Caribbean Princess Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Our 45th wedding anniversary. A wonderful trip. First time for anytime dining and for this cruise it was necessary as we came back late and tired most nights.

Once again, wonderful crew and excellent service. Very organized, even when we had to delay arrival into a port, our excursion was re-scheduled to a later time and ship left later. Loved the ports, the scenery. People were so friendly. This is a great vacation to see the British Isles!

Our overall trip was marred by the fact that one of the three rooms we booked had wet carpet and mold in it. Two in our party had to bunk with others for one night, and carry things to another empty room for another night, while Princess crew cut up the carpet and tried to replace it. The room still smelled moldy by our counts. The Third night Princess convinced another passenger to change rooms with us, and it was smooth sailing from there. Still, after cruising on a new Princess ship in Baltic two years ago, The Caribbean Princess is showing her age.

This was a wonderful cruise and we had a great time. Even in summer, the UK and Ireland can be cloudy, damp, and chilly--pack accordingly, and if you have a balcony realize you may not use it much.

There was so much to see and due to traffic congestion everywhere we went in the cities it was hard to see more than one or two things in an entire day.  We had purchased Hop On/Off bus passes and there were a lot of buses in the morning, but remarkably few after noon so it was hard getting around.  The ship was about what you would expect.  Captain was concerned enough with a coming storm to delete our stop at Kirkwall, which was a disappointment, but understandable.  The entertainment on the ship was nothing to write home about.  Since there were so many stops on this cruise there was very little going on during the day, even sea days.  For those who like to experience history in a brief sort of way, this is a good cruise.

We booked with and they were so helpful and easy to work with!  Kacee was our new best friend and went the extra extra extra mile to walk us through the process and make sure everything was completed and ready to go. She called me back and left messages and could not have been more helpful and kind and thorough.  The cruise was wonderful. The ports were fabulous.  The shows were professional and so well done.  The ship brought on local professionals at the stops so we saw authentic irish dancing. authentic scottish proformers.  Everything was perfect.  Even the storm we had to deal with and 12 foot swells didn't put a damper on the trip.

My wife and I just returned from the 12 day British Isles cruise on the Caribbean Princess. Overall, the cruise fell short of my expectations. My wife and I keep kosher and he chef/server did not get my wife the proper meals she ordered for 3 nights out of the cruise.  We were rudely informed by the head waiter we were late to our assigned meal time one night (but were easily able to finish before the next seating). No accomodation was made for the missing meals after I visited the front desk, which seemed to be staffed with agents who knew very little about actual customer service

The food in the International Cafe was plentiful but awful in quality, especially the desserts. They looked great but were not.

The spa manager (her first name was Gemma) was quite possible the most unpleasasant person I met of the cruise staff.  I tried to cancel a massage appt I had due to illness and was unable to get a refund, so I suffered through it.

 The entertainment itself was unexciting and on the average lasted about 30 minutes per show - I expected a bit longer and better quality. 

The excursions themselves were overall excellent except for one to the Giants Causeway in Belfast, which we booked through Princess Cruises. The guide was uniformed and generally uninterested after we arrived at the site itself and spent her time smoking and having lunch with her colleagues while we were left to ourselves. We should have been guided throughout. 

Our day in Edinburgh was delayed due to the tender ships, so we were not able to get ashore till 11:30 AM when the ship docked around 7am that day.  

Finally our stop at Kirkwall had to be cancelled due to weather. While I don't blame Princess for this, it put the final damper on what was already a disappointing ship cruise experience.

We really enjoyed all the ports we stopped and this was a great way to see the British Isles. The majority of the shore excursions were good. The ship was average at best, food and service was very inconsitent from area/day to day. 

Would return to the area however most likely will not return to Princess as I believe they have slipped well under the value you receive on Royal Caribbean and Norwegian lines. Disappointing as they seem to have some better itinerary's.  

The food was excellent..  Incredible variety  

the entertainment was great.  The Caribbean Princess entertainers were awesome as were jo Little and Phillip Browne.. The ship was beautiful and very clean.   Staff was extremely nice.

