DavidsNana

@LilsleepymeOh man the info that you have provided is above and beyond anything that I could have hoped for. Thank you so much. I am printing this off for my grandson who is the one who will be diving and I'm pretty sure that he will select Roatan Divers since you say it was the best of the sites and operators. He says that he is only going to dive at one port this cruise as he wants to spend more time with me. I live in CA and he lives in TN and we don't get to see each other very often as he works long hours plus his volunteer time with the fire department. But if he does decide to do more than the one port, then based on your firsthand experience, I'm guessing he will choose the operator in Belize. We will be doing these ports aboard the Caribbean Princess April 1st. Also, glad that you had a wonderful time aboard the Sky Princess. My son, his lady and I will be sailing the same itinerary aboard the Sky Princess on Feb 25th. While this will be my 27th cruise with Princess, I have never been aboard the Sky nor any other of the ships in it' class. So, I am very excited to see my son after a year and meet his lady for the first time in addition to being able to sail on a new ship. The cruise April 1st with my grandson and his wife will be her first ever cruise but will be my 5th time on the Caribbean Princess. In fact, it is the same ship that my late husband and I took my grandson on when he was a little kid in 2005. Thank you again for all this wonderfully detailed information. My grandson will be thrilled when I read it to him on the phone today.

OK I guess I wasn't clear. There seems to be no way to reserve the umbrellas versus the loungers with clamshells on the cruise line's excursion booking platform. So I thought that someone who has been there recently, might know how it works. Last time I was there in 2019 there were only the loungers, loungers with clamshells and the bungalows.

Last time I was at Mahagony Bay, there were only loungers with clamshells, regular loungers farther back and the beach bungalows/cabanas. I have seen pictures more currently with some beach umbrellas along the water area but I can't find any way to pre-reserve one of them. Does anyone who has been there recently know how one reserves one of these? Thank you for any and all information.

Thanks Robin. I will talk to my son and his lady friend since they will be sailing with me.

Thanks so much for your quick response. I really appreciate the firsthand information. It will allow me to revise some of my plans and reservations.

@Mittens101I have a couple of questions if you have time to answer. We are on the Sky Feb 25th for Western Caribbean. I notice in the Patters that you have posted, that the Estrella Dining room is Club Class. Do you know if it is exclusively Club Class or not as I have made reservations for us in that dining room each night. If it is exclusively Club Class, then I need to change them as we are not in Club Class. Also, did you have a champagne waterfall? If so, could you tell me what time they did the pouring as my son's lady friend has never been on a cruise before and I would like to make sure that I don't schedule dinner at that time so she can take part. Thank you for your pictures, patters and info. It is much appreciated.

@LilsleepymeOK I just checked and where I found the scuba and snorkeling info is under "Cruise Discussions and Topics" then Scuba and Snorkeling. There are some people there who have made dives in the Western Caribbean and they have operator recommendations. Also there is one post about Carnival Corp and Royal Caribbean not having diving excursions and that this person was told it was an insurance/liability issue. So check there and see if there is anything that appeals to you. Good luck. Also, I searched the Caribbean board for several ports and did not find anything useful about scuba. I remember now it was in the scuba section of the Cruise Discussions and Topics" section that I was browsing that day.

@LilsleepymeYou are quite welcome for the suggestion of checking out the Caribbean Ports board. Since our cruise is not until April 1, I haven't checked in several weeks but rather did one day when I did not have much to do. I did find a couple of recommendations. Also, on the board where the special groups are listed such as Seniors etc. there is a scuba section if I remember correctly. I might have gotten some recommendations on there. I will make a note of your cruise dates to read if you do have recommendations. My grandson is a trained rescue/search and recovery diver but he is in rural TN and his training and dives have been in lakes, rivers (murky most of the time) and quarries. He just recently was able to make an ocean dive down off Panama City, FL and loved it. So I am anxious to get him at least one more ocean dive down in the Caribbean. Take care and I hope you find someone to your satisfaction and have a wonderful time.

@Lilsleepyme Did Princess give a reason for cancelling your scuba excursions booked with them? When is your cruise? I'm asking as I have a Western Caribbean cruise scheduled with my grandson and his wife for 4/1/23 and he is planning on diving in at least one of the ports. I would hate to book a Princess excursion and then be in the position of trying to find an alternative at the last minute. There are some private operators listed on the Caribbean Ports board here so guess I will make note of them. Would appreciate it if you would come back and let me know who you finally booked with and how they were. Thank you and good luck.

Thanks for the much needed laugh!! Made my day.

Just as others here, I am so sorry for your loss and that you had to experience this. My heart goes out to you.

I had no OBC on that cruise so paid cash for them prior so maybe that is the difference. So if paid for with OBC, then I would guess that it will show as additional OBC after you get on. Interesting. I will see on my upcoming cruises in Feb and April as I do have OBC on those and quite a bit. Thanks for the info on what happens with OBC.

I just checked my bill for my Feb 27-Mar 6th 2022 cruise and the 10% is credited on my bill, not as OBC. It says "10% Shorex Discount-Elite Member Exclus" and then lists it as a minus amount.

I just love all the pictures and captions of what the bears and moose are doing on the ships in their pictures! Brings many smiles to me. Thanks so very much.

@travelin.sistersThanks so much for the pictures and all the information you provide. I just love your reviews.

Thanks for the info and picture. Hopefully, they have it on the Sky in late Feb. It will make my son very happy.

Just tried it and worked like a charm. I wasn't checking the pictures of my son and his lady. Thanks so very much again. Totally appreciated.

I will try that. Thanks for the information.

@ThrakIgnore my name issue as t&atravel answered and it worked. But if you know the answer to my DMW issue I would appreciate your help. Thank you.

Thank you. You are a genius. I put in a preferred name and wouldn't let me save so went to the emergency contact info and I had an extra "1" in the phone numbers for day and night. Changed them and now my home page says my first name instead of First Name Only.

Mine says "First Name Only" but my son's has his first name and his phone is older than mine, both iPhones. All my other info seems to be correct and my name is on all other areas. Strange. Something I don't understand is that my son and his lady are in separate cabin from me. I put them in as traveling companions and tried to make standing dinner reservations for same time same dining room and the reservations are there. However, just my picture shows so it looks like I just have a private table for myself. What am I doing wrong? I know you are one of the experts on this DMW stuff.

@CrystabelThanks for checking on the Chicken Waldorf Salad. Sorry to hear that it is there but Blah! Just rather not have it if no flavor. @cruzin4usYes, the Fennel Shrimp was my favorite of the two. Sorry not available. Maybe in the future. Also, my son loved the watermelon caprese salad that they had a few years ago, actually 2018 on the Caribbean Princess. He was not sure if he would like it with watermelon rather than tomatos but he ended up liking it better than the tomato one. Thanks for checking for me. Will see what is available in March on the Sky and April on the Caribbean.

I used to really like the shrimp salad and the chicken cashew salad that they had in the International Cafe. In the pictures that I have seen of the food there lately, I don't seem to see these items. If you get a chance, could you look for me? Thank you and have a wonderful time. I agree with you about the Promenade deck. Those lifeboats are terrible and it is so narrow that it would not be a pleasant place to walk or stand and look out at the sea.

@57ericI too am not satisfied with my current Princess Vacation Planner and would like to make a change. However, your experience makes me leery of even trying. I have two cruises booked and after much correction on one of them, they are currently OK but I really do not want to deal with my current PVP ever again including anything I might need on these two cruises. I think I just might leave things alone and revert back to a cruise travel agent in the future. 96 minutes on the phone is not my idea of "fun". Thank you for your post letting us know what you had to go through.

@memoakWell nix my idea of looking at the table placements in the dining rooms. I just checked the deck plans on the Princess website and they do not show the table placements. Probably as they can make the tables in the center of the smaller dining rooms bigger or smaller as parties of diners change. I do remember that as you walked in the door, to one side of the smaller dining rooms there were banquette seating there with very small tables placed in front to make tables for two and then the tables could be moved closer together to make tables for 4. It was pretty tight in that area.