Caribbean Princess Reviews

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We arrived in San juan late on Sunday evening after flights from Manchester via JFK. The airport is close to the Port and the princess arranged transfers were reliable and quick as normal. Boarding was very quick as it was nearly 10pm by the time we got to the ship so majority of people were already on. I did hear some horror stories from people who Arrived earlier in the day as customs delayed boarding and the queues were very long as a result. We had a mini-suite on Dolphin Deck and it was a good size and very comfortable with the extra TV, sofa and bath being the main difference from the normal balcony room. We only had 15minutes in the room before we were mustered for our safety drill which had to be done then as we sailed at 11pm. The ship overall was in very good condition and all our favourite haunts such as sky walkers, international cafe and crooners were present and correct. We opted for anytime dining and ate in the island dining room most nights. Food was the usual high standard - I particularly like the variety of fish dishes. Service In the dining rooms was friendly and efficient and not to heavy handed in pushing extras such as wine, bottled water etc. we ate in horizon court (self service) a couple of evenings and the odd morning and found the food to be much hotter than previous ( on previous princess cruises I've often found it lukewarm). Service on the ship was excellent. One day we had a problem with the toilet not flushing, we reported to the front desk and was assured it would be fixed. When we returned to our room later in the morning there was a message saying the problem had been fixed, however on checking it still didn't work- we reported it again, they apologised and 10minutes later it was fixed. When we returned to our room that evening there was a bottle of wine waiting and a letter apologising for the inconvenience ! I think this was excellent customer service. We are platinum captains circle members so we took advantage of the pre dinner nibbles and cocktails each evening in sky walkers - which was a lovely way to watch the days port disappear into the distance, we didnt catch any shows preferring to spend our evenings in crooners listening to the singer/pianist Tommy McPhee - he was pretty good although his style was a little ott for what is meant to be a relaxing cocktail bar - but most people enjoyed him. As for the Ports - before going I guessed that 1 island would be much the same as the next and whilst to an extent that was true, each had its own unique style that made each one a pleasure to visit. We didn't bother with the ships tours as they are expensive opting to make each day up as we went along. Overall we had a blast and would recommend Princess and Caribbean cruising

