Caribbean Princess Canada/New England cruise.

We cruised on the Caribbean Princess for a 7-night cruise out of Brooklyn, New York to Canada & New England. Please click the link to see his report.. If you like New England and/or beer... you will like this report!

Caribbean Princess, 7-day Canada/New England Cruise

Round-trip NYC, October 9-16, 2010

 

 

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Itinerary - Caribbean Princess Canada/New England Cruise

 

Saturday, Day 1 Boarding in Brooklyn, New York

Sunday, Day 2 - Newport, Rhode Island (Formal Night)

Monday, Day3 - Boston, Massachusetts

Tuesday, Day 4 - Bar Harbor, Maine

Wednesday, Day 5 - Saint John, New Brunswick (Formal

Night)

Thursday, Day 6 - Halifax, Nova Scotia

Friday, Day 7 - Cruising

Saturday, Brooklyn, New York & Disembark

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Caribbean Princess, Canada New England Cruise Review and Photos.

This review covers the 7-night Canada/New England itinerary on the Caribbean Princess. This is a port-intensive cruise with five ports of call. The cruise sails round-trip from New York City.

The Caribbean Princess sails out of the Brooklyn Terminal round-trip on this Canada/New England itinerary. She is the largest ship in the Princess fleet. The sunny October weather was perfect in New York and in every port we visited.

Overall this was another great cruise with visits to new ports for us. The New England ports we visited were Newport, Rhode Island, Boston, Massachusetts and Bar Harbor, Maine. The two ports in Canada.were Saint John, New Brunswick and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Princess and Cunard use the Brooklyn cruise terminal for their sailings. Last year we sailed on the Norwegian Dawn out of the Manhattan cruise terminal. The Caribbean Princess is billed as the largest ship in the Princess fleet. She is 952 feet long, 113,000 gross tons and carries up to 3,100 passengers. There are nearly 900 balcony staterooms on the ship. The cruise departed on Saturday, October 9.

New York is a great starting port for any cruise. Princess and Cunard use the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Carnival and NCL use the Manhattan Cruise Terminal. We stayed in Manhattan again on this cruise. It is a great opportunity to see the sites in New York before you head out on your cruise.

In Manhattan, there are 2 main choices for your downtown tours on the public bus system - City Sites bus and Gray Line bus. They are owned by the same company. We used the Gray Line bus for $52 per person for 2 full days. The lines were very long at times. It seemed the lines for the City Site bus tours were shorter.

You can also take the free ferry to Staten Island for great views of the Statue of Liberty.

Patzeria Perfect Pizza - Manhattan.

If you stay in Manhattan or if you take one of the bus tours, hop off in the Times Square area. The best pizza we found was at Patzeria Perfect Pizza. They are located at 231 W. 46th Street (between Broadway & 8th). Dan is pictured here with Joe, who owns this great little street-level Pizzeria.

Patzeria Perfect Pizza is small, tight and warmly comfortable. You will feel like you are part of their family and you will get the best pizza we could find in New York - and we tried a LOT of pizza. Grab a slice and a cold beer and enjoy. When we asked if we could take a photo for this review, Patzeria Owner Joe even brought Dan behind the counter, gave him a Patzeria hat and made him an honorary employee for the day. Try the tomato basil pizza - it is amazing!

You can visit them on the web at http://www.patzeriaspizzanyc.com/ and they are on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/note.php?note_id=50715387521&id=56962219364. If you are in the Times Square area, it is worth the effort to find these fresh & tasty delights - you won't be disappointed. Tell Joe that his little buddy Dan sent you. .

Overall, this 7-night cruise on the Caribbean Princess was a fun cruise.

This Canada/New England itinerary on the Caribbean Princess is a fun cruise with great ports and great service. There is no such thing as a "bad cruise". The individuals providing service on this cruise are great and we rate them superb.

After two back-to-back cruises on Princess, we rate the Princess experience lower than other cruise options. We have had the same frustration in two areas on our Princess cruises - the Entertainment and the Buffet area.

