cruiselvr1

My DW and I would like to know what kind of furniture Regent have on the balconys. Princess uses nice wood chairs and recliners in their suites.

Travelcat2 You are right about adding the minutes. They do it all the time either that or make an adjustment. I just could not believe what I was told.

We are experience Princess cruisers also. Since we have cruise suites, we found ourselves closer to elite status. We love princess, but wanted to try cruise lines supposedly give high end service. We were thinking seriously taking a RSSC to Europe, now I'm not sure. No cruise line is perfect, but I haven't had the problems that we have been reading about. We have had minor problems with OBC, and Internet, but they were always taken care of on the ship.

We were on board this cruise with you. Not a new policy. Just an awful cruise director and an ill-prepared crew. We were indeed supposed to have two production shows - one of them being the new, highly touted "Magic to Do" about which we had received a pre-cruise email form the CD. Clearly, either the cast or technical crew was not ready to perform the show, so they pulled it from this cruise and will debut it on the one that is sailing now. The CD couldn't come up with something to replace it other than 4 nights of mediocre comedy?

 

28 cruises behind me, 22 on Princess. This was by far the worst cruise I have ever sailed. It came out of drydock and clearly was not ready to do so. Read the other thread about the plumbing issues, medical "all call" in the middle of the night - twice, and so much more.

 

Many, many blue and gold cards on board. Most of them will never sail Princess again. Platinums, too. Even some of the 189 Elites on board were considering trying other lines.

I have read many comments about Princess ships coming out of dry dock, and not being ready.

Have you tried deck plans .com. My DW loves the pictures there.

We have a cruise booked for Mar. 19. I called Princess and the first fellow told I can bring sealed bottled water on board but not Coke or Soda.

I cruised Princess last Feb and I was almost positive I brought on coke. He said he was positive this has always been that way and you can only buy soda on board.

I asked Google (who know most every thing) and she said we can bring on soda, most came from Cruise Critic but they were dated 2010, 2011, 2013 was the newest.

Then I called Princess back and talked to Judy this time and she said I can bring coke on as long as it is in a sealed containers.

So I'd like to ask here, where I almost always get correct information.

Thanks in advance for learning me,

Max

When we cruised to Hawaii, we brought 2 six packs, when we arrived in Honolulu we picked up another 3 six packs, and never had a problem bringing them aboard.

I personally am very happy with the options as they are.

 

Swap out any item to mix and match to suit your tastes

Swap out for all soft beverages

Swap out for all waters

Swap out for a bottle of wine

Swap out for coffee cards

 

As a welcome perk that pretty much covers an average person's want's or need's . Of course there will always be some who always want or expect more, but by in large the Elite Bar Setup is a pretty nice extra just the way it is

 

YMMV

Srpilo

On last cruise, we decided to switch out for coffee cards. Next time we will switch to soda instead. We bring our own wine to drink in the suite. If we want a martini, we will go to crooners.

Thanks for the detailed explanation. As a suite passenger on this cruise, you sure lucked out big time. You do know that they are doing this JUST to get you hooked into booking suites from now on.

 

Are there chocolate strawberries for suite passengers?

I can't tell you what Princess is doing for this cruise, but we were on the cruise before and we received chocolate strawberries twice. The first time was embarkation night sent by our TA, the second was on the first formal night, sent by Princess. We ordered one on the last night of the cruise from room service.

I would. :)

I would love the cruise back, except if I could get a flight later in the week I would love to explore Hawaii. Take a flight to Maui, rent a car and fly back. So many options, so little time.

woke up this morning…walked to horizon court for coffee…still dark…limited visibility out the windows ...thought to myself wow, Kauai, judging from the lights…sure has grown a lot since we were here last year1

i sat down checking my emails by a pool and a guy walks up to me and asks "are we in honolulu"?….i said nope we sailed out from there about 11 last night…my next thought was ...geez i hope he can find his way back to his room without help…

5 minutes later a woman comes up to me and asks "isn't that " that…you know... diamond point or that diamond head place in honolulu?" i politely said i don't think so... i chalked this encounter up to her blond hair (my wife is blond so i can say that)

 

peaking my interest now ...i walked up to the next deck where there was no reflection and window glare…looked out to see the city of honolulu… those 2 folks i conversed with now must think i am just another idiot from florida. i am…..

so i cancelled our rental car in kauai… and rented a car here again …if we end up spending a lot of time here i will want a car and don't want there to be any available…i thought that was pretty darn good planning at 0630…

 

i don't know what the day holds but we are safe, we are in hawaii and life is good….for those of you boarding 12/10, like you we are concerned so i will let you know what we hear…

Love your sense of humor. Since we just got off the ship, the only thing we can think of if our cruise was a few days longer, we would have experience the problem in Mexico. I would rather be in Hawaii, with the problem. Princess is really standing tall, with their offers. Capt. Roger Bilton, is a great Captain. He has a good since of humor, we enjoyed him immensely.

