A GREAT CRUISE ON THE CARIBBEAN PRINCESS

DW & I (both very young 50's) & our middle-school son sailed the 3/30/08 eastern itinerary. We're locals (Ft. Lauderdale) so it's just a short taxi ride to the ship. Day 1 Embarkation: It's true! We're in the long but steadily moving line by noon, & in our cabin 45 minutes later. Doesn't get any better - Princess should give lessons. We purchase a soda card & premium coffee card straight away, & never once tasted that industry-wide drek they say is coffee from the lido (Horizon Court on the Caribbean Princess). Cabin (Baja 254) has a walk-in type closet where 3 suitcases can be handily laid open for the duration & the balcony is larger than usual easily accommodating its 3 chairs & table. A/C somewhat ineffective & left at its lowest setting entire voyage - cabin was sometimes warm. You must affirmatively request ice in your cabin if desired. We head up to the lido deck & emerge at the pizza & grill area which was empty so we ate. Excellent pizza. Good to go till dinner. Critic.com threads set a 3 pm informal meet & greet at Skywalkers & when I arrive ship's Passenger Services Director James Deering is cordially corralling attendees. James has served on many lines for upwards of 35 years & knows his stuff, I forget the exact number but this cruise is like number 1,600+ for him. I'm surprised to learn he monitors the Critic.com site for unfiltered feedback. Amiable conversation with James & new friends, & then we sail away, with Ft. Lauderdale slowly fading aft into the sunset. We planned to do the much-hyped first nite seafood extravaganza buffet in the lido but every time we peeked in it was crowded. Finally gave our anytime dining a shot & were rewarded with a half-full restaurant. Then a show let out it suddenly filled about the time our entrees were due, slowing their delivery, but on the first nite of a cruise - I've got all the time in the world. We're off to a great start. Day 2 @ Sea: the ocean has become increasingly rougher through last nite & is now sporting large swells & white-caps. The ship is rocking. But understand we're sailing against (into) the wind & weather in the open Atlantic, as opposed to the Gulf of Mexico (western caribbean). Hint: push the hangers in your closet together or they'll jangle all nite. DW & I go to the open seating restaurant breakfast where folks are asked (a first for me) whether you'd rather sit alone (have to wait a bit) or with others. Later I attempted a 1:30 p.m. lido lunch & ate half my meal standing due to crowding. But in fairness, most sea-day lido lunches on any mass market cruise line, save Holland America, are like that. Patter program showed a 1 p.m. Critic.com get-together but we later heard no one showed. Our pre-arranged (thanks Jim) pre-paid roll call get-together was at 3 & very nice; good people (Hotel Services Director James hung with us for awhile again) & bar staff made whatever exotic toxin you asked for. Really floundered for dinner though. After drinks & some gambling we went to one of two anytime restaurants with no reservation & encountered a long line. Why not just hit the lido dinner buffet tonite, right? So we got there like 8:45 & they had a great set-up with crab legs & claws & I settled in to make an evening of it. Then at 9:10, that's nine - ten p.m., they abruptly closed. Not to mention the wait staff was surly. Our son said the pizza/grill had also closed. Not good; we would have toughed out the anytime line had we known. We've felt the 3,000+ crowd this day & nite. Day 3 @ Sea: Beautiful sunrise but the sea's still churning. Minor complaint: I'm an early riser & for the second morning appeared at the premium coffee station in the lobby bar at 6:45. I note again the espresso machine is ready & 2 pots of coffee also, the waitress is busying herself with bottles & paperwork, but "does not open" until 7:15. She could easily take 30 seconds & give me my Joe, but no. Oh well. Otherwise enjoyable sea-day; we learn the anytime dining trick to make a reservation that morning, which solves any wait problem. Day 4 - St. Maarten: Always a good port of call. Skywalkers is perch to watch approach & docking; tied up by 7 & passengers getting off by 7:30 a.m. Even I who enjoy rough seas have rocked enough for now. Later, room service for my lollygagging cabin mates, which (consistently throughout the cruise) arrives within 10-15 minutes. $6 p.p. water taxi (3 continuous stops) & shopping is the extent of our shore excursion & water taxis are plentiful & never a wait. Several ships are docked parallel & close in to each other along the skinny dock, which late afternoon climaxes into a spirited back & forth ships horn blowing fest as each slowly sails, cheered on by the top decks & balconies full of passengers. Anytime dining (with reservations) works like a charm (again). All is well. Day 5 - St. Thomas: As James told us we would, we dock at Havensight, as the Queen Mary has Princess' berth at Crown Bay. I note the new, spacious "Haven Grande" yacht center chock full of exotic mega yachts - but haughtily note our ship is still bigger. There still exists the hideous customs exercise commencing at 7 a.m. where you must present yourself so an official can glance at you & your passport & say have a nice day. Got to be a better way. So we're up early now & into town by 9, where it's pleasantly deserted till late morning. We are back aboard for a lunch break on the empty ship, then back onshore at Havensight. Day 6 @ Sea: Uneventful, lovely sea-day; we're now sailing the other way back towards home with a following sea & wind, which is perfect for the sun-lovers. Unfortunately our nite at Sabatini's premium restaurant is "just not my bag, man" (takes forever) but we make the best of it & do not leave hungry. I frankly enjoyed most the steak medallions, with fettuccine alfredo as a side, each nite in the anytime restaurant, with several shrimp cocktails, etc., etc., etc. Day 7 - Princess Cays: A bit windy & I feel for all the people who brought or rented snorkeling & water stuff as it's not really good, even decent; the water was choppy & dirty. Beach & grill was a tad crowded. But we're from Florida so no thrill but glad to see others seemingly enjoying it. DW & son were all set to ride a banana boat, but it was canceled due to weather at the last second. Funny aside: son Robbie met a friend & I said loudly one morning "Hey Dude" to him trying to be cool - Robbie said later the kid told him "your grandparents are looking for you". He swears it's true & I just don't (maybe don't want to) know. Compendium: You will feel the crowd, but I do think Princess has done a great job at making it as painless as possible in the 3,000+ passenger circumstance. Make reservations for anytime dining. Dinner service is good & the staff puts forth the effort, but the inherent confusion of changing people each nite means upwards of 2 hours to dine, consistently. Princess does not list lido or other dining (opening & closing) times & my guess is policy is when the herd thins enough they close the venue regardless of the time, so beware. Alternative dining on any given nite is thus difficult (impossible?). DW spent $25 for the shopping coupon book & carefully planned each shopping excursion & came back with loads of free stuff. Looked like work to me but she sure enjoyed it. Lastly, we tried to adjust our tips slightly & when it didn't appear on the final disembarkation tally sheet went to the purser's office where it was adjusted, but noted plenty of people complaining about erroneous charges, so check that final bill carefully. All in all, we enjoyed ourselves immensely & will most certainly cruise Princess again (next time as Platinum passengers!!). Bons voyages to all.