LONG Caribbean Princess Review 1/20-27

[xznwfd]

Hi all,

 

Just back from my first Princess cruise on the beautiful Caribbean Princess. The review is frightfully long and detailed, so I'll break it into sections so it's not overwhelming. It was a wonderful trip, and I'm a new Princess groupie! :D

 

So here we go . . . .

[xznwfd]

January 20, 2008 Caribbean Princess – Eastern Caribbean

This review is dreadfully long and detailed. If you just want the highlights, here they are:

Likes

Ship itself

The food in all locations

Anytime Dining

Spa

Buffet

Ultimate Breakfast

Great room steward

Not so likes

Long line at embarkation (unavoidable, I’m sure)

Occasional misprints in Patter (no Oriental Buffet, for example)

Crazy high prices for photos ($25 each – we only bought one this trip)

No sales in the shops, and stuff displayed in the hallways

Now, get a cocktail or a cup of coffee, and here we go!

My friend Joan and I have been best friends since college, which was longer ago than I care to think about. We have always tried to take at least one trip a year to a warmer climate during the cold Michigan winter. We stated with “drive all night” trips to visit my Nana in Florida while in college, and graduated to long weekends in Florida as young singletons in our 20’s. We have continued this tradition through various boyfriends, marriages and divorces, until 2002 when we booked our first cruise on the Celebrity Millennium. After that, we were hooked – hard core cruise addicts. I’ve sailed 3 times on Celebrity, twice on HAL, once on Royal Caribbean, and this was our first Princess cruise.

I had originally booked the Caribbean Princess with my sister as a graduation present for my niece. I did tons of research on Cruise Critic, and was really looking forward to the trip and the ship. However, my young Missy decided that she really didn’t need to graduate from high school (much to her aunt’s distress), so the trip was cancelled. However, since I had learned so much about the Caribbean Princess in my studies, I was able to talk Joan into taking it for our annual cruise. January is our favorite month to travel, since it helps with the post holiday letdown, and makes the winter go by just a bit faster. I recently changed jobs and have limited vacation time, so we booked it for the week of Martin Luther King Day to take advantage of the extra day off. We also appreciated that it left on Sunday, which allowed us to fly to Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday, thus saving another vacation day. Living in Michigan, we wouldn’t think of trying to fly in on the day of the trip – that is just asking for trouble, especially in January.

We love the dressing up part of cruising, since we work in corporate climates dominated by “business casual”. I have very few occasions to wear a long gown in my day to day life, so really look forward to tricking up a bit. Sadly, that is the one aspect of cruising that my boyfriend, the Melancholy Italian cannot stand, and is why we’ve only taken one cruise together. I suppose formal dressing is just not in an engineer’s genes.

Given our love of dressing up, we do not travel lightly. We start packing weeks in advance, with much dithering over gowns, shoes, and accessories. I wish I could be one of those people who travels the world with a carry on full of wash and wear black knit clothing, but that is not my lot in life. We both carefully spray tanned as well, with a truly marvelous fake tanner called FakeBake Airbrush (found after reading about in the fashion and beauty section of Cruise Critic – got it on line at cravebeautyonline.com). The color was perfect and we looked like we had already spent a week in the tropics (good for pale freckly people like me, who don’t want to risk any sun damage).

I did get a wonderful gift for Christmas, a pink Heys carry on that only weighs 5 pounds, so she (her name is Shirley) accompanied us on the flight. We tend to get through baggage check in by the skin of our teeth, with suitcases weighing in at 49.5 lbs some years. We also pack lots of books, cosmetics, enough shoes to outfit a small country (where they only wear heels), glittery evening bags, and various electronic devices (Joan more than me with the electronics. I am ashamed to admit I don’t even own an I-Pod.)

