Caribbean P Jan 9 to Mar 13 live review/updates

[cltnccruisers]

3 minutes ago, phabric said:

I had read Celebrity is also lifting mask mandate

I haven't found masks to be much of a problem but sure would like to see the 48 hour testing requirement either removed or extended.  Not holding my breath for that one.

[SAKay]

We will be sailing on the Caribbean Princess in May 2022.  I'm looking at making our dinner reservations on the App.  We would like a private table for the two of us, in the same dining room each night, same time, same wait staff if that is at all possible.  The App is offering me Coral Dining room or Island Dining room.  Do you have a preference for which dining room?  Does anyone have any info on which to choose for what we would like?  Has anyone been able to keep the same table and same staff for your entire cruise?  Thanks very much for any info you can give ! 

[cltnccruisers]

26 minutes ago, SAKay said:

We will be sailing on the Caribbean Princess in May 2022.  I'm looking at making our dinner reservations on the App.  We would like a private table for the two of us, in the same dining room each night, same time, same wait staff if that is at all possible.  The App is offering me Coral Dining room or Island Dining room.  Do you have a preference for which dining room?  Does anyone have any info on which to choose for what we would like?  Has anyone been able to keep the same table and same staff for your entire cruise?  Thanks very much for any info you can give ! 

We have 7 members of the family scattered across 3 cabins on Caribbean in March.  I used the app to include them in my booking as travel companions.  This allowed me, theoretically, to reserve a private table for all of us every night.  We'll see if that works.  

[Waynetor]

The Coral and Island dining rooms have the same layout so no real difference which you eat in.  Only diff is part of Coral is used for Club Class passengers.

 

The staff serve the same tables all week so if you have a table reserved you with have the same table and same staff.

 

If you do not get a reservation pre boarding, you can make one on ship.

[Luckiestmanonearth]

10 hours ago, SAKay said:

We will be sailing on the Caribbean Princess in May 2022.  I'm looking at making our dinner reservations on the App.  We would like a private table for the two of us, in the same dining room each night, same time, same wait staff if that is at all possible.  The App is offering me Coral Dining room or Island Dining room.  Do you have a preference for which dining room?  Does anyone have any info on which to choose for what we would like?  Has anyone been able to keep the same table and same staff for your entire cruise?  Thanks very much for any info you can give ! 

we were on the Jan 23rd sailing and in advance, I tried to book alternate nights in each of the Island and Coral dining rooms just to get a bit of variety.  I didn’t realize menu was basically the same

 

However when we got onboard, I noticed they switched us to the Island dining room for the entire cruise .  Not sure why but it worked out ok

Edited February 11, 2022 by Luckiestmanonearth

[auntem]

On 2/8/2022 at 9:26 PM, Waynetor said:

Answer for depth of Terrace pool - 5 ft 2in.  Due to the Skywalkers part of the ship being above the pool, it is often shaded.

 

We did not get off last week in Jamaica, but I heard from others that they did private tours.  I've done tours there in the past so next week will likely just do a hike of some kind.  Other than shopping I don't think there is a lot to see near the port.

 

We are about half done this voyage, no matter how long the trip, time does keep moving. 

 

Today at trivia with about 15 teams we were part of a 7 way tie with 17 right answers.  Then we were part of a 4 way tie after 1st tie breaker but lost on how many movies Elvis made.  Never had a game like that. 

 

[auntem]

Thank you for the additional information about the pools ! I think we will try them all 😀

 

Hope you have continued good luck ( and skill ) with the trivia , it is fun to have such tight competitions . 

 

Enjoy the 2nd half of your cruise. We are enjoying your posts. 

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by auntem

[philv]

Been watching Olympics on Sport 24 in cabin at night. It’s fine but would like program guide. What I find on internet has times for Great Britain, doesn’t help for on board. But I’m happy to catch a bit before bed each night. All good. 😉

[sns1]

Anyone on board right now have an idea of how many passengers will be on the ship for the February 13th sailing?

[Waynetor]

Sunday’s (13^th) passenger count is expected to be around 1,100.  This was as of a couple weeks ago so some change expected but not major.  Of this weeks passengers, 231 are staying on which is around 20% which is common on East/West Caribbean voyages.

 

We had a very good weather week.  In St. Thomas I walked to the Marriot Hotel (seen on the coast as enter port).  It is a good hike up and down hill with little to no room at side of the road.

 

It was mentioned at the captain circle party that the Caribbean P was out of passenger service for 608 days.  Currently there are 199 elite, 277 platinum members and over 400 first time cruisers on the ship so Princess seems to be doing reasonably well drawing new guest.  The top 3 most travelled were the same 3 as last week.

 

I’ve noticed in the last 2 weeks that it is becoming much more common to have people join with strangers to create trivia teams.  When we first got on the ship this was discouraged but now, they just say teams limited to 6 members.  We continue to eat just as a couple and play trivia the same way.

