Good experience but could have been better if we had made all ports of call.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
My embarkation experience was as it should be; quick and painless. Of course; it did not hurt that I had previously sailed with Princess 10 times and we were able to get on early as a result of booking a suite.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We ate in the Crown Grill (steak restaurant) on the night of embarkation and it was very good as usual. However; the food selection and quality in the main dining hall was the best I can recall on my 11 cruises on Princess. The waiters did a good job although at times they appeared to be spinning from going from table to table.
Wheelhouse Bar
5 out of 5
We would generally gather in the Wheelhouse Bar prior to dinner each evening as would other guests. The waiters were friendly and professional and pre-dinner drinks were very good.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
We use the Fitness Center while onboard on all cruises. The equipment in the Fitness Center was very good. However; I would like for them to open at 5:00 a.m. instead of 6:00 a.m. Like to be done with my workout in time to still enjoy a nice 'sitdown' breakfast and be up on the sundeck to grab a lounge chair in a good spot. The treadmills were not available until 8:00 a.m. (I have had this same experience on other cruises). I understand they may be positioned over staterooms where people are wanting to sleep in but I think it was a poor design and should be taken into account for future ship builds. The one thing that really frustrated me was the area where the classes were set up (spinning bikes as well). When classes were being conducted no one else was allowed to enter the area to do any type of exercise (i.e., stretch, yoga.....). A couple of times there were classes with only 1 and 2 attendees. To shut down such a large floor space (approx 1/3 the size of the entire Fitness Center) is not a good use of space and frustrating to those who want to use floor space while not disrupting a class.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The two comedians on board were good. I saw two production shows performed by the ships singers and dancers that I thought were excellent. Wish I had seen more of them.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
The service of our room steward was Excellent. He went 'out of his way' in my opinion to make sure I got the 'little things' I requested. When he saw us walking down the hall he would walk over to our cabin and have the door open for us. As I previously mentioned our table waiters did a very good job while appearing to hustle about several tables.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We were on the Caribe deck. This is the second time we have stayed in this cabin. It works very well for us. The bedding was excellent! I told my wife I wanted the same linens for home. This cabin was especially advantageous for this specific cruise. Since it was on the back of the boat we were able to stand on our balcony as we passed through the locks and watch the gate close behind us.
Ship tip
Since I have not yet mentioned the International Cafe on Deck 5 in the Piazza I will do so now. Go there for freshly ground coffee, espresso, cappaccino, and breakfast donuts, croissants, muffins, small sandwiches and salads.
Spent one night here. No excursion. Stayed at the Link Hotel. Nothing fancy but a nice place to stay for one night at an affordable price within walking of several shops and eateries.
This was a pleasant surprise as I had no idea what to expect. Took the 'Hop and Stop' excursion. We got off on stop 15 and followed the tour guide through the old city. A lot of beautiful architecture. My sister-n-law said it reminded her of a cleaner French Quarter in New Orleans. I was interested in the history of piracy that apparently was a big part of the city.
Of course this was the prize of the cruise and was as advertised. I very much enjoyed passing through the 3 locks on the Caribbean side. We then got off in Gatun Lake and took an excursion (via motorcoach) that took us to just outside Panama City on the pacific side. We got to view the locks from the motor coach. The one downer was we stopped at a museum where apparently it was a big day for school children to attend and it was very crowded. Rather than stand in lines we opted to stay outside and walk on a nature trail and take pictures of the lake from an elevated view.
The local pilot said the seas were too rough to safely navigate us to the pier. This was the 'bummer' of the cruise as we had booked an excursion through a rainforest and we were looking forward to seeing some local wildlife (i.e., sloths, monkeys, birds.....)
Grand Cayman is always nice. We got off early and walked a bit around Georgtown before getting on a local bus and going to Royal Palm Resort where we had pre-booked a beach cabana on Seven Mile Beach. The atmosphere was nice and food and beverage was good also. The only thing that kept me from rating this a '5' star was the weather. It was cloudy and the last 30 minutes we were there it rained.
Disembarkation process was super excellent. We signed up for the online passport that allows you to by-pass the long lines for immigration. Of course you need to do this in advance. Not all airports and cruise terminals have this service but Port Everglades does and I definitely recommend it. We also paid extra to have our bags taken through customs and to the airport. We put them outside our stateroom the last night and did not see them again until we arrived in Houston. This was also worth the expense.
There is an app called Mobile Passport. Super easy. The ship charged us $25 per person for the luggage valet service. It was money well spent not to deal with luggage.
Thank you for the review! We will be on her to the ABC islands in May. I’m going to look into the online passport. Is this on the Princess website or the Port Everglades website? And how much extra was it to have the bags taken directly to the airport?
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