review of caribbean princess April 2004

My wife and I went on the April 17, 2004 sailing of the Caribbean
Princess. This was a 1 week cruise.

Last summer my wife and I were on the Sun Princess - 10 days from LA
to mexico and back. The layout of the Caribbean Princess is very
similar. So much so that this may be our last Princess cruise for a
while. I guess we both expected the "newest" ship to have some cool
features. I'm sure there were a lot of improvements from older ships
but they were not visible to me.

Our room was on Caribe (deck 10) close to the elevator in the aft
part of the ship. The balcony was nice.

Sat:
We took a "tour" of the ship, while it was still in port. It did
not cover much of the ship - just some breathless info about
how wonderful the spa treatments are and about how princess was
directly operating the spa now. We did see one of the disco's as
well as the pools and that was it.

Lunch (buffet): Some of the fruit was a bit unripe.

Dinner (personal choice) was nice. Food quality was ok - not great
and certainly not bad. Again the fruit was a bit on the unripe
side.

Sun:
princess cayes: We got to the island around 10:30 - and had
to wait for around 10 minutes in the theatre while other people
ahead of us caught a tender to shore. Food on shore was ok, my
wifes hamburger was uncomfortably red inside. We were able to
immediately board a tender when we wanted to return to the ship.

Dinner was at the Sterling Steak House - I order a rare 10oz
Filet Mingon and my wife had an 8oz Filet Mingon. Hers was
medium well and mine was rare. The steaks were pretty good,
mine came with a baked potatoes, a grilled tomotoe, and a few
grilled mushrooms. I really liked the tomotoe and the steak.

For dessert I tried the fried peach turnover and creme brulei (sp?).
I did not care for either one and the creme brulie was cooked too
long with the crust having a distinct burned taste.

Mon
Jamaica - We took the toor to the Croyden Plantation. It was nice
to see some of the interior of Jamaica - it is very hilly or
mountainous. I liked this - but the toor was a bit long and
lunch was not very good - just a hunk of jerk chicken, rice
beans, some salad.

Tue
Day at sea

Wed
Grand Caymen - We went on the semi-submarine + snorkel trip.
It was nice. The water was a bit cool but after a few mins
we got used to it. The place were we did the snorkelling was
only 100 yards or so off shore - if you wanted you could just
take your gear and walk to a very small sany beach (about 5 mins
walk from where we got off the ship) and then just go into the
water - you will probably see alot of other people snorkelling
there.

We got back around noon and had lunch - the crowds on the boat
at that time were minimal. But around 4pm I wanted to get a slice
of pizza and at that time the lines were LONG. This was the only
time the boat felt overcrowded.

Thu
Cozumel - We went to Tolum and Xel Ha. It was pretty hot. Our
guide was not very good.

It was pretty hot,

Fri
Full day a sea.

Sat

Leaving the ship went smoothly. Groups are called relatively quickly
and there were no long lines at either customs or immigration. The
ride from the port to the airport is very short (10 mins or so).
Consider taking a cab - you'll get there faster.


Summary: I don't think I would go on this ship again. It is too large
and the food did not seem to be as good as we expected. Last year in
April 2003 we went on the Sun Princess on a 10 day cruise to Mexico
and that was a better experience. I'm not sure why, but the food
on the Sun Pricess seemed nicer.

One plus for the Caribbean Princess was that we liked having a balcony
and I spent several afernoons out there reading my books. We were on
deck 10, Caribe.

What dates did you go on the Sun Princess? Maybe we were on the same cruise.
Speaking of the ships looking similar, we had cruised on the Star Princess the
year before in 2002 and we noticed a lot of similarities between the two ships.
There doesn't seem to be much individuality with the ships. Once a Princess,
always a Princess. You know when you're on one! :)

Lindsay

ramb wrote:

<<<Last year in
April 2003 we went on the Sun Princess on a 10 day cruise to Mexico>>>

Nice review. Thanks.

