Caribbean Princess Cruise
Fort Lauderdale, San Juan, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, 3 days at sea
Oct 23 – Oct 30/04
Background: This was our 8th cruise the 3rd on a Princess ship but the first on a Grand Class ship. I have also sailed 5 times on Royal Caribbean the last two being Voyager class ships.
Pre Cruise: Flight was on a direct flight on Spirit Air day prior out of Detroit. Arrived at our hotel Renaissance on 17th street, which I secured on Priceline for a price of $75.00. I bid 4 * in the Downtown Fort Lauderdale zone. Took a taxi from the airport to hotel, which ran about $10.00 plus tip.
Can’t say enough good things about the friendly staff at this hotel. Checked in at 10:30 am and they did have a room for us. I asked for one on a high floor so I could see ‘our Princess’ in the morning and they said ‘no problem’ Beautifully appointed room with duvet on the bed, very nice pool and free internet for guests.
They did have a shuttle that I signed up for at the Concierge desk. First shuttle is at 10:30AM so signed up for that one. We were taken to the pier for $4.00 per person and there were 3 other couples in the van and plenty of storage for the luggage.
The hotel is located close by a grocery store Publix and liquor store Crown Wine & Liquor. There is a Walgrens across the street. We also walked one block to a place for a quick breakfast the day of embarkation called Einstein Brothers Bagels for a great quick breakfast. Good coffee here and many types of bagels and breakfast sandwiches.
Embarkation: Arrived at the pier about 11:20 am. Porter was quite friendly and took our luggage and pointed out where we should go. There was already a long line, as they had not started to let people in. All staff in the embarkation process were friendly and helpful and we did not encounter any rudeness at all. They commenced letting passengers on about 11:40 am and by 12:20 or so we were checked in, through security and at our cabin. Cabin was not quite ready but room steward allowed us to leave our luggage, which we did and headed for some lunch. It was also his first day aboard the ship having come back from vacation in Hungary. He had previously worked on Diamond Princess.
Caution, do not take pictures or any video tape in this area. We saw a man who was videotaping and they took his camera and rewound it to erase his video of the area. This held us up a bit in the security line.
We had a bottle of alcohol and a bottle of wine in our carry ons and we had no problems bringing them on. In fact while in St. Thomas we bought two bottles to take home and they were boxed and again going through security on the ship nothing was said and there was no one to take it away for delivery later to our cabin. We intended to bring it home with us and kept it in the cabin until disembarkation.
Ship: A beautiful ship decorated very elegantly. It is large but I have been on the Voyager class of RCI so this did not bother me. I did not feel crowded even at the pool areas and was always able to find a chair at the pool. Now mind you we were at the pool by 9 am but mostly sat on the upper pool deck. Because there were 4 pools it gave you many options as to where you wanted to spend your time poolside. One by the movie screen, one by the poolside band with the pool games, one on the aft of the ship for adults only (what a view here!) and the pool all the way forward for adults as well.
Sabatini: On a suggestion I found on Cruise Critic I decided to book the first evening at this specialty restaurant. While the food was good especially the appetizers and my favourite the soup I did find the service lacking. The waiter was getting ready to commence the dining experience and he did not ask if we wanted to have a drink. We wanted to order a bottle of wine so I had to ask if we could do that. He frequently reached past my husband and myself to serve us instead of walking to the other side to serve.
You really have to like seafood here as many of the dishes include some sort of seafood from caviar to calamari to mussels to clams. All the entrées are seafood dishes with the exception of a veal and a chicken dish. We opted for the off the menu of a combination of all the seafood. Neither of us liked the sea bass and we are seafood lovers.
While we enjoyed it I do not think we would do it again. So sorry I did not get to the seafood buffet in the Cafe Caribe. Heard only good things about it.
Things we liked: Thought the entertainment was excellent on this ship. So many different and varied things to see and do especially in the evening. The comedian Scott Wyler was very good and we saw him at the Welcome show and again the next night. Greatly enjoyed the singing duo Kimika and they were liked so well passengers asked to bring them back and they did for the farewell show. Enjoyed Bert Stratton and Princess Idol. Some evenings there were so many options it was really hard to see and do it all. Guess I just have to go back :)
The juggler/comedian was upstaged a bit by a very cute 4 year old boy named Gavin at the late show. Also enjoyed the hypnotist. Enjoyed a drink or two watching and participating in Bert Stratton’s shows.
Of course we did the Movies under the Stars and watched Shrek 2 along with a lunar eclipse happening that evening so it was sort of a double feature that night. It was such a beautiful evening and a very relaxing thing to do. Also caught the Wizard of OZ sing along and yes we did blow the bubbles and boo at the wicked witch. :)
Had to go up on deck after dinner to catch a bit of the Monday Night Football, which was very well attended. Wow lots of people there and impressive to see on that big screen.
Really liked and enjoyed the Cruise Director James Lay and his staff. One of the better CD’s that I have encountered.
Not So Good: The only thing we did not care for was the Personal Choice/Anytime dining. Before the cruise I was open to it and had done much reading on the best way to approach it since I had requested Traditional Early and was waitlisted #547 when I booked 4 months ago. It occurs to me that many people still want this type of dining if the waitlist for that one seating was that high. I eventually got down to about #200 or so.
I also talked to people who had Traditional and many times not everyone would show up at the table for dinner so in effect the dining experience for the Traditional diner was also compromised.
I found the service lacking in the PC dining rooms. The wait staff always seemed so rushed. We did however on one evening have excellent service in the Coral dining room like the Princess I remembered. I wish I could have had that wait staff every night. I still prefer traditional dining as I like to develop a rapport with the waiter and other tablemates.
