One of the reasons we decided on the mini suites was due to having a bath as well as shower over. Please advise if you have experienced the a bath. Are your knees up under your chin? I am seriously wondering if I should have kept the Caribe deck room. Would the people in the exercise area be able to look straight into the balcony of D208 or would this suite be far enough back as not to be in view?
Also I am a bit confused about whether you can take bottles of wine on board. I thought I read that you could only take one per passenger but then I read something today that does not suggest a limit. What are anyones experiences with this?
Any info is most welcome.
Cheers Di

Hi dpage, welcome to Cruise-Chat. Not sure what your fears are, but they do sound a bit strange. The bathrooms in the mini-suites are very nice size. It is a real tub in there. As for people looking straight into your cabin, even if you left the door wide open, it would be hard to see the entire cabin, unless someone stuck their head inside. If you're planning on spending your cruise in the buff, keep you door closed and curtains drawn and you'll have no problems. If you're planning on running around on your balcony in the nude, I don't think there will be many vessels at sea coming up next to you. Now there may be some crew members that might hang on safety harnesses to take a look, but that would be very rare You are allowed to take one bottle of wine per person on board with you. Best wishes and I really hope you enjoy your cruise.

This is the view of the Dolphin Deck and Caribe Deck balconies from Baja Deck; as you can see, you have to lean over the balcony and look down, and even then you can't see the cabin or even the whole balcony. You wouldn't be able to see anything from the gym or spa area as they are inside and the windows don't open.



And this is the bath/shower which is quite ample.

Thanks to both of you. I really appreciated the photos. I can see what you mean about the differences in the balconies. Caribe deck ones look monsterous in comparison. You are right about the bath. It does look normal size so worth paying the extra $50 to upgrade from the balcony to a mini suite. In Queensland Australia we have water restrictions so 4 minute showers are the norm. To be able to relax in a bath will add to the cruising experience.
Shame about only being able to take on one bottle of wine each. Will just have to purchase on board.
Cruise Guru how many cruises have you been on?
Thanks for the help.
Diane

I would imagine f-mattox to be hitting around 300 by now, but will let him answer for himself. We've only been on 23.

dpage, my balcony photo may be a little misleading: the balcony at the bottom of the photo is a Penthouse Suite on Caribe Deck--it it twice as wide as the other cabins on Caribe Deck. The balconies at the top of the photo are the Dolphin Deck mini-suites. They are definitely worth the extra money.

300 cruises is surely a worthy goal--but I just completed #40.

Rick, I would have sworn it would have been many more than that. I hope to hit 40 some day, maybe even 50

Penny, I just give the impression it's more because I talk so much!

Actually, I was thinking it would be a lot more because you played on board. I was figuring a 6 month contract would have been at least 12 sailings if not 24.

I was not counting the times I was under contract as a crew member; only the times I was booked and ticketed as a passenger or "Guest Entertainer".

Just for fun, here are a few photos:

This is the Caribe Lounge on the original Island Princess in 1974; that's me, far left, playing Fender Bass:



This is the Carousel Lounge on Island Princess in 1975; I'm playing piano here. Some of you may recognize the gentleman in the colorful jacket in the middle of the photo, lower left; it's Les Brown. On one cruise that season we alternated sets with his "Band of Renown". That was probably the best cruise--ever!

Those are awesome pictures, Rick! Multi-talented and playing with Les Brown, what a wonderful experience that had to have been. If you did count the number of sailings, would it be in the hundreds?

No Penny, not even then; more like 80; we only did 3 month contracts. We played land-based engagements too; we weren't out there year-round.

Great photos! And, Les Brown, too. Awesome! And, you know I have to comment on the boots, Rick. They're back in style now, I think.

BTW, the photo of the cascading decks is great, too. It shows how you really have to peer over the balcony railing to see the balconies below.