Caribbean Princess Eastern Caribbean Cruise (2006)
My family really enjoyed our 7 night Caribbean Princess cruise in February 2006. We were joined on this special cruise by Anne’s parents, Paul and Barbara McShane, celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Our cruise was very relaxing with great dining, fun entertainment, interesting ports to visit, and all this on one of the newest, most modern ships sailing today. Below I will discuss some of the features of the beautiful Caribbean Princess and the ports we visited. Anne will contribute her comments on various parts of the trip preceded by the words “Anne’s take:” At the end of the report Andrew and Josh have contributed what they enjoyed most about the cruise.
By Tim Larison Travel Agent and CLIA Certified Master Cruise Counselor (MCC) With Contributions by: Travel Agent Anne Larison, and our sons Andrew and Joshua (12 year old twins)
We especially enjoyed this cruise for the three “at sea” days. The at sea days gave us more time to explore and enjoy the Caribbean Princess. The ports we did visit:
St Thomas
This was my 2nd visit to St Thomas on a cruise. For this visit I booked the family on a 6 hour tour of the island through Sunny Liston Tours (website: www.sunnylistontours.com ).
Sunny gives an excellent tour which features some shopping time, stops at the island’s scenic spots (including the highest point on the island where you can see surrounding islands from a mountain top), and finally a 2 hour visit to Sapphire beach. Sunny has a “sunny” disposition, singing for us as he took us to different parts of the island. By the end of the tour he had the whole tour van singing with him – we all had a good time. If you want a mix of shopping, history, scenery, and beach time I would recommend this tour highly.
If you are only interested in visiting a beach, I would recommend taking a taxi to a nearby beach or taking a shore excursion/ferry to nearby St John to visit Trunk Bay. Sapphire Beach was nice but crowded – I liked our beach experience at Trunk Bay on St John better on our 2004 Eastern Caribbean cruise.
Sunny Liston Tour Grade: A- The Beach could have been better but otherwise this was an excellent tour.
Anne’s Take: If you enjoy jewelry shopping, St Thomas is the place for you. I have never seen so many jewelry stores together in one place. We were not interested in buying jewelry but I did see many shoppers in the stores that day and the shopping expert on the Caribbean Princess gives a ‘shopping’ seminar with tips and helpful information for getting the best deals. The other specialty I saw was tablecloths and linens. There were many good prices on beautiful linens available throughout the area.
The other thing of note about the day was that Sapphire Beach, while very enjoyable, did have the less ‘kid-friendly’ water/waves. There was a drop-off into deeper water only about two feet into the water. The boys are good swimmers but not too comfortable in ocean when too deep. This beach had more undertow than the other two beaches we would visit.
St Maarten
At St Maarten we took a taxi to nearby Divi Little Bay resort. I had read and our taxi driver confirmed that this was an excellent beach for families. The boys really enjoyed the larger waves that pounded the beach here. There wasn’t much of an undertow making the beach safe for kids. The resort had beach games, like volleyball and crab races, and other activities you could purchase like banana boat rides, parasailing, waverunners, etc. Josh said “this was the best beach ever!” Our boys really had a good time here.
The taxi ride to Divi Little Bay was $4 per person as of Feb 2006. We noticed that Royal Caribbean and Carnival had organized shore excursions here – we liked arriving on our own by taxi. If you visit Divi Little Bay I highly recommend getting to the beach EARLY. We arrived about 9 am and got a prime spot on the beach (renting beach chairs for $5 each and a beach umbrella for $5). Later after 10 am when the Royal Caribbean and Carnival excursions arrived the beach was much more crowded. We didn’t mind the crowds since we had a prime beach spot, but had we arrived later it would have been difficult to find a good location on the beach.