The cons were:  I fell down some steps in the ship due to water on a step.  The medical office wanted 95.00 just to see me.I feel that since I fell on their property, no fault of my own, it should have been covered.

They had an omelet station at breakfast in only one room and closed at 9:15 AM even though breakfast was served until 11:30..

The decaf coffee was not good.   They used a Nescafe syrup that they put into a machine,.  It tasted instant and we always enjoyed on other cruises a soft serve ice cream machine that was open 24 hours..  this ship did not have one...

Would I sail with Princess again?   Yes!

Food quality and variety was far below the previous 7 Princess cruises we have sailed on.  Excursions were not very good and overpriced. Entertainment was excellent but you needed to arrive 40 minutes early to get a seat

It was everything, the ship, the service, the food was excellent and the ports were all very interesting except for the cold weather, but that we can not control.

This was by far the worst cruise that my wife and I have ever been on.  When we booked this cruise we were excited since we were going to use this cruise to celebrate both of our recent graduations as well as our 5th wedding anniversary.  The excitement was short lived.  As soon as we got on the cruise ship we were able to see that the staff were not happy to be there.  If this weren't enough, we experienced rude behavior from the staff on many occasions.  

There were times when we would try to engage with the staff by offering a kind word, but it had no effect on them and they would just pretend like we weren't even there.  The security team as a whole were some of the biggest culprits.  When we would go or come back from our time off the ship, they would be conversing amongst themselves.  It wasn't as though they weren't able to speak English, because they were doing it openly.  When communicating with us they used hand motions more than anything to communicate with us and when they would use words they opted to use short and harsh words to get us to do what they wanted.  

The food was terrible.  Often times my wife and I found dishes that still had food stuck on them.  Passengers from the ship would eat in the buffet line and the staff wouldn't say anything.  My wife witnessed two elderly individuals eating watermelon in line and when she expressed the health concern she was encouraged by the individual to say something even though the worker was able to see everything that was going on.  This is one of the most ridiculous things that I have ever experienced.  Why would a worker ever ask a passenger that is on vacation to do something that they are supposed to be doing?  It's not my wife's job to do the staff's job.  This was more ridiculous than when one of the cooks in the buffet line walked away from my wife and another passenger as they were asking him a question about the food.  I could go on and on about my horrible experience on this cruise.  I really wish that we could have had a better experience.  We really expected more.  What was supposed to be a special celebration turned out to be our great disappointment.

My husband and I thought the entertainment, which includes the cast shows, were excellent. We felt the food was only fair, especially since my fish usually was overcooked. The stateroom was a nice size, plenty of storage space and kept clean. We did not do any Princess tours.

The name of the cruise was 12 night British Isles with Kirkwall, didn't get into Kirkwall.

It was a little windy, but the passengers felt like the Captain could have stopped and waited awhile to see if the wind calmed down.

The port claimed they had no tug boats to help us.

Seriously, as big as Princess Cruise is and they don't warrant tug boats.

Thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the cruise. The crew and staff were very friendly and attentive to our needs. The ports visited were very interesting and provided great educational and well as enjoyable excursions. Our trip was in early May. The weather was surprisingly pleasant. Sunny skies at least part of every day. Temperature for day time highs ranged from the mid 50', to low 60's. I highly recommend this tour. We have enjoyed our experiences on fifteen cruises. This one ranks among the best.

This cruise has been a long time dream, and it came true. Caribbean Princess was a great ship, as all the Princess ships I've been to. A few disappointments. We were 3 seniors in a stateroom and in it had a bunk bed. We did not realize the third bed would be a bunk. Imagine us climbing the ladder... The ladder was situated where it was in the way if we needed to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. Perhaps, Princess should pay attention to ages, if 3 or more, and advise and recommend passengers-to-be the type of stateroom/suite, especially for seniors. On first formal evening, which was second night on sea, brother in law was told by headwaiter (will not name him) he needed to wear a long sleeve. He is of Hawaiian descent and was wearing a "formal" Hawaiian shirt, short sleeve (how else in Hawaii?). Brother in law felt insulted and didn't join us and put a damper to our evening. The rest of us (in our table) had already entered the dining room and didn't know he wasn't joining us until my sister came in and told us; otherwise we wouldn't have gone in either. There was no mention of what type of "formal" it was to be on the Patter. It did on the second formal evening (on the Patter) that stated "for the enjoyment of others". Why would we or for anyone else in the dining room care for the enjoyment of others, we're there for our enjoyment.

