CB 7/22-7/29 Review

[Musicman1]

Bio- Married, no children, 50-ish. Previous cruises: Royal Caribbean Serenade of the Seas, Alaska, 2005 and Grandeur of the Seas, Mexican Riviera, 2002. Also did a 3 night to Ensenada in 2005 on Carnival Paradise. For comparison purposes, I will mostly rely on the Serenade cruise

 

Embarkation/debarkation- Very smooth and quick.

 

Food- Mediocre to good. This is the biggest area of contention. In our opinion, most items tended to be on the bland side. The lobster was good. Definite edge to Royal Caribbean, except for the pizza at the pool. Very good.

 

Dining rooms- We had anytime dining. Sabatini's was nice. The service was very good. The $20 per person surcharge was very reasonable. Sterling's was not quite as good. The steak house on the Serenade was better. Again, I think the food lacked flaovor. While the $15 per person surcharge is reasonable, if you can only choose one specialty restaurant, choose Sabatini's. The Coral was OK. The service was a little inconsistant although we prefered this room to the Palm. I think The Palm sits above the engine room. There is a constant loud rumble. As others have mentioned, The Horizon Court is confusing. People enter from both directions and also cut in line.

 

Pools- Very good. Multiple pool areas give the edge to Caribbean Princess. One may not be able to get the best chair at the main pool during peak hours but there are plenty of chairs elsewhere. I didn't notice many chair hogs. MUTS is also a great feature.

 

Activites- My wife complained about the limited number of classes offered at the gym. It didn't bother me.

 

Excursions- We didn't do anything in Princess Cays. Ocho Rios- The Canopy Adventure was a good time. Grand Cayman- Thriller Boat & Beach Break was very cool. I even got to drive the boat. Cozumel- We did the SNUBA and were the only two people in our group. A hurricane destryed the reef so it wasn't that fascinating. An interesting excursion anyway.

 

Other- Our cabin attendant was excellent. The shows were typical of ships. The casino stole my money. Well, maybe I gave it away. The drinks could have been stronger. Overall, the staff seemed friendly and helpful. I never had a problem with anyone. Even the weather was great. Overall, we had a very nice time and would consider Princess again, although we prefer Royal Caribbean.

[roe2ship]

Thank you for posting. Personally I think the food on RCI is a little spicey. The Palm Dining room does seem to have a little more motion although I love it. As far as the drinks, Princess has watered them down even more so than a couple of years ago. Each time I ordered a drink, I had to ask to "spike" it up a bit.

[SUZCRUZ]

Bio- Married, no children, 50-ish. Previous cruises: Royal Caribbean Serenade of the Seas, Alaska, 2005 and Grandeur of the Seas, Mexican Riviera, 2002. Also did a 3 night to Ensenada in 2005 on Carnival Paradise. For comparison purposes, I will mostly rely on the Serenade cruise

 

Embarkation/debarkation- Very smooth and quick.

 

Food- Mediocre to good. This is the biggest area of contention. In our opinion, most items tended to be on the bland side. The lobster was good. Definite edge to Royal Caribbean, except for the pizza at the pool. Very good.

 

Dining rooms- We had anytime dining. Sabatini's was nice. The service was very good. The $20 per person surcharge was very reasonable. Sterling's was not quite as good. The steak house on the Serenade was better. Again, I think the food lacked flaovor. While the $15 per person surcharge is reasonable, if you can only choose one specialty restaurant, choose Sabatini's. The Coral was OK. The service was a little inconsistant although we prefered this room to the Palm. I think The Palm sits above the engine room. There is a constant loud rumble. As others have mentioned, The Horizon Court is confusing. People enter from both directions and also cut in line.

 

Pools- Very good. Multiple pool areas give the edge to Caribbean Princess. One may not be able to get the best chair at the main pool during peak hours but there are plenty of chairs elsewhere. I didn't notice many chair hogs. MUTS is also a great feature.

 

Activites- My wife complained about the limited number of classes offered at the gym. It didn't bother me.