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Although this was our first Princess cruise, we booked the trip with my parents, who has almost TWENTY Princess cruises. My husband & I have sailed for other cruise line and told my parents that we didn't know what they were bragging about all this time. After this trip, my parents do not care for ever booking a Princess cruise again. The service of our steward was wonderful, the staff on the ship is very friendly, especially the waiter and the asst. wait staff in our traditional dining. But, the ship was seriously lacking. Here are the pro's and con's - going to start with the Con's since they outnumber the Pro's. CONS: - I like to watch TV to unwind. Poor selection of channels, too much Princess commercialization!!! - The "Movies under the Stars" needs work. Surround sound is needed. Music was way too loud. Bass was giving me a migraine, yet I could not hear the voices of the people in the movies. - I had heard from other Princess cruise-goers about how great the milkshakes are... I thought they had sucked royally. I have had much better milkshakes at Steak N' Shake or even McDonalds. The milkshakes were like milk (very runny, not even the slightest bit thick). My husband and I got their unlimited sodas and more package because we love milkshakes - what a disappointment and waste of money! Did they change to ice milk or something? - The ice cream quantities was too meager. They would give you the littlest bit of ice cream on the cone. All cone and too little ice cream. - International Cafe is where they serve espresso and desserts, its very hit-and-miss. Once in a while you will find some fabulous desserts, but most of the time, they are don't have much of anything notable. - No good soups. No Lobster Bisque. No snow crab. The menu did not find the fab foods that you would find in other cruise lines. - If you wanted steak and/or seafood, get prepared to pay $25/per head!!! The good seafood is in Crown Grill, but there is a $25 cover charge per person and they are booked WAY IN ADVANCE, so plan accordingly! - Dress code is strictly enforced in traditional dining room, which can be a good or a bad thing depending on the way you look at it. It became a bad thing when there was a particular young lady who would wear crop tops showing her belly piercing and other extremely trashy clothing, but if my husband wore a pair of khaki shorts, he would have to leave and go change clothes! That's when I began to have a problem with it. BE CONSISTENT! - The ship needed better plumbing or a better septic systems! There was continuously problems with toilets not flushing, this includes public bathrooms, which I might add, were disgusting! I have seen cleaner bathrooms at 7-eleven. Come on Princess, hire a cleaning crew to maintain the bathrooms! - Porting: there was always a line when trying to get off the ship, whether you got off as soon as they ported or if you purposely waited around a couple hours, lines that went up and down the staircases to get to the gangways. - Another porting issue: Not sure why we ported so late at some of the locations. Some ports were at 10AM, another one was after 12PM??? Why so late? - Inside staterooms for 4? We need some more space. It was way too cramped. I have had inside staterooms on other cruise ships and they had more room. - LAUNDRY ROOM FACILITIES - Whoa $2.00 to wash a load, $2.00 to dry, and $1.25 for a one-load box of detergent. The laundry room facilities was cluttered and dirty. Also they had iron boards and irons there, but there was rust marks all over the irons (ruined a brand new dress shirt of my son's). I have seen much cleaner laundry facilities in the slums of a local community. - No alcohol package. Like to drink? Better be prepared to spend the cash! Other cruise lines offer various alcohol beverage packages. Princess does not. - Website - I hate unorganized, difficult to navigate websites, the princess so-called "cruise personalizer" is one of them! Also, it should allow you to find out the specifics on drink packages, you shouldn't have to wait until you board the ship to purchase one! - Soda/Pop - Princess please list the types of sodas on your website. I ordered the soda package for my daughter, but wouldn't have if I had known you don't serve Coke-Zero and do not serve Dr. Pepper or any other equivalent. Only soda they have is Root Beer (not diet), Diet Coke, Coke, and Sprite. That's it. - The alcoholic drinks. - The frozen drinks are pricey and sickening sweet!!! I like how they tell you what's in each drink on the menu; however, each of the drinks have sugar syrup added. Real Daiquiris are not made with sugar syrup. They are made with either ice, fresh fruit, with rum OR with frozen fruit and rum!! I would expect so much more with the prices of their drinks!! Tropical blend was the only one with real fruit in it and no syrup. So after having a couple different frozen drinks, we had the tropical blend drink every time thereafter. PRO's: - Kid center seemed to have good activities for children, although it was seriously lacking children that attended. - Wait staff was great and seemed like they enjoyed their jobs. They would go out of their way to help you. - Service was all around good. We had many apologies for the toilet-flushing issues because obviously it was out of the control of the stewards. This includes bartenders in the clubs, wait staff in anytime/buffet dining, passenger services, the DJ's or bands, etc. - all stellar. - For Karaoke-lovers, there are plenty of opportunities to cash in! The evening activities and parties were fun and had excellent organizing! Well done. - Liked the "themed" nights. Many cruise lines have this, but on this ship, it was very well done. Decor, the wait staff would be wearing different apparel, and when you walk in they would be all standing in a line singing songs to whatever the theme is. There was Italian night, formal nights (2), and the last night. Overall, I would say I liked Celebrity Cruise line better.

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We sailed on the Caribbean Princess for our first cruise in 15 years. We found service to be impeccable. Most staff was eager to assist you with anything. Our room steward, Tito, was efficient but not obtrusive. Loved having wine and snacks at Vines. Pool bars were great as well. One mild disappointment was food offerings at International Cafe. It never changed - ever. So about mid-week, we were sick of the same pastries in the morning (although they do offer one hot sandwich - think Egg McMuffin) and the same sandwiches for a snack. And we weren't overtly impressed with buffet offerings. We didn't avail ourselves of main dining probably as much as we should have, and the food there was pretty good when we did eat there. Overall, we liked this ship and the cruise experience. Our cabin (mini-suite)showed a tiny bit of wear and tear in bathroom but it was clean. And I saw them replacing carpet in other rooms during the trip. Public spaces were very clean. This cruise is a bit slower pace than our last one, and since there were a lot of ports on this itinerary, we did not participate in cruise activities that much. Shows aren't really my thing but entertainment seemed to be good quality. I recommend Princess and would cruise again with them.