 

All shows in the theatre were cancelled tonight due to sound system issues but they did add a movie with the 1 speaker that they had working.

 

I have the patter for Sunday and it shows the Super Bowl being shown in Club Fushion, Churchill Lounge, MUTs, casino and in cabin.  No pregame show and no commercials as seen on US TVs.

[PacnGoNow]

15 hours ago, Waynetor said:

Sunday’s (13^th) passenger count is expected to be around 1,100.  This was as of a couple weeks ago so some change expected but not major.  Of this weeks passengers, 231 are staying on which is around 20% which is common on East/West Caribbean voyages.

 

We had a very good weather week.  In St. Thomas I walked to the Marriot Hotel (seen on the coast as enter port).  It is a good hike up and down hill with little to no room at side of the road.

 

It was mentioned at the captain circle party that the Caribbean P was out of passenger service for 608 days.  Currently there are 199 elite, 277 platinum members and over 400 first time cruisers on the ship so Princess seems to be doing reasonably well drawing new guest.  The top 3 most travelled were the same 3 as last week.

 

I’ve noticed in the last 2 weeks that it is becoming much more common to have people join with strangers to create trivia teams.  When we first got on the ship this was discouraged but now, they just say teams limited to 6 members.  We continue to eat just as a couple and play trivia the same way.

 

All shows in the theatre were cancelled tonight due to sound system issues but they did add a movie with the 1 speaker that they had working.

 

I have the patter for Sunday and it shows the Super Bowl being shown in Club Fushion, Churchill Lounge, MUTs, casino and in cabin.  No pregame show and no commercials as seen on US TVs.

Waynetor,  Does it always take almost an hour for the turnaround, like today?

Seems this is the longest turnaround I’ve been on.  TIA

[JF - retired RRT]

2 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Waynetor,  Does it always take almost an hour for the turnaround, like today?

Seems this is the longest turnaround I’ve been on.  TIA

That's nothing...we did a turnaround in FLL about 4-5 years ago. There were only 4 B2Bers. We got off the ship, walked thru passport check and were escorted to a "holding" area in the middle of nothing. No chairs, no food...nothing. We waited there for about 1 1/2 hours before someone finally showed up and led us to the boarding area. Apparently, there was a problem zeroing the ship.

[capriccio]

2 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

That's nothing...we did a turnaround in FLL about 4-5 years ago. There were only 4 B2Bers. We got off the ship, walked thru passport check and were escorted to a "holding" area in the middle of nothing. No chairs, no food...nothing. We waited there for about 1 1/2 hours before someone finally showed up and led us to the boarding area. Apparently, there was a problem zeroing the ship.

We had the same problem in FLL years ago only there were 800 B2Bers waiting in that holding area for more than an hour all because one couple followed neither the written directions nor the constant paging.  When they were escorted in quite publicly and, no doubt, intentionally on the part of the crew they were lucky there wasn't a riot.   Hopefully given that the Medallion can hunt you down, that should be a thing of the past.

[PacnGoNow]

4 hours ago, capriccio said:

We had the same problem in FLL years ago only there were 800 B2Bers waiting in that holding area for more than an hour all because one couple followed neither the written directions nor the constant paging.  When they were escorted in quite publicly and, no doubt, intentionally on the part of the crew they were lucky there wasn't a riot.   Hopefully given that the Medallion can hunt you down, that should be a thing of the past.

Yes, just wondering if it takes that long every time on these 7 night b2b’s or if it’s clearing the ship that’s the problem.  We went through super fast

and then just sat in the Elite lounge. 

Waynetor would know.

 

[PacnGoNow]

4 hours ago, capriccio said:

We had the same problem in FLL years ago only there were 800 B2Bers waiting in that holding area for more than an hour all because one couple followed neither the written directions nor the constant paging.  When they were escorted in quite publicly and, no doubt, intentionally on the part of the crew they were lucky there wasn't a riot.   Hopefully given that the Medallion can hunt you down, that should be a thing of the past.

Yes, just wondering if it takes that long every time on these 7 night b2b’s or if it’s clearing the ship that’s the problem.  We went through super fast

and then just sat in the Elite lounge. 

Waynetor would know.

 

[PacnGoNow]

4 hours ago, capriccio said:

We had the same problem in FLL years ago only there were 800 B2Bers waiting in that holding area for more than an hour all because one couple followed neither the written directions nor the constant paging.  When they were escorted in quite publicly and, no doubt, intentionally on the part of the crew they were lucky there wasn't a riot.   Hopefully given that the Medallion can hunt you down, that should be a thing of the past.

Yes, just wondering if it takes that long every time on these 7 night b2b’s or if it’s clearing the ship that’s the problem.  We went through super fast

and then just sat in the Elite lounge. 

Waynetor would know.

