CB 11/26 Review - My First Cruise

[roger75]

Well, I wanted to come back to the boards and share my experience with cruising with everyone. First of all, thanks to all those who responded with information in some of my previous postings. I won't go into a long winded review, so here are my main thoughts:

 

There were both good and not so good things that I found from cruising. The ship was very nice and clean. I had purchased an inside guarantee and was upgraded to an ocean view on the Plaza deck of the ship. The room was very clean and not quite as small as I had thought it would be. To all of the people who had posted that their cabins were dirty or not up to par, I assume that you are used to staying at the Ritz-Carlton because there was nothing wrong with the cabins. All of the public areas on the ship were very well kept up and the staff was always nice and accomodating of any requests.

 

To go ahead and get the negative out of the way, here were my "dislikes": We had 3 days at sea during a 7 day cruise. I think that if I do cruise again, I want to have at least 4 or 5 ports of call on a 7 day cruise because the two sea days back to back seemed to be a bit much. Yes, I know that there is a lot to do on the ship, but I would prefer to have one sea day at the most between ports. I guess that was the first thing that I learned from my initial cruise vacation. Second, the larger pools and all of the jacuzzis were always crowded during the day. Our ship was at capacity with 3100 people so I understand this. In the evening, it was easier to find a jacuzzi. Finally, I want to talk about the food. The food was not horrible, I just felt it was sort of bland. Most people had told me that I would love the fact that I could eat all of the time as part of my cruise price. Well, yes and no. We had personal choice dining and ate in the Cafe Caribe, Horizon Court, and two of the dining rooms. Both the buffets and the dining rooms seemed to have the same food just different ways of presenting it. Again, the food wasn't bad but I was ready for something different by the time we got back to Florida. I will say that the Ranch dressing on the salad bar was about the worst I've ever had.

 

We liked MUTS because it was nice to watch newly released movies in that type of setting and I really liked all 3 ports of call. St. Maarten was my absolute favorite and I will definitely be spending a 5-7 day resort vacation there sometime in the next few years.

 

I liked the experience, but not quite in love with it yet. I know from reading a lot of posts on here that some people absolutely thrive on cruising. I will cruise again, but don't know if my next vacation will be another cruise. When I booked this trip on the Caribbean Princess, I chose this ship over the Voyager of the Seas. My next cruise will be with RCI on one of their Voyager class ships. I have heard a lot of good things about that cruise line and those particular vessels. I also want to try them to see if the crowd ends up being a bit younger. I don't have anything against an older crowd, but we definitely felt in the minority on this cruise. Some people that I met on this cruise also told me that RCI can have a lot of older people on board as well, that it depends more on the time of year that you go.

 

Bottom line: I enjoyed my trip and it was well worth the money that I spent. However, I think I need to do this one more time with a totally different cruise line, itinerary, etc. to make up my mind if I really want to continue cruising. Thanks in advance for any feedback on my review!!!!

[crusdiva]

Welcome back Roger75 and thanks for sharing your impressions of the CB and your first cruise. Your thoughts on crusing and your vacation preferences are well thought out. I agree, try another line, another itinerary and see if it's more to your liking. Don't give up on crusing! ;)

[beachpeople]

What was playing in the evenings on MUTS.. Leave in 2 weeks :)

[kryos]

Just a thought ... you might want to give Windjammer Barefoot Cruises a try when you decide to cruise again. It's a smaller ship, and very informal. Thus, a lot of young people book it. From what I understand, it's a totally different experience than a main stream cruise line.

 

I have a feeling you're gonna find the same sort of "crowding" on RCCL that you found on Princess. Most of their ships are of the larger variety, and when you carry a lot of passengers, you are bound to get bottlenecks for things like the pools and the jacuzzis ... especially on sea days when everyone is using those facilities.

 

Blue skies and thanks for the review!

 

--rita

[lahoban]

Thanks for your review we are sailing on her in April. Last year we did the Carnival Miracle western cruise at spring break. It was a very young crowd. It also had 4 port's we stopped at. We were going, going all the time. Very little time just sitting around. We are in our fourties with teens and spring break was fine. We never saw any of the terrible thing's people write about on our ship. We did hear about alot of stuff happening on the Royal Caribbean ship's though. Don't give up on cruising you just have to find the right line.

 

Oh we are not big drinkers, my husband does not even drink. We usually vacation at Disney World every year. Not into partying and Carnival was great nothing like what we had heard about Carnival. I'm sure we will love Princess also. I can't wait.