Not the Princess Cruise I remember.

Caribbean Princess Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

blakegestalt

Contributor Level: Deck Hand

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 30

Overall rating:

3.5 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Eastern Caribbean With St. Kitts (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: July 02, 2022

Ship: Caribbean Princess

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: R210

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

We're frequent Princess cruisers (9 cruises) and had always received free drinks happy hour (5-7pm) in platinum/elite lounge. This cruise, without warning, we only received a discount which was really no discount at all. For example, 2 gin martinees were $23.60...really??...discounted? Bought 1 day of internet use....didn't work. They did finally refund this! In the buffet/cafe were drink dispensing machines(orange juice, iced tea, etc.) that had permanent "We're on It" sign indicating "not working". Towels at pool were often unavailable if anybody wanted to get into a pool or hot tub which was filled with kids and their food! They billed us for 8 days of gratuities on a 7 day cruise!!! They did refund this. We were double billed on 5 item which to their credit they did reverse charges.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Acceptable

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Very good. Our waiter June in the Coral dining room was very attentive.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Fitness center was good. Steel drum experience was excellent as was the Tango dance lessons and Zumba/Line dancing. Pools and hot tubs were full of kids.

Entertainment

4 out of 5

We did Skywalkers lounge (deck 18) at night. Music was very loud but danceable. Lecture on "shark experience" was very educational. Steel drum lesson was memorable experience with Tyrone Babb! We love Motown music but the singer was off key. The comedian was very entertaining. The stage show production was a B- at best.

Children's Programs

We didn't bring our grand kids.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Our waiter/bartenders Orlando and Erlin were excellent....friendly, personable, professional. Raj our room attendant was excellent also. Did everything we requested. The maitre d Alex entertained us with his jokes.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Didn't like it. Even though the ship had a makeover in 2019 it looked dated.

Cabin / Stateroom

2 out of 5

We had requested separate beds...this was not done! Handle on balcony door was loose. Not enough outlets for electronics. Size of shower was way too small. My wife and I are very small compared to most and we could barely move in it. Shampoo and body wash provided were terrible...we're glad we brought our own. Cut backs painfully obvious. Previously provided items not available...No body lotion, Qtips, shave cream...thank goodness we brought our own.

Ship tip

Consider Celebrity Cruise Line.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

5 out of 5

Princess Cays (Cruise Line Private Island)

3 out of 5

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

3 out of 5

Basseterre, St. Kitts

4 out of 5

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

Excellent. Couldn't wait to get home.

13 Comments

Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.

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GabeNSteph 2 years ago

Thanks for the review

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1960cruiser 2 years ago

@royalcruzer, I see you are still trolling looking for negative reviews. You missed one earlier, you might want to check that one out. FYI, just because you had a, in you opinion, a bad cruise on Princess, I feel you can better serve the other cruiser looking for legitimate reviews without you throwing in your 2 cents on every negative Princess post......it just gets really old.

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1960cruiser 2 years ago

I have sailed on many Princess ships and never reviewed free drinks at the 5pm cocktail party, which never was a privilege to begin with. Skywalker is a nightclub/disco, so the music will be loud. If your beds are not splits, just adk your steward, and he/she will gladly fix, and on my opinion not worth mentioning as a complaint,....its petty. I am a fairly large person and fit just fine in those showers, so, once again, not sure what you are complaining about. Hand lotion is always available in cabin, and if it was overlooked, just ask your room steward.....another petty complaint. Sorry thst you ruined your cruise by being upset by your trivial complaints, but take time to enjoy the good stuff and you will be happier.

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tamkcomsncom 2 years ago

Sounds like you spent half your cruise at the pursers desk instead of enjoying the cruise. We leave on our cruise in 19 days and can’t wait to be waited on for our every need while sailing the seven seas. Our glass is always half full.

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booger1xx 2 years ago

Yes sounds like some confusion with free drinks; as was mentioned sounds like the Captain’s party. We’ve been on 24 cruises starting around 2007 and EP gathering never gave free drinks. In the beginning they had a featured drink that was at a reduced price. The Skywalker at night when there is music always seems to be loud. As I always say any review is one person’s opinion no matter how many times you see them. There have been reviews on this site where someone posts how bad and poor everything was and then someone on the same cruise posting just how wonderful everything was for them.

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jallaway 2 years ago

Hmmm.... This had me curious. I googled quite a few other posts over several years and I saw many different opinions about this lounge and if it was worth going; but none of them stated the drinks were free.

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FlaBubba 2 years ago

At one time Princess offered happy hour special of buy one get one free but that was discontinued a few years back.

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AuntPinkie 2 years ago

Sorry this cruise didn’t meet your expectations. Things are not “normal” yet. Hope they get better soon!

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suekIowa 2 years ago

I've never received free drinks at the PES happy hour. Maybe you're confusing it with the Captains Circle party?

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javawoody 2 years ago

I have also sailed on Princess 9 times and the only free drink was at the meet the captain gathering

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Dadm 2 years ago

Things are different now for sure. Welcome to the NEW normal.

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Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing

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Other reviews of this sailing

Disappointing

Still working on some kinks

Not cruising in the summer again.