Which ship would you say is better for the E. Caribbean itinerary? What are the Pros/Cons for each ship?

Has anyone visted Princess Cay? How is it?

not quite sure about the difference - my family and i are taking caribbean princess in may...on the other hand, princess cay is incredible - it is cleaner and more cruiser-friendly than any other private island i have been to. they do a great lunch barbeque and have plenty of beach loungers for guests...i can guarantee you won't be disappointed...

Any recomendations on the best approach to getting a catamaran while on Princess Cay. Any recommendations for snorkling? Leaving this Sunday.

Thanks

The Caribbean Princess and Star Princess are based on the same "Grand class ship design."

Princess took the design of the Grand, Golden and Star Princess and added another deck of passengers to the ship to make the Caribbean Princess. For this reason - this ship's space ratio is not as good as the Star Princess and the ship may seem more crowded at times.

Right now, the Caribbean Princess has "Movies Under the Stars" which is a large bright television screen near one of the pools and they show movies and videos day and night on this. NFL football games and the Oscars have also been played on this.

Princess has added this large screen to the Grand Princess and said they plan on adding it to the Golden and Star also - these dates for installation have not been announced yet.

The ships are pretty similiar with the Caribbean Princess being newer. I recently was on the Star Princess and it was in excellent condition - I personally would pick the Star for having less passengers.

Princess Cays is a gorgeous beach island. They keep it pristine. BBQ is pretty good also.

Totally agree with the former poster Theresa. My son went on the Caribbean and I went on the Star, both within the last 6 months. He had cruised before, and said the Caribbean felt very crowded. The Star has very nice staterooms and the ship does not look overused like some cruise ships do. In fact, they were replacing rugs in staterooms last Feb. on the Caribe deck-I saw them. The Star has a much bigger casino. In fact, I think I read it is the biggest on water. They have aprox. 550-600 more passengers on the Caribbean Princess, because of the extra deck on the same sized ship- actually it's a narrower ship. Star is too wide to fit in the Panama Canal, Caribbean just makes it- so Star has to be a little wider.

For me the number of passengers makes a big difference. Princess Cays was being rebuilt and finished just as we left in Feb. 2005. The bbq is nice. I'm not a big hot beach person. But there is some shaded areas. The other side of the island has a village etc. We walked central just to give it a gander. There are some nice shallows and lots of people wanted to snorkel but stood all over looking more than doing, as the water was cold in Feb. Too cold to be comfortable.

I personally don't care much for the artificial and would rather have another real nation/ real culture stop. It's just about 2000 plus Americas on a beach. You can get different water vehicles by signing for their use as soon as you get on the ship. Don't wait.

They changed the entire order of our cruise and times at each port, so all the private tour arrangements I made were defeated and we even had a port itself changed. Can't say I wasn't disappointed. And the very worst was that we went to Princess Cays the very first day, and they were really not ready for us. The result was that there wasn't a lot of the stuff available that there should have been and the workmen were all there hammering on shelters and storefronts.

Just to add a comment - Princess Cays had been destroyed in a hurricane last fall and they had to rebuild it from scratch. We missed it in December on the Star. It reopened either in January or February of this year - the last poster must have been one of the first people to return to Princess Cays.

I had been to it previously on other cruises.

I am on the Caribbean Princess right now-
There are 500 kids on it--NE schools are out for April break...but not a problem with them at all...

ONLY problem on ship--NOT enough toilets in the ladies rooms..

ALL ELSE is fine--NO line for the shows-have gotten all the PC dining choices we requested, have reservations at Sterling Steakhouse tonite and supposed to see Movies under the Stars only it is pouring RAIN!

Seafood buffet in the Caribe Cafe is AWESOME-best we have ever had on a cruise ship-- all you can eat shrimp,crab legs and on Formal nites, they add lobster! Amazing!

The shows have been good-saw an English husbanf and wife comedy,guitar and singing duo last nite which was FABULOUS!

Cabin steward is the nicest kid we have ever had--and dining room waiter on PC is wonderful...

We have been eating in the Coral dining room most nites.

Our itinerary is Eastern Carib..but don't go by us, as we like Eastern best as the shopping and water sports are better (for us)..we are not fans of Mexico and the Western Carib.

While we are having a blast on this ship, I would probably go back to the Grand or Golden for future Princess cruises due to less people....

DECK CHAIRS are a fight to the finish--you have to get up by 7 am to get a chair in the sun on the pool deck...