Caribbean Princess.....Just back

[floridalover5623]

Thanks for your honest report

 

Sounds like the rough towels first introduced on the Royal Princess have made their way to the Caribbean Princess.

 

Princess found out that those tougher towels probable last for years in comparison to the old ones and besides that, no one would ever want to put one in their suitcase as a souvenir. :D

[mickrory]

Interesting comments. We're Elite on Princess and traveling on Emerald in September but our following two cruises we've booked with HAL and Celebrity due to Princess nickel and diming practices.

 

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[teachingforme]

We were on the same cruise as OP, we agree with everything said. Plus our AC liked to stop working in the middle of the night. We felt the engines surge many times and we were mid ship on Baja deck. Also, only news channels were live. No cartoons for our 6 year old to watch while waiting for us to get ready. He (6 year old) did love the safety video he watched it daily.

[moki'smommy]

Wow! That's very different than our experience on the same ship in April. We had been upgraded to a window suite, so it was our first suite experience. Maybe that made the difference.

We had no smell problems. Good towels (I was expecting thin and scratchy). Sandwiches at the IC were not as much meat as I might like in some cases, but not bad. Planks and Steamers for a charge was only at dinner--didn't try it. At lunch it was good! Pizza awful. Definitely had butter with our lobster and found the food in CC to be really good overall. Only MDR complaint was that we asked to have desert sent to our room one night and it never arrived. Same request a night or two previously worked perfectly.

 

Fake Alaska was that way in 2015--fire hazard.

 

Internet was slow and painful. There are plenty of places in St. Maarten with free internet! No need to pay roaming. We found free drink coupons in our cabin on day 3 as a "sorry" for no TV service. As we hadn't turned on the TV, we hadn't noticed!

 

Shows--not good, but that's been PRincess for years. Voice of the Ocean was good. Variety acts--quite decent. MUTS--sound so low that we couldn't hear it on one movie and it went "in and out" on a second one. We left during the second.

 

Looks like things vary from week to week. Thanks for reporting!

[RMM34667]

I was on the same cruise. I had a great time but agree with the comments. Sewage smells on deck 7 outside the casino as well as by the pool. It wasn't one time or one day. Noticed both multiple times.

 

Food was subpar (my 14th Princess cruise and 4th on the CB).

 

Staff was great. Each and every staff person I encountered was friendly and happy to provide service.

 

Other guests were something else. Although I met some truly amazing (nice) people way too many were not. Difficult traveling with TWO people with mobility issues on its own but when you have healthy men racing to board an elevator in front of an 84 year old woman struggling to walk.. it was depressing. Of course this is not a Princess issue simply pointing it out.

 

Can't comment on the entertainment as the slot machines were my entertainment all week.

 

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[nukesubsailor]

Over the years I have read many posts about plumbing problems and sewage smells. In over 30 Princess cruises we have been fortunate in that we have not experiences those problems.

I am curious as to what some cruise ship engineer would know about what percentage of these plumbing/sewage problems are caused by passengers flushing things that the sewage system is not designed to handle. Perhaps Princess needs to do a better job of educating passengers about the limitations of a shipboard sewage system.

[Stevanb]

This was more than likely our last cruise with Princess, they are now a nickel and dime the passenger company, in fact we are cancelling our Mediterranean cruise next year on the Emerald Princess and going with Holland America instead. We had a great cruise on the HAL Eurodam in March and that ship looks like it's brand new and is almost as old as the CP, we have sailed with HAL19 times. Here in the states we will sail with HAL, MSC and RCCL

 

 

We sail on Holland the last three times and NEVER again . Have sailed on every cruise line out there

[moki'smommy]

 

I am curious as to what some cruise ship engineer would know about what percentage of these plumbing/sewage problems are caused by passengers flushing things that the sewage system is not designed to handle. Perhaps Princess needs to do a better job of educating passengers about the limitations of a shipboard sewage system.

On our Japan cruise on the Diamond, we had a toilet back up on day 1. The plumber who was called explained that most issues are caused by passengers flushing things that shouldn't be flushed, and even told us of finding a t-shirt in the pipes once. He also said that it doesn't mean it happened in your cabin, but that any cabin nearby connected to that pipe could be the issue and that the first day was always the worst (do people flush things they don't want to take home???) On our April 2018 cruise, there was a sign by the toilet requesting that we flush nothing but TP and body waste. I guess that's education.

[myfuzzy]

On our April 2018 cruise' date=' there was a sign by the toilet requesting that we flush nothing but TP and body waste. I guess that's education.[/quote']

 

It's pretty good, when, in today's society, hopefully well educated, culturally educated people have to be told how to use a toilet. If the ships plumbers are finding all sorts of personal items in the pipes, the local plumbers in their cities must be making a good buck off them if they do the same at home......OHHHHH, they don't have to PAY for plumbers on the ships......

[VaCruzers]

Sorry the OP had an experience that didn't meet expectations. We were onboard for May 26th sailing and experienced none of the same issues that OP described. We look forward to being back onboard again in September.

[myfuzzy]

Sorry the OP had an experience that didn't meet expectations. We were onboard for May 26th sailing and experienced none of the same issues that OP described. We look forward to being back onboard again in September.

 

We are on the 8th

[floridalover5623]

We've always found the food on the Carib Princess to be only so-so compared to the Regal & Royal.

It's OK but definitely nothing to rave about.

I guess you get spoiled by the better ships.

[kywildcatfanone]

We've always found the food on the Carib Princess to be only so-so compared to the Regal & Royal.

It's OK but definitely nothing to rave about.

I guess you get spoiled by the better ships.

