Seasons in the Sun # 6: My Princess Cruises Top Ten

This year's Caribbean cruise is now in the history books.  I'm staying on in Florida for another week, but I've already thoroughly covered the areas I'm visiting in previous trips, so I don't expect to be doing any more blog posts on this trip.

Instead, I decided to answer a question that several people have asked me in recent months:  why do you cruise only with Princess Cruises, and no other companies?

The simple answer to "why no other companies" is that Princess Cruises are such a perfect fit to my personal style and comfort zone that I see no real reason to try anyone else.

If you're planning on cruising, it's important to be aware that every major cruise line has its own distinctive style.  While there are some common aspects to all cruises, there are many more differences which become apparent as soon as you try them out.

If you're thinking of taking a first-time crack at cruising, I strongly recommend that you spend a lot of time on this website:

Cruise Critic 

You can make much better decisions about the cruise you want after reading reviews by other travellers, and reading the detailed editorial descriptions posted by the Cruise Critic staff of the different cruise lines and their assorted vessels.

I'm not the person to give you that kind of detailed overview of the industry, since I have never cruised with any other ocean cruise line but Princess.

So, instead, I'm going to give you the top ten reasons why a Princess cruise is my favourite.

[10]  Stateroom Decor

Princess staterooms are almost always decorated in light earth tones.  This may not sound like a big deal, but earth tones always put me in a good mood and too much blue drags me down a bit.

[9]  Unique Itineraries

Princess has some pretty intriguing itineraries with some unusual ports.  I think in particular of a transatlantic cruise four years ago which sailed from Rome to Miami, stopping at Genoa (Italy), Nice and Sete (France), Barcelona (Spain), Gibraltar (U. K. Overseas Territory), Madeira (Portugal), Bermuda (U. K. Overseas Territory), and finally Miami.  And then there was my cruise up north to Spitsbergen, on the edge of the Arctic Ocean.  My friend Mark still hasn't forgiven me for getting there ahead of him!  This map shows all the places I've cruised with Princess -- so far.  Don't miss the little loop around Tahiti and French Polynesia, out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!

[8]  Fantastic Meals

Princess has great food.  Sometimes it's the little details that count.  The Princess breakfast buffet always has a number of foods that are special favourites of mine: smoked cheese, English bacon, half a dozen different kinds of bread rolls, and a great spread of smoked salmon with all the trimmings among the more conventional offerings.  In the evening, the main dining rooms have one unique dish created by celebrity chef Curtis Stone on every night's menu (along with a dozen other selections). Among the multiple dessert choices you'll find some incredible chocolate creations, courtesy of renowned patissier Norman Love, which are just to die for.  And the specialty Italian and steak house restaurants on Princess would give many land-based places a serious run for their money.  Yeah, I know I'm not supposed to eat a lot of that stuff (fats or sugars or both) but sometimes a man's just gotta do what a man's gotta do.

[7]  Top Quality Entertainers

Princess has great entertainers on board.  It's not just the production shows, which actually don't interest me that much.  It's the individual and duo acts, and Princess has a real knack for sniffing out classy and truly gifted musicians, and then getting them onto their ships.  It works for me, because I'd far rather sit with a drink listening to a top-notch vocalist or instrumentalist than watch a big, razzle-dazzle stage show.  To each their own.

One of my most unforgettable moments came when I booked an Alaskan cruise a couple of years back and then found out, less than a week later, that a former student from the school where I taught was going to be one of the onboard musicians!

It might surprise some of my close friends and family to know that my favourite performers aren't always the classical-music types either.  Some of the best shipboard artists I can recall have been duos with a keyboard or guitar player and a singer, or solo acts, in which the singer performs with such a uniquely personal style that she/he makes each song, even the covers, wholly their own.

