[SquishTheWhale]

Honestly I don't even look at the Cruise Critic ship reviews anymore as they as just nonsense and serial complainers. Like it was the WORST CRUISE EVER because their cabin steward didn't bow every time he saw them or something.

Anyway, we did a 10 nighter Eastern/Southern Caribbean on the Crown Princess in December. We've also sailed with Royal, NCL and MSC. On paper we weren't expecting to like Princess that much as we love the massive all singing all dancing megaships, which they don't go in for. You may be asking 'well why did you book then?!' but the itinerary was excellent and the price very good. While the ship was smaller than we are used to and didn't have as many bells and whistles, we had a great time! We would certainly sail with Princess again.

The service was great, nothing to complain about at all. Shows, while not broadway style like NCL or RCI were of a very high standard. Super fun gameshows, quizzes, all sorts going on so it certainly wasn't stuffy or boring- we had an excellent entertainment team who had us in absolute stitches every time. We also loved the more educational programs which included star gazing at sea, cookery demos and a series of lectures from a Shark expert.

We were in the perhaps 10% under the age of 60 on the ship which does happen with longer cruises from the US and we didn't feel the atmosphere to be stuffy or old. There wasn't a party atmosphere or lots of nightlife but we didn't mind as we were there to chill.

Food was a crazily mixed bag to be honest- one night DH had a dessert that he declared possibly the best pud he's ever eaten (the Norman Love Chocolate Journeys bar if you do sail with them), on one night I had to send back my main as it was inedible, which I've never done on a cruise before! We had a free dinner in the speciality steakhouse one night as a booking perk, and we'd heard much talk of how it was the best steak house at sea blah blah. Unfortunately the meal was not good at all, from service to food- NCL's steakhouse blows it out of the water. Overall we found the food on NCL and RCI consistently good (we don't talk about MSC, its a curse word in our house lol), whereas Princess veered wildly between amazing and poor. But overall we were more than satisfied with the food- especially the pool deck offerings! The pizza and fresh grilled burgers, yum. Much higher quality than the pre made frozen ones on some other lines. And ice cream on tap all day which of course is vital.

So as I say while we haven't sailed on that specific ship I would be confident to tell you you'll have a good time on Princess. Is this your first time in the Caribbean? Just asking as we have done a Western and Eastern/Southern itinerary and would go Eastern 1000% any day over Western.