Caribbean Princess - Our Cabin (part 1)

The Caribbean Princess is my second favorite Princess ship.  The last time we sailed with her was back in 2014 out of Bayport in Houston for our Western B2B cruise.  She is in great shape for her age (Bermuda...2004) and the crew onboard do a great job with the daily upkeep and maintenance.  She will be going into dry dock in March for I believe two weeks and it looks like it might be at the end of that month.  On the exterior front hull, she will be getting the Princess sea witch logo just like the Royal Princess has.  I heard she might also get new soft furnishings.  She will be fitted with the new Medallion technology with miles of cables installed, but the new technology will not go live until sometime in March 2018.  There is rumor that she may get the interactive TVs (to go along with the Medallion tech) like the Regal and Royal have.  Looking forward to sailing her again in 2018.

Here she is in Bonaire:


Our mini suite cabin is located on the port side about 9 cabins from the front of the ship.  We enjoy being this far forward and enjoy feeling the ship’s movement.  Years ago when we first started cruising we always preferred mid-ship.  Now that we are seasoned cruisers, we enjoy the forward spot which also turns out to be cheaper than mid-ship.  On the decks that have cabins, you can always tell the port side from the starboard side.  The port side carpet is blue and red while the starboard side is all blue:


In our cabin, we have two TVs:  one facing the bedroom and the other facing the living space.  It’s been an ongoing issue as one of the remotes will certainly turn on both TVs at the same time and also change channels when one is in the middle of watching a movie.

Here you can see we have the Princess vinyl protection luggage mat over our bed.  Our cabin steward place this on our bed on the last sea day.  That is not a nice thing to do to us first thing in the morning.  I know, I know...it’s packing day:


We love being in a mini suite for the extra room and living space. This extra space comes in handy to dry our snorkel gear and store our beach stuff.  

We try to keep our cabin neat so our cabin steward is in and out quickly.  I won’t mention what I’ve seen in other cabins.  Just picture…a tornado.   My early morning hours are spent here while I blog about our adventures:


Our cabin is one of the few that can be configured for up to 4 people.  Besides the bed and the pullout sleeper sofa in the living area, there’s a bunk bed that pulls down from the ceiling.  Cool, huh?  When I originally booked this cabin, I wasn’t too sure what the ceiling and bunk bed (when stored) would look like.  Would Hubby, who is tall, hit his head while walking towards the balcony?  I’m happy to say that the bunk bed is nicely stored and flushed with the cabin ceiling.  There’s a special key that unlocks a panel.  Sorry, I forgot my photog moment and so…no picture.

We love having a balcony.  It’s a great place to relax and listen to the ship cut through the swells.  It’s a great place to find some solitude away from our fellow cruisers.  You can also have quick chats with your balcony neighbors without spending a lot of time with them.  Eventually, they will go back to doing what they are doing.  Or I can leave the conversation and go back to doing what I was doing.  We enjoy having our own place to watch our ship sail into port.  Okay, the photographer loves having the freedom at the railing without having to elbow my way into a good spot.  Enough said.

It’s also a great place to take a nap or siesta and it doesn’t matter what time of day.  Trust me.  The gentle rocking and rolling will make one very sleepy:


From our balcony, we can wave to the boats that go by:


We can use our GoPros to see what the water looks like below us:


We see none of our balcony neighbors are out, so we enjoy the view towards the back:


And enjoy the view towards the front:


We became Elite in the middle of our B2B last year on the Regal Princess.  Shiv, our cabin steward on the Regal and one of the best we’ve had, spoiled us.  He explained to us what’s available and how to partake if we wanted to.  For example, as an Elite member, we are given a free bar setup each cruise:



Since we do not drink liquor, beer, or sodas, I call room service to remove the bar setup.  I can have them replace it with a bottle of wine or two coffee cards.  It usually takes a few hours for them to stop by our cabin and do the swap for us.

Also included with our Elite status is free laundry.  On this cruise we opted out of this.  Yes, we’ve used this service on our cruise in 2016 and let’s just say we got back some extra laundry that did not belong to us.