 

[Waynetor]

The way the turnaround has been working is those doing B2B meet in the deck 5 dining room at 9am.  The person in charge will get a message at some point that they can start escorting us off.  This has averaged to be 9:10 - 9:15. Once in the terminal, immigration uses a facial recognition screen that compares your face with the passport photo from original checkin.  If a pass you go to a hold area on the second floor.  You need to take your passport but usually don't need it.  Today both of us got a message to see agent even though we used different machines.  The agent just checked our passport photo against our face and we were free to continue with the process.  I've no idea what the issue was but guess it had to do with time since original scan at embarkation. Once up in the hold area it becomes a wait for the signal to be allowed back on.  Part of the wait would be making sure not only that everyone checked out off the ship but also that everyone passed the immigration check.  I don't know what else is going on in the background, but this wait has been in the 20 - 30 min average.   

 

For todays process the In Transit card we received in the cabin had a group code on it.  This was used only to call those in the dining room by group so that there was not a rush at one time. From the hold area wheelchairs get back on first but I don't think the group codes were used for the reboarding.  

 

As you leave the hold area your medallion is scanned and you are then ready to go. Being 1 of the first back on, I'm not sure how long it takes to 'ding' evryone but should not be too long. ; 

    

[Waynetor]

Last night I checked the Ft. Lauderdale weather forecast - sunny with clouds in afternoon and chance of late rain.  Reality - rain from when we got up until around 10am and mostly cloudy with just a bit of sun in afternoon.

 

Around 10:30 the Island P entered the channel and docked at the pier next to us.  I did not see anyone on her or any action going on during the time I was observing her.  Not sure when she left but was gone and out of sight when we set sail around 4:30. We were supposed to be on her right now as part of the world cruise but that was cancelled back in last August

 

Good crowd watching the Super Bowl in Club Fushion and at MUTS.  It's warmer now at sea than it was in Ft. Lauderdale,

[Waynetor]

Passenger count for this week is 1,137.  Will try to get an estimate for next week.

[CruisingAwayTheBucketList]

7 hours ago, capriccio said:

We had the same problem in FLL years ago only there were 800 B2Bers waiting in that holding area for more than an hour all because one couple followed neither the written directions nor the constant paging.  When they were escorted in quite publicly and, no doubt, intentionally on the part of the crew they were lucky there wasn't a riot.   Hopefully given that the Medallion can hunt you down, that should be a thing of the past.

Same here.  There were about 40-50 people in Ft Lauderdale fir B2B Caribbean cruises.  Sat in the holding area close to 2 hours waiting for 2 couples.  First ones out were an older couple and people booed them pretty bad.  Second was a young couple in the low 20s coming down the escalator with wet hair and wearing pajamas.  People not only booed but yelled and screamed at them.  The crew had to calm everyone down.  Then they took the couple to another area and let everyone else on. Saw the young couple afterward on the ship and even a few days later if some  of the B2Bers saw them they they loudly make comments so there’s could hear them.  Hopefully they learned a lesson but probably not.  Some people just don’t care about anyone but themselves.

[Waynetor]

With the medallions cases of long delays due to missing people should go away.  

 

Princess tries to be polite but for disembarking passengers they announce "All coloured tags have now been called and all passengers MAY now disembark.  This should be MUST.  Same for in transit - they say they passengers should go to the meeting location instead of MUST go.  

[Luckiestmanonearth]

Hope everyone enjoyed watching the fixed Super Bowl

[Thrak]

7 hours ago, cltnccruisers said:

qouits - that's closed horseshoes?  

 

It is braided rings that are tossed and meant to be landed with the target post inside of them. I actually landed 2 of three on one cruise. Although I have had a range of "champagne" from winning contests or competitions on Princess cruises we have always been able to drink the bottle even though it has been "sub-optimal" quality. The bottle I won for this activity was beyond the pale. I took a sip and than asked my wife for an opinion. We dumped it down the sink. Of course that is no reflection on the competition. I've done it three times. I won once and was absolutely abysmal at it the other two times.

[caribill]

3 hours ago, CruisingAwayTheBucketList said:

 Sat in the holding area close to 2 hours waiting for 2 couples.

 

2 hours ago, Waynetor said:

With the medallions cases of long delays due to missing people should go away.  

 

 

But it did not go away for CruisingAwayTheBucketList.

[PacnGoNow]

9 hours ago, CruisingAwayTheBucketList said:

Same here.  There were about 40-50 people in Ft Lauderdale fir B2B Caribbean cruises.  Sat in the holding area close to 2 hours waiting for 2 couples.  First ones out were an older couple and people booed them pretty bad.  Second was a young couple in the low 20s coming down the escalator with wet hair and wearing pajamas.  People not only booed but yelled and screamed at them.  The crew had to calm everyone down.  Then they took the couple to another area and let everyone else on. Saw the young couple afterward on the ship and even a few days later if some  of the B2Bers saw them they they loudly make comments so there’s could hear them.  Hopefully they learned a lesson but probably not.  Some people just don’t care about anyone but themselves.

That’s terrible. When was that?