Review and thoughts of Caribbean Princess Panama Canal Cruise 2/16-2/16

[curlybelle2]

The first time I posted this it didn't show up, so here it is again...

 

 

 

Well wheredo I start?! First of all, I believe anytime you are on a cruise it’s a good time. What’s not to love about beingwaited on, good meals cooked for you and someone making your bed. We enjoyed our cruise and came home relaxedand refreshed. I will say if I could designa new ship, I would use the design of Caribbean Princess with its pool designand promenade deck, with the design of the Regals buffet.

 

 

Embarkment wasfast and easy. We had lunch in thebuffet and then went to meet our steward. Our steward was Dom, he was friendlyand very efficient. He did a wonderful job. Muster drill was also easy. No needto bring your life jackets, you just watched the staff demonstration.

 

 

CaribbeanPrincess was clean and in good shape. Ithought the ship looked well cared for, noticed the new carpet and updatesaround the ship. Our balcony was alsoclean. We had no problems with the flushing of toilet and no sewer smells. Iwill say that I did get a whiff of a funny smell couple mornings as I waswalking around deck 7. I would sail onCB again without hesitation.

 

 

Entertainmentwas wonderful on this cruise. I enjoyed the production shows. Thesinging and dancing were very good. I always look forward to the productionshows and they didn’t disappoint. Also Steve Moris was fantastic! He was sofunny. My husband really enjoyed him. Also a singer that did Broadway songs, I believehis name was Todd, was very good as well.

 

 

Main diningroom food was very good. We always found something we liked and enjoyed. I willsay the first night dinner was not very good. The prime rib was horrible. Itwas very fatty and hard to eat. I will never order their prime rib again. The other nights we ate in the MDR we werehappy with our choices. We did eat inthe Crown Grill one night, and wow was the food good! Super food and superservice. The burgers, fries and pizza were all delicious. I was surprised howgood their hamburgers were. The IC was my favorite! All the desserts arewonderful. Every time I went by the IC I had to stop and get something.

 

 

Now to the buffet…the buffet was a disappointment. The area is too small and the food options arelimited. Also the quality of the food is not good. The fruit and salad did lookvery fresh. We only ate a couple evenings in the buffet so maybe we just hitsome off nights. I am sorry to say that, but I have to be honest. The last cruise we were on was the Regal. TheRegal’s buffet is just superior to CB. Regal has a better layout and moreoptions available with much better quality.

 

 

Pools and promenadedeck on the CB are great! I really like the four different pools. I used thespa pool the most often. And of coursewho doesn’t like walking around the promenade deck!

 

 

Final thoughts...We did miss a port because of rough seas which was a disappointment but wetotally understand. We had a lot of sea days but the cruise director had funactivities for everyone. Also there was a medical evacuation with the US coast guard.Our prayers are with that family.

 

 

I will saythere was a lot of complaining from a lot of grumpy people on this cruise. Idon’t think people realize how they are coming across to others, but people youare on a cruise! Relax and be kind!

 

 

Thank you toeveryone for you hard work on the Caribbean Princess, you made our 10-day cruiseenjoyable!

Edited March 2, 2018 by curlybelle2
spelling mistakes

[KittyCatRya]

Hi! What port did you miss and was it replaced with another?

 

Thanks we are on the April 1 trip!!! Less than a month now!

[Lucky TGO]

Thanks for sharing.

Tony

[paul929207]

Thanks for the review

[curlybelle2]

Hi! What port did you miss and was it replaced with another?

 

Thanks we are on the April 1 trip!!! Less than a month now!

 

We missed Limon and they didn't add another port. I believe I heard other ports were not available.

[jean s]

My DH and I were on the same cruise and I agree that the ship was in great shape; clean, well cared for and nicely maintained. We enjoyed the Crown Grill, Sabatini's and Planks. We also really enjoyed the omelettes made to order in the buffet. I thought the entertainment was very good and attended most of the events. We loved the 50's and 60's dance party one night with the most wonderful group of folks we had met at dinner. It was outstanding! We danced, drank and laughed till very late.The highlight of the cruise was a tour we took through Princess in Cartegena, Columbia. It was a walking tour of the old town. A bus picked us up at the pier and took us to the old town. We would walk for a bit and then the bus would pick us up and drop us at the next spot. The tour guide was one of the best guides I have ever had in all of our trips. He knew so much about Cartegena and Columbia in general. His stories were both informative and entertaining. Interesting that throughout the trip which had beautiful weather and a lovely ship with great service there were still folks who complained about small stuff that was inconsequential. I just ignored the negativity and enjoyed a wonderfully relaxing and pleasant cruise.

[Clarea]

Thanks for the report.

[casofilia]

Now that is what I would call a short cruise

[EastBay Cruisers]

Thanks so much for your review ! We are booked on Princess to the Canal in Nov. 2018, so we look forward to reading all the reviews. -- EBC

[Keith1010]

Glad you enjoyed the cruise.

 

Thank you for writing a terrific report.

 

Keith

[erewhon]

Thank you for reviewing your cruise.

[geoherb]

Thanks for posting your review. It's great to read good reports about the Caribbean Princess in spite of the troubles it currently has. We've enjoyed all of our cruises on that ship. The arrangement of the buffet is much improved over what it used to be like. But our last two cruises were on the Royal and the Regal, so it may be hard to like buffets on other ships now.

[jennybenny]

We missed Limon and they didn't add another port. I believe I heard other ports were not available.

 

We would have been sad to miss that port, but understand you cannot control the weather. We want to see the sloth sanctuary there.

[miss prairie girl]

If you had a Princess excursion booked for Limon, would you have been charged?

[AF-1]

Great report. Thanks for sharing

[marco]

We were on in Jan . Agree with you about the buffet. Don't know if it's just that ship or overall on the line, but we were on the "Royal" last year and it was much, much more impressive. We missed Pricness Cay because of weather and winds.. That ended up being a sea day and the next day that should have been a sea day, we went to Ochos Rios. My only complaint was that the recorded music around the main pool was that it was SO loud, you had to SCREAM at the person sitting next to you. Several pax asked for it to be turned down, but it never was. All in all, it was a good cruise, but would have liked more time in Cartegena. We departed around noon or one..

[Woobstr112G]

OP;

Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts regarding your recent cruise.....:):):)

 

Bob

[KevintheIrishDJ]

We just got an offer for $749 for April 21, 10 day - Panama Canal - cruise!!!

[curlybelle2]

If you had a Princess excursion booked for Limon, would you have been charged?

 

Yes, we did have a excursion booked through Princess at Limon. We were not charged for that excursion.

[2 fromTn]

Hi! What port did you miss and was it replaced with another?

 

Thanks we are on the April 1 trip!!! Less than a month now!

 

We are also,on April 1st cruise...

Gary & Betty Evans from Tennessee.

Looking forward to a GREAT cruise.

Celebrating our 50th Anniversary.

[KittyCatRya]

We are also,on April 1st cruise...

Gary & Betty Evans from Tennessee.

Looking forward to a GREAT cruise.

Celebrating our 50th Anniversary.

 

 

Happy early Anniversary! Not long now till our trip... I counted today and I have 19 work days till we leave!