[6]  That Italian Ambience

Princess has something of an Italian ambience.  Over the years, the ships' captains and chefs have often come from Italy.  But I'm referring here more to the design of the public spaces.  The main dining rooms of many of the ships have a distinct Italian feel to the space.  Even more this is true of the specialty Italian restaurant on most of the ships, Sabatini's.  At least one ship I sailed on had actual fountains outside the windows of Sabatini's, floodlit blue at night.  Most of all, it's about the Piazza, the elegant, multi-storey atrium amidships which tries -- and to a fair degree succeeds -- in evoking the atmosphere of Italy.  And what's not to like about Italy?

[5]  Cabin Size and Layout

Princess has good cabins.  I know, that's kind of subjective.  But a few years back, I was considering two other cruise lines as possibilities (the guilty parties shall remain nameless).  Their mini-suites or junior suites were smaller than the ordinary balcony cabins on Princess.  Nuff said.  By the way, I knew about the sizes because all those lines posted detailed cabin descriptions with square foot area of the cabins on their websites.  You can find out a lot about a cruise ship just by researching what the company has published about it.  A Princess cabin has well-planned space, with enough room to unpack all that you need. 

[4]  Shore Excursions

Princess has intriguing shore excursions.  I know, some experienced cruisers swear they would never take a cruise company excursion, but some of the Princess offerings just aren't out there on the open market.  That's particularly true of some of their more unusual tours and experiences that are co-branded with the Discovery Channel.  It's an aspect of the line that frequently wins awards.

[3]  The Princess Bed

This company has gone to great trouble, consulting extensively with expert sleep physiologists, and the result is an incredible bed which ranks as one of the two or three most comfortable beds I can ever recall sleeping in through my entire life.  And with all the travelling I've done, I've certainly hit far more than my fair share of different beds!

[2]  The Princess OCEAN Medallion

I still haven't given this thing a thorough test drive, but even the little I have done with it convinces me that this is the wave of the future (pardon the pun).

On this last cruise, my check-in and boarding after getting through security took all of 5 minutes with the Medallion and my room was ready for me just a few minutes after noon.  The best OCEAN Medallion trick is that the sensor by your cabin door detects the Medallion's approach and unlocks the door for you -- but only if the person approaching the door is the one whose photo is on file as being linked to that Medallion.  Thinking back on the days when I sometimes had to put stuff down and then swipe the damn key card three or four times to get the door to open, I think this is their greatest innovation.  It's also your payment device for all on-board purchases.  No more swiping cards and signing bar bills.  You just tap the Medallion on the point-of-sale terminal, and done.  And the seller sees your photo on the screen, so they can verify that it is actually you making the purchase.  The entire OCEAN Medallion system will be up and running on all Princess ships by the end of 2020.

And the big # 1 reason why I love Princess cruises so much is....  (drumroll, please)....

[1]  The Princess Vibe

How do I define that?  My feeling is that, even with scads of activities all around the ship, the essential character of Princess is that it's laid-back and relaxing.  The ships are well-provided with places suited to just sitting and letting the world go by, if that be your wish.  These range from quiet little bars to the library to the adults-only pool which doesn't offer music or shows to the ocean-liner-styled wooden deck chairs on the sheltered promenade deck or the big, comfy armchairs in the Piazza, and many more.  It's a nice blend of the "classic cruise" feeling with a more casual, modern atmosphere.  Other ships have more high-tech spectacle and hyperactivity, but Princess always has a selection of quiet little nooks for those times when I want to sit and watch, and think, or just tune out.

And I haven't even touched on the loyalty benefits available to multi-times repeat cruisers on this line.  Suffice it to say that, just as with the airlines and hotel chains, the loyal traveller gets enough perks to make it well worthwhile to keep coming back.  I figure the perks on this last 10-day cruise probably added up to $300 or more of freebies, and that's not even including the upsell bargain on my mini-suite cabin.

Seasons in the Sun # 5: Sugar Cave Songs

Okay, I fell a bit behind my self-appointed schedule while Crown Princess refused to delay hers.  So this post begins as a throwback to 54 hours ago, on the morning of December 23, when the ship cosied up to the old sugar pier in the harbour of Bridgetown, Barbados.