Overall grade for Divi Little Bay: A-
Our time at Divi Little Bay was an excellent family outing. The facilities were clean and we liked the family environment. While there were some food options we preferred eating a late lunch back at the ship (we saw long lines for the beach buffet). Divi Little Bay is very easy to reach by taxi. Anne’s Take: This beach was very kid-friendly. There was very little undertow and yet there was enough wave action to keep the boys on their toes. (They love Disney’s Castaway Cay, but there is not much wave action at that family beach). During the 3 hours we were at Divi Little Bay there were several short rainstorms. The boys continued to play in the water and it didn’t bother them in the least. Tim and I were glad to have the beach umbrella but the storms came and went very quickly. Even with the cloud cover during the rain showers the weather was very warm and we were careful to reapply sunscreen after a few hours.
Princess Cay
On the last day of our cruise we visited Princess’ private island – Princess Cay. This is actually a private beach on the much larger Island of Eleuthera. Eleuthera was originally discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 and according to Princess is “often described as the most beautiful and scenic of the islands of the Bahamas – 100 miles long and averaging 2 miles wide”.
Like the cruise line private islands we have visited in the past, Princess Cay offered a variety of beach activities (volleyball, banana boat rides, jet ski rentals, snorkeling, etc) In comparison to Disney’s and Holland America’s private islands the Princess area wasn’t as big. Princess Cay featured the most sand we have seen on a beach anywhere, however. The sandy beach was great for building sand castles as our boys discovered. Princess Cay also had a barbeque lunch featuring hamburgers, hot dogs, ribs, fresh fruit, salads, etc. While not quite as good as Disney’s Castaway Cay buffet the meal satisfied our hungry appetites after a morning of beach activities.
Grade: B+
When looking at Caribbean cruise itineraries I always look for a day at a cruise line private island – Princess Cays didn’t disappoint as another fun private island destination. I rate Disney’s Castaway Cay and Holland America’s private island better, though, because those islands had more activities offered and better buffets. One downside to the shore excursions was limited towel availability. For shore excursions and at the ship’s pools instead of a towel station Princess only supplied one towel per guest in your stateroom.
Anne’s Take: I didn’t have the opportunity to snorkel on this island, but we heard from many other passengers that it was a good location and they saw many beautiful fish in the water. There is a dock extending out into the water that you can stand on and see many of the sea life right from the dock. It did rain, a heavy downpour, while we were on the island. The rain only lasted 15 minutes or so and then the clouds passed and it was warm and beautiful again. The boys enjoyed renting a float. The water was cold when first entered, but we did get used to the coldness after a short while.
The Ship
The Caribbean Princess as of February 2006 was the largest ship in the Princess fleet, at 116,000 tons and a double occupancy capacity of 3120 guests (double occupancy). The ship was built in 2004, and was the first of Princess “Super Grand Class” category of ships. The Crown Princess, the sister ship of the Caribbean Princess, will have its maiden voyage in June 2006. The Caribbean Princess sparkled like new throughout. The crew kept the vessel well maintained – to us it was like we were sailing on her maiden voyage.
Our Staterooms
We booked an inside stateroom, A332 on the Aloha deck. The stateroom slept four with two individual beds separated by night stands. The 3rd and 4th beds were located directly above the other beds in “bunk bed” style. We found this arrangement to be fine – there was plenty of head clearance between the lower and upper beds (better than what we experienced on our Holland America Westerdam cruise the previous year). While the stateroom was smaller than the inside stateroom we sailed in a couple of months earlier on Disney, the storage was well laid out so we had no problem storing a week’s worth of clothing and supplies for the four of us. We particularly liked the large closet area. The bathroom and shower were among the smallest we have had on a cruise, but we didn’t mind as the smaller bathroom opened up more space for storage elsewhere in the stateroom.
The McShane’s balcony stateroom was laid out in a similar way. We liked the Aloha deck location for the balcony – on the Baja deck and above the balconies were parallel with those above giving you more privacy. Balconies on the Caribe deck and below jutted out from the ship, so a balcony above could see into the Caribe deck balconies. If you book a balcony on this ship, try to get on the Baja deck or above for more privacy.
