ididrtmhonest

I would never wait this late to look for a hotel. When did you book the cruise? I always book the hotel as soon as I book the cruise. Generally they do not require that you pay in advance

Well, the whole cruise thing is kinda cobbled up. My husband actually listened to a sales call one Sunday afternoon about 3 years ago. For a set amount we could get a cruise for 2 and a separate week long resort vacation. We could have gone sooner but we wanted to save up. We booked the cruise last October, I think. We did not really enjoy the high pressure to book all the other things so we dug in our heels and said we would get the rest as needed. Time flies and suddenly the snow is melting and we realize we have some work to do... :eek:

I think if the U.S. Open wasn't in town, it would not have been such a big deal to finish up the details a month out. Ah well, live and learn.

Thank goodness for CC because I have learned far more about the nitty-gritty of cruising here than on the Princess site. We might actually pull it off.

As for the resort vacation - New Orleans in late winter will be heavenly compared to Minnesota!:D

Just a heads up, especially for new cruisers (like me). We are leaving June 13 for Alaska and decided to add a couple days in Seattle on either side of the cruise.

We started researching activities and accommodations almost 2 weeks ago and decided to book last night. Prices have been steadily increasing and took a good jump yesterday - the hotel I thought was nearly perfect went from $98 to $270+ per night in less than 24 hours. Availability of choice hotels (in terms of location, cost, and amenities) is going down. There are still plenty but I would not waste time finalizing your plans. When I made my final booking, the local customer service rep said that not only was it peak cruise season but there is some sort of big golf event in town (I am not a golfer; please don't hate me. :D )

Our first cruise is next month and I am already scheming on how to get another one. OBC could be a nice perk.:cool:

Bring your own!

I will likely have to, by the sounds of things. I am surprised they don't have at least a couple, given that they have other sugar-free items on the menu.

The ones that you get added at coffee shops and the ones my DH is practically addicted to.

We use the sugar-free Torani but there are several brands.

Judging from various posts on CC, the syrup used to actually make the coffee for the dining venues is frequently held in low esteem. :eek: So we decided to get coffee cards but now I am wondering if I will need to find small bottles of our favorite flavors and have them in our cabin.

I often have a flavored latte instead of dessert - it satisfies my sweet tooth without being quite so high in sugar. I have almost given up diet pop but I am not willing to totally forgo my coffee treat. :D

After reading some related posts, it looked like there were no options for sugar-free coffee syrups as of last fall on the Crown Princess. Has this changed? I did see a post from this winter that another Princess ship offered 2 different options.

Thanks.

i know it gets old to answer the same questions repeatedly, so I promise I try to do at least a little searching first. I think I did run across the answer to the drink package question shortly after posting, but not the other questions.

Regarding the drink package, somebody went above and beyond and created a spreadsheet to evaluate your options - search for "evaluator". I also read one person's advice to wait until the first full day to order package but I don't understand why if it has to be purchased for the entire cruise.

I really appreciate the low down on cabin and venue temperatures. I hate sleeping in warm, stuffy rooms and I am concerned that the inside cabin won't have enough ventilation.

We booked our excursions yesterday and went a little crazy so I have to watch my P's and Q's. I have run completely through the personalizer and was about 3 clicks deep into the spa services without seeing a price. I have seen price lists for all sorts of gifts, wine, and other goodies, I don't understand why one isn't available for the spa. Good to know there is a way to cancel. $115 for an hour massage is not that much more than the going rate at the fancy places, near where I live. Needless to say, I have to have a special reason to splurge. I think 30 years qualifies as special. :)

We will be on a 7 day cruise, leaving on June 13. This is our first cruise and I haven't been able to find answers to all my questions, despite CC being such a wonderful resource.

I haven't been able to find the price list for all the various wonderful-sounding spa services. I hope it isn't like calories in a desert - if you have to ask, you can't have it. I have been picking up extra hours at work to cover my extras on this cruise so I don't want to be caught short. I would ideally like to include my daughter for a facial or something too. Can anyone give me a ballpark for an hour-long massage? I know you can use the cruise personalized to book services but I have gone 3 or 4 clicks in and still haven't seen prices. I don't like buying blind!

I am still trying to decide which clothes to pack for both the excursions and on the ship. I know we need good rain coats and layers for the excursions. What is the temperature regulation like in the inside cabins and in the public areas?

Can you purchase the all-inclusive drink package for only part of the week? We will be celebrating an anniversary and I could see us getting our money's worth that day but probably not the other days.

Thanks in advance for advice and information.

This is absolutely not drydock-specific. At most, installing new wireless access points might be done during dry/wetdock to make it easier to open up the ceiling tiles from the mounting location back to the wiring closet, but that too could be done underway. The messaging service would be something they'd load on a server. They could do that while in port, and then enable it on the fly.

No, it would not have to be done in drydock but if it did require new wiring and/or new access points in order to make the software happy, I know from experience that it is easier and faster to do that kind of work without extra pedestrians and "supervisors". Good to know it is more a matter of updating the web page info to include the Crown as one of the ships with that feature.

Thanks to everyone who answered my question. This one, in particular, had been bugging me so I am happy to lay it to rest. :cool:

Now I can go research my other 99 questions. :D

What is the likelihood that the upgrades will include the Princess @ Sea messaging service? According to the Princess website yesterday, the Crown does not currently have this feature. My family will be on the Crown to Alaska next month and we are really hoping for a way to communicate amongst ourselves if we are off pursuing our individual interests.