DallasGuy75219

6 minutes ago, memoak said:

In all Canadian ports there is no casino and only one bar per deck is alto be open while in port

 

Clearly the casino won't be open *in port*.  My point was how far in advance of docking the casino closes and that it doesn't reopen after the late token port call in Victoria or Vancouver, so some people get caught off guard and can't cash out.

3 hours ago, reedprincess said:

Don't wait til the last night though, it's often closed early on approach to Vancouver.

And Victoria. On Crown in 2022, we were in Victoria from 6 pm to midnight on the last full day of the cruise. The casino shut down around 11 am that day and stayed closed for the remainder of the cruise. 

5 hours ago, MadManOfBethesda said:

The food may not be disgusting, but the behavior of the clientele is. I am currently on Glory and what I witnessed in the buffet line yesterday was almost beyond belief. Yesterday was a port day in Bermuda and my wife and I returned just after 3pm, so we went upstairs to get a bite to eat and we happened to grab a table right next to the serving line. As the buffet hit its scheduled closing time of 3:30pm, staff placed signs all along the cafeteria-style line stating that the buffet was now closed. Additionally, they removed all the ladles and serving spoons from the food items.  Did that stop the late-arriving passengers from getting food? Absolutely not! In fact, it became almost a feeding frenzy as passengers were doing whatever they could to get some food. This included using their own little forks and spoons and dipping them into the food items, and then handing them to other passengers who arrived at the line without their own utensils. Some were using their hands to grab at the cakes and other dessert items. I even saw one man use his hands to tear off a couple of hunks of turkey from what remained of the bird. I was absolutely appalled. 

If I didn't know better I'd say Glory was still homeported in New Orleans, because those are exactly the kind of clientele Carnival attracts there, even moreso on the 4/5 nights sailings. 

35 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Hmm.  Do you just go the first night at either your assigned time or whenever ready and pick a table that way?  I liked it when you could claim what you wanted before the service started.

You can't walk in and pick a table. Period.  At least not until the upcoming MDR changes are effective.

At best you can ask for a table in a certain section or with a specific wait team, or a 2- or 4- top, or a table by a window, perhaps.  Just because you see a table empty (and even set) doesn't mean their's a wait team available to work it as soon you sit down. 

Once the upcoming MDR changes are effective and there is assigned dining agan, you can probably get your assigned table changed, but only to another table that's available, not to any table of your choosing. 

3 hours ago, lostsoulcruiser said:

If possible, consider booking the balcony guarantee category.  Carnival may not be showing all cabins available (My PVP told me that once, cannot confirm). Worst case is the cove balcony.

Most cruiselines won't let you book fewer people in a cabin than its maximum capacity (e.g , you can't put 1 or 2 people in a cabin that holds 3 or 4).  To see those open cabins, you have to search with 3 or 4 passengers.  Sometimes a cruise line agent can/will book you into those with fewer passengers than maximum capacity.

Sometimes (especially in off-peak periods) all 2-person cabins in a category are booked so you can only book 2 people into a guarantee (this sounds like OP's situation), and closer to sailing you'll be assigned to a 3- or 4- person cabin as the cruise line determines how many are not likely to be booked with 3 or 4 passengers. 

4 hours ago, CenTexan said:

Very helpful! Thanks. Is there any power or USB ports near bedside tables?

Definitely no USB ports.  Whatever the bedside lamps were plugged into I believe was behind the bed, so I didn't see if they were US or European outlets.  

If you can't get another bungalow under the other booking, maybe ask onboard if they will let you put 2 additional people (for a total of 8) for another $50 fee. Not sure if that will make it too cramped, but with 3 of the 8 being kids maybe that helps.

You'll probably have to go directly to the ShoreEx manager who can hopefully see the big picture and bend the riles to help right Princess' wrong, i.e. you tried to do the right thing and book two separate bungalows for a 8 people, only to have Princess cancel one without notifying you because you violated their unpublished rule.

47 minutes ago, nwo4life said:

Its a good chance there will be no S&S cards for non priority guests

On my last Carnival cruise, my S&S wasn't out went I dropped my bags, and I'm Diamond.

Seems to be very inconsistent among stewards... when I drop my bags before 1:30 some stewards have their entire sections' S&S cards out, while others don't have even their top tier Elites'  out.

5 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Crew members and passengers were disembarking,  but others were charged the $941? 

PVSA applies to transporting revenue passengers, therefore crew members signing off in a US port (if they happened to have signed on in a different US port without a distant foreign port stop during their contract) wouldn't be subject to a fine.

On 4/24/2024 at 5:30 PM, artvlay said:

Is one token sufficient for an average load to either wash or dry?

The dryers are hit and miss.  Some of them don't get quite hot enough so you either have to run a second cycle or air dry damp clothes in your cabin. 

Port side is nonsmoking.  On the other side of the bar, more starboard, is the smoking section.

19 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

Yes, but the cruise line will pass the fine on to the passenger. 

Again, in the case of a medical debarkation, it's very possible that immigration will waive the fine.

My post was abundantly clear.  CBP levies the fines against the cruise line, and the cruise line collects it from the passenger.

4 minutes ago, glhman52 said:

It is indeed $941. US dollars And if not paid, no disembarkment for a US citizen who boarded the ship in US and disembarked in US.  Immigration gets involved. 

The fine is levied against the cruise line, not the passenger. 

If anyone is preventing a passenger from disembarking until the fine is paid, it's the cruise line doing so either because the passenger was paying their onboard account in cash or because the credit card they were using was denied when the cruise line tried to charge additional pre-authorizations.