We're in an aft suite so luckily we have a nice balcony to sit out on, but we still don't have electricity. We ate breakfast in Sabitini's where they served us eggs, bacon, coffee and other cold foods/drinks. This was at 7:30am. Got a free latte at the IC cuz Sabitini's didn't have them. Now it's 10:41am and the Capt just said we can't get the engines going enough to get in Hilo so we're going on to Honolulu for tomorrow. Still no electric to my cabin. Nice balcony weather! :D

We were in D737, on the trip before you. Sabintini's for breakfast was wonderful, I thought the service there was better than any dinner dining room.

BAD news first…...about 0530 the captain came on and advised the was a small fire on deck 4 near the engine room…we were losing propulsion and had limited lighting…well that certainly wakes you up!

20 minutes later he advised fire was out but we have limited propulsion and limping onwards to Hilo Hawaii, our first port since leaving SF…

 

GOOD news… we are about 6 miles fro Hilo…

there isn't enough power for brewing coffee and limited lighting in horizon court ….which was a zoo with limited lighting and people acting as if they were rushing to avoid a food shortage…some folks really amaze me….

 

the cruise has been typical princess quality and we are satisfied ….as others have said , the Grand is showing her age but is well maintained with an OUTSTANDING crew…

 

did i mention i could use a cup of coffee? its now 0640

We got off just before you left, I guess we got in time. I was wondering why the Grand is late getting to Hilo. Are they taking any stops away?

Thanks for coming. My DW and I met a lot of new friends,

Last night was one of the rockiest nights of the cruise. My DW got very little sleep. I don't know if it was part of hurricane that is near Mexico, or what. Not bad for 10 days of cruising. Taking Bart home, we ran into others who were on their way to the Grand, for 15 days in Hawaii (wish we were taking a b2b). What was crazy was we stayed on mountain time, until the night before we arrived back in SF. We had a lot trouble knowing what time it was, I was constantly calling for the time.

Debarkation was a breeze. Got to the airport by 9:30. Thanx cruiselvr for your room at wine party. Enjoyed meeting everyone. Safe travels and calm seas

Thanks for coming. My DW and I met a lot of new friends,

Is David Cole the CD? He is fabulous.

David Cole is the CD, and is first rate.

Have they been having ukulele lessons on this cruise?

Yes they had ukulele lesions, my DW and I were wondering why on a Mexician cruise, but it appears to be very popular. I forgot about Mazatlan, we had a very enjoyable tour with a private company, at half the price. We were always leery, worried that we would have to run to make the ship. No problems, at half the price. We will be back in SF tomorrow, my DW is more sad than I am. The staff in Sabatini's was first rate for breakfast.

The cabin does have a lot to do with the speed, or even able to get on another website. I'm in our cabin now, and finally was able to get on. The cabin, a vista suite sure is big enough for two people, but would probably be tight for anymore. We love the cabin, but for those who wouldn't like hearing notice, or vibrations might not like it. When we were in a mid cabin, we didn't hear, or feel what we do here. It helps me sleep, because the bed is hard, not the pillow top we hoped for. The people who work in the coffee area (IC) are not the most friendly people on the ship. I'm glad I don't have a long cruise, with them. We drink a lot of coffee. We awoke to a great thunderstorm yesterday , going into Manzanillo. Today we go into Mazatlan.

We are in Cabo today, the first of three ships (The Star, Celebrity Infinity. We were on one the first tenders, ad were able to walk the new area (at least to us). We haven't been here since they had the hurricane a few years ago. Downtown, and all the new buildings around the marina. After four hours walking, we were back on the ship for the end of the first NFL game. I'm sorry we missed Platium cruises 2. We love this suite, it wasn't available for our Alaskan cruise next year, but we will next door. We had a problem with our whirlpool, my DW needed it, so I fix it. It was earlier, than wait for help. Two more sea days and back

home. Great cruise, except for the problems I have talked about. But I wish it was the Star, one of our favorite ships.

Interesting. We disembarked the Grand on the day you got on and we found the internet to be very much improved from previous Princess cruises. We were mid-aft on Caribe and we did notice that in the hallway on Caribe deck (about mid ship as I recall) there was a device mounted near the ceiling that looked like a giant wifi range extender. Perhaps the proximity of your stateroom to these devices affects your internet speed?

The cabin does have a lot to do with the speed, or even able to get on another website. I'm in our cabin now, and finally was able to get on. The cabin, a vista suite sure is big enough for two people, but would probably be tight for anymore. We love the cabin, but for those who wouldn't like hearing notice, or vibrations might not like it. When we were in a mid cabin, we didn't hear, or feel what we do here. It helps me sleep, because the bed is hard, not the pillow top we hoped for. The people who work in the coffee area (IC) are not the most friendly people on the ship. I'm glad I don't have a long cruise, with them. We drink a lot of coffee. We awoke to a great thunderstorm yesterday , going into Manzanillo. Today we go into Mazatlan.

