satxdiver

That is a lot better than what we have experienced in Galveston on turn-around cruises. Since it has been 6 years since Princess has been to Galveston things may have changed. We were on a B2B cruise last year on a Carnival and they had us gather in one of the bars and after all had left the ship took us as a group into the terminal where an agent checked our passports and then back on the ship. They did it in the baggage claim area. Glad to hear that they have changed their requirements. I wondered many times this past week why we did not book the 5 day follow on cruise and in fact I had booked it originally when I booked last week's cruise but later canceled the 5 day for some reason I cannot remember. I love 70's - 80's R&R. Dumb move! Sadly we had to leave the Ruby. 🤔 We met a couple from SF that were staying on the ship until they arrived home in SF. I was envious but did not want the convenience of driving to the port. We will be on a LA to FLL cruise next April for the TSE and passage through the PC. It will be the second time for a complete passage.

Ah the Gulf is showing its usual self. I have cruised out of Galveston on CCL, RCL and PCL and experienced how rough the Gulf can be. We have been lucky so far but appears that luck is about to play out. The back part of the Gulf can be very rough.

When we arrived last Sunday very early, they did not ask when we were supposed to arrive. We just went immediately through the line and because we had first boarding privileges we went immediately onboard. I did notice there were some seated in the waiting area to board and not sure when they were allowed to board. Anyone arriving at a later time I am not sure of the process. We arrived at 11 AM and was onboard by 11:20. YMMV depending on your status.

We went to the Captain's Circle party tonight. The captain can be pretty funny as he told stories mostly about himself. Probably the most personable captain we have ever come across. Here are the statistics for our cruise for those interested: First timers 1956 Gold (after one cruise) 558 Ruby (after three cruises) 199 Platinum (after 5 cruises) 298 Elite (after 15 cruises) 132 1st most - 1799 days 2nd most - 1034 days 3rd most - 993 days Earlier I was told 360 minors aboard.

We are supposed to be back on board at 3:30 PM. It is now 4:06 PM and they are looking for two people who evidentially not returned yet. It would not be without pier runners at Cozumel. Captain just announced that the pax have been found.

We are supposed to be back onboard by 3:30 PM. Just looked out on our balcony and this is what we saw at 3:13 PM

Mahogany Bay $17.84 Costa Maya $16.68 This is for each person

We were notified today that Princess is giving everyone a $75 goodwill OBC for the ports missed. They had already refunded are port fees for the two ports missed. In my past princess cruises when we missed a port besides the port fees, Princess had also given us a small OBC as a goