Momma Mojito

On June 8-10, Princess is having an annual special three-day sale. We have signed up for the September 2018 Panama Canal partial cruise which has perks attached to it like $100 deposit pp, refundable up to final payment, free gratuities, and free premium drink package for balcony or higher, free dinner for mini-suites in pay restaurant, and some on-board credit. Military and stockholder benefits available. You have to be booked during that period.

 

Check with your travel agent to see if you can jump on that bandwagon. I don't know if you can get the same deal from Princess directly.

 

There are other deals available on other Princess cruises as long as you book it during those dates.

 

We jumped on the deal last year for a cruise from San Pedro to Hawaii on October 25 this year. Can't wait to drink myself across the Pacific (lol).

Just wondering how you find out about these sales ahead of time

We just sailed on the Coral (Panama Canal )in April for the third time. As for the all the Princess ships we have sailed on the Coral is our favorite.

We always enjoyed dancing in the Wheelhouse on the wooden dance floor. The marble floors are a little harder on your feet and don't slide as well.

 

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From the pics that I've seen the Wheelhouse has carpet and no wooden dance floor. Have any of you been on the Royal lately to confirm this, plus what kind of music do they have in there?

We are considering going to go on the Royal Princess in the fall and even though we aren't great dancers, we enjoy watching others dance more than us dancing ourselves. From what I've read on CC there aren't many dancing venues on the Royal. Our favorite night spot is the Wheelhouse but I understand that there is no longer a dance floor in the Wheelhouse. Would really appreciate your opinions on this. Thanks

I booked a May 2018 cruise this morning with a $1.00 deposit that was also a Red, White and Blue sale cruise. The $1.00 deposit is great, but....and this got past me...there is a $100/pp cancellation fee in the cancellation schedule if you cancel after booking today on a Red, White and Blue sale cruise. I'm not sure how this got past me, likely in my enthusiasm to only book with a $1.00 deposit...just an FYI for those booking today under the $1.00 deposit promo.

And after I read this I decided it was too good to be true!!! So I guess I lost out!!!

Yes, GTY cabins USED to be cheaper than choose your own but it hasn't been that way at Princess for quite a while. IMHO, the only advantage to booking a GTY now is the HOPE that you might get an upgrade (hit or miss, seems to be more likely the earlier you book) or if that's all they have left for sale and you really want that cruise.

Thanks for your answer I thought that's the was it used to be. I agree as to why would you book a GTY for the same price you may pick your cabin unless you want to gamble for an upgrade.

Thanks for the feedback. I just spoke with Princess and they confirmed that I need to make arrangements in advance. I guess I need to start making some plans for Rome to see if it makes sense to get off for a day. They were clear once I make the arrangements , I am committed.

Thanks for bringing this subject up. I myself would have never thought of doing this but now it does bring possibilities for all of us who would like to see more of Italy!!

I have a question about booking a GTY. I used to book a GTY but lately, I've booked the cabin we would like. Didn't GTY cabins use to be cheaper than the lowest price cabin in the category that you would prefer?

Thanks for following up Elsie, it seems to be a continuing issue with the 3rd party baggage handler involved.

You would think that SW could dig a little deeper.

So frustrating. :(

Keith,

I did receive a call today from Chad and the way he explained it to me was even though Princess offers EZ Check with Southwest, that it is not administered by Southwest Airlines. Southwest has nothing to do with how you are accepted for EZCheck. The final decision is between the baggage handlers and Princess.

Now onto a letter to Princess to see what they tell me.

I think many of us are as perplexed as you and would love to know a more definitive answer.

I hope SW can shed some light. ;)

Keith,

I wanted to share this email from Southwest with you that I recieved the other day. So as you can see even though Southwest offers EZcheck it's actually not their doing that we were origanally rejected. I will let all of you know as soon as I get in writing ( either from Princess or the Baggage Handlers) why we were put into this stressful situation.

Dear Elsie,

Thank you for contacting us. I wanted to speak to you personally, and I regret that I was unable to reach you by telephone. I welcome the opportunity to respond to your concerns in writing.

I was sorry to read of the issues you encountered when checking your bags to your Southwest flight from your cruise ship. After reviewing your reservation, I was unable to find any information that indicated there was an issue with your reservation that would have prevented you from receiving a boarding pass or checking baggage. Although I was able to confirm that Southwest does work with your cruise line’s third party baggage handling vendor, please note that any issues regarding this service should be referred to the cruise line or the third party vendor as Southwest Airlines is not directly affiliated with either entity and is unable to provide Customer support for their systems or policies. That being said, as we are always looking for ways to improve our operation, we have included your concerns in our monthly summary, which is distributed to Southwest Airlines’ Senior Leadership.

