vmom

In July 2017, there was a long line at the port for taxis to the airport. I think we waited in line about 45 minutes. That said, we all eventually got a taxi and we all eventually made it to the hotel or airport. The line was orderly and very well organized.

We tried to help things out a bit by sharing a taxi with two other people, thus splitting the cost and also making it so one less taxi was needed. Believe it or not we got 4 people, 4 large bags and 4 small carryons in one little taxi.

If you are worried about missing a flight or possibly waiting in line, then book a Princess transfer. If you have the time and don't mind a possible wait, then go for the taxi.

I was on the Coral ...same itinerary, same dates except the Coral left Dec 6th from LA went through the Canal (full transit) and arrived in Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 21st.

I had a fabulous cruise, but agree on several points. Frankly if you cruise as often as you say you do, you should have expected some of the issues you complained about.

Cruise was 15 days, with boarding on a Wed.(12/6) and 15 days later, ending on a Thursday (12/21) . Being that it was a 15 day cruise and with the dates it meant that almost everyone had to be retired to go on this cruise or be able to take off 3 weeks off from work. hence...older passengers.

Demographics were older than any cruise I have ever been on before. Many many wheelchairs and scooters. Very few people under 65 years with most over 70.

Frankly I am very surprised that you didn't anticipate this. You can not judge Princess demographics by this particular cruise.

That said, I had a fantastic time even tho I was one of the younger passengers on board. Most of the fellow passengers were well traveled and very interesting. Loved many of the stories and humor.

Ok...with an older passenger base, there is consequently a greater demand for early seating and early show. I agree that for the first show at 7:30, you had to be at the theater 30 minutes early. I also agree that there was a long line to get into the dining room early. Pagers were passed out by around 5:40 or so.

However...we adapted by going to the later show at 9:30. There were many seats available right up until show time. You could have walked in at 9:31 and found seats together.

We found that there were plenty of seats available in the dining room by around 7:00-7:15 so we adjusted and went to the dining room at 7:15. We were always out by 8:30 in time to make the trivia games and then went to the later show in the theater.

All that said, I think the Island's issues are exasperated by the lack of the Universe Lounge. The Coral still has the Universe Lounge and there were often shows in that lounge, thus spreading out the number of passengers in any one area looking for entertainment.

I would suggest any future cruises you decide to take, you try out one of the other ships that handles the movements of the crowds better. Maybe the Royal or Regal?

The "upper level" is just the balcony that looks downward into the stage area to increase seating for shows

Without a coffee card I think Princess has the worst coffee on the high seas...& we love cruising Princess!!

I would have agreed that both Princess and RCCL have horrible coffee until my recent cruise on the Coral in December. I was very surprised at how much the coffee in the buffet had improved.

Look for the Access Points

 

DSC_3063 by Howard

 

Howard

Good to know. Thanks!

I found the wifi varied according to where you were in the ship. It was weak in our stateroom.

I got strong signal while sitting out on the promenade on deck 7. Also the signal was good if I sat in one of the centrally located lounges midship decks 5, 6, 7, 8.

I think it was fine for checking email, misc browsing etc. Not good for downloading books on Ipad or kindle.

I just got off the Coral. I think the free coffee has significantly improved.

I buy a coffee card because I enjoy a cappuccino in the morning. If you are interested in just regular coffee, try the free stuff first and see how you like it.

I use a luggage cover from a company called coverlugg. I purchased them from coverlugg.com. ( prices are significantly higher on other sites. ). No photo pictures. A variety of attractive designs offered on their site. Prices are very reasonable. I paid $9.99 per cover. I don't know if they are still in business.

I've been using the covers for several years and frequently have people stop me to ask where they can purchase one.

Reasons I enjoy using a luggage cover: I've had a large slash through the luggage material when luggage was delivered to my cabin at the beginning of a cruise (not cheap luggage). On another cruise, I was traveling with a friend who used distinctive red luggage. Her luggage was claimed by another cruise passenger before she got off the ship. The person who took the luggage discovered the mistake at the airport when checking in. By the time the luggage was returned to the port, 90 minutes had passed and she almost missed her flight. I also go on land tours along with cruises and the luggage cover makes it easy and quick to pick out my luggage from the others in the group. The luggage cover is thick but not heavy, so it also helps to keep the luggage clean and dry. It also offers a bit of extra security.

I don't think I would be comfortable using a luggage cover with my face. Maybe my dog's face, but not mine. That said, I think your covers are unique.

You don't mention anything about yourself...your age? Who you would be traveling with? interest in activities or nightlife? Have you cruised before?

A cruise ship is both a destination in itself and transportation to different ports. Both are important to consider.

If you are younger than 40 and a new to cruising...go with a Caribbean cruise. Its a good introduction to cruising and offers something for everyone. Caribbean cruises usually attract passengers of a variety of ages and offer a variety of activities. .

I just got off a full transit Panama Canal cruise and it was great...but it was a 15 day cruise and most of the fellow passengers were older (65+) and although there were many nighttime activities offered, there were not many passengers out and about after about 8:30. Very few passengers under the age of 60.

I've done 3 Alaskan cruises and loved each one. If you decide not to go on the Caribbean this would be my second choice, but not past mid September so I don't know if that will fit into your schedule.

I frankly enjoy cruising more than one cruise line. Each has something special to offer and variety adds interest. If you like RCCL, I think you would enjoy Princess. Younger children, teens and twenties might enjoy some of the more active activities that RCCL offers.

Princess started this process because passengers would book 2-3 excursions per port day and cancel the unused ones. This caused many problems with the vendors that provide the shore excursions.

