CB 11/30 - 12/7 review LONG

[nattie]

Hello all, this is a long one. In short - we had good cruise with great crowd of people. I wouldn't do San Juan departure again though. Any questions are welcome!

Background info: This is our 12th cruise and 3rd on Princess. We have just sailed CB out of Ft. Lauderdale in May.

Flights and precruise: We flew 2 days early (Fri with Sun departure). Stayed in Courtyard Marriott Isla Verde. I would highly recommend this hotel. It is at the end of the beautiful beach, so it is very private. Hammocks are hung on the palms closest to the property and they have great view of the ocean (heavenly!). On property restaurants were a bit pricey, but the outdoor “fusion caribbean” place had outstanding food. The place is short walk to Denny’s and Walgreens, about 20 min walk to Pueblo supermarket. On Saturday we went to downtown San Juan and spent the day there just shopping and sightseeing. I would highly recommend “La Raiza” (The Roots) restaurant downtown – authentic Puerto Rico food and great entertainment.

Check in: I was very apprehensive about long waits, but we decided to chance it with getting there early, since my husband was hell-bent on watching his football onboard. The cab ride was the worst part (20 min from the turn to the port just inching along). Check in itself after cab drop off took less then 30 minutes. We have left hotel at 11:30 am and were in stateroom at 12:20 or so.

Stateroom: We had a mini all the way forward on Dolphin. Very nice room, spacious. My only complaint was that the tiles on the bathroom floor kept coming off. When we got there about 20 of them were missing already and more kept coming off with every step. I have called the front desk and they have promised to send someone to fix it. Well, that someone didn’t show up till 4th day of the cruise. And even after that tiles kept coming off. It was not very big deal to us, since we are 2 adults in the cabin, but the tiles are small (3/4”x3/4’ or 2cmx2cm) and could have easily posed a choking hazard for a child. Refurbish time for CB!

Public Areas: I really like that CB is separated into smaller areas. You don’t feel crowded all that much this way. We mostly hanged out in Club Fusion before 11 pm and Explorers Lounge, also the aft pool bar. I’ll go into more detail later, but let’s just say that this cruise was about 2/3 Puerto Rican and I have to give Princess kudos for crowd control. Unpleasant encounters and constant bumping and rudeness were still there, but it could have been so much worse!

Food: I would give it just above average, except for Chef’s Table – that meal was absolutely OUTSTANDING! The value you get for $75 surcharge is huge. Overall, I do like Princess food and we had a very nice server (late seating) and were able to get a 6prs table with just our cruise companions.

People: As I said, never again out of PR. I resent paying 3 times the fare the guests from PR for severely changed (not in good way) cruise experience. Of course, as it was reported earlier there is general rudeness, bumping and no respect what so ever for personal space, however this you can get on any cruise. What got me is an overall lowering of cruise standards in guest appearance, entertainment and other areas. Could you imagine a lady on formal night in the dining room dressed in zebra printed and sequined unitard? Well, it was just one of the standard outfits. The reason Princess transformed itself into my favorite cruise line is that it offers more upscale experience then Carnival, but still has fun. On this cruise we were hard pressed to find any space without scary/scantily clad looking PR teenagers after 11 pm, which translated in early bed time and much more sedated cruise experience. I am just not willing to pay $1K per person to be rudely accosted by bunch of thugs; I can get that for free in DC!

Entertainment: Didn’t do much. We attended Princess Pop Star and Marriage Game Show. As mentioned earlier after 11 pm, it was pretty much seedy Latin night club, so didn’t see any point in staying up. Watched and enjoyed some movies on MUTS during day time – love that feature!

Day 1 – St Thomas: Have been here several times, so stayed on the ship in the morning and went shopping in the afternoon. Overall very nice and relaxing day.

