Back from CB 10/2/04 - embarkation day

[soohoo]

It was great meeting many of you from the boards! Overall had a great time. Not the best cruise but fun! I will give an overview and if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. First cruise on Princess, and have previously cruised RCCL, NCL, CCL, Disney.

Pre-cruise - stayed at Renaissance and booked through priceline.

Embarkation - was on board within 20 minutes of the door opening. Princess gets an "A" in this area.

Room - After boarding, we went to check out our room first. Booked Mini-suite AD (E725) and Oceanview (E717). We really liked the closet space, hangers and storage. No problem at all with the overpacking we had done. Enjoyed the regular table size on the patio for coffee and pastries each morning.

Lunch - the Coral Dining room was listed as open for embarkation lunch but when we arrived there was a sign stating that open for private party only. JMO this should not have even been listed in the patter and we were disappointed and checked out the Horizon Court. We were not very fond of the food (after tasting it) then remembered reading how good the pizza was. Pizza was excellent! Most other days we ate in the dining room (Coral for breakfast & lunch, Palm for Dinner).

Spent the afternoon checking out the ship, made reservations for Sabatinis and Movies under the stars. Requested feather pillows and robes which were delivered later that afternoon. Room steward was Gerardo from Mexico. He was young man that only has 1 more week and was counting down his days to leave. Service was good and he always called me by my first name when he saw me.

Our CC group met for sailaway. What a great time meeting our group and getting the party started.

Then off to my reflexology appointment. 1st time for this treatment and was wonderful. Just enough to relax and then off to dinner.

Dinner was great. Santi from Philippines was our head waiter. He works in the Palm tables 34-37. We loved him. He overheard us trying to make up our minds and without asking, he brought out extra entrees when he brought out our meal. Not only did he do this with the main entree but also with the sweets! On lobster night - my husband had 3 plates (6 tails) , I had 2 (4 tails)! More on that later. He was so good, we were not the only people to reserve his tables. The same people ate at his tables all week!

We then headed off to the welcome show and sent our kids 12 1/2 and 13 off to their thing to meet others. We enjoyed the show and went back to our room to find the boys sitting there. They were kicked out of the program due to age (which I did read on board here how strict they were on the age groups). We have a problem with that because the 10 - 12 age group only had 4 kids on the ship, they dissolved this age and combined them with the 7-9 year olds. They refuse the 12 1/2 to move to 13 year olds but made the 13 year old move down to 7-9. We spoke with the manager and she said it is their company policy due to "legal reasons". You can only imagine how upset we were at this one. Now both boys are in Jr. High but you are putting them with 2nd graders. Now that seems like a "legal problem". The lady wouldn't hear it and just said sorry. I explained to her that my kids are not going to play the kiddy games and will be allowed to run around the ship. She didn't care. Just following somebody's orders. Not sure who. Now my son even says that Princess has the worst program at sea. He thought it was NCL, but they at least allow the kids to change groups after they have tried there own age group and the parents go to them about it. I expressed this same opinion but I guess a person here and there not sailing them again isn't really going to hurt their pocketbook!

More later....

[CruiseFever]

Welcome back!

I can only hope that you'll give us as much detail on the rest of your voyage as you did for the first day. Well done!

[Coral]

Thanks for your posting.

7 year olds and 12 year olds together in the same group - that is not right. I am not surprised they did this (I heard about the strictness also) but am disappointed. I hope your kids had fun on the ship outside of the kids program.

I look forward to day 2.

[Ella2]

[QUOTE]We have a problem with that because the 10 - 12 age group only had 4 kids on the ship, they dissolved this age and combined them with the 7-9 year olds. They refuse the 12 1/2 to move to 13 year olds but made the 13 year old move down to 7-9. [/QUOTE]
WOW, this would be very upsetting to me too as well...I'm sailing with my 11-year-old in December at an off-peak time (she's in a year-round school so we always cruise in early December) and would be quite unhappy if they simply dissolved her age grouping and put her with the 7-9 crowd!

I would think in your circumstance they could be more lenient with the 12 1/2 year old moving UP since there was no program to support that age range.

I also look forward to reading more of your story!

[praise4him]

We sailed on the CP on the infamous Sept 11 sailing to nowhere. We also had a problem with the kids program at first because my 9 1/2 year old son could not be put with his older brother in the 10-12 year olds. The girl told me the same thing and so I talked to "Betto" (not sure if that's spelled right but that's how it sounds) because he is over the childrens dept. there.
He said absolutely yes, we could make an allowance and so if I were you I would talk to him. He is VERY nice and so wonderful with the kids. My boys loved him.
Have a great trip and I am keeping an "eye" on all of you because I have downloaded the web cam on my desktop that refreshes every 30 seconds.
Be blessed and have a great one!
Jennifer

DUH!
I just reread your post and realized you are BACK! Sorry! for the mistake!

[laginog]

We were on the 5-day Caribbean Princess sailing. They also "merged" the 10-12 group in with the 7-9 group due to "lack of kids". And a couple of times, they were together with the 3-6 age group for activities!! I would think they would definitely have a "legal" problem with that!!!

[Jerlyn]

:confused: Did they have Monday night football on the ship and was it on the big screen?

Thank you for your response.

[RedMaple]

Enjoying your review...we also are booked at Renaissance Hotel via Priceline...how did you get to the pier..taxi or shuttle (read recently that they do have a shuttle for a fee)

Also what time did you arrive at the pier...?

Thank you

red

[beachlovergirl]

I'm also enjoying your review. We'll be at the Renaissance (via Priceline) on Friday....how was the hotel?

What were the hours you were in Nassau and what did you do while you were there?

Thank you! :)

[SaylorGirl]

[quote name='soohoo']


We enjoyed the show and went back to our room to find the boys sitting there. They were kicked out of the program due to age (which I did read on board here how strict they were on the age groups). We have a problem with that because the 10 - 12 age group only had 4 kids on the ship, they dissolved this age and combined them with the 7-9 year olds. They refuse the 12 1/2 to move to 13 year olds but made the 13 year old move down to 7-9. We spoke with the manager and she said it is their company policy due to "legal reasons". You can only imagine how upset we were at this one. Now both boys are in Jr. High but you are putting them with 2nd graders. Now that seems like a "legal problem". The lady wouldn't hear it and just said sorry. I explained to her that my kids are not going to play the kiddy games and will be allowed to run around the ship.

That must have been very upsetting for your entire family. That is just wrong!

[c&d]

Jerlyn

Yes they had Monday night football on big screen. Had it set up with tables and chairs. Sold 32 oz Bud for $5 also had the hot dogs and other food items available. DH loved it. In Princess theather had a show for ladies. A few guys came to 8pm show with wife and left to go see game.

[mek]

Monday Night Football is on the big screen outdoors??? Yippeeeee!