Not so great a cruise

Item: Caribbean Princess
Rating: 3.2
Author: gbleisch

Caribbean Princess Cruise Review to Caribbean

gbleisch

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 8

Overall rating:

3.2 out of 5

14 Night Caribbean East/West Adventure (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: April 01, 2023

Ship: Caribbean Princess

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: B234

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

If your older like us, retired and looking to enjoy your cruise: "DON"T EVER CRUISE DURING SPRING BREAK" or when Princess runs special family cruise specials. It'll not be a relaxing time/cruise. This was our worst experience ever on Princess, ship was over run with kids, both mid ship pools were useless because of kids jumping in and out, No Diving/Jumping signs were posted but Princess chose not to enforce the policy. Deck "CHAIR WARS" was in full play, you want a pool side chair, better get up at 4AM and stake your claim to one. People were saving chairs that never even got used by anyone, it was a pure joke that they (Princess) allow this to happen. Norovirus outbreak mid way through the cruise, allot of people got sick. This is a first hand observation, children "DO NOT WASH THERE HANDS IN THE BATHROOMS", henceforth a viral outbreak. You just can't make this stuff up. Missed 2 ports, according to Captain winds were too high and couldn't dock. Literally our cruise from HELL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Embarkation was flawless

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5

Getting a drink was almost impossible at times, bars were highly under staffed. What's the point of a drink package when you can't get a drink..................

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Children's Programs

No children

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Ship is old, we've sailed on her about 8 years ago and its age is really showing. We had standing water on our balcony, no water drain on the balcony, had standing water. Balcony door did latch shut, locking tabs were made of aluminum and corroded away. Outside balcony door handle was secured with 2 long rusted screws that stuck out from the handle 1/2", cut my finger on one of them. Tiles coming off in the mid ship pool, they close off the pool for a day and a half to replace tiles (on my vacation time). Our toilet was not working at times.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Comfort, size and cleanliness was good

Ship tip

Find a newer ship to sail on, and never ever sail during Spring Break. That's a mistake I made. Ship was over run with kids, Princess had special family packages that I didn't know about and relaxing in the pool was useless due to all the kids jumping in and out, thought I was on a Disney Cruise ship. Ship had a Norovirus outbreak most likely from children as none of them washed there hands in the bathrooms unless they were accompanied by an adult and still that didn't always happen. We were forced to disembark in FT. Lauderdale on day 7, held in a port terminal room for 3 hours when the ship was being disinfected. Once they allowed us back on still couldn't go to our cabin as the clean process went on for another 2 hours. If you want a deck chair by the pool, one needs to get out of bed at 4 AM and go get one as people were hoarding them at times and not even using some of them, terrible situation for a not so enjoyable vacation cruise.

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