Caribbean Princess- a few comments

[FirstTeacher]

We’re almost finished with our cruise on the Caribbean Princess, and I want to share some of our experiences. First of all, my husband and I are in our 70’s, and this was our second cruise with Princess. We sailed from Southampton to Brussels, Rotterdam, Oslo, Copenhagen, Gotheberg, Hamburg, and LeHavre. 

 

Ship- The ship is in good shape, especially considering her age. We were always able to find quiet spots to read or play cards.
 

Cabin- Our OV cabin was roomy enough and had plenty of storage space. The bed and pillows were comfortable as well as the linens. The main problem we had was the lack of electric plugs. The only one we could find was by the vanity, and the plugs were too close together to use 2 at once.

 

Staff- They were uniformly cordial, and went out of their way to assist us (I walk with a cane). Our steward Joseph addressed all our requests promptly.

 

Food- This was my biggest disappointment. We like to eat in the MDR at a shared table, and we did that for the first 4 or 5 nights. We enjoy simple meals, but each night we could find at most one choice that would work for us. For example, most cruises we’ve been on have a basic chicken dish each night; this cruise offered a roasted chicken on one evening. I tried the NY steak from the every day menu; it was very tough. Therefore, we tried the Salty Dog and Slice a couple of times. The burgers, chicken sandwiches, and pizza were very good. We also ate at the buffet for dinner a couple of nights, but found that the offerings didn’t change much.

 

Princess App- I only used it to check menus, activities, and our bill. I had no problem with it.

 

Princess excursions- With 2 exceptions, we toured with Princess and we’re happy with the experiences.

 

COVID- People, please be aware the it’s still around. After our tour of Berlin by train and bus yesterday, I came back with a sore throat and cough. Sure enough, I tested myself this morning, and it’s COVID. I blame myself because even though I heard lots of coughing on the train and bus, I didn’t put on my mask. Luckily, I thought to bring Paxlovid with me so I’ll start that regimen tomorrow. Meanwhile, I’m only leaving the cabin while the steward tends to the room. Other than that, my husband is bringing me food. We had to cancel tomorrow’s excursion to Rouen, but Princess credited our account without question.

 

We leave for home on Friday with mostly happy memories. However, I’d think twice before booking again with Princess. Missing our MDR experience was a big problem for us. 

 

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I hope you recover from COVID quickly.

[Nolafan]

@FirstTeacherThank you for your review. We board her in July.

 

I hope you feel better soon.

[cr8tiv1]

Agree with you regarding outlets.  Most passengers today bring multi-use outlets (non-surge protectors, cubes, extension blocks, etc).  Yes, Covid is still around. 

 

Did you report it to the Medical Center?  If you have insurance, you would have been given a prorated credit for "isolating" in your cabin.  

 

Thank you for sharing your review about the Caribbean Princess.  I hope your case was mild and you recover soon.

Edited May 29 by cr8tiv1

[john1970]

I was on the Transatlantic that left May 4th. Covid was obviously onboard then. We both came back with it. Lots of people with hacking coughs.

[PacnGoNow]

Hope you’re better soon!  Did DH get it?  It definitely is still around.  

[stoneharborlady]

Just curious, which cruise line gives your best MDR experience?

[Rick&Jeannie]

3 hours ago, FirstTeacher said:

COVID- People, please be aware the it’s still around. After our tour of Berlin by train and bus yesterday, I came back with a sore throat and cough.

Sorry you picked up the BUG!

Hopefully you enjoyed your Berlin trip as much as we did a couple years ago.  We still tell others that this was probably one of the best excursions we've ever taken!  We *almost* did not book it when we saw the long train ride involved...I'm sure glad we went ahead and did it.

 

Get well soon...

[FirstTeacher]

10 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Agree with you regarding outlets.  Most passengers today bring multi-use outlets (non-surge protectors, cubes, extension blocks, etc).  Yes, Covid is still around. 

 

Did you report it to the Medical Center?  If you have insurance, you would have been given a prorated credit for "isolating" in your cabin.  

 

Thank you for sharing your review about the Caribbean Princess.  I hope your case was mild and you recover soon.

I did not report there as I wanted to maintain my own responsible control over the situation. I was afraid they would separate the two of us. Plus, only two days remained.

[FirstTeacher]

8 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Hope you’re better soon!  Did DH get it?  It definitely is still around.  

So far he is COVID-free. The same thing happened on an Iceland/Ireland cruise a few years ago. I got it, but he didn’t. (He now thinks he’s super-human 😉)

[FirstTeacher]

7 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Sorry you picked up the BUG!

Hopefully you enjoyed your Berlin trip as much as we did a couple years ago.  We still tell others that this was probably one of the best excursions we've ever taken!  We *almost* did not book it when we saw the long train ride involved...I'm sure glad we went ahead and did it.

 

Get well soon...

We definitely enjoyed the Berlin excursion. We’re history nerds so around every corner was one more interesting site. We even enjoyed the German luncheon they served us, even though we’re not adventurous eaters.

[FirstTeacher]

8 hours ago, stoneharborlady said:

Just curious, which cruise line gives your best MDR experience?

