BamaVol

What did people do before cars? Or antibiotics? Or spellcheck? Life was lived differently. And it wasn’t necessarily better. Before reliable internet was available on cruise ships, some people would have stayed home. How wonderful that reliable communication channels make the experience available to them now!

I don’t think an MDR breakfast for us has ever taken more than 45 minutes. We have had prompt service and the MDRs we’ve selected were never full. Never a problem with food temperature either. Sorry your experience was so different.

LOL. That reminds me of an odd moment last month on Sapphire. I was coming down the steps in the piazza and a woman approached me, asking me if I was wearing a brown belt and could she take a picture with her phone. I’m glad she explained that it was for a scavenger hunt. Or maybe it wasn’t …….

IIRC, it was fairly late in the afternoon on Sapphire Princess last month. 3? 4?

Good luck. Let us know so we can celebrate your success with you.

I’m no electrician, but wouldn’t you have to rewire every cabin to accomplish this? Maybe in any ship under construction or on the drawing board. I always have a spare card to slip into the slots in European hotel rooms.

Sea day Patter. Take your pick.

I have only ever purchased third party insurance. My understanding is that the 2 Princess insurance plans are 9% or 12% of the cost of the cruise. The higher level plan would add $144. Whatever you do, please don’t start a thread titled “Plus package price increase”.

Different situation, but when I reached the 30 days to go mark without success, I bumped my bids up a notch and heard within 24 hours.

First, let me say I’ve never walked in your shoes, I hope I never do and I’m sorry you are facing this challenge. True customer service feels like a thing of the past, especially when it comes to telephone representatives. I avoid them, and when I encounter a particularly bad one, I hang up and dial again. Cruising with Princess is more than a single phone call. Perhaps when you’ve calmed down, you’ll rethink this decision. If not, I hope you’ll overlook whatever shortcomings you encounter when dealing with your replacement line of choice and just enjoy the good times. I wish you a short and successful fight.

And an acknowledgment that YMMV. Others on the same cruise are reporting an internet that functions adequately for all that the OP wants to do. I too have an issue with thread titles that predict doom and gloom for all of humanity when the issue turns out to be limited to one cabin and one cruiser’s experience. It’s admirable to post warnings. But be very certain of what you’re posting.

For my wife: yoga, tai chi (if offered), line dancing (if offered). For me: walking the promenade, watching wife exercise, naturalist presentation (Alaska).

$75-100 for a 7 night cruise. Takes effect day 1. I’m paying for 2 cabins, 4 adults, so it’s $150-200 depending on which plan.

Easily avoided by waiting to order/pay until on board.

I was told the same thing by a dining room manager.

I’ve seen multiple non dairy milks there. I’m lactose intolerant but only have non-dairy milk on cereal or with iced coffee. So far, have avoided any milk while cruising.

I don’t think anyone is expected to complete a meal in the MDR in 60 minutes although it is possible. My meal is pre-ordered, we don’t eat dessert, don’t drink coffee after the meal, bring our own glass of wine to the table and Mrs BV eats only a main. So 60 minutes is doable for us. In this instance, there were 2 hostesses and one had sat a party at the table the other was holding for our 6 PM reservation. Had they skipped coffee and dessert, it might have been ready at 6 or perhaps shortly thereafter. So, it was likely a miscommunication issue. We did not have an issue the remainder of the cruise and always sat at that table at 6. The point I intended to make was that the MDR cannot guarantee that a table is available at a certain time unless they don’t fill it until you arrive. You can schedule using averages, even add a standard deviation, and there will still be times when people won’t get up from the table until they’re damn good and ready.

Is there a shortage of seating for events? I don’t spend time sitting unless there’s something to watch but I don’t like the idea of ships being remodeled to add cabins at the loss of public areas. We all know what happens when airlines add seats to aircraft. We fly for hours with our chins resting on our knees.

Even with reservations, there’s a risk. Last month on Sapphire, we showed up on time for a 6:00 pm reservation. The hostess apologized that “our table” wasn’t ready because the 5:00 people were lingering dessert and coffee. We agreed to come back in 30 minutes rather than take an inferior table and she held it for us. But I’m sure a 5:00 reservation would have been doable that night. I am verrrrrry nice to the crew that seats us in the MDR.

They do sell a variety of holders in addition to the free lanyard. If you are so inclined, you can shop for anything that holds an AirTag and it will work as well. You can also drop it in a pocket or purse and rarely have to fish it out (occasionally you might have to press it to a reader).

Find out all you can from people who actually used the insurance. Lots of companies can quote you an affordable premium. The measure of good insurance is how well they manage claims. This applies to all insurance: homeowners, auto, health, etc. I had to learn that the hard way.

There is a huge market of potential cruisers living in and around Orlando, especially during the winter. I also imagine the hope is that some folks will combine a cruise with an Orlando vacation. That would take a bucket load of money, so maybe that’s secondary. I certainly agree that FLL is incredibly convenient to the port and served by a decent selection of hotels for the night before. Twenty years ago, we would fly into FLL for a Miami cruise because it was cheaper and easier to deal with than MIA. I don’t know if that’s still true but it’s still a smaller city.

2024. It’s bookable right now.

I think it starts in November.

Our next Princess cruise isn’t until June. I’ll have forgotten everything I remember about embarkation at PE. We drive down the night before even though it’s only a 4 hour drive. I can’t wait until CB sails out of Port Canaveral. I would probably feel comfortable driving to the port on embarkation day. It’s under 2 hours.