Caribbean Princess Review
Rating by category
Additional details
This cruise was labeled as a 14 night Southern Caribbean but in reality it was 2 separate 7 night cruises visiting 10 ports (not including Puerto Rico). We've spent time sailing around the Caribbean in a 50 ft sailboat a few times over the years and this was our 4th "big" cruise and 2nd with Princess.
We chose the 14 night cruise as we prefer longer vacations of 10 or more nights and with the port intensive itinerary it would allow us to get a taste of many islands enabling us to get an idea of where we would like to return for a land based vacation in the future.
Embarkation: They lie! The information from Princess told us to arrive after 2pm when it would be less crowded. We arrived at about 2:15 and it was a zoo. Tons of cars buses, taxis, and parking lot security guys yelling at everyone (yes even ME!) Princess ports at the Pan American pier (yuck) and not in OSJ. Finally schlepped our luggage to the porter guys and then back in another long line for security check. After security check you then go to another long line to get checked in to your cruise. There are a lot of agents so this actually moved quickly. From this point you can go to the duty free shops. (It was awesome watching people be creative and hiding tons of booze in backpacks, purses, carry ons garment bags etc...) We had our two bottles of wine and they did ask us when we boarded and did look in our bag. However I wouldn't worry as gallons of booze did get on board this cruise for sure! After duty free you are back to another line to actually get on board. This was rather backed up and even though it is covered the sun was still beating down from the side making it kind of hot. But finally on board!
Cabin Review
We booked an AA guarantee and did not receive a room assignment until 2 weeks prior to sailing (booked and paid for the cruise 8 months in advance). We did not receive any upgrades and were assigned to D406 which is Dolphin deck 9 mid ship, port-side (AA room).
We loved the mini suite as it had so much room and lots of storage. The full size bath was a huge plus for a longer cruise. The room itself was showing some wear and tear on the carpet, and the sheers needed a good washing,but these were all minor things that I could overlook in exchange for the great space and layout. The bed however was horrible! As many people have said the mattress is very hard and ours was very lumpy to the point where you could feel the springs. (I woke up each morning very early because of back pain). One of the beds actually had a permanent indentation that made you feel like you would roll right out of the bed (this required that my DH and I clutch each other in an embrace mid bed each night to prevent one of us from rolling off the bed - okay maybe a bit of a stretch but we did have lots of laughs about the beds). The pillows were totally flat with no support. We ended up with 8 pillows in our room by the 3rd day of the cruise (pillow fight!) The balcony was very roomy and had two semi-reclining chairs and two regular chairs along with a small bistro type table. All mini suites on Dolphin deck are totally open balconies which people have a love or a hate relationship with. (We have the latter). While sitting on the balcony, water would randomly drip down from the upper decks (not a cloud in the sky) and I believe it may have been from up on lido deck. While sometimes it would be just a few drops, other times it was a nice little unexpected rain shower. No big deal unless you are trying to enjoy a nice meal on your balcony (ewww!!!! where is that water coming from that just landed all over my salad), or if your showered and ready for dinner (so much for the hairstyle), or sitting on the balcony reading from your kindle (oops hope this is water proof). We did have great weather for most of our cruise but in inclement weather or when the sun was beating down, the balcony was useless. Also the glass of the balcony gets very hot in the full sun and I would be careful if you have small children as I could see where they may even get a mild burn if they leaned up against it. Speaking of open concept, yes it is nice to gaze up at the stars at night, but wait those aren't stars they are several pairs of eyes peering down at me from the balconies, above and above and to the sides of me. So if you have visions of spending a lot of time on your balcony or have plans for some privacy and quiet evenings with your spouse you might want to reconsider Dolphin deck. Honestly it wasn't THAT bad, but I would not choose a mid ship location on Dolphin deck in the future. Our room steward Leonides was wonderful. He kept our room nice and clean, always had fresh ice in our bucket, and seemed to anticipate all our needs. We are in the hospitality industry ourselves so enjoyed talking to him when he had a moment (they are responsible for 17 rooms each!)