spyro1952

Again, thank you Pam and everyone else for posting your impressions of the Royal Princess. I am so looking forward to both my TA sailings on the Royal in April & September. If any of you have a chance to peak in on D410, a premium balcony, I would appreciate it. I re-booked this room for the Sept. TA. I also caught the 3 for 1 sale so with the price drop and almost $500 of OBC, it worked. :D

Some info I've just come across: USA today just reported the Regal is ahead of schedule and they've added cruises in May & June. For the OP, I think they are probably beyond the point of adding a mid-ship stairway.

Also, I just noticed on the Princess web site that cabin categories are being re-organized for sailings after 10/29/13. This is new as it wasn't on there last Thursday when I searched for a new room for September. I don't really know what the differences are going to be or what the price differential will be. :confused:

Enjoy the last few days of your cruise and a safe journey home to all.

Marcia

Linda....I agree about the wonderful CC group on the April TA. I'm one of them :D I am going to await judgement until I speak in person to my friends and family who are on this sailing. Everything is subjective as we all know and as of now, I'd still like to experience The Royal.

Marcia, I have to agree with you. I read this thread daily and have made some changes to my Royal cabin for the cruise in the fall (Copenhagen to NY) based on what I've read here. I love cruising with active CC roll calls, like the April & September, so the other stuff doesn't mean as much to me anymore. Being by myself, I just go with the flow.

I need to see for myself whether I like it or not.

Marcia

Thank you to those who have posted about their experiences on the cruise. Pam, it sounds like you had a great day. I love Barcelona and Montserrat and being able to hear the choir there is almost magical. Bob, I hope that things improve as you make your way to Madeira and then across the Atlantic. May you have smooth seas.

 

There are many other former RHRs on board and lots of other friends. I hope that now that the port a day part of the cruise has passed more of you will take a moment to let us at home know how you are doing. There are a lot of us who were booked and canceled for one reason or another and would like to hear from you. I hope you will have blue skies as you sail.

Ditto for me. I've enjoyed reading all the posts from Pia, Pam & Bob and everyone else. I did change my room for the September crossing after reading many of the posts. Now in D410.

Hope you have a relaxing bunch of sea days and enjoy the ship. :D

Marcia

I am calling my TA tomorrow and bailing on my premium aft balcony for next Sept TA. That's really bad and I'm not sure they can do much about it at this point as it is an obvious design flaw and using diesel sludge for fuel. Imagine if they start charging the fuel surcharge!!! Sweep up the soot from your balcony and bring it down the the PS desk!!!

Tracie, I have and aft balcony booked for the Sept. TA from Copenhagen and will call my TA first thing tomorrow to switch it to a mid ship balcony or mini. Too much of a premium on those rooms to pay for soot.

If things don't improve on the Royal, I'll seriously consider looking at other itineraries with Princess and other ships.

Today princess offered to compensate me for the difference in prices, plus some extra OBC and a dinner at the Crown Grill. I thought that was fair, and accepted it so I can move on and enjoy the cruise! Ill keep researching the aft issues, some friends close to the rear are having soot in their ears!

 

I don't know where the blood and hair came from but they cleaned it all up and I am fine with that! It's time to resume enjoying the cruise.

 

I need to post some reviews of fantastic tours in Greece and Venice, so will resume posting on the live. Of course if you need me to investigate anything I am happy to help and I hope my problems will help others avoid the same. All the best to all my CC friends...

Amelia

Amelia, I am just reading your thread and was appalled at what's happened to you. I am so glad you finally got some recognition of the problems and compensation. We were supposed to be on the cruise in C 740 but had to cancel due to my Mom's illness right before the cruise.

I was so disappointed I couldn't go but between what I've read on the live thread and now your thread, it would have been a difficult cruise for me to be on. Pam, whose sister has mobility issues as does my Mom, said the Princess transfer from the airport to the hotel was almost impossible for her DS and the Princess reps were absolutely no help. My Mom couldn't have done it. I have a Riviera aft balcony booked for Sept. 10th '14 TA but now will see about changing it to a regular balcony or mini.

