Caribbean Princess Review
We enjoyed the itinerary, however, the ship was a let down.
Rating by category
Additional details
I chose this cruise as part of my 50th birthday holiday, we love Canada and other than Toronto, have mostly traveled in Western Canada, so wanted to check out what the East Coast had to offer. We had a few days in New York before we hopped on the ship, and whilst it isn't a place I would want to visit again, we did enjoy our time there and made the most of it. Sailing out of New York past the Statute of Liberty was a great start to the trip.
We were very disappointed in the ship and in particular the food. There were several times where we struggled to find something of interest on the menu in the dining room, and then when we did it just was not up to standard, for example a Creme Brulee that was more like scrambled eggs than a dessert. Having been on the Diamond Princess the year before and enjoyed beautiful food of a good portion size (not large and mass produced tasting), we had hoped for the same on this ship. The Horizon buffet just doesn't cut it, often the food there is the same as the dining room (giving you an idea of the quality that is being served in the dining room), sadly the only highlight food wise for us was the burger bar, where they did a nice burger and hot dog, generally not a place that we would eat.
If you request a table for two, then you might as well be sitting at a large table as the tables are that close you can hear all of your neighbours conversations, at times the noise in the dining room was deafening, and on two occasions we had overflow people from the anytime seating and you couldn't hear yourself think and there was an extremely long delay in getting our food delivered to us. Was very frustrating to say the least.
Cabin Review
Balcony
The cabin was fine, its an old ship so its tired looking, however, the size is suitable and it was well maintained by our cabin steward. The bed was actually very comfy so it was a nice place to relax to after a hard day of sightseeing.
Port Reviews
New York (Manhattan)
We had a few days in New York, unfortunately we fail to see how this is an impressive city, if you enjoy tripping over homeless people laying in the street, and walking past all the rubbish piled up out front of restaurants at night as you look for somewhere to eat, then this is the place for you. We are a bit fussier about cleanliness, oh and don't forget to check out the rats running around in the Subway, they look remarkably well fed.
Boston
We caught an Uber into the city centre and went to the information centre where we were able to get free tickets to a guided walking tour that showed us where the Boston Massacre took place on King Street and she explained the history of the Boston Tea Party. We really enjoyed this tour and it was free, who could ask for better. We had a walk around a park afterwards and caught the train/bus back to the ship. Overall a very enjoyable day.
Saint John (New Brunswick)
We were not impressed with what was on offer here for the price, I had seen online where there was a public tour offered, we missed the first bus that came but they fast tracked a second bus and off we went. It was very informative and we got to see the Reversing Rapids and all the other highlights, we were then dropped off at a shopping area and we had a look around and leisurely stroll back to the ship.
Sydney (Nova Scotia)
I'm not really sure why the ship stops here, this place doesn't have much going for it. We took a walk downtown and enjoyed a drink at Tim Horton's but there isn't much else to do.
Quebec City
Because this was the final destination and we were stopping for five days, we didn't feel a need to do a tour. We were lucky that on the Sunday (we arrived on the Saturday) they were offering free tours of the Citadel, that was really interesting, although very busy. We were there for the midday firing of the cannon which was extremely loud (nearly dropped my phone that I was filming it on haha). Quebec City is just beautiful, do a horse drawn carriage ride, its a great way to see the place and get all the information you need. We were so lucky that the colours were changing, and a trip to ile d'Orleans, great little island.