Princess has a laundromat on each cabin deck and on each side of the ship (port and starboard side).  I typically do one load of laundry during our B2B cruises.  I figure I can take a two hour break from all the cruising activities (like napping, eating, napping, and more eating) and have fresh clothes for the next week.  Also, the walking back and forth from cabin to laundromat and vice versa counts towards the minimum 10,000 daily steps required.  Burn baby burn.

For this cruise, I’ve swapped my normal cruise wear to more dri-fit type fabrics.  It lightweight, moisture wicking tech, and dries quickly.  That way I can use the bottle of Woolite (I purchased prior to getting on the ship) to do hand washings in our cabin sink.  There’s a handy clothes line in the cabin shower that I can use to hang dry my clothes.  I also bring with me plastic clothes line clips to hang our swimsuits and rash guard shirts.  It’s part of my nightly routine just like brushing and flossing my teeth.  I make sure I do the hand washing after the cabin steward turns down our bed for the evening.  That way he’s not hitting his head on our clothes while trying to clean our bathtub or refilling the soap and shampoo dispensers.

As an Elite, we have the ability to have afternoon tea in our cabin.  We have not done this, yet.  There is so much food available around the clock at various dining venues that by 3pm we are not hungry for more food.  Maybe next year we’ll try it.  I heard they bring A LOT of food with the tea.  Maybe we will skip dinner.  That will be an important food decision for next year.

Before I forget and while I’m on the topic of cabins, I wanted to share the bed configurations.
Most of the cabins can be configured for two twin beds:


Or move the two twin beds together to make a queen:


I was able to take a few pictures of some rooms during our turnaround in Ft Lauderdale.

More to come!

Going Home!

(We’re not done yet.  I still have some cruising thoughts on my mind.  Things I forgot to post. Remember, when I’m in cruise mode, thoughts and ideas will get left behind in a hurry.  There’s a good possibility I might do a summary to finalize our cruising adventure).

It’s amazing that we do not hear any of the Bridge/Causeway evening into early morning traffic in our room.  I’m in a deep sleep when Hubby pokes me a few times and tells me it’s 5:30 and we need to get up.  I look over at the hotel room digital clock and it’s wrong.  I tap my dependable iPhone and it says 4:30am.  I flip my wrist and my FitBit says 4:30 as well.  Hubby apologizes for waking me up.  Apparently our room has thin walls as Hubby was listening to all the hallway foot traffic and conversations.  Folks must have been out late partying on a Saturday night into early Sunday morning.  Poor Hubby.

Getting up an hour earlier worked out for me as I still needed to do some final packing and weigh our luggage.  Yes, I found a neat portable luggage scale on Amazon.  I throw it in my suitcase when I travel.  No guessing and no stressing at the airline counter.  The three pieces of luggage:  44, 43, and 41 pounds.

Hubby and I are out on our balcony in time to see the Royal Princess come into Port Everglades:


Take note of the Princess sea witch logo on the front hull of the ship.  The Caribbean Princess will get one as well when it goes into dry dock next month.  Sweet!

We leave our room around 6am and head downstairs to check out.  We are stopped in our tracks as there is a line and one person handling check-ins and check-outs.  I am the fourth person in line and let’s just say it was slooooow moving.  I am getting anxious and did not plan on standing in line at 6am.  My mind is going a mile a minute and then I remember that Hilton has express checkout.  I grab a Hilton Marina Activities flyer off the counter and start scanning the paper.  I quickly text the hotel and within a minute I’m checked out and have a receipt on my iPhone.  Sweet!

As we head out of the hotel, there’s another line.  Really?  I see a lone cab sitting near the entrance to the hotel and I wave to him.  I start chatting with the folks in front of me to see if they are waiting for a cab.  They are not and I’m thinking they are waiting for their Uber/Lyft rides.  We load our luggage into the taxi and off we go to the airport.

