49-Day Northern Europe and United Kingdom Cruise Aboard the CARIBBEAN PRINCESS

First the good. The public areas, bars, lounges and restaruants are well maintained and look nice. Not so much for the cabin. I had a large balcony cabin, and the balcony was almost as big as the room. Lots of hanging space was a plus. The room is extremely dated. I did not feel like it was cleaned properly before our arrival. Thick black stuff underneath the toilet rim. Found a wet wash cloth in our shower. The rooms does not get very cool, the halways and elevators very warm. The buffet was extremly hot. The service in Coral dining room was slow, the servers not attentive at all. You needed to flag them down to get a second drink. Specialty restaruants somewhat better, still slow service. We had the Princess Premier package , when we wanted simply a soda you have to fo to the bar. A lot of the times the soda tasted flat. During the day they only had one bartender which created lines just to get a drink. The iced tea and lemonade tasted awful. Used to having brewed iced tea on other cruise lines not a mix. Two nights my casear salad had brown lettuce.

I Read previous reviews - ship old, yes it is but has been kept lovely we like dark wood. You can work around less plug in for electronics in cabin - bring approved outlet and all will be well. Dining room-food is good and something for all although service can sometimes be a tad slow. Buffet is very small adequate but not enough seating. Service at bars no problem, we generally had same server (as requested). Entertainment was phenomenal. Embarkation and Disembarkation was orderly and well done. Even with prepaid gratuities we did give a little more to bar servers who were extremely grateful. All service people were gracious, polite, and friendly. We would go on this ship again and would recommend future cruisers not be put off by all the negative reviews. BTW, our cabin was clean and bed comfortable. We never got our requested bath robes though-managed to live without them. Room service was terrific and very much on time. We used it only once prior to an excursion. Oh, only complaint is most pools are way to deep for any non swimmers. Oh, we did have a mini suite.

23rd–30thAug 26 |We’ve sailed with Princess several times before, including Sky and Enchanted, so we knew what to expect, but we absolutely loved Caribbean Princess. Although she’s an older ship, that’s part of her charm. We loved the beautiful wood, traditional features and the amount of space, with so many comfortable areas to sit and relax. Our cabin was clean and comfortable, and the ship was clearly well maintained, with crew constantly working on paintwork and upkeep. The food was beautiful, and although the buffet was smaller than on some newer ships, there was always plenty of choice and nothing seemed repetitive.

The crew were exceptional-friendly, efficient and genuinely couldn’t do enough for us.

We loved the Promenade Deck, pool areas and theatre shows. As a family of five, with three teenagers, we all had a fantastic week.

Caribbean Princess has real character, and we’d happily sail on her again!