Guardsy

We have done overnights at embarkation twice; Tahiti and Quebec. Both were awesome. So, if you had an overnight at DISembarcation, take advantage of it. If you can get a big airfare break, leave early. If not, stay onboard. You already paid for the "hotel" and possibly the drinks. Certainly the food! People overthink this stuff!

So, this has been my experience (15+ cruises, 10+ on Princess). When you find 1-2 bars that you prefer (Crooners, Casino and fan tail) ask them for what you like. If they don't have it at that bar, but it is on the ship, they will often be sure that it is at their bar for the rest of the cruise. Slip the bartender a couple of bucks for the effort. Has never been an issue in my experience. Lots of options.

We are both Platinum, but have been bumped to a suite on the Caribbean Princess. We also have the drink package. But, we WILL plan to take advantage of every perk of a suite-holder, as we are likely to never have this opportunity again. Advice / Suggestions are encouraged!

Not if you have a drink package. Boarding to disembark, all drinks are covered under the plan. Yep, tested it!

Can anyone share if you have a copy of a CG menu? Caribbean Princess, if that makes a difference.

Closed at $12.20 / share today!

Stock is nearly $12 / share today. Just applied for our $100 credit for our April cruise. More free money!

Booked it! Thanks for all the insights, CC !

Thanks! Done!

I know. Cannot figure out how to delete one of them.

My wife has been wondering what it would be like to cruise in an actual suite for a number of years, but price always held us back. When I inquired of our cruise planner about three weeks ago, she noted that most 7-day Caribbean cruises, in a full suite, cost $6,000 +. Ouch. Outside of our budget. Last week was looking at a fun 7-day cruise to the Western Caribbean on the Caribbean Princess. All ports we had never been to before, dates worked well. We need to book ADA rooms whenever we can as my wife uses a wheelchair or scooter. Tried a normal inside once. just did not work. On this booking, I was looking to see if there were any ADA mini-suites (also have not been in one of those) that might be reasonable. The Princess site grinded for a moment then popped up with a new message to us. Instead of the red lettering saying no ADA cabins available per our request, it said "No cabins available, but we would be willing to upgrade you to a S7 Window Suite at no additional charge. Total charges; suite (with ALL the perks, all port/gov't fees) and Princess Plus, $1,618 per person! Access to thermal spa for free for the whole cruise, one free specialty dinner, yada, yada, yada. Free canapes and water each day, flowers in the cabin. Feel like we hit a little lottery. Went to (BIG WAREHOUSE STORE) travel, same week, same S7 category, $5,948 PP, PLUS port fees, Princess Plus, etc.

My wife has been wondering what it would be like to cruise in an actual suite for a number of years, but price always held us back. When I inquired of our cruise planner about three weeks ago, she noted that most 7-day Caribbean cruises, in a full suite, cost $6,000 +. Ouch. Outside of our budget. Last week was looking at a fun 7-day cruise to the Western Caribbean on the Caribbean Princess. All ports we had never been to before, dates worked well. We need to book ADA rooms whenever we can as my wife uses a wheelchair or scooter. Tried a normal inside once. just did not work. On this booking, I was looking to see if there were any ADA mini-suites (also have not been in one of those) that might be reasonable. The Princess site grinded for a moment then popped up with a new message to us. Instead of the red lettering saying no ADA cabins available per our request, it said "No cabins available, but we would be willing to upgrade you to a S7 Window Suite at no additional charge. Total charges; suite (with ALL the perks, all port/gov't fees) and Princess Plus, $1,618 per person! Access to thermal spa for free for the whole cruise, one free specialty dinner, yada, yada, yada. Free canapes and water each day, flowers in the cabin. Feel like we hit a little lottery. Went to (BIG WAREHOUSE STORE) travel, same week, same S7 category, $5,948 PP, PLUS port fees, Princess Plus, etc.

On The Caribbean Princess, they ARE on the Fiesta Deck. Floor 6. Not sure what you are trying to share. Are they on different decks on other ships that have them? Some folks above talk about the casino bar being "right around the corner", but the casino is a deck above. ???

How are they in comparison to a mini-suite?

Does anyone have experience with the window suite on the CP? F301- F315?

I was being facetious. Given the low rates being charge for the cruises, I do NOT expect lobster. I will say, in November, fresh lobster prices on shore were pretty high. Generally $30 per lb. Lobster rolls were crazy small at $25 each.

Absolutely funny! If you are going on a cruise for the lobster dinners, prepare to be disappointed, especially in the MDR. Sure, on a cruise that is selling for $650 for an outside cabin, for 11-days, I expect lobster for free! Nuts! From our last 14-day cruise in November on the Statendam, going through Nova Scotia, Portland and Boston, the ONLY lobster worth the $$ was the 12-oz in Rudi's. Forget the ones in the MDR. Not good, not good. Even the ones in the Grill were not worth the money for the taste OR the size. That 12-oz'er, though..............$50 fee but all worth it.

CCL stock closed today at $10.51 / share. First time above $10 for some time, I believe. Yeah for us who bought near the recent low. Now, keep giving out those cruise credits!

I don't believe there is any limitation on how many non-alcoholic drinks you can have at one time. Just know that if you only have your card, YOUR daily limit will be charged for two of whatever you get.

Just saw on another HIA post that the staff are encouraged to take only one card for 2 drinks as it speeds up their processing time when they are busy. Making more sense now, but cost us an extra $130+. We won't make that mistake again.

After 35+ years of cruising, I found the NS one of the overall best ships I have ever been on. Easy to navigate, just the right number of venues.

Had something similar on one of our Princess cruises in the last year. I "thought" I had linked our two folio's onto the same credit card, but in fact they had two cards on account, so we lost out on OBC and some discounts. Princess never did anything with it. Now we make it a point on the 2nd or 3rd day to be sure everything is linked as one account, to one charge card.

Thanks, Mary. We know that. After 12+ sailing on Princess using their package system, which is similar, we never had an issue. This one, after 30 years not sailing HAL, we did. We know what the rules are. So do the waiters/servers. They should take both cards, or ask if you have 2 cards, especially when they see the little HIA printed on the card. Worst case, when they can clearly see the disparity on the accounts, make the adjustments.

My wife and I went on N. Statendam in November. 14-days. Over the first week or so, we had numerous bartenders and MDR waiters only take one card for our drinks, usually mine. As a result, when we checked our stateroom bill halfway through the cruise, I had numerous charges for drinks over my daily 15 (we get lots of water and coffees that get charged against it, not just alcohol) due to this process. They only put the drinks to my account. $130+ in charges due to this. I went to the front desk and asked what could be done. They looked at my wife's account and found she had only had 4-5 drinks over the same time period. They could not reverse the charges, but said they would contact the bar management. After 2-3 days we heard nothing. I wrote a note to the bar manager asking that the charges be reversed. Nothing in response. I put it in our HAL review survey and still heard nothing. Not a big deal in the scheme of things, but it will most certainly stick in my craw even looking at HAL cruises. Back to Princess.

We order 1-2 carafes of coffee to the room every morning. It is always prompt and hot. We tip a $2 bill to the one delivering it. We also bring aboard our own flavored coffee creamer to use. Once we are fully awake, we head up to get our "fancier" coffee and pastry. If need be, we pick up another small bottle of flavored creamer in port.