FTLcruisers

It's not just NCL - most cruise lines will not provide special offers to anyone who already has a cruise booked - they are making the offer to entice new folks to book.

Marianne

there are always subs off the coast of South Florida - they come into Port Everglades to fuel. You don't often see them so you were lucky to get the sighting.

Marianne

We have been on about 70 cruises - the majority of those on Royal or Celebrity. Last year we did 2 on Princess - a 4 day Caribbean and a 19-day TA from Venice to Fort Lauderdale. We just booked a 19-day cruise for Apr 2017 which goes from Fort Lauderdale to Vancouver through the Panama Canal.

Of course, being Elite on Celebrity, we missed our perks - free internet, laundry, etc. But Princess has self-service laundromats and that worked out fine. We were on the Island Princess - smaller, older ship which has recently been refurbished - but enjoyed it very much. The food was, in my opinion, better than what we have had on recent Celebrity ships. Service was excellent - especially in the dining room. Entertainment was probably about the same. We loved their Crab Shack when they offer an appetizer, soup, seafood "pot" and dessert for only $20 - great deal. We also enjoyed the movies under the stars.

One of the best things about Princess is that they allow you to combine OBC offers - there is currently a sale which is offering $300 OBC for an inside cabin - my husband is a vet so we get $250 because of the length of our cruise - and we had booked a 'future' cruise while on the Island and we EACH get $125 -- so we will walk on board with $800 OBC. If we decide to buy stock, we'll get more! Royal used to allow combining OBCs but stopped it years ago. Oh, and because we had the future cruise credits, we did not have to pay a deposit. For us, $800 was a big incentive to book this cruise - honestly we never even looked at Royal or Celebrity to see if they offered a similar itinerary.

I would say to give Princess a try - we aren't total converts yet but I sure see it being very possible in the future.

Marianne

getting in at 3PM is really going to cut down on your opportunities to take any tours. You can just walk to the people mover and go over to Plaza Roma. Do some research on that area and you'll find there are churches and other places you can visit as well as restaurants if you want to eat off the ship.

Marianne

I have a thread going now about matching my RCI diamond status to MSC.

 

Within 2 days they gave me black card (highest tier) status and also applied a members 5% discount to my booking. If you haven't matched your status yet, and some report long waits and issues, what I suggest (and was told to me by MSC to do) is to create a Voyagers club number with MSC. THEN submit your match information. This supposedly makes the process much faster.

 

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/MSC-Voyagers-Club/Voyagers-Club.aspx

 

I'm looking forward to it. Whatever someone did or didn't like I won't dwell on before going. I know it will be different somewhat, that is what I look forward to.

 

Want to trade an inside with a baby for your YC? :)

Thanks for the info on the MSC matching program - we are D+ on RCL and Elite on Celebrity so it will definitely be worth it for us to do this.

BTW we have sailed the Divina twice - once in the Caribbean and once on a 'grand voyage' (TA). There were not a huge European passenger base on the Caribbean cruise but there was on the TA which made sense since we were sailing to Europe.

Marianne

thanks for responses

Marianne

Our cruise will be stopping in Amsterdam on May 13 and we'd like to visit Keukenhof. But it looks like that is the very end of the season - with the park closing on May 16. I'm afraid most of the flowers will be great for viewing at that point - should we skip it or is it still worth going?

thanks

Marianne

leave plenty of time to get from Miami to FLL. Traffic can be really bad plus the airport can be crowded (long security lines) due to all the cruisers.

Marianne

There are plenty of us sailing on the Nov 6 Island Princess cruise - come to the roll call. We have a great guy maintaining a spreadsheet of all our activities, available tours and there may even be someone who wants to share a water taxi!

Marianne

you can always get a taxi to get to the beach - just be sure you arrange for a ride back. Make sure you are aware of the time (sometimes the ship's time is different than the time at your port) so that you can make it back to the ship on time.

Enjoy your cruise!

Marianne

Bloodline is a great Netflix series - it was filmed in the Florida Keys. My husband and many other local South Floridians are in it (but that's not the reason I'm recommending it - it is really good)!

Marianne

when we first started cruising around 1993, I wanted ports, ports and more ports. Now that we gone on more than 65 cruises, we look forward to those relaxing sea days.

Marianne

your charges will be in US dollars

sorry can't help with phone question

Marianne

We wouldn't think of cruising without insurance since we have had 2 cruises that had to be cancelled due to emergency hospitalizations - one was 2 weeks before our cruise and the other was 2 days before we were supposed to fly to Hong Kong to spend a few days prior to the cruise.

Think of it like car insurance - fortunately neither my husband or I have been involved in any accidents in many years but I pay my premiums!

Marianne

The Princess excursion we took was "Paris on Your Own"!

Basically, Princess provided our transport to and from Paris and we were free to do whatever we wished while there. :)

Agree with many others: Seeing the Eiffel Tower from a distance was more thrilling than seeing it close up. ;)

 

LuLu

where did the bus drop you off?

Marianne

Often the nationality of the guests depends on the embarkation port and the itinerary. We did a 5-day cruise out of Oslo and most of the ship's guests were from Norway - actually only 32 US citizens on board. We stayed on that ship for a 9 day British Isles cruise which had a mixture of nationalities.

Marianne

Welcome to Cruise Critic and the world of cruising. My best advice is try not to do it all, after all, you are on vacation. Leave some time to relax. It took us quite a few cruises to do that - we used to hate sea days because we wanted to off the ship doing something. Now we appreciate those sea days and will just kick back, read a book or just hang out somewhere on the ship.

Marianne

yes, easy to get to in Tallin

Marianne

I'd like to suggest Sandeman's New Europe free walking tour. The tour is about 3 hours and is free - you then tip the guide at the end what you feel the tour was worth. Their meeting point is close to the Gothic area. The walk will give you an opportunity to learn some of the history of Barcelona while exploring a small portion of the city.

Enjoy Barcelona - it's a great city. Just be smart about your belongings (not a lot of expensive jewelry, pocketbooks that close and can be carried close to the body, wallets in your front pants pocket, etc.). We have been there about 5 or 6 times and have never had any problems.

Marianne

since cabins don't have clocks, we always take a travel clock with us.

I'm sure there must be travel books for children that you could get - this way they can see pictures and read about the exciting places they will visit.

Enjoy your trip! To me, there's nothing as exciting as traveling in Europe.

Marianne

don't forget you'll then have to transport those bottles home - if you are flying home, you'll have to put the bottles in your luggage.

Marianne

taking US$$ is not dodgy - we have been to St Petersburg twice (both times we used Alla Tours) and have given her US$ both times. We also used US$ in shops that we visited. The only place where we found you needed rubles was small stands (such as a food stall that sells bottled water, etc.).

Marianne

we have done more than 60 cruises and tried the Divina for a Caribbean cruise last October and absolutely loved it. The entertainment was awesome and we found the food & service to be very good. They have modified the ship to be more "American friendly" - one of the cruise staff told us that only the Divina has large drinking glasses in the buffet since Europeans generally use small glasses.

We had read bad reviews on the Divina too but decided we'd judge for ourselves - think you should too!

Marianne

As far as celebrity goes, it is not available for any booking other than an inside cabin. The new BBB pricing is considered a special offer as is any senior, state, military or other offer. Essentially, unless you book an inside with no perks, you no longer have a stockholder benefit on Celebrity ships.

we booked a balcony cabin without the new BBB pricing and got the stockholder OBC.

Marianne

Can't comment on the Windjammer in the evenings. But there are no specialty restaurants included in your cruise price.

As for the drink packages - depending on which one you purchase, the info will be stored on your SeaPass card. When you get one of those drinks, the bartender will ring up as "zero" price - you may have to sign receipt even though there is no charge.

with pre-paid gratuities, you do not have to provide any further tips unless you decide that a staff member provided service above & beyond and you feel you want to hand them cash at the end of the cruise. However, if you order room service, it is customary to give a small tip to the waiter who delivers your meal. Tips will automatically be added to your beverage purchase (doesn't apply if you purchase a package since tips are already included in price of package).

Marianne