Carribean Princess review

[Towlie]

Cruise started with one luggage not arriving. Got a call at midnight , told to come out of cabin and see if it was mine- it was!

Could’ve waited til morning but oh well.

Mdr service very slow. They did a good job of serving up mystery beef that tasted good/was tender.

Entertainment was initially good, Madonna imitator was excellent but after four days- non existent!

For example, last night in show room was simply the ship band playing tunes.

Daughter got hamburger with a hair in it, then found MORE hair in it!

Worse problem might be the cockroaches - I saw one on the door of E522. Another cruiser told me they were in his room and also on another higher deck ( I forgot the deck).

The cruise was cheap ( $985 after all discounts for two), so that will temper my opinion of this cruise .

[MissP22]

Your post if the first time I've read about roaches on a Princess ship.

What did the head waiter say about the hair situation? I'm assuming it was in the DR where this occurred. 

[Towlie]

The hair was on burger from salty dog at pool.

Roach was on door in hallway

[Towlie]

[BamaVol]

51 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

Your post if the first time I've read about roaches on a Princess ship.

Me too.  I had assumed they were all eaten by the rats.

Edited June 3, 2023 by BamaVol

[MissP22]

Just now, BamaVol said:

Me too.  I had assumed they were all eaten by the rats.

They must spray like crazy every now & then. 

[BamaVol]

Just now, MissP22 said:

They must spray like crazy every now & then. 

Yes.  I was making light.  Cockroaches are very resourceful and virtually impossible to eradicate.  And, of course, it’s not like an apartment building where you can have your apartment treated so the roaches move next door. I always assumed there were roaches and rats on every ship I sailed, as well as a program designed to keep the populations in check and keep the survivors out of sight for the most part.  I live in Florida.  They are a fact of life.

[Towlie]

I have been on 44 cruises since 1998, this was first time I saw a roach. I don’t think all ships have roaches, if you see one roach, there’s likely hundreds more you don’t see.

Ships do get inspected and most pass without having cockroaches.

Edited June 3, 2023 by Towlie

[BamaVol]

2 hours ago, Towlie said:

I have been on 44 cruises since 1998, this was first time I saw a roach. I don’t think all ships have roaches, if you see one roach, there’s likely hundreds more you don’t see.

Ships do get inspected and most pass without having cockroaches.

Just because you don’t see roaches doesn’t mean they aren’t there. One = hundreds, none = zero isn’t likely. One may represent one. Zero could also represent hundreds. I think they’re everywhere. They thrive in the tropics. In fact they thrive everywhere. 

[Towlie]

I have been on 44 cruises since 1998, this was first time I saw a roach. I don’t think all ships have roaches, if you see one roach, there’s likely hundreds more you don’t see.

50 minutes ago, BamaVol said:

Just because you don’t see roaches doesn’t mean they aren’t there. One = hundreds, none = zero isn’t likely. One may represent one. Zero could also represent hundreds. I think they’re everywhere. They thrive in the tropics. In fact they thrive everywhere. 

You can brush off the significance of cockroaches all you want but  they can be eliminated and kept that way with pest control and cleanliness.

Cockroaches are not acceptable ,ask any health inspector and they’ll agree.

***** roaches were present on at least three different floors, the ship is infested.

If you have no problem with cockroaches, great, book a cruise on the Caribbean Princess. However, there are some people who expect a clean ship, free of cockroaches crawling around in their rooms and for those people, I suggest a different ship.

[cr8tiv1]

Not acceptable, but cockroaches are probably brought on by passengers from either home port of visiting ports.  They evade "security" x-ray machines.  I would prefer not to see one on a ship, but not surprised. The CB sails in tropical localities.

[MissP22]

16 hours ago, BamaVol said:

Yes.  I was making light.  Cockroaches are very resourceful and virtually impossible to eradicate.  And, of course, it’s not like an apartment building where you can have your apartment treated so the roaches move next door. I always assumed there were roaches and rats on every ship I sailed, as well as a program designed to keep the populations in check and keep the survivors out of sight for the most part.  I live in Florida.  They are a fact of life.

We live in Florida also so I know what you're talking about. We never see more than one at a time and only occasionally as they accidently get into the house.

We certainly don't have them breading indoors.

[SargassoPirate]

2 hours ago, MissP22 said:

We live in Florida also so I know what you're talking about. We never see more than one at a time and only occasionally as they accidently get into the house.

We certainly don't have them breading indoors.