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Sorry, double post

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Monday, January 21 – Princess Cay

 

Remember that line about the best laid plans of mice and men? Well Monday dawned cold, blustery and overcast. Instead of racing off to the island, we went up to the thermal suite and warmed our backs and bottoms on the headed stone benches (the ones in the enclosed room were much hotter than the loungers) and steamed a little of the Michigan winter out of our bones. Thus fortified, we headed to Princess Cay about 11:00. We had pre booked a cabana (are you seeing a trend here with all the pre booking?). We only waited about 5 minutes for a tender, and once on the island we turned to the left and found the cabanas. The attendant quickly set one up for us, and it turned out to be a very wise purchase. It rained off and on all afternoon, with the sun peeking shyly out in between showers, so we were able to lounge in our chairs and stay nice and dry. We were very close to one of the buffet areas, so we grabbed plates of lunch and took them back to the shelter of our cabana. The buffet was good; the ribs in particular were delicious, just fall off the bone tender. Of course, we chased them down with a few cookies, and since the sun was making a brief appearance, Joan moved her chair into the sun and I headed off for a beach walk.

 

We absolutely love the Holland America private island, Half Moon Cay, and were hoping Princess Cay would be as nice. It isn’t, with the sand not being nearly as soft and white (looks like they cart in sand for the immediate beach areas around the shops) but it was a heck of a lot better than snow and ice, so I had a pleasant walk. I do wish I had worn my sandals, since the sand was full of stones and bits of shells, but if that is all you have to complain about you really do lead a blessed life. The restrooms on the island were clean and comfortable, and overall it turned out to be a very nice and relaxing day.

 

We headed back about 1:30, with again almost no wait for a tender. Once back on board, we got coffees from the Lobby bar and then headed back to our room to lounge about for a bit. Eventually we cleaned up for our Sabatini’s dinner, and headed downstairs at 6:00. That was a fabulous meal! Bernardo was our waiter, and he was an old school Italian charmer, complete with hand kisses and feeding me bites of my tiramisu. We both had the lobster tail as our entrée and it was just outstanding, already drizzled with a butter sauce that was so good I considered licking my plate (not to worry, I restrained myself). We skipped the soup and salad courses, and tasted most everything else from the large appetizer (hot and cold), pasta and pizza courses. Although they gave you lots of samples, they were all bite sized, and we just nibbled everything. We were full, but not uncomfortably so, and the tiramisu was some of the best I’ve ever had. Bernado took our pictures, as did the ship photographer, and it was a really fabulous meal. I highly recommend it, and felt it was totally worth the nominal $20/each charge.

 

Tuesday, January 22 – Sea Day

 

Full of enthusiasm, I got up and headed upstairs to the gym to walk on the treadmill for a bit (all those cookies). The gym was nicely equipped, with lots of cardio machines and both free weights and weight machines. About half of the treadmills weren’t open until 8:00, probably as a gesture toward the passengers with rooms directly under the gym. The treadmills had TV screens on them, and you can get headphones from the desk by leaving your cruise card. I did about a 30 minute fast walk, and then headed back to the room. We had coffee and juice delivered about 8:30, and then headed up to the buffet for a more complete breakfast. I had my usual favorite, oatmeal, bacon, and a half grapefruit. Joan had cereal, sausages and some lovely pastries. All good.

 

Today we had our spa appointments, so about noon we headed up to the Thermal Suite to relax beforehand. I’m a yoga teacher and get deep tissue massages every month, so I tried something new on this trip. I signed up for Reflexology, and Joan scheduled a hot stone massage. The reflexology was wonderful, and she also spent about 15 minutes on my admittedly very tight shoulders and upper back. Of course, it turned out that I need about $200 worth of products to eliminate the toxins in my shoulders, but I was able to get out of there without purchasing any of them. The funny part was that of the 4 products she recommended, I had 2 of them from prior cruises, but wouldn’t you know? It was the other 2 that I really needed and that would make all the difference. Not so much, but she let me go without a real hard sell.

 

The spa/thermal suite area was lovely, with cold fruit infused water available and comfortable locker rooms and robes. We always enjoyed our time spent there.

 

After that, we had a bit of lunch in the buffet and then rolled down to the first wine tasting. It was packed, and held in one of the dining rooms (Coral, I think). We sat at a table of 12, and tasted 6 wines, all good and with generous pours. They didn’t put the wines in the proper glasses, but at least they didn’t put everything in one glass as I had experienced in a previous wine tasting on Celebrity. We got to keep the last glass, a little shooter sized v-glass with a pretty green glass ball on the bottom. Our table was fun and knowledgeable about wine, so we enjoyed this event ($9.50/person).