 

Excursions- We didn't do anything in Princess Cays. Ocho Rios- The Canopy Adventure was a good time. Grand Cayman- Thriller Boat & Beach Break was very cool. I even got to drive the boat. Cozumel- We did the SNUBA and were the only two people in our group. A hurricane destryed the reef so it wasn't that fascinating. An interesting excursion anyway.

 

Other- Our cabin attendant was excellent. The shows were typical of ships. The casino stole my money. Well, maybe I gave it away. The drinks could have been stronger. Overall, the staff seemed friendly and helpful. I never had a problem with anyone. Even the weather was great. Overall, we had a very nice time and would consider Princess again, although we prefer Royal Caribbean.

 

Thanks for your review.

What cabin were you in?

[vmom]

Thanks for the review. We were on the CB in 2005 and have our next cruise booked on the CB in Dec of 2007, so it will be interesting to see what changes have happened in those 2 years.

 

Its hard to make comparisons between food on cruises seperated by a year or 2. You haven't been on RCCL recently. We were on the Explorer in Dec. of 2006 and I felt the food on RCCL had definately gone down since our last RCCL cruise in 2004. Maybe its due to the chef for the sailing, but I noticed that the menu choices on RCCL had definately gotten "cheaper" on our last cruise in Dec 2006. Tasted like they were really trying to save a buck and choosing cheaper entrees.

[Coolmama_1]

Thanks for the review.

[Musicman1]

Suzcruz- We were in cabin C510. Midship, port side with a nice balcony.

 

Vmom- We were on the Serenade 2 years ago. That's recent enough to form an opinion. If you like the food on the CB better, that's your opinion.

[seacuracao]

Thank you for posting. Personally I think the food on RCI is a little spicey. The Palm Dining room does seem to have a little more motion although I love it. As far as the drinks, Princess has watered them down even more so than a couple of years ago. Each time I ordered a drink, I had to ask to "spike" it up a bit.

 

That is pretty hard to do these days (water down). Most bottles are tamperproof and the operation is too large for that. Someone on the crew would talk.

Two main reasons for weak drinks are the bartender's hand and the ice it is being poured over, as well as the size of the glass.

Order a drink at the calypso bar..later go inside and order at the bar by the photos. Check if you taste a difference..

 

Me, I found that if you order a double shot:D it is always nicely poured with a heavy hand.....then you don't have to wait for your second wing:cool:

[seacuracao]

Sorry musicman...nice review.

I found the food a mixed bag also, with the desserts especially.

I was amazed at the lack of professional detail in a lot of the pastries, both in taste and presentation.

Soups could have used a more professional touch.

I will try RCI someday, just have to get more of the CB first:D

[vmom]

Suzcruz- We were in cabin C510. Midship, port side with a nice balcony.

 

Vmom- We were on the Serenade 2 years ago. That's recent enough to form an opinion. If you like the food on the CB better, that's your opinion.

 

Disagree...we were on the RCCL Navigator in 2004 and on the RCCL Explorer in 2006...only 2 years and there was a HUGE difference in the menu and quality of food.

 

I didn't say I liked Princess food better, I just said that RCCL food and menu has cheapened in the last year.

[Colonel_Clobber]

Musicman,

 

Nice review. We were probably on the canopy adventure together and didn't even know it. I agree with you 100% on the bland food. I think it may be done intentionally to appeal to the masses, but my wife and I found the lack of seasoning very disappointing. We also enjoyed Sabatini's very much.

[Musicman1]

Hey Colonel Cobber;

 

I liked your review. We probably were on the Canopy Adventure together, unless there was more than one departure time. We went in the morning. It's funny, we live in Redondo and have some really good friends in San Diego but never seem to get down there. Maybe someday.

[southbayer]

Hmmmm, I guess the CB itinenary will change soon, cause I'm booked for 9/9/07 and we're not going to jamaica, or grand cayman.... We're going to St Thomas and St Maarten