Day 2 – Dominica: I have purchased an independent excursion with Antours. Overall I would certainly recommend it, we had great time. There was some confusion on where we board the bus at first (outside the gates vs. inside) and who is going where (we had another couple waiting for the same tour operator but different excursion). I had all my paperwork including emails exchanged with me since we had a very custom tour set up. It ended up being that the couple on the other excursion went with us on our tour (might I add, we had much more challenging itinerary). We went to Emerald Pools, Screw Bath (hot springs) and snorkeling in Champagne Bay. Word of warning – roads are just awful and mountainous, so what seems like short distance on the map stretches into quite a journey. The guide was very nice, knowledgeable and accommodating. Overall I felt that we got to see the best the island had to offer in quite a short time.

This was also the day we had Chef’s Table dinner. What an experience! If you have done it, you know; if not, please sign up! It is impossible to give it justice just writing about it.

Day 3 – Grenada: Early departure, so we did Princess “Grenada Explorer” tour. Very nice, I loved the spice plantation the most. Tour was very long (almost 5hrs) due to mountainous roads and tardy tour mates. We barely made it to cut off time (10 min to spare before final boarding). Just relaxed on the balcony in the afternoon.

Day 4 – Bonaire: We missed out on this island. We were scheduled to take a water taxi to Klein Bonaire and were on the dock already when announcement was made that the tour was cancelled due to “technical problems”. I do understand that things happen, what I don’t get is that we have not arrived to the island until 12pm and NOBODY bothered to check/announce cancellation earlier? So we are on the dock looking for our number, managed to locate Princess representative, she was like “Your tour is cancelled”. OK, well I asked if she can recommend something to do, her response was “I’ll get back to you” after that she stormed off and never came back. Not the best start for the day. After that my hubby talked to couple drivers and tourism board representatives, but in the end we decided to go back to the ship – it was just too much hassle trying to fight other pax for a taxi/tour. Had the ship to ourselves, which was nice. In fairness, I have to add that other people who did venture off absolutely loved the island. I was just horrified by the prospect of another 5 hrs in the car J.

Since this was a late arrival day, we had our champagne breakfast on the balcony. Let me tell you, after all this food I couldn’t even think about another bite until dinner.

Day 5 – Aruba: Disembarked and grabbed a cab to Palm beach. Ended up hating the beach – not clean, very touristy and relocating to the Eagle/Manchego beach area. We found a spot with awesome waves (just high enough to play in, but not high enough to be dangerous), poolside bar and warm clean sand. Heaven!

Came back to town around mid day and had lunch at Iguana Joes – good food, but pricey. Shopped a bit afterwards – not very impressed. I personally think shopping is much better in St. Thomas.

Day 6 – at Sea: Last day of cruise, so we spent it at the pool deck. Didn’t have any problems with chairs at the MUTS pool – plenty to go around, even in the shade.

Day 7 – San Juan/Disembarkation: Due to late departing flights (7pm) I have decided to book an excursion on the last day. It was very well organized, after meeting in the lounge; we were escorted off the ship, picked up luggage, went through customs, dropped off luggage to another bus to be taken to the airport and boarded the tour bus in 20 min flat. Now that is efficiency! Of course, due to other pax being late we didn’t leave for another 20 min. The tour was “Rainforest tour” - very informative, pretty easy ride, tons of good pictures. The tour guide even stopped at the road pub so guys can pick up beer on the way back and took a scenic route back to town along the coast to kill a bit more time.

Other: Just couple quick notes:

• Service was excellent throughout the ship. We have tipped our room steward beforehand and he ended up doing such an amazing job that we tipped him even more at the end J
  
• DJ in Skywalkers disco is horrible. I hope Princess fires him ASAP. Why would you mix a merengue song in the middle of Jimmy Buffet cover???
  

[johnlcruise]

Nice review. Sounds like you had a nice time.

Thanks for posting.

[Nige]

Thanks for the review. We are on the 12/28 departure - the last one before drydock. Certainly sounds as though it is needed.

 

Glad to hear that boading was not as bad as some cruisers reported a few weeks ago. We are coming back into the Navy Federal Pier so that should be a different experience...

 

Certainly appreciate your reports on Dominica and Grenada - we have not decided on what to do there. Did you dock in Dominica - our itinery shows us as using a tender?