 

Tuesday night was the first formal night, so we headed up stairs after that to begin our preparations for dinner. We headed to the Palm dining room about 8:00, and had no wait at all for a table for 2. Joan had the 2 small filets (v.g.) and I had the halibut (tasty, but very dry). I had the Love Boat Dream for desert, and it was delicious.

 

We then had some pictures taken, and lost a little money in the casino. All in all, a very relaxing day!

[xznwfd]

Wednesday, January 23 - St. Martin

 

Due to some strong winds, we arrived about 2.5 hours late to St. Martin. Many of the more active tours had been cancelled, but luckily ours (Butterfly Farm and Orient Beach) was still on with just a delayed start time. Our Captain did extend our time in St. Martin a bit, so we didn’t have to be back on the ship until 6:30. We had a big bus for our small group of 12, and headed out to the Butterfly Farm at 11:30 (www.thebutterflyfarm.com). This was a fabulous place, with over 60 types of butterflies in all life cycle stages in a beautiful outdoor screened enclosure. We got an informative lecture on butterflies from one of the guides, a glass of rum punch (which the butterflies enjoyed with us) and had about 30 minutes to wander around and look at the beautiful butterflies. The bathrooms were icky, but as the farm was small and obviously a labor of love more than a profit making venture, so we kept chins up and survived.

 

After that, we were shuttled in a different bus to Orient Beach, right next door. It was a beautiful day, hot and sunny, and the bus dropped us at Boo Boo beach section for about 90 minutes. We got another glass of rum punch and lounge chairs and settled right in. I took a beautiful walk (much nicer sand than Princess Cay) and saw one stark naked elderly man and many, many topless women. I’ve vacationed in Punta Cana with lots of Europeans a couple of times so none of that bothers me, especially since I’m the visitor. There were lots of water sports available, and several beach side restaurants and bars to choose from.

 

Too quickly, we were herded back onto yet another bus, and shuttled back to the ship. We did a bit of shopping downtown (awesome liquor prices – thinking of the MI, of course) and then took the water taxi back to the ship for only $3. It was a great day on St. Martin.

 

This was our Sterling’s dinner night, so Joan and I showered and dressed for dinner. I’m not much of a red meat eater, but did have the petite filet for dinner and managed to eat about half of it. It was very tender. Joan had the rib eye, which she said was also tender and very flavorful. I had the sautéed mushrooms as a side, with a Caesar salad to start. Joan also had the Caesar with mushrooms, and a nice Béarnaise sauce on her steak. I had the raspberry cream Brule for desert, and she had the chocolate pecan pie. She had tried to get the cheesecake, but the waiter talked her out of it, saying she could have that any night in the dining room. Another really nice meal, and at only $15 per person, totally worth the extra charge.

 

We went back to our rooms and changed for the show – Beatlemanics! It was our only foray into the Princess Theater, and it was a fabulous show. We got there about 30 minutes early based on suggestions from the Cruise Critic boards, and this was excellent advice. The place was packed, and we had great seats in the middle a few rows back from the stage.

 

I’m a big Beatle fan, and the four singers really looked a bit like the Beatles and sounded even more so. They played a selection of songs from the early years, the Sergeant Pepper days, and then finished up with the Let it Be years. They changed hair and costumes for each period, and really had the audience up on their feet clapping and dancing. I would recommend this show to anyone that has even a passing fondness for the Beatles – really, really fun and a super evening.

 

Thursday, January 24 – St. Thomas

 

Immigration was between 7-9 this morning, and we both just went down when we got up. No line at all – Princess really knows how to shuttle people around. It was the most painless immigration I’ve even experienced.

