emerald3582

We're sailing March 2021 on the Royal also with 2 teenage daughters. I just rebooked yesterday for 2 connecting balconies from our Balcony and Inside across the hall. We were forward starboard on the Aloha deck. And now were are midship port on the Caribe deck for the same price as the original booking. I opted for the 2 rooms because I wanted my bed configuration for a queen, 2 bathrooms, and more balcony space. With the connecting rooms, I will also have peace of mind when they get back to their cabin.

Discovery is also doing MXR in March. I'm thinking of doing a BTB in March 2022.

It’s a $1460 difference between Princess and Expedia. 

My MXR cruise is in March 2021, but I found another one in March 2022 with the rooms I want. Should I go ahead and put the deposit down now? If the original gets cancelled, would they be able to apply any FCC to the new booking? FYI, the new booking would be with Expedia. They have a great deal right now.

We sail March 20. Obviously, I'm a type-A planner since we are still 8+ months away.

I have 2 non-cruise excursions planned for my family in Cabo and PV. I don't want to book too early in case the excursion/tour operators go out of business before the cruise. The Cabo excursion is the same offered by the cruise line but is $33 more than if I book directly online with the tour group. In PV, the cruise line does not offer the excursion and when I checked with the operator, one of the time slots was already full. Both operators have a 24-hr cancellation policy, but is it too early to book?

I'm assuming the Princess website can't possibly predict what a captain will do, so are the times listed in the itinerary local time?

I've been researching several excursions in the MR and a lot of them state that ship time is not the same as local/port time. After more research, there's also Standard time vs. Daylight time. And, their Daylight time is not on the same schedule as US Daylight time. It's all very confusing. Does anyone know if the Royal Princess adjusts the ship time to local time when we're in port? If not, do I add an hour to get local time? We will optimistically be there in March.

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I have read that the snorkeling is sub-par but I don't want to hang around a bunch of Spring Breakers. And it can't possibly be colder than Lake Tahoe which never gets above 72. History and/or shopping tours are not our thing, at least with DD17 and DD15. They want to do some sort of activity. In Mazatlan, we're going to Stone Island, ATV, horseback riding, kayaks, etc. In PV, we're going ziplining.

As for bypassing Princess excursions, I've already checked into the tours. I know the "Adventures" tours prohibit cruisers from booking. I'm assuming the resort day pass resorts might, particularly the ones Princess uses, but that's not what we want to do anyway. Thanks for the heads up, just in case.

We're doing catamaran & snorkel tour in Cabo, ATV/UTV on Stone Island, and ziplining in PV. My kids are older than yours but I think these excursions would be good for your 7yo too.

We will be in Cabo in March 2021 on Princess. At first, I was going to do a day pass on Medano Beach and then realized that it was spring break for college students too. Yikes! Now, I'm looking into sail & snorkel excursions to either Santa Maria with EcoCat or Chileno Bay on La Princesa. Anyone with any experience on either one of these? Princess offers both but at 74.95 and 79.95 respectively. I can get EcoCat for 69.99 if I pay full price through them, but hopefully if I book early enough, I can get it for 41.99. And I can get La Princesa for 59.00. Since almost all excursions are outsourced, I refuse to pay the cruise lines upcharge. 

It says on the website that they have complimentary antipasta and tapas with a wine purchase. So if I have the PBP, will I get the apps too?

We are going in March 2021 on Royal Princess. They don't have any zipline excursions in PV. I looked into Vallarta Adventures but they won't book directly to cruise passengers. I've read that if you try they may want to see proof that you are a hotel guest. Even if we did try, the time we are in port don't work out. I've currently booked a zipline in Cabo but still doing research as I think PV has better zipline experiences.

I'm going on a similar cruise in March 2021 on Princess which is owned by Carnival. From my research, Princess uses Hotel Playa Mazatlan for it's resort day which includes transportation, 1 hr of shopping, and 5+ hours at the all-inclusive resort for $69.95. We plan on buying direct from the resort for 590MXN and taking our own transportation. I don't know which resorts they use in PV. We are looking into Westin Resort & Spa for 350MXN (includes 200MXN food credit) and Hotel Ziva for $65 all-inclusive. See these links below for other resort day passes:

Mazatlan: https://www.traveloffpath.com/hotels-that-offer-day-passes-in-mazatlan/

PV: https://www.venturists.net/best-puerto-vallarta-beach-clubs-day-passes/

Do the sell wine BTG in Sabatini's and Crown? If so, is it covered by my PBP?

I've already tried to separately price out cruise, Alaskan Railroad & accommodations separately and it seems that the land & sea packages are more affordable for me. I prefer land before cruise as I want to relax for the latter part of my vacation. I'm leaning towards the Princess 3 night on your own tour, but I'd also like opinions if anyone else has done other land tours with other operators.

On the Princess website, it says the PBP gets a large bottle of still or sparkling water in the specialty restaurants. Does it get you drinks too? or just the water?

And it looks like they changed the Coffee & Soda package which I got for my teens. No bottled water included anymore. On Disney, I was able to bring a small carry-on full of bottled water. Or I can stockpile bottled water from my PBP.

Is the Sanctuary worth the price? Our last cruise was on Disney. The adults only area was not enforced at all, but you didn't have to pay either.

Do you tip the servers that bring you your drinks?

If all goes as planned, we will be on the Royal traveling to the Mexican Riviera. I've done a lot of research but I still have a few questions.

Can you use the beverage package in the MDR? If not, can you get a couple glasses of wine and bring them into the MDR.

Can you bring wine from the bar into the specialty restaurants?

How strict is the dress code in the MDR? Are leggings and capris ok? I have specialty dining planned for the formal nights.

How is the food in the MDR compared to Horizon? We are not picky eaters so all types of cuisine are good with us.

I hope to be cruising in March 2021 and also plan on going to Sabatini's and Crown on formal nights. One of my customers has been on the Royal 4 times. She said just tell them the first night you get there what time you want to eat every night and they'll try to accommodate you. That was going to be my plan until I read that it's best to call every morning which is what I will probably do since I have 3 of the 7 nights booked at specialty restaurants. We eat pretty late on cruises anyway so it sounds like 7-7:30 shouldn't be a problem.