Princess Cays fixed yet?? Then, by Jan 9th on the STAR??

[VKMcCarty]

Hello, Holiday Cruise fans!

 

 

The "buzz" is that Princess cruises have been diverting from scheduled days stopping at the Princess Cays, because it apparently sustained considerable damage in a recent storm.

 

 

Well, goodness gracious, I hope that it will be repaired by the time we embark on our Jan. 9th voyage on the STAR PRINCESS.

 

 

Anyone else going our way??

 

 

I understand that for some of the cruises they are replacing with San Juan, although we are already going there; or else they have an extra sea day, or they go add going to Nassau --which might be nice.

 

 

Can you imagine -- Princess even credits us for the Princess Cays port charges, although the $9.85 will just about cover a martini, eh?

 

 

Anyone heard anything new about this??

 

VK.

 

[VKMcCarty]

Silly double-paragraphing.

Sorry!

VK.

[Guest Host Tink]

Hi!

 

I did some research and checked with some of my fellow TA's and everything seems to say Princess Cay is "closed indefinitely", so that could mean tomorrow, or 5 years from now. I'll keep my eye on the Princess info blasts I get and will post if there is an update!

[CruiseFever]

Hi!

 

I did some research and checked with some of my fellow TA's and everything seems to say Princess Cay is "closed indefinitely", so that could mean tomorrow, or 5 years from now. I'll keep my eye on the Princess info blasts I get and will post if there is an update!

You are a travel agent?

[sue d. miller]

Have heard January, maybe!! Don't give up hope!! :)

Here is your roll call!!!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=48490

[zebra]

Hi VKMcCarty.... yes we're on the same cruise. There are 8 of us.

 

Like you I'm holding my breath and hoping for Princess Cays to be opened. Although we've been there as the first cruise back after a previous hurricane and only a portion (one third) of the island/beach area was open and functional - it still looked pretty desolate, not very attractive at all, but the sea was super - so we have never seen it in "all it's glory". Just don't tell me that we're going to do Nassau as an alternative, this is absolutely our least, least favorite destination in the Caribbean.... oh well I guess we'll just stay on board and enjoy the pool!!!!

[VKMcCarty]

What a great post, Zebra!

 

It's great we'll be on the same cruise. I'm easy to recognize: I have red hair on top of my middle-aged head like a Toulouse-Lautrec, and wear long skirts.

 

Sure hope that they are able to fix up the Princess Cays. I hear that the re-building is in fact done, but that the problem is in bringing in new sand, and that indeed could take forever, or get accomplished in a few weeks. Hard to know.

 

Thanks for your feedback about Nassau; what do I know?? I love to hear about other people's experiences, and certainly an excuse to just stay on the boat and have a massage/facial special is always appreciated.

 

Oh, and your cruise coming up sounds fabulous. I did a Rome-Istanbul Holy Land voyage many years that was truly a fav, and loved so much a round-trip Barcelona Greek Isles cruise last spring that I'm doing it again next year, in the very same cabin.

 

Cruise on, my friends!

VK

[zebra]

Hi VK.... my name is Jackie and my husband is Tony. Gosh a massage/facial on the day we MIGHT go to Nassau sounds terrific - and usually the prices are lower for treatments whilst we are in port!!!!!!

 

Like you I'm hoping that Princess Cays will be functional - it is super just lying on a water mattress and floating out on the still blue ocean... hmmmm

 

Yes we have just got back from Barcelona to Venice (12 days) and totally loved it. The minute we got back we booked to go back (on another cruiseline) to most of the ports we visited before plus 6 more, including Istanbul, which we hear raving reports about - and also my all time favorite...Santorini!!!!!!!!

[VKMcCarty]

I had hoped to mostly be talking about our upcoming Jan 9th Eastern Caribbean voyage on the Star Princess on this thread. . .

 

But I've got to say that on this recent 12-day Mediterrannean cruise round-trip from Barcelona, one of my favorite stops was Santorini, and strangely enough, it's one of the stops that's missing from the next one I'm going on in June in order to add Corfu and Dubrovnic.

 

I loved the churches, and I'm not complaining but I got a little sick in the heat and ended up with some RC nuns in their convent and heard so much heart-warming familiar sounding music it was such heavenly medicine.

 

AND THE TRAM! Isn't that a hoot? We came down it to leave, but if I had it to do again, I would go up it as well, and perhaps even an extra loop of up-and-down it was such a pleasure. I'd run out of film at that point last time and I'd like the chance to shoot it again. Well, some other time, eh?

 

Very nice to make your acquaintance!

VK.

[Rustynail]

Hoping it's open for Jan 22nd!:D

[VKMcCarty]

My travel agent just got off the STAR PRINCESS, and just went on and on about how lovely the ship was. We joke about it being the Grand with a paint job, but that really is a stupid joke, because these Grand-Class ships are so marvelous to be on for a vacation.

 

Indeed they did not go to Princess Cays, but she said the insider-buzz among the travel agents was that Princess was taking this opportunity to not only clean up the damage from the storm and put in new sand, but also to do important renovations they had always wanted to do on the Cays, anyway.