 

Again, based on the good advice from the Cruise Critic boards, we had chosen Godfrey of Godfrey’s tours (http://godfreytoursvi.com) for our day in St. Thomas. It was a beautiful day, hot and sunny, and we selected 2 hours shopping and 3 hours at the beach for $20/person. The Caribbean Princess docked at Crown Bay (several shops were open – very nice area, actually). Godfrey picked us up right outside the gates promptly at 10:00, and popped us into a nice open air bus for our ride into town for shopping. He let us off at the corner of the main shopping drag, and told us to meet him back in the little park in 2 hours time. We headed off, armed with lists of items and gifts we needed to purchase. I found a beautiful hand made table cloth for the MI’s mother, some perfume for a dear friend back home, more liquor for the MI (Dynasty Liquor – which delivered to the ship if you bought 3 or more bottles. They also gave me a backpack and Joan a beach bag as a bonus.) Then we were off to the souvenir ships for t-shirts, vanilla and other little gifts for families and friends. Shopping completed, we headed back to the park, where once again one of Godfrey’s people picked us up right on time and took us and another couple to Sapphire beach for the afternoon.

 

We’ve been to Megan’s Bay in St. Thomas and Trunk Bay in St. John’s before, so it was fun to try out a new beach on this trip. After a beautiful drive to the other side of the island, we were let out at a small hotel on Sapphire beach with instructions to meet Godfrey at 3:30. We were starving after our shop, so we had a delicious lunch at the hotel’s outdoor restaurant right on the beach. We both had flying fish sandwiches ($12) and Sapphire Lemonade ($3.50) for lunch, and then rented chairs for $7 for the afternoon. There was shade for those who freckle (me) and sun for those who tan (Joan), so we were happy. I took a nice walk – the beach was small, but the sand was soft and thick. Lots of people were snorkeling, and they sold fish food at the little chair rental place. Apparently the fish knew about this; I heard one woman say as soon as she opened the packet she was swarmed! We had a beautiful view of St. John and some other islands, and it was a perfect beach afternoon.

 

Godfrey had kept our shopping bags locked up in his truck for us, but someone else picked us up promptly at 3:30. Joan’s bag was with the driver, but no sign of mine. Not to worry, she called Godfrey and we arranged to meet him on the way back to the ship. Sure enough, we found him by the side of the road with my bag and we were off! The other couple, JR and Helen, were on the Marnier of the Seas (docked at Havensite) and they were very friendly and lots of fun. JR is an auctioneer, and gave us lessons in calling auctions on the way back. We exchanged e-mails; one of the best things about cruising is all the wonderful people you meet on your trip.

 

We were back at Crown Bay by 4:00, and wandered back to the ship, laden with packages. We tipped Godfrey’s driver $10 for the excellent service – it really was an amazing bargain. The Marnier and the Caribbean Princess were the only ships in port that day, so nothing was too crowded. Godfrey’s drivers mentioned that the “high season” this year hadn’t been as good as in years past, probably due to the dreadful American economy. We can only hope things pick up and more people start to visit this beautiful island again, since they are so dependant on our tourism dollars.

 

Once on board, we watched out our balcony as the rest of the ship’s passengers made their way back to the ship. We were scheduled to leave at 5:30, but we could see some stragglers hanging out at the Crown Bay shops and in no hurry to head back to the ship. Suddenly, one of the ship’s officers (all in white with a snappy hat) marched off the ship and into the shop area. We don’t know what he said, but suddenly the stragglers started hustling to get back on board. As they got closer, we could hear them laughing drunkenly, but they finally got aboard and we sailed out of the harbor. Imagine making a ship of 3100 people wait for you! Some people need a good session with Miss Manners.

 

We got some pizza for an afternoon snack at the grille – delicious! Our lovely Marianna was missing, and we had a very quiet young man as our attendant for the next day. Turns out she was ill, and he did a fine job, but we really missed her. She left us wonderful towel animals almost every night, and had such a winning personality. She returned on Friday, and we were SO happy to see her back! We tipped her an extra $20 half way though the cruise, and another extra $20 at the end. Of course, we left the pre-paid gratuities in place, and also tipped all the room service waiters, the coffee people at the Lobby bar, the waiters at Sabatini’s and Sterling’s, and the dining room waiters as well. I’ve never seen harder working people than those working those cruise ships, and my feeling is that if I can afford to take the cruise; I can certainly afford a few dollars for those who make it such a wonderful experience.

 

We had dinner in the Palm again, no waiting for a table for 2. Tonight was king crab legs, already split, with drawn butter drizzled over them. Outstanding! We also had the goat cheese soufflé and French onion soup (not on the menu, but our waiter let us know it was available). We had the ménage a trios for desert - everything was delicious (and that was fun to order).

