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Cruising on the Caribbean Princess
As many people in the Incentive
Industry are aware, Princess has been effectively out of the incentive
market for a number of years. After the purchase by Carnival Corp. they
have slowly been putting together a charter and incentive department.
Worldwide was recently invited to take a revenue cruise on the Caribbean
Princess to check the product out for ourselves.
The Caribbean Princess is one of Princess’ newer big ships. On the
cruise we were on there were a total of around 3,400 passengers. One of
Princess’ marketing points is big ships with the feeling of a small ship
and this is indeed very true, we never had the feeling that the ship was
full to over flowing or encounter long lines at any venue. All in all
don’t let the size detract you from considering this ship for a group.
In our industry first impressions are very important and the Caribbean
Princess hits a homerun. The main public rooms are located on decks 6
and 7 as is the embarkation area. The tastefully done Atrium area is a
real focal point of the ship housing a very popular coffee house/lounge
and an extremely popular Champagne Bar with nightly entertainment. But
what gives this ship the WOW factor is the consistently elegant feeling
of all of the public rooms. No gimmicks or themed rooms but instead an
atmosphere of warm “Clubby” rooms. You’ll find dark woods, over sized
leather chairs and sofas in many of the lounges. As noted by many of the
passengers we spoke with “the ship just feels elegant”. Your
participants will definitely feel that they are on a cruise ship that is
a step or two above the others.
Our cabin was a standard outside balcony, at our request, as these are
the bulk of the cabins on the ship. While larger than some lines
standard balcony cabins they are not as large as Carnival or Holland
America. These cabins have mini bars (not stocked), real blow dryers in
a practical location, large closet space, safe, fresh fruit upon
request, TV/Radio and are well decorated. The balcony has ample room for
room service and the ship does offer (at additional charge) a champagne
breakfast and a steak and lobster dinner on your balcony. The one draw
back is the size of the bathrooms, small by any standards.
The Caribbean Princess should be very proud of her crew. As with most
cruise lines today a normal passenger will be charged automatically
$70.00 per person for gratuities. In my opinion this doesn’t come close
to compensating the crew on this ship. Every crew member, without
exception, even including deck and engine staff acknowledges you with
some sort of pleasant comment. The staff in all of the dining areas and
lounges are not only extremely efficient but genuinely nice and
friendly. How on a ship of this size the crew can remember your name is
beyond me but to top that is how they knew Diana by name on the second
day when I was the one using the cruise card. Very impressed, as you can
tell, with the service level. Again a step above quite a few other
cruise lines.
Dining on the Caribbean Princess is unique as well. To begin with there
are three main dining rooms. One of these dining rooms offer traditional
first and second seating which most of your groups want. The other two
dining rooms offer opening seating dining. One of these two dining
rooms, The Palm, caters more to parties of 2 to 6 so getting a table for
two was never a problem. Additionally you can reserve a table nightly
for any size and time you wish. If you like that table and waiter and
want it for the entire week? No problem, reserve it, it’s yours.
Basically you have the choice of group seating or open seating but you
must make your choice prior to embarkation.
There are four choices for alternative nightly dining. In our opinion
Sabatini’s Italian restaurant was the best and a must do. The $20.00 per
person charge is well worth the money. It basically offers an eight
course tasting menu with the main entrée being your only choice. Great
food and great ambience. Sterling Steakhouse as it name implies is a
typical chop house and is $15.00 person. If you need a good beef fix you
need to try this one night. Both of these venues can be used on an
exclusive basis with limited availability.
The other two dining options are on deck 15, by the swimming pools. The
buffet is available for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as is one of the
main dining rooms daily. The Café Caribe located in the same buffet
complex is a separate area that gets full tableware in the evening but
still is buffet service. It offers a changing nightly theme such as
Seafood buffet, a German Night and Curries of the Caribbean as examples.
Additionally on this deck is a pizzeria, typical pool grill and ice
cream parlor These areas are ideal for people who want a very casual
cruise and want to wear shorts for the entire week. On our cruise many
people seemed to enjoy just staying on this deck level which takes the
pressure off of the other public rooms.
Dining with the exception of the two alternative pay dining rooms is
pretty much typical cruise food. In the dining rooms the plates for each
course are well decorated and presented which is a step above many
cruise lines. Instead of the standard tray and plate in the buffet areas
you are given one oversized plate with no need for a tray which is nice.
During the entire cruise we only waited once for a table at dinner, as
we never made reservations. For that evening we were given a buzzer and
told it would be a 15 minute wait. We went to a nearby lounge ordered a
glass of wine, which you can take to your table, and waited as
advertised 15 minutes. All in all the dining concept works very well on
this ship and offers the best of both contemporary and traditional
cruising, it’s your choice.
Nightly entertainment also offers a great mix of the contemporary and
traditional. The main show lounge is not as massive as on other ships of
this size. The reason is the ship’s Explorer Lounge is very large and
offers nightly Cabaret style entertainment and is as equally popular as
the main show room. If you like comedians you’ll love this ship because
on our cruise they had three good ones. There final show was a show with
all three at once. The main show lounge had several production shows but
also a good act blending rock and classical music, great show. These two
venues where busy each and every night and the acts where consistently
good although it’s impossible to catch them all unless you eat at 5:30
pm.
Late night entertainment consists of two venues. Sky Walkers is a
contemporary disco located at the stern of the ship suspended in the air
18 deck levels up. Most dramatic and very popular. This room can be used
for cocktail functions and I would highly recommend doing it at least
once. Club Fusion is the second lounge for late night disco. The music
here is more 70s to 80s.
The main pool deck area located on decks 15 and 16 offering 5 different
pools. One pool is for your typical pool games and music. Another
features a huge TV just like Times Square with sound system to match
(very loud). During the day they play PG movies (for kids) and in the
evening a variety of movies and concerts. The far aft pool is for adults
only. There is another pool located by the spa area however without
beverage service. Last but not least is the kiddy pool area on Deck 16
with a wadding pool, regular pool and Jacuzzi as well as a bar. We found
that hardly any kids used the pool and it was a great adult hide-away
with very good bar service. Basically there is an area for everyone and
again you do not feel like you are on a big ship always looking for your
own private space.
The Caribbean Princess of course has the library, card room, a huge
Vegas style casino and very large gym. The Spa area is large and the
treatments offered are very extensive. All in all this ship offers
something for everyone and has been designed to spread the people out.
The Caribbean Princess has the style and the service that we all look
for for an incentive group. You do need to know the ship and her
capabilities in order to best fit the group to this ship however. Call
us at Worldwide to assist with your next group.
Contributed by Steve Bloss. The views expressed in this report are
solely those of the author and not necessarily those or WWTCA.
September 2005
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