We enjoyed the entrées at dinner but the appetizers and soups in general were just fair in our opinion and desserts lacked selection unless you like soufflés. However the New York cheesecake on the ‘always available’ side of the menu was very good. Enjoyed the French Onion soup. I do have to say that all of the beef dishes were excellent from the beef tenderloin on the first formal night, Beef Wellington and Prime rib...also enjoyed the chicken kiev.
So I guess what I found was the service was very uneven when dining in the PC dining rooms and found the Palm Dining worse than the Coral. My first choice would still be traditional dining and next time & if I am waitlisted I would still approach the Maitre’d on the ship when we embark to see if there would be room.
We did like the variety, quality and taste of the food served at the breakfast buffet and the lunch buffet in Horizon Court and Cafe Caribe. We did not do Cafe Caribe for dinner as I kept hoping that we would hit a good table and wait staff in the PC dining rooms. I will definitely try it next time.
We did have one evening of excellent waiters and before I left the table I thanked him for doing such a great job. I realize that dining preferences are very personal but this was our experience...another sailing or another Princess ship it could be totally different.
PORTS:
For those of you who have San Juan substituted for Princess Cays do not miss the approach into San Juan past the old fort EL Morro. The port side is the side to be on to view this. We however found a great spot for picture taking and viewing on deck 15 all the way forward past all the cabins to the end of the hall through the door at the end out on deck above the staff pool area.
Just a note since we did not go to Princess Cays we were given the port taxes back as a shipboard credit. It came to about $40.00 /couple and that bought us a few drinks.
St. Thomas: Did the taxi thing to Red Hook to take the ferry over to St. John. Grabbed the taxi right at the pier and the taxi driver Trini was very helpful and even phoned ahead to St. John to make sure a taxi would be waiting there to take us to Cinnamon Bay Beach. Cost of the taxi from the port to Red Hook was $8.00 per person one-way and cost of the taxi from St. John’s port to Cinnamon Beach was $3.50 per person one-way. St. John’s taxi driver’s name was Puff Daddy. Cost of the ferry was $3.00 per person one way and to save time we purchased return tickets before going over. We went with a couple we met on our Cruise Critic thread Michael and Sheryl...and had fun doing this. However the water was pretty rough for snorkeling and later we found out that some of the ships shore excursions were canceled by Princess but we still enjoyed the beautiful beach that it was.
St. Maarten/St. Martin: Took a taxi to my fav beach Orient and it did not disappoint. Spend a few hours there taking in the sun and sights :) and then made our way back to the ship to change and do some shopping for some jewels of which I found a couple. They are presently working on the shopping area in Philipsburg and are making it into a strictly pedestrian mall without traffic. Should be ready when we make our next visit on Jewel of the Seas in April/05
Room Steward: Had one of the best room stewards ever on this cruise Gabor from Hungary. I asked for two copies of the Princess Patter one to carry around with me and the other to take home for the photo album. When I said I liked the chocolates he made sure there were two on each pillow every night. Did ask for and were brought and used the Princess robes. I did tip him personally extra at the end of the cruise.
Disembarkation: Thought it started a bit late when I reference it to RCI ships. Called the first colour Aqua at about 8:30 – 8:45am. We disembarked about 9 am and found our luggage quite quickly. Luggage is lined up on the floor no conveyer belts in Fort Lauderdale like in Port Canaveral and Miami. No problems with security and customs and everything went quickly. Headed outside to find the taxi line, which was a bit confusing. Price for the taxi from pier to airport was about $11.50 plus tip. We managed to grab one and were at the airport by 9:30 am for a 12:15 pm flight. It did however take us about 1 ½ hours to check in and go through the security line which was quite long. We were at our gate by 11 am.
Muster drill ...liked the system on Princess better. No standing in the hot, south Florida sun enduring the heat and humidity with those life jackets on. They send everyone to a lounge for the drill.
Cannot view your on board account on the TV on Princess like on RCI. What DH and I did was midweek go to the Passenger Service desk and request a printout to make sure things were correct. That way it eliminated surprises the morning of disembarkation.
Princess ships still have the infamous curtain in the shower stall where RCI’s new ships have a shower door. Like the door idea better.
Much more storage area in the Princess cabin. No need to put the luggage under the bed as there is like a walk in closet area in the Princess Cabin. Liked this very much.
Drink prices were cheaper on Princess. It was nice you had an option of different size drinks. The Martinis for instance were only $4.95 (Crooners what a great bar) and they were around $8.00 on RCI. The Coke cards were only $20.00 on Princess and about $40.00 on RCI.
More pool options on this Princess ship including two adult-only pools.
Princess public areas are an understated elegance while on RCI rooms like the dining rooms and atriums are more dramatic.
Almost forgot the coffee. In our opinion is so much better on Princess...also the cappuccino was very good at $1.75 cup and in a very large cup. Enjoyed this very much.
Must not forget those wonderful chocolate croissants at breakfast. Noticed they only appeared every second morning.
Liked this ship very much. Attended the Captain’s Circle party for past Princess passengers and they must be doing something right since the most traveled passengers had 51 cruises all with Princess as did the second place with 51 cruises but not as many sea days. Some of my favourite spots on the ship...aft pool and Outrigger Bar...Crooner’s Bar, Spa Pool on deck 16 and Cafe Caribe as it was less crowded for breakfast and lunch.
Both my husband and I enjoyed our cruise greatly. Met many interesting and friendly people willing to share their cruising experiences. It was a very relaxing cruise. Liked it enough that we did book on board with the future cruise consultant Marcia for the $100.00 deposit per person and the on board credit. I was also able to extend the privilege via the ‘share the wealth’ coupons to family who were not with me.
Looking forward to sailing on Princess again. To anyone out there who has Caribbean Princess in their future...have a great cruise on a great ship!