gooch47

All I can say is be careful what you wish for. New and improved often isn't.

Since NCL reads this board, anyone wanna bet this will be a topic of discussion in some board room?

We've only been given one or two really good upgrades in all the years we've been cruising with Princess.

 

One was at the dock to a suite. I think MAYBE that one might have been because we're elite. Several of our neighbors who got upgrades were elite, too.

Lol

 

On the old Regal we got locked out on our balcony and had to ask for help from some people a few decks down who were fortunately outside.

 

We never try to shut the door tight since then. I know ... AC issues.

Cost? Lots. Like $80.

 

Distance is maybe 30 miles and traffic could be an issue.

 

We have been considering it isn't that much of a savings to fly to the opposite airport.

Quite a few cruises ago we started staying an extra day after the cruise as well as going in a day early. It is so nice waking up that last morning and not have to fret about catching a flight.

 

I know everyone can't do this, but it sure works for us.

 

Our next cruise is out of Hobby.

Might just be us but it seems to be a set price for upgrading to a balcony.

 

Be sure you check the book by and sail by dates on your offer.

Even though the OP said inside, I didn't mind hearing the other ideas, too.

Roll them up in a towel, then put the bundle on the floor and walk on it. Some things come out almost dry. I do that for everything I rinse out in the cabin.

 

Remember that you aren't allowed to leave things out on the balcony if you leave the cabin.

It has been our experience that loyalty doesn't play a part in upgrades at all. It seems to be totally random.

Are the items you get as a Platinum member per person or per cabin?

 

Two Platinum members in a cabin = two sets or one?

 

One gripe we have with Princess is the bar setup is per cabin even we are both Elite level.

The local authorities had a dog sniffing bags for food when we left the ship in Cozumel last week.

 

That said, even though the Patter almost always has that notice and they announce it over the PA, in reality they seldom actually check.

 

Still not something I would try to get by with.

We could see he was working hard so we didn't feel it would be right to complain to him and definitely not to his bosses.

 

Even if we were back in the cabin we'd leave the "Make UP Cabin" sign up so he wouldn't know if we were in there or not. And when he'd get to us we'd either leave or just sit out on the balcony.

 

The last few nights we just put out the "Do not Disturb" sign and went without the turndown service.

 

Next time we will make it a point to let him or her know we spend a lot of time in the cabin.

We have left our car there for the week with no charge.

 

Internet in the hotel is free for Diamond players.

 

I pack light so dragging our luggage to the port is no big deal. We can use the exercise.

We always use the sign and did talk to our steward on the first day. It didn't help. Not the first time we've had this experience, and the longest waits have been on NCL. Do they assign more cabins than on other cruise lines?

We are both Diamond, not Seven Star, so it might make a difference, but if you can't get into Harrah's Hotel they still might put you in one of several partner hotels close by. Not in my opinion as nice, but still a free room.

We love the Harrah's hotel. The bathtub is to die for.

 

They have a Diamond Room but both times we tried to get in there was a line.

 

They have restaurants and you can use Reward Points (mostly 2:1 unfortunately) at a lot of outside restaurants, too.

 

We love the whole deal.

We are pretty much cabin potatoes so we like to get our cabin made up fairly quickly. Before you all jump on me, I don't whine and complain about it, but sometimes it takes forever. On our recent cruise it was 9:00 one night and he still hadn't made it even though we were out of the cabin by 5:30.

 

Another way to get jumped on: it seems to take longer on NCL than on Princess.

On most cruises from Florida ports the ships are in international water about an hour after departing so the tax wouldn't be too much unless you spent a lot on drinks during the sail away. NOLA is totally different as it takes about 8hours to clear the Mississippi river delta and get into open water.

 

As my dear husband just pointed out including the fact that shops and other things are often shut down for a while after first leaving a port.

We just got off the Jewel Sunday. Was it our best ever cruise? No. Was it a terrible cruise. Of course not. A few things we weren't happy about but you can't dwell on that. Once you start feeling that way you notice everything that is the least bit off and it gets magnified on your mind.

Wow. With all the cruises we take you'd have thought I'd have noticed this before now.

All states or just Louisiana?

Did I miss something?

 

There was a notice in the Freestyle Daily toward the end of our Jewel cruise that said anything purchased onboard after re-entering US waters would be charged a 9% tax.

 

I haven't heard of this before. Who will that money go to? US government or Louisiana?

We've used the same TA for a lot of cruises. We would never consider giving any TA funds in the hope that they would be forwarded to the cruise line. The TA just asks us what credit card we want the money charged to.

I guess I'm surprised that this wouldn't be the way they all operate.

Had lunch with a ship's officer who told us that one elderly couple kept flushing towels down the toilet. most likely a senility or an Alzheimer issue but the ship's officers just didn't know what to do about it.