Caribbean Princess Cruise Reviews - Reviews

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. 

I feel the ship was not ready for sailing as so many things were not in working order.  They upgraded ship and let the little things  ( like public bathrooms that didn't work outside the dining rooms, and all over the ship. You couldn't wash hands and this went on the whole 14 days. Some bathrooms were just shut down. Many of the room controls  in staterooms were not working but as soon this was noted  this was taken care of .  This is not Princess. I have been on many of Princess ships and never one that had so much wrong that was not corrected in a few days.  I feel they (Princess) only cared about the upgrades.

It was to be a very special cruise for our family (my husband and I, 2 children and their spouses and two grand children). We were celebrating our 50's Wedding Anniversary We felt really bad for our daughter, son-in-law and the two grand children (13 and 15). The cabin (A 422) they had to share was unbelievable small. You couldn't even walk around in that cabin. Not comfortable at all!

Very disappointed....spending all that money for a trip that should've been one of the best for our family! You do not hire enough people to wait on people, especially by the pool. We had to get the drinks ourselves at the bar. All of these young kids who work on your ship are great but it's all about the "Higher Ups". You don't care about your workers. I feel very sorry for them.  All these young people deserve FIVE STARS but  not the ones who run Princess Cruise Lines. These young people who work there did the very best they could, very nice polite young people just not enough of them. People have eyes and see what goes on. We've traveled on many, many cruise ships.but yours was disappointing. We did like the food in the dining room, it was very good. Will I ever travel with Princess Cruise Lines........No!

From the time we boarded and until we disembarked, the experience on Caribbean Princess was beyond our expectations. The crew was superb and helpful to all of our needs. The locales were breathtaking. We enjoyed excursions at every port. The food was creative and succulent. Every meal was satisfying and delicious.  

Highlights of ports required purchase of a tour. Port areas were not accessible to towns.  Food  was uneven from exceptional to mediocre.  Promenade deck required climbing stairs to make a full circuit

We enjoyed our first cruise. It was very relaxing and opened our eyes on A new way to visit far away destinations. It was also truly nice to be out of Touch with society and literally unplug. The ports of call were somewhat overwhelming. And we didn't feel like we were able to enjoy them thoroughly while keeping with our Relaxing Habit of waking up late.

The excursions we booked with you were outstanding. We will do it again rather than book with Princess.

the coffee was terrible. Need more daytime activities when we are not in port.

Overall, we enjoyed our cruise very much. we have cruised many times, but this was our first Princess cruise. THe Caribbean Princess is their oldest ship I believe, and it shows itself to be in some areas. The balcony cabin on the caribe deck was the smallest I have ever seen with the bathroom and ridiculously small shower built for small people. I do t know how those of a larger size could use it. On several nights there was an odor of sewage The hall and in my cabin which i reported and there were blowers in the hallways and our room stewArd used something I. Our room which lessened the odor.m learned that the ship was scheduled for a time I. Dry dock in a week. THey said it would be two week which I was surprised it could use months. common rooms were not large enough to accommodate guests wish I g to participate I. What events were going on And the large Princess theater was only used for the nightly entertainment. The entertainment was outsTanding each night and cruise director very good. The crew was very helpful and pleasant and did their difficult job of getting us in and out of the dining room with agility. Food was good overall, with breads and desserts outstanding, we did two beach excursions on Bonaire and CUracao which were well worth it, Mambo beach and our tour guide were great. BOnaire a less built up islands beach day was fun. Both were worth the money.  Wwhether we sail on Princess again is up in the air. For sure will not sail on the Caribbean Princess, but heard there other newer ships are great. DIsembarkation was a breeze. Overall we had a very good time.

Princess does many things well, excellent food, superb cabin service, great dining experience. It's the little things that are annoying. TV remotes that don't work, sliding doors in balcony rooms that don't lock, no seating in buffet areas during peak times, too many "saved" chairs in pool area, small pours in the bars, the "can't get there from here" feeling on decks 5 and 6, poor timing of entertainment and dining times and limited seating in main auditorium (unless you want to be seated 40 minutes prior) AND the best bar on the ship, Sky Walkers on deck 18, panoramic view of ocean, exquisite environment, DOESN’T OPEN TILL 10pm! No happy hour here. Go figure.