Little geography lesson.  I could tell you all to go back to the # 1 post in this series and look at the map again, but I can guess how many readers would bother.  So here's the map again, right here on this page because -- well, why fight it?

Looking at the location of Barbados closely, you can see that this island sits well to the east of the neat crescent formed by all the other islands in the Caribbean chain.  Strictly speaking, Barbados lies outside the Caribbean Sea so it is -- geographically -- an Atlantic island.  But historically and culturally, it is thoroughly Caribbean so the point is moot.

Geologically, it's a very different story.  Barbados is the only island from the Virgin Islands to Grenada which is not volcanically formed.  The land mass of Barbados is formed of layer upon layer upon layer of sedimentary rocks formed under the ocean and then gradually pushed above the sea's surface by the collision of the Atlantic and Caribbean plates of the earth's crust.  That collision, of course, is also the force driving all the volcanic eruptions all the way along the main island chain.

So the landscape of Barbados is very different.  The land rises in a relatively gradual slope over several broad terraces from west to east, ending in some dramatic cliffs on the eastern side.  The main beaches are found along the western and southern coasts.  It's prime agricultural country, and for centuries the economy of Barbados was all about sugar cane and its two lucrative derivatives: molasses and distilled molasses.  By the way, for those not aware, "distilled molasses" is more usually referred to as "rum."  And Barbados is a world-famous producer and exporter of that delightful by-product of sugar production.

So there we were, tied up to the outer end of a working harbour pier formerly devoted to -- and still used for -- the export of cane sugar, molasses, and rum.  This fuller picture provides a truer view of the situation.  Just on the left edge of the picture you can see one of the three huge cranes used for unloading bulk sugar cane from ships.  

We had to walk all the way down the pier, under those three huge cranes (which look like they predate World War 2) and on to the mainland.  We then had to zigzag our way through the cruise terminal on a course carefully chosen to make us walk past every single shop in the place just to get to the exit.  There is no escape.  That was a good brisk hike of 15 minutes each way if it was a second.

Our coach tour took us on a scenic drive through the suburbs of Bridgetown and up into the rising country of the centre.  On the way, we passed through Warrens and saw a spectacular, block-long mosaic mural devoted to the importance of preserving the environment.  Here are just a couple of the dozen or so pictures I snapped as we drove along the street by it.

Farther out of town, we got a few glimpses of the traditional plantation country at the heart of the island.

A beautiful avenue of royal palms leading to an old plantation house.  Our guide explained that when the slaves became disoriented after hours of stooping and scything in the fields, they could sight the line of palms and find their way back to the plantation.

From higher up in the rising countryside, a panorama back down to the western coast of the island.

And here, we passed small country church built of local limestone.  Apart from the roof, this church was very similar to the classic limestone architecture of Bermuda, a geologically similar island, although much smaller in size.  Even the wall resembles the style of roadside walls found in Bermuda.

Our destination, almost an hour's drive north of Bridgetown, was one of the prime tourist attractions of Barbados: Harrison's Cave.  Opening this cave up to visitors involved a complex and ingenious plan of building engineered tunnels to give access to a number of main chambers, and then paving the floor of those tunnels so that visitors can be driven through the cave in electric-powered trams.  

Each visitor is issued a hardhat with a mesh liner to protect the hair.  It rained frequently enough inside the cave that I could see no reason why other and heavier items might not fall from the ceiling.

The tour lasted for nearly an hour, after a short video introduction, and the roadways are cleverly designed so that three different tours can be in the cave at the same time, even though all have to use the same single roadway to drive down into the cave and back up and out.

I think I snapped about eighty pictures altogether in the cave, and once I'd weeded out the duds I still had thirty-five good ones left.  Here's a selection of the best of the best.  By the way, as in all show caves, the dramatic lighting is an essential component of the experience.  My phone got beautiful results as long as the flash was turned off.  When I accidentally managed to turn the flash on, I lost half a dozen good ones because those came out all blurred.  

Thanks to the guide for this one.  I rocked the hard hat, but the damn mesh hairnet was more hassle than help.

