Caribbean Princess Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,772 reviews

Fall foliage cruise without the colors

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

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Sail Date: Oct 2009

This was our sixth cruise on a Princess ship. We always eat at the Horizon Court Buffet or at a specialty restaurant. This ship has more passengers than any other Princess ship but they didn't add tables, at the buffet, for the additional people. They did add an additional buffet, Cafe Caribe, right behind Horizon Court but the additional buffet took up space that was seating on other Princess ships. You had to wait for a table to be cleared at almost every meal. It was hard to have a leisurely meal, when there were people roaming the room looking for somewhere to sit and eat. The other problem was the only buffet open for dinner was Cafe Caribe, which was a single line buffet. The space was so tight that you had a hard time going back for seconds or getting your dessert. There was a long line every night for dinner except for the formal nights. Many nights all the tables were full at Cafe Caribe and you had to go to the Horizon Court section for a table. We much prefer Horizon Court Buffet for all meals because it is an island type buffet. You could walk around to check the options before selecting your food. We didn't eat at any of the specialty restaurants on this voyage because of the weather during the day at sea. Our mini-suite was very comfortable with lots of closet, drawer, and shelf space. Our cabin steward was Eugenio. He was friendly, helpful, and efficient. We used Room Service for coffee in our room. All the Room Service staff was friendly and efficient. We especially enjoyed Olya. We enjoyed the movies available in our cabin and the Princess Theater. We picked this cruise because of all the good ports and only one day at sea. The first two days at Newport and Boston were great. It rained all day at Bar Harbor, and it was windy and cold for St. John and Halifax. This is the chance you take when cruising in the fall. The day at sea was exciting with 70-80 mph winds and 20 ft seas. It would have been reassuring to hear from the Captain more often during the storm. The shore excursions we took in Newport, Boston, and Halifax were good. We expected a tour of New York to be offered at the end of the cruise during the airport transfer but it wasn't offered. The people at the Tour Desk and Pursers office weren't very empathetic when we asked them about a departure tour. They flatly stated that departure tours are never offered in NYC. We had been told by Princess, when we called to check, that a NYC tour would be offered after we were on board the ship. Our Travel Agent was told the same thing. We would have taken an earlier flight home, if we had known. Overall it was a good cruise. We plan to sail on Princess again in the future. We would not sail on the Caribbean Princess or any other Princess ship that only has the Cafe Caribe for a dinner buffet.

Cabin Review

Cabin AB

Our mini-suite with balcony was spacious and well laid out. We had plenty of closet space, drawers, and shelves. During the storm at sea, our balcony door didn't leak like some others. Unfortunately the tenders that are used for transfers were located directly below our cabin. We had an mandatory early wake-up on the mornings the ship's tenders were being used.

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