Caribbean Princess Review - Western Itinerary – 7/31/04-8/7/04 PART 1

[Julia & David]

jennat,

 

You will have a wonderful time. This ship is absolutely beautiful. Not enough hours in the day to do everything you will probably want to do. I know it was that way with us. We were on with Suncat and the rest of our roll call group.

[Suncat]

Thanks for the information about docking at the posts. I would have taken a cabin at the very back of the ship but I was concerned about motion sickness. When I took my first cruise in June, I was sick the very first night. Thank goodness I had read the boards and knew to take Bonine. So I didn't want to chance it.

 

Deborah

Yes, there is a slight rocking motion back there. I took Bonnine the first day, but then never again!;)

[atoguy]

I am new to this site and have been seriously considering the CP or Explorer of the Seas on RCL for our honeymoon on May 21 2005. I am leaning towards the CP though, but would greatly appreciate any advice for us. We are a young couple 21 and 20 and really want to have the best possible honeymoon we can.

 

What would you suggest for our honeymoon and any particular recommondations for us that we should do.

 

Thank you very much.

[lmmn]

atoguy -

I have been on both the CP and Explorer of the Seas. If I were you, I would first pick out the itinerary you like best. Both ships are very nice. In my opinion, the CP offers personal choice dining, which is nice if you prefer a table for two and flexible dining. It also has "Movies Under the Stars" which we loved. The Explorer typically will have more children than the CP. If you are going in May, however, most children will still be in school. The Explorer of the Seas has more of a "wow" factor. The Promenade is like a mini-mall with parades, quaint shops, piano bar, sports bar, and little deli. It has an ice show, Johnny Rockets, and beautiful artwork throughout the ship. With RCCL, you would need to choose early or late dining, and would most likely be seated with others. I would say service, shows, food is about the same. I am not going to recommend one over the other, because they are both GREAT!!!!

[jennat]

We have been on the Voyager (sister ship to Explorer) and loved everything about her. She was our favorite ship so far. We love traditional dining and look forward to chatting with our table mates each evening. That being said, we are scheduled to be on the Caribbean Princess in three weeks and couldn't be more excited. We opted for PC because we have heard such good things about it (although I have a feeling I will miss traditional). (You can do traditional on this ship also) I agree with Immn, you can't go wrong. Pick the itinerary that looks the best and/or price and go for it. You will be happy either way! Have a great cruise.

 

Jen

[atoguy]

Thank you for the help. We went today to the travelagent and booked our flights and reserved both the CP and the Explorer, or put them on hold that is. But I think my fiance and I are going with RCL because we love the ports of call, and the ship seems as nice as the CP. Miami, Belize, Costa Maya, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. Plus an awesome big ship, sounds perfect for some newlyweds right.

[Suncat]

I am new to this site and have been seriously considering the CP or Explorer of the Seas on RCL for our honeymoon on May 21 2005. I am leaning towards the CP though, but would greatly appreciate any advice for us. We are a young couple 21 and 20 and really want to have the best possible honeymoon we can.

 

What would you suggest for our honeymoon and any particular recommondations for us that we should do.

 

Thank you very much.

It's your honeymoon!!! You'll enjoy it, even if you don't like all the ports!

I've never been to Belize, or Costa Maya, but I can tell you, Jamaica was not worth it for us - We would stay on the ship for this port in the future. I just got an e-mail about Princess from Galveston that will visit - Grand Cayman, Belize, Costa Maya and Cozumel. This cruise looks great, but maybe will not work within your honeymoon time frame.

Have a great time whatever you choose!:D

[Suncat]

So sad to hear about Grand Cayman, Jamaica, etc. I'm glad we got to experience both, but am sorry for all the lives and property lost. We missed the hurricane season by 4 days. We were hearing the news about Charley the day after we got back. Hope everyone enjoys their cruises no matter what ports of call have changed. Just know that Princess will take good care of all, no matter what!;)

[thepocketrockett]

There's not much to do in Costa Maya. Was there last October on Grand Princess and wouldn't bother getting off ship. Heard that cruise ships won't be going back into Grand Cayman until early 2005. Cozumel is very nice and will be going to Belize on next cruise to Panama Canal on Coral. But it's your honeymoon so you'll have a great time:cool:

[diat68]

hello - I'm hoping this will reach you as I'm not very familiar with posting on the boards. Basically, I wonder if you can help with a query which I am getting quite concerned about.