 

Sorry to hear of your experience in Bonnaire - it is a very flat island and you would have had a respite from mountain driving.

 

Welcome back to the DC area.

[karmacruiser]

Thanks for the review, we sail on Sunday!:)

[isyer1]

but let’s just say that this cruise was about 2/3 Puerto Rican and I have to give Princess kudos for crowd control. Unpleasant encounters and constant bumping and rudeness were still there, but it could have been so much worse!

 

 

I would say it was more like 1/4 Puerto Rican... and It was rather unpleasent. I am not trying to offend the PR people because out experience in San Juan was very positive. The group that was on this sailing represented some of the mroe tasteless aspects of their culture.

 

I wont sail out of San Juan again.

 

Tip.... we arrived at the peir around noon and were on in about 30 mins... have the cab driver bring you to the front of the terminal. There will be a couple of porters taking bags, throw them 5 bucks and you can skip the entire line waiting to drop off bags.

[Hoosier Cruise]

DH and I were on the same cruise as Nattie and her gang. I agree with everything she wrote. We did the Chef's table with her and it was absolutely wonderful. I would definately do it again, but not two on one cruise - no way my stomach could take it!

 

We missed out on Bonaire for the same reason - though I didn't realize that we had been booked on the same tour. Tour cancelled at literally the last minute - Absolutely no help from Princess.

 

Not our favorite cruise by any means - cruising out of PR had a lot to do with it, along with having a mini that smelled of smoke the entire cruise - but any cruise is better than working in Indiana in December!

 

One last note - the coffee card is a good deal, especially if you like the iced or frozen drinks. The Lobby bar was a great place to grab a quick coffee during the day - especially as you are climbing the stairs to work off some of those calories.

[Hoosier Cruise]

 

Certainly appreciate your reports on Dominica and Grenada - we have not decided on what to do there. Did you dock in Dominica - our itinery shows us as using a tender?

 

We docked at all of the ports - though some of the docks were really small. If I remember correctly, there were never more than 2 ships in the ports.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review. :)

[nattie]

DH and I were on the same cruise as Nattie and her gang. I agree with everything she wrote. We did the Chef's table with her and it was absolutely wonderful. I would definately do it again, but not two on one cruise - no way my stomach could take it!

 

We missed out on Bonaire for the same reason - though I didn't realize that we had been booked on the same tour. Tour cancelled at literally the last minute - Absolutely no help from Princess.

 

Not our favorite cruise by any means - cruising out of PR had a lot to do with it, along with having a mini that smelled of smoke the entire cruise - but any cruise is better than working in Indiana in December!

 

One last note - the coffee card is a good deal, especially if you like the iced or frozen drinks. The Lobby bar was a great place to grab a quick coffee during the day - especially as you are climbing the stairs to work off some of those calories.

 

Hi guys! Great to hear from you :)

How was you flight back? It was such a shock to the system to get back into cold... Brr...

[nattie]

Thanks for the review. We are on the 12/28 departure - the last one before drydock. Certainly sounds as though it is needed.

 

Glad to hear that boading was not as bad as some cruisers reported a few weeks ago. We are coming back into the Navy Federal Pier so that should be a different experience...

 

Certainly appreciate your reports on Dominica and Grenada - we have not decided on what to do there. Did you dock in Dominica - our itinery shows us as using a tender?

 

Sorry to hear of your experience in Bonnaire - it is a very flat island and you would have had a respite from mountain driving.

 

Welcome back to the DC area.

 

We docked in Dominica and distinctly remember that our itinerary also showed tendering. I really liked both Dominica and Grenada except for mountain roads! :)

[sherman931]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review; I appreciate it.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thank you for the review. I know that you had a tour arranged with Princess for disembarkment. I was wondering if any of your cruisemates who have posted on this thread could let us know how disembarkment went? We have been watching those reports as we have been a bit concerned about our noon flight.

