My first cruise

Item: Caribbean Princess
Rating: 4.5
Author: biglarrrr

Caribbean Princess Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

biglarrrr

Contributor Level: Third Mate

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 103

Overall rating:

4.5 out of 5

7 Night Western Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: July 14, 2018

Ship: Caribbean Princess

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: R506

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

Overall, for my first-ever cruise, it was fantastic. I really can't wait for my next cruise. I would definitely recommend the Princess Caribbean Western as well. It was a beautiful, clean ship and the service, staff, accommodations, food, entertainment and activities were all very good.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Overall, the food was very good. My only negative was the buffet. I was told that the buffet was changed out every day with new foods. That wasn't the case on this cruise. Other than a few items here and there, it was the food was the same every day. Not bad food by any means, it just wasn't different like I expected.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Other than the pools, there really wasn't much to do for onboard activities IMO. They had a basketball court but it only had 1 net so that really limited the number of people who could play a game. The one thing I've always wanted to do was play shuffleboard on a cruise but they didn't have that.

Entertainment

4 out of 5

They had comedians, singers, etc. like you'd expect. You'll enjoy the entertainment on this cruise.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Other than our server, the service and staff were awesome. I don't know why but our server was just plain boring. He wasn't bad by any means. He was just boring. There were 15 of us in our group and I was the only one who had never taken a cruise. Everyone said the same thing about our server. He was just boring.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Beautiful, clean ship. No complaints or negatives from me on this point.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

To get to Club Fusion you need to take the aft elevator on the left. That's the only elevator that will go all the way to the top so you can take the bridge up to the club.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

5 out of 5

This was actually our starting point. We took a cruise all around the Everglades and saw all the expensive homes. We also took a water taxi down to Margaritaville.

Thumbs Up 7

George Town, Grand Cayman

4 out of 5

Half of our group of 15 went to the beach resort and half (including me) took a bus tour of the island. The bus tour was just OK. We did get to see the island and island life, but it just wasn't fun. Also, Hell, was just a really old post office. Not worth the time. I should have gone to the beach resort. Everyone that went there said it was awesome.

Thumbs Up 11

Coxen Hole, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

5 out of 5

Half of our group of 15 went to the beach resort and half (including me) took a bus tour to Gumbalimba Park. This was fantastic. The park was beautiful. Birds and monkeys and a long swinging bridge. After the park we went to a resort and were served lunch (included in the price of the excursion). Just a great day.

Thumbs Up 8

Belize City, Belize

5 out of 5

Our entire group of 15 took the Altun Ha Mayan Ruins & Scenic River Cruise excursion. This was fantastic. The ruins were awesome and the river boat cruse was just fantastic. You'll really enjoy this excursion.

Thumbs Up 8

Cozumel, Mexico

5 out of 5

Our entire group of 15 took the deluxe catamaran sail, snorkel & beach excursion. Everything about this excursion was fantastic. The beach was actually a private beach so the only crowd there were from the other catamarans. If you're looking for an excursion in Cozumel, this one is a great choice.

Thumbs Up 9

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

Traveler Photos

8 Comments

Cruisers4Lyfe 4 months ago

Thanks for sharing

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Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Thanks

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PanamaDee 6 years ago

Thank you biglarrrr! You are correct, they are always changing things on the ships, but more likely it is just my bad memory. 🤣 I hope you cruise again & even if it isn’t a big deal, I hope you get to shuffleboard on your next cruise! 😊😎

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biglarrrr 6 years ago

PanamaDee. I asked several crew members and they all said that there wasn't a shuffleboard on the ship. There might have been in previous cruises, or maybe even in future cruises, but there wasn't on my cruise. Not a big deal really. I've just always wanted to play that on a cruise. :)

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marilyn27 6 years ago

Nice review. Too bad about your server. Sometimes you get one that’s really fun and very talkative and sometimes you get a boring one. It depends on everyone’s personalities. Glad you enjoyed your cruise 🚢

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PanamaDee 6 years ago

Also, great review! Thank you for taking the time to do it! 😎

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PanamaDee 6 years ago

So glad your first cruise was a great one! I have been on the Caribbean Princess & I am pretty sure there is shuffle board. Sometimes you have to search it out (sometimes it in down on the Promenade deck). But somewhere, there always seems to be shuffle board & a ping pong table. 😂😎. Am I right eagletwo?

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eagletwo 6 years ago

Thanks for the review. To me, the buffet has never been great. Not bad, just boring. 28 days we sail her for the 3rd time.

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Other reviews of this sailing

An Awesome Experience!

A great time was had by all!

Excellent cruise but bad choice if you are strict vegetarian !