Paula_MacFan

We were on the Regal last week and I already responded to the OP in another thread with the schedule we had for the champagne tower. It was on the first formal night which populated in the app a few weeks prior to sailing (not everything populated that quickly in the app however, as I also reported previously). The champagne tower is in the Piazza area as others have stated. You can't miss it 🙂

We have a window suite booked for an upcoming cruise. I didn't have any available FCD when the booking window opened and I wanted to jump on it since I know window suites can book up quickly. There was also the $100 special running but it required $1,600 deposit for the suite category. I went ahead and paid it at the time to get it booked. After we came home from our cruise last week where I purchased additional FCDs I called our CVP to cancel the original booking and use the FCDs just to get the OBC applied. Our CVP asked if I wanted the original $1,600 refunded, which I said no, just apply it to the new booking. So my point being in our case the CVP was able to rebook our window suite with the new FCDs so it must be possible. This will be our first time in a window suite. Usually we get an aft balcony or a mini-suite, but the price was too good to pass up on this cruise with all the suite perks. We've had full suites too so we've experienced the good stuff that come with it 🙂

I suppose if, like the OP, you are booking an independent tour then local time is important.

That's what we did, in addition to using an old-school analog watch just in case 🙂

Sorry I misspoke, Belize was the port the captain told us to verify time. It was confusing and the itinerary wasn't even what we had initially booked. Roatan/Mahogany Bay was cancelled not long before the cruise. Anyway that's why I posted the Patter so you could see how the ship's time worked for us.

We were on the Regal last week. We had a different order of ports but here is our daily schedule. We turned clocks forward on day 3 and stayed on that time until day six. The captain announced we should check our watches and ensure we verified ship time vs port time in Cozumel. We missed Costa Maya due to weather.

Our Princess CVP did it for us with a quick phone call. It took just a couple minutes. Do you have a CVP or TA? It should be a simple thing, sorry you're having issues.

The astronomer enrichment speaker looks interesting. Side note -- during the cruise director's behind the scenes presentation he answered many questions, one of which was 'what happened to the onboard star gazing program'? He was joined at that time by the assistant cruise director who both explained they didn't have the proper equipment onboard to properly block the ship's lights at night to make the program feasible. They both said it had been offered on the Regal in the past but unfortunately they no longer had the equipment. Maybe since they are bringing on an astronomer speaker they will once again offer the nighttime guided star gazing program. We enjoyed sitting on our balcony in the evening and star gazing on our own. It's one of the things we love about having a balcony, and from the aft you don't get much light pollution from the ship.

It was on our paper schedule and the app both; however, many events populated only after we boarded. So maybe they will show up later.

No charge. You can also mark events on your app so it will filter down to only things you've marked for the day. I like the paper daily schedule to look over the night before, but the app is handy throughout the day. Due to our schedule change missing Costa Maya they had to reprint the daily Patter so the app was more up to date quicker. Some of the entertainers were supposed to leave at that port and others join us there. When that didn't happen they had to refine the schedule.

I was on Regal last week. We aren't into the production shows but we did enjoy the comedians, cooking demonstration (frankly the head chef and dining manager had a funnier repartee than the comedians at times 😄), illusionist show, house band, and acrobat show. The 'behind the scenes' presentation by the cruise director was interesting and worthwhile, as well as the 2nd officer's navigation presentation. We learned a lot about the ship's operation during these talks. We also enjoyed the onboard enrichment speaker. He gave several talks during the week about vintage travel. He was leaving the ship the day we disembarked though after having been onboard for 3 weeks. I will caution you that the entertainers will likely change as was explained to us during the cruise director's talk. He said they regularly rotate around through various ships so your options may be different than ours. We also really enjoyed the Crown Grill and had excellent meals there.

I was on Regal last week. About 10 days prior to your cruise the app will populate your boarding pass which in our case said check in time was 10:30 - 2. This isn't an assignment but just the open check in time for everyone. During your cruise you'll get a paper delivered to your room asking about disembarkation choices. Everyone has to be out of their room by 8am. You mark your choice of time and option (self walkoff with luggage or what time/group for exit and luggage retrieval in the terminal).

