Fjords on Caribbean Princess……..

Today my family and I just returned from an amazing week with Princess Cruises onboard Caribbean Princess. I’ve always fancied the Fjords as 13 years ago I went to Alaska and so many customers of mine who have done both say the scenery is as spectacular so we took the plunge and booked this itinerary. After going on Ruby Princess last year I wasn’t too worried as all Princess ships are pretty similar and set a very high standard.

Caribbean Princess in Stavanger

For years my wife and I have travelled on ships without the kids , and I haven’t always had all the answers for those families booking with me but hopefully I can now ease those worries or concerns. We embarked in Southampton for 7 nights , sailing to Stavanger, Skjolden, Olden and Bergen before returning to Southampton. From the minute we embarked the staff made a huge fuss of my two boys who are aged 11 and 9. A couple of hours after we arrived and were unpacking in our cabin, we had a knock at the cabin door. The knock was staff from the shock waves kids club to welcome them both onboard and to say they were hoping to see them soon for lots of fun in the clubs. This immediately put the boys minds at rest. We then went along to the clubs and registered them. The clubs run through out the day and you are given an option of having a pager or not so they can contact you , we took the pager but it was never needed. The boys enjoyed the club so much ……there was so much variation of activities , but there was also cleanliness, organisation , routine and even a hint of discipline for any unruly children (obviously not mine). When we arrived in Stavanger the boys even wanted to stay on board and the the kids club staff were happy with that! With Princess, young kids and teens have their own kind of fun – and their own place to hang out. They have youth and teen centres which are fully equipped with everything from the latest video games and movies, to arts and crafts, football tables, board games and jukeboxes. And for the littlest ones, activities like kids’ karaoke, pizza parties, pyjama nights and more. Ruby Princess 311 This ship’s activities run the age-appropriate clubs for those under 18 – from Princess Pelicans (ages 3 to 7), and Shockwaves (ages 8-12), to Remix (ages 13-17). We really struggled actually to get the boys off the ship, they just wanted to live in the pool most of the time.

My wife’s main worry was the dining options with children. We have one particularly fussy eater and also just didn’t want to stick out in the main dining room but didn’t want to be confined to the buffet or made to feel we didn’t belong. She realized very quickly there was absolutely no need to worry. We had the loveliest waiters who looked after us from the night we arrived and made a huge fuss of the children and looked after us above and beyond what he needed to. We chose anytime dining which meant we weren’t limited to eating at a fixed time, just turn up and they’ll have you seated within minutes. We were allocated the Coral Dining room and 4 out of the 7 nights we had a table next to a window which the boys loved. The food was wonderful , different menus everyday , and they went out of there way to cater for my fussy one! Each night our boys couldn’t wait to get to the dining room. The desserts went down very well indeed!

Princess Loveboat

Back to the cruise itinerary, the Norwegian Fjords are beautiful and I would recommend it to anyone. It’s certainly not a warm weather sunbathing cruise but it was pleasant enough to be able to wear shorts and t-shirts for the majority but always have a fleece/hoodie to hand. That didnt stop me and the kids using the pool everyday, probably because I knew the hot tubs were there to warm me up after!