Princess Cruises Sea Princess April 2008 Yorkshire Phil Caribbean |
We were picked up at 05:00 Saturday morning by our regular Taxi driver and set off over the Pennines to Manchester; it was getting a bit hairy as we reached the tops due to a significant snowfall. We arrived to an almost empty booking desk and were through passport control in no time. A good breakfast and a read of the paper and we were ready for boarding. The flight was very smooth getting us to Barbados on time; it was a bit busy at the cruise terminal as 4 planes had landed almost together, us being the third. We were told that the luggage could be a bit late and that we could go to early sitting dinner as we were. Shock, horror I was wearing jeans. As it happened our luggage was in our cabin in good time. We had a quick tour of the ship before dinner and were well pleased with what we saw. We went down for dinner and met our waiters Emanuel and Vasyl. We were on a table for six but were told there would be only four of us. We never saw our table companions, we can only assume they were dining in the Rigoletto anytime restaurant or buffet. First impressions of the food and service were very good. We were intending to go to the sail-away party at 23:00 but decided to have a drink then hit the sack, and get our body clocks reset to Caribbean time. Next morning we sailed into St Vincent, we had nothing planned so wandered into town to seek out the tourist information office, as it was Sunday the town was quiet, we decided to walk up to the botanical gardens where we spent a good hour prior to walking back to the ship, we had no sooner reached the port area when we had a tropical downpour. Half an hour later after several rum punches we returned to the ship with a spot of lunch then some sun bathing in mind. We got ourselves settled down on deck 12 where the brilliant Caribbean band Opus were playing. The day got better, next thing we are watching Man U beat Arsenal on the giant movies under the stars screen while drinking beer in 30 degree sunshine. We got changed for dinner and went to the tours office to book our tours. I had checked out the tours beforehand and I was determined to go on the helicopter trip in St Thomas, I had previously been up to the gym to weigh myself as there was a weight limit of 100kg for th! e helicopter trip and that is about my usual weight. I weighed in at 100.5 kg, no problem four days to go and only ½ kg over. Again no table companions for dinner, which is a shame as we always enjoy a natter over dinner. Food and service spot on again, I was sensible with my food choice as I was determined to keep to my 100kg weight limit. Our dilemma was where to go for the evening entertainment, so much choice, we usually cruise on smaller ships so don’t have to give a lot of consideration to entertainment choice. We wandered through the Wheelhouse which took our eye, traditional ship décor with lots of old ship related accoutrements. We decided to stay for a drink and listen to the resident duo that was on stage. We got chatting to another couple and ended up staying all evening. Second port of call was St Lucia, this was the only island on this part of the cruise we had visited before so again decided to do our own thing, the plan was to wander about aimlessly before returning to the ship for another round of sunbathing. We dressed for dinner and popped into the Crooners lounge for an aperitif, we got chatting to another couple, Dave and Babs, who were stood at the bar, they mentioned that they were not particularly happy with their dinner table companions as they were considerably older and only wanted to talk about all the cruises they had previously done. They were going to the Horizons for buffet dinner. We said they were quite welcome to join us as we had 2 spare places on our table even if our missing table companions appeared for the first time. They were happy with this so we cleared it with the Maitre de. After dinner we had a drink in Crooners while checking out the entertainment. The previous day we had been stood chatting on deck when a! little chap stopped and started talking to a lady who was with our group, when he had gone she said “didn’t that bloke have a look of the short half of little and large” I said “ Aren’t they dead?” What a surprise when we checked out the Princess patter to find that Sid Little was the guest artist in the Vista lounge. We decided to give it a go, for old time’s sake. I have to admit he was quite entertaining, however he was on in a joint show later in the week where he wasn’t very good, probably make a better after dinner speaker; funny thing was he opened the act by saying “how many of you thought I was dead?” We finished the evening in the Wheelhouse again. Tuesday we docked in St Maarten, we purchased tickets for the water taxi which gave you unlimited access for the day for $6. This was my favourite port overall, everything was perfect. We spent