Academy at Sea aboard the Caribbean Princess

I’ve just recently returned from my Academy at Sea. Arranged by Princess Cruise and had 3 Nights on board the Caribbean Princess. This was a work trip and not my own holiday. This was well organised and our hosts were excellent. Andrea, Rachael and Victoria we’re our hosts from Princess Cruises and they did an excellent job. The itinerary, organisation and tour of the ship along with the guest speakers from the entertainment director, food and beverage manager along with someone from the future cruise team. As part of our training, having these academies on board to experience the ship first hand is an excellent way to further my knowledge and help future customers with booking their next Princess Cruise.

I really enjoyed this visit on the Caribbean Princess and having never been on a Princess ship before this Academy at Sea was every bit valuable to me as it was fun too. This particular sailing doing the British isles was very popular with the Americans. Many on board, which I didn’t mind at all as I quite like the Americans myself and going to the states. A lot of my customers often ask me who will be on board? Which nationalities etc. This was obviously very popular to the American market.

I found the ship easy to get around, not once did I get the lost feeling. Our room was a standard Balcony but plenty of space and comfortable beds, Plenty of storage space and a decent size bathroom. As like most cruise lines our stateroom attendant was worth his weight in Gold. Excellent standards for maintain to the cabin twice daily for us. I was surprised there wasn’t any Tea & Coffee making facilities in the cabin. I have to admit I do like to wake up and before I do anything, make myself a cuppa and sit on the balcony. However I learned on board that Princess like to get your drinks so at any time you want a Tea or a Coffee they will get it for you. If I could make a change it would have to be something as little as this. I personally wouldn’t want to ring room service early in the morning or to leave my cabin just to get a hot drink but this really is a minor thing. I couldn’t think of anything else on board that I’d recommend a change to.

The food on board was excellent. A couple of nice speciality restaurants worth considering if you book this ship. I’m not particularly a fan of Italian restaurants but the Crown Grill was just delicious. The steak  was incredible. Well worth the $29pp cover charge. Sabatini’s was nice but through choice the Crown Grill every time. The main dining restaurants were nice too and plenty on the menu to choose from and of course you have the buffet should you want something a bit more casual and self service. I had breakfast in the buffet and quite surprised of just how much there is to actually choose from and it’s nice when you have waiters still prepared to get your Tea and coffee for you.

The ship is beautifully decorated and the always immaculately clean. Nice shops and a good bargain on the duty free sales. My girlfriend did well. I won’t brag too much about what I got her as my room mate wasn’t so generous to his girlfriend so I hope she isn’t reading. Not that I want to get you in any bother Lee.

To be the first to have Movies under the stars, Princess are proud of this and it’s a great thing to have on a cruise ship. We watch movies at home and you see the films where they have drive-through movies, and I often think I’d like to do that. Well on board it’s great to sit on top deck by the pool and look at a huge screen watching a movie. I wonder if Euro 16 will be shown live too? Get me back on board. On this particular trip the weather wasn’t too kind so the odd few enjoying the movies under the stars were well wrapped in a blanket and a pillow but still outside and by the pool.

 Casino was a decent size and plenty of gaming options.

Entertainment on board was good. Variety of shows. Karaoke and yes I had to get up for a little sing song. The only one brave enough in our group to do so. I shall not be looking forward to those recordings going viral or being shown on our Christmas conference!

The staff are really friendly and I do like a banter so when you get the odd cheeky chappy bar tender who likes to show off some magic, well I just couldn’t resist and get out my own deck of cards. Just happen to have them on me. It was nice to impress all those at the bar watching us. Show offs!

We were fortunate to have a behind the scenes ship tour too which I won’t go into too much detail here as will be doing  a separate blog on that so watch this space. All I can say though, it was very interesting and will be worth a read… Soon!

Overall I was very impressed with Princess Cruises and I’d certainly travel with them myself for my own cruises. I’d like to thank our kind hosts once again for this awesome and much appreciated experience on board the Caribbean Princess. I think I’ll go back to the boss now and see if I can be put on anymore training academies….. for the benefit of work of course.