Hubby and I have travelled in and out of FLL airport many times.  We prefer to take the first plane out before the throngs of cruisers disembark their ships (remember the picture above) and head to the airport to catch their flights.  For some reason, the airport is extremely busy for 6:15am.  Even more so inside Terminal #3.  There’s a long line for something and I immediately make note it’s not for our airline.  I tell Hubby to look for an open kiosk and he finds one after a few minutes.  Honestly, I know 6am is early for most folks, but i have no patience for folks hovering/congregating around kiosks they are not even using.  I bulk up my shoulders (thanks to my local gym) and make my way through.

I’m pressing the screen at our kiosk and I check the boxes for boarding passes and luggage tags.  Out spits our three long luggage tags and boarding passes.  I forget that in FLL and with our airline that we have to put the tags on ourselves.  I carefully read the instructions on the back of the tags (only 3 steps) and slip the tag through the top handle, peel off part of the backing (keep this as our receipt with baggage claim number), and match the ends and press,  Well, the first one came out wonky, but good enough to stay on the bag.  I got better by the third tag.  Go me!

After going through security, we head over to The Food Network restaurant to get some breakfast:  bagel and smoked salmon for Hubby and an egg and cheese croissant for me.  This will definitely tie us over until we get home.

We arrive at our destination with clear weather, but cold and no snow.

Back in Fort Lauderdale

We are up before 6am to find the Caribbean Princess sailing along the Florida coast.  We take some time to straighten our cabin and then head up to Lido deck 15 to have our last breakfast.  As we are are walking from forward to aft of the ship I glance out the windows to see that we are passing by the tall condos that sit along the side of the Port Everglades channel.  

After a quick breakfast, we are back in our cabin before 7am.  We still have another hour before we need to vacate our cabin for the last time.  We lounge around the best we can, but the anticipation of leaving the ship and ending our cruise is just a bit overwhelming.  We’ve had such a great time on this ship, we did not want to leave.  I have Hubby check all the storage areas around our cabin to make sure I did not leave anything behind.  I also have him check our safe.  It’s always best to have the person who did not do the packing to double-check and look around.  

We leave our cabin promptly at 8am (with feet dragging) and look for Hector.  We give him his gift and thank him for taking care of us and our needs.  

We are suppose to meet our disembarkation group at 8:55 in the Coral Dining Room.  Instead we find a quiet place in Vines and camp out until our disembarkation time.  I pull out my laptop and show Hubby the GoPro videos he made from our snorkeling adventure.  There are quite a few and some are lengthy.  I am glad I purchased the latest version with the two hour battery life.  Now, Hubby is not shy about video taping at great lengths.  

We mosey on over to the Coral Dining Room to find our group had already been called.  Looks like another early disembarkation process.  We have our cruise card “dinged” for the last time as we exit the ship.  So sad….

Down in the cruise terminal (#2) we locate our colored tags.  It takes awhile as others are hoarding and hovering over lots of suitcases.  I wish folks who are not looking for their luggage would just stand a few steps back and away and allow others to get their bags.  After a few minutes of elbowing folks out of the way, we find two of our three suitcases.  Mine is missing!  Great!  I narrow my eyes and focus on the folks standing close to me.  One old chap has my bag next to his.  What?!  I take no time and confiscate my bag.  Yes, I clearly “mark” my bags (as well as the other two) with bright colored luggage tags and bright color shoe strings.  Oh yeah, I wrap the bright color shoe strings around the luggage handle and tie a nice knot.  

Off we go to Immigration to show our passports and hand in our Immigration form.   The Immigration lady waves us on and we quickly leave the terminal to find a taxi.  In less than 5 minutes we are at the Hilton.  Much to our surprise a room was available for us to check in immediately.  Yeah team!  It is now 9:30am.  What a fast disembarkation time for us!

We are on the 11th floor with a balcony view of Port Everglades:

I’m taking pictures and enjoying the view when Hubby says “let’s go” and see the beach!