 

We then went to look at some of the photos taken on the ship, and shopped a bit. After that, we headed back to our room where Joan was thrilled to find the Michigan State game on our TV. I was able to contain my excitement, and went to bed, while she enjoyed the game. One of the nice features of the mini suite was the 2 TV’s, so one person could sleep without being disturbed by the TV right next to them. MSU won, so it was a great end to a perfect day.

[xznwfd]

Friday, January 25 – Sea Day

 

We signed up for the Ultimate Breakfast, again from all the Cruise Critic recommendations. It was delivered about 8:00 – and the poor waiter had to have a cart for all the food. There was smoked salmon with capers, cream cheese and bagels, a whole plate of pastries, 2 mini quiches with bacon, berries in cantaloupe, a split of decent champagne, and coffee. We ate on our balcony, and enjoyed it, even if we didn’t come close to finishing it. For $28, it was a great treat.

 

Lunch was supposed to be the Oriental buffet, but the only Oriental thing we found was miso soup. We did, however, enjoy the salsa from the Mexican buffet the night before – it was spicy and delicious with chips.

 

We went to tea in the dining room, which was very good. Tables were seated for 8, and we had a friendly group.

 

Dinner was formal, and we ate in the Palm again at about 7:15 with a 5 minute wait for a table. Lobster, Filet, crab salad, and a Caesar salad filled us up nicely, and I had the cheese and grapes for desert. Joan had cookies and cream ice cream, and we waddled back to our room after that. Luckily, we had had our formal portraits taken BEFORE dinner, so our dresses still fit!

 

Saturday, January 16 – Sea Day

 

We had room service breakfast again, cereal, grapefruit, coffee and juice. We ordered extra juice all week and kept it in our fridge (plenty cold enough) to use as mixers with our smuggled vodka. Regarding the vodka, I had put it in my checked baggage wrapped in bubble wrap and in a giant Ziploc, and it arrived unscathed. We didn’t finish the bottle over the week, probably due to our love of trying new drinks at the bar, but it was nice to have a glass of wine or a cocktail in our room while lounging on the balcony or getting ready for dinner.

 

There was a big last day sale advertised in the Island dining room – what a disappointment! It was exactly the same stuff at exactly the same prices we had been seeing all week, and everything was in a big jumble on tables. They even took the $10 Bijoux purses and costume jewelry that was neatly displayed in the shop upstairs and dumped it all on tables – still at $10! I guess the thought was that people like to rummage – not so much, at least for us. We did go to the shops upstairs and got a few last minute gifts for friends, and then headed back to our room to begin the very sad task of packing.

 

We filled out a “Make a Difference” card for our wonderful Mariana, and dropped that off along with the form for future cruise credits for each of us. I remain ever hopeful that the MI will give cruising another chance, especially on Princess with the Anytime Dining and “smart casual” dress code most nights. He has mentioned wanting to see Alaska, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

 

We hit one last high tea, and then the Palm again for dinner. Tonight was scallops for me, and prime rib (I think) for Joan. We had the same waiters we had had on previous nights, and did not feel our service suffered at all from dining in the Anytime Dining rooms vs. our past experiences with Traditional dining. We took one last walk through the beautiful ship, and then headed back to our room for the last time to finish packing and put our suitcases out the door.

 

Sunday, January 27th – Departure Day

 

Surely the saddest day of the week – we placed a wake up call for 6:30 to meet our 8:00 call for disembarking (our flight was supposed to be at 11:30 – HA!). We were off the ship in just a few minutes, quickly found our luggage and then a cab. We were at the airport by 8:30, to begin our very long day of sitting around first Ft. Lauderdale and then Atlanta (again), waiting for our Air Tran flights. The plane in Ft. Lauderdale developed a computer issue they could not fix (after keeping us on the plane for almost 2 hours) and we were shifted to a new plane, of course missing our connection in Atlanta (and we had almost 3 hours between flights there). NEVER AGAIN will we book on Air Tran. When we finally got to Atlanta, the ground crews were surly and mean, and told us there were NO flights out to Detroit until 8:00 that night. They gave us a $10 voucher for some airport food (and anyone knows $10 in an airport buys you a hamburger and if you’re lucky, some fries). In our wanderings, we discovered that low and behold, many other airlines had earlier flights to Detroit, but when we mentioned that to the ground crew they said they would only put us on a US Air flight that would require us to spend the night in Charlotte. So, we sucked it up (again), and finally left Atlanta about 9:00, arriving in Detroit about 11. The wonderful MI picked us up about 11:30, and we finally made it home well after midnight. What a long day after such a wonderful trip. No more connections for us and NO more travel through the Atlanta airport!

