travelin.sisters

we did the Crown to Hawai'i in March & I did a live from the cruise with copies of menus, patters, photos & lots of stuff...it's long, but if you look on page 19 post 436 there is an index of which posts have what (this might take you there or just to the live (I am never sure when I copy the link, sometimes it goes to the exact post & others to the thread): 

 If you have other questions I will try to answer but it should give you an idea when the formal nights would be, what to expect in the MDR, etc...

On 8/20/2023 at 4:51 PM, Dormouse99 said:

We have a cruise out of San Pedro in December and arriving two days earlier.  Flying from SFO to LAX and renting a car from Hertz, to be returned to the office in San Pedro.  We're staying at the Best Western in Wilmington, it's called the Best Western Los Angeles Worldport.

there is not a lot right around that Best Western, but since you will have a car you should do fine there, easy freeway access & quick access to the port either on city streets or freeway

I have bought air tag holders & clip mine to my phone, sister uses a lanyard & BIL just puts his in his pocket...you will probably only need to tap it on a reader when getting on & off the ship, the rest of the time it pretty much works from wherever you have it so whatever is convenient or comfortable for you

you are not missing anything...they did away with assigned (or chosen) arrival times, but have not changed the email...

glad your pup is on the road to recovery! 

11 hours ago, DCwom said:

I've seen the PCC mentioned a few times for a luau, now I see there are different choices, i.e. a gateway buffet and a luau buffet. All I know about a luau is the pig thing and maybe fire dancers or something. We're just entered the "activities" planning stages for out May 2024 trip so this thread is timely. I've heard of other luaus, but the PCC offers the villages thing, which sounds kind of tourist trap-ish, thoughts?

I don't find it tourist trap-ish...the villages are staffed by students from the students from the local branch of BYU (Mormon University) & the ones I met are very eager to share the culture & traditions of the islands they come from...yes, they are created villages from many island nations, but the people sharing are actually from the cultures & nations they represent, for someone who will not be able to travel to the many places represented, it is IMHO a lovely way to experience a bit of each...yes there are presentations designed to appeal to tourists, but there are also individuals who will answer questions about life in their homes...

there are many options, you can do the luau which is a buffet accompanied by the roast pig being removed from the pit & the show of various dancing...there is the gateway buffet which has a couple of musicians & a very extensive menu...there is just spending the day in the villages & there is the evening show Ha which is wonderful...I would go again for sure

my thought is book asap if you know what you want & cancel if you change your mind

jeans & polos will be fine for the main dining room most nights & the specialty dining any night...they might or might not be allowed in the MDR for formal nights (the official policy says no but the actual enforcement varies)...I would take one pair of dress pants & a shirt, possibly a tie, but you can choose (as @cr8tiv1 said there are many threads about dress code & it can get very heated as people have strong feelings on what should happen...in my experience this has been what does happen but I have never cruised the Carribean)

I would go to the dining room & specialty dining when you board & see what they can do for you...if you are late 

I also have no RCCL experience...

1 hour ago, philv said:

Thank you traveling.sisters!😀

have a great time at the PCC...I posted a lot of photos & copies of the papers on my live from our cruise in March if you are interested...it is such a great place to visit

33 minutes ago, drizzle63 said:

@travelin.sistersthanks for the tip! If they want to have this limitation, they really should allow us to select other guests to purchase spa and excursions for. theyhave this feature when you add someone to a dinner reservation at a specialty restaurant. If I want to purchase any spa or excursion reservations pre-cruise on one credit card, I’ll need to move the credit card from one account to the other! Sounds crazy, but I want the travel miles on one of me cc’s.

it doesn't sound crazy (from your end...Princess making it difficult is another matter) you should be able to pay for things using the method that is best for your circumstances without having to jump through hoops...can you purchase gift spa treatments? I think you can pay for excursions with a different credit card than the one registered to the  booking & maybe for spa treatments as well, I know I have purchased onboard items with a different credit card (using mine for the other booking before boarding)...it is sad & frustrating that this is so hard

@philv my first try would be to arrange it directly from the Polynesian Cultural Center, they offer a discount for early booking, lots of options for different packages at different price levels, & shuttle service from several hotels either with an island tour before (the PCC opens at noon or 12:30) or without.

go to the dining room that is open for lunch on embarkation day & ask for help there, they should be able to assist you...I have never sailed on the Royal so I don't know which one it would be (if the staff tell you only the buffet is open, look in the Patter, which is now called something else or on your app)...an alternate, but maybe not as good, choice would be to go to one of the specialty dining locations & ask there...

@drizzle63 I have only been able to resolve this once onboard (it changed maybe 2 years ago, a few cruises anyway)...I always to the desk & ask to have all our bookings charged to my credit card (so that I can easily check for unwanted/unauthorized charges on all accounts in my app as no one else in my party knows how to do this)...we also have the medallions all programmed to open both doors (we travel in 2 cabins--you need one person from each cabin present to authorize this)...I am assuming you mean for room charges, I can pay for them all & pay for prepaid things like excursions before sailing with any credit card

38 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I love your wallpaper! Hope you are safe & dry!

& back to our original topic...looks like the Emerald Princess is in the harbor...wishing everyone safe travels home from this eventful journey

10 minutes ago, voljeep said:

how do you 'prep' for an earthquake ??

it's hard to tell online if a question is real or sarcastic, so I am assuming real:

• lots of building regulations & retrofit work...infrastructure is big (this was what I meant mostly in my previous post...spending infrastructure funds on building for earthquakes that will happen rather than things like storm drainage that might happen every century)
• on a personal level, emergency go kit with meds, $, food & water, documents...
• disaster & meet up plan with family/friends
• know how to shut off water/power/gas
• it's a constant low level of readiness rather than a prep after a warning like a tornado, hurricane, fire...

In San Pedro, currently light but steady warm rain, gray skies but enough visibility to see the ocean, some waves but not too rough, no white caps, storm alerts on my phone are pretty frequent, but nothing much happening yet 

& no, @voljeep we don't have storm drainage systems to handle a years worth of rain in a day, our disaster prep is mostly focused on earthquakes 

I also always screen shot it right before I leave the ship in case they add anything overnight.

you can even reserve ahead of time

you can add it but you have to talk to your TA or Princess, assuming the first two have it, I don't think only the 3rd can have it

all of the dining rooms will have space to park your scooter...they are used to mobility devices...you could even talk to the Restaurant manager when you board (one of the dining rooms should be open & you can talk to whoever is available) & see if they can arrange for your table to be nearer the entrance & easy to access (I haven't been on the Regal, but some ships have a step up to some of the dining spaces)

calls over wifi are not blocked on Princess

13 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

What is worse is what will happen to the New Orleans Saints - LA Chargers game?

MLB has switched 4 Sunday games for Saturday double headers but NFL is just 'monitoring' the situation

San Pedro usually has a quick & pretty painless (unless you need wheelchair assistance, then it gets backed up) disembarkation...they don't do customs & they use the facial recognition scanners, so it goes mostly smoothly 

no one can tell you now what the ship will do, the best you can get is what they hope to do if the storm continues as forecast...last March we were late boarding the Crown to Hawai'i because when she went into Ensenada just to drop off the paperwork for her foreign stop, the storm picked up & the weren't able to leave until almost midnight because of gale force winds... if Hilary does what they expect, then the ship should get here & you should leave on time with no problem, although as other posters have said, getting here may be a challenge...the captain, navigator & corporate will be in continual contact as they watch the storm to make sure they get the ship & the people here as safely & comfortably as possible but the plan will be fluid & could easily change quickly.