Have a great rest of your cruise!!

Marcia, I thought of you and your Mom as we were going through that. There is no way your Mom would have been taken care of. We were told (by Princess) that the issues were the same at both Princess hotels.

Thank you Pam. I read your comments about the rooms with great interest. I have an aft balcony for our trip on September 10th, but will trade it for the bigger inside (like Nancy's) if I end up going solo. I am also booked solo on the 27 day in April but as an inside guarantee and hope to get similar. Sounds like Marina deck will be out for me also as sleeping is always an issue.

Enjoying your posts.

Marcia

Well, made it to the Hotel Saturnia in Venice but not without some adventures. Slept well last night so I'm feeling far more human and less grumpy than yesterday. We'd made arrangements with the Sofitel Heathrow yesterday for a wheelchair and porter for Nancy at 5:30am. Checked out, no porter or wheelchair. We wound up having to schlep our luggage back to the terminal and check-in. Not a bad walk for me but difficult for Nancy. BA almost redeemed themselves as the crew were terrific and very helpful. Ran into some old cruising friends on the plane but they're on another ship. Got to VCE, BA was terrific getting Nancy off the plane, through Immigration and got our bags. Then, the wheelchair person told Nancy to get up and walk while I lugged all our bags. Met the Princess rep and she had no assistance to get Nancy to the water taxi. A porter took our bags but it was a bit if a hike for her. Getting on the water taxi (in the rain) was quite an adventure; getting off at the hotel was downright awful. We had to literally jump from the taxi to the hotel steps. It wasn't easy for me but horrible for Nancy but she finally did it. I told the Princess rep that if it's like that tomorrow getting to the ship, they better have "Plan B" ready. The issue is flooding and a mid-day high tide so there is a big (2-3') gap between the hotel's landing steps and the water taxi with no railings or other assistance plus they're at different heights. My jumping days are long gone. Our rooms were ready and the hotel manager remembered us from our last stay (2005.) We must be memorable but actually, the reason is that he vacations in Laguna Beach every couple of years and had remembered our discussions of LB. Relaxing now. It's raining so I may not do much today.

Pam, I don't want to hijack Pia's thread but I read your post re: the difficulty you had with DS and the mobility issue. Things happen for a reason and my Mom would have never made it without a lot of assistance which sounded like it was unavailable. Enjoying reading the thread and hope you are all having a great time.

I'm sorry I missed it but actually booked 2 cruises: Nov on the Emerald and the Grand in Jan to Hawaii. See u in Sept in Copenhagen.

Marcia (Colorado)

I think booking a cruise on a ship after a major dry dock is a gamble. Good thing these alligators lifted there heads before the ship headed out. Even maiden voyages can be dicey. We were booked on the maiden voyage of the Coral and something happened - no cruise!!!

My first :eek: was at the comment how wonderful Air Canada was! I should have stopped there but gate lice:eek::eek:!

Who is the captain on the Royal on the Scandinavia & Russia cruise, 12 May 2014?

it's hard to say that far out as they do switch around because of holiday, etc. I've been on cruises where they've switched Captains in the middle of the cruise. You will get an email at some point from a Captain but that still might not be the Captain for your cruise.

The wine package was available on the Crown North Cape 14 days in June. I got the 7 bottle Gold but didn't drink the last one so I gave it to my waiter and asst waiter for their crew parties. Worked out well. Hopefully it will be available on the Royal TA and will do the same. I like to have the option to order any of the wines up to $49.

Thanks for the live thread SoBaycruiser. I am doing a very similar cruise on the Crown (North Cape & Spitzbergen) at the end of the month. I'm interested in how your weather is so I can pack as accurately as possible. :)

I was on the Sea Princess in 2009 with Mrs. Artz. She is a very interesting person to talk to and would have coffee every morning in the La Patisserie where I would talk to her. Her health seemed ok then but she was a very heavy smoker and would spend a lot of time in the casino. I'm sorry to hear that she is not well. She really loved Princess.

I am always taken back when I see threads that include the word "never". As for Princess transfers, I've always had nothing but stellar service. As a solo cruiser last year on the CB, a representative met me at LGA and I had a private limo take me to my hotel in Times Square, at rush hour.