We look forward to our next opportunity to welcome you onboard one of our flights as your patronage is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Chad Alexander, Southwest Airlines

Nobody said you had anything of the kind..........

The question was asked ("IF you had a senior fare") as this could be a possible answer to your issue.

Keith,

Maybe I worded my responce the wrong way, I'm sorry if I did. This is what I read ( As the other responses indicated, Southwest usually does not allow passengers ticketed with senior fares (or child fares for that matter) to check in or print their boarding passes in advance; they must check in at the counter at the airport. There were no ulterior motives on the part of the member who asked.

Once I get my answer back from Southwest I'll let you all know their answer

Even though Princess submits the info earlier for request it doesn't become final till 24 hours prior to flight as that is the earliest you can check in. So that may explain why they did not hear till then the night prior.

 

We have used EZ check quite a few times. two weeks ago we requested EZ check as our flight was not till 3 pm. We also were called to say it could not be done because our final destination was Canada. We accepted it but we have done this routing many times and done EZ Check and with the same airline so not sure why it has changed now.

 

We were flying FLL to Chicago then to Vancouver - only clearing customs in Vancouver. Oh well we accepted it but we were surprised how things change. Just went with the flow.

I'm glad you were at least given a reasonable answer at the time you were still on the ship,we were not. We were really happy that EZCheck was offered being that our flight wasn't until 9:45 pm and we didn't want to spend the day the airport ,Another reason that some on CC said was that we had Senior Fares and because of this, we had to physically check in at the airport. I'm still waiting to hear from Southwest and will let all of you know what their reasoning was.

Even though Princess submits the info earlier for request it doesn't become final till 24 hours prior to flight as that is the earliest you can check in. So that may explain why they did not hear till then the night prior.

 

We have used EZ check quite a few times. two weeks ago we requested EZ check as our flight was not till 3 pm. We also were called to say it could not be done because our final destination was Canada. We accepted it but we have done this routing many times and done EZ Check and with the same airline so not sure why it has changed now.

 

We were flying FLL to Chicago then to Vancouver - only clearing customs in Vancouver. Oh well we accepted it but we were surprised how things change. Just went with the flow.

My DW's parents while on the Coral had the same thing happen to them when we sailed together.

It was explained that because they had a senior priced/coded fare the SW rule was they must show their ID at the ticket counter. This nullified them being able to use EZ Check. We spent over an hour to on the phone at the PSD talking with SW and the customer service manager spent a great deal of time as well. At first nobody knew why they were rejected. They never did get to use it. This happened the night before we arrived in Ft Lauderdale. :(

Thanks for your explanation!!!

Then to me this is discrimanation in my opinion. If this is how Southwest take care of seniors maybe Princess should look into their rulings!!!

I did read once that a couple were rejected by SW because they had booked a "senior rate". It was explained that SW had to "check" the age and could not do that until passengers checked in at the airport....IMHO.....crazy:rolleyes:

I just don't understand if this were the reason why they would reject us at such a late time!!

Did you by chance have a senior priced fare with SW?

Why do you ask? No we didn't have a senior priced fare, that I know of. And if it were a senior fare I would think they would take into consideration that this EZCheck would be helpful for us. One of their reasons was that there were too many people by our and my brothers last name on the flight!!! We have an uncommon Italian last name and my brother's last name is very uncommon. Go Figure!!! I haven't taken the time yet to contact Southwest but I will be looking further into the stressful situation that they put on us.

On our recent Coral Princess 10 day Panama Canal cruise, we had a 9:45 p.m. flight out of Ft. Lauderdale. We signed up for EZ Check knowing that we would be able to enjoy the day in Ft Lauderdale. About 7:30 the night before we were to get off the ship, we received a phone call saying that Southwest had rejected us for EZ Check. Well, you can imagine how upset we became, not knowing what we were going to do with our luggage in Ft Lauderdale plus we already had packed our luggage knowing there was no weight restriction with EZ Check. I immediately went down to the customer service desk to try and find out why we were rejected. We made a call to Southwest but no one that we talked to could give us a legitimate answer. Princess customer service representative NICOLE FIJMA went out of her way to also find out why they did this. She sent numerous emails to Southwest, explaining our situation. Finally, she came out of the office waving an email saying we had been reinstated.