 

We have private tours arranged in both Dominica (Levi) and Grenada (Mandoo). Mandoo's tour is the Spice Plantation Route. We will be in Grenada from 1 -7PM and his tour is 4 hours. Hopefully we will have enough time!:eek:

 

Our itinerary in May is the reverse of yours. We will be starting with a day at sea and ending with St. Thomas.:)

[Katosmama]

We were on the same cruise as Nattie, and I have to agree with everything she said. I hate to discriminate against any one particular nationality as there are good and bad everywhere, but every single rude person we encountered was from PR. There were little kids in the adults only hot tub that refused to leave, and when told to leave pretended they had no idea what we were saying. There were the parents that argued for 20 minutes with staff when told that they could not bring their 5 yr old into the adults only spa pool. Shocking, after the arguement, they still stayed and swam with their kid! One morning we went into the buffet and found a table for 4 empty, so we put our bags and hats down and got some food. We were not gone 5 minutes, and when we returned two PR ladies had moved our stuff down to one end of the table and planted themselves at the other end! There was an empty table for two right next to our table, which I requested they move to, so our table for 4 could sit down. Unbelievable.

 

I found the entertainment at nights geared a bit more towards the spanish clientele than we would have liked as well. The disco was basically unusable unless you wanted latin music. We only saw one show in the main theatre, we spent most of our time watching the pop princess and comedians or movies at MUTS. Thankfully the menu in the dining room was the usual fare and not all latin food.

 

In St. Thomas we got married, so we didn't see much of the island this time. In Dominica we took a private tour with Levi Baron of Bumpiing Tours. We went to Titou Gorge and Trafalgar Falls. We were going to go snorkeling as well at the Champagne Reef, but we decided to skip it and go back to the ship. We paid $40 per adult and $30 per kid for this trip. As a side note, we had 9 in our party and we were supposed to have a private van for just our group. Levi threw two other couples in with us...we were not bothered too much, but it may bother some people.

 

In Grenada we just walked around the port area and went to the spice market. We found the people very aggressive and asked us over and over again if we wanted whatever they were selling...not as bad as Jamaica, but more aggressive than other islands. I really liked the spice market. To get to it, when you hit the main street by the port turn left. About two blocks down, look down the side street and you will see the market about a block from the main road.

 

In Bonaire we walked about 10 minutes from the port to the Divi resort and went swimming off of their pier. There were chairs on the pier that we used and no one seemed bothered by it. There were a bunch of giant iguanas running around that the kids liked. It was easy to climb down the rocks to get into the water, which was super warm and super clear, and tons to see snorkeling right from the pier. You could rent snorkel equipment from them as well, but we had our own. It didn't look like there were any sandy beaches near the port, at least not walking distance, hence why we wound up on a pier.

 

In Aruba we rented a car from Hertz, right at the pier. It was supposed to be $32 for the day (for a tiny car, seriously tiny) but because we had to wait about 30 minutes for the car to be delivered to us, they knocked off about $6 so we only paid $28. We had insurance on our credit card, so we declined their expensive insurance. It was a great day, we drove all over the island, spent time at Baby beach which was fabulous and very quiet, went to some ruins of a fort, a natural bridge, looked around at other beaches and still had time to shop. All in all, that was my favourite port, the island was beautiful.

 

This was our 4th Princess cruise (DH's 5th) and while we love the CB and would go again, I have to say some of the little things were missing. No towel animals by our cabin steward. No pitchers of ice water in the cabin. No cookies and milk out by MUTS at night (they were there at 3:30 in the afternoon only). Nothing big, but just a slightly lower standard of service. I hope the trend does not continue.

 

Embarkation and debarkation - we landed in San Juan at 3 pm and were on the ship by 4 pm. At that time there was no lineup anywhere. You can buy liquor and pop right from the duty free shop in the terminal. I heard that there is some disclaimer on the reciept that says Princess cannot take your liquor away as well, if you buy it there...not sure if that's true or just a rumour. Our flight home was at an insane 9:40 am, and we made it with time to spare. We were literally the first people off the ship just before 8 am, miraculously found all of our luggage right away and were in a cab by 8:15. No one was on the road at that time so the cab ride was fast, the airport was still quite empty so we made it through the USDA check, and the security check in about 10 minutes. I think we were really lucky, but we made sure we were in Club Fusion at 7:10 rather than 7:50 like we were told and we stood right in front of the doors waiting to exit.

