Thread: Caribbean Princess 12/13/09

Thank you very much.

John

Time for a check in. Maybe someone will want to join in.
These 30 degree temps make a guy dream of the Carubbean.

John

Didn`t forget about this spot. Just roaming around looking for company.

John

Hi John, we're sailing on the Caribbean Princess 5/3/09 out of San Juan for southern Caribbean. Not the same cruise as you but didn't want you to keep being lonely. at least it's the same ship. ha

You can still tell me what she is like. Way bigger than Dawn Princess. So I figure there will be a different feel. We so enjoyed our cruise with Princess that we booked onboard. A first since we haven`t sailed on the same line two cruises in a row.

One thing you could let me know. That is which dock does Princess use. There are two different one on San Juan. Correct?

John

Thanks for the Frus, John.

I can't tell you what dock she'll be at, but maybe I can otherwise help. We were on her in December 2005. Geez, three years ago, already?

Anything in particular???

OK. Is she an easy ship to get around on? Like we found big ships like RCI`s Voyager and Explorer easy to get to know and move from place to place.But Carnival`s Elation was always getting me lost.

Do alot of folks go to the movies on deck? Or is a novelty that wears off pretty quickly.

Is the food pretty standard fare onboard. Pizza parlor good? It was on the Dawn Princess. Am I being a pain??? LOL!! It`s lonely on here.

John

Originally Posted by Tazman

You can still tell me what she is like. Way bigger than Dawn Princess. So I figure there will be a different feel. We so enjoyed our cruise with Princess that we booked onboard. A first since we haven`t sailed on the same line two cruises in a row.

One thing you could let me know. That is which dock does Princess use. There are two different one on San Juan. Correct?

John

Hi John, I've sailed from San Juan on two cruises and sailed into San Juan once from Ft Lauderdale. We embarked on the Crown Princess in November 2006, and you are correct, they will either dock at the Pan American Pier or at Terminal 4, which is used by Carnival.

I have not been on the Caribbean Princess, but as far as passenger capacity goes, she holds slightly more than the Crown, 3,100 to the Crown's 3,080. While the Caribbean is a huge vessel, there are so many venues aboard that you don't feel crowded with say, 3,300 people aboard.
We enjoyed our Princess cruise too and paid down on two future cruises while onboard.

Originally Posted by Tazman

OK. Is she an easy ship to get around on? Like we found big ships like RCI`s Voyager and Explorer easy to get to know and move from place to place.But Carnival`s Elation was always getting me lost.

Do alot of folks go to the movies on deck? Or is a novelty that wears off pretty quickly.

Is the food pretty standard fare onboard. Pizza parlor good? It was on the Dawn Princess. Am I being a pain??? LOL!! It`s lonely on here.

John

John, you're not being a pain, lol.

The ship is very similar to the Crown and is very easy to get around. Quite a few were watching Movies Under The Stars, especially when there was a Pro or College game showing and a good feature movie late at night. Even during the day, you'll find a good many watching a movie.
Yes, food is pretty standard, pizza is good I'm told, did not try it myself as i refrain from all that flour. In general, the food everywhere is very good, John.
As I said, you're not being a pain so ask any more questions you may have.

We've been on the Star, Caribbean & Emerald. Have no experience with the other Princess ships, but I had no problem finding my way around these ships. In my experience, same with Voyager and Elation, too, so I don't know if that helped?

Similar to what MD said, even with a full load, she never seemed crowded. The venues are small and dispersed (unlike Voyager, for example) so you never "feel" the crowds. But, I've also never had a problem with crowds, either.

The Caribbean Princess does have one major design flaw. She was based on the Grand Princess, and they merely added one deck of cabins at the top. It was my understanding that while adding the extra capacity, they made little change to the dynamics of the services aboard. So, the crew is heavily overtaxed trying to wait on extra passengers without the extra facilities. However, it's been three years, so I assume she's been in drydock since our cruise, and they may have made appropriate adjustments.

Pizza was delicious. Yum!

Movies Under The Stars is what you make of it. Depending on what is being shown, you can expect the appropriate crowd. It is nice and fun and a great way to spend some time, so I wouldn't call it a novelty. It was not on the Star (when we were on her) and we got no chance to experience it on the Caribbean. So, I was really looking forward to the experience on Emerald last December, but we were on a NYE cruise, and they showed football EVERY night. Now, the football games were all heavily attended, so I guess it was a good choice for Princess. However, I didn't feel like devoting time to watching football while on my cruise, so I was rather displeased that I never got the movie experience.

You're not a pain! Ask away! That's what these boards are for, right?