 

One of them, for example, is to put in some cabanas, which have bathrooms in them. WOW. Oh, I can't wait for this Caribbean vacation. I'm plugging away on an Old Testmament take-home essay final exam, but I can't wait to finally have the thing done and focus on whirlpools & bathing suits & evening gowns, & massages & sunset walks on the Promenade Deck in warm breeze.

 

Who else is going with us?

VK.

[merela]

We are going on the Star Princess 1/23. Do we get an extra sea day or do we get to stop at another port?

[CruiseFever]

I think you need to have hope, I think we'll be there on Christmas Day and you'll make it on your sailing too.

[zebra]

Chris, I'm with you - we sure need to have hope! (By the way... looking forward to your next review.. the last one was awesome.)

Yes we're also on the 9th Jan on the Star and our itinerary still shows Princess Cays, although I've read on other threads that they're only supposed to be opening it in Feb. I think if this was so all the January sailings' itineraries should have been updated to reflect that...so we sure do still have hope.

FOr the poster that asked about the Princess Cays substitute - if you're on an Eastern Caribbean sailing then it will be Nassau. uuuggghhh.... our least favorite destination - just our opinion! So I'm PRAYING (like many others are) for Princess Cays to be open in time for our cruise in January.

[CruiseFever]

Chris, I'm with you - we sure need to have hope! (By the way... looking forward to your next review.. the last one was awesome.)

Yes we're also on the 9th Jan on the Star and our itinerary still shows Princess Cays, although I've read on other threads that they're only supposed to be opening it in Feb. I think if this was so all the January sailings' itineraries should have been updated to reflect that...so we sure do still have hope.

FOr the poster that asked about the Princess Cays substitute - if you're on an Eastern Caribbean sailing then it will be Nassau. uuuggghhh.... our least favorite destination - just our opinion! So I'm PRAYING (like many others are) for Princess Cays to be open in time for our cruise in January.

There are so many sailing so soon that have a call at Princess Cays we should have a group hope-for-the-best thing of some sort! We'll have a complete journal-review but it will be on our website this time where it won't be shark food. If there's anything specific I can check out for you when we're aboard let me know ok?

 

Keep those fingers crossed!

[nhcruiser]

Hope that they get the sand to stay on the shoreline otherwise we may have to be satified with just pictures.

Princess Cays is at the lower tip of this photo.

 

Eleuthera Island, Bahamas,

Long, narrow Eleuthera Island can be seen in this mostly south-looking view. Like most of the Bahama Islands, Eleuthera is composed mainly of limestone and coral, and rises from a vast submarine plateau. The island, 80 miles (133 km) long, 2 miles (3 km) wide and covering an area of 164 sq. miles (425 sq. km), is generally low and flat, river- less, and has many mangrove swamps, brackish lakes, coral reefs and shoals, and many miles of sandy beaches.

(Space Shuttle photograph STS081-738-066; photo courtesy of NASA)

[enymarsh]

nhcruiser,

Thanks so much for the awesome picture!! Well, if I can't go there, at least I can look at the picture :rolleyes:

We're on the Star 1/2/05 and it is a western itinerary... anybody know what the options for that route are? I had heard that either Costa Maya, or a sea day.

[Pam in CA]

Our itinerary for the 12/26 sailing of the Caribbean Princess was just changed last night. Instead of Princess Cays on 12/27, we have a sea day and then an afternoon in Nassau the day before we're back in Ft. Lauderdale. Come to think of it, we'll be there on New Year's Day. Wonder if anything will even be open.

[Mike A]

We are sailing on the CB on 1/8 (the next CB sailing after 12/26). I just checked the personalizer again and it is still showing Princess Cays for Friday 1/14. I'll keep my fingers crossed but I'm not to optimistic.

[zookeeper]

Doing Western cruise on Star beginning Dec 19, 2004. A couple days ago our itinerary was changed to drop PC and insert Costa Maya. I love PC but we can't control Mother Nature! Costa Maya is interesting also, expecially if you have an interest in Mayan ruins. We were there in Nov 03 and had a great time touring Kohunlich.

[susiesan]

Since Princess is owned by Carnival Corp., and they have private islands for HAL and Carnival, why isn't Princess using one of the other corprate owned islands? I'm on the Dawn sailing 1/19/05. My cruise still shows Princess Cay but I'm not holding my breath.

 

Susie

[CruiseMark]

In talking to some people at Princess, the latest goal is to have it done by the end of January. I got a few different answers, but that one seemed the most consistent.

[Heritage.Classic]

I'm on the Dawn 1/9/05. Looks like our stop at PC for 1/10 has been replaced with a day at sea. Does anyone know if we can expect some sort of shipboard credit?

[brrgrr]

I'm on the Dawn Dec 30 sailing. We also lost PC, as well as Margarita Island last night. A $100 PP credit was posted to our accounts.

Strangely, the Nov 23 sailing with the same itinery also lost the same two stops. They got a $150 PP credit.

Wonder why that was??

[lenetere]

It's in my Personalizer, so I guess it's official. The 1/2/05 sailing of Star P. is stopping at Majahual instead of PC.