We drop our bags in the room.  Thank goodness!  I wasn’t too sure how on earth I was going to carry my 14lb backpack and my heavy shoulder bag all over Ft Lauderdale.  

We had plans to take the water taxi to Hollywood Beach (south of Ft Lauderdale).  It was chilly this morning in FLL and a water taxi ride did not appeal to us.  Think 50s or there about.  Also, we would have to wait for the service to start at 10am.  

Instead we hopped on the Sun Trolley and paid $3pp to ride all day.  We are given a bright color bracelet to wear.  Easy for the Trolley drivers to recognize us as we hop off and hop on all day.  The Sun Trolley is easy to to use.  Just look for a “bus stop” sign or even better, just wave when you see a Trolley approaching.  You can’t miss the Trolleys as they are bright yellow.  They will stop and allow you to get on.  For those “app nerds” like me, there’s a Sun Trolley app you can download to your iPhone.  It has maps of the different Trolley routes and shows where the Trolley locations are on the map.  How cool is that?!  

For those of you staying in and around the 17th Street Causeway (T and V), you can pick up the Sun Trolley where it begins it’s FLL Beach route in front of the Publix grocery store in the Harbor Shops shopping center.  

Before I forget, remember I mentioned the FLL Water Taxis?  Well they have an app for iOS as well.  It’s called the “Water Taxi” by TSO Mobile.  It also shows a map and you can track the different water taxi routes.  You can also see the route numbers and the name of the stop/place.  So, the Hilton hotel we are staying at is considered stop is #6 and called Hilton Marina.  For those of you staying in and around 17th Street Causeway (T and V), this is the stop you want to pick up the water taxi.  Just head to the Hilton property and look under the bridge for a white concrete gazebo and you’ll see a small dock with a fence/gate.  There is typically someone there after 10am to help get where you need to go.  When you get on the Ft Lauderdale water taxi and go north along the Stranahan River the stop number increases.  There are two main routes:  Fort Lauderdale and vicinity and Hollywood Beach (to the south).  

Okay, back to our Sun Trolley adventure.  

Traveling on the Sun Trolley this early in the morning is a breeze.  There’s hardly any traffic to compete with and we were wondering where everyone was.  Hubby kept thinking it was Sunday and that got me all turned around.  That’s what happens when you cruise as long as we have.  You stop keeping track of time.  No schedules.  No rushing around.  Just plain fun and relaxation.  Now that we are off the ship, we have to keep track of time.  Eventually, we figure out it’s Saturday.  Still, it’s really quiet here on the beach:  

After walking for several blocks along the beach, we head back and decide to have “second breakfast”.  We end up at Cafe Del Mar on the main drag of Ft Lauderdale Beach Blvd:  

We order some coffee and we were in for a nice surprise:  

We are people watching from our outdoor table:  

Yes!  This is my second breakfast, because I need all the protein I can get for the rest of the day.  I know I just go off the ship, but this was sooooo delicious!  Three-egg veggie omelet:  

Feeling very energized and awake, Hubby and I decide to take the Las Olas Trolley.  From Cafe Del Mar we head towards Las Olas Blvd and walk one block west towards Seabreeze Blvd.  We find a “bus stop” sign on Las Olas Blvd and wait.  Fifteen minutes later the Las Olas Trolley turns the corner and picks us up.  

We are not sure where we want to stop and decide to just sit and ride and see what looks appealing to us.  In Las Olas, there are plenty of shops and restaurants here and old cars:  

Lots of outdoor dining venues:  

Lunch anyone?

Along the way, Hubby and I see some signs about an art show.  We ride by and make a mental note to stop here when the Trolley turns around:  

We hop off and immediately walk around the art show tents.  The first one displayed beautiful underwater photography shots of sea turtle (Tortuga!), fish, coral, etc.  We continue walking and end up at another tent where Samuel was painting beautiful koi.  I enjoy watching him paint and notice he was painting his subjects all the way out to the matted area of paper.  He made it look effortlessly.  Hubby is looking through Samuel’s portfolio and then he stumbles across a turtle painting/print of Tortuga!  Yes, I love little Tortugas!  I hug that print while Hubby continues to look.  I grab a palm tree painting/print and by now we are looking for a third painting to complement what we have.   We keep looking and decide on a simple koi painting with similar colors to the other two I’m holding close to me.  

