Review for Caribbean Princess, 8 day Southern Caribbean, May 11-19

[floridalover5623]

As mentioned, the tour is 150, which is expensive, but is the best tour I've done. It does fill up fast though and as stated, has a limited amount of slots.

 

 

A note I forgot to add re: the heat, but a comment reminded me. The duvet is quite warm, so skip it! We asked for a blanket, which my wife used and I just used the sheet. Much lighter then the duvet

If the tour is that popular they should be offering it every day so many more people can experience it.

Why limit it to only a dozen or so?

[Joanne G.]

My best guess on why the tour is so limited in size and done only once during a cruise is because it causes a disruption in the busy work days of the officers and staff who took part in showing us these behind the scenes areas of the ship.

 

We were actually wondering why they do it at all. 11 people at $150 is $1650, and the tour takes about 3 hours. Does $1650 even cover the cost of the time of the head nurse who showed us the medical center, several members of the entertainment staff who took us backstage at the theater, the man in charge of the laundry, the officers on the bridge and in the mooring area, the two men running the print shop, the sous chef who took us through the galley, the chief photographer who showed us his shop as well as the photographer who accompanied us throughout the tour to take group photos, the officers in the engine control room, the bartender who served us drinks at the end of the tour, the assistant cruise director who led the tour, and the security officer who was with us every second? We figured it was more a PR activity than a money-making activity for the cruise line.

 

As for limiting the number of people, I imagine that is simply because, for the most part, these areas of the ship just can't accommodate a bigger group.

Edited May 24, 2018 by Joanne G.
additional thought

[floridalover5623]

My best guess on why the tour is so limited in size and done only once during a cruise is because it causes a disruption in the busy work days of the officers and staff who took part in showing us these behind the scenes areas of the ship.

 

We were actually wondering why they do it at all. 11 people at $150 is $1650, and the tour takes about 3 hours. Does $1650 even cover the cost of the time of the head nurse who showed us the medical center, several members of the entertainment staff who took us backstage at the theater, the man in charge of the laundry, the officers on the bridge and in the mooring area, the two men running the print shop, the sous chef who took us through the galley, the chief photographer who showed us his shop as well as the photographer who accompanied us throughout the tour to take group photos, the officers in the engine control room, the bartender who served us drinks at the end of the tour, the assistant cruise director who led the tour, and the security officer who was with us every second? We figured it was more a PR activity than a money-making activity for the cruise line.

 

As for limiting the number of people, I imagine that is simply because, for the most part, these areas of the ship just can't accommodate a bigger group.

If Princess wasn't making money on this tour you can bet it would be gone in a flash.:rolleyes:

[OttawaJohn]

My guess as to why is they are proud of the ship and their operations and want to show it off :)

 

 

One other note, you get gifts for participating as well, from the departments. Not all, we didn't get anything from the med center :) But you can get a free robe, photo frame, stationarey, ec.

[caribill]

My best guess on why the tour is so limited in size and done only once during a cruise is because it causes a disruption in the busy work days of the officers and staff who took part in showing us these behind the scenes areas of the ship.

We were on two other cruise lines where this type tour was offered multiple times on multiple days (at a lower cost, but without the "gifts"). When offered once a cruise like it is on Princess, it is special to the staff involved with the tour and in most cases involves the department heads. When given multiple times like on the other cruise lines it appeared to be an annoying interruption to the staff involved since they had to do it multiple times on multiple days. When on the bridge on the other cruise lines the Captain's talk had no enthusiasm in it at all and probably could have been delivered if talking in his sleep.

 

We were actually wondering why they do it at all. 11 people at $150 is $1650, and the tour takes about 3 hours. Does $1650 even cover the cost of the time of the head nurse who showed us the medical center, several members of the entertainment staff who took us backstage at the theater, the man in charge of the laundry, the officers on the bridge and in the mooring area, the two men running the print shop, the sous chef who took us through the galley, the chief photographer who showed us his shop as well as the photographer who accompanied us throughout the tour to take group photos, the officers in the engine control room, the bartender who served us drinks at the end of the tour, the assistant cruise director who led the tour, and the security officer who was with us every second? These personnel are being paid the same if the tour existed or did not exist. The only costs to Princess were any refreshments and the "gifts" which I am sure were well covered by the cost of the tour. We figured it was more a PR activity than a money-making activity for the cruise line.

 

As for limiting the number of people, I imagine that is simply because, for the most part, these areas of the ship just can't accommodate a bigger group.

 

What is interesting is how some of the procedures differed on the different cruise lines.

Princess:

No photos allowed except on the Bridge. Could take a camera, just could not use it except on the Bridge.

 

Carnival:

Could not take along a camera or cell phone. These were collected by staff at the start of the tour. Had to go through a metal detector to make sure you had no hidden phone or camera (or any dangerous metal object).

 

Celebrity:

Under what to bring in the tour description: Camera. Photos were allowed and encouraged at every stop including the engine control room.

 

[OttawaJohn]

Last time I did an NCL behind the scenes they allowed photography

 

 

Disney said they had no similar tours

[geoherb]

Thanks for posting your review. We finally got to go on the Ultimate Ship's Tour in February on the Regal. It was great. In our case, we were the second and third names on the wait list. They ended up getting enough people to do two tours. We were in the second group, so we got to linger a long time on the bridge. All of the staff members were great, talking proudly about their departments.

 

Most of the time, it's easy to tell which nights will be formal night--the night of your first full day at sea and then another day at sea but never the last night. If you're on an itinerary without a suitable sea day, then the formal night will be one evening when you have an earlier departure from a port.

[PoohUnderstands]

We will be on the Caribbean Princess in late July. I am slightly concerned about the comments about coolness in the cabins. I mean my DH and I are very into cool. Not a small consideration to us. Should I be overly concerned or just make it a point to immediately call GS to ask for maintenance to fix? Grin.

 

Pooh

[Joanne G.]

I can only speak for our cabin was a mini-suite in the back section of deck 9 on the port side. On embarkation day, we could feel a warmer temperature even in the hallway as we approached our cabin from mid-ship. As I said, there was an improvement after calling guest services, but for the entire cruise the control was set on the coldest setting, and it was never as cool as we would like. We were OK with the public areas of the ship being warmer than we have encountered on other cruises. We don't like what feels frigid to us in dining rooms and lounges. When in the tropics, we don't want to carry a sweatshirt around the ship.

 

But the cabin - that was a problem, made worse by those duvets which I hate. As someone else mentioned, you can request a blanket, which may or may not be any better. We tried sleeping with only the sheet, but then eventually during the night we would wake up a little chilly. I know, I know - we are hard to please! I longed for the open-weave cotton blanket that I use at home in the summer. In the middle of one night, I swore I was going to pack it for my next cruise. All cruise lines seem to use the duvets, which as far as I am concerned should only be on cruises in Antarctica.

 

I have no idea if our cabin temp was an isolated and/or a temporary problem. I hope you don't encounter the same issue. We coped, but we wish it hadn't happened.

[OttawaJohn]

The temperature is a concern. I mentioned it to the front desk, they sent a maintance man but nothing semed to come of it that we noticed, though Joanne G indicates it worked better for her.

 

 

The blanket was a nice, light one that my wife liked. She likes some weight on her while she sleeps, why the sheet wouldn't work for her. But the blanket helped. And I found the sheet sufficent for me, but I generate a lot of warmth under the covers, so maybe not the best comparison :)

 

 

If doing a balcony room, closing the curtains can help keep the cool in and the sun out, which helps. I'm not sure if insinde would be different as well.

[AF-1]

so the air problem in your cabin was never fixed on your cruise? I assume you had the AC cranked all the way down; and it still was warm in the cabin. Is that correct?

[floridalover5623]

so the air problem in your cabin was never fixed on your cruise? I assume you had the AC cranked all the way down; and it still was warm in the cabin. Is that correct?

There are certain cabins on some of Princess's ships that have unfix-able AC problems due to ship design.

We found two cabins on the Emerald Princess a few years ago (guaranteed cabins) and just last year heard that those same cabins still have unresolved problems.

I'm convinced that they just try their best to fix the problems & hope that people won't complain.

We've been fortunate enough not to run across anything on the CP.

[Mackenzie1]

I'm hoping that Princess didn't change the temperature controls at it's last dry dock so that the rooms can't be cooled down below 75 degrees. Such a change might save them money, but not being cool enough, especially during warm weather cruises, would be a disappointment.

[1emerald1]

There are certain cabins on some of Princess's ships that have unfix-able AC problems due to ship design.

We found two cabins on the Emerald Princess a few years ago (guaranteed cabins) and just last year heard that those same cabins still have unresolved problems.

I'm convinced that they just try their best to fix the problems & hope that people won't complain.

We've been fortunate enough not to run across anything on the CP.

Do you know which cabins they are?

[floridalover5623]

Do you know which cabins they are?

C327 and C330.

I was told that both cabins have something of a cooling duct for the engine room that go past the cabin wall. It adds heat to the cabin and even though the AC was working at max all the time with the drapes closed both day & night it couldn't get the cabin cool enough.

 

We were first in cabin C327 for 3 days while the made numerous attempts to correct it.

When they finally changed us to cabin C330 and I though our problem was solved only to find out that it was identically just as hot. :(

 

They moved us once more and after the final cabin change (E718) our cabin was cool enough to sleep. This was back in 2013 and since then the ship has been in dry dock & I read again on CC that the same cabin (C327) still has the same problem.

 

I suspect that both these cabins are held back as guarantee cabins and not used unless necessary and they hope the people they stick in there won't complain to loudly.

[1emerald1]

C327 and C330.

I was told that both cabins have something of a cooling duct for the engine room that go past the cabin wall. It adds heat to the cabin and even though the AC was working at max all the time with the drapes closed both day & night it couldn't get the cabin cool enough.

 

We were first in cabin C327 for 3 days while the made numerous attempts to correct it.

When they finally changed us to cabin C330 and I though our problem was solved only to find out that it was identically just as hot. :(

 

They moved us once more and after the final cabin change (E718) our cabin was cool enough to sleep. This was back in 2013 and since then the ship has been in dry dock & I read again on CC that the same cabin (C327) still has the same problem.

 

I suspect that both these cabins are held back as guarantee cabins and not used unless necessary and they hope the people they stick in there won't complain to loudly.

Wow, thanks for the info, good to know. I can't believe you had to change cabins 3 times!! I would have been pretty upset.

[floridalover5623]

Wow, thanks for the info, good to know. I can't believe you had to change cabins 3 times!! I would have been pretty upset.

I was just happy to finally get a cabin that had AC that could cool the cabin down. I was ready to start sleeping in the Piazza on a couch with my pillow.

[HaveDogWillTravel]

We were on the Caribbean Princess April 1. The TV was mounted on the wall and had the "on demand" feature.

 

I'm surprised that OP found the cabins to be large after cruising on DCL. A Disney cabin is significantly larger than a Princess cabin. For instance' date=' DCL normal balcony cabins are 268 sq. ft. compared to 222 on Princess (both including balcony.) It may not sound like a lot, but we were surprised at how small Princess cabins seemed.[/quote']

Caribe (deck 10) cabins are 271 sq ft.