Princess has fallen behind other major cruise lines in their onboard entertainment options. Their productions shows are dated and are song and dance routines, not productions. The production show entertainers are very talented. The shows are just disjointed and lack production quality. Entertainment scheduling and variety of options were also disappointing on our last two Princess cruises. We were unable to find seats at most production and feature entertainment shows. This happens because Princess limits the entertainment options on their cruises. We had this same experience on the Diamond Princess cruise to Alaska this past summer. Princess just doesn't devote enough entertainment options on their cruises. There are too many people and too few seats for the entertainment on their ships. If onboard entertainment is important to you on your cruise, look for a cruise line other than Princess.

Dining. The Princess buffet configuration is also frustrating. Lines have been long and tempers have flared at the buffet on our last two Princess cruises.

There are two formal nights and 5 smart casual nights on the Princess 7-night cruises. Our formal nights were Sunday and Wednesday. Room Service includes soups, salads, sandwiches, hotdogs, hamburgers, lasagna, pizza, pastries, coffee, tea and milk. Pizza is only available until midnight. Princess charges a $3.00 per delivery room service charge - this is the first time we have seen charges sneak into the generic room service offered on a cruise. It is not a good trend and we hope it doesn't expand to higher costs on Princess or become contagious to other cruise lines.

Beer, wine and spirits are also available through room service. The cheapest way to buy beer is to purchase 6 beers for the price of 5 through room service. The price is $21.25 for 6 beers. That is $3.54 per beer versus the lowest bar menu price of $4.25 per beer. You can pay for hors d' oeuvres ($6-$14), champagne breakfast ($32 per couple) or Lobster Balcony Dining ($100 per couple).

Free dining venues. The Horizon Court Buffet and Café Caribe (also bistro buffet dining) on deck 15 - Lido deck are open 24 hours. The Prego Pizzeria, the Scoops Ice Cream Bar and the Trident Grill (burgers, hot dogs, bratwurst and fries) all on deck 15 are open until midnight. Anytime dining for sit-down dining is open from 6 pm to 11 pm in the Coral Dining room on deck 6 and the Island Dining room on deck 5. Traditional Dining with fixed dinner times and assigned seating is available in the Palm Dining room on deck 6. The International Café on deck 5 offers pastries, sandwiches and Panini's until midnight where some items are extra charge, but most are free.

Extra pay options. The Crown Grill on deck 6 is the $25 per person steakhouse and is open from 6 pm to 11 pm. Sabatini's on deck 7 is the $20 per person Italian venue and is open from 6 pm to 11 pm. Sabatini's is also available to Suite passengers for breakfast from 7 am to 10 am. The Vines bar on deck 5 offers a wide variety of wines and for-purchase options like sushi, tapas and artisan cheeses.

Cabin. We booked a wakeview balcony cabin plus an inside cabin directly across the hall. Princess upgraded us to a Family Suite with a private bedroom, two bathrooms, a bathtub in the main bathroom, a living room with two couches, 3 LCD TVs, 2 mini-fridges and a large balcony.

Our cabin numbers were D103 and D105. Our cabin steward was Ronaldo from the Philippines. Ronaldo did a wonderful job at keeping our cabins immaculate. Also, due to our late upgrade, the bed configuration was wrong and he quickly resolved that for us. Janean finds cruise ship mattresses too hard, so Ronaldo placed an egg-shell mattress cover on our bed on the first day. Dan likes extra pillows and again, Ronaldo was more than efficient - we actually had 8 pillows on this cruise!

New York City. We boarded the Caribbean Princess at the Brooklyn cruise terminal. Cruise ships embark from both the Manhattan and the Brooklyn cruise terminals. Princess and Cunard use the Brooklyn terminal. Carnival and NCL use the Manhattan terminal.