a leisurely day exploring and sitting in the sun. Wednesday was St Thomas and the much anticipated helicopter ride, I hit the scale at 99.1kg that morning which is quite an achievement for me on a cruise, the sensible eating and 4 miles around deck every morning had paid off. We spent the morning in town before a light lunch and a short trip to the airport to meet the pilot of our helicopter. There were 6 of us which was a full compliment, we were given a short talk about the helicopter and the strategy for loading up and where we would be going. The pilot placed each person to distribute the weight equally throughout the Bell ranger and fitted them with ear phones and microphones. I asked about the weight limit as the booking document had stated clearly that the weight limit would be adhered to and I would be refused access if over. They said that as the other 2 guys and 3 ladies were obviously well under the limit there was no problem, the upside was I got to sit up front with the pilot. What a fantastic experience, we flew over the bay looking down on our ship and the 5 others berthed there, around the island and across to St John, 35 minutes in all. We all loved it. The evening was finished off with another excellent dinner spent with our new table companions who we had gelled with; we took in the show in Vista lounge followed by the deck party until 02:30 next morning. A damn good night I may hasten to add. Thursday was Antigua where we had booked the swimming with stingrays and snorkeling trip. The stingrays were a bit of a let down as we had done stingray city in Grand Cayman on a previous cruise which was much better. The sail-away party was held on deck that afternoon, the deck had been rigged with the usual flags and banners, I got my best offer of the day when a lovely young lady with a pile of garlands and buntings asked me if I wanted a Lei. The fantastic Opus band played us away; they sure did know how to get people partying. The next four days and nights were spent chilling out as we crossed the Atlantic to the Azores. The sea was far calmer than I had expected with only a slight swell. The weather was generally good with a mixture of sun and cloud. We arrived 2 hours late in Ponta Delgado to rain and fog, although it was pleasantly warm. We had booked an island tour taking in a pineapple farm and the fire lake in the caldera at the top of the island, on arrival you couldn’t see the mountains at all, but the sun came out and the fog cleared within minutes of us docking. We had a good tour the scenery was stunning, especially from the top of the mountain over the volcano crater. The last 3 days were spent crossing to Southampton, again we chilled out, and the sea was like a millpond with hardly any swell, most of the people we spoke to said it had been their smoothest Atlantic crossing. We arrived in Southampton to a beautiful warm clear morning; we docked alongside the QE2 with the new Independence of the sea further across the dock. A thoroughly enjoyable cruise that compares well with any previous cruise. We really liked the Sea Princess; we felt that even though it was as large as any ship we had previously cruised it was easy to get about on. The set out and décor were excellent. We felt that the overall entertainment was also top notch, the resident bands and duos were the best we have experienced. The guest artists that we saw were very good, as most of them were comedy style this also suited us and went down well with the audiences. There was more choice of guest artist on this ship than we have previously experienced. We didn’t go to a single stage show, which is a first for us. There just seemed to be so much choice and quality elsewhere. I have to admit that we are not fans of the theatre style show lounge, and prefer the cabaret style. I don’t think this would have stopped us going to the shows if other entertainment wasn’t so good. The fact that Crooners and the Wheelhouse were always busy s! peaks for itself. The food and service were excellent; drinks were reasonably priced with plenty of choice around the ship. All the facilities we used were good and the ship was in good condition. We had an inside cabin on deck 8 near the front of the ship. We were surprised at the number of children and teens on board, someone told us it was because of free child places, however they were not a problem at any time and we saw them very rarely around the ship other that the swimming pool. We were told that Princess are excellent at looking after the kids. |
| Cabin: Inside D224 Deck 8 |
Ship Name = Sea Princess Date of Sailing = 12 April 2008 How many cruises have you done = 16 Ship Facilities = 4 Entertainment = 5 Dining Room Service = 5 Spa Facilities = na Food = 5 Sports Facilities = 5 Cabin Layout = 4 Bars & Lounges = 5 Ports of Call = 4 Cabin Number = D224 Cabin location = deck 8 Type of Cabin = Inside Cabin Steward = 5 Overall cruise rating out of 5 = 5 |