I would say Celebrity was our best experience for the  menu.. However, we have never gone on one the elite lines like Seven Seas or Seabourne. Also, when we were on the Edge, we were unable to get a shared table, but this was when COVID was more rampant. I wonder if they make that option more available now.

[crawford]

15 hours ago, FirstTeacher said:

We’re almost finished with our cruise on the Caribbean Princess, and I want to share some of our experiences. First of all, my husband and I are in our 70’s, and this was our second cruise with Princess. We sailed from Southampton to Brussels, Rotterdam, Oslo, Copenhagen, Gotheberg, Hamburg, and LeHavre. 

 

Ship- The ship is in good shape, especially considering her age. We were always able to find quiet spots to read or play cards.
 

Cabin- Our OV cabin was roomy enough and had plenty of storage space. The bed and pillows were comfortable as well as the linens. The main problem we had was the lack of electric plugs. The only one we could find was by the vanity, and the plugs were too close together to use 2 at once.

 

Staff- They were uniformly cordial, and went out of their way to assist us (I walk with a cane). Our steward Joseph addressed all our requests promptly.

 

Food- This was my biggest disappointment. We like to eat in the MDR at a shared table, and we did that for the first 4 or 5 nights. We enjoy simple meals, but each night we could find at most one choice that would work for us. For example, most cruises we’ve been on have a basic chicken dish each night; this cruise offered a roasted chicken on one evening. I tried the NY steak from the every day menu; it was very tough. Therefore, we tried the Salty Dog and Slice a couple of times. The burgers, chicken sandwiches, and pizza were very good. We also ate at the buffet for dinner a couple of nights, but found that the offerings didn’t change much.

 

Princess App- I only used it to check menus, activities, and our bill. I had no problem with it.

 

Princess excursions- With 2 exceptions, we toured with Princess and we’re happy with the experiences.

 

COVID- People, please be aware the it’s still around. After our tour of Berlin by train and bus yesterday, I came back with a sore throat and cough. Sure enough, I tested myself this morning, and it’s COVID. I blame myself because even though I heard lots of coughing on the train and bus, I didn’t put on my mask. Luckily, I thought to bring Paxlovid with me so I’ll start that regimen tomorrow. Meanwhile, I’m only leaving the cabin while the steward tends to the room. Other than that, my husband is bringing me food. We had to cancel tomorrow’s excursion to Rouen, but Princess credited our account without question.

 

We leave for home on Friday with mostly happy memories. However, I’d think twice before booking again with Princess. Missing our MDR experience was a big problem for us. 

 

Appreciate the update. We were on the CB two years ago and Princess seems to be maintaining the ship pretty well.

Good reminder about Covid. Not to get into a vax/anti-vax discussion, but in talking to friends Covid is alive and well. Despite being vaxed recently, people are still coming down with it. We were vaxed in April (August cruise-16 days) and will see if we can get Paxloxid from our MD, just in case.  

[FirstTeacher]

1 hour ago, crawford said:

Appreciate the update. We were on the CB two years ago and Princess seems to be maintaining the ship pretty well.

Good reminder about Covid. Not to get into a vax/anti-vax discussion, but in talking to friends Covid is alive and well. Despite being vaxed recently, people are still coming down with it. We were vaxed in April (August cruise-16 days) and will see if we can get Paxloxid from our MD, just in case.  

That’s what we did. Our physician was happy to give us each a scrip for the Paxlovid. So far I’m tolerating it well (despite the metallic taste).

[Nike4000]

We were on the same sailing as you, possibly even the same Berlin excursion! Great feedback on your trip experience, I'll be adding my own when I have some time to collect my thoughts. Overall, lots of great memories, a few bad, but we had a fantastic time! 

 

No Covid in our house yet, but we're going to be testing routinely. The coughing on the various excursion buses became overwhelming as the trip went on. Being stuck for 8 hours in a train carriage to & from Berlin with 4 strangers who were coughing the whole time has us reasonably concerned that we're going to be coming down with something soon enough. Side note - had we known that the "chartered train" between Hamburg & Berlin was going to be 4 hours each way (twice as long as the regular train), we wouldn't have booked the excursion through Princess. We lost so much time due to the train ride, it was ridiculous. But, I digress.

 

Hope you get to feeling better soon & had safe travels home!

[pat714]

On 5/29/2024 at 7:14 PM, Rick&Jeannie said:

Sorry you picked up the BUG!

Hopefully you enjoyed your Berlin trip as much as we did a couple years ago.  We still tell others that this was probably one of the best excursions we've ever taken!  We *almost* did not book it when we saw the long train ride involved...I'm sure glad we went ahead and did it.

 

Get well soon...

 

[pat714]

We are on the same ship and the same itinerary as you; we sail in September.

we decided against going on the train to Berlin due to the amount of time aboard the train.

 

in Gothenburg, did you take a ship excursion? What did you do? It doesn’t appear that Princess had a shuttle into town, did they accommodate you with any means of transport into The City Center?

thanks, we are looking forward to this trip.

[FirstTeacher]

2 minutes ago, pat714 said:

We are on the same ship and the same itinerary as you; we sail in September.

we decided against going on the train to Berlin due to the amount of time aboard the train.