 

If you’re still with me, God bless you for your endurance and patience. All in all, it was a fabulous cruise, and we loved Princess and the Caribbean Princess. We both remarked several times that if a person couldn’t be happy on a cruise, they probably couldn’t be happy anywhere. We have found if you look for the best that is usually what you get (in spite of our grumbling about the flights). Thanks to everyone at Cruise Critic who gave us so much helpful information that made our cruise so wonderful.

 

If you have any specific questions, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me.

 

May your next cruise be your best!

 

Cathy and Joan

[quincytoo]

Loved your review!!!!! We are going to be on the Carribean Princess soon and your review was good :)

 

We have a day sail in St. Thomas booked but have heard somebad reviews on it and am now wondering if we should cancel it and do Godfrey's tour instead??

[xznwfd]

quincytoo,

 

I haven't done the day sail, but I can recommend Godfrey highly. He offers other options than the tour I took - you can also add an hour island tour to the day (shop, tour, then beach). He is less expensive than the ship tours, and is very honest and reliable.

 

Either way, I'm sure you will enjoy your time in St. Thomas!

 

Thanks,

 

Cathy

[frofro]

Excellent review! I enjoyed reading it, the whole thing :)

Can't wait to be on the Caribbean Princess this summer. Thanks for posting!

[piercetc4]

very nice review- really looking forward to sailing the cb this year!

[lexa76]

Thank you for a thorough review!

[loug1601]

Great review...loved reading every word!

 

Pat :)

[wrongwaywatson]

Great review! We are sailing on her 3/2 and can't wait!

[Clutterlady]

Thank you for the great review! Can't wait till we sail the CB in May:)

 

One question, did you get to check out the Caribe Cafe and what did you think of it?

[Solara]

Great review, very entertaining. Can't wait till our trip on her.

[Colo Cruiser]

Fantastic review, love that Tiarmisu as well, however I did lick the plate when nobody was watching. :eek: :D ;)

[xznwfd]

Hi Clutterlady,

 

We did eat several times in the Caribe Cafe, but didn't try any of the special dinner buffets they offered. We looked at the German and Mexican ones, but the dining room meals sounded better those nights. All our meals there were at lunch and the food wasn't much different from the Horizon Buffet. That said - all the food was good! Everything is fitting a little tighter - the mark of a good cruise! :D

 

Thanks,

 

Cathy

[xznwfd]

:mad:

 

Not sure what I did, but the first section of the review got deleted after I posted it twice.

 

Here is the info on our trip down, the hotel, and embarkation (because it really wasn't long enough already!):rolleyes:

 

Saturday, January 19th – Fly to Ft. Lauderdale!

We booked a reasonable flight on Air Tran out of Detroit Metro leaving about noon on Saturday. Prices were higher than what we’ve spent in the past, but expected, given the fuel charges these days. I’m not a nervous flyer, but I am a nervous airport arrival person, so we arrived at the airport at 10ish for our noon flight. (As my niece said to my sister when they missed their flight one day, “Aunt Cathy would have made that plane!” Actually, Aunt Cathy would have made the plane and had time for a nice breakfast at the terminal beforehand). The MI is our chauffeur on these occasions, since he has to stay at my house while I’m gone anyway. I have a flock of cats who prefer live in help, and he very nicely complies, as long as I return home with lots of duty free liquor and cigars.

As good little travelers, we had completed all the necessary documents on line ahead of time, and had printed out everything we needed and placed everything in nice neat manila folders.

