Caribbean Princess Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,772 reviews

WOULD DO IT AGAIN IN A HEARTBEAT!

Review for Canada & New England Cruise on Caribbean Princess
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Jennygirl
First Time Cruiser • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Aug 2009

My group of 4 couples were on the August 22-29 sailing of the Caribbean Princess. Embarkation at the RED HOOK pier was easy and quick. We live in Staten Island and split the $143 week fee with another couple. The whole process from dropping off the luggage to getting the paperwork done took a whole 20 minutes, if that. We got to the Pier by 12:30PM and were on board eating lunch in the Coral Dining room by 1PM. Our wait staff was courteous and friendly and were fully prepared to serve lunch even though they probably just finished cleaning up breakfast for the departing passengers. When we got to our rooms after lunch our luggage was already there. We had a cabin on the Rivera Deck towards the back - R701 which was small. We've had other balcony rooms on other lines which were bigger.This room was smaller than I would've liked - especially the bathroom - but truthfully we didnt spend much time in the cabin anyway so it really was no big deal. The bed linens were clean and neat and the bed was very comfortable. The air conditioning was fine - never a problem. There was plenty of room for clothes and luggage and our cabin steward was courteous and friendly and we never bothered him for anything. Hurricane Bill was heading up the East Coast so therefore, our very wise Captain, Attilio Guerrini, made the decision NOT to sail away at 5PM. We spent the night at the Red Hook Pier in Brooklyn. Now, living in Staten Island, we thought it was a hoot that we should spend the night in Brooklyn. We treated it as a "Port" enjoying the beautiful skyline of New York City, complete with the Statue of LIberty and the Brooklyn Bridge. The weather was beautiful and we spent the night in the adult only, Terrace Pool in the back of the ship where our rooms were. If we thought the view was great so did a lot of other people from out of town because there were a lot of tripods set up taking night photos. We finally sailed away at 5AM Sunday morning. Many people were up and out on their balconies for the sail away. It was beautiful. The hurricane was ahead of us at this point so we never made it to our first port Rhode Island but that was okay because Sunday was spent at the Sanctuary. The water was a bit rough in the morning but by midday it was fine and there was no better place to be on the ship than the Sanctuary. Great, thick cushions, bose wave headphones, light fare to eat. It's $20 for the whole day, $10 for 1/2 a day plus a $3.00 charge if you choose to eat from their menu. You can get whatever you like - it's only a $3.00 charge. We found out about this place when we sailed the Crown Princess a few years ago. It's an adult only section of the ship and well worth the money, especially if you pass by the Neptune Reef pool for the masses and see all the kids in the pool. We did have a lot of kids on the cruise but you never saw them other than in the pool and the ones we did see up close and personal were well behaved and adorable.

We did two excursions. Monday, we did a bus tour through Boston/Cambridge and it was fabulous. It should have been 2 hours but it was more like 4. Our guide, Juliana was informative and entertaining. We saw Boston Commons, Paul Revere statue and the Old North Church, Copley Square, Harvard University. We ate lunch at the Barking Crab right by the pier and it was great and took a $7 cab back to the ship. Our next tour was Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor on Tuesday- another bus tour and we saw Cadillac Mountain, Thunderhole and the views were spectacular. If you don't believe in a higher power after this excursion - you never will. There are cute shops in Bar Harbor right by the tender pier. It was a gorgeous day and it was fun taking photos with the Lobster and the Fisherman by Princess photogs. Our friends did the Whale watching tour but the water was very rough and many, many people got sick (including my 2 friends) Glad I didnt pick that tour. I think if they know the water is rough - they should cancel the tour. Over 100 people were sick on the boat that day. That was a shame. Since they didnt see any whales they were refunded 1/2 their money.

St. John was a bust. Very foggy and rainy - we stayed on the ship. Halifax was beautiful. We didnt do any tours there but took about a mile walk along the pier. If you go one way out of the terminal there is a building 22 with tons of shops. If you go the other way you will walk along the pier. We did both and it was very nice.

Cabin Review

We were in room R701 on the Rivera Deck. While it was nice to be in the back of the ship we were disappointed in the size of the room. We felt the bathroom was too tiny and there was no couch only a small chair in the way of the desk. We felt cramped but were happy we had a balcony. We didnt spend too much time in the room but on a good note, the bed was comfortable and the air conditioner worked so for 7 days it was fine.

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