A very good experience with some minor exceptions
Caribbean Princess Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern
8 Night Southern Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)
Sail date: February 25, 2017
Ship: Caribbean Princess
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: B214
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 7 years ago
Review summary
Princess Cruises focuses on customer service. The staff is attentive to your needs when dining in open dining venues near the pools and at the buffets. The wait staff at the seated dinners in the evening were wonderful and the food at both the buffet and the seated dining was excellent. The cabin staff were efficient and accommodating when cleaning the rooms and were always smiling and willing to greet you when walking by.
Some of the pressure by the staff to make various purchases on the ship was a bit overwhelming. In particular, the Platinum Photo Studio experience we had was a complete disaster. We agreed to have a photo shoot conducted at the Platinum Photo Studio and arranged to view the photographs two days later. While reviewing the photos, we agreed on the best photos that were taken which were black and white and 8 x 10 in size. We selected twenty photographs and then were told the price for those ten photographs was $3,500.00 dollars. That price is absolutely absurd. We finally asked the photographer if we could purchase just one 8 x 10 photograph that both my wife and I found to have captured us perfectly. We were told the minimum amount to purchase was 6 photographs at a price over $800 dollars. When we told the photographer we were not interested, she was shocked and told us that this was art and was well worth it. She pressed us to purchase various packages at ridiculous prices. It truly was a disappointing experience to be sure. The photographer developed an attitude after we left and when we saw her on several occasions around the ship, she would ignore us and walk in the opposite direction. It was very childish.
The room service options were also extremely limited. I understand a full menu option is not a practical option for room service, however I believe you should at least be able to order some toast or a bagel, neither of which were on the room service menu. Coffee, a dry croissant, or a stale pastry were the best available choices.
The entertainment was very good and enjoyable. The theater was comfortable and the views from the seats were nice.
All in all, the Princess Cruise experience was very good and I would recommend a Princess Cruise to my friends.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
The 8:00pm dining is much less crowded than the 5:30pm dining. The only issue with that option is you have to attend the later entertainment venues after dinner, which in our case was acceptable. The scoops ice cream bar was not good, serving tasteless frozen ice milk with shoddy toppings.
Ports of call
Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida
Bonaire, Netherlands Special Municipality
9 Comments
afahey 7 years ago
ItaVero 7 years ago
We were on the Caribbean Princess once - December 2011 for the "Caribbean Grand Adventure" (Panama Canal Round Trip). Loved the ship - loved the trip. One regret - while disembarking in Panama I passed up the photograph of a lifetime - loin-cloth clad indigenous people (their gal was topless) posing for (minor) profit. It seemed too contrived, too touristy, too predatory and exploitive - and I passed. Regretted it ever since - talk about a National Geographic moment!