What does your Travel Summary document say? Mine says this:

I'm glad you mentioned this because I was wondering why people who are booked on the Princess cruisetour would do this tour on their own -- I thought it was always included.

Agreed. We were on the Island a few months ago and the Piazza volume seemed appropriate. Last week on the Regal the Piazza volume was EAR SPLITTING. The music was loud but not horrible, but the games and other silly activities were simply intolerable. We heard so many people complaining about it. Eating in Alfredo's was a joke with that going on. Even the wait staff were rolling their eyes. I did put it on my post cruise survey.

We had this excursion booked through Princess for our June Sapphire cruise, but it was cancelled a couple months ago by Princess due to 'operational reasons'. I assume it's time constraints. We're very disappointed as it was a highlight we had been looking forward to.

We're not on the same itinerary as you (we arrive a few days later) but I noticed our hotel showed up this week as well. I had to talk to my CVP about something unrelated but mentioned our hotel assignment showed up and he was surprised we were notified this early. So I'm glad to hear others are getting assignments too and ours isn't a fluke or mixup 🙂

We used it several times last week on our Regal cruise. For the most part it worked as designed. There were a couple times our drinks said 'delivered' but they hadn't been. Twice we went to the bar to retrieve our drinks that we could see had been sitting there awhile. But otherwise it worked pretty well. One afternoon we got Dirty Bananas and were just about finished, when a server comes over with another one and sets it on our table. We laughed and said we already each have one and he said 'oh well, now you have another one' and said sometimes the system isn't perfect. We took one for the team and split the second one 🙂 Not related to Ocean Now, but I did try to use Crew Chat twice and never got a response either time. That was disappointing as we had used it a few months ago on the Island and got very prompt and courteous responses.

This! I just got off a Caribbean cruise 2 days ago and we saw people in coats. One day on the beach in Cozumel we saw a couple in a flannel shirt and wool shawl. This was on a crowded beach in upper 80s. On the ship we saw people wearing what I would call a snow or puffer coat on the dance floor and walking around in blankets from the outdoor movie area. I wonder at what point does it get hot enough for these people to feel warm. We had come from the midwest and 3 weeks of subzero temps. So upper 80s seemed like heaven. My point being take layers to Alaska. What is hot or cold to someone else may be completely different to you. Layers for cool and possibly wet weather are great 🙂

Princess excursions typically indicate specific travel details such as distance or steps required to walk, time for travel, restroom availability, time at stops, etc. If you look at a tour on the Princess website, there are three tabs -- Overview, Excursion Details, and Customer Reviews. Here are screen shots showing where to click for the Excursion Details and an example from an Alaska tour which shows all the specific parts of the tour. It's been our experience that Princess tours closely match the descriptions. Hopefully by looking at some tours that interest you and then determining the activity levels that will help you narrow down some good choices.

A few days before the end of the cruise you get a form in your cabin asking when and how you want to disembark. If you're physically capable of handling you own luggage you can do the express walkoff option and be in the first group off the ship as soon as they are cleared to disembark passengers. The other choice is you put your bags out the night before to be collected by cruise staff (in this case it was no later than 8:30) and then the next day you leave in your assigned time group. Then you search for your bags in a gigantic warehouse by group. We did that option the first time we cruised and have never done it again. We always take off our own luggage and disembark in the first group.

I try to only use official port websites if possible. They seem to be the most up to date and usually have berth codes. The generic 3rd party websites usually only list the general port and not specific dock info. Try this (I make no guarantee 🙂) http://wico-ltd.com/cruise-ship-dock/ship-schedule-port-availability

Nope, quick glance at our passports and on our way.

Good point. We've also been places where the ship docks in industrial ports (Hawaii, Europe) and simply walking somewhere isn't feasible or sensible. I like to know in advance where we'll be docked and what services are available. Google maps is a great planning tool.

We've had excursions booked for our Alaska cruise for many months. Many have been sold out for a long time already and the ones that aren't have increased in price. Book early to avoid disappointment and price increases.