San Juan, PR to NYC Repositioning 5/1/11: Caribbean Princess Cruise Review by ricok987
Caribbean Princess
4
Overall I rate my trip 4 out of 5 stars.
Arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico the day before sailing and stayed at the Airport Best Western. No fooling-it was the smallest hotel room I have ever had. My cabin on the ship was bigger!
Day 1:
I had a free transfer to the ship and let me tell you-it was not worth the price I paid. I did not get my luggage until after midnight! You see in San Juan, the ship had 1 truck of which they loaded all luggage for the entire ship. My bags went on the truck when there were about 6 other bags loaded.
Embarkation:
I had brought an Eagle Creek packable duffel that I put in my carry on. Once past the checkpoint I was able to purchase at the duty free shop a 750 ml bottle of rum, a case of water, and 2-8 packs of soda that I brought aboard the ship inside the duffel bag-no problem. I put my carry on, and beverages in my cabin, and ocean-view obstructed on the Emerald Deck-8. I then went to the Lido Deck and More purchased the ultimate drink card, and had lunch. I had early seating traditional dining for dinner and after dinner went to the Juan Carlos Show. After dinner and the show I spent the remainder of the evening looking for my luggage which arrived a few minutes after midnight. Note: this was the worst thing that happened to me on this cruise.
Food & Dining
I was able to dine at the Lido, and Dining room, as well as have room service for dinner, and breakfast. Room Service offerings are quite limited and below average because of that fact. What they do offer is good however. The lido dining area is broken up into several areas and one big plus although there are no trays, the plates are quite large. Servers also help you in finding seats, and are quick in offering you beverages. The dining room service, and food was very good, but there were 2 nights that I did not dine there as there was nothing on the menu that interested me.
Public Areas
The ship is very easy to get around, and the cabin key card holder had a built in ship map. One issue I had however was the activities I chose to take part always seemed to be very far away from each other which made getting from one to the other on time a challenge. On sea days I spent a great deal of time at the aft pool area. It is for adults only. I spent the time reading, and listening to music on my mp3 player-very relaxing.
Ship Entertainment
I went to 2 shows the Juan Carlos show, and "Pianoman" a production show. Both were very good. The ship had other shows but they did not interest me much.
Cabin
My ocean-view obstructed E8624 Port was a free upgrade from a Riviera Deck inside and was very nice. The obstruction of window view was about 60% and not "fully" obstructed. My cabin steward Alan did a great job keeping my cabin looking good, and ice bucket always stocked. I did have an unfortunate incident in the cabin however with the toilet-overflowing of which I cleaned up myself.
Debarkation
We pulled into NYC very early on Sunday morning. I was going to self-disembark and I had a relative picking me up so I ate breakfast at around 6:30 AM. They called me down to one of the ship lounges where I sat until the announcement was made that my group could leave the ship. I got off the ship and was through customs in about 10 minutes. My relative had arrived to the port at about 8 AM and I was one of the first people to leave the port area. Less
Published 06/19/11
ricok987
Overall Member Rating
San Juan, PR to NYC Repositioning 5/1/11
Sail Date:
May 2011
Destination: Bermuda
Embarkation: San Juan
Destination: Bermuda
Embarkation: San Juan
Arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico the day before sailing and stayed at the Airport Best Western. No fooling-it was the smallest hotel room I have ever had. My cabin on the ship was bigger!
Day 1:
I had a free transfer to the ship and let me tell you-it was not worth the price I paid. I did not get my luggage until after midnight! You see in San Juan, the ship had 1 truck of which they loaded all luggage for the entire ship. My bags went on the truck when there were about 6 other bags loaded.
Embarkation:
I had brought an Eagle Creek packable duffel that I put in my carry on. Once past the checkpoint I was able to purchase at the duty free shop a 750 ml bottle of rum, a case of water, and 2-8 packs of soda that I brought aboard the ship inside the duffel bag-no problem. I put my carry on, and beverages in my cabin, and ocean-view obstructed on the Emerald Deck-8. I then went to the Lido Deck and More purchased the ultimate drink card, and had lunch. I had early seating traditional dining for dinner and after dinner went to the Juan Carlos Show. After dinner and the show I spent the remainder of the evening looking for my luggage which arrived a few minutes after midnight. Note: this was the worst thing that happened to me on this cruise.
Food & Dining
I was able to dine at the Lido, and Dining room, as well as have room service for dinner, and breakfast. Room Service offerings are quite limited and below average because of that fact. What they do offer is good however. The lido dining area is broken up into several areas and one big plus although there are no trays, the plates are quite large. Servers also help you in finding seats, and are quick in offering you beverages. The dining room service, and food was very good, but there were 2 nights that I did not dine there as there was nothing on the menu that interested me.
Public Areas
The ship is very easy to get around, and the cabin key card holder had a built in ship map. One issue I had however was the activities I chose to take part always seemed to be very far away from each other which made getting from one to the other on time a challenge. On sea days I spent a great deal of time at the aft pool area. It is for adults only. I spent the time reading, and listening to music on my mp3 player-very relaxing.
Ship Entertainment
I went to 2 shows the Juan Carlos show, and "Pianoman" a production show. Both were very good. The ship had other shows but they did not interest me much.
Cabin
My ocean-view obstructed E8624 Port was a free upgrade from a Riviera Deck inside and was very nice. The obstruction of window view was about 60% and not "fully" obstructed. My cabin steward Alan did a great job keeping my cabin looking good, and ice bucket always stocked. I did have an unfortunate incident in the cabin however with the toilet-overflowing of which I cleaned up myself.
Debarkation
We pulled into NYC very early on Sunday morning. I was going to self-disembark and I had a relative picking me up so I ate breakfast at around 6:30 AM. They called me down to one of the ship lounges where I sat until the announcement was made that my group could leave the ship. I got off the ship and was through customs in about 10 minutes. My relative had arrived to the port at about 8 AM and I was one of the first people to leave the port area. Less
Published 06/19/11
Cabin review: F8624
Port and Shore Excursions
Second port of call was Antigua. Since this was my first trip to Antigua I took a highlights tour package offered by the ship and got to see many things on the Island. Antigua has several hundred beaches so next time I go I will head to one and just spend the day.
Read 1192 Antigua Reviews
The last port of call was Bermuda. Since this was my first trip to Bermuda I took a highlights tour package offered by the ship and got to see many things on the Island. Next time I go I will just spend the day at the beach. The beaches of Bermuda are amazing.
Read 173 Hamilton Reviews
First port of call was St. Thomas USVI. I took the ferry and spent the day at St. John. I took a highlights tour package offered by the ship and got to see many things in St. John. If you are unfamiliar with the island this is a good thing to do if in the future you plan on another visit. I hit a lot of areas and now know next time I go I am hitting the beach at Trunk Bay.
Read 133 St. John (U.S.V.I.) Reviews
ricok987
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