2 hours ago, icft said:

Since covid folks have said they have gotten offers even though they don't gamble.

That was primarily right after the restart when ships were sailing nowhere close to full and the cruise lines were doing anything they could to get any warm body onboard.  

Now that demand is at or above pre-COVID levels you don't hear non-gamblers say they're getting casino offers (at least the better offers like comped cruises).

2 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Last I knew the ADA banned inquiry of needs.

That's overly broad.  A cruise line "shall not impose or apply eligibility criteria that screen out or tend to screen out an individual with a disability or any class of individuals with disabilities," but if they can't ask at all about someone's needs how are they supposed to provide an accessible cabin that meets their needs?

Not being able to ask about someone's needs is completely counterproductive to making reasonable accommodations to meet their needs, which is the whole point of the ADA.

It's on the back of the complimentary room service menu.

59 minutes ago, IUSteve said:

Calling the “customer service“ people was an infuriating waste of time, because those people respond to any question or complaint like robots who have been programmed to be as unhelpful as possible, robots who moreover do not speak understandable English.

 

Princess might run nice ships, but their bidding and customer service systems suck. 

Princess' upgrade process is outsourced to a third party (Plusgrade).  You're getting scripted, unhelpful answers because no one at Princess has direct control of or visibility to your upgrade bids, or direct control of the upgrade process on any sailing.

The bidding/upgrade process is to set up to be entirely online and automated, so it's not surprising when Princess employees tell you there's nothing they can do, because the process isn't meant to be manually manipulated or subject to Princess employees trying to figure out why you didn't get an upgrade but someone else did.

2 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

I know what you are saying, but I think it could be worded better. They are allowed, but the crew would need a different sort of visa which is more expensive. None of the major cruise lines seems to be willing to add this extra expense to allow a "cruise to nowhere". 

It's just not worth the extra expense and possibly longer processing time and scrutiny considering how few were scheduled even when they were allowed. The cruise lines pretty much only scheduled them when had a 2-3 open days before or after a repositioning or for example if a hurricane cut a scheduled cruise short.

4 hours ago, TRLD said:

Island does not have La Patisserie.  The old Sun and Star had those.  On the Island the morning coffee is at the Good Spirits Bar on 5.  Suspect Diamond does the same but unlike the Island  I have not been on it lately.

2 hours ago, suzyed said:

The one and only time we were on the Island Panama Canal they did have La Patisserie which wasn't much and they would put out trays of sandwiches and pastries.

2 hours ago, TRLD said:

Was on the Island last October for the Northern lights cruise. No IC no La Patisserie.  My understanding is that the La Patisserie was removed quite a while ago, probably when they converted the space on deck 5 to a bar..  The coral might have had one when it was first built since the old Sun, Star, Coral and Island were built about the same time.

It doesn't help that Princess' website still shows La Patisserie as a foodservice option on Island. 

3 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Talk about price gouging, my DW needed cough drops at the airport in Reykjavik. I finally found them and bought them charging in the local currency. When I got my cc bill, they were over $6 American money.😒  And they were not even individually wrapped and were all stuck together.

No different than toiletries or OTC meds or feminine products in a cruise shift gift shop.

7 hours ago, DUCHESSRN said:

Sat on plane in Dallas waiting to go to Portland over 3 hours to be told flight cancelled due to weather . Strange as other lines SW and Delta were taking off .

Southwest doesn't serve DFW (yet). 

If other airlines were taking off, your flight was likely cancelled because the weather delay caused to crew to no longer be legal to take off.

6 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

Take the best deal, Premier gifts are worth about $20 

Exactly. They've cut down on the number of events and giveaways on premier cruises while increasing the number of premier guests they'll book.  I'd much rather take a free interior with DOU Everywhere and several hundred dollars in freeplay on the same sailing vs. a free balcony and DOU in the casino only on a premier cruise, and that's exactly what I've been doing on my future bookings.  I'm trying Ultra to see if that's worth the opportunity cost of giving up better perks on other offers.

3 hours ago, Babyfin said:

Massages: Open cuts, abrasions or acne, hypersensitivity to heat, high blood pressure, recent operations, severe varicose veins, undiagnosed oedema, infectious skin diseases including conditions aggravated by moisture or heat, severe sunburn, chronic or inflamed back conditions, nerve damage, diabetes, pregnancy, auto-immune dysfunction.

Some of these exclusions are ridiculously conservative. At least a quarter of Carnival passengers (myself included) are probably diabetic, based on what you see at the buffet. Some people's diabetes is controlled with medicine, and not every diabetic has peripheral neuropathy or limbs rotting off. It certainly doesn't stop me from getting massages at home.

52 minutes ago, Sabalon said:

I actually wouldn't mind if they brought back the cruises-to-nowhere.

They're now officially prohibited from the US with the kind of visa that most mass market line crew possess.

18 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

The Island AND the Diamond do not have a dedicated space for the IC.  On the Diamond March 2023....they had a very small tray/selection of pastries on a table .... in the casino.  Really?  Really!  Not every day.  So random.

If it was in the casino, it was probably put their primarily for people gambling in the casino. Not that only gamblers could eat it, but probably not intended to be the "replacement" for IC. See below...

10 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

There is only a little tray at the Good Spirits a Sea Bar on Deck 5 where you can grab a small snack to eat. Really not comparable to the ICs on the other ships.

Same on Island last year. I didn't look closely, but saw soneone replacing the food in there while I was getting a drink at Good Spirits.  It looked to be primarily pre-made sandwiches.