Itchy&Scratchy

On ‎11‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 2:38 PM, SFLcowboy78 said:

B, as a former smoker who now uses an electronic (cannot stand the smell of smoke anymore) I can tell you that it is an addiction. Some individuals cannot go 5,7,14 days without a fix much less even an hour, while some can quit cold turkey without any issues. I personally need my nicotine. I would much rather have a place outside that interferes with as few people as possible than deal with all the grumpy individuals that cannot get their fix.  

 

And yes, even though I cannot stand the smell of smoke I will be out in the designated area with the smokers because that is the rule for electronics. I personally think it is the rule breakers who give all of us a bad image. 

just for funsies. My dad had been smoking since he was 14 years old. He has lived the majority of his life in the country where most people smoke, smoke a LOT and smoke indoors. He was smoking a pack a day, and when stressed - more than a pack a day. He finally quit smoking when he came to the States at 57. Dad is coughing a lot less (he used to "cough up a lung" during coughing bouts), he smells better, he breathes better, my mom who endured the smell and the smoke breathes better, and everyone is a lot happier. If a person who had been addicted for that many years, and tried to quit unsuccessfully many times, could quit for good...

The problem with cruise ships is that the wind blows the smoke everywhere, even if the smokers are confined to one small area. There have been times when I couldn't even walk by the entrance to the casino on the ships or had to walk through a thick cloud of awful smoke on the upper deck. It was pretty bad. I couldn't remember or wasn't aware when the smoking areas were, so when I suddenly walked right through the yuck, it was too late to turn around. I can't stand the smell of smoke. I don't want to breathe the pollutants and crap in, and I don't want my kid to inhale them either.

Here are the images of a charging desk with chairs all around it and at the bottom of every TV pole there are several plug-ins.

We don't mind hanging out for hours at FLL airport. Wifi is fast and free, and the charging is available.

On 11/3/2018 at 2:48 AM, NancyW12 said:

The TSA will not let you through security until 3 hours before your flight at FLL on cruise ship days. They do not have the room to handle the crowd level airside so they hold people on the front side of the airport and let thru in waves. On a Wednesday, you can go thru anytime. On a Sunday, they have a TSA agent sitting at the entrance to security who will not let you thru until 3 hours before your flight.

 

once again - not true, because we actually do sail on Saturdays and Sundays, and come back on Saturdays and Sundays. 

last year we got the upgrade from inside to the very last available obstructed balcony on Regal after the final payment. Not only that, but Princess rep also gave us the free gratuities perk which was available at that time, and was not available when we actually booked. That was very sweet of them.

I guess that works both ways - rebooking would take away the previous perks. We got lucky.

8 hours ago, NancyW12 said:

but FLL will not let you thru the TSA line until 3 hours before your flight.

This has NEVER been the case with us, and we've been cruising solely out of FLL since 2009.

8 hours ago, NancyW12 said:

once you get thru TSA, there are no sit down restaurants or airline lounges airside in FLL. You will be sitting on the floor and eating a hot dog waiting the three hours for your flight.

that's also incorrect. And there is plenty of seating, with charging stations all over the place, and even rocking chairs. There are several sit down restaurants and food court areas.

Believe me, we usually spend 10 am to 4 pm inside the terminal waiting for our 5 pm flight. We definitely have lunch at the food court. Their free wifi is great and fast.

1 hour ago, dcipjr said:

I've never had a problem upgrading past final payment, but in every case, I've always asked NCL if I could "buy up" to a higher category cabin than what I paid for. Even if it's only a couple hundred dollars difference, NCL won't turn down getting more money.

but OP is trying to upgrade to a cabin that is cheaper than what he paid for his cabin. Why would he want to pay for this upgrade?

19 hours ago, Ashland said:

I didn't think the kids sail free offer would ever be available during those spring break cruises ?

it was available on March 31, 2019, when I booked under KSF in July. Coincidentally, that's when our spring break is.

we ate so much during the day that it never occurred to go looking for food at 2 am. Or any other time between dinner in MDR and breakfast the next day.

I did stop by the IC in the mornings to get their excellent pastries.

I've decided against a 12:30 pm flight out of FLL. Our ship docks at 8 am as well.

There will be 4 of us, including a kid and grandma.... I don't want bad anxiety about missing a flight. So, we are on a 5 pm flight instead.

We were on Caribbean Princess back in 2016, and there were some immigration/customs problems. We didn't get off the ship till after noon, and by the time we got to the airport and went through a long luggage drop off (not check-in) line for 1 hour and security check (1 hour), then had a quick lunch, and it was time to board.

1 hour ago, Ep010835 said:

 

As I said before, at the big box TA, they are able to provide an OBC in the amount of $1615. This includes payment for the 3 For Free promotion.

if you book directly with Princess, you won't be paying $1,000 for the promotion. When you book directly with Princess you don't get to choose whether you are getting a promotion and a fare X, or no promotion and fare Y. Everybody gets fare X and a promotion if you book within the promotional time.

Our entire cruise for 3 people was $2,400, so I don't quite understand how a TA could offer $1,615 OBC on such a cruise. Now, if they say "OBC is $1,615, but you must pay me $1,000 to get it" - first, that doesn't sound right, and second, you end up with $600 in perks only, which is exactly what we got (grats 3x$94 + $300 OBC).

13 hours ago, Ep010835 said:

 

So then you DO see that this is something PCL isn't giving away but rather burying in the cost of the booking.

In the real world "Free" is seldom free. 

I still don't understand your reasoning.

I booked a cruise under 3 for free. I didn't pay anything for the promotion itself. I booked directly on princess.com.  I got free gratuities (3x$94) and OBC (3x$100) in addition to a very reasonable fare (it stayed reasonable just long enough for me to make the reservation and then went up by $200 pp).

16 hours ago, jennybenny said:

 I stop looking at fares after final payment.  It would depress me if they went down.  🙂 

I don't stop looking at fares after the final payment. When the prices went down, I called and got an upgrade. On Princess - inside to a balcony, and on NCL - inside to OV. Not too bad.

On ‎10‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 9:40 PM, dstables said:

Has anyone else noticed that some of the fares under the 3 for Free Sale have increased since the sale begin?  We booked the 28 day Hawaii/Tahiti Cruise on the Emerald sailing February 1, 2020 and we booked as soon as the sale started. I have been watching the price and I have seen the price go up three times since the sale started. It’s now $988.00 per person more today for our cabin then when we booked. I don’t think I have notice Princess increasing their price while a sale is on. 

yes, indeed. I booked a 2019 cruise, logged off, logged on as my parents right away to make a reservation for them for the same cruise - and bam, the price was $200 more per person and has stayed at that higher level for 2+ weeks now.

On ‎10‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 7:26 PM, cb at sea said:

The "stuff" for kids will take up about 3 hours of your total time on the ship...

what does that even mean? Our kid is with us 24/7 on the cruise... He's been cruising since he was 3 (he is 7.5 yo now).

1 hour ago, Robinsilver said:

We are trying to decide between the sail away cabin, and paying more for the free at sea. (don't debate with me about the unlimited beverages please).

 

for me it's a no brainer. WE don't go to specialty restaurants, and we would have chosen the free perk of a free 3rd person. The price difference was a couple of bucks, so we went with Sail away as the slightly cheaper option.

22 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

Same thing happened when we tried to book three to a window suite ... just call and make your reservation ... NO PROBLEM!  

I don't understand why their website won't show availability for additional passengers (beyond 2) but it doesn't always do so.  

There are definitely a few online agencies out there that will show availability ... check one of those and either book online using one of those agencies or call in to Princess if you wish to book direct.  Easy breezy!  

 

I called a TA and I called Princess, and - no, there was no availability.

49 minutes ago, ludicrous_speed said:

MDR Night Five

 

Ranchero Beef Taco Cups (served with Guacamole and Pico de Gallo per the menu). When my wife read the title out loud she said "oooh.....someone on NCL has been watching Tasty! videos."

 

uh............cups?..............thats 3 chips with a topping. The cilantro dwarfs it like a tree branch.

 

My wife said they need to change the name to "1/16 order of nachos"

 

 

 

I don't see guacamole. And I didn't see veggies and German potato salad with the Chicken Cordon Blue. The Chicken looked good, though.

2 hours ago, jennybenny said:

We traditionally cruise during these holidays and have 4 to a cabin but we book when the itinerary comes out, about 2 years in advance? Christmas and Thanksgiving are usually fully booked by sail time. 

I didn't mean that we were booking close to the sail time, but we usually book around July for November time frame. This year I started looking at these 2 sailings around NY, and no inside cabins have been available for 3-4 people all this time.

On ‎10‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 9:55 AM, skynight said:

The intranet on board is free. It allows you to connect to the ship's information and if set up to other passengers. If you connect to the ship's internet (what's app, facebook) there is a fee. Plans can be found on your cruise personlizer.

as I mentioned above - we were able to use Facebook and Facebook messenger on Regal for FREE, while our phones were in airplane mode. Customer Service informed us that these two apps were free to use.

We didn't have an internet package and didn't incur any other fees for using FB. We constantly messaged our pet sitter who was in the US through FB messenger, and used Facebook as usual.

I don't know about Whatsapp, we don't use that.

1 minute ago, shepp said:

 

Takeaway: lower-priced options on desirable cruises go fast.

like I mentioned - we'd never had this problem with Princess before. And we can only cruise during Thanksgiving and spring break, so it's not like I tried booking for less popular times in yesteryears.

14 hours ago, Coral said:

You can't book a guarantee with 3 people.

 

I wonder with the modifications in the ship, if they are unable to put 3 in many of those cabins. I would still call Princess to find out.

I was unable to book any interior cabins for 3 people on either Regal or Royal Princesses this Thanksgiving. None have been available for a year! A year! I checked every day (and I am still checking for funsies), and they never became available. We never had this problem with Princess before. So, we had to go with Norwegian this year, because balcony prices on Princess (the only cabins available for 3-4 people) were quite unreasonable.

At this time, inside cabins for 3-4 people are available for next Thanksgiving on Regal Princess.

15 hours ago, jlkb said:

I don't know about everyone else, but I am enjoying this thread so much that I keep refreshing every few minutes hoping to see new posts from you!  LOL  I have been dieting since February and have lost 80 pounds, so this cruise will be my reward for a long journey completed.  We are even doing a foodie tour in Cozumel in addition to all the good food I am looking forward to eating on the ship.

that's incredible!!!!! Congratulations!

I only need to lose 50#, and I keep promising myself to go on a diet, but it just never happens. I mean - I am able to maintain my diet for like 2 hours.

menus across the fleet seem to be the same.

25 minutes ago, ludicrous_speed said:

Dinner the first night she ordered the Shrimp & Artichoke Pasta. I tried it and I thought it was really good. I thought the presentation was nice and the shrimp were not overcooked.

 

Her thoughts: Amazing! The sauce was a bit lemony but creamy. There shrimp were plump and yummy.

 

 

oh, I would love this one! I don't like red pasta sauce, but I love all of the variations of the white sauce. And shrimp! I love shrimp!

By the way, you have inspired me to take pictures of all the items we will order on Jade. There will be 4 of us, and if our friends join us for dinner - 7. That's a lot of pictures - I already made sure to load a huge SD card into my phone. I intended to do it on our last cruise, but kept forgetting my phone.

1 hour ago, ready2cruzagain said:

Fried Fishermans Polatter is replaces with Shrimp Linguine.

for what it's worth, I'd rather have Shrimp Linguine than deep fried mess which all tastes the same.