Torfamm

18 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

We cancelled a Alaska cruise from San Francisco  because there were no Primcess people that could help us . Many phone inquiries are directed off shore to the Phillipines & although nice people they do not have knowledge when it pertains  to parking & transport conncetions for Handicapped people 

 

 In general we found that there is inadequate cruise parking structures & then transport to the ship on pier 27 Embarcadero . Thus ,we won't drive from San Diego to San Francisco with hotel ,meal & das expenses which are quite high to a city that has inadequate parking for cruises . It is a shame that such a beautiful city has such bad   accommodations in their parking structures & then extremely high parking prices . 

 

 In general ,we see this lack of parking a determent to the future of cruises starting from San Francisco 

If you must drive, one option is renting a car for a day at departure and return and not having to worry about parking it. 
 

As for information on parking facilities, it’s generally the port that has the most accurate information available rather than individual cruise lines. I assume you checked their website and the homeport board here on Cruise Critic? 

Caesar salad is on the menu in the MDR at dinner and available in the buffet as well. Give it a try and see what you think. In the MDR, you have to ask for anchovies 

59 minutes ago, jshli said:

Thank you everyone who have been so helpful in answering my questions as this is my first Princess cruise.

If my cruise docks at Fort Lauderdale at 6AM, would an 11AM flight be realistic if I have priority disembarkation?

Assuming the ship is cleared in a timely manner it should be fine. Disembarkation for walk-off passengers carrying their own luggage can start as early as 6:30. We have been as late as 9:40 for the first walk-off though once when clearance was delayed. 

Are you flying domestic or international? Do you have bags to check? Do you have TSA pre-check? 

1 hour ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Am a bit skeptical that everything will:

 

Be in place on June 17th

The app will work properly on the 17th.

The app will be able to handle the hundreds of thousands of dinner reservations. 

How many booked, but before final.payment will be frustrated that day.

Communicated by Princess before thec17th in an email to every TA, CVP and passenger exactly how to navigate the new procedure.

My concern is that moving to a single dining room for daily reservations will make it very difficult to make a booking at popular times like 7:00 or 7:30.  Of course, I’m out of luck since I’ll be on a cruise so blocked from managing any future sailings 😡

10 hours ago, Cafabi said:

Thanks. I have been searching high and low all afternoon. The different sites start out looking promising, but once I put in the number of people (3) and date (June 6), everything evaporates. Waiting to hear back from one tour company that might be sitting on some tickets.

I can recommend Lunae Tours if you want to reach out to individual tour companies in the area. No idea if they’ll have tickets but I used them for a private tour to the Cinque Terre from Genoa last summer and they were terrific

lunaetours.com

6 hours ago, gizfish said:

How comfortable or uncomfortable is the bed.  My past experience is princess is worst then rccl then msc with ncl regular rooms and haven more comfortable than any other bed anywhere other than my own.  I'm hoping princess is better now?

Most people think the beds are very, very comfortable. We both really like the beds on Enchanted.

I agree with you, it’s not that special. I love veal chops and they aren’t available everywhere so I enjoy that but nothing else really ever impresses me

5 minutes ago, swjumbo said:

We found the Royal class ship layout very confusing despite being 55 & 40 something.

Take 5, a Jazz venue is on deck 7! why?

Funny, I never thought about the deck number for Fiesta being confusing. (Take 5 refers to the jazz standard by Dave Brubeck, not the location.) It's on deck 6 probably because it's the only spot where they could fit a space with walls and doors.  My pet peeve about those ships is that the bar spaces all feel like I'm in a hotel lobby or train station.

1 hour ago, Sea Hag said:

I'm possibly the only person who feels this way, but I actually like coming home from a trip with all dirty laundry. That gives me the opportunity to have a full day of decompressing with a low-key, useful activity. 

I'd be happy to help by inviting you over anytime!!!! 

1 hour ago, no1talks said:

 

We've not been on a Princess cruise. My wife and I are MSC fans and we are curious about the medallion system.

 

How are the delivery times? Drinks still fresh and food still hot? Thank you.

It haven't had any problem. Delivery time can vary but I think that's also true when ordering drinks from a server or if you consider the time you might spend standing and waiting your turn at the bar. We most often order coffees in the morning. On our last cruise we had it at our cabin in under 10 minutes.  I definitely wouldn't worry about cold drinks, it's well worth giving it a try.

8 minutes ago, memoak said:

Why do you think you should get free drinks you already have a mini bar for free. I have cruised Princess for over 30 years and this has never been the case

I’d much rather have free drinks for a couple of hours a day than the mini-bar. Trading it out for what you want is a nuisance for room service as well as guests. A discount on the Plus package or an OBC would be even better 😉

Princess has self-service laundry which is great on longer trips as well as much larger closets. 
 

The ability to order food and drinks wherever you are is a huge plus with their medallion technology. I also like being able to find other members of my party.

Chatting with guest services in the app can also be a big time saver 

We’ve used the DoubleTree and were happy with it. They have a shuttle to the cruise port. You can book a space on it at check-in

2 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

Four days to go! I managed to get a few cruise prep tasks accomplished last night. I charged up my Kindle and downloaded my latest books. I ran Windows Updates on my Microsoft Surface, which I only use when I travel, so it hadn't been updated since my last cruise in February. And, I packed all my medications and the toiletries that I could. I still have some toiletries that will need to be packed at the last minute.

