Sailing with Princess Cruises aboard Caribbean Princess, we enjoyed every minute. Sailing round-trip from Port Canaveral, the Western Caribbean was nearly perfect. Still, perfect is often an elusive term when describing travel, the very nature of which feeds best on spontaneity. The two don’t always go together. So what made for a close to flawless travel experience on Caribbean Princess? A whole lot of little things which brings this list of what we experienced on our sailing:

1. Voices of Christmas- Carols In The Piazza– this was happening as we walked aboard the ship, less than two weeks before Christmas Day. In addition, Princess Cruises did a wonderful job of decorating the ship with festive displays all over the ship.
2. Princess Medallion App– I had high hopes for the Princess Medallion App which promised to revolutionize our cruise experience. It delivered every bit of that promise along with features we never has time to use. For example, we were happy to see the ship’s photographers treated like human beings as opposed to someone to just walk past on the way somewhere. Homeless people fared better than ship’s photographers, many of which were really good shooters. A totally new photography program allows us to download photos taken by them before we leave the ship.
3. Private Photo Shoot With The Ship’s Master Photographer- I was looking for an easel photo, the the one that sits on an stand by my casket. Lisa and I could both use new headshots too so that sounded good as well. What we received was a lovely portfolio of mounted photos I couldn’t do much with. In addition, we received a Princess-branded zip drive with more photos, many of which suited our needs. No sitting fee here, travelers pay just for the photos.
4. NFL Game: Chiefs vs Browns on Movies Under The Stars– Remembering back to the day when in-stateroom television on about all cruise lines was a pitiful mess of junk, Princess Cruises figured out how to show live NFL games on the ship’s giant Movies Under The Stars screen or stateroom television. Standing by, plenty of crew to serve drinks and snacks with attentive OceanNow (see below) service.
5. Fabulous Crew in all areas of the ship. Not once did any crew member pretend they did not see us in any venue onboard. It’s like they were looking for ways to connect and impress us. I think that has something to do with the Medallion. The crew seems to get off on (enjoy) knowing the name of each one of the thousands who were on board sold out Caribbean Princess.
6. Sailaway Party– This is always a favorite part of sailing since my very first cruise. No matter if its the first or 100th cruise, it’s great fun to be on deck when the ship dreamed about since it was booked finally starts to move. It’s quite the scene on deck.
7. Sailaway Photos– See Number 2- Princess Cruises travelers want the ship’s photographers to find them now. Just be sure to download them off the Medallion app before stepping off the ship.
8. Same Day Pressing– This was a benefit of being Elite members of Princess Cruises Captain’s Circle past guest program along with a one-time mini-bar setup which included airline bottles of booze, beer and mixers.
9. Medallion Max Wi-Fi- Because we were on the Princess Premier plan, we could have four devices for each of us, eight total, if needed. This would be an especially nice feature for travelers who need/want to work while traveling. We have super fast fiber Internet at home. This was just about as fast.
10. Premiere Package- This really makes it easy for everyone and offers the most flexibility. Surprisingly enjoyable, non-alcoholic drinks that (and this part is important) totally made me forget it was NON-alcoholic. These are seriously fun concoctions and Princess is adding more all the time, recently introducing their Zero Alcohol Collection. Indeed, to call this a “drink package” would be inaccurate as so much more than drinks are included.
11. Lisa’s Crown Grill Birthday Celebration- This was the reason for this trip and the staff at the Caribbean Princess’ Crown Grill did not disappoint. This is a great room for any special celebration and highly recommended. One reason: We do not drink a lot of wine but asked the somelier to pair wines with each course and surprise us. Surprise indeed he did and the affair turned out just wonderful.
12. Room Service Breakfast- We tried the door hanger room service breakfast one time and it was very good. I have to say though the Marketplace buffet was the place to be for breakfast with attentive crew delivering coffee, tea, water and juice to everyone. I mean everyone. Also, a superb Eggs Benedict was cooked to order there. I know, I had that most days and it was heavenly.
13. Explorer’s Lounge Pre-Dinner Cocktails– While there was a pre-dinner cocktail hour with the ship’s officers in Skywalkers Nightclub every night, we preferred the Explorer’s Lounge on the way to the dining room.
14. Casual Dining Meals- This would have been either Planks BBQ or Steamers Seafood on Caribbean Princess, neither of which we made it to in our time on board.
