Onboard The Caribbean Princess, Western Caribbean Cruise

Good morning, everyone! I just got back from Fort Lauderdale yesterday after finishing a one-week Western Caribbean cruise with Princess Cruises. Princess cruises directly from Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades, making them a very convenient option for all my South Florida friends and clients.

The Caribbean Princess is the original Love Boat, if you can believe that! Yes, I definitely heard the Love Boat theme played more than once while we were onboard.

This was my first ocean cruise since 2004, when I did Alaska with my family. Prior to that, I cruised with Princess once with my mom around 2002 where we visited St. Maarten and St. John.

Ocean cruising has changed a lot in twenty years! Firstly, there’s now wifi onboard and I have to say…I’m impressed!!! I was never without internet while I was onboard the Caribbean Princess. Of course, I had to purchase internet access and it was only available on one device at a time, but this was easy for me to navigate. My 82 year old dad struggled a bit though — the steps required to transfer the wifi from your phone to your laptop are not complex, but if you’re not a techie, it may be a little difficult for you. Princess has Experience Officers onboard though who are more than happy to help. (You can also upgrade to an internet package that gives you wifi on up to four devices.)

The Cabin Experience

I had a balcony cabin which I would strongly recommend. Why go to all the trouble of booking a cruise only to end up in a cabin with no windows? It was lovely to step out each morning onto my balcony and pretend I was an ancient mariner. The cabins on the Caribbean Princess are a little dated, but there’s tons of storage. I was actually really impressed with the size of the closet and the storage options in the closet area. The bathroom gets slightly lower marks from me as it was pretty small, especially the shower. If you’re a frequent boater, this may not bother you. But if you’re expecting the shower to be as spacious as your shower at home, you may be in for a surprise.

Each room also has a relatively decent sized TV with access to all the main news stations and a few movies, audiobooks, and soundtracks. I watched the Princess morning TV show some mornings but that’s about it. My dad, on the other hand, loved the ability to still watch the news every day.

Ports & Shore Excursions

We missed our scheduled stop in Grand Cayman which was a real bummer. The waters were just too rough for the tenders and the harbormaster apparently closed the port. We made the most of our unscheduled day at sea but now I need to find another cruise that goes to Grand Cayman!

In Honduras, I scheduled myself a beach day and selected the VIP Beach Experience at Turquoise Bay. This included a sunlounger, towels, snacks (fried chicken, chips and salsa), drinks, and lunch (surf & turf). It was a nice afternoon and the water was the PERFECT temperature. If you’re looking for an easy beach day, this is a great choice.

In Belize, my dad and I did an excursion to the Mayan ruins at Al Tun Ha. I love ancient Mayan history but I’m glad I missed this era in history. (Lots of bloodshed and sacrifices to the gods.) This was a LONG day for us. I enjoyed it, but in hindsight, it was probably too much for my 82 year old dad.

In Cozumel, I booked us in for a Mexican lunch with mariachi music. We really enjoyed the afternoon, especially the tequila tasting!! What we didn’t enjoy so much was the mandatory stop at the big gift shop afterwards. (“Exit through the giftshop” is a very common experience on most cruise excursions. I realize everyone needs to make a buck but some of the stuff is just cheap junk.)

All in all, it was great to add two more countries to my Country Count. Honduras was #77 and Belize is #78. Getting closer to that 100 country mark!

Tips for Your Next Ocean Cruise

If I could do this cruise all over again, there’s a few things I would do differently:

1. Book dinner every night as soon as you book your cruise. We chose to “Dine my Way” with Princess, which means we really didn’t make any dinner reservations. This was fine for me but my dad would have preferred the certainty of a set dinner time each night. Also, this would have ensured that we made the 7:30 pm show each evening. We were locked out of seeing the illusionist onboard because the theatre was totally full by the time we made it there at 7:25 pm. On the one hand, I liked sitting with different people each night. But on the other hand, I think we missed out on a lot of shows by not having more of a set plan.

2. Bring snacks. In the post-COVID world, there are no bar snacks!! I was totally jonesing for some peanuts and pretzels by Day 3. Of course, I saved calories by not snacking all the time but if you like some snacks with your drinks, pack them in your suitcase. We could order potato chips from the Princess app but they often took 30+ minutes to arrive.

3. Consider your cabin location. We were forward starboard side. In hindsight, I would have looked for midship cabins closer to the main elevator bank. I also would have booked us on the floor right above the social floors. On the Caribbean Princess, the social floors are 5 to 7. We were on 10 which meant for long elevator waits occasionally. Three flights of stairs were too much for my dad, but if we were on 8, that would have been perfect for us. We spent more time on the indoor decks than on the top of the ship. (When you live in Florida, you don’t really aspire to spend a lot of time on the sun decks.)

4. Bring cards and games. When we first boarded, I noticed you could buy playing cards via the Princess app. But when we missed the Grand Cayman stop, these sold out. I also saw people playing Uno, Skip-Bo, Yahtzee, Bananagrams and other eay games and I was so jealous!! The library has a number of family board games that you can borrow — I was actually really impressed by how many games they had to borrow — but I still wish I had packed some smaller games like Left-Right-Center and Pass the Pigs.

5. Bring a hat and sunscreen!! My dad didn’t pack either! But luckily I had a feeling he wouldn’t so I packed these for him.

6. Wear a FitBit! I was actually surprised by how many steps I walked every day! Easily over 10,000 steps a day, just going back and forth to different parts of the cruise ship! It was also nice to track my sleeping — it’s nice to understand how much you can sleep when you’re not working!!!

7. Consider private excursions. When we did Al Tun Ha, there were seriously 240 people on the tour with us. So it was a bit of waiting around for everyone to get back to the bus at each stop. Next time I cruise, I might consider organizing private tours instead, using some of my private excursion partners.

Why You Should Cruise in 2023/2024

To be completely honest with you, I am not completely a cruising person. (Although I love river cruises because the ships are smaller.) BUT given that my dad is 82, this was a great option for us for spending time together. He likes to nap during the day, so whenever he was tired, he could always go back to his cabin and rest. There were plenty of activities to keep us busy and we enjoyed playing bingo together and going to some of the shows and talks. We liked meeting different people at dinner each night, which gave us a little break from each other. We’re already talking about booking our next cruise — we’re considering Celebrity next time. They have some great 3- and 4-night cruise options out of Fort Lauderdale. I’m also open to Royal Caribbean, but I worry that the ships are too big for my dad.

Cruising can be an incredibly good value for families with kids and multi-generational trips. There’s always something for everyone!

If you’re considering a cruise, definitely let me know! As a Virtuoso advisor, I can usually secure you onboard credits and other amenities. I’m also working on my certifications on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity so I can best help my clients create amazing vacation memories.

That’s it for this week! If you have any questions or need any help planning your travels., definitely reach out. The world is your oyster — and mine!