If you are like me and you enjoy running several times a week even while traveling, then this review of the walking jogging and running track on the Caribbean Princess is for you.
I typically like to run at least 20 miles per week and I don’t like to do so on a treadmill. While we all can pretty much run anywhere we go on a treadmill, nothing beats running outdoors in the fresh air – especially while cruising.
The Caribbean Princess cruise ship has a track for walking, jogging and running on Promenade Deck 7 and Emerald Deck 8. Yes, you heard that right – you will have to go up and down a couple of flights of stairs at the bow/front end of the ship to complete your laps on this cruise ship. While the ship states that there are 2.7 laps per mile, I believe that the number of laps is overstated and that the actual length is about 2.5 laps per mile, or less.
I was very consistently posting 4 minute laps and I am a USATF Masters All American runner with my “over 60” 5K PR’s in the 21-22 minute range. My slow, easy speed is about 9 minutes per mile and that is the pace I was mostly keeping, plus or minus 15-30 seconds. Walking up and down the stairs at the starboard and port sides at the bow of the ship slowed me down but I kept up a strong pace everywhere else.
I have provided numerous pictures of the track so you have an idea of the layout.
My Garmin 45 GPS could be locked in on the 8th floor if I held my arm out beyond the overhang but for the most part it would not accurately record the distance as the GPS recorded distance was only 2.2 miles for each run of 8 laps around the ship. The actual distance for 8 laps was most likely in the 3.2 miles or greater range. Without a commercial grade measuring wheel it is nearly impossible to accurately measure this course so I have had to provide some guesswork.
I ended up running about 8 laps per day which took me just under 32 minutes to complete, with an average HR of about 124 each day. I was not pushing myself in the hot and humid conditions in ports including Fort Lauderdale, the Bahama’s, Puerto Rico and St. Thomas; as well as the days we were strictly ocean going.
Thank you for reading and happy sailing!