Perhaps ship photos should not be charged so high. I noticed there were a lot of pictures left on the walls, and it may be because the price is high.

Having sailed on Princess several times now, I knew what to expect, or thought I did.  I was disappointed with the quality of the food in the main dining room and the buffet and the activities were on the skimpy side.

First the food.  There was very little opportunity for beef on the menus, mostly chicken and fish.  The only real option for dead cow was the Crown Steakhouse and it was truly wonderful with impeccable service.  Even breakfast was a disappointment, with no egg station in each of the buffet areas.  You had to hunt it down at the very back of the smokehouse place.  The beef option on the main dining room was a hamburger and fries most nights.  Most foods were of a foreign nature and others from the states had trouble finding something to eat each day, not just myself and my husband.  (Food gets a C-)

The activities did not really seem to take into account the weather of that part of Europe, outdoor movies being an example.  There was a lot of free time when there was not something planned by the cruise staff.  The additional sea day did not help that situation when we couldn't get to Paris.  The only comedian that was on board was a one show deal, should have been more. (Cruise Director staff gets a D)

Customer service by the rest of the staff was wonderful and those folks made efforts to make everyone comfortable and happy.  No complaints with the cabin steward except no towel animals.  Are they a  lost art?  Desk staff were helpful and kind and as efficient as they could be.  (Team gets an A)

We booked four tours through Princess and the visits to the locations needed to be longer as you felt that you were being rushed by tour guides to get you back to the ship on time.  The best tour was the one in Cork we booked with Paddy Wagon tours, not part of the ship offerings but he was amazing and still got us back on time relaxed.

We did see on the tours, more than just a few people returning late to the bus, very rude to those of us who followed the directions of our host.  Also,  no one has a reserved assigned seat on the bus, so stop acting like a first grader who can't sit next to their best bud for the next 20 minutes.  Two actual verbal altercations on the busses over seating assignments, very sad.

The production shows in the theatre were excellent. Our dinner waitresses were excellent. The beds were comfortable.

This is not a happy ship!! The management of the ship - starting with the Captain who we never saw in the entire trip - and the cruise management needs a serious shake-up or replacing.

The decision to abandon the visit to the port of Le Havre, due to a "planned strike" (which never happened) took no consideration whatsover to an alternative destination or the consequences to the passengers. Our travelleing friends took the decision to jump ship in order to continue their travel plans. 

In the note from the Captain stating this decision, there was no apology nor offer of compensation and the Captain could not even correctly spell the name of his own ship!

Managing the return of the passengers to the ship in Guernsey was a farce, leaving almost the entire passenger complement waiting on the quayside for a tender for about 1 hour 40 mins. No refreshments were provided - luckily it wasn't raining! A child could have organised this better.

It became clear that the immigration requirements of the ports was either not understood or not properly organised, necessitating a hurried demand for non-EU guests (which was most of them) to have their passports hurriedly copied. 

The vessel had only 110 Volt main sockets in the stateroom. I would have expected a modern vessel of this size to have 230 V European outlets as well.

Prosecco was only sold by the bottle which meant carrying the bottle around the ship from bar to bar and to and from the dining room. Not elegant!

We would not recommend this cruise to anyone unless and until there was clear evidence that the management of the ship and senior staff had significantly improved.

There was refurbishing going on during the entire cruise! Loud & inconvenient. Had incident in Dining room - not handled well. Not what we expected from Princess!

Ship came out of dry dock with hundreds of problems..Public restrooms not working.  A/C not working correctly in several rooms. Replacing carpet in halls on decks.