Howie

ramb@sonic.net wrote:

> My wife and I went on the April 17, 2004 sailing of the Caribbean
> Princess. This was a 1 week cruise.

My understanding of the balcony cabins on Sun Princess is that the
entire cabin (including balcony) is only about 180 sq. ft. Compared
the the other mainstream cruiselines' balcony cabins, this seems
terribly small. Any thoughts on your experience?

Jo-An

ramb@sonic.net wrote in message news:<m3pt95m2g4.fsf@oak.ramandgita.com>...
> My wife and I went on the April 17, 2004 sailing of the Caribbean
> Princess. This was a 1 week cruise.
>
> Last summer my wife and I were on the Sun Princess - 10 days from LA
> to mexico and back. The layout of the Caribbean Princess is very
> similar. So much so that this may be our last Princess cruise for a
> while. I guess we both expected the "newest" ship to have some cool
> features. I'm sure there were a lot of improvements from older ships
> but they were not visible to me.
>
> Our room was on Caribe (deck 10) close to the elevator in the aft
> part of the ship. The balcony was nice.
>
> Sat:
> We took a "tour" of the ship, while it was still in port. It did
> not cover much of the ship - just some breathless info about
> how wonderful the spa treatments are and about how princess was
> directly operating the spa now. We did see one of the disco's as
> well as the pools and that was it.
>
> Lunch (buffet): Some of the fruit was a bit unripe.
>
> Dinner (personal choice) was nice. Food quality was ok - not great
> and certainly not bad. Again the fruit was a bit on the unripe
> side.
>
> Sun:
> princess cayes: We got to the island around 10:30 - and had
> to wait for around 10 minutes in the theatre while other people
> ahead of us caught a tender to shore. Food on shore was ok, my
> wifes hamburger was uncomfortably red inside. We were able to
> immediately board a tender when we wanted to return to the ship.
>
> Dinner was at the Sterling Steak House - I order a rare 10oz
> Filet Mingon and my wife had an 8oz Filet Mingon. Hers was
> medium well and mine was rare. The steaks were pretty good,
> mine came with a baked potatoes, a grilled tomotoe, and a few
> grilled mushrooms. I really liked the tomotoe and the steak.
>
> For dessert I tried the fried peach turnover and creme brulei (sp?).
> I did not care for either one and the creme brulie was cooked too
> long with the crust having a distinct burned taste.
>
> Mon
> Jamaica - We took the toor to the Croyden Plantation. It was nice
> to see some of the interior of Jamaica - it is very hilly or
> mountainous. I liked this - but the toor was a bit long and
> lunch was not very good - just a hunk of jerk chicken, rice
> beans, some salad.
>
> Tue
> Day at sea
>
> Wed
> Grand Caymen - We went on the semi-submarine + snorkel trip.
> It was nice. The water was a bit cool but after a few mins
> we got used to it. The place were we did the snorkelling was
> only 100 yards or so off shore - if you wanted you could just
> take your gear and walk to a very small sany beach (about 5 mins
> walk from where we got off the ship) and then just go into the
> water - you will probably see alot of other people snorkelling
> there.
>
> We got back around noon and had lunch - the crowds on the boat
> at that time were minimal. But around 4pm I wanted to get a slice
> of pizza and at that time the lines were LONG. This was the only
> time the boat felt overcrowded.
>
> Thu
> Cozumel - We went to Tolum and Xel Ha. It was pretty hot. Our
> guide was not very good.
>
> It was pretty hot,
>
> Fri
> Full day a sea.
>
> Sat
>
> Leaving the ship went smoothly. Groups are called relatively quickly
> and there were no long lines at either customs or immigration. The
> ride from the port to the airport is very short (10 mins or so).
> Consider taking a cab - you'll get there faster.
>
>
> Summary: I don't think I would go on this ship again. It is too large
> and the food did not seem to be as good as we expected. Last year in
> April 2003 we went on the Sun Princess on a 10 day cruise to Mexico
> and that was a better experience. I'm not sure why, but the food
> on the Sun Pricess seemed nicer.
>
> One plus for the Caribbean Princess was that we liked having a balcony
> and I spent several afernoons out there reading my books. We were on
> deck 10, Caribe.