Yes, it's an actual waterfall, spouting from a hole on the chamber's arched roof.

The guide repeatedly mentioned that this would be a good place to get rid of someone in a hurry.  The Mirror Pool has 6 cm of water covering nearly 3 metres of soft, spongy sediments which act like high-speed quicksand.

The upper stalactite formation, known as the Chandelier, is of course growing downwards at about 2.5 cm per 100 years.  The lower stalagmite formation is growing upwards at the same rate.  At some point, many thousands of years hence, the two may finally join to form a column.

After that amazing experience, we drove back by a different route, going from the cave in the centre of the island more or less due west to Holetown on the coast.  Now, the name "Holetown" may sound not-too-promising, but it's the centre of a district of wealthy homes and high-end resorts.  The highest of the high end, Sandy Lane, is booked up more than a year ahead, charges a room rate in the neighbourhood of $2200 a night, and requires a mandatory pre-paid reservation for 14 nights.  I'll stick to cruises.

Instead of that exclusive enclave reserved for people with more money than brains, here's a photo of a picturesque shopping centre with all the buildings designed to resemble the "dower houses."  These modest, small homes were the favoured type in the old days -- and still today -- for people to build as their starter homes.  Here, they are housing some high-end shops and professional offices.

Back in Bridgetown, we drove along Westbury New Road, a street lined with these modest homes, and I caught a couple of examples on camera so you can see the diverse palette of colours favoured by Barbadians ("Bajans").

And then there was this example, two-thirds of the way down the street. 

Sorry I didn't capture the sign embedded in the sidewalk in front of the house.  It bears one single word:  RIHANNA.  So, yes, this is the birthplace of the international singing star.  It was no surprise to me when the driver told us that the incessant stream of tourists going by the place is driving everyone on the street crazy -- this, as we were busy contributing to the problem.  At the end of the block, a special commemorative sign makes sure you don't miss the point.

Our last drive-by sight was the spectacular new cricket stadium.  As in all the islands from the former British Empire, the Bajans are huge cricket fans.

We sailed from Barbados at 3:30pm, after a pretty short visit, and forged steadily northwards through the afternoon, evening, and overnight.  At 9:00 the next morning, Christmas Eve, we glided slowly into the harbour at Basseterre, on the island of St. Kitts.  Looks beautiful in the morning sunlight, doesn't it?

The sticking point: those other ships.  I already knew from consulting a website that collates cruise schedules, that there would be five ships in port that day.  I could just picture the resulting swarms of people, and decided to cancel all other plans and just relax on board the ship.  Later in the afternoon, I leaned over the edge of my balcony, and looked along the narrow pier towards the obligatory shopping mall on the shore end of the pier.  The ship on the right is Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas.  From the appearance, I would guess it's about the same capacity as ours.  I think that staying aboard was a smart decision.

And now you've seen exactly as much of St. Kitts as I have.

Later in the afternoon, I whipped downstairs to the Piazza for a cappuccino, and decided to catch a few pictures of the phenomenal display of gingerbread houses and icing-sugar Christmas trees  I'm guessing, but from the look of the crumbs appearing on the floor and the tables, I'm pretty sure that all of these are real and -- perhaps? -- edible.

While I was was taking pictures and sipping cappuccino, the ensemble Duo Elegance was giving a concert of classic and modern Christmas favourites.  I went up to the top level of the Piazza on Deck 7 to catch them at work.

Seasons in the Sun # 4: Parties and Pitons in St. Lucia

One of the aggravating features of cruise travel is the very limited amount of time at each port of call, which in turn limits the number of activities in which you can indulge.

St. Lucia was the perfect case in point.  We were docked at Castries, the capital, for just 13 hours.  The problem of what-to-do was compounded by the overlapping schedules of land and water tours, many of which were offered at only one time of day.  In the end, I opted for a water tour, since there really is no easier way to get a good look at St. Lucia's most famous scenic highlight, the Pitons.

