Disappointed!

My favorite part of the cruise was getting together with friends and enjoying time spent together in the warm Caribbean sun. Stop!

Caribbean Princess is really showing her age, but more importantly, there are issues that even an updoming refurb ( scheduled for March, 2017) can't fix.  Poor management would be my assessment.  The major areas of disappointment were in the following:

Cleanliness

Food quality and variety

Service issues

Cleanliness was a problem as there were bits of food, dirty cups/dishes all around the ship, both inside and out, left for more than a day. Dirty tables, windows, displays.  There was a lack of antibacterial liquid dispensers throughout the ship and often I found them empty.  Our cabin lacked hot water for 5 days ( only lukewarm to cold) and after 3 reports to maintenance by our cabin steward and 2 visits to the front desk, nothing changed.  Also my husband did develop food poisoning during the last few days of the cruise.

Food Quality and Variety- we were on a 15 day cruise, as offered by Princess, but the menu was the same on a 7 day rotation.  That wouldn't have been too bad, except the choices were not that great.  I am a frequent Princess cruiser and found the food on Caribbean Princess to be below the norm for a Princess cruise.  We were blessed with a great dining room waiter that advised us what was best each evening and he was spot on correct.  He ( Warit ) was delightful and deserves praises!  Horizon Court buffets were boring and of cafeteria quality.

Service- totally hit or miss.  Some servers were very good to bring you beverages, clear tables, etc. while others working in the same area did very little!  This is a managament problem for sure.  I think the automatic gratuitie system perhaps has killed the "incentive" to actually work/serve.  In retrospect, hubby and I should have had the gratuities removed from our account and just tipped those that served us.  We will be prepared to do this on our next cruise, but frankly have never had such a service problem before.  Additionally, the adult only pool ( Aft) was nice BUT there were no pool towels kept near the pool.  One had to secure pool towels from the midship area ( a long way away).  Seriously, a pool with no pool attendant or towels? In the International Cafe area, some servers were just wonderful while others walked around in a daze.