This was a wonderful, relaxing Eastern Caribbean cruise. Eastern Caribs are the ones with the extra sea-days! Caribbean Princess is still a relatively new ship and is well kept up and an inspiring location for a holiday. All in all this was a great vacation, and the bottom line is that I reserved another cruise for next year before getting off the ship, and am peeking at the Bridge Cam even as I write this.

ONBOARD CARIBBEAN PRINCESS

With her extra 500 passengers, she feels like a Grand-class ship with somewhat smaller public areas: the Horizon Court, for example, while serving 24/7 and well-arranged with 2 ample sides and a pretty cafe area straight out the back, has the lower more claustrophobic ceiling of the Sea-class ships. The Fusion Bar has a much cozier feel than the previous Princess Lounge Theaters. Now finally there are many times when people seem to be crowded into traffic problems during the rush hours, as is seldom the case on the smaller Grand-class ships. The tonnage on our ship was larger, but I think it's mostly invested in the extra deck of cabins. This Lido is Deck 15 instead of Deck 14, with an added Riviera Deck underneath. The whole ship feels like a hybrid of all the lessons learned from the rest of the fleet, and more specifically from the various profit centers on the ship. Thus, the internet cafe has grown and there are additional terminals in the library, but the chapel has atrophied and become almost vestigial and is now located on an upper floor. It's mostly used for chair storage, though it still has fake flower sprays in it ready for use, and a little spinet piano on which it was fun to play from time to time. There were weddings every day, but mostly in the Fusion Bar. So, too, the photo department area has grown and the photo-sitting spots have multiplied exponentially; you have to walk through them to get to the dining room sometimes, but now there's less photographing at the dining room formal nights (only once) and more candids being snapped dockside. The specialty photo shop from the Grand-class ships where you are added to an existing comic image has become an special venue one night in the lobby. The merchandise special sales on sea-day afternoons for sportswear and jewelry and so forth now fill not only the hallways but the dining rooms as well. Many of the little niceties one may remember from the days before the Carnival take-over are gone: The nice plush robes are only for suites now, and no fruit or TV guides books unless you request them, or those little notes telling you that the time is changing or a friendly motto for the day. No more raspberries or strawberries or asparagus in the Horizon Court food-line, although there are some nice specialty buffets throughout the week. Read more