Samuel is enjoying our company so much he stops painting and starts chatting with us.  We make our purchase and thank him for his time with us.  As we leave, I’m still thinking of another painting/print he has.  It was the first koi painting/print I saw when I stepped into Samuel’s tent.  It took my breath away.  It’s a much smaller print and did not go with the three we already purchased.  We continue to roam around the tents.

We end up in Samuel’s tent again.  I have the “take my breath away” koi print and getting ready to pay for it when Samuel asks if I would be interested in a recent painting he completed this weekend…a signed original.  I said Yes!  He came out with two originals and I immediately picked one that had three koi’s (because odd numbers are better in photography).  Hubby did not wait and purchased the painting.  What a special find!  We also have a new friend we’ll keep in touch with.  

From the art show, we walk back into the Las Olas area.  We find a “bus stop” sign and I check my iOS Trolley app to see where the next Trolley is and when it will arrive. Got to love technology!

Once we are back on the Trolley and heading out of Las Olas, we see lots of yachts along the waterways:  

We also see a water taxi approaching a bridge:  

We are back on the beach and enjoying the weather.  It’s still a bit cooler than the last two weekends and not many people are out today:  

Watching people dine at Bubba Gump’s:  

More people watching:

I check my Sun Trolley app and see a Trolley is heading our way.  We flag her down and by this time it’s getting closer to 3pm.  I’m hoping to be back at the Hilton in time to see the cruise ships leave port.  Traffic is bad and lots of people are using the Trolley today.  We make it back to our room in time.  

Here’s the water taxi coming into stop #6-Hilton Marina:

Lots of boats today:  

Can see the water taxi under the bridge (lower right):

A beautiful megayacht owned by a famous film director.  Can you guess?  

Watching the 17th Street Causeway bridge open up:  

There goes a Sun Trolley as the Caribbean Princess prepares to move away from the port:  

Too bad Hubby and I are not sailing with her back to the ABC islands:  

Day 14: Our Last Sea Day...What a Difference!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  Here are two pictures at sea, taken a few days apart.

This was Monday @Sea:


This is today, Friday @Sea:


What a difference a few days make.  Let’s try that again.

Monday @Sea:


Friday @Sea:


The water is so calm we hardly notice the ship is moving.  It is so peaceful and quiet.  We are enjoying our sea day immensely.  I am enjoying it more when I’m not packing.  Yes, it is taking me an extra long time to pack three suitcases.  Sigh!


Sometime during the afternoon, Hubby and I hear a noise that grows louder and louder.  What on earth?  It’s an F-18 jet that does a “fly around” the ship.  Yes, you heard me right.  Not a fly over, but a fly around.  It wakes up anyone who is taking a siesta/nap and brings everyone in their cabins out to their balconies (if they have one).  I grab my camera, but it is too late.  The jet disappears quickly.  Was that a training exercise?  Where did the plane come from?  At this point we are sailing somewhere north of Cuba.  Our fellow balcony neighbors to the left and to the right and up the upper decks are having conversations and making speculations.

In the early evening Hubby and I walk around the ship and chat with a few crew members.  We meet up with Carmen in the boutique shop and chat for awhile.  We head over to the Photography shop and find Kirsty and we share with her the beautiful places on the islands we visited so she will know where to go next time.

We head back to our cabin as I have to do a final pack and place our luggage in the hallway before 8pm.  We head up to MUTS to catch the last part of the Jack Reacher movie.

We’ve had a wonderful cruise to some of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean.  We had many “first” experiences which made our adventure more enjoyable.  While we are sad to leave the Caribbean Princess, we know we’ll be back with a new adventure soon.  Tomorrow is disembarkation day and we have another adventure in Fort Lauderdale to look forward to.