When I travel with my elderly mother, Princess transfers are a life saver. We usually stay at a Princess hotel, so our transfers are included. The Princess rep is always there to meet us even before we get our luggage. They always help me get all the luggage and find a place for my Mom to sit.

Even in FLL, we get the transfer from the ship to the airport. We use the luggage service (EZ check) and the tranfers. The 1 time we were on the Ruby and didn't buy tranfers, we had to wait in a huge line for over an hour in the rain for a cab. It only takes one such experience to convince me to spend a little extra for the transfers.

I did the UST last October on the Emerald. I really enjoyed it and wear my bathrobe daily in the cold weather. I haven't worn the Chef's jacket as I don't cook. I feel the tour is worth doing once. The bathrobe alone is $90 in the on board stores. I also enjoyed the champagne, snacks, & meeting the Captain, Marco Fortazze.:)

There is a Go Shuttle service from PBI.

These hotels in Fort Lauderdale provide free pier shuttles (check with hotels before booking in case services have changed):

Hyatt Place North

Sleep Inn Dania

Hampton Inn airport (2 locations)

Comfort Inn airport/cruiseport south

Springhill Suites

Cambria Suites

Hilton Garden Inn

Courtyard

Best Western Cruise/Air port provides free airport and cruise port shuttle service.

The name of the singer that my cousin had the affair with was "Georgio".

My 1st cruise was on the original Homeric in 1971. I went with my parents from NY and it was a 2 week cruise to the Caribbean. I remember our stateroom was really comparable to what would now be considered a mini-suite. I slept in a little sitting room that was separated from the rest of the cabin with a little half wall with wood dowels that went to the ceiling. It was the first time I had ever seen St. Thomas, Magen's Bay, St. Marten. It was a wonderful trip. My Dad (now deceasd) bought me a gold watch in St. Martien. I still have it. I also remember going to a costume party on the ship with a girl I met and we were dressed as a clothes line. Our table companions became really good friends with my parents until they all eventually passed away too. There was a very mysterious couple on our cruise - she (the Black Dalia) him - Col. Sanders. It was like a novel. We used to call the wine steward, the "friendly undertaker". He wasn't friendly and really scared the s--- out of me.

A few years later, we went on the Oceanic. My cousin and I shared a cabin. This was probably '74 or '75. My cousin became involved with one of the singers with the Donzelli band. He was a young guy and she was probably in her late 20's. I can't remember his name but she would go into NYC and see him when the ship came into port. She was screwing this guy - big time. I'm sure she was not the only one on his list. He also probably had a wife and a bunch of kids in Italy. I also remember one of our ports was San Juan and we went off with the crew one night to a soccer game. It was in the worst ghetto I have ever been in.

The food on the Homeric was great. We were on the ship for Thanksgiving and I can still remember having Brook Trout. I loved it so the waiter brought me 4 more. Every night at dinner he would have at least 4 glasses of milk lined up for me when I sat down. Yes, I was a big milk drinker.

The Homeric introduced me to cruisung and the Caribbean. The Caribbean was so pristine in those days. I still love cruising and now cruise at least twice a year. My Mom is now in her 80's and we still reminice about our Thanksgiving :) cruise on the Homeric.

Crystal's Food and Wine cruise had by far the best prepared and most varied selection of food. We had a two-for-one deal through the Panama Canal so it was fairly reasonable and is worth trying at least once if you seek the unusual. Our waiter brought special requests not on the menu, like caviar.

Second choice varies by ship rather than line. RCCL's Dawn Princess had an incredible set of chefs five years ago or so. The rest of RCCL, Princess, and Celebrity did not seem widely disparate in quality, but my personal preference was RCCL (except the pizza and calzone were better on Princess). I was not impressed by HAL or Norwegian - too bland and limited portions.

Dawn Princess is not a RCCL ship - it's Princess Cruise Line ship. For the prices that Crystal charge for a cruise, there food should be better than anybody elses'. the cavier should be stocked in your room!!!