Stateroom Grade: B
Not as big as some other staterooms we have had on other cruise lines, but very well laid out with efficient storage. The McShanes balcony was very nice and was a special treat for Paul and Barbara to relax on the balcony during our sailing. Our stateroom attendant was efficient in keeping our rooms clean all week. Anne’s Take: I especially like the storage space in the Princess staterooms. There is room for all of our hanging clothes and the suitcases in the closet. In addition to the drawers in the nightstands and the desk, there is a 6 shelf cabinet with a door by the bathroom. When trying to keep a small stateroom in order for 7 nights with a family of 4 I truly appreciate the extra storage. There is also no door on the closet. I have experienced other staterooms on other cruises where the sliding door to the closet can slide open and closed on rough sea nights and if not properly secured, quickly become annoying. Another plus for Princess is that when we boarded the ship around noon, our staterooms were available and ready for us immediately. We’ve been on several lines where you had to wait an hour or more for the staterooms to be ready after boarding.
Dining
The Caribbean Princess had three dining rooms, a large buffet divided into two sections, and two specialty restaurants.
Personal Choice Dining rooms (Coral and Palm)
This was our third Princess cruise and the first one where we had “Personal Choice” dining (also known as “anytime dining”). There were two Personal Choice dining rooms on the ship, the Coral and Palm dining rooms, as well as one “fixed seating time” dining room (the Island dining room). In the Personal Choice dining rooms you could have dinner anytime between 5:30 pm and 10 pm. The fixed seating was sold out when we booked the cruise and at first we were wary of how the Personal Choice dining would work out. On the nights we ate in a Personal Choice dining room we dined around 6 pm and we were seated immediately (there was no problem getting a table for six). We had heard there could be waits at these dining rooms, but we did not experience that. Eating early helped us avoid a wait. If you have Personal Choice dining on this cruise and you are dining at a popular time, I recommend checking out the Palm dining room in the aft of the ship.
The Coral dining room is more centrally located and more easily accessible; hence it is more crowded at the popular dining times. We ate at the Palm dining room on the first formal night with no wait. The dining room food was excellent! In fact I rate the Princess main dining room food as the best I have had on any cruise (consistently good for my three Princess cruises). I particularly like the shrimp cocktail appetizer that is offered every night, and the NY Cheesecake for dessert (also offered every night). We found our meat and chicken dishes to be of good quality throughout the week. Our boys enjoyed the option of ordering off of the adult menu on most nights – the kids menu also had good choices. We also had excellent breakfasts at the Coral dining room on the couple of mornings we ate there instead of the buffet.
Horizon Court Buffet/Café Caribe
Another dining area where Princess excels is in their buffets. The buffet is open 24 hours – the only cruise buffet we have seen among our many cruises (8 different cruise lines) that has this feature. While not as big as some buffets we have seen on other cruise lines, the buffet was big enough for our tastes and the quality was good. I especially liked the Horizon Court buffet for a quick breakfast or lunch. Café Caribe The Caribbean Princess also had a second buffet, the Café Caribe, located directly behind the Horizon Court in the aft of the ship. The selections at the Café Caribe were different on the “at sea” days for lunch – I enjoyed the Oriental buffet here on a couple of afternoons. In the mornings the Café Caribe served the same food as the main Horizon Court buffet but was less crowded. If you had a difficult time finding a seat in the Horizon Court for breakfast seating was usually available at the Café Caribe with shorter lines for the food. On most evenings the Café Caribe also had a special menu for those who didn’t want to dine in the more formal Island, Coral, or Palm Dining rooms. We ate dinner in the Café Caribe the last two nights of our cruise – we liked the quick service with a nicer atmosphere than the regular buffet (in the evening Café Caribe featured cloth table settings in the evening with drink service from the wait staff). On Thursday night we feasted on a seafood buffet here that included lobster, crab legs, and other selections. On Friday night we ate prime rib at the Café Caribe that was as good as what we had on an earlier night in the main dining room. The Café Caribe was a good option for those who wanted a quick meal and who didn’t want to dress up for dinner (we skipped the 2nd formal night and dined here in our casual clothes)
One of the few downsides to the buffets was the free drink options offered. If you did not buy a “soda” card for the week the only free offerings were a glass of water or ice tea or hot drinks such as coffee and hot tea. We liked the drink stations on our recent Disney, Celebrity, and Holland America cruises better (offering lemonade, juice, and soft drinks) than the limited drink offerings at the Princess buffets. We also did not like the aggressive pushing of the “drink card” on the 1st day of the cruise – for $3.95 a day you could buy a soda card for unlimited soft drinks during the cruise. With the limited free drink selection Princess almost forces you to buy this card. We made do without it but did purchase soft drinks at $1.50 each at different times.