 

 

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Its always the few who abuse a policy that results in changes which are inconvenient for the rest of us. Shame on those few who abused the system without consideration for the vendors.

To get the onboard credit, should I call Princess directly, or should I call my travel agency to make the request?

I've never noticed any discounts on specialty dining offered the first day. There may be discounts offered that I haven't noticed.

I would choose the Coral also. Fewer passengers means more open viewing areas. I've cruised the Coral to Alaska and through the Panama Canal. Its a great ship. It has a great aft viewing area that most people don't know about.

There is a covered, enclosed pool.

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Very good info, thanks everyone. We're on this FLL - LAX version of this cruise, leaving 1/20/18. We're also in Club Class and I'm very interested in the Club Class food in the MDR. Your feedback on it was very promising. I will be sure to read the review.

 

Which nights were the formal nights? If I recall correctly, there are three of them.

 

Thanks again for the great info!

Club class will have the same menu with the exception of one special pasta dish. We were not in club class but one night, few diners came to the MDR (rough seas one night) and they were offering the special pasta dish to anyone interested. It was delicious. In Club Class dining, you won't have to worry about the early lines for the MDR.

There are 3 formal nights. Since we were on the LA to FLL route, I'm not sure which they will be on your cruise but they will likely be the first sea day and not sure which other sea days. By the third formal night, people were not dressing up as much as they did for the first two. The second formal night had the surf and turf option and the third formal night had beef wellington on the menu.

I was able to transfer future cruise deposits/credits from my husband's account to my account when he died. I was told at that time, that Future cruise deposits are not transferrable to another person with the exception of from one spouse to another upon death of the spouse.

When my DH passed, I was given the choice of being sent a check for the FCC or to have them transferred to my name.

You can call Princess and ask. Its worth a phone call.

It seems like Princess is re-thinking their policies about FCC, so the rules may have changed.

Please call and let us know what you've learned.

I just got off of the Coral Princess on Dec. 21st.

I had the same experience. I was told that I could purchase Future cruise credits for anyone who had cruised with Princess before and they did not have to be with me on the cruise. This is Princess USA, not Princess Australia.

I don't know if this is a temporary promotion to increase sales or a permanent change in policy.

Other observations: I food the food in the MDR to be very good with the exception of the steak during the first week which was dry and overcooked. I had ordered it med. rare and it was served medium to medium well. I should have sent it back. Fish and seafood entrees were consistently excellent. Desserts were good, but not great.

Food in the buffet for dinner was disappointing. I found the meats to be overcooked, even the meats in the carving station. This may have been improved for anyone going to the buffet later in the evening, but my guess is that early on for dinner, the entrees had been sitting awhile before the dinner time was opened for service.

Food in the International Café was very good.

I found the weather to be on the humid side. Cartagena was 90 degrees with 88% humidity the day we were there. We were told that typical humidity levels are closer to 68%. Other than that, the weather was sunny with only one storm at night. We were not able to tender in Nicaragua due to high winds, which was disappointing but understandable. Most port days the temps were in the upper 80's.

I thought there was a nice variety of movies. I enjoyed watching Wonder Woman outside on the upper deck. We watched a few movies in the stateroom. I heard a few complaints from other passengers that there were too many modern action movies shown in the evenings on the upper decks, but I didn't agree. The movies that were shown were the movies that had been more recently released.

Returned from the Coral full transit 12/6 through 12/21 cruise.

I had an excellent time.

Singers and dancers were particularly good this cruise and I enjoyed all the production shows except for the special Christmas show ( which was way too slow). Encore was particularly good.

This cruise, there were a lot of older passengers (older than typical which I guessed was related the dates of sailing), consequently, the anytime dining was filled to capacity earlier than usual.

Anytime dining room opened at 5:00 pm to compensate. They were usually passing out pagers by 5:45, earlier for formal nights. However, there were typically many seats available by around 7:00-7:15. The staff tried very hard to get those early diners out early so they could bring in another seating. After the first few nights, we started getting a mid afternoon snack and then went to the anytime dining around 7:15 and were typically seated immediately or almost immediately.

The 7:30 show was filled up very early. There were typically plenty of seats available up to show time for the 9:30 show. We almost passed up going to the magician's show, but talked to someone who recommended it. Glad we went. It was a combo magic / comedy show and was very entertaining. Overall I found the entertainment to be very good.

You can order 2 specialty coffees that require a punch but I thought for the brewed unlimited coffee it was one coffee at a time.

I know this has been asked before but after a lengthy search i can't find the answers.

I am cruising with a friend who lives in a different part of the country. We may end up arriving at the port at different times. Can we check into our cabin separately at different times or does the first one to arrive need to wait?

Thank you for your help.

I agree with the others, On the toddlers it would be fine. On the adults-tacky.

Further, the other adults might enjoy the idea of dressing up and might be disappointed in your suggestion that they should wear a t-shirt. The women might seem to go along with it just because they don't want to hurt your feelings. Save the cute t-shirt idea for a family party at home.

I love cruising and I have particularly enjoyed cruises of 12 days. Longer cruises do tend to attract a slightly older passenger base.

If you've already done one Alaskan seven-day cruise that you enjoyed why not do another Alaskan cruise with a slightly different itinerary. If your last one was round trip from Seattle then do one from either Vancouver to the Anchorage area or vice versa northbound or southbound. Or better yet if you like the idea of a longer cruise why not do back-to-back Vancouver northbound and then stay on the ship with the seven-day southbound. That would be 14 days and would be terrific.

Great review. Thanks for the excellent details. I'm planning a similar cruise and your information is very helpful.