This was our 12th cruise, 3rd with Princess.  From check-in, we were disappointed overall in the friendliness of staff.  The woman who checked us in was "snippy," unfriendly and made us feel as though we were bothering her with questions.  We had not cruised with children before, although we had cruised extensively ourselves (my wife and myself) and we had relevant questions regarding identification requirements and accommodations.  She treated us as if we were asking stupid questions and never really responded to any of them directly.  On board, with the exception of our room steward who was outstanding, our experience continued to be disappointing.  Waiters in the dining room were "ok," but not overly friendly or accommodating.  We did have a wonderful waitress (name unknown) in the dining room at breakfast, but she was unfortunately unusual.  The food in the buffet was mediocre, the dining room meals were very good as was the Crown Grill.  We requested assistance twice at guest services and encountered the same lack of friendliness in the communications.  This was a first cruise for our grandchildren and while it was exciting for them because they had nothing to compare it to, it was disappointing to us.  We were also very disappointed after taking an excursion sponsored by the cruise line (helmet dive) that the vendor does not accept credit cards to purchase photos and videos.  We really wanted them but weren't prepared with cash because there was no disclaimer provided by the cruise line advising us ahead of time that cash would be required.

Our room steward and dining room staff were topnotch, as was the food.  We did not know what to expect regarding the facilities since the ship is scheduled for renovation soon.  Everything was clean and working and our mini suite was very comfortable.  One disappointment was the entertainment and things to do on board.  There was only one production show and it was very energetic but otherwise fell flat.  The rest of the nights the entertainment in the theater was a not very funny comedian.  During the day there were the usual games and sales-oriented gatherings but no topical lectures such as we have had on other Princess sailings.

every thing top 10. I recommend this cruise food, great cabin stewart always there wen we needed something, great group of table mates. I am hdcp. I received help everywhere

I think that the great part of the cruise was the entertainment. The only draw back was that you had to get to the show at about 45 minutes before it started to get a seat. The food and the service was very good.

Princess Cruises focuses on customer service. The staff is attentive to your needs when dining in open dining venues near the pools and at the buffets. The wait staff at the seated dinners in the evening were wonderful and the food at both the buffet and the seated dining was excellent. The cabin staff were efficient and accommodating when cleaning the rooms and were always smiling and willing to greet you when walking by.

Some of the pressure by the staff to make various purchases on the ship was a bit overwhelming. In particular, the Platinum Photo Studio experience we had was a complete disaster. We agreed to have a photo shoot conducted at the Platinum Photo Studio and arranged to view the photographs two days later. While reviewing the photos, we agreed on the best photos that were taken which were black and white and 8 x 10 in size. We selected twenty photographs and then were told the price for those ten photographs was $3,500.00 dollars. That price is absolutely absurd. We finally asked the photographer if we could purchase just one 8 x 10 photograph that both my wife and I found to have captured us perfectly. We were told the minimum amount to purchase was 6 photographs at a price over $800 dollars. When we told the photographer we were not interested, she was shocked and told us that this was art and was well worth it. She pressed us to purchase various packages at ridiculous prices. It truly was a disappointing experience to be sure. The photographer developed an attitude after we left and when we saw her on several occasions around the ship, she would ignore us and walk in the opposite direction. It was very childish.

The room service options were also extremely limited. I understand a full menu option is not a practical option for room service, however I believe you should at least be able to order some toast or a bagel, neither of which were on the room service menu. Coffee, a dry croissant, or a stale pastry were the best available choices.

The entertainment was very good and enjoyable. The theater was comfortable and the views from the seats were nice. 

All in all, the Princess Cruise experience was very good and I would recommend a Princess Cruise to my friends.