The presence of these two ancient volcanic plugs or spires, the hard core remaining as the rest of a volcanic mountain slowly erodes away through the ages, confirms that here again is an island whose very existence is owing to volcanoes.  And indeed, there are signs that the heat forces involved are by no means dead, as there are bubbling hot springs and sulphurous fumaroles around the Pitons.

The names, Gros Piton and Petit Piton, are a perfect example of the cultural mishmash and melting pot which is St. Lucia.  Overlying the ancient Amerindian and more recent Carib indigenous cultures are generous quantities of both French and British cultural, social, and linguistic contributions -- the perfect evidence of St. Lucia's checkered history, as it flipflopped between French and British control a dozen or more times before finally, definitively, landing in Britain's hands after the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815.

In a longer stay, I could have had myself a great old time exploring this unique stew of multiple cultural roots and heritages, but it was the island's fascinating geological past which ended up taking control of my day.

In Castries, we had only to walk past the length of our ship at the dock, and a little further on, to reach the catamaran which was taking us on our scenic venture.  Almost as soon as we turned the corner out of the harbour of Castries, we began unscrolling the wild and rugged scenery of the island's west coast as we sailed south.

The weather might look less than ideal, but this is the Caribbean and big clumps of cloud like this frequently sail across the sun.  When the air temperature is sitting squarely in the upper 20s in Celsius (80+ in Fahrenheit), a few little old clouds hardly dampen the mood.  Yes, one of them could turn out to be an aggressive rain shower, but as the locals say, "If you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes."  There's almost no such thing as a day without sun, or a day without rain for that matter.

This was definitely a mainly sunny day, which made the 40-minute beach stop at L'Anse au Cochon doubly welcome.  The name, by the by, means "Bay of Wild Pigs."  That name didn't describe anyone in our group.  

Normally, I don't have to be asked twice to jump in the water.  But this was a little different.  Last year, I chewed up the fronts of my calves pretty badly trying to get back onto the stair gangway to return on board a catamaran in Grand Cayman, and had to pass on any more swimming for several days until the scrapes and cuts healed.  This vessel was bouncing in the surf too, and I didn't choose to repeat that script.  Once was enough.

After leaving L'Anse au Cochon, we sailed farther south until we uncovered the spectacular view of the Pitons near St. Lucia's southwestern corner, seen here across Soufrière Bay.  The sharper peak on the left, Petit Piton, is actually 50 metres lower than Grand Piton on the right, but appears higher here because it's several kilometres closer to the camera.

Thanks to the crew member of the catamaran who kindly went around taking pictures on our cameras for us.  Sort of looks like the guy behind me should have switched shirts with me!

Now, this is the Caribbean and it is a catamaran cruise, so if you were expecting me to utter the magic words, "Rum Punch," expect no longer!  This voyage had an unlimited supply of fruit juice, water, soft drinks, and a massive cooler full of rum punch.  Pretty good stuff too -- especially when I went for my third round and the bartender gave the cooler a good shake, mixing back in all the rum that had been floating up to the top inside!

On the return voyage, the crew also cranked up the music and there was a fair bit of dancing going on in the large covered "indoor" area spanning both hulls.  I got in on that too, and had a great time!

On the return voyage, we detoured into the twisting, sheltered inlet of Marigot Bay, site of several resorts and smaller hotels, and a favourite anchorage of yachts for the obvious reasons.  It's also the most purely beautiful harbour I've seen so far on this trip.

The last photo op of the trip came as we sailed back into Castries, and Crown Princess obligingly posed for us by her pier at Pointe Seraphine.

Later on, back on board, I got a good look at the harbour and capital city of Castries, plainly riding high on the wave of international banking which so strongly supports several of the islands in the Caribbean.  My instant reaction was that St. John's in Antigua and Cruz Bay in St. John appeared to be much more fully "island" in tone but Castries definitely looked "mainland" by comparison. 

And as I was enjoying a leisurely afternoon between swims in the adults-only Terrace Pool at the stern, I had another intriguing photo op with an obliging Red Ensign flying from the stern flagstaff.