Review of NY repo and SJ to SJ Princess Caribbean

[clvali]

Home from 2 wonderful weeks in the caribbean on the CB.

There has never been a cruise I did not like so little negitive here.

EMBARKATION IN TRANSIT DEBARKATION

This was somewhat slow due to noro on the previous cruise so we were late getting on board, we were kept well informed. We were consided in Transit at the end of the first cruise. Everyone had to get off the ship, go through customs and reboard. Not pretty due to new rules sprung by imigration in SJ. Actually, the whole debarkation was a comedy of errors. Immigration did not measure correctly when they made CB use deck 7 for debarkation - rails had to be cut and later welded together. No provision for wheelchair guests as the elevator was broken. Folks in wheelchairs had to be carried down two flights. We transit passengers had quite a treck to get back on and we lead through and by many lined up passengers. Again, no fault to Princess. Debarkation was nearly on schedule. Under a half hour trip by cab to the airport, which was much nicer than I expected.

DINING

We had traditional early seating. Martin and his assistant were really fun and did an excellent job. Thanks to Matre D Pisano were able to have them both weeks and were given a really nice table the second week. Food was excellent, as expected.

Pizza great on CB and the buffet always good. Cafe Carib had some special meals both at night and for lunch. Liked all of them. And, note this, we all liked the coffee.

LOBBY BAR

[clvali]

LOBBY BAR

Our hangout for the trip. Great drinks and Agge and Chat kept us entertained the entire trip.

Get the coffe card and go there, tell Agge that Val and Cathy say HI.....

CABIN

[clvali]

LOBBY BAR

Our hangout for the trip. Great drinks and Agge and Chat kept us entertained the entire trip.

Get the coffe card and go there, tell Agge that Val and Cathy say HI.....

CABIN

What can I say, the carib deck is the BEST. The room steward was the best we have had in many cruises. I laugh when I look at the pictures of our towel art.

LIFE ON SHIPBOARD

So sparkling clean and such a great effort to control the virus. Muster in SJ was between dining seatings, worked out well. Yes, it tended to be warm some of the time. After all, we were in the Caribbean. Mutts was fun. Trivia is one of our persuits, and their was lots of it.

Private lunch in Sabattinis for the CC group was wonderful. Chairs were always available on the pool decks. The Bears were a really nice bunch of guys. Shows were good and the hypotist had us laughing the entire show. I have a degree in MIXOLOGY, that was a great event and we drank all the 4 drinks we made.....

cont.

[clvali]

STAFF

Capt. Guerrine was a mystery man. His announcements were the only sign we had of him.

PSD James Deering, the BEST in the business. He often met us at the lobby bar and shared the working of the ship. Really enjoyed sailing with James after many years of e-mails. Tour was great. We always enjoy talking with crew and they were so open and warm on CB.

The recreation staff was fun, mature, and did a great job handling all the passengers. Rocky was our favorite.

PORTS

Only three scheduled excursions. Shopping with the pirated in ST. Thomas, great idea. Sailing again with Capt. Bobby in St. Thomas was our favorite day. Snorkling with Renee in Bonaire was also very good. We found Michaels Big Banana, an open air vehicle, in St. Kitts and had a great 3 hour tour with rum and carib beer for $20, best bargin in the Carib. Highly recommend all of these activities.

 

Looking forward to our next Princess trip.

clvali

[PaddleAddict]

The Bears were a really nice bunch of guys.

 

I was a little concerned about having a large group onboard, but the Bears were super nice and a lot of fun!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thanks for the review. I am a bit concerned about disembarkment after reading another review. Our flight leaves at 12:00. It was originally a bit later, but bumped back by the airlines.

 

OK - who were the Bears? If it were the Chicago Bears my DH will be hanging his head in shame for not being on that cruise!:D

[clvali]

Oh no, your husband need not be ashamed.

The Bears are a hugh bunch of big gay guys. And just as nice as could be.....

Princess welcomes them, they behave and spend lots of money. Sounded like

they travel yearly.

clvali

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Oh no, your husband need not be ashamed.

The Bears are a hugh bunch of big gay guys. And just as nice as could be.....

Princess welcomes them, they behave and spend lots of money. Sounded like

they travel yearly.

clvali

OK...whew....if he knew his favorite football team was on a cruise and he missed it I would never hear the end of it!:D

[sunsetbeachgal]

Thanks for your reveiw!

 

We wil be in St. Kitts in January on the Emerald...how did you find the "Big Banana" tour? Did you pre-book or is this just something you came across when you got off the ship? It sounds like fun!

[spongerob]

Thanks for your review. We were on the repo from New York also and wished we could have stayed on board another week. I, too, could not figure out why disembarkation was done from deck 7. It sure slowed things down. We got off at 10:30 and it took about 30 minutes to get through the immigration and customs inspections. By that time the lines to get on were already forming and I'm sure that those people had an uncomfortable wait.

 

Aggie at the Lobby Bar is great. Ask him about the mixology class, it's a lot of fun.

[clvali]

We just happened on his tour. We went all the way through the normal ship selling stuff and turned left, he was parked a few blocks away. We dickered for the $20 and told him we needed carib beer also. He made three beer stops for us. We really had a great time. And the rum drinks were very strong also.

Look for Michael in a yellow T shirt.

clvali