The day started with a hassle, ANTS. My DW and I ran around looking for bug spray, at 0400. (AM). After that was taken care of, everything went smooth. Rainy drive to Dublin Ca to catch BART, to SF. and a nice walk to pier 27. We were able to give our bags to a porter at 930. At 1030 in we walked, it took us 10 minutes to get our cruise card and sit in the preferred lounge, (thanks to my DW). We'll see how everything else goes.

Sorry I haven't been able to get back, earlier. For whatever reason, I have never been able to use my hotspot in SF on our balcony. We were on the ship by 1145, and eating lunch in De Vinci's by 1200. Princess told us to arrive at 130 (we never listen). I think that will answer some questions that some had. The ship beautiful (but the internet is slow). We are D737, great cabin. We had our CC meet and greet on Monday, meet some wonderful people. We hosted a CCwine party, and we were able to fit 25 people on our balcony. It was fun, and met some others that we didn't at the M&G. Our Stewart is John,and is great. One of the perks of a suite, we love is eating MDR in our cabin (especially after the party). It was rocky the first two days, as soon as we reached Mexician line it mysteriously calmed. Hopefully I will be able tell more later.

The day started with a hassle, ANTS. My DW and I ran around looking for bug spray, at 0400. (AM). After that was taken care of, everything went smooth. Rainy drive to Dublin Ca to catch BART, to SF. and a nice walk to pier 27. We were able to give our bags to a porter at 930. At 1030 in we walked, it took us 10 minutes to get our cruise card and sit in the preferred lounge, (thanks to my DW). We'll see how everything else goes.

You might as well add Mexico and Haiti to your list to name a few.

As long as the Castrols are in power, I would never stop foot on in that Country. They are in the same category as is Venezuela. I would not want to spend any of my money to assist a Communist, or a Socialist Country.

DH was a US Navy officer and I have been on a few ships. They don't usually bother with railings, usually just a chain around the fore decks. The rest of the ship has what, railings that hit about maybe waist height?. Navy ships aren't about the view so the railings are actually solid walls, but nowhere near as tall as cruise ships. Everyone learns pretty quickly to not get too close to the edge and even then those that do go overboard are trying to for the most part. There are occasional accidents, but they're in seas that most cruise ships avoid. I'm 5'3" and the railing on cruise ships hit me well above my waistline. My mom always tells us to be careful and not fall overboard when we cruise. I laugh at that, because 1) I know the railing height and 2) I'm 55 and don't need mom to tell me that, although I still tell my adult children to be careful lol.

Your correct about the chain, I was talking about the height. Even though it might be a chain, I still call it a railing.

It does help to check dates on a story before reporting it. Completely different event than the current one.

 

And, people jump all the time. We'll get more of this story, but we don't know if he was alone, if he was with one other person or a group, what they witnessed, etc. The majority of people either jump or are drunk and do something stupid. It's very difficult to push someone overboard. You have to be able to lift them high enough that they will tumble over the railing. A shove/push would just mean the person hits the railing. It's not the movies.

When I went on my first cruise I was 9 years old. The ship the Matson Matisona, its railings were low enough, that it would now reach my waist, maybe a little higher. When I was in the navy railings were not much higher. On our first cruise with my DW. I was surprise to see how high the railings were. If you go over, you have make in effort to do it.

Thank you. I love the cruise critic community , but the reason I ended up calling princess and insurance company was, sometimes the CC community info can be a little off, everyone always means WELL. And I have a feeling, most people cruise OFTEN and therefore the 'sail with 12 months of canceling' doesn't really factor in for most. Tks for everyone's helpful ideas :) but my ship has LITERALLY sailed LOL Thank you again :)

You have a good attitude, its awful when you have to cancel a cruise. We have a cruise coming up soon, and were worried due to some family medical problems that we may have to cancel. We have insurance.

In addition to the trip insurance which I get for every cruise, I also get a medical transport insurance policy from MedJet Assist. This gets me home after being admitted to a foreign hospital, to a hospital of my choosing (which would be a local one). They have different policies, from a single trip, or an annual period, for an individual, up to a family policy also for either a single trip or a yearly. The cost is very reasonable.

My DW and I agree with you medi jet for a foreign Country cruise makes a lot a sense. I wouldn't want treatment in a Country that has socialist medicine. I would rather fly back to the US, and let our Doctors treat us.

Received an email Upsell Offer from Princess through my TA:

 

From my C610 Premium Balcony to an unknown Mini Suite. I have a 7 day B2B on the Caribbean Princess. The first leg has no offer, but the second leg upsell offer is for a Mini for an additional $109 pp.

Should I take it? :confused:

I guess the fairy must have died. Upgrade is now up sell.