Based on our excellent previous experience on the Crown Princess, we had concluded that Princess Cruise Lines would always be our cruise line of choice. However, based on this cruise, we will probably do more research about other cruise lines before selecting our next cruise. I should note that this cruise was not bad, it just didn’t meet our expectations. It is possible that our next cruise will still be with Princess.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
These comments are my general comments about the cruise. Overall, we enjoyed the cruise but when we compared it to our experience on the Crown Princess Alaska cruise a couple of years ago, this cruise was not quite at the same level. This ship used their life boats as tenders instead of ferries. The life boats bounced around a lot, even with relatively calm seas, which made it difficult to embark and disembark. Plus, they were very cramped inside with minimal ventilation. Not what one would expect from this caliber of cruise line. Other ships in port at the same time used nice looking ferries.
The weather was nice throughout the cruise – lows in the mid-70’s and highs in the mid-80’s. We were concerned about rain since this is the rainy season in that area. We bought rain ponchos and umbrellas for the trip but never had to use them. There were a couple small showers while we were on the ship but nothing that caused problems. Some passengers commented about the high humidity, but being from Florida, it did not bother us.
On the second day of our cruise, we were cruising south of Cuba heading for Cartagena when the captain announced that someone had a medical emergency and that we had to retrack back to an area north of Cuba where two U.S. Coast Guard helicopters would meet us and airlift a passenger off the ship. We cruised back north for 2-3 hours, the patient and a ship nurse were airlifted for transport to medical facilities and we then turned south again to continue our journey to Cartagena. Since we still had another day of cruising at sea, the captain was able to get us to Cartagena on schedule.
While cruising on our last day, our captain announced that the ship’s “power management system” was having issues but they were being addressed so we should not be concerned. A few minutes later the ship was dead in the water with no lights, AC, water, and bathroom services. The captain then announced that generator #5 had quit working but the issues were being addressed and the engineers would have everything repaired shortly. Our downtime was about an hour and we then continued cruising without further incident.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
We chose the “anytime meal” plan and the food was excellent in the main dining rooms. However, there did not seem to be sufficient wait staff available so they always seemed to be harried and rushed. The food in the Market Place Buffet was only average. We thought the main meat entrees for the buffet could have been better, both in selection and quality. Also, the foods that were meant to be served hot were often warm.
Scenic Drive of Cartagena and San Pedro Claver Church (CTG 115). Overwhelmed by local vendors at some of the stops. Scenic drive was okay. Enjoyed hearing the story about the church.
Going through the new Panama Canal locks was the highlight of our cruise and we certainly enjoyed it. Others who had gone through the old locks on previous cruises said going through the new locks was boring. And to some extent it was because there was not much to see from the sides of the ship. We were able to watch the activity from the front of the ship, where you could see more of what was going on. However, there were limited places up front for viewing and the crowds were quite large in these areas. We would recommend going to the outside of the ship on deck 7 and work your way toward the front. We were able to get some nice pictures up front. We think the same would be true at the back of the ship but we did not try that area. Our best view of the ship moving the locks was from the on-land observation area when the ship was returning through the locks. However, only passengers that disembarked for excursions would have that opportunity.
We were disappointed in the quality of the excursions we had selected, although I guess the cruise line is not responsible for the excursions even though they were part of our cruise package. We had selected an excursion for each stop. Since we were not interested in being in the water, our excursion selections were mostly some sort of bus, boat or train ride that would allow us to see some of the country side. Our opinion was that for the most part the descriptions of our excursions were not close to reality. For example, at Limon, Costa Rica, we selected excursion LI0600 (Train Ride, Tortuguero Canals and Countryside). The train ride was described as 45-minute journey through scenic countryside surrounding Limon. In fact, half of the train ride was through an industrial area of Limon and the other half was through a narrow vegetated strip about 100 yards wide on either side of the track. The canal tour was less than a mile long on a canal that was bordered by small unkept houses on one side and some mixed forest-type vegetation on the other. It was right on the edge of town so the opportunity to see “abundant wildlife” was minimal plus based on the smell, sewage from the houses was been disposed of directly into the canal. The bus ride into the countryside was actually quite good. As with all our excursions, the guides were very good and did the best they could with what they were given to work with.
Took the "Coast-to-Coast Scenic Island Drive, Hell, and Beach" excursion.
The scenic drive around the island was enjoyable. The beach was okay and "hell" was basically a tourist trap.
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