I loved this cruise but it IS port intensive, so not a lot of relaxing/sea days were the norm! It was July, so the weather was very humid (for a West coast boy) and very uncomfortable at times. The Caribbean Princess was marvelous and there were a few complaints but overall it was a wonderful vacation!
Embarkation
1 out of 5
Princess bus transfer from Embassy Suites to Ft Lauderdale Port. At the port, hey offloaded the luggage first , before passengers could get off the bus transport and then allowed us off the bus. In a blatantly corrupt action, you were "forced" to identify your luggage so that porters would load your luggage on a transport dolly and onto the ship. The "porters" (i.e. thieves)... insisted on receiving tips in order for your luggage to be transferred to ship. This was nothing but a cash grab and Princess should be embarrassed to be associated with this bus transport/practice!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Generally a very good experience except for the out of stock items that remained on the menu and Medallion. The top 2 cognacs that were on the dinner menu were out of stock. 2 items (1 whiskey and one tequila) on Medallion menu were out of stock. Even green olives were not available for a martini on several occasions. Otherwise the food was always delightful.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
The trivia was always fun, Deal or No Deal was a nice addition and the Terrace Pool (adult pool) is always a nice respite!
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The performers were appreciated and entertaining. I enjoy all entertainment onboard and it is never taken for granted!
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Waiters, beverage servers and most wait staff were good. For the first time on Princess I had a sub-par steward. He never introduced himself on day one and I had to seek him out on day 2 to introduce myself. He never greeted me by name and only acknowledged me if I was passing directly by him! Not the service I've grown to expect from Princess. Also regarding the Medallion app... 7 times drinks were ordered, showed as delivered and were never received. If I didn't have a drink package, I would have been at the customer service desk constantly getting charges removed. Beware!
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Most everything was in very good shape for a 18 year old shop. One exception was the men's bathroom in the Palm Dining Room... the toilet is inexcusable! Dark stains in the toilet... which needs to be replaced. Otherwise everything was clean and tidy!
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Only 2 outlets in stateroom. One on desk and another behind TV. Both about 3 ft away from each other. Bring an extension cord if you need charging bedside. When we arrived both lamps were unplugged, requiring me to pull beds out and plug them in. Not a big deal but certainly not expected! If I'd met my steward the first day I would have mentioned it to him... but no such luck! One day no ice was delivered and one day the trash wasn't removed.
Ship tip
1) If ordering drinks on Medallion app... you may not receive "delivered" drinks. If you don't have a drink package, definitely go to customer service to have charges removed from your account. This happened 7 times on our cruise. 2) If you order a drink on the Medallion app, you can order quantity 2 and receive a double drink which counts a single drink purchase! I would order a margarita with 2 shots of Patron tequila as one order and it was reflected as a single drink order. 3) You can order a snack of potato chips to be delivered to you from the Medallion app.
Enjoyed a pre-cruise stay at Embassy Suites. But the Princess transfer bus ride to port was nothing but a corrupt cash grab. The bus driver kept us onboard the bus until the luggage was unloaded. Then as we were allowed off the bus, there was a "need" to identify your luggage to a porter so that it would be successfully loaded on the ship. This was a TOTAL cash grab because people were unfamiliar with the port and didn't know you didn't have to tip a porter in order to have your luggage delivered. Completely unacceptable practice and Princess should put an end to it as it reflects poorly on Princess.
Did a Princess bus tour and the tour guide was nice but less than informative! She spent too much time talking about her family/relations/country of origin and less about Brooklyn and NYC. It became a joke on the bus and lots of people snickering. Not enough time was spent at points of interest.
Self tour around Newport to check out the fabulous mansions. Took free bus shuttle to get around. Crowded shuttles and not alot of time at port to self tour and do shopping too.
Did the hop-on/hop-off bus excursion and that was fun. Got to see points-of-interest for as long as we desired. Fun visit to the Moosehead brewery and discovered a new favorite beer!
We did a Princess bus tour and the air conditioning wasn't working on the bus and it was like hell on wheels. The heat was oppressive in the bus and unacceptable. The port visit itself was good but the miserable bus experience cast a pall on the entire day. The reduced stars were only because of the horrible bus conditions! The visit to the Titanic cemetery was very interesting!
A Princess tour of Quebec was a nice addition to the end of our cruise. We had a nice bus ride and visit to Montmorency Falls and Saint-Anne-De-Beaupre Basicala.
Disembarkation from the Princess ship was flawless until we got to Quebec (Jean Lesage International Airport) when everything became ridiculous. The mass confusion at the airport was crazy. Nobody knew where to go or what lines to be in or what was happening. Some organization, airport assistance and retractable stansion crowd control belts and signs in French and English would have prevented a great deal of confusion.
1960 cruiser..your comment on extension cords is wrong. We have always brought a plain extension cord and just did on Caribbean princess it is the surge protector extension ones that are not allowed. If it is a simple cord it is allowed
Some real petty complaints. BTW, no cruiseline allows extension cords. I will agree that lately the room stewards have been less than overly polite as they have been, but its not a deal breaker for me to book another Princess cruise. If you want ice you need to ask, its not automatic. If you can't find your steward, then call and leave a message. On my gosh, my garbage wasn't emptied one day, yup worst cruise ever. Porters I'm sure are paid, but also work for tips. Would it kill you to give the guy a couple of bucks to make sure your luggage was placed on the ship. You just paid $1000 for you cruise, but can't bring yourself to tip a guy. SMH.
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