We are due to go on the carib. princess on the 30th july - back to back east and west caribbean for 14 nights. I have been looking at various reviews and there seem to be a lot of comments on the boat having a lot of young children and teenagers. We are a couple - just 60 - and are wondering if we would do better changing our dates (I have to go in UK school holiday times) - but do not want to feel out of place, and find there are not a lot of couples our age, although obviously we have grandchildren ourselves. I saw that you were on the carib. princess in july/august 2004 and wonder if you would be kind enough to let me know if there are mainly young families at this time of the year.

many thanks

 

 

Caribbean Princess Review - Western Itinerary – 7/31/04-8/7/04 PART 1

 

 

 

Let me start by saying that several Cruise Critic members helped make our cruise so much more because of all the great advice, tips etc. So those who have not cruised before, or even those who have cruised before and want to know more – keep reading these boards and ask any questions you want because there is always someone here with answers galore!

 

 

 

The day before and Embarkation – July 30 and 31 – Ft. Lauderdale – Port Everglades

 

 

 

We flew into Miami and rented a car to FLL as we got a free flight due to the pile up of air miles, as well as we were coming from Seattle and it is the only direct flight we could get close to FLL. We flew on the same flight with our new friends from this Board – Marlinmike and Wife! We also managed to get a paid upgrade to First Class for our 5 hour and 45 minute RED EYE trip!

 

 

 

We all arrived blurry-eyed in Miami. There was a princess rep who met us at the gate. He helped us find baggage claim and was generally helpful with directions for us to the Budget Rental Car location. Marlinmike and Wife took a shuttle to their Hotel and we collected our luggage and were off to our Budget Rental location near the Miami Airport. We parted ways knowing we would meet up again the next morning at the ship. It was nice to have instant new friends even before boarding the ship!

 

 

 

We were off in our rental car to FLL. We stayed at the Airport Sheraton Hotel. I got it for $55 on Priceline and I can say it served its purpose. The rooms are very clean and the bed was very comfortable. We took a five hour nap to catch up on some missed sleep. We got a complimentary Buffet Breakfast in the morning before leaving for the ship because our room was not ready when we arrived and we had to wait about and hour.

 

 

 

The night before leaving for the ship we went to find the Budget 17th Street drop off location (that we so kindly got directions to from Chris and Sydney – thanks again!) It was in a weird little location and would be very easily missed if you’d never been there before. We also took Chris and Sydney’s advice on shopping at the Publix Grocery Store nearby as well as the liquor stores. We bought 24 diet cokes, 12 large water, Crystal Light lemonade mix, Instant Margarita Mix, 2 bottles of wine, Green Olives, cocktail napkins & 24 Negro Modelo Beers (one very good Mexican beer). Now you are wondering how we got all of this on the ship, right? Well… We took Chris’s advice again and wrapped up our beer in beautiful white and silver anniversary wrapping paper (I brought from home) with a beautiful wired ribbon. I even put a card on top and wrote it ourselves as an Anniversary Gift! We fit the rest of the beverage items into a medium sized roller suitcase and we checked all our other luggage (except our documents, passports etc.) and rolled this “BAR ON WHEELS” right through the x-ray line and onto the ship! No one said a word except what a beautiful Gift we had!!!! Thanks for the idea Chris – You are a legend now!!!! This preparation probably saved us at least $3 to $400 easily! We didn’t have to buy the soda cards and Our cabin was so great, we usually enjoyed cocktails there most of the time. We did order a few drinks from the bars, but usually we mixed the drinks up in our cabin. I also pre-ordered a bottle of Grey Goose that was delivered to our stateroom after calling room service when we arrived on-board.

 

 

 

Morning of Embarkation went great, except for the fact we may have arrived about 30 minutes too early. We got there at approx 10:15 am and were with the 1st 50 people in line in very HOT, HUMID, SWEATY weather. They opened the doors about 11:25 or so and soon we forgot that we were hot as inside the building they had great air conditioning. We continued to the counter for the Baja Deck and got checked in, showing our cruise documents and Passports. We were issued our cruise cards and advised to go aboard the ship. Just a quick trip through the x-ray line an then up the escalator and you get your Embarkation picture taken and then on-board you go! Oh, one quick note and I know it has been mentioned before, when you get in the lines to check in - just go to the shortest line, no need to go to Express as it will probably be longer since most of us use the Princess Cruise Personlizer beforehand. Total Embarkation time 10-15 minutes tops!

