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Brewed coffee and espresso are different and will have a different taste. An Americano is an espresso that's diluted with hot water. Also, the final taste can yield different tastes depending on how much coffee grounds were used in the preparation and the ratio of water used. Brewed coffee is a large volume of water that is passed through medium ground coffee with a filter for minutes. This method can pull more impurities of the coffee beans. Espresso is a small volume of water that is forcefully passed through finely ground coffee with pressure and no filter. Brewed coffee became popular in the U.S. because it's easier to prepare and can be prepared at home without a fancy machine and being too finnicky.

Cross you fingers that the cabin you will be occupying on the 2nd leg has no occupants on the 1st leg. Pre-pandemic we did a B2B ex Barcelona. The night before the change, we went to Guest Services to inquire about our move and was told that no one was in the mini-suite that we would be occupying on the 2nd leg. Guest Services allowed us to move the night before. Worse comes to worse, cross your fingers that the previous occupants vacate cabin early so the cabin steward can clean and setup your cabin for you sooner rather than later. Are you planning on clearing immigration with the rest of the B2Bs as a group or with the disembarking passengers? If clearing with the rest of the B2Bs, there's a slight chance that you will be able to supervise the move. The meeting time for B2Bs clearing immigration as a group is between 9:30 and 10:00 am. The new cabin steward might be able to refresh and ready your new cabin by 9:00. Did you book your Fort Lauderdale excursion on your own? I was under the impression that the debark excursions in Fort Lauderdale dropped off at the airport upon completion.

Princess ships don't have the adventure/active activities and pools/waterslides of RCCL's ships. If anything, lounges and places to sit rule on Princess ships. It's akin to the older demographic that cruise with Princess--they like to do activities which involve sitting, lounging, and people watching. The pool can be filled with older people in swimwear that you wish you could unsee. In the evenings, the oldies like to dance in the Piazza. If allowed to stay up by their parents, the teens on Princess like to party with the DJ at night, much to the dismay of the older passengers who would rather have the DJ play music which they can slow dance to. Because you will be cruising in the off season and taking a longer cruise, don't expect there to be a lot of peers in the teen age group (maybe if you picked a date that coincided with Spring Break). I travelled with Princess as a kid with my grandparents as their third wheel. What I can remember is that I had to find my own (trouble), ahem, fun. Those were the days were being a kid really meant being an endangered species on Princess.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the crew doesn't pay attention to the nickname box. You have to create rapport with certain crew and tell them the name you prefer to use; they'll remember you after so many interactions. If you don't want to look at your real name every time you walk into your cabin, you can get Guest Services to remove your name from the door tablet. I always found it awkward for the cabin steward and waiters to refer to me as Mr. (insert last name). Makes me feel like I'm a teacher. I always tell them that we can be on a first name basis and I'm not offended by that.

You have to purchase by the end of the 2nd day. The tables with the crew trying to sell the package are gone after lunch on the 2nd day, but Guest Services can still add Plus/Premier after the tables disappear.

If you booked guarantee and are wanting a cabin assigned, you might have to the difference in fare. The guarantee fare is usually lower than the select a cabin fare. Sometimes they level off after final payment date for the sailing has passed. I always book guarantee and have been pretty happy with my cabin assignments. You never know, you might get upgraded. It also works in you favor that there aren't very of these cabins on the Royal Princess. In the rare event that you get a downgrade, Princess must compensate you. I don't want to say with absolutely certainty, but Princess has been known in the past to give comped upgrades to first time to Princess cruisers. Welcome to Princess!

Just realize with credit card cash advances there is a flat fee which is a % of the $ amount of the transaction and the APR of your card kicks in from the day of withdrawal. Really not a good idea unless absolutely desperate.

You pay for convenience with Princess. In college I did Denali NP with my friends. We rented a car, drove to the park, and stayed at the non-Princess lodges and Inns. Remember Denali is a NP and you can visit it like a NP--Princess doesn't have to be in the equation. Think of it as Yosemite NP. Google Denali National Park lodges and your options will populate. Not sure what the availability is now, but back then we booked the lodges a year in advance. Not quite sure what you have in mind when you say spend time at Mt McKinley. You will see Mt McKinley anywhere in the Park. You can't miss it. Unless you plan on hiking up the mountain (which takes weeks), no real point in getting that close. It's better seen from far away. Mt McKinley is the mountain. Denali is the name of the peak of Mt. McKinley, which the NP is named after.

I was on the Royal Princess last year 12/12 to 12/22. The Xmas decorations didn’t start to appear until the morning of 12/20 (xmas trees, garland, wreaths, and stockings). I did notice that a the menorah was out for Hanukkah from embarkation day and was put away immediately once that holiday ended. Was on the Sky for Easter this year and the Easter decorations showed up the Friday before Easter Sunday and were taken down Tuesday after Easter. Princess puts up festive decorations only for a short period of time. Not like Disney parks.

