If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
some photos from my Caribbean Princess trip
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/5829/shipm.jpg
On the left, my wife, and on the right, another Princess http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/8408/tunjeh.jpg 2 hr. driving tour $15. The VW Beetle art sold me, but I was very ready to get off after an hour and a half of winding around the mountain roads. http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6537/cactusi.jpg cactus encounter - I was hunting wabbits .... I mean lizards ..... for the camera, and just wasn't being careful enough, evidently. (later in the same trip, I would step on a spiny sea urchin. Fun!) http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/6577/whatbp.jpg What are these? Either coconuts get a lot more orange/yellow than I thought, or these are a different fruit.... http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/5972/statuesr.jpg Finally, some artwork I can really appreciate! (Old San Juan, PR) http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/2460/shiningh.jpg My wife calls this one "The Shining". I just like these old watchtowers, which still look sturdy. The food was certainly a highlight of the trip. I thought maybe we would only do the "fine dining" once or twice, but I liked it enough that we ended up going there 5 times out of 7. The rest of the time we indulged in the buffets. Although I loved the interesting and unusual food, by the last day I was just craving cheeseburgers, so I ate a couple down by the pool. It was interesting having so many islands to visit. I ended up getting coins from many of them, so I came back with a pocketful of new coins to remember our trip by! We came ashore on all the islands and at least did a little shopping. I was surprised at how similar the shopping was between islands - I thought perhaps that they would try to differentiate themselves a bit more. Other than that, we had lots of smoothies. I saw the folks start to put milk in there, and had to stop them. They were starting to make what I'd call a milkshake, since a smoothie to me is just fruit and ice pulverized, with maybe a bit of sugar added. They told me that down there, I should ask for a virgin daiquiri if I want it without milk. Live and learn, I guess. We saw several big musical shows on the ship, plus some smaller musical acts. I was particularly impressed with a steel drum band called "Sugar Cane", so we bought one of their CD's. We got a special demonstration of how the guy plays the drum when one of the audience members, a music teacher, asked for details. The player brought the drums down onto the floor and gave us a close up look of how he plays it, which was fantastic. We also got to catch up on several movies that we hadn't had the opportunity to get out and watch. Of course, we also ate way too much, because the food was good. They had scallops every day, and I was tempted to eat them at every meal. The balcony was a nice feature - on several occasions I enjoyed going out there and just watching the sea, or watching as we came in to port in the mornings. I thought I might read out there, but it was a bit warm for me, so I didn't. Overall, I was pleased with the trip, but there were some annoyances. Our room was far too hot and stuffy when we arrived on the ship, so I'm guessing they had the air conditioning turned off. Even on the coldest setting, the air flowing into the room was limited, so it was the next afternoon before it cooled down enough to suit me. It also got too hot once again after we had a power failure on another day. When the power went out we were at the buffet, and that was the quietest I've heard it get on the ship. Everyone became completely silent, even the crew, but they got the power back on within a few minutes. We also had toilet trouble - the thing gurgled and required pressing the button multiple times, and waiting several minutes before it would flush properly. I thought maybe this was how Princess toilets saved water, but on the last day I finally called maintenance. Afterwards, it flushed normally, so I felt silly about waiting and putting up with it. I was surprised that the ship moved back and forth as much as it did. I could feel about a 6" back and forth motion most of the time, and found it difficult to walk around the ship without staggering. I don't know what I was expecting - maybe some sort of stabilizing gyroscopes onboard, to minimize this sort of thing. I must have gotten used to it for the most part, because once I got back on land, I found myself feeling like the land was moving in the same way for the first day or so. One day the movement was more like a foot, and a huge banging sound started through the walls that evening. It was so loud that I knew I was going to have trouble getting to sleep. I called the crew, because I was worried that something heavy had become loose in a storage room, and that it was going back and forth, hitting the walls. They told me that the loud, deep banging was "just due to the age of the ship" (NOT something I want to hear) and was just the structure of the steel plates in the ship shifting due to the waves. They gave me some earplugs so I could sleep. I liked the "movies under the stars", and the movies they show in the Princess theater. We don't get the chance to get out all that often, so it is fun to be able to go out and watch something in between shows, and sit there eating pizza, popcorn or a burger and fries. Both my wife and I were really looking forward to watching the "A-Team" movie, since we were both big fans of the TV series. However, they were evidently having problems with the sound, but still went ahead with the movie anyway. They never scheduled a repeat showing in either theater. I also noticed that when there is a lot of action, the screen tends to get blurry, and text can be pixellated. When a black night sky or dark background was shown, it devolved into huge blocks. I'm rather familiar with these issues. I archive most of my DVD's onto my PC, and if I compress too highly, I end up with exactly these same problems. I'd really like to see this issue solved, because it is distracting when you're watching a movie. Later, there was a "farewell movie" in the Princess Theater, "The Girl Who Played With Fire". They simply couldn't get it to work, which means no sound or no video for 1/3 of the movies I tried to see. My biggest complaint however, is a lack of magic shows on the cruise. I told my wife before the trip that I was primarily looking forward to watching lots of small magic shows and comedy shows on the ship. They only had 2 or 3 large comedy acts in the evenings. As for magic shows, there was a balancing act, but nothing that I would be able to categorize as a traditional magic show, illusion act, or comedy show with props, etc. Overall, I was very disappointed with the afternoon entertainment on the Caribbean Princess. Can anyone recommend a ship or line that tends to have lots of magic shows? Thanks! |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
some photos from my Caribbean Princess trip
On Jan 19, 11:43*am, Ohioguy wrote:
