Guinness1000

Thank you! That's what I needed to know.   🙂

This Christmas will be our first Princess cruise on Island Princess. We usually go on HAL, RCCL or Celebrity. Last year we went on RCCL for the first time in several years and I didn't bring shampoo and conditioner. There was some "goop" in the shower dispenser on the ship, but I wouldn't put that in my hair, so I had to run down to the store and buy some hair stuff. The guy in the store said shampoo and conditioner are always their biggest seller the first day. I don't bring any on HAL or Celebrity. Love especially HAL's products. Anyway, short question, does Princess provide any decent toiletries on their ships or do we need to bring our own?  :)

Sailed on the NoS last Christmas. Everything was great except for the beds. Worst I've ever experienced on a cruise, sad to say.

I've read that report too a few years ago. In The Economist, I believe. It was at the same time RCC launched a new mega ship. The numbers were correct, but the OP is wrong. The article was talking about air pollution those mega ships contribute with for the world. Not air quality on the ships themselves. Also, they burn diesel when near any country. Can't remember the milage. Once out in international waters, they burn bunker fuel. As do ALL ships. Not just cruise ships, but most of the commercial traffic you see out there on the oceans. They are making new laws though and most ships will have scrubbers installed in the stacks. Maritime traffic cause more air pollution than all the cars in the world. I think that was in the article too, or it might have been a different one. Next time you take a behind the scenes tour of your cruise ship, ask the captain or the people in charge of the engines about this. They don't like talking about it, but if you're genuinely interested, they will.

10 day partial transit. I have done this 3 times, the last time was January this year. Since you will be on the Island Princess you will transit the three old Atlantic locks into Gatun Lake. On every transit we entered the channel approach to the locks around 5:30am with a transit through the first lock around 6am. It takes about 2 hours to transit all three locks. By 8/8:30am the transit is complete and the ship anchors in Gatun Lake. At this time passengers that have booked Princess tours tender ashore. All other passengers must stay on board. The ship will then exit the locks in the reverse manner, and then docks in Colon. The exit time is controlled by the P.C. authorities, and you may arrive at Colon earlier than the projected time on the itinerary. Set your alarm, it's an early day, and if you take a tour, a long day. If you sleep in you will miss the transit. Schedules are provided in your cabin.

Thank you for that! :)

Are you sure you are doing "the same one"? What ship are you sailing? If it's anything other than Island, Coral, or Pacific you will be going through the new locks which is not the same at all.

Same one on Island Princess, 12/20-12/30.:)

We are doing the same one over Christmas. I like to know more about what to do in ports as well.

It only takes 2hrs to go through the locks and they start at 6am? So, by 8am I could've missed it? For some reason I thought it was a whole day's affair.

Crystal's 2021 has been announced...

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2676051

The itinerary appealed to me. :)

Went on Navigator last Christmas and it was by far the WORST bed I've ever slept on on a cruise. Robbed us of our sleep every nigh!

Thanks for the info. I'm going with my kids and grandkids in February on the Oasis.

Is breakfast free at Johnny Rockets?

There will always be complaints by some people. I always checkout the reviews before I book a cruise and particularly the 1 star reviews to see what the issues were. My favorite is still a woman who rated her whole HAL cruise 1 star because there were no chocolates on her pillow at turndown...

So my cruise in February next year will be the first time I gain weight on a cruise! :D

To OP: please check out the Family Cruising board on CC and Travel with Children board on www.babycenter.com for more advice.

Thank you! Didn't even know there was such a board.

Thank you everyone else as well for your input. :)

My husband and I have cruised many times, but somehow I never paid any attention to families with small children. Now I'm going with my daughters and my two granddaughters on Oasis in February and all of I sudden I have a bunch of questions. Most important one being, if you go on an excursion, wether by a ship organized one or a local one or even in a cab, do the kids, toddlers just sit in the parents lap? Seems rather unsafe. Or is there some other way?

Thanks for any suggestions on this or any other small children advice on a cruise. :)

We acturally enjoy the smaller ships more!

Easier to make friends! :D

Me too! Plus I like the feel of being on a ship on the ocean more than being at a resort with pretty much no feel of the ocean.

I agree about the casinos. Wasted space IMO, but I guess some people must like them. Bored on a long cruise? I doubt I would be. I'm a writer and treasure time alone to read and write. I would miss our dog though. :)

Not until February 10!

But, we have a Panama Canal on Princess first, so... :)

I love the itinerary!

For us, we would have to think very hard about doing a four month WC twice a couple years apart or go once on this eight month trip. Either way sound very exciting to me.

Following along this thread as we're tinkering with a WC for 2021 or 2022 after we retire. The little I've researched so far, looks like we would go either with HAL or Princess. We like HAL already and are doing our first Princess this Christmas. :)

We were on the same trip. Glad you had a great time. So did we. Funny how we did completely different things though. I would recommend renting a golf cart in Bonaire. We drove around the whole island. Spent about six hours doing so. It was an eye opener and it showed us different sights of the island that we would never have imagined existed. Desolate rocky areas by the southern coast. Mountainous areas full of cacti that really resembled areas out west in the US. Another area that reminded us of Australia's outback. It was all very interesting. Well worth the time and straining calf muscles from pushing the gas pedal, lol! :)

Is a veranda a regular balcony or superior? Also, was there a hairdryer?

I believe it's a regular balcony.

Yes! There was a hairdryer! When we walked out of the terminal after the cruise, there was a table set up with items "confiscated" prior to boarding the ship for people to reclaim. Some of the items were hairdryers and irons! :)

Thanks for the info, we sail on her twice in the next two months or so... the only thing I find hard to believe is "Usually the beds are great." :') RCI has the worst beds in my opinion. It's one of the two things I wish I could take from CCL and put on RCI!

 

Nice to hear that you had a good time.

We usually sail with HAL and Celebrity and the beds have been great. We've only been on Freedom of the Seas prior, but I don't remember any bed issues from that time. This time was actually quite horrible.

Thanks for the feedback. No mystery liquid dispenser in the shower?

Yes, but that was some kind of soap. I wouldn't wash my hair with it. :)

Veranda on the 7th deck.

I'm not going to write a full review, more like commenting on some of the things that were brought up here before we left on our cruise that had me concerned.

First off, I want to comment on our stateroom. I read prior to our trip about horrible mattresses, no shampoo and conditioner and things like that. Our take on the room: Mattresses were by far the worst we've ever had on any other cruise. Usually the beds are great. The mattresses in our bed was as hard as lying on a board. No mattress pad either. Just a thin sheet right on top of the mattress.

No shampoo, conditioner nor body lotion. This felt VERY cheap. Even the most basic hotels provide these items. I bought shampoo and conditioner at the onboard store for $19. The guy working there said it was his hottest selling item... No body lotion in that store.

No robes or slippers which was fine with us as we typically don't use them.

No table! A sofa, but no table. This didn't do much for the already spartan feel of the room.

An empty refrigerator that did not work. Maintenance came twice and looked at it and said they would try to replace it. It never happened.

Staff was great though. :)

Someone had commented before our trip that the ship really needed to be freshened up. IMO, the carpet could use a shampooing in certain areas and some cushions here and there could be replaced, but over all, the ship is fine.

Another thing someone mentioned was the Haitians working at the market in Labadee were being aggressive in their sales tactics and suggested people stay away. They were very friendly towards us. Maybe someone from RCCL had a talk with them? There was a sign outside asking visitors for input and to inform RCCL of any issues.

Other than these issues mentioned, we had a great time. Crew was great and itineraries were great as well. Curacau and Bonaire being our favorites. :)