satxdiver

We were on the Ruby in early April going out of and returning to Galveston. They had the facial ID working when we debarked. We were on the Dream last year when they had the facial ID working out of the same terminal. So what is the problem? Sounds like Princess in Galveston has really fallen on their face and will impact their bottom line in this port.

Interesting review. Only comment was that if you had a 5 PM dinner time you could have asked for the same table every night. You would need to talk to the person at the MDR door the first night requesting the same table each night. That is what we do and get our request.

Self serve laundry rooms the machines you pay each time you use one. You may find using the ship laundry is costly. There is soap available in most self serve laundry for $$. In most self serve laundry particularly on the newer ships, you use your medallion to charge it to your folio. Very easy to use but...

We were on the Ruby last April from Galveston. The boarding went well as we were on the ship before noon. The debarking also went smoothly with two lines in the terminal one for passports and one for b/c. The passport line went quick since they were using facial recognition. We were off the ship and in our car in about 40 minutes headed out. Sounds like the Regal is a chinese fire drill.

We just deboarded the Emerald. My android would not work with the ap so I went to the internet cafe to get some help. What the dude told me was it was written for iphones and sort of worked on androids. So unless you have an iphone, it may or may not work aboard! He told me exxentially "too bad". My android works well on RCCL and CCL as I sailed both this year. Maybe PCL should hire the tech people from sister CCL to write an ap that works on all cell phones.

I have never worn a tie on a cruise any night. I quit wearing ties in the early 90's as my company relaxed its standards. For the last many years my formal wear is a short sleeved guayabera and some type of pants usually like khakis. I have worn nice shorts on regular nights. I have never had them even give me a second glance. The days of formal dress on cruise ships is long gone. As the world becomes less formal or even dressier, it will be more relaxed on cruise ships.

We have gone out of Galveston every year except the pandemic on PCL and CCL usually both and not had a problem. We are leaving on CCL in Jan and PCL in March. It will be interesting to see the difference in boarding and deboarding those two cruises. We will be watching cc for updates on the delays at Galveston and plan accordingly. Disappointing to hear all this.

There will be porters in the baggage claim area available for a tip. We use them due to walking problems. There also will be porters if you are parking in one of the offsite lots and they will meet you at the shuttles.

The fog issue is mostly in the first part of the year - February - April

It is $1,999.99 at Total Wines according to their website. Want to buy a bottle?

I have found that the credit cards will not look at pending charges as these are simply holds put on your card. Once the credit card company received a valid charge the holds become true charges. If it actually becomes a valid charge contact them to contest it.

We have not received any since the pandemic. Another perk gone. Sad.

S9+ with google 10. The old ap worked on my cellphone but I decided to download the latest version and that is when the problem started . Sailed on the Ruby 4/2/2023 and it worked. It all started when I downloaded the latest ap just before boarding the Emerald on 11/4/2023. If yours works do not download an update! Friday I ordered a S23+ with google 13 so tomorrow when it comes I will see how the ap works on the newest Samsung.

We are just off the Emerald and yes they rolled out a completely new ap that works on iphones but not as well on androids (it would not work on my galaxy S9+ and still will not). They have tried to patch it for androids but so far no success. This information comes from the crew member in the internet cafe who essentially told me to get on iphone (when somewhere freezes over!). My android works well on Carnival so maybe they should hire Carnival to write their ap.

I don't remember any drinks more than $15 other than better selections of wine. If the wine is more then they will charge you the difference. All gratuities are included in the package. We just left the Emerald and did order a nice wine in Sabatini's that was ~$4 more than $15. I drink Woodford on the rocks and always get a double.

We will be on the Regal in March. One of the formal nights will have the champagne fountain. Someday we have to go see it. Looking at our cruise the first formal night will be the second sea day and the second one after the Cozumel port day. Because of the second after a port stop, the champaign fountain will most likely be the first formal night. Formal means men will have on jeans/pants and collar shirt as a minimum. Some ships allow even shorts depending on what pax choose to wear but cruises in the Caribbean are usually more informal than formal.

We just disembarked from the Emerald. My android glalaxy phone now will not even load the ap. It just sits there spinning. Looking at upgrading my galaxy 9+ to a later model. I am still amazed that Carnival which we will be on in January and the RCL ap which we will be on in February works fine but not the "wonderful" Princess ap. My suggestion is to get Carnival's IT to design a working ap for Princess.

There were none on the CB and on the Emerald which we just left after a 11 day cruise. We bring our own multi-outlet charger. Be aware that there are only two 110v outlets on the desk and they are spaced very close to each other so if you have a fat plug on your charger it may block the other 110v outlet. There is a plug on the wall where the TV used to be mounted (on wall now) and one behind the bed (pull out bed to find).

We just got off the Emerald Princess and I saw shorts and tshirt every non-formal night in the MDR. I did not see shorts/tshirt on formal nights but did see jeans and a collar shirt on several. It appears there was no enforcing any rules in the MDR. Unfortunately from where I sat I could not see the entrance and only saw pax who entered our area of the MDR. At our 6 top was 3 couples. One male had on a suit and tie, one had jeans and a collared shirt and me with my guayabera short sleeved shirt and pants. So much for the "rules" or mere suggestions.

PCL should bring back TD in at least one MDR for those that want it. Now that we are sexy senior citizens it would be a blessing. We used MTD when it first came out but in recent years we have gone back to an approximation to TD and would like it reinstituted.

Obviously I used the term "guru" in a derogatory manner. Yes the "guru" did mention that he works primarily with high priced apple and knew little about android systems. I have a S9+ running version 10. It has always worked before on Princess ships as late as last April so now is a surprise. The person did say the latest version of their app had bugs in it on android and they were working on a fix. Unfortunately I took the app off my device the night before we boarded and downloaded the "latest app" which probably was a not too bright idea. The old version of the app may have worked better. Earlier this year we sailed on a Carnival and a RCCL ships and their app worked fine with no problems. Seems like Princess has a never ending problem with their IT team. I included the internet speed for information only as all I use it for is to check my email and read the local electronic version of the daily paper. It works fine for me given no more than I use it.

On the Emerald now and went down to the IT "grurus" and they told me that the Princess app works on iphones but no android which I have. After fooling around on my androids their final answer is that there are "bugs' yet to be worked out on androids since it was written for iphones! So if you have an android forget using the princess on ship app!! My Carnival and RCL apps work just fine but not the Princess app. Maybe it is time to fire their app team and hire a Carnival team! BTW I am getting 2.6 MB down and 0.9 up. What happened to to starlink?

It has always been my opinion to add the crew gratuities in the price of the cruise with no choice. When I price a cruise I want to see the total price including taxes, port fees and gratuities added in and not the misleading they do now to show cheaper prices. Personally I treat it all as the cost of the cruise. The raising of the daily gratuity is a given and the only question is when. It is not unusual to also leave the room steward a small tip for his efforts particularly if we have extra requests.

My DW just had this problem. After going through the several pages of questions and all being filled out what she found out was that she had not clicked on the agreement to Princess rules. She found it on the website and not the medallion. Viola, green lane.

The boarding day anyone can go to the kids clubs, ask questions and take a look around even if you don't have kids in tow. Go check it our if you are thinking about brining young cruises aboard later.