15. Princess Prizes- Princess Prizes is a promotion on board that allows guests to win prizes through their stateroom door portal. The prize portal is activated when a guest opens their stateroom door using their Medallion device.
16. Princess Premium Desserts- I think this is a feature added on to give the Plus and Premier Packages extra bonus value. There is no shortage of desserts on the ship. Located on deck, the Swirls venue is indeed a convenient place to get ice cream.
17. Reserved Theater Seating- This is a big one, exclusive to the Premier package. This is preferred seating up close to the stage in the Princess Theater which is held for Premier level guests. A few minutes before showtime, remaining seats are open to anyone who wants them and they fill fast.
18. OceanNow Delivery- This is a potentially huge feature, allowing passengers to order food and beverages to be delivered to their location, anywhere on the ship.
19. Afternoon Canapés Served In Stateroom- This too was an Elite level past guest benefit and one we never got around to using.
20. Captain’s Circle Party- This event celebrates the most-sailed Princess Traveler onboard as well as all the different levels of participation. There was a really long line to get in, indicating a whole bunch of past guests on our sailing.
21. Unlimited Specialty Dining- Once was enough but we could have done specialty dining every night. We did not do it again because we were having way too much fun in the Coral Dining Room for dinner every night.
22. Coral Dining Room Dinner- People make the difference and it all came together for us in the Coral Dining room with the same table, same waiter and same new and wonderful new friends from the UK who we dined with every night.
23. Coffee With The Captain- This was early in the sailing on the second day and was a very nice event held all around the International Cafe which has the best Almond Croissants on the planet.
24. Fruit & Vegetable Carving- An eternal cruise ship event, we most often see the results of this effort on buffets. On Caribbean Princess we saw how they do it as well.
25. Welcome To Princess Event– geared toward first time Princess travelers, this one has all the basics and a question and answer feature that gets everyone on the same page going forward.
26. Enrichment: Great White Shark- We had this enrichment talk as well as another one about NASA and the space shuttle. Both were well-attended.
27. Formal Portraits were available here and there around the ship with different backgrounds. We focused our efforts here on letting the ship’s Master Photographer (I just love that term) have her way with us. The results exceeded expectations.
28. Captain’s Champagne Waterfall- a fancy way of serving champagne at a party on the ship, often done during special events or celebrations
29. Production Show– “Bravo” was wonderful, especially with the great seats held for us due to Premier status. And this comes from someone typically does not enjoy production shows on ships. This was a whole new ballgame.
30. Fine Wine Tasting– I walked by this, not planning on going, but stopped to see a very interesting presentation which made me wish I had made time for it. There are just so many hours in a day though and we learned long ago not to try to do everything. As we grow older, that commitment will serve us well here.
31. Ice Carving Demonstration- If you’ve not seen this it’s worth the time on any sailing of any cruise line. Here though its a real event and you are watching an artist at work. I was impressed.
32. Our Stateroom Steward- Attentive service is always a plus. Taking care of our needs, our steward was everything we hoped for: a ghost…meaning the stateroom was always maintained beyond our expectations but we rarely saw him in the stateroom doing something.
33. Showtime: Evolution Motown- Also impressive and enjoyable.
34. Formal Night and Dress To Impress Night- I think they are both the same, formal nights, since, well, two formal nights are noted on the Princess Itinerary. Still, slobs come to the dining room looking like they were indeed “raised in a barn” as my mother would accuse me of if I was planning on leaving our home dressed in less-than-runway level quality clothing.
35. International Culinary Parade- This is the culinary departments showing off and you don’t want to miss it.

This list is representative of the total things that made our Princess Cruise perfect. There is another item that pretty much guarantees we will enjoy our cruise: we don’t care. Rather than obsess over little things that are just not exactly what we thought they would be, we enjoy every minute of every travel experience. So here’s a tip: forget Facebook and the less-than-helpful comments snarky people post on just about any topic. Enjoy your cruise with a passion! I’ll have more tips on how to go about enjoying your cruise with a passion coming up in the next few weeks. Stick around ok?

For now, some photos from our December 2025 sailing: