Ace_Caliente

How far out is generally the sweet spot for either Westjet or AirCanada (and I guess AirTransat) for flights in July? I looked at some flights when the seats were first available several weeks ago and they're up about 10% now. In 2022 I booked around late January for early July flights, but I hadn't been watching prices up to that point so I don't know if those prices were better than they were a few months earlier.

Is there sherry available on board? I looked up some of the menus for Vines etc and couldn't find sherry, though to be fair I may have been looking in the wrong place. I also did a search on the forum here and the posts seemed to be discussing bringing sherry onboard and not ordering it. Thanks

On Caribbean Princess in July 2023 there wasn't an UST as far as I could tell. They did have two separate "Life at Sea" presentations / behind the scenes talks - one by the cruise director and another one explaining navigation. I missed the navigation one, but I found the talk by the cruise director including video of the crew areas very interesting the talk was full capacity at the Explorer's Lounge.

Caribbean Princess has it at Vines as of July 2023. I was also introduced to it onboard and enjoyed it as something different.

I see in the journey view for our sailing on the Caribbean Princess coming up there are a number of listings for "Cards & Board Games Get-Together" in one of the dining rooms. I don't remember this being a thing at all on the Regal last summer in the Med sailing we were on. Is there actually a library of board games and card games to play? I think I remember in the Regal's library seeing a deck of cards or two, but not really much for board games (maybe there was Clue or something like that). Anyway, my question is, are there a variety of games available or is it simply whatever guests bring on board? I usually pack a deck of cards when we travel but that's about it.

If both people in the cabin have plus and then one gets charged for lets say 5 out of 20 drinks for the day (since you were using the app from one device) I doubt you'd have a hard time at guest services reversing the charge.

Yes, basically that's what I'm asking. She didn't have a great experience on the little tender boats in the past, but she's never been in one of the life boat style ones so maybe those are better.

If one of us has a scheduled excursion at the Princess Cays port but the other does not - will we be able to both go on the same tender / stay together? My wife is by no means unable to handle herself, but the tendering process and being on the tenders themselves is probably the thing she dislikes the most.

FYI here is a blog post that lists recent drink prices. A lot is covered for $15. https://cruisingkids.co.uk/princess-cruises-drinks-prices/

Is this an issue on the Caribbean Princess that occurs just with cabins that have balconies?

We probably would be sitting together, so that's not really an issue. At least that's how we typically play if we're both there.

If our budget per day is 100-200 USD in the casino on a 14 day cruise, is it wiser to share a card so that all play counts towards one account or to not bother and each use our own account? This is on a Princess cruise with most of the budget likely going towards slot play.

Do you remember what Video Poker games were available on the Caribbean Princess?

Did you ever try the pizza from Slice? If so, does it compare at all to Alfredo's/Gigi's restaurant pizza for you? I know in the summer on the Regal we really enjoyed the Alfredo's pizza, but the pizza by the pool wasn't really for us.

If you look under the "Special Notes" section of the excursion FLL-635 "Debark Tour: Everglades Airboat Ride & Eco-Adventure With Fort Lauderdale Airport Transfer" it says near the bottom: **Although, this is a disembarkation tour, guests who are continuing the cruise (on LINK voyages or back to back) and wish to participate on this tour should be aware that the coach will first drop off the guests at the Fort Lauderdale airport then return to the pier where the ship is docked.** It doesn't say this for FLL-640 - so I assume they do two "runs" and the first one is the one to take because they go back to pick up the next batch at the cruise port.

Since we're talking the Caribbean Princess - Does anyone know if there's a map which labels the "blank" areas on the different decks or gives some indication? Specifically I'm wondering what the whited out area at the aft of Emerald deck is - as in, is it a noisy space?

I think the pricing is on their website and has the "on par" cooked in for certain sailings. We had booked a 14 day Caribbean sailing for July 2023 a few weeks ago through Costco Travel and then 12 days ago it dropped on the Princess website by around 25-30%. I wasn't able to see this on Costco's pricing or tripcentral.ca, but I was able to get Costco TA to call Princess and after sitting on hold while Costco called them they eventually came back on the line and re-fared us with the same cabin etc. and booking number. Saved us something like 1300 CAD. 6 hours later the price on the Princess website changed back to be the older higher price. Since then, starting maybe a few days ago, it is now been sitting at the new lower price on Princess' website. Costco travel website still shows the "old" price for this sailing. By the way I didn't get any email about "on par" etc., I just noticed that particular sailing dropped by a bunch, and my hunch actually was that they were either making a mistake with the currency conversion (since it worked out to exactly the amount give or take a few bucks) or they had a sale running that wasn't really showing up properly.

While on Regal we were literally the most aft obstructed balcony and never noticed any smoke smell at all. I could see the smoking area from the balcony, but it was still a good ways away.

I think what they are serving is actually "ice milk" - which where I live is different than soft serve. For example, Dairy Queen serves good soft serve, but convenience stores that sell ice cream cones serve ice milk "soft serve". I like both, and enjoyed it in July, but definitely nowhere as good as Dairy Queen soft serve cones.

We used Ekol Travel to book a private van and guide for the 4 of us. Ask to be guided by Errol if possible - excellent English, very nice man. We paid 296 USD for 4 of us including Ephesus and the Terrace Houses. I talked to Valentina to make the booking over email after using their web form. Getting to and from Ephesus is a bit of a pain so having all of that handled was nice. They also offer tours in Istanbul, but we didn't bother booking one and just wandered around on our own.

We were on Regal in July and the Allegro was where we always went. We always used the TV screen to book for later in the day and just about every time had no trouble getting an early seating for 4 right when it opened or soon afterwards. It was never busy at that time and service was generally fast, which we like as we don't tend to linger too long at a meal. The view out the rear windows was entertaining as on one occasion we saw some dolphins. There can be some rumbling/vibration if you're there during sail away or the lead up to sail away.

From what I understand, Princess typically makes onboard casino offers the last or second last (?) night of the cruise to guests that have played a lot in the casino etc. Anyway, my question is, how does this work on one of the 14 day cruises that are effectively two 7 day segments? I'm not talking about a back-to-back - this would be a cruise booked specifically as a 14 day, but there are two 7 day sailings that could also be booked individually. I assume there are two scenarios - each segment is treated separately (7 day and 7 day) and offers are calculated near the end of each week, or the passengers on the 14 day are treated separately (as opposed to the 7 day passengers) and their offers are calculated near the end of their 14 days. Does anyone have any experience with this on a multi segment cruise that is packaged in this way?

I see in the Captain's Circle listing of benefits "Members-Only Onboard Events" is listed. What kinds of events are these? Does every cruise sailing have them? I've tried searching on here and google with a variety of search terms and cannot seem to get any kind of insight into this. I also scanned a few pages of an online princess patter someone posted and nothing really stood out. On our last cruise, before we were even Gold level, I didn't really notice any of these - but of course in that case I wouldn't of had access anyway.

We, for the most part, really enjoyed the cold soups on Regal in July. My daughter especially would always order one if there was an option for it.

That's certainly how it generally worked on the Regal in July in the Mediterranean