 

Probably my ignorance, but why would the food be different from one ship to another? Doesn't all the food for the entire line come from the same sources, and are prepared the same way across all ships?

[Eschie]

I was on the May 26th cruise and had a wonderful time. My family (includes two teenagers) didn't want to leave! My 18 year old loved the magician and we enjoyed the "game show" nights. The food in the MDR was fine. We had breadsticks and enough butter every night. Made to order omlettes in the Buffet were good and we loved to fix a plate of olives, cheese and fruit to have on our balcony with a bottle of champagne most late afternoons. I thought the ship was beautiful and didn't encounter any "smells". We spent one afternoon in the Sanctuary and had great service, ordered from the "spa" menu and had afternoon tea. Take me back!

[NoWhiners]

Probably my ignorance, but why would the food be different from one ship to another? Doesn't all the food for the entire line come from the same sources, and are prepared the same way across all ships?

 

I guess the explanation is the chef's and how things are prepared. One example--we were on CB a few years ago, no problem getting my meat cooked rare, either MDR or buffet. On Royal in April/May, all the meat was waaay over-cooked. Lots of us wandering around looking for rare meat in the buffet. And this was for large prime rib, roast beef, other big pieces of meat that are easy to cook to at least some variation in temperature. And they wouldn't cut a slice from the middle, no matter how much you begged.

 

MDR was worse. I tried to get lamb and beef filet (on a skewer) rare, and was told "no, it gets cooked one way". The lamb was OK, not great. The "filet" was inedible. I told the waiter the chef should be ashamed for sending meat out that way.

 

So, even though they all get the same food, I think prep and cooking makes a big difference. And a little bad attitude (can only cook meat one way--really??) helps too:D

[fishywood]

Probably my ignorance, but why would the food be different from one ship to another? Doesn't all the food for the entire line come from the same sources, and are prepared the same way across all ships?

 

Were it only that simple...

 

Yes the ship's larders are stock from pretty much identically sourced container shipments no matter where in the world the ship is deployed. But usage and preparation of said foodstuffs is entirely up to the staff on each ship.

 

Newer ships will have better laid out and more up to date galleys, especially for the buffet areas (cf Royal and Regal). Older ships that do not have the most up to date facilities will also have a matching not-the-most-up-to-date roster of galley crew.

 

And each ship's F&B officers have latitude as to how the food budget is allocated. Sometimes this is dictated by itinerary: a longer cruise with more sea days means more days the MDR will be open for lunch. So funds from elsewhere in the budget have to be shifted to that service. Could result in anything from less variety at the International Cafe to not having shrimp cocktail in the 'Princess Favorites' every night. Or just the chef's or Maitre d's preferences: if the MDR menu features a decent steak (other than the nebulous 'medallions of beef') more than once in a seven night cruise (once on the first formal night menu, again the night that Surf & Turf is served) then other cuts of meat will suffer (ie leg of lamb rather than lamb chops).

 

Again I will point out that Caribbean Princess is a bit anomalous due to the buffet's rebrand as 'World Fresh Marketplace' which has turned out to be an emperor with no clothes--just a cover for cutting back on quality, which has cascaded throughout dining onboard that ship. Seems that CB's budget is dedicated to keeping the new upcharge options operating even when getting no takers--an unavoidable fixed cost that has failed to pay for itself by those new revenue "opportunities" :rolleyes:

[floridalover5623]

Probably my ignorance, but why would the food be different from one ship to another? Doesn't all the food for the entire line come from the same sources, and are prepared the same way across all ships?

The chefs and their cooking facilities can make a huge difference in the final product served to the people in both the buffet & main DR,

even with both ships having access to the same exact ingredients.

We found that out the first time we sailed a Royal class ship.

The difference is like night & day.

[suzyed]

Princess found out that those tougher towels probable last for years in comparison to the old ones and besides that, no one would ever want to put one in their suitcase as a souvenir. :D

You may have something there! But I find that once I get the drapes and bedspread in my suitcase there is just no room for the towels! :cool:

 

 

PS: I didn't think the towels were that bad and the new robes are a vast improvement...

[suzyed]

Sorry the OP had an experience that didn't meet expectations. We were onboard for May 26th sailing and experienced none of the same issues that OP described. We look forward to being back onboard again in September.

We were on that sailing too....it was great! No problems!

[cheggy]

Sorry the OP had an experience that didn't meet expectations. We were onboard for May 26th sailing and experienced none of the same issues that OP described. We look forward to being back onboard again in September.

Debbie, you give me hope. We are sailing first week of July on this ship and I'm getting concerned about all these posts.

[caribill]

I was on the same cruise. I had a great time but agree with the comments. Sewage smells on deck 7 outside the casino as well as by the pool. It wasn't one time or one day. Noticed both multiple times.

What was the response from the staff when you notified them about the smell?

[Host CJSKIDS]

You may have something there! But I find that once I get the drapes and bedspread in my suitcase there is just no room for the towels! :cool:

 

 

PS: I didn't think the towels were that bad and the new robes are a vast improvement...

 

:D:D I enjoyed this one!!

[sandybeaches44]

Gosh, hate to hear this!

 

We had a WONDERFUL time on CB for 14 days in January (2018). :)

 

 

We were on the same cruise and had a great time too. We met in the Princess elite boarding lounge. It was our first elite cruise.

 

Sandi

[happiness is cruising]

Quick question..are they now charging for ice cream cones???

[lola2013]

Quick question..are they now charging for ice cream cones???

 

Ice cream cones were free in March...the ice cream sandwiches were about $3 each...but worth every penny!