Prego Pizza/Trident Grill
Near one of the pools Princess offered Prego Pizza, with fresh cooked pizzas throughout the day. Our boys particularly liked this dining option for lunch and on the nights the adults ate at the specialty restaurants. The Trident Grill offered hamburgers, hot dogs, and French fries – another favorite of our son Josh for a snack or light lunch. There was no extra charge for the pizza or the grill. Scoops Ice Cream Unlike some other ships, Princess charges for their ice cream ($1.50 for a small bowl, $3.95 for a sundae). We thought the quality of the ice cream was excellent (much better than what we had on Holland America the previous year) so we didn’t mind the charge too much. We enjoyed both hard serve and soft serve ice cream here.
Specialty Restaurant: Sabatinis Italian Restaurant
The adults dined at Sabatinis one evening – a true culinary adventure! This is one of the best specialty restaurants offered by any cruise line. The $20 per person additional charge for our 2 ½ hour meal here was well worth it. If you eat at Sabatinis, come hungry! We had NINETEEN different food items – that’s right we had all of this placed on our plates: Shrimp Mussels Slice of specialty pizza Caviar Eggplant Baked Brie Cheese Mushrooms Sun dried tomatoes Minestrone soup Seafood spaghetti Gnocchi Cannoli Artichoke Hearts Prosciutto Ham Shaved Beef Melon Balls Lobster or Veal Chops (main course) Rice New York Cheesecake or other desert options Our Sabatini waiter said all we had to order was the main course, and they would bring samples of everything else. This was a good opportunity to try some different foods we hadn’t experienced before (mussels, caviar, etc). If there was something that didn’t meet your taste, it was easy to skip that course as there was plenty of other food still to come. For the main entrée I had an excellent lobster tail dish. If I were to eat here again, though, I would order the veal. I sampled some of Anne’s veal dish and it was the most flavorful and tender veal I have ever tasted. Sabatinis was truly the dining highlight of our cruise that we will long remember
Specialty Restaurant: Sterling Steakhouse
The other specialty restaurant onboard, the Sterling Steakhouse, had a $15 per person cover charge. The amount of food here was much more modest when compared to Sabatini’s – in fact the 3 course meal here was less than the 5 course evening meals served regularly in the ship’s main dining rooms. I had the shrimp cocktail appetizer here – the shrimp was huge (more than twice the size of the shrimp cocktail offered in the regular dining rooms). Barbara McShane commented that the shrimp cocktail was a meal in itself! For the main entrée a variety of steaks were offered (filet mignon, porterhouse, etc). Not being a steak lover I ordered the ½ barbequed chicken. I found my chicken to be flavorful but a bit dry. The filet mignon was good (8 oz or 10 oz portions were offered). Anne, Paul, and Barbara all ordered steaks and rated the quality as a “9” on a scale of 10. For dessert the NY Cheesecake was excellent. While we enjoyed our meal at the Sterling Steakhouse, if you had to pick one specialty restaurant on the Caribbean Princess to dine at I would recommend Sabatinis.
Anne’s Take: My parents and I are steak lovers, so we probably enjoyed Sterling Steakhouse much more than Tim. One nice feature is that they present the raw steak options at the beginning of your meal on a serving cart. You have a chance to look over the size and quality of the filet, the porterhouse, the t-bone, sirloin and all the choices when ordering. Along with the steak and baked potatoes came delicious mushrooms and they had a variety of topping for the potato. I felt everything was excellent and highly recommend this restaurant to steak lovers.
Overall dining grade: A With an excellent buffet, very good main dining room food, numerous quick dining options (pizza, grill, ice cream), one extraordinary specialty restaurant (Sabatinis), and one excellent specialty restaurant (Sterling Steakhouse), Princess in my opinion has the best food of any cruise line we have sailed on.
Entertainment
Princess Theatre
The main Princess theatre featured two production shows and a variety of comedy acts during the week. The “not to be missed” production show of the week was “The Piano Man”. This stage show featured a tribute to famous pianists such as Liberace, Elton John, Barry Manilow, Billy Joel, and others. The music from the live band was excellent, the singing was very good, and the show had a number of impressive dance routines. The colorful costumes in this show were also a plus. I talked to one long time cruiser, on her 34th Princess cruise, and she told me “Don’t miss the Piano Man!” She was right – this was one of the best stage shows I have seen on a cruise ship. The Princess Theatre is not as big as main theatres I have seen on other ships. As a result every show we attended was standing room only. If you are planning to attend a show at the Princess Theatre try to arrive 30 minutes early to ensure yourself a seat.
Explorers Lounge/Club Fusion/other bars
The ship had two other show lounges – the Explorers Lounge which featured dancing and comedy acts, and Club Fusion which also featured dancing and singing. One night we missed getting a seat at the Princess Theatre, so instead we attended a comedy show at the Explorers Lounge. I was impressed with the number of show options available each night. The comedy show we attended by Steve Morris was excellent. Steve was an excellent guitar player (he once toured with the Beach Boys) and he was also very funny. He did a Neal Diamond impersonation which was uncanny in resemblance to this famous singer. Another comedian we saw, James “the kid” Rock, we did not care for as his humor was more “R” rated adult material. Steve’s comedy routine was very funny and very clean. At the Crooners bar midship from 9 to 11 pm piano player and singer Bert Stratton had a standing room only crowd most nights with his performance of popular songs and the stories behind those songs. Bert had a loyal following and to some was the best entertainer on the ship. Skywalkers Nightclub high above the rest of the ship was a popular dance spot in the late evening.
Movies Under The Stars
Princess premiered its “Movies Under The Stars” concept on this ship. At one of the pools there was a large outdoor movie screen with an excellent sound system. We attended Movies under the Stars on different nights (we saw four films – The Greatest Game Ever Played, Just Like Heaven, Proof, and Cinderella Man). The experience was amazing. Here we were sailing in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean watching a movie outdoors! It reminded me of watching movies under the stars at the drive in theatre back home. Princess sets up comfy deck chairs with extra padding for its evening movie shows, and free popcorn is distributed. The wind was minimal as the chairs are setup in an area shielded by plexiglass along the deck. As we were watching a movie one night I pointed out to Anne a full moon overhead. A Princess salesperson I talked to said the Movies Under the Stars was Princess’ answer to Royal Caribbean’s Rock Climbing Wall. Princess has a great concept here. More people like movies than climbing walls – the movies under the stars have a broad appeal. After I attended my first movie under the stars I couldn’t wait to attend more on subsequent nights. The outdoor movies didn’t work as well during the day. Movies or concerts are shown starting at 8 a.m.
In the day I noticed many pool dwellers not even paying attention to the movie playing overhead – it was more of a distraction during the day. For swimming I would recommend picking one of the other pools (not the one under the movie screen) for a quieter environment. Princess also showed movies during the week in the main Princess theatre, in the Explorers Lounge, and in Club Fusion. While I still think Disney has the best movie experience at sea (and Disney has copied the Princess concept of outdoor movies on the Disney Magic), the Princess movie setup was the next best I have seen on a cruise ship. The variety of movies shown was good.
Overall Entertainment Grade: A-
Excellent stage shows in the Princess theatres, at least one good comedian, entertaining lounge singers, and the wonderful Movies Under the Stars gives the Caribbean Princess an A- in my book in the entertainment category. The “minus” is only because I think the main theatre could be bigger on a ship this large (many who wanted to attend a show couldn’t find a seat), and the outdoor movies didn’t work as well during the day as in the evening.