caribbeanqueen3@ (Jo-Ann) writes:

> My understanding of the balcony cabins on Sun Princess is that the
> entire cabin (including balcony) is only about 180 sq. ft. Compared
> the the other mainstream cruiselines' balcony cabins, this seems
> terribly small. Any thoughts on your experience?
>
> Jo-An

On the Sun Princess we had an inside cabin. On the Caribbean Princess
we had a balcony room. I don't know how big our room was - but for
two people it did not feel small or crowded. I'm not 100% on this but
my impression from looking at the other balconies on the Caribbean
Princess was that the other rooms (above and below) either had smaller
rooms or smaller balconies. Again we were on Deck 10 - Caribe.

The room itself had a double bed and small table with a small sofa-chair
thing (you know those one person chairs that are stuffed like a very
small sofa). Our balcony had a table and four plastic chairs - there
was plenty of room out there.

Having the balcony was a very nice plus - it made it possible to enjoy
being in the sun with a nice wind blowing and yet not be in some of the
sometimes crowded common areas.

-Ram

ramb@sonic.net wrote in message news:<m3pt95m2g4.fsf@oak.ramandgita.com>...
> My wife and I went on the April 17, 2004 sailing of the Caribbean
> Princess. This was a 1 week cruise.
>
> Last summer my wife and I were on the Sun Princess - 10 days from LA
> to mexico and back. The layout of the Caribbean Princess is very
> similar. So much so that this may be our last Princess cruise for a
> while. I guess we both expected the "newest" ship to have some cool
> features. I'm sure there were a lot of improvements from older ships
> but they were not visible to me.

I am intrigued by the comment that you cannot tell the difference
between this new ship and the older Sun Princess. The comment that
these ships are so similar. It makes me wonder how they designed the
Caribbean Princess. The new ship is a 116,000 tons and the Sun
Princess is 77,000 tons. That is 39,000 tons of space that must have
something different. Maybe it is just more cabins? Anyway, very
interesting….

Keith

rkdahlm (Keith) writes:

> ramb@sonic.net wrote in message news:<m3pt95m2g4.fsf@oak.ramandgita.com>...
> > My wife and I went on the April 17, 2004 sailing of the Caribbean
> > Princess. This was a 1 week cruise.
> >
> > Last summer my wife and I were on the Sun Princess - 10 days from LA
> > to mexico and back. The layout of the Caribbean Princess is very
> > similar. So much so that this may be our last Princess cruise for a
> > while. I guess we both expected the "newest" ship to have some cool
> > features. I'm sure there were a lot of improvements from older ships
> > but they were not visible to me.
>
> I am intrigued by the comment that you cannot tell the difference
> between this new ship and the older Sun Princess. The comment that
> these ships are so similar. It makes me wonder how they designed the
> Caribbean Princess. The new ship is a 116,000 tons and the Sun
> Princess is 77,000 tons. That is 39,000 tons of space that must have
> something different. Maybe it is just more cabins? Anyway, very
> interesting….
>
> Keith

Its not that there is _no_ difference - rather the layout of the ship,
placement of the dining rooms, pools, and the shape of the buffets
were all extremely similar. Also the style of the big atrium (where the
pursurs office, and stuff are) is also very similar.

My guess is that the extra space went into another deck or two.

In fact the layout of the ships were so similar that when we started
looking around on the first day we found the spa - and we knew where
the attached exercise area and pools were.

There was nothing wrong with the layout - I just was hoping there
would be something new and cool on the ship and if there was I did not
find it...

-Ram

Ram Bhamidipaty wrote:

> There was nothing wrong with the layout - I just was hoping there
> would be something new and cool on the ship and if there was I did not
> find it...
>
> -Ram

I'm always hoping for "new and cool" when I cruise. Sadly, I am usually
disappointed.

Howie