all new. Kids Club all new and renovated. New outdoor movie screen very sharp looking. Pool area nice…Chairs by pool all seemedin working order.

I read plenty ofnegative comments on the boards before we sailed about the ship but we just didn’tsee them.

 

Stateroom - We hadan extra-large Balcony Cabin, room C518.

one thing we found odd, they gave us ONE cookie every day in the afternoon. We were three in the stateroom and when we got back from the port, there was ONE cookie left on a plate. Nice idea to leave us a snack, but maybe one cookie per person would have made more sense.

 

Positives: our Stateroom Attendant, DIJO…wasexcellent. The new bedding and linenswere spectacular. Even better than most mattressesin hotels. Most ships we have been on, the bedding was a step above a cot. This is a REAL comfortable mattress. The balcony size was very nice, im glad Ipaid a few extra bucks for it.

 

 

Negatives - Thestateroom carpet was not new nor was the furniture. It wasn’t horrible, but Princess could haveat least changed the carpeting in the rooms during dry dock. Furniture will need a refresh during next drydock. The bathroom and shower wereTINYYYY. Smallest bathroom iv had on anyship. The Shower was the worst part,even though the water pressure was excellent. I could tell we had one of the new connecting stateroom doors in theroom…here is the skinny with the door. Thereis very little sound proofing by the door. The door is located thankfully by the frontdoor and small hallway. When I walked bythe door, I could hear the other cabin talking…when I was a few feet into theroom away from the door, I heard nothing. Just something to consider whenbooking a room.

 

 

Food:

Dining room – compared to Celebrity, the main dining roomfood is far superior. Overall, id giveit 3 out of 5 stars. Some days wereclearly better than others. Considering itis included in the cruise fare, I think it’s very good. Anytime dining was just OKAY. Regal was much better. We had to wait anywhere from 20-40 mins onmost nights. The dining room thatstarted to accept Anytime diners at 7:30pm, didn’t start to seat us until about7:45pm. And there was a massive wait toseat people. The next to last nightwhich was Baked Alaska night, I checked in at about 6pm (I figured id be early). ONE HOUR wait. That’s unacceptable imo, and we wound up atthe buffet instead.

 

 

Buffet – again,compared to Celebrity, much better overall except for breakfast. Breakfast was OKAY…pancakes and waffles weren’tgood. Scrambled eggs were powdered kind(at least tasted that way). Lunch and Dinner though much better. Yes, buffet is small but very clean. Every night they had different dishes tochoose from, I rarely saw the same dish. Peanut and Jelly bar: this hasbeen overblown on the board…it’s a SMALL SMALL section of the buffet (I have apicture if anyone cares). Every nightthey had 2 sandwiches pre-made and a few jellys to choose from. Does it make any sense? No…does it belongthere? No. but it doesn’t distract fromthe buffet at all. Princess should just scrap the idea, IMO. The service in the buffet area was EXCELLENT…farbetter than I expected and better than the Regal. Tables always cleared and cleaned fast. napkins and silverware replaced fast. And drinks served quickly. I didn’t look at Planks or Steamers atDinner, but I have a feeling they didn’t do much business. We didsit there for breakfast sometimes and even the next to last day for dinner asthey were closed.

 

 

Crown Grill – We atehere twice. Tip - First night and last night dress code wasrelaxed..Shorts are ALLOWED. I am sureevery ship and itinerary have different rules regarding dress code. Food was very good both nights. Service was solid too. We had a very bad experience on the Regal lastyear where food and service was poor.

 

 

Salty Dog – We atehere a few times. Food was typicallyvery good. Tip: try to get the burger cooked Fresh, ratherthan heated up. They will cook 20burgers at a time and put them in a Bin…then you order, they take one out ofthe bin and reheat it on the grill. Asyou expect, burger is overcooked and just so so. But when cooked fresh with the raw meat, itsmuch better. We tried the chickensandwich, chicken tacos and Hot Dog. Allvery good.

 

 

Ice Cream from Coffee and Cones – very poor. Quality of Ice cream was not good. We tried a couple ice cream sandwiches for $3, again…just so so.

 

 

Slice – Pizza quality for a cruise ship, very good.

 

 

International Cafe - Selection of food here very good and good quality. The Coffee and Hot Chocolate were excellent. The service here was excellent as well...also fast and smiles on their faces. Thanks to Charles!

 

 

Ultimate Ship Tour – We were fortunate enough to take thistour. Overall extremely interesting butwe were a touch disappointed. We weresupposed to be on the bridge with the Captain for about 45 mins..it turned outto be 5 mins with the Captain and a touch over 30 mins on the bridge. The first officer did a fantastic jobexplaining everything to use, but for the price, I was expecting thecaptain. We also were promised a signedpicture of us and the captain but instead got an unsigned group photo. The bathrobes they gave us were nice but thepicture frame was just a generic frame youd find in any store for $5. I may take some heat from this part of my review,but in our opinion, it didn’t live up to the hype.

 

Ports: excellent allaround. I highly recommend this itinerary. Most ports we used independent travelcompanies for tours and we used UBER a lot. Most of these tours were cheaper and betterthan what Princess offers. We only usedprincess once for an excursion and that was in Edinburgh. We took the Edinburgh on your own, whichworked out great, because we were the first Tender off the ship. Without a princess excursion, your tenderwait could be 1-2 hours.

 

 

If anyone has any questions about our itinerary on aspecific port, I’d be glad to tell you what we did. We spent countless hours putting together ouritin to maximize what we did in each port.

 

Overall - we loved the cruise and extremely happy with Princess. Service was excellent, ship in great condition and food was very good. We highly recommend this itinerary and Princess.

 

 

Id be happy to answer any questions if I can.

[Julietsmom]

Thanks so much for your review. How did your 11 year old like the cruise and the ports? We're very interested in doing the British Isles cruise and we've been curious about how kids might like it. (We have an 8 year old).

[Bababooey Land]

Were you on the Regal???

 

That is a brand new ship, maybe a little over a year old.

 

No. Caribbean Princess.

[Bababooey Land]

Thanks so much for your review. How did your 11 year old like the cruise and the ports? We're very interested in doing the British Isles cruise and we've been curious about how kids might like it. (We have an 8 year old).

 

Hi.

 

He loved the cruise ship and the itinerary. lots of things to do at each port for kids. a great learning experience as the uk, ireland and scotland have so much history. i can be more detailed if youd like but yes, i highly recommend for kids. in fact there were more kids on the ship that i expected. on our cruise, there were about 90 kids from age 8-12.

 

one tip if you plan on having a third person in a cabin. Try to get a cabin with a drop down bed, its like a bunk bed. the bed drops down from the ceiling over one of the twin beds. if the cabin doesnt have a drop down, they give you a rollaway which would cut down on the stateroom space significantly.

 

any other specific questions, id be happy to answer.

[Julietsmom]

Hi.

 

He loved the cruise ship and the itinerary. lots of things to do at each port for kids. a great learning experience as the uk, ireland and scotland have so much history. i can be more detailed if youd like but yes, i highly recommend for kids. in fact there were more kids on the ship that i expected. on our cruise, there were about 90 kids from age 8-12.

 

 

Thanks so much for the feedback! Wow - 90 kids from age 8 to 12. That's great. Definitely even more interested in this cruise now!

[Cinerama]

 

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.

 

No Marshmallow Fluff? Just kidding! :D

[AF-1]

Thank you for the nice positive review. Am booked on this ship for a 2019 cruise. Again thanks for the posting

[2forseas]

Great reassurance for our up-coming TA in September. Was on the CB in 2009, so can't wait to compare your findings of the new refurbishments. Thank you!