 

 

 

After on board we went straight to our Stateroom – Baja – 749/Starboard – It was everything we imagined. The balcony was huge and very private. (A table & four chairs and 1 lounger fit with room to move around too – I think it was 11’ x9’). I immediately picked up the phone and made reservations for 7pm for the Palm dining room for the first night, 2nd night and 4th nights and then I called room service and made reservations for our Balcony dinner on Tuesday night for our anniversary. It was easy to get through as I am sure I was one of the first on-board to be calling. Don’t wait because it gets busy and reservations will be hard to come by. Although, I must say – the rest of the week we made no reservations and had no problems getting into the dinning room at 7-7:30. We only went to the Palm dining room because others we had talked to had been to Coral and Island and told us they thought Palm was much more organized and better service. I’m sure it depends on a lot, but we felt very comfortable going to the same dining room each evening and looked forward to the great service we received. The food was great, lot’s to choose from or you can order it all, like my good Cruise Critic Friend LunaMoon did. She was an order-a-holic and very hilarious when she got one of each desert one evening. What was it again???? Baked Alaska, the Love Boat Dream and 3 different kinds of ice-cream?

 

We met with our room Steward (ess) Rose and gave her a few $$ to make sure we always had ice and 4 beach towels. She was very sweet and very accomodating! Throughout the cruise she was pretty invisible and made us great towel animals!!!

 

 

After reservations were made and meeting with Rose, we had some time before our meeting with our Roll Call at Morgan’s Bar at 3pm, so we went exploring. One stop we made proved to be a big image changer for me. We went to the Lotus Spa to confirm our Spa appointments for the next afternoon and I entered the “If they could SEA me now” makeover contest. Of course as easy as 1,2,3 – I won! (you know when you just have a feeling you are going to win?) When we returned to our stateroom later there was a letter in our mailbox indicating to contact Claire Lovely (yes, it really is her name and she is lovely). I contacted Claire and we set up a time to meet at the spa in the morning. I had below shoulder length – fairly long curly hair and let’s just say that I don’t anymore. They cut my hair a little above shoulder length and gave me a manicure and did my make-up. We shot a video of it all – you know, the before and after thing. It was a great experience and I was a little shocked at the haircut after having long hair for so long (thanks to Lotus Spa, especially Michelle for such a great haircut), but the reaction I got from people was so positive and nice I thought – I should have done this a long time ago. Anyway the next day they had a show in Club Fusion with the man who won and another lady who won a make-up makeover. It was very fun and I also got Champagne and flowers! The entire Cruise Critic friends were there to support me it was very fun and funny at the same time! Needless to say they entire rest of the cruise I was known as the Makeover lady!

 

 

 

Meeting the Roll Callers!!!!!! – 4 of the couples on the roll call met at Morgan’s Bar – Deck 17? Aft overlooking the Terrace Pool and on top of Outrigger’s bar & Horizon Court/Café Caribe. It’s a small bar, but a very cool place to meet! Upon our meeting (and mind you this only added to the fun) it started to sprinkle rain, the rain got a little heavier, no problem, we took cover under the bar. THEN, it came…. A HUGE DOWNPOUR of SIDEWAYS, BLOWING WIND AND RAIN. We all had to make a run for it to the inside elevator lobby – Which was only about 30 feet away from the bar. All eight of us counted to 3 and with cocktails in hand RAN (laughing all the way inside) We got inside by the elevators WE WERE ABSOLUTELY SOAKED and laughing so hard about how wet we all were – it was great! We continued our meeting right there. So if any of you are looking for a great place to meet your Roll call members, try the elevator lobby aft on floor 17 – It works just fine! People from Cruise Critic we met were: Marlinmike/Wife, LunaMoon/Husband, Julie &David. (We all met Poetrylady and Friends later)

 

 

 

More to Come later. Let me know if you have any questions so Far!!!

[Suncat]

Sorry it took me so long to respond, but I'm not currently going on a cruise, so I only pop in once in awhile.

 

All I can tell you is it is a very large ship and we spent most days at the adult only aft pool so we didn't notice any families there. At Dinner (we had Personal Choice and ususally ate around 7pm) I don't remember hearing or seeing any children in the Aft dinning room. (I guess we must have been having too much fun to notice any young children)

 

The only place I really noticed kids were around the main pool area and at the Horizon court.

 

Have Fun!