Our December 8th Sailing on the Caribbean Princess was a much different experience from our Sailing on her sister ship (Star Princess) last year. As usual, we departed from New Jersey a day early to avoid either the weather or the much publicized ATC problems from squashing our vacation. The hotel we booked for our one night stay was the first disappointment. It advertised shuttles to and from the airport and Port, and while the shuttle was available, it took over an hour for it to arrive and pick us up after we called from the airport. The room was musty and damp, and the desk crew much less than friendly. The only bright spot was the attached privately owned restaurant where we had dinner and breakfast. The French Canadian couple who owned it provided both unusual menu selections, and live music. Due to the early required checkout time, we arrived at the Port by 11:30, and encountered a huge crowd in the terminal. We had to wait in the terminal for an hour before they started to check in the passengers. To the benefit of Princess, once started, check in was a matter of minutes, and 5 minutes after our group (they handed out numbers to groups of people as we entered the terminal) was called we were aboard ship. Unlike our experience last year, our room steward was not there to greet us with the usual glass of bubbly, and there were no towel animals or extra touches provided during our week aboard. Needless to say, there were no extra tips and no recommendation for him. This is not to say that his work lacked anything, he did everything REQUIRED, without adding that little extra that makes his service noticeable. As to the initial entry about Hurricanes and Tropical storms, Our scheduled stop at St. Maarten had to be removed from the trip due to our being caught in an out of season Tropical Storm that had 40 mph winds and 20' seas. The captain was most gracious and informative, so that everyone aboard was warned that we would encounter this storm and could not sail clear of it. He had to slow the ship down to minimize the impact upon the passengers, and so we could not make port at St. Maarten in time. He originally thought that we would just miss the morning, and eventually had to inform us that we would miss the port entirely. Obviously, we were not happy about the very choppy and unstable ride (the shops had to tape the free standing displays to the walls to prevent them from falling), or the fact that we were missing a port that we were looking forward to. In an attempt to compensate us a bit, the captain plotted a course to St. Thomas that took us through a narrow pass that had beautiful islands on either side so that we could take pictures of the scenic view. We docked at St. Thomas without incident, and the Tropical storm dumped a bit more rain on us and disappeared. The tour that we had booked with a professional photographer who would take us to points where we could take glorious photos, and have professional advice on how to compose the photos and use our cameras was at best a poor tour. The photographer handed out xeroxed copies of photo tips, and discussed our cameras with us, but knew nothing about the Island, its history, or salient points about items such as the fact that BlackBeard and BluBeard (both pirates of reknown), were famous in different centuries. Although she did show us where the Castle of each pirate was, and we stopped to take pictures at Bluebeards Castle.

Upon leaving St. Thomas, the Captain announced that he had managed to arrange a 6 - 7 hour stop at Grand Turk, to substitute for our missing St. Maarten. That was a bonus, and very welcome to those of us aboard. The stop at Grand Turk was very nice. I had never seen such Turquoise waters. Thus the name Grand Turk. The population of the island is around 6,000, and I believe they all owned and operated shops around the port. We were the only ship in port that day, and so everyone we ran into was somewhat familiar.

We had chosen the any time seating for our meals, and unlike last year, there were long lines and long waits to get a table. We are friendly people, and offered to share a table, so that we could be seated more quickly. This often results in making new friends, which we did. One night however, my wife and I were seated at a table for 8, and ate alone. No other couples or parties were seated with us. We found most of the food served to be unremarkable, although there were a few pleasant surprises. Among them were a couple of innovative cold soups, and a few unusual deserts. The movies under the stars was a great feature, and we even watched a midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Show (very nostalgic!). This time we did take advantage of the Lotus Spa, and my wife had a facial and we both signed up for unlimited use of the Steam rooms, Sauna, and hot stone couches. The facial was pricey, but my wife thought it was worth it. However, the spa employee tried to sell her every type of beauty cream and moisturizer imaginable at prices that were astronomical. After using the gym for a workout, I found the Sauna, Steam Room and Stone couches to be great for loosening up and relaxing. There was plenty of equipment in the gym, so you did not have to wait to access anything. Last season we sailed in late January, and the population aboard was very mixed, with adult ages ranging from 18 - the mid 60's. The population aboard this year seemed to be more 60's to 70's with a large amount of walkers, wheelchairs, and scooters. Talking with one of our table mates during dinner, it was mentioned that a lot of seniors who spend winter in Florida start the season with a cruise. This might account for the high percentage of more senior passengers aboard. All in All, while we had a good time aboard the ship, we reached the consensus that this years cruise did not measure up to last years.