We flew to New York City three days early and stayed at the Times Square Crowne Plaza hotel. The Brooklyn cruise terminal terminal is located at Pier 12, 72 Bowne Street in Brooklyn. The area around the terminal is an eye-sore, but the boarding went smoothly. The cab ride from Manhattan was a little less than 30 minutes. Check-in was announced as 1 pm to 4 pm, but we arrived early and were aboard the ship shortly after noon.

We spent 3 nights in Manhattan before the cruise and enjoyed the sights in perfect weather this trip. Here are some of our favorite photos from New York.

Day 2, Newport, Rhode Island, 7 am to 4 pm. Tender is required at this port. Rhode Island is the smallest state in the U.S. based on square miles. Newport was founded in 1636 and is nearly 400-years rich in its colonial and American history. We took the self-guided cliff-walk along the coastal views here. Cost was zero. Views are priceless.

After our walk along the coastline, we stopped for lunch and drinks at the White Horse Tavern. This tavern is said to be the oldest operating tavern in the country. Their liquor license was first acquired in 1687.

This beautiful port city became an important center of commerce and a community base in colonial New England. In 1770, Newport's exports and trade exceeded those of New York. Newport was home to the Naval Academy during the Civil War.

In the 1900's, Newport became a summer retreat for the mansions of the business barrons including names like Astor, Vanderbilt and Morgan. Here are a few more photos from our visit to Newport.

Day 3, Boston, Massachusetts, 10 am to 7 pm. We were able to walk off the ship at the Boston cruise terminal. We opted to take the Freedom Trail walk in Boston. This is a a 2.5 mile red-brick walking trail that leads you to 16 nationally significant historic sites, every one an authentic American treasure. Preserved and dedicated by the citizens of Boston in 1958, when the wrecking ball threatened, the Freedom Trail today is a unique collection of museums, churches, meeting houses, burying grounds, parks, a ship, and historic markers that tell the story of the American Revolution and beyond.

We took a short cab ride from the cruise terminal to Bunker Hill and then walked the 2,5 mile trek back toward the cruise terminal. At the Bunker Hill memorial, you can climb to the top of the monument - it is a spiral climb of nearly 300 steps. The view from the top is great - see picture below. After the climb up the monument, we walked back toward the cruise terminal along the Freedom Trail.

Day 4, Bar Harbor, Maine, 7 am to 6 pm. Tender is required at this port. This is a small town of about 5000 permanent residents. "Bah Habah has a beautiful coastline and is the gateway to Acadia National Park. Maine became a state in 1820, later than most other New England states. In the late-1800's,

Bar Harbor attracted wealthy Americans as a summer vacation destination. Social elites included Rockefeller, JP Morgan, Pulitzer and others. We again saved money and opted for our own walking tour along the coast and the downtown areas of Bar Harbor.

Day 5, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, 8 am to 5 pm. We were able to walk off the ship at the St. John pier. This is a beautiful port city. The reversing falls of the St. John river are really cool. And the beer? Well this is Canada!

The walk off the ship is nice (rather than tenders). On the day we visited, it was cold and windy. But that's OK in Saint John because the city fathers have created a climatized, enclosed walking-structure in the downtown area. The downtown area of Saint John is pretty much and enclosed mall throughout the entire town. We loved the indoor walking paths and enjoyed our short, sheltered visit to this windy Canadian city.

Day 6, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 10 am to 7 pm. We were able to walk off the ship in Halifax. This was our favorite port on this cruise. Halifax is the capital of Nova Scotia. This was once a Naval Base to defend the British colonies. The Citadel Naval fortress has never been attacked. You need to attack this place as a tourist. Nova Scotia means "New Scotland". I guess we should have realized that before this cruise, but we didn't get it until we saw it for ourselves. By all means, go visit Nova Scotia. It is like "Little Scotland". We loved this port stop and we highly recommend a visit to Nova Scotia.

Day 7, at sea. The final day at sea was rough, but overall, this was another fun cruise. See you next time!