[FTLAUDER]

I am just flabbergasted that people don't recognize their own bigotry, stereotyping people as a group. If the posters on this thread put Americans in place of Puerto Ricans how would they like it? People are individuals aren't they. I hear the term Euro-trash, all the time in South Florida, yuk. Some don't like the French Canadians, Southerners don't like New Yorkers, Northerners think Southerners are rednecks. Enough is enough. I am just saddened by it all. That is not to say that we don't meet jerks all the time, but that's just it. They are jerks!!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Embarkation and debarkation - we landed in San Juan at 3 pm and were on the ship by 4 pm. At that time there was no lineup anywhere. You can buy liquor and pop right from the duty free shop in the terminal. I heard that there is some disclaimer on the reciept that says Princess cannot take your liquor away as well, if you buy it there...not sure if that's true or just a rumour. Our flight home was at an insane 9:40 am, and we made it with time to spare. We were literally the first people off the ship just before 8 am, miraculously found all of our luggage right away and were in a cab by 8:15. No one was on the road at that time so the cab ride was fast, the airport was still quite empty so we made it through the USDA check, and the security check in about 10 minutes. I think we were really lucky, but we made sure we were in Club Fusion at 7:10 rather than 7:50 like we were told and we stood right in front of the doors waiting to exit.

Thank you for this response. I guess if you can make it to that early of a flight we will do ok with our noon flight!

 

Congratulations on your wedding.:)

[coulter22]

Do any of you that have completed this cruise have your princess patters posted anywhere? We fly out this Saturday to start our journey & I like to be very, very prepared before I get on board.

 

Thanks!!

[nattie]

I am just flabbergasted that people don't recognize their own bigotry, stereotyping people as a group. If the posters on this thread put Americans in place of Puerto Ricans how would they like it? People are individuals aren't they. I hear the term Euro-trash, all the time in South Florida, yuk. Some don't like the French Canadians, Southerners don't like New Yorkers, Northerners think Southerners are rednecks. Enough is enough. I am just saddened by it all. That is not to say that we don't meet jerks all the time, but that's just it. They are jerks!!

Ok, well let's just say, I am not American, I am actually a citizen of Russian Federation :) So I guess "euro-trash" wouldn't sail out of Puerto Rico :)

Other posters, as well as I, noted that this is not abot PR people. I personally loved our 2 days pre-cruise in San Juan and had a great time without any incidents. I think it is just different set of expectations that I impose on my cruise experience vs. land vacation - classy outfits on formal nights, something to do in the evening, general respect from my fellow cruisers - that were not met on this sailing. Not to repeat myself, but I don't need $1K per person vacation to enjoy Latin night club, I can get that in my hometown.

[PaddleAddict]

I was on this cruise about a month ago. I'm glad to hear that the embarkation has improved. It was really bad for our trip!

 

We had quite a few Puerto Ricans on our sailing, but I never witnessed any problems with poor dress or rudeness... seems you just got a bad bunch of cruisers this particular week.

 

I would also hesitate sailing out of PR again just because coming from California, it was quite the trip there and back. However, the islands were my favorite thus far, so maybe in a few years I might venture back again.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I would also hesitate sailing out of PR again just because coming from California, it was quite the trip there and back. However, the islands were my favorite thus far, so maybe in a few years I might venture back again.

 

I am going almost as far and I can see that this is going to be one long trip! I really wish we had booked an overnight in San Juan after the cruise instead of just before. However, DH feels he just has to be backat work on Monday!:rolleyes: Iam really looking forward to the S. Caribbean islands, though.:)

[fxcarden]

I am just flabbergasted that people don't recognize their own bigotry, stereotyping people as a group. If the posters on this thread put Americans in place of Puerto Ricans how would they like it? People are individuals aren't they. I hear the term Euro-trash, all the time in South Florida, yuk. Some don't like the French Canadians, Southerners don't like New Yorkers, Northerners think Southerners are rednecks. Enough is enough. I am just saddened by it all. That is not to say that we don't meet jerks all the time, but that's just it. They are jerks!!