A friend in South Carolina claims those aren't roaches, they're Carolina water bugs  

 

 

[Guest Cruisenewbie20181]

16 hours ago, Towlie said:

I have been on 44 cruises since 1998, this was first time I saw a roach. I don’t think all ships have roaches, if you see one roach, there’s likely hundreds more you don’t see.

You can brush off the significance of cockroaches all you want but  they can be eliminated and kept that way with pest control and cleanliness.

Cockroaches are not acceptable ,ask any health inspector and they’ll agree.

***** roaches were present on at least three different floors, the ship is infested.

If you have no problem with cockroaches, great, book a cruise on the Caribbean Princess. However, there are some people who expect a clean ship, free of cockroaches crawling around in their rooms and for those people, I suggest a different ship.

 

[Towlie]

1 hour ago, SargassoPirate said:

A friend in South Carolina claims those aren't roaches, they're Carolina water bugs  

 

 

The color of of the critter and long antennae indicate that it is a roach

[Guest Cruisenewbie20181]

I agree with you regarding cockroaches unacceptable. During a restaurant health inspection if roaches or rodent droppings are found it is a serious violation resulting in a warning and a follow up visit within 7- 10 days. So the question is what corrective action is Princess taking. It is possible that the roach was an isolated incident brought on by a passenger in or near cabin E522, but not likely if roaches observed elsewhere. 
This is very concerning to us because we are booked on Caribbean Princess cabin E524 in October. This will be our first Princess cruise.
on a side note we have lived in Florida for 12 years and never had a roach in our house.

[Guest Cruisenewbie20181]

My wife corrected me. We are not in E524!

[Towlie]

Roaches were seen on three different floors.

Before getting off ship, a passenger told me they were in his room and he complained to guest services . He said he and others also had plumbing issues in his room ( located on 10th floor, two above Emerald ( deck 8).

He said there was another higher deck that had them ( I forgot the deck).

The ship felt like it was lacking employees and if there aren’t enough employees to serve passengers, it’s logical to assume there are less employees to clean and run pest control.

[MissP22]

5 hours ago, Towlie said:

Roaches were seen on three different floors. Nasty. 

Before getting off ship, a passenger told me they were in his room and he complained to guest services . He said he and others also had plumbing issues in his room ( located on 10th floor, two above Emerald ( deck 8).

He said there was another higher deck that had them ( I forgot the deck).

The ship felt like it was lacking employees and if there aren’t enough employees to serve passengers, it’s logical to assume there are less employees to clean and run pest control.

Not that I know anything but somehow I suspect that they would have waited until they were back in port to use a professional pest service to deal with the problem.

 

[Towlie]

I doubt any cruise line uses any pest service, they most likely do it in house, either by ship employees or roving team that visits each ship.

[DavidsNana]

Very disturbing.  Have been on Caribbean Princess 4 times over the years.  It is one of my favorite ships.   Last time was first week of April.  Had two balcony cabins on Caribe deck.  Did not see or hear of any roaches.  Bugs don't bother me in general but roaches are the exception.  Kind of makes me feel like in the future I should bring some of that eco friendly bug spray.  The first week of April, we did not find that the ship was terribly understaffed. Only understaffing seemed to be in the buffet at busy times and then difficult to get served a drink so we just got our own.  No problem.   I'm wondering if lots of contracts ended and they couldn't get the ship fully staffed right now.  At any rate, no excuse for things not being cleaned properly.

[BamaVol]

3 hours ago, Towlie said:

I doubt any cruise line uses any pest service, they most likely do it in house, either by ship employees or roving team that visits each ship.

And done either at night or during turnover.

[PacnGoNow]

7 hours ago, BamaVol said:

And done either at night or during turnover.

That would be a good question for the crew.

[BamaVol]

17 hours ago, DavidsNana said:The first week of April, we did not find that the ship was terribly understaffed. Only understaffing seemed to be in the buffet at busy times and then difficult to get served a drink so we just got our own.  No problem.   I'm wondering if lots of contracts ended and they couldn't get the ship fully staffed right now.  At any rate, no excuse for things not being cleaned properly.

We sailed the first week of March and there was no obvious short-staffing.  We did have conversations with a few crew members who were getting close to the end of their contracts, but that’s normal.
 

I did think the MDR was slow the first night, but only the first night.  That seems to be common.  I have no idea why.

[sttopmh]

On 6/4/2023 at 9:39 AM, SargassoPirate said:

A friend in South Carolina claims those aren't roaches, they're Carolina water bugs  

 

 

I live in South Carolina, and we call them Palmetto Bugs. But they're still cockroaches.