The first night and the next day and the last day and night the course takes you through the "Potato Patch" so named for the 'lumpy' seas. The name has to do with the Humboldt Current interacting with another current (I don't remember its' name). If there is a storm near the seas get more interesting. The area of the Potato Patch is huge, making it difficult to plot around.

We've been through a hurricane in the Caribbean and a North Atlantic Low (what the ship's officers called a storm with hurricane force winds). If those were 10 on a scale of 1 to 10 then the Potato Patch would rate between a 2 and a 4.

I'm so glad for your explanation. After18 cruises and no sea sickness I experienced sea sickness for the first time on our last Alaskan Cruise out of San Francisco. I woke up the first morning with a queazy stomach and dizziness. Spent the whole day in bed trying to shake it off drinking ginger ale, taking Dramine, and chewing ginger gum. Next day woke up nd was fine. I did continue to take Dramine for a couple of days. The on the return it happened again but only for half a day. We just came back from a 10 day Panama Cruise and just in case it would happen again I took Bonine for the first couple of days. I also brought ginger candy sot and hard tack, plus ginger tea, but luckily I didn't need to use any of it

Apologies to all for a possibly redundant question..I have never redeemed points for a "statement credit" before. Onboard credits I have done many times. DW and I have an upcoming 14 day cruise. We have been saving points for many years and have accrued 250,000+ points. Do I do a statement credit just like an onboard credit re: multiples of 40,000 pts. at a value of $500.00 ea. towards the cruise cost?

With that many points I would call this number to ask them the best way to do this. I'd hate to make a mistake and loose any of them.. 866-872-6248 This number in the United Staes and they know how to do it!!!

The woman I had today was very helpful

After all the round a round I recieved yesterday I called again today and within no time my points were redeemed. Here is the number that you need to call is you want to redeem your Princess Points 866-872-6248 This number in the United Staes and they know how to do it!!!

Well I just tried to apply my Princess Visa Points to my Credit Card Statement with a supervisor from the United States after dealing with two people from offshore..... and guess what was told to call back because the site was updating .. Will let all of you know how long it will take me to get this resolved.

Yes they rent chairs and umbrellas.

Do you remember how much the chairs and umbrellas were?

Start your research at www.sunny.org.

 

Are you planning to rent a car? If not, the Everglades parks are quite a ways away from the port, so check the website above and contact those you are interested in and see if they offer transportation to/from Fort Lauderdale.

 

While you will have already done the water taxi pre-cruise, if you missed the Hollywood Route (heads south from the HIlton Marina thru Port Everglades to Hollywood) you might want to do that. The Broadwalk in Hollywood is very nice.

 

There is plenty to do around Las Olas Blvd (www.lasolasboulevard.com) including a museum district, lots of restaurants, galleries, etc.

 

I would suggest a leisurely disembarkation, a trip to one of the Everglades parks, then a return to Las Olas. Spend the afternoon there and have an early dinner in one of the many restaurants.

Thank you so much for your tips and suggestions. I will cerntainly consider these!!

Our flight home isn't until 9:30 p.m. after our cruise. One of the things the four of us would like to do is go ride the boats in the Everglades. Are there different companies that do this I'm up for suggestions on how we go about getting there once we leave the ship. Also if this doesn't take most of the day what else can we do. We are doing the Water taxi before the cruise, so even though we enjoy it we don't want to do it again.. We won't have our luggage because Princess offers EZ Check and our airline accepts it. Once we are ready to go to the airport from Ft. Lauderdale what would be your suggestions

Thanks in advance

Just got off the Coral Princess. The cases of Noro were declining yesterday. They did a great job handling it and keeping everyone informed, as well as constantly reminding everyone to wash their hands. I didn't know anyone who got sick and there was little disruption of services. The buffet was switched from self-service to crew serving and the crew was wiping everything down constantly. The crew members looked worn out by all the extra duties and cleaning, though.

As we wlll be sailing on the Coral in April I'm glad to hear your news...We have sailed when the ship has had the Noro and do know the excellent job the crew does to keep it contained. Truthfully I feel it's the inconsiderate passengers who will not use the hand sanitizers or CONTINUE NOT TO WASH THEIR HANDS PROPERLY !! When we were on red alert I was in line at the buffet on day waited to be served by the crew member who had stepped away to take care of another passenger, when a man stepped in front me and served himself. I told him that he was not allowed to serve himself and his reply was I can't wait forever!!

Along with bringing my own hand sanitizer I also bring anti-bacterial liquid hand soap