This was a problem with the Princess website during the restart. You would select interior as a category and balcony cabins would appear for selection. After selecting a cabin, an error page would show appear. Never let you get to entering passenger details or payment info.

I think to expect Princess to send out their recipes to a food lab to get the nutrition facts is setting the bar too high. Sometimes the galley, has to make due with the ingredients they have and the recipe changes from time to time. Just as your local restaurants (not fast food) don't have nutrition facts for their menu items. If it's a dessert, expect it to have sugar or sugar alternatives. Use your best judgement and don't overindulge.

500 ml, plastic bottles are included in the packages. Brands can vary. I've seen Kirkland and Crystal Geyser on North America departures, Devonshire Springs on Southampton departures, Frasassi water on European departures. You will see larger 1.5 liter bottles of water but those aren't included in the package and are sold at $5.00 per bottle, the last I checked.

Worse comes to worse, spend the night at a cheap SFO hotel or take an early morning Uber. Not sure how far back you made this EZAir reservation, but Delta is one of the worst airlines to purchase a bulk fare from. They are notorious for changing flights on a whim. It seems like if you book a bulk fare too far in advance, they bump you based on flight availability knowing that you cannot really do anything about it without having to go through the agent. The 9:05 flight is probably fuller than the 6:05 flight, so you were bumped to the earlier flight so there would be more tickets to sells on the later; 9:05 is a more popular flight since you don't have to be at the airport before the crack of dawn. Some of my parent's friends fly Delta when possible to use their status and they have always had this exact same problem when using EZAir to book Delta too far in advance.

Princess' "private island" in the Bahamas. Not technically an island, but a piece of property on a Bahamian Island exclusively for the use of Princess passengers. This a popular call for Princess' Caribbean itineraries.

The experience will that of calling at Princess Cays, but no food service provided by Princess and ship board drink package does apply to drinks on the island. Nothing/no one there until the cruise ship passengers arrive. Mystery Island is totally secluded and pristine. The beach has shallow water. Tender service is continuous, but the peak time was lunch

Best way to know is to check your Cruise Personalizer the night before you embark. No personal experience with Bid to Upgrade, but on occasion, we've check the night before and have been graciously surprised that we've been upgraded at no charge. At that point, you can also print out new luggage tags to match the upgraded cabin assignment.

Not sure what Princess' criteria for accepting bids is. The cruise buddies we cruise with like to participate in Bid to Upgrade, and from what I gather anecdotally, just because there is availability in higher categories, doesn't mean that your bid will be accepted. 🤷‍♂️

I've been on 2 British Isles cruises and formal night is held on the first day where you will be departing port in the early afternoon, rather than departing in the evening, so passengers have time to get ready should they have the desire to participate. On one cruise, it was the 2nd night of the cruise when we left Guernsey at 16:00 and On the other, it was the 1st night of the cruise when we left Isle of Portland at 17:00.

They are personalized before you receive them. If being shipped to home, at a foreign manufacturing plant. If picked up at the port, on the ship you will be on the sailing before you embark and waiting for you in a ziplock bag, which the check-in agent will retrieve for you. Medallion are activated at check-in.

This is just sad. That means she can't afford life in retirement and she needs the money. She was a headliner and now just an opening act.

Doesn't have to be paid in full for it to be assigned, but will most likely come after final payment. It can be assigned as late as the night before embarkation. Most common, in my experience, is 10-40 days before embarkation. Check your e-mail inbox and spam folder. I've seen it come as an Upgrade Notice or as a Booking Confirmation e-mail. Good Luck!

It's protocol for you to receive this call post-cruise as part of the "Welcome Home Program." It's Go Princess trying to sell you one of their packages disguised as a post-cruise wellness call. I've received one every one every cruise I've taken since March of this year. Link is bleow: https://www.princess.com/news/news_releases/2023/02/princess-cruises-launches-welcome-home-program.html

Per the Bid to Upgrade FAQs, your bid can be accepted all the way up to one day before departure.

You're guaranteed a cabin assignment in the category you booked or higher; you cannot pick cabin location or cabin number. There are categories BC, BB, Deluxe Balconies, Mini-Suites, and suites on the Marina Deck. If you book a Balcony BD guarantee and the algorithm decides to upgrade you, you could be upgraded to a higher category cabin on the Marina Deck. People have anecdotally had stories about having been able to switch cabins like for like in the same category (BC to BC or BB to BB, not BC/BB to BA) once the room assignment has dropped. Wouldn't count on this as it seems to be dependent on the Princess rep you or your TA is talking to and/or how full the that particular sailing is.

You would think China, but the article below, dated 12/20/2021, mixes things up. All I can say when I've elected to have the Medallion shipped to my home, they've shipped from Asia. https://www.carnivalcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/carnival-corporation-jabil-launch-consumer-wearable-production