 

in Gothenburg, did you take a ship excursion? What did you do? It doesn’t appear that Princess had a shuttle into town, did they accommodate you with any means of transport into The City Center?

thanks, we are looking forward to this trip.

For Gothenburg Princess did have a free shuttle to town. On our own, we booked a delightful little tour on the Ocean Bus. (In Boston we call them duck Boats.) It tours part of the city on land and then switches to a water cruise. It’s only an hour and a half, but it gave us a taste of the city. The only thing I feel we missed is a drive past the church up on the hill; I’ve forgotten its name. 

[pat714]

Thanks for this information. We weren’t sure how to proceed. We may go on the Duckboat, not sure yet.

[arizonaperson]

@FirstTeacher just a bit of information -if you do plan to cruise Princess again the dining situation is changing for cruises after September 14, 2024. You’ll be able to make a reservation for early seating or late seating at a shared table or by yourself. Or you can make reservations for another dining room anytime that you desire -shared table or table by yourself. 

[Nike4000]

23 hours ago, pat714 said:

We are on the same ship and the same itinerary as you; we sail in September.

we decided against going on the train to Berlin due to the amount of time aboard the train.

 

in Gothenburg, did you take a ship excursion? What did you do? It doesn’t appear that Princess had a shuttle into town, did they accommodate you with any means of transport into The City Center?

thanks, we are looking forward to this trip.

 

In Gothenburg we did Princess' "Archipelago Island Hopping" excursion (GOT-240) and it was loads of fun! Our guide was extremely knowledgeable about Sweden's history and of the areas we visited. Obviously it doesn't get you in and around downtown Gothenburg, but we were done by about 1:30pm which left plenty of time to head into town if you wanted - all aboard was 6pm.

[pat714]

Thanks for the information. The island hopping excursion is already booked. Hopefully we can hop on the shuttle, they have several sites near the City Center that look interesting. 

[Nike4000]

@pat714 below are the excursions we booked & a few quick thoughts:

• Zeebrugge = "Bruges & Belgian Chocolates" (ZEI-150) - simply amazing, would do again in a heartbeat, but was very tiring. 
• Rotterdam = "Amsterdam On Your Own" (RTM-185) - Basically just a bus to Amsterdam, but we got tickets to the Anne Frank House 6 weeks in advance and it was totally worth it. Extremely moving experience. Had fun wandering Amsterdam otherwise.
• Oslo = "Oslo Highlights & the Munch Museum" (OSL-225) - was nice, but wish we had more time at the Munch Museum. We basically had to head directly to the paintings we wanted to see and missed a couple of floors of the museum that would have been nice to explore.
• Gothenburg = "Archipelago Island Hopping" (GOT-240) - already shared about this one
• Copenhagen = "Best of Copenhagen" (CPH-105) - Was a fun day in Copenhagen. The canal tour was great as was spending time at Tivoli Gardens. Unfortunately the guide was slow and cost us time at Tivoli. What was scheduled for 2 hours got cut in half because she was a talker.
• Aarhus = "The Fast & the Foodie" (AAR-300) - this was an outstanding excursion, one we won't easily forget. The only down side was that the bus we were supposed to have taking us from lunch to the ship wasn't booked, so we walked. Most of our party was generally okay with that, but some of the participants had health issues & it was a problem. Also, the guide sucked (not the boat guide, but the foodie guide).
• Hamburg = "Ultimate Berlin" (HAM-110) - stuck on a train for 8 hours of a 12 hour excursion was not ideal, especially when the normal train would have been half that time. We loved seeing Berlin, but everything was abbreviated due to the extremely long train ride. Bobby, our guide was fantastic! Lunch was great too!
• le Havre = "Paris City Drive & Seine River Cruise" (LEH-105) - Fantastic all the way around, what a great day in Paris! We were worried about the 3 hour bus ride to Paris, but we stopped about half way at a French truck stop. We call it the French version of Buc-ees. But, going around Paris it couldn't be beat! The cruise on the Seine was fantastic, lunch was great! So much traffic due to Olympics prep, but I think that's pretty normal for Paris. 

 

Happy to answer any questions about these excursions. About the only one I wouldn't recommend is the trip to Berlin. Instead just take the normal high-speed train, which is about 2.5 hours each way and book at Tours by Local guide or explore on your own.

 

Oh, I'm assuming your cruise will have this - the night before each port, there was a session at 5pm in the Explorer's Lounge where a guy named Kevin would go over the next day's port. He would tell you what transportation options are available, how much they cost, how frequently they ran, and point out a few of the location's highlights. If you miss it, later that night his talks are posted to the TV system in your room. I wish we had known about his lectures from day 1, it would have helped us immensely! Note - he does not discuss the long trips - i.e. Berlin from Hamburg beyond explaining what train options are available, nor does he discuss excursions. Totally worth it to join in the Destination lectures! 

[pat714]

Thanks for this info.

[RNRcruisers]

I wouldn't advise that you make your decision about Princess based on the food on one ship. We had the same experience on Caribbean a few years ago. Regal this year was much better and previous Princess cruises had great MDR meals.