Children’s Programming
Our 12 year old twin boys really enjoyed the kids club – they were in a group of 8 to 12 year olds. On “at sea” days the programming ran from 9 to noon, and from 2 to 5 pm. On every night there was children’s programming from 7 to 10 pm. The boys liked the different contests Princess had for prizes (scavenger hunts, casino games, ping pong and foosball tournaments, build a roller coaster, etc). The boys also enjoyed the Play Station 2 time that was featured the last ½ hour of each session. The club even had some educational time – during one session the boys each dissected a squid! The boys report there were about 25 kids in their age group in the kids club. We saw lots of families on the cruise, not as many as on a Disney cruise but more than we saw on Holland America last March. I would recommend this cruise for families – Princess has an underrated kids program. Children’s club grade: A- “A” for activities offered. The “minus’ is only because the clubs are not open for as many hours as Disney’s. Our 12 year olds are now independent enough where they could find things to do when the clubs were closed, but for families with smaller kids the limited hours of the club could be more of an issue. The club did offer after-hours kid sitting from 10 pm to 1 am each night for a fee of $5/hour per child.
Other activities
The ship had many other activities – a large casino, bingo, trivia contests, dance lessons, pool games, and more. There was something for everyone.
Internet Café/wireless access
The Caribbean Princess had a large internet café that had a strong internet connection throughout the whole cruise. The 35 cents/minute charge here was less expensive than I have seen on most cruise lines. There were no blocks of minutes you could buy – just a flat rate of 35 cents a minute. I found the internet connection good 80 % of the time – occasionally I did have to switch terminals when the terminal I sat down at wasn’t working. By the end of the cruise I found I had spent less money on the internet at 35 cents a minute than I had with Disney’s $99 unlimited plan for the entire cruise. The wireless capability on this ship was not as good. Wireless was only available in the atrium area, and I found it to be extremely slow at times (much slower than the internet café speeds). With wireless access you do buy blocks of time ($10 for 30 minute blocks). I had originally planned to check my email through my laptop’s wireless connection, but switched over to the internet café after encountering slow wireless access times the first day. At times it was also difficult to find a free table in the atrium to place a laptop for wireless access. In addition various classes were offered as part of Princess “Computer at Sea” curriculum. These classes were $25 each and seemed popular with several cruise passengers. Classes were taught on digital photo editing, Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, and other topics.
Overall Computer grade: B The internet café was fine and the computer classes were a nice addition, but a new ship like the Caribbean Princess should have better wireless access.
Pre-cruise stay
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Convention Center for two nights before the cruise. We were very pleased with our stay here. This Holiday Inn Express (there are 3 in the area) had a free airport shuttle – we waited about 10 minutes before the van came to get us. The hotel was located within easy walking distance of a large number of restaurants and shopping. We especially liked Carlos and Pepe’s Mexican restaurant – only a 5 minute walk from the hotel. Also right outside the hotel’s doors was a city bus stop. We took the $1 per person (50 cents for seniors and children) city bus to the beach and to the Galleria Mall on our full day in Ft Lauderdale on Friday. A hotel staff member told us the hotel met the latest hurricane construction limits with windows that can withstand winds of 170 mph. The hotel offered a shuttle to the cruise port at $6 per person – this could be scheduled the day before your cruise. We took advantage of this shuttle when the hotel staff told us that cabs were difficult to get on the busy cruise mornings.
Holiday Inn Express Grade: A-
For a “budget” hotel this is an excellent choice. We liked the location, the free high speed internet availability, refrigerator and microwave in our room, the complementary bottled water, and the complementary breakfast buffet in the morning (a limited menu with pastries, hard boiled eggs, waffles, cereal, juice, etc). Our stay here was much better than our previous stay in Ft Lauderdale at the Comfort Suites on Davey road. You could stay in nicer and more scenic locations (i.e. on the beach) for a higher price, but for a clean comfortable low priced hotel with lots of amenities we thought the Holiday Inn Express was a great choice.
