beachys

Our arrival time has not yet been assigned.  We still Match 25th.

I know this is an old thread,  but I really appreciate the information.  We've cruised out of FLL, MIA and NYC and NYC is always chaos! This is our first cruse leaving from SD.

We have reservations to stay across the road at Springhill Suites, I had thought about changing them to the Gaslight district,  but after reading this I think I'll stick with what we've got. 

It looks like there are 2 ships in port on our embarkation day.  Will that effect people flow?

We will be on the Zaandam,  what time will the mdr be open until for lunch? I'm eager to get on board,  but not eager to wait in chaos. 

We have not been on an west coast cruise and I am looking for some recommendations for things to do at the different ports.  We love history and some of our favorite port days have been spent just wandering ports by foot and going to different historical places. Which one of the ports would be best suited to wandering on foot?  Which should we pick excursions?  Any must do things?  I'd love to see whales,  but we are going at the end of March,  so I understand that season would be coming to a close.  

Our ports are Cabo, Loreto, Pichilingue, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta. 

Thanks!  

I agree with the Seattle traffic,  but also at that time of day getting in to the airport can be awful.  

17 hours ago, crowbarman said:

Hi all,

 

On the website I see an offer to add Princess Plus for 50 bucks pp, but when I called the rep said that they had to remove our discounted casino reservation to apply it.   Anyone heard of such a thing?  The lady on the phone says that her system only let's her apply one code and she has to remove the reservation discount.  When we did that it added 700 extra dollars to the cost of the plus upgrade. 

 

Any tips?  This is for 15 day Panama, leaving Dec 18 on Emerald.  Thanks so much! 

Yes,  we were told that it cannot be applied to casino or other such discounted offers. 

Looking for recommendations on climbing excursions or tour operators. We've got both experienced and novice climbers. 

In Lieu of filing a credit card dispute I filed a complaint with my states Consumer Protection agency. I had a refund within a week!

1 hour ago, TNTLAMB said:

I'm involved (indirectly) As you prolly know the Saudi govt bought 8% of CCL a few months back and is making some demands as they bought a bit early making their "Uber experience" look good.

Well... that would be disappointing as my family loves private islands.

We will survive either way; maybe the replacement port will be better!

So Adults only area on Princess Cay is private? 

We want to get a Clamshell at Princess Cays; however when booking online you cannot specify the beach.  Do they rent clamshells for the adults only Sanctuary beach?

2 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

I think it depends on which suite you are considering. The Pinnacle Suites on HAL are amazing with superb service. The service for Penthouse and Neptune are pretty similar with priority boarding, special suite restaurant for breakfast, concierge lounge, etc... Princess offers a seperate dining area for suite passengers whereas HAL assigns you a nice table and will seat you in a preferred location, but does not have a seperate dining area for suite passengers. HAL does offer suite passengers special seating for shows. Princess does not do that unless you stay in the new Sky Suites.

 

Here is is a video of the HAL PS on the Nieuw Amsterdam. Amazing experience! Perhaps the New suites on the new Princess ships will compare. 

 

 

 

Thanks for the video!  I've googled and watched a lot, but did not see that one. 

The ships I'm considering are Grand and Royal Princess and Nordam and Westerdam for our one way options.    If we are doing round trip it's between Ruby Princess and Koningsdam.

I posted this in the HAL forum, but thought I'd cross post it as well. 

Looking for some opinions and yes I do realize that it may vary by person.   We are doing Alaska in July/August of 2020 and the two lines we are considering are Princess and Holland America.  I've been on neither of these lines.   We are going to get a suite and we are just trying to decide which line to choose.  Along those lines who do you think does suite class better? and why?   I tried to search this topic, but I couldn't find any answers from people who had actually done both.

I'm not considering NCL nor RCCL. I've been on both and not interested in them for this trip.  

The ships I'm considering are Grand and Royal Princess and Nordam and Westerdam for our one way options. 

If we are doing round trip it's between Ruby Princess and Koningsdam.

Looking for some opinions and yes I do realize that it may vary by person.

We are doing Alaska in July/August of 2020 and the two lines we are considering are Princess and Holland America.  I've been on neither of these lines.

We are going to get a suite and we are just trying to decide which line to choose.  Along those lines who do you think does suite class better? and why?

I tried to search this topic, but I couldn't find any answers from people who had actually done both.

I actually did this and booked connecting rooms.  

Funny thing, none showed available on line. I used multiple websites, Royal and other big travel sites.  

So I called an online site that I used in the past. Mentioned to the gal that I really wanted connecting rooms and they had a lot available.  They had rooms that didn't appear on their website, but they hold back for their phone customers.  I don't know why they do this. 

The PRICE was good and the hooked me LINE and sinker.

I'd recommend giving online travel sites a call.  It worked for me. 

Was one formal night more formal than the other?  The last time we cruised with two formal nights the second one was more formal. 

Thanks! 

Thanks for your review!  We sail Harmony in January and this is making the wait more bearable.

That's definitely not the Ocean Blue Menu we had on the Breakaway! It had both lobster,  king and snow crab legs and plenty of other seafood options. 

Good morning!  I may have missed it, but what tour company did you use in San Juan?  We will be there in January for the first time and have a group of us so a van would be great!  

We had one and it gave us more balcony room,  but I would take a mini suite over an angled balcony because I valued the larger bathroom. 

It depends on the NCL ship as to whether your wife will have issues even if all the policies are enforced.  Smoking is allowed on the starboard side waterfront bar on the Breakaway class ships,  plus the casino smoking can permeate several areas on these ships too.  

I had major issues on both the Breakaway and Getaway, but not on the Gem. 

I've not yet been on Royal,  first cruise is soon!  Anyhow my go to drinks when we have the drink package is a mimosa first thing in the a.m. and also bellinis! The rest of the day depends on the cruise.  When going out of New York City in December it was anything hot, when cruising the caribbean in June or September I'm trying all the frozen drinks.  I love to try the drink of the day! Best part is trying drinks and just getting a new one if I didn't like it.  

We just stayed in the Havana Area on the Vista. No kids at all.  In fact very few people.  If you like Carnival this is an adult's (over 12) pool and area option. 

My passport took 3 months to renew and the hubby took 8 weeks. Time can vary.