ecs66

Thanks, Sis! Having a vicarious adventure watching this thread, and feeling a little jealous. The first cruise we haven't done together in many years. 😴 Glad the aft cabin is a good experience, since we'll all have them in February. The pics are great!

If the ports are those that we've seen before we stay on the ship. Port days on the ship are great!

Great review. We're doing this the 14-night Circle Carriben in February 2024 on Emerald. Wondering ... you mention the formal nights. How many pax get gussied up for these evenings? We've heard that not many do that any more. The info will help with our packing! Thanks...

We usually get cabins on port side of the ship so we can wave to family back home who are watching the webcam. You can contact the camera people online ahead of time, tell them where your cabin is, and they'll try to zoom in on that area as the ship passes by.

We also get port side to wave to the family back home watching the webcam. You can contact the camera people ahead of time online, let them know where you are on the ship, and they'll try to do a close-up as the ship passes by.

Except for one time, we've been in and out very quickly -- always between 15 and 30 minutes. Once, when we left from one terminal, but returned to a different terminal, it was a nightmare. Shuttles were lined up to transport to the first parking garage, but there weren't enough. It took a couple hours. Dreadful!

I think everyone has had enough of the barricading for a lifetime. Gotta live life!! In our church bulletin: "Worrying does not take away tomorrow's troubles; it takes away today's peace." From all I've read, for anything like noro, Covid, etc., WASH YOUR HANDS OFTEN with soap, and never, ever touch your face or bite your nails. Sanitizers are good, too, if you can't wash after using the handrails on stairs, pushing elevator buttons, or similar.

I usually buy Sketchers from Amazon, a half size bigger than my true size, and then use a separate insole and/or something in the toe (makeup wedges, usually) to make them fit better. When traveling, often my feet will get a little puffy and if that happens I can remove the excess stuff. I hate tight-fitting shoes. Maybe silly, but FWIW ...

We often don't take excursions, and just stay on the ship which is pretty peaceful since most passengers are away. A lot of times we don't do an excursion, but will get off the ship if there's stuff to do right at the pier -- shopping or entertainment. (I used to buy OTC antibiotics, etc., at the pharmacies, but wouldn't take that chance now with fentanyl-tainted pills being such a problem.) If tendering is involved, it's kind of a pain, but do-able. But on a first cruise, I'd definitely do some, and the Mexican Rivera has some fun ports. Be SURE to stay with a group; don't go it alone. That was true the first time we did that itinerary back in the '80s, and it's even more important now.

We had a group of about 25-30 from work on a cruise. We all did our own things during the days. Sometimes it was just a couple, sometimes two or more couples, and it varied a lot from day to day, depending on what excursions, games, etc., interested us. Then we met in one of the lounges for drinks, and then on to dinner -- two huge "rounds" next to each other -- and discussed the day, planned the next day, etc. Then we split up and went to shows, and whatever. That was back in the mid-'80s on Sitmar (later bought by Princess), when the cruise lines were more personal, elegant, and accommodating, and food was a thousand times better than now. We had a blast. (Compared to then, now we're like cattle.)

Oh, right. The Roll Call. That makes perfect sense. Thanks!

We like Josh Chardonnay, by Josh Cellars. Not wine snobs, either, but we like it well enough. I think we get ours at Costco.

LOL! Not a phobia -- a visceral hatred. I'm not afraid of it. Anyhow, I'll do it via PC in the Personalizer thingie as in the past. As Platinum, I'm very familiar with that. (I still miss the old way.) BTW, does one of us take the job of arranging a CC get-together while on board? We've been to a few in the past? (Or does Princess have a way to identify us and make arrangements themselves?) Last time we met in a wine venue -- I think on Sky.

Thanks for the info, but we don't DO cell phone "apps" if they require any kind of password, and I'm guessing this does. All this tech fol-de-rol is insane. (And my career was in tech; I despise it.) The Medallion, the App, and similar nonsense is what's kept us from cruising on Princess for a while, even after Covid.

Great!!! Good news. Thank you.

We haven't cruised since Feb. 2020, and the four of us always have arranged for traditional dining in a MDR, early seating, same table. Is it still possible to do that? If so, via Personalizer, or would our TA set that up for us?

Princess wifi always has been dreadful -- a joke, really. Our TA sailed on a different line recently which had just installed Starlink. She said it was as fast as her wifi at home. She THINKS Princess is considering Starlink, too, but is not sure. We don't sail next until Feb. '24; maybe it will be better by then.

I wouldn't care -- agent or the cruise line. I look for the best all-around deal. Have had good luck and bad luck with agents. Working directly with the cruise line (we use Princess) has never been a problem.

If sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale we like port side for maybe a silly reason. As you sail from the pier, the ships pass the webcam and you can wave at the folks back home as you pull out, assuming they want to go online and watch. https://www.portevergladeswebcam.com/

It was around 1984 and we lived in Alaska. We saw an ad in the Travel section of the paper for a Caribbean cruise out of Florida on Sitmar. We liked adventure and decided, “Why not?” The price was $400/per person, and INCLUDED round-trip airfare from Anchorage. We figured it had to be a scam, since you couldn’t do flights to Florida for $400, much less cruise for seven days with meals, entertainment, etc., included. But we went and had a ball. It was so much fun that four of our friends wanted to cruise the next year. They had friends, and THEY had friends, and the group grew to about 30 people. It was long before “online”, so I was the go-between for the travel agent. I was surprised to learn that we got a free cruise because I had arranged this large group.

There's a bus system that serves the Miami and Ft. Lauderdale ports. It picks up passengers all along the way, and I think Naples is one location. We often pass it when we're headed to FLL, and it looks like the party starts there, judging by the happy faces in the windows! Cruise Connection: https://www.cruiseconnection.travel/

For many years we've sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale. As Platinum members on Princess we used the line/entrance for priority boarding. In Feb. 2020, that option had been discontinued -- no priority boarding. Can anyone say whether this still is the case, or can you priority board again?

We take ginger capsules with us, but never have had to use them. The old TV series, "Mythbusters", once did a segment on motion sickness. They experimented with several different suggestions people submitted. They took the remedy, then did wild and crazy things to feel motion sickness -- extreme roller coasters for example. The only one that really worked was ginger.

We sailed 2/1/2020 on Sky Princess. (That was when Diamond was docked in Japan at the beginning of Covid.) Hubby got sick after five days and went to the Medical Center -- which, by the way, is amazing on Sky. He had to go back a few times for checkups, and looking back we think they might have suspected Covid. Two days later, he was fine. I don't recall the cost, but it wasn't cheap. The insurance we bought through Princess covered everything, no questions asked. We were very satisfied.

We did the 15-day LA-HI-LA cruise on Princess in December about 20 years ago. Horrific weather the first five days. There were several WWII sailors on board going to Pearl Harbor, and they said they had never been in worse weather on the sea. Communications were not as sophisticated then, i.e., no internet available and I don't believe there was cellular. Ship personnel gave us NO info. When we arrived home, our pastor commented that we must have had a rocky ride. He was a surfer and kept up with the sea info. The ship was where three big storms converged, one from Alaska, one from Japan, and one from Australia, IIRC. Anyhow, it was bad, but we'd do it again. The storm situation was an anomaly.