Hello Mike. We cruised on the Caribbean Princess about a year and a half ago. It was our first Princess cruise and it was a very good cruise. We do have a review posted on another cruise site, however the site is going thru an update so our review is temporary not available. We are posting some highlights from this review. We hope this helps you:
Caribbean Princess Sept 2-9, 2006
Although large, the ship was very easy to negotiate and to get around. Since we were on deck 14 almost aft, all we had to do was walk a short distant and out the aft door and up about 3 steps to the aft pool and Outriggers Bar. Now that was very convenient. The buffet was just thru the sliding glass doors. There was two buffets, however they almost seemed like one.
Our dining room was mid-ship deck 5, the same deck as our original booked outside cabin. The other 2 dining rooms for free style, or as they called it, personal choice dining was on deck 6.
There was a pay steak house and an Italian restaurant, however since we liked our table mates we just stuck to our dinning room and table 253.
The food was okay, not the best and not the worst we've had on a cruise ship. It was definitely better than what we get back home again in Indiana. Our table mates from Nashville, TN and Raleigh, NC were great. It was me and another Keith with six lovely ladies for a week. Life is grand! The service was outstanding and we slipped an extra to our waiter and bus boy on our final evening. We had all the standards, lobster, beef wellington, crab legs, cold soups, etc. Do not get the cold pumpkin soup--it was terrible. Not the same as what we once got on our first Carnival cruise. Baked Alaska and the standard conga line was on our last evening. I asked for bread sticks on our first evening and never had to ask for them again. There was not a separate wine steward, just our waiter and he was very knowledgeable. We even attended a wine seminar and picked out a nice white wine. We also enjoyed a bottle from our TA.
The buffet was okay for breakfast and lunch, just not anything to write home about. The little round pancakes are like rubber. To get regular pancakes you had to have breakfast in the dining room, which we did on a couple occasions. We had lunch in the dining room a couple times, as well. We do enjoy the great service and setting with and meeting fellow passengers.
The only show we attended was to see the comedian Carl Strong. We met him at the Wheelhouse bar a couple days before his show and promised him we would attend. He was very funny and we enjoyed his show. We also met Bert Stratton and watched him a couple times in the standing room only Crooner's Martini Bar. He put on a very good show.
We mainly hung out at the a fore mentioned Wheelhouse as they played live dance music most of the evening and sometimes as late as 1:00 AM. The Jackie Harrison Trio played early and Phoenix Rising played later, after our dinner. We danced before and after dinner and it helped by burning up some of those extra calories we were accumulating.
We also danced a couple times in the Explorer Lounge to the music of Domino and in Club Fusion to the Music of Vibz. We visited Skywallker's Nightclub a couple times but the psychedelic hip-hop was not for us.
The music and dancing in the Wheelhouse was the best part of the cruise for us.
We donated to the casino and received our donation back. That was a first as we broke even for the week. We also entered the slot tournament and for a while I was on the board for the finals and Rita was on the board for the lowest score. I did not make the finals and her low score was surpassed right at the end.
We had the usual great cabin service and we tipped our steward extra beyond the auto tips being added to our account each day. As far as the balcony, we hardly used it. The only breakfast that could be ordered from room service was continental. One morning they did offer the Champaign breakfast for $25, however we did not order it.
The itinerary was St Thomas, St Martin, and Princess Cays. In St Thomas we shopped and Rita found a nice dance dress. We also shopped in St Martin and found a few things. In Princess Cays we found a nice spot under a palm tree where Rita laid out while I snorkeled with my digital camera in a waterproof pouch. Actually I just swam under water at the man-made reef taking photos and video clips without the snorkel equipment.
Other notes: The coffee in the dinning room was great but sometimes stale in the buffet. The photographers did a good job and we purchased a couple of our formal photos. The Australian Cruise Director was pretty funny and did a TV show each morning describing the upcoming daily activities. It was called Whazup TV. The AFT and FWD pools are adult only. We mainly laid out at the AFT pool and on the first sea day security actually enforced this and ran off some kids. The whereabouts of their parents was unknown.
All and all it was a great cruise to celebrate Rita Ann's early retirement! Our first Princess experience was a good one and we would cruise with them again.
Sat Apr 12, 2008 10:45 am