Summary
I wrote much of this trip report while sitting on a deck chair on the promenade deck (deck 7) as we sailed in the open sea. What a day at the office! Overall we had a wonderful time on our Caribbean Princess cruise. We thoroughly enjoyed the features of this new and modern cruise ship (excellent food, very good entertainment, comfortable staterooms, and loads of activities including the innovative Movies Under the Stars). The ports we visited offered nice relaxing days at the beach. As a travel agent I book many families and adults on the Disney cruise; I would encourage Disney fans to consider this cruise, too. Often a Caribbean Princess cruise will price less than Disney’s (especially during peak times), yet still offer a good vacation. I know our family enjoyed our 7 days on the Caribbean Princess, and I saw many others who felt the same as us.
Anne’s Take:I agree that this was one of the best cruises we have experienced. It was all the more special for me to be able to experience this cruise with my parents. They had not been on a cruise for 30 years and enjoyed everything about trip. We again had the opportunity to create special memories, eat very well and have fun as a family with ping pong, miniature golf, swimming and many more activities. The time together seems to pass so quickly but we have our pictures, memories and future adventures to look forward to in the future.
Andrew’s Trip Report: “I had a great time onboard the Caribbean Princess ship. There were many awesome activities you could try like Basketball, Ping Pong, Paddle Tennis, Golf, Swimming and much more. I really enjoyed the kid’s club that they provided on the ship. It’s very cool because it has a mini plasma screen T.V., 6 PS2’s, a foosball table, and a juke box with literally 100 modern songs. I spent most of my time on the PS2s mainly because the T.V. was never on. For the girls there was a bead station where you could create things out of beads. (I didn’t go into that area at all). Other than the electronics and the beads, we had tournaments and many other activities. There was a Ping Pong tourney that I easily won, (Go Me). Later on there was a Foosball tourney as well, which I got second place in. Other activities included scavenger hunts, squid dissection, (It’s a dead squid don’t worry), Roller coaster building, pop star singing, disco and casino night. The food on this cruise was good with one disappointment. They didn’t have any pasta in the buffet, (I love pasta!), and the pasta in the dining room had peas in it! But the other food was great! The steak was so tender and the burgers were so juicy, it makes me hungry just thinking about that food again. With the drinks at the buffet, if you don’t buy this special soda package that costs roughly $4.00 a day then you’re out of luck, unless you don’t mind ice tea and water for every meal. So my suggestion is that you should buy the soda package. I had a great time on all of the islands that we visited. St. Thomas was first; we took a tour around the island with this fun driver who played loud music. Then he let us off at a beach where the water was very deep. The next island was St. Maarten, we took a cab to a beach with big waves, we enjoyed that! The final island was Princess Cays, the waves were very calm there, but there were a lot of rocks and coral. We rented a float mat so we go further out without hitting the coral. We had a good hour of swimming time and then we had lunch and it started to rain! It was pouring out there! So we headed back to the ship and that pretty much ended our fabulous cruise.”
Josh’s Trip Report: “I had a great cruise on the Caribbean Princess. The kids club was really fun and entertaining. There was a big room with lots of different activities. One of my favorite parts was the Playstation 2 area. There were six TVs and lots of the games were for two players. There were also two different tournaments. One was for ping pong (Andrew got first place) and foosball (Andrew got second place). During the day, there were a lot of activities planned for us. On the last day, we watched a movie and played lots of games. I liked the food on this cruise a lot. There were three big dining rooms, and the Anytime Dining was great because we could eat when we got hungry. We ate in the buffet for lunch every day and that was great. Sometimes I would get a burger from the grill while everyone was having food from the buffet. The only bad thing was that when we ate in the buffet I had to have water because I don’t like iced tea. We swam in the pool at the back of the ship once and it was fun. The two other pools in the middle were too deep for me. One night we watched “The Greatest Game Ever Played” out by the pool. We got popcorn and comfy chairs to sit in while the movie was playing. The ports were great on this cruise. At St. Thomas, we went on a tour with a really funny guide and then he dropped us off at a nice beach. We had a really good lunch there. At St. Maartin we got to a really fun beach. The waves were great and there wasn’t much undertow. When we got to Princess Cay, we went to the beach and had a good time. After that, we ate lunch at a delicious island buffet and went back to the ship. I had a great cruise and I hope we go on another one like this again.”