* *Can anyone recommend a ship or line that tends to have lots of magic shows? *Thanks! Nice review, thanks! Generally, magic acts tend to be a specialized type of entertainment (not as polarizing as mimes, but still "niche"), so it's rare to have more than one magician on a cruise. (...and I'd include ventriloquists, jugglers and hypnotists in the category as well) If you ARE really a magic fan, there are group cruises and charters for just about any interest; I'm sure there are magic cruises. (cue bad jokes on making things disappear ...or wisecracks about coins) So, from your review, I take it that you enjoyed yourself and will be likely cruising again? Mark |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
some photos from my Caribbean Princess trip
Ohioguy wrote:
Can anyone recommend a ship or line that tends to have lots of magic shows? Thanks! There is no guarantee what kind of acts will booked on the sailing you have booked. It would be unusual for there to be more than one magic show. It was just the luck of the draw there was no magic show the week you were onboard. Next week they could have a magic show on board. -- Charles |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
some photos from my Caribbean Princess trip
So, from your review, I take it that you enjoyed yourself and will be
likely cruising again? Yes, but it will probably be several years off, and probably not a full week. We may try to find some sort of theme cruise. For the next year or two, due to financial and time constraints, I think we'll have to stay a bit closer to home. |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
some photos from my Caribbean Princess trip
On 1/20/11 9:18 AM, Ohioguy wrote:
So, from your review, I take it that you enjoyed yourself and will be likely cruising again? Yes, but it will probably be several years off, and probably not a full week. We may try to find some sort of theme cruise. For the next year or two, due to financial and time constraints, I think we'll have to stay a bit closer to home. Now that you know what you liked and disliked, you can keep your eyes out for last minute special price opportunities, things like that. A 10 night sailing to Mexico out of Los Angeles we did a week ago was going for $499 per person a few weeks before sailing... so now you can keep your eyes open for special "opportunities"... And even once on board, you can avoid splurging on shore excursions and drinks... and go very inexpensively. On my Mexico sailing, other than the tips, I only had 2 charges the whole week, a beer, and the charge for Sabatini's. And to save $$$ I got an inside cabin. So it doesn't have to be expensive. |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
some photos from my Caribbean Princess trip
So it doesn't have to be expensive.
Just curious - for most of you, about what percentage does the airfare tend to add on to the cruise? For this trip, the airfare to and from San Juan added on roughly 50% to the cruise cost for us. I can certainly see why people in a cruise port would be much more likely to go often - since they could skip all of the extra time and cost involved. (plus take advantage of the last minute deals) |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
some photos from my Caribbean Princess trip
On 1/20/11 1:27 PM, Ohioguy wrote:
So it doesn't have to be expensive. Just curious - for most of you, about what percentage does the airfare tend to add on to the cruise? For this trip, the airfare to and from San Juan added on roughly 50% to the cruise cost for us. I can certainly see why people in a cruise port would be much more likely to go often - since they could skip all of the extra time and cost involved. (plus take advantage of the last minute deals) Living close to NYC, our airfare's tend to be inexpensive. Just flew to LAX (with a connection to save $$$) for about $358. Florida sailings are typically lower for air. So the % can vary greatly. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
some photos from my Caribbean Princess trip
Glad you mostly enjoyed the cruise. I'll be back on the Caribbean Princess
24 days from now. As others have said, the only way you will get more than one magic show or such is to do a theme cruise and the absolute best way to find them is to contact your travel agent. A good TA will find any theme cruises that will fit your requirements. I've looked at, or been on, cruises for 50s & 60s music, big band, ballroom dancing, and a few other ones some years ago. |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
some photos from my Caribbean Princess trip
On Thu, 20 Jan 2011 13:27:16 -0500, Ohioguy wrote:
So it doesn't have to be expensive. Just curious - for most of you, about what percentage does the airfare tend to add on to the cruise? For this trip, the airfare to and from San Juan added on roughly 50% to the cruise cost for us. I can certainly see why people in a cruise port would be much more likely to go often - since they could skip all of the extra time and cost involved. (plus take advantage of the last minute deals) My husband doesn't fly anymore. He says it is too much hassle. So when I go with him, we drive and there is no airfare. We mostly go out of Baltimore which is about a 2 hour drive. It would be maybe two days or a long one day drive from Ohio. We've also cruised out of Philadelphia (which has closed the port so you can't do that anymore), Norfolk and Ft. Lauderdale by driving. We've never done it but NYC and Boston are also possible. We normally rent a car and turn it in at the airport of whatever city it is and take a taxi or shuttle to the port. That way we don't have to pay for parking. There are a couple of people on this cruise (out of Baltimore) from Canada. They drove down because they said it would have cost them $146 for each of them each way and they would have had to connect in Detroit. Not only was driving cheaper but it was less hassle. They stayed the night before the cruise at a hotel that gave them a shuttle to the port and free parking for a week. There is a group from Pennsylvania that comes down in a bus. There are lots of ways to get to a port without flying. This does mean that we don't cruise out of San Juan and if I want to do a Med or Baltic cruise, I have to do it without him. And if I want to do Hawaii without flying there, I have to pick one that leaves out of California or Mexico. But that still leaves a LOT of cruises. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Caribbean Princess, Emerald Princess Penthouse Suite (R401) | [email protected] | Cruises | 0 | May 25th, 2007 03:48 PM |
Photos from our trip to San Juan and the South Caribbean | Michael A. | Latin America | 0 | November 10th, 2006 01:34 AM |
Photos from Princess cruise to South Caribbean and another cruiseto Alaska | Michael A. | Cruises | 0 | November 10th, 2006 01:12 AM |
Caribbean, Carribean, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess and more. | [email protected] | Caribbean | 0 | July 2nd, 2006 01:26 AM |
Caribbean-Carnival-Royal Caribbean-Princess-Celebrity-Holland America | [email protected] | Australia & New Zealand | 0 | July 2nd, 2006 01:23 AM |