We had booked the Grande Ft. Lauderdale on Hotwire for a total (including taxes) of $227/night. We had stayed in this hotel on our Volendam trip when it was still the Marriott Marina and found it lovely. However, in the interim, it has undergone a complete remodel and become a Hilton, and the price was double what we paid 3 years ago. The hotel was due to open the middle of December, but due to construction delays only a portion of the rooms were open, and the restaurant wasn’t scheduled to open until sometime in “early 2008”. The Hilton opening was scheduled for January 7. We couldn’t find any reviews from travelers who had stayed there since the remodel, so we were a bit concerned that it would be covered in construction dust and we would be forced to eat out of vending machines (not that there’s anything wrong with that). The very minute it turned into a Hilton, the price went up to $259/night ($279 with taxes) so at the very least we had gotten a good price on the room, assuming it was finished and furnished.

When we got to the airport (nice and early), we found out our flight would be delayed. We sucked up the disappointment with good grace, purchased a pile of tabloids and some Starbucks, and settled in. It seems the weather in Atlanta was dreadful (1/4” of snow, the Big Giant Babies) so many flights were cancelled or delayed. One blessing was that due to the kindness of the airline check in agent, we were bumped up to Business Class. Two gin and tonics and the big comfortable seats went a long way toward keeping our serenity going. We finally got to Atlanta about 2 hours late, and found out our connection to Ft. Lauderdale was also delayed. This was not my first negative experience with the Atlanta airport, so we were not surprised, if still a bit disappointed. We finally left the Atlanta airport (and all that snow) about 3 hours late (and not in business class, unfortunately). We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale without further incident, collected our baggage (always a major concern) and grabbed a taxi for the Grande Marina.

On the way, following the advice of many other Cruise Critics, we stopped at Total Wine to pick up our pre-ordered wine for the trip (2 bottles each). We also got a small bottle of Grey Goose for our room. Then it was off to the hotel, which was less than a mile from Total Wine. We were checked in quickly, and were quite dazzled by the hotel’s remodel. Everything was in beiges and creams, with chartreuse and orange accents. Only the tower rooms were open, so we got a fabulous room with a view of the cruise port on the 12th floor. The restaurant wasn’t open either, but they have a little bar in the lobby where you can get snacks, so we, being starving, headed down.

We had 2 appetizers and 1 drink each, and the bill was $58!!!! My glass of mediocre La Crema Pinot Noir was $18 – just crazy, when I can buy a bottle for $12 at home. However, at least we were fed and watered, and on vacation in the correct city, so we chalked it up to experience and headed back to our room.

The beds were nice and comfortable, and the bathroom was huge, with sliding French doors and an open shower arrangement. The next morning, I awoke and flung open the curtains (much to Joan’s dismay, as she was still asleep) to see the beautiful Caribbean Princess directly across the highway from my room! What a sight, it almost made up for the $18 glass of wine. Almost.

The Grande had a very nice free breakfast buffet, so I went downstairs and loaded up a plate for us to share. We ate and checked out at 11, and then the doorman called us a cab for the cruise terminal. It wasn’t even a 5 minute drive, and we pulled up to see an enormous line doubled back on itself outside the Princess terminal. We handed our bags to the porters and shuffled off to the line.

Lucky for us, the line was so long only because they hadn’t yet started checking people in. The doors opened in about 10 minutes, and the line started to move right along. We were inside in about 45 minutes, and on board in about 15 minutes more, so about 1 hour and 15 minutes total. Not bad, considering we had wondered if we would make it on before the ship sailed when we first saw the line!

Once on board, we were very impressed with the beauty of the atrium and the ship itself. We immediately completed our pre-cruise to do’s, buying 2 coffee cards, making reservations at Sabatini’s for Caribbean night in the dining room (Tuesday) and Sterling’s for Italian night (Thursday). No lines, and we got decent times (6:00 for Sabatini’s and 6:30 for Sterling’s). We dropped our bags off in our room (mini-suite 424 on the Dolphin deck. We got a great deal on a guarantee from our usual on line agent, $950 each, and were upgraded to an AA mini suite right in the middle of the ship! This was a fabulous location – we were right off the main stairs and the panoramic elevators, and felt very little motion. For us the guarantee paid off big time).