 

Today I plan to get to the bank to get cash out, since I didn't accomplish that yesterday. I also need to buy my Princess Gift Cards from AARP to use for my casino spending. I want to buy them today, since it's the last day of the month and I will need to buy more to make final payment on our August cruise if we intend to go on that. You can only buy five per month, so I want to save my May five for that sailing.

 

We have trivia tonight, so I don't imagine I will get much more done tonight. I will really have to kick it into high gear tomorrow!

In case you hadn’t thought of it, your husband can also buy five gift cards each month.

As long as you meet the standard for smart casual nights you can be sure of being able to eat in the MDR. Princess requests that people adhere to the formal night dress code, but it is not required. 

19 minutes ago, NRWPA said:

 

I haven't read all the comments, so someone may have already given you this tip: take duct tape to put a small piece over the sensor for the "nightlight" - I can't believe anyone likes that spotlight glaring in your face when you're half awake. I do the duct tape thing every Princess cruise since they installed those lights

 

I hate those lights too. I always wrapped some painters tape around an old gift card and packed it. It works very well and is much less likely to damage surfaces than duct tape.

Last cruise on the Enchanted though, I put two magnetic hooks on the ceiling on either side of the closet light and used them to hold a black surgical mask in front of the sensor every night. It worked better for me since I like the light to function when we aren’t sleeping. Putting the mask up was easier for me than retaping every night.

2 minutes ago, Torfamm said:

 

2 hours ago, MacMadame said:

No.

 

I'm one of those people and dh and I are discussing what we want to do but we are leaning towards Anytime Dining. I wouldn't be happy to just be moved to TD at 5:00.

But you’re already booked for 5:00 every night? What would be different if it was in the traditional dining room? Are you sharing a table but don’t want to be with the same people every night or is it that you want a specific dining room?

In any case, you’d have the same opportunity to rebook on June 17 that you do now or of course just cancel.

5 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I hear you, but I have to laugh at the thought of the IT team trying to successfully program which res to delete, keep, or change.  Far easier to wipe the slate clean and have everyone start over.

 

Won't be surprised if DMW crashes from overload when the reservations re-open, however. 

I’m feeling pretty confident that there will not be enough spaces in the dining room for individual reservations to accommodate the demand. 

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

I believe all reservations will be flushed in due course.  PCL will not know how many of those with reservations will elect TD versus re-booking their same reservations.

I think it’s very possible that those who are booked every night for the earliest times are very likely to move to traditional dining. Just moving them there might make sense.

On the other hand why they think that people who reserved for 7:00 would no longer want to eat at 7;00 baffles me.

i would have left all reservations not at the early or late TD times stand, only moving them to the appropriate dining room, then let those who want some different re-book. My guess is that the problem is that they have more reservations booked at those middle times than can now be accommodated. 

Just now, JamieLogical said:

 

Yeah... not many people I know are 5'5" and 120 pounds. I think for those of us who are much bigger than that, the showers simply cannot work. At least on the older ships. It looks like the Royal class ships might have *slightly* bigger and better configured showers?

I can’t say I notice a difference in the size of the showers between the ships but the cloth shower curtains are much better than the plastic ones were.
 

As for really tall people, I absolutely understand. A close friend is 6’7” and really doesn’t fit well in those showers. He only sails in mini-suites and up over it.  
 

My reservations are still there for sailings in October, January, and February. All are paid in full. I find the fact that they are cancelling all reservations rather than just moving them to the dining room for advance reservations incredibly frustrating. I wonder if they know that they have more reservations than they can accommodate?

10 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I was hoping to avoid another intimate relationship with a shower curtain. Wouldn't want my old shower curtain on the Emerald to get jealous! That's why we were determined to book a mini-suite for this sailing. Even with the tub, the bathrooms in the minisuite still seem really tight to me, but we will see how it works out.

 

I had a coworker go on the Caribbean Princess for her first cruise a couple of weeks ago in a normal balcony and all she could talk about was how tiny the bathroom was and how terrible the shower curtain was. I had tried to warn her ahead of time, but I don't think she believed me about how bad it would be until she saw for herself. I have another coworker doing her first cruise in July to Alaska on (I think?) the Ruby Princess and she is in an inside room with her family of four! I cannot imagine trying to share one of those teeny tiny bathrooms with three other people. I told her the tip about showering at the spa and she is planning to do that and leave the stateroom bathroom to her husband and kids.

I know it doesn’t work for you, but the regular showers are okay for lots of people. She may be just fine unless someone actually needs to be in the shower with the kids. I can imagine it being pretty difficult with a toddler who can’t shower alone.

Are you parked at the terminal or getting a taxi? Domestic or international, checking bags, pre-check? At a minimum, probably 4 hours after scheduled arrival. I’d feel more comfortable with 5 hours if you don’t want to feel stressed. Arrival in Brooklyn can be absolute bedlam. We arrived in a rainstorm in September and getting our car took ages.

So glad you are happy with your cabin assignment and hope you’ll be pleased with the cruise itself!