abbydancer2003

Oh dear, we have a 9:30-something flight out on a Sunday on our cruise from the royal. We'll try to be the first off the ship. Does FLL have TSA precheck? That might help.

We booked it because we saved a lot of money, and the airline I agent I booked with told me it was doable. (she said she's done it, she lives in Florida)

We also can just take a later flight if needed.

I seem to remember, though, the other time we cruised out of there we took the princess shuttle to Miami airport and were there before 10:00, so a cab to fll may work.

Thanks for doing a "live" thread - we're on for the Caribbean maiden, and I'm excited to learn about the ship.

Bon Voyage, have a blast and give Craig and Barb a hello from me.

I think that is the name of the new pastry shop added after dry dock. It is on Plaza deck in the atrium. Can casino smoke be smelled here? Reports are that the library is now smokey, but given its new location, this is no surprise.

I was on the first cruise after the dry dock. The only place in the atrium I could smell smoke was near the Passenger Services area. The casino is on 6, the IC on 5.

And nowhere in the atrium was it smokey - just the odor.

I'm currently on the Sapphire, and wanted to share my observations.

First, I'm on Caribe deck and I'm loving my balcony. We've been lucky in that we've never really had smokers around that I can remember, but we are happy we can enjoy enjoy it without worrying. We're on the port side, and have not noticed anything from below, and just music from above.

Our TA has a note to book future cruises, where we're often on Aloha and Baja on the Starboard side.

I have one FB friend who is a smoker and she's mostly annoyed, and says she'll never book Princess again. Her biggest issues are about what if she wants a smoke in the middle of the night. I did ask what happens when all lines go this route, and she says she'll stop cruising.

We spend a lot of time on open decks. When we do late night walks around the promenade there is almost nobody on either side, so we'll walk on the port side. During the day, as we approach the port side we'll see how many people we see smoking and if it's one or two, we'll walk it (and either smile or ignore them - it's their right to smoke there), and if not we'll go back the other way. On the upper decks we tend to stay on the Starboard side.

At the deck party, the band and the line dances were on the smoking side, and it was too smokey for us to participate. I might in my comments suggest that they do the dances on the other side. ( I don't think the band can move).

One thing I did notice on the Starboard side of the Promenade deck was prominent no smoking signs. I've always thought they should have been there in the past (smokers would smoke on that side, even though we asked them not to and told them it was was the NS side), so was glad to see them.

So that's the state of the Sapphire. I haven't been in the casino, so can't comment. There is a slight odor on that side of the pursurs office.

The only problem I'd see for using a punch for brewed coffee or tea is that the cost of the drink is less than the cost of a punch. That's why I suggested earlier that maybe they should give you 2 or 3 in exchange for a punch.

We're doing a two week cruise in February, and we've got about 4 partially punched cards (thanks to the bogo offers). I drink a lot of brewed. So maybe we'll buy a new card for that cruise so I can drink brewed for 2 weeks, and then use up our other cards on the short cruises where I may only have one or two brewed.

My husband drinks the specialty coffees, so that's how all the old cards will get used up.

To play devil's advocate - when we bought the coffee cards, we bought 15 specialty drinks and unlimited brewed coffee. The brewed coffee was part of the sales pitch, so they are technically reducing the value of the card.

Maybe they should, if you have an old card, give you a coupon for a few brewed. Or, maybe give you 3 brewed coffees for a punch or something.

We took the tour on the Star last year. No funnel either. It was worth it to us - although the chef's jackets are still in their protective plastic.

A highlight for us was the stage, as we danced on it for a minute or two. We're kind of collecting stages to dance on. (We once did a backstage tour of the Lion King on Broadway and danced on that stage. This year we danced on stage at Disneyland - for an audience!).

I think the gratuities referred to are casino tips - not the hotel charge.