 

 

 

Well said. I'll be on the 12/14 cruise, and I EXPECT to see people from PR on the ship. After all, IT IS sailing from PR. That's like taking a cruise out of Miami and expecting no latin people. As far as people being rude....yeah...you'll find those everywhere. The last cruise I took was on Celebrity, and there was this AMERICAN lady who was very well dressed, and wearing thousands in gold jewelry, and she was upset and downright nasty just because she had to stand in line for ice-cream like the rest of the passengers.....what a loser.

[Hoosier Cruise]

Hi guys! Great to hear from you :)

How was you flight back? It was such a shock to the system to get back into cold... Brr...

 

Flight back was great. I have to say we did not encounter any problems with flights and that's always a good thing. Absolutely hated walking out to the car in the 29 degree weather! Brrr, is right!! But the effect of a great relaxing vacation is still with me. Hi to your Mum, Bill and Mark.

 

BTW I have a good picture of you from the bridge tour if yours did not come out.

 

Michele and Norm

[C&F]

Does anyone remember who the entertainment/Cruise Director's staff were?

[Katosmama]

I don't remember their names, but the cruise director is the same guy as last year, an Austrailian guy who said "g'day g'day g'day" all the time. His assistant was an Irish girl. I sorta think his name was Neil, but I could be wrong.

 

I didn't keep any of the Patters, sorry. I can tell you the order of the dinners (for the nights we ate in the dining room), if you are interested.

 

Sunday - sailaway - prime rib was great and this was the only night it was offered.

 

Monday - St. Thomas, formal night.

 

Tuesday - we ate at Stirlings, but I think it was Caribbean night.

 

Wednesday - Italian night. They were pushing the lemoncello and your waiter will tell you that they will do you a favour, in secret, and give you an extra shot...they ALL give you an extra shot, and will actually refill your shot glass as often as you drain it.

 

Thursday - not sure, we ate in Sabattini's

 

Friday - Aruba, formal night.

 

Saturday - "American night"...the waiters were wearing flag vests and served turkey. Also the only dessert this night is the baked alaska.

[nattie]

Flight back was great. I have to say we did not encounter any problems with flights and that's always a good thing. Absolutely hated walking out to the car in the 29 degree weather! Brrr, is right!! But the effect of a great relaxing vacation is still with me. Hi to your Mum, Bill and Mark.

 

BTW I have a good picture of you from the bridge tour if yours did not come out.

 

Michele and Norm

 

I have been so busy at work and with appointments, that I have not even gotten to my camera yet :) Also we have found out that we are having a boy! :)

Can you send a picture to hilliardmn @ starpower.net? Thank you so much!

[jpg1747]

I don't remember their names, but the cruise director is the same guy as last year, an Austrailian guy who said "g'day g'day g'day" all the time. His assistant was an Irish girl. I sorta think his name was Neil, but I could be wrong.

 

I didn't keep any of the Patters, sorry. I can tell you the order of the dinners (for the nights we ate in the dining room), if you are interested.

 

Sunday - sailaway - prime rib was great and this was the only night it was offered.

 

Monday - St. Thomas, formal night.

 

Tuesday - we ate at Stirlings, but I think it was Caribbean night.

 

Wednesday - Italian night. They were pushing the lemoncello and your waiter will tell you that they will do you a favour, in secret, and give you an extra shot...they ALL give you an extra shot, and will actually refill your shot glass as often as you drain it.

 

Thursday - not sure, we ate in Sabattini's

 

Friday - Aruba, formal night.

 

Saturday - "American night"...the waiters were wearing flag vests and served turkey. Also the only dessert this night is the baked alaska.

 

On the CB cruise on 11/23 on American Night, we were given a dessert menu in addition to the baked alaska. You just have to ask for it.