Our overall trip was marred by the fact that one of the three rooms we booked had wet carpet and mold in it. Two in our party had to bunk with others for one night, and carry things to another empty room for another night, while Princess crew cut up the carpet and tried to replace it. The room still smelled moldy by our counts. The Third night Princess convinced another passenger to change rooms with us, and it was smooth sailing from there. Still, after cruising on a new Princess ship in Baltic two years ago, The Caribbean Princess is showing her age.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
The Crown Room offered the best meal of the trip. Breakfast buffets well stocked. We found the main dining room hit and miss. But there are good options available every day.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
We used the gym, which was nice, but very hot and stuffy. No air circulation. Hot tubs were hot. Enjoyed playing ping pong as well.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
We're not big fans of the shows. We saw one comic, who was fine.
Children's Programs
Not traveling with young children.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Service was mixed. We loved our room steward, and his boss who had to help us with a wet floor/mold problem with our children's room. Some waiters we loved, (we were in anytime dining), others seemed too busy. Food service was the slowest I've ever experienced on a cruise.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
We have sailed on this ship before many years ago on the East Coast. The back restaurants/buffets have been remodeled and look fresh and clean. But some of the rest of this ship looks tired. Many of the long cabin hallways are dark and don't smell great. Also, the bathroom grout in our bathroom was very dirty.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
This is a handicapped room with an obstructed ocean view. The obstructed view wasn't too big of an issue as we could still see the water. And the room is slightly larger, to make room for wheelchairs. The bathroom has a fairly wide shower area, again to accommodate wheel chairs. Unfortunately it didn't smell good. There was frequently a methane smell prominent.
Ship tip
Don't stay in a handicapped room unless you need to.
My daughter and her friend did the Sark island bike trip and LOVED IT! They came back with amazing photographs. We did a self-tour and went through the Victor Hugo house. Very enjoyable. Very little else to do on a self-tour with the small amount of time there. Early afternoon departure.
We booked out own trip to Blarney Castle, taking bus and train in the process. Wasn't too hard to do. Worth the trip. Though we did wait an hour from entrance of Castle to completion of trip to top and kissing of the Blarney Stone. Wish we could've stayed longer to really explore the grounds, but ship left early again today.
We tour Dublin Castle and went to the Guinness Brewery. Both are worth seeing, especially the Guinness Brewery. Be sure and go to the skybar on the roof to have a fresh cold Guinness. Also a couple of hours for Guinness as they have many fun things to see and do and it was fairly crowded, twenty minute wait times for most things... learning to pour Guinness from the tap, a tasting room, etc. My daughter went on the PowersCourt and Waterfall trip and enjoyed it.
We booked a Game of Thrones location tour through AA that was terrific. A great price at $68. We went to the Giant's Causeway, the famous Rope Bridge, and lots of GOT sites. Great tour guide, very knowledgeable. A fine meal along the way. Maybe our favorite port.
We did the half day Princess tour for Inverness & Loch Ness. We saw the castle where supposedly Nessie has a cave underneath. The tour was fine, the Loch was beautiful, but almost no mention of Loch Ness Monster except driving by a park with dinosaur statues on way back to the ship. Park was very crowded. Recommend taking the early tour.
We did Normandy D-Day tour through Princess. This was definitely our favorite Princess tour. Guide was knowledgeable. It's an all day tour and didn't feel as rushed as usual, though there is still a lot packed into the trip. And lunch was excellent. Leave it to the French to make sure there is a bottle of wine included at every table. Roast chicken was also excellent. Picked up a crepe for desert at a local stand, delicious.
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