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My husband cant wait to do another cruise. We loved the itinerary. We went to st. Thomas; Tortola; Antigua; Dominica; and Barbados. Antigua is our favorite island. Beautiful beaches. We went to runaway bay which was stunning. Dominica wad a beautiful island and was a nice break from going to the beach. We took a tour through the botanical gardens and we went to the emerald pool. Some advice. Don't book excursions thru the ship. There are people standing outside the ship with the same tours for half the price. Our tour in Dominica was 30.00 while people that booked thru the ship paid 60.00. The food was really good. Something different on the buffet everyday. We went to the crown grille one night at a 25.00 cover charge each person an was worth every penny!!! The steaks were awesome and the service was impeccable!! Our room steward checked on our room at least 3 times a day. She always left fresh towels each time. I didn't think formal night really meant formal!!!!! People really get into it!!! But next time we know to pack groans and suits!!!! If you don't you will not be allowed on the promenade if you don't on formal nights and also men must wear pants at night to yo be allowed on the floor. Service on the ship was awesome. Everyone was helpful and yes I let them take my plate from the buffet line and seat me. Didn't see anything wrong with it and they just go the extra mile to let you escape completely!!

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Itinerary: San Juan, St. Marteen, St. Lucia, Grenada, Bonaire, Aruba, & San Juan Cabin: L301 Overall, the cruise on the Caribbean Princess was a very good experience! Unfortunately, I can't say my overall experience was perfect, but their was defiantly much more good than bad. This was my first time cruising with Princess, so I will first tell you about areas that I thought could be improved and then tell you what I really enjoyed. Opportunities My wife and I have had balconies cabins on both Carnival and Celebrity and we have always gotten robes with our cabin. On Princess you will have to make a special request to your cabin stewart for a robe or robes. Princess's customer service department on the ship was very responsive and they had our cabin stewart give us 4 robes within a few hours after my wife filled out a comment card. Princess has a training opportunity for one sales rep in the jewelry store and one person who works in the spa. A sales rep was very cold and condescending to my wife about a piece of jewelry that was in the store. This was unfortunate for Princess, because my wife ended up buying a similar piece of jewelry on land from a person that had better people skills. In the spa, we had a nice lady with a great personality tell us a lie about being able to get into Sanctuary with the Thermal Spa Pass. Thermal Spa Pass for $150 per couple is worth it without the access to Sanctuary, but it's just the principle about being truthful when making a sale. This person who has sold us the Thermal Spa Pass needs to be more truthful to others in the future. It was my first time purchasing an excursion that takes you to the airport after disembarking from the ship. It was confusing to me and my wife to how the whole luggage transfers worked when we purchased the excursion. Granted if we didn't get separated from the excursion group by Customs I'm sure there would have not been any issues, but we did get separated from the group. In a nutshell, all Princess reps helping with the Customs process need to know how the baggage transfers work for excursions. When a Princess Rep escorted us to a Customs agent for further questioning based on a purchase my wife had made. The agent should have known where we needed to go to get our bags and that our bags were not to be automatically transferred to the airport. To make a long story short, I had to return to the cruise terminal after we got dropped off at the airport to get our bags. I barely made our flight home. Strengths I will start off saying the Caribbean Princess is a beautiful ship with a very friendly and helpful crew! Our cabin stewart was very friendly and did an excellent job maintaining our room. Our cabin Stewart was very helpful by finding a bucket, so my wife can soak her toe since she had her toe nail removed the day before our flight. Our dinner waiters Jozef and Jaime were very professional and fun to dine with at dinner. Jozef was had excellent meal recommendations and a pleasant personality. Jamie was very entertaining with his various sounds, singing, and dancing along with great professionalism with a very nice personality. I purchased a watch in the jewelry store from Analize from South Africa who was very helpful and personable. Analize answered all my questions and made my buying experience enjoyable. I really enjoyed smoking cigars in the Churchhill's Lounge in the evening. Churchill's provides a nice atmosphere for smoking while getting caught up on your sports. Marisol is one of the servers in Churchill's and she provides excellent service with a friendly attitude! The Thermal Spa is an excellent place for couples to spend time while relaxing for $150 per couple throughout the cruise I really enjoyed reading books from the thermal beds. In addition, I really liked the eucalyptus room with the mint aroma. The cooking demonstration and kitchen tour is a very nice experience! I purchased a Princess cookbook and was able to have the ship's Executive Chef and Head Maitre'd autograph it. Skywalker's and Outrigger's bars are both great places in the aft to have a drink and have nice views. I also enjoyed cocktails poolside in and around the adult pool in the ship's forward. I will conclude by saying I would defiantly sail with Princess again. I felt Princess has had the best food selection based my experience cruising with Carnival, Celebrity, and NCL. I would rank Princess #1, Celebrity #2, Carnival #3, and NCL #4 based on my experience regarding food selection and quality.

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