The mini suite itself was a very good size for us, with a generous balcony, a nice living room area with a full couch, and a decent sized bathroom with a tub. I had faxed Princess with a request for the beds to be made up as twins, egg crate mattress pads on the beds, top sheets, and to have the bedspreads taken away. All of this was done, and the beds looked very nice with just their duvets on them. They were very narrow, but with the egg crates comfortable enough, and we slept just fine. The AC worked perfectly throughout the week, and we were very comfortable temperature wise.

Next we headed up to the Horizon court for lunch. It was crowded but not unbearable, and the set up of the buffet wasn’t as confusing as I had read on the boards. I had a Caesar salad and some shrimp salad, and Joan had roast beef, mashed potatoes and fried scallops. We found a table in the Caribe café section of the dining area, and enjoyed our lunch. We then confirmed our spa appointments we had made on line, signed up for the Thermal Suite package, and then headed back to our room.

Once there, one of our suitcases had arrived, so we started to unpack. There was LOTS of storage space, and tons of hangers, so we were happy we hadn’t brought any extras with us. Lots of shelves and drawers, and the suitcases fit either under the bed or in the corner of the closet. Our room attendant, Mariana from Romania, came in to introduce herself and immediately called housekeeping about a flickering light. Mariana was the very best attendant we’ve ever had – so personable and friendly, and very efficient. She kept our room immaculate and let me tell you, with 2 women, enough cosmetics for a small shop and shoes that I swore were breeding in the closet that was no easy task. We asked her for a corkscrew which she promptly delivered, and before we knew it the rest of our suitcases arrived and we finished unpacking. Life was good.

We went to muster at 4:15 in Sabatini’s, which was a HUGE improvement over past musters, huddled outside in the bulky lifejackets while the crew attempted to take roll. This was so civilized – we listened to our instructions, practiced putting on the jackets, and were back in our room in no more than 15 minutes. We loved Princess’s muster!

For dinner the first night, we went to the famous Cold Seafood Buffet. We had crab legs (already split), lobster claws (not split, unfortunately, and every bit as difficult to open as I had heard) and cold shrimp. We also had cookies for desert, which proved to be a constant throughout the trip. The cookies varied between excellent and dry and over baked, but we still managed to eat pretty near our weight in them over the week. They had oatmeal raisin (the best and least hard), chocolate, chocolate chip and peanut better (usually hard as rocks). We didn’t try many other deserts as nothing really caught our eyes.

After that meal, we headed to the Lobby Bar for a mocha latte (Joan) and a Chai Tea (Cathy). Then we went to the casino, which had lots of 5 cent and 2 cent slots. We enjoyed those, since it took much longer to lose our money.

It was cold and windy that first night, and the ship was rocking. Our room had much less motion than we had felt in the buffet, however. The lovely Mariana had cleaned up our room and the Princess Patter was delivered shortly afterward. The next day was Princess Cay (Monday), so we retired early so we could be up and ready for a lovely beach day.

[quincytoo]

...I have been known to run my finger through a empty plate of Creme Caramel to get the last of the sauce...:)

[Donna - dsw]

Thanks for the review! Glad you had a great cruise. As you can see - we sail in 32 days and I can hardly wait.

 

I agree with your comments about having a good time - - you get what you make of anyting including a good crusie!

[Solara]

xznwfd,

 

What fax number did you use for the requests you made for your bedding. In the past the info I sent in never got done until I asked again onboard? Also how far ahead did you fax them the info?? Thanks........

[joenanna]

Great review, I only hope when we board the CB on Feb 24th that we will have as much fun as it sounds like you two had. Our last trip on the CB was it's first year out so I only hope it hasn't experienced too much wear and tear

[SusieS]

Hi- Thanks for the great review! Would you happen to have Godfrey's email address? Thanks- Susie

[Colo Cruiser]

Love those chocolate/chocolate chip cookies too. :D

[xznwfd]

Solara,

 

Here is the fax number and the info they want to get the egg crates on the bed ahead of time - I sent the fax 10 days out, and our room steward said she got the information the night before we got on the ship:

Fax #- 661-284-4745

Include along with request-

Booking #

Cabin #

Date of Cruise

Name of Ship

Name of Passengers

 

SusieS, Godfrey's e-mail address is godfrey@godfreytoursvi.com. I hope you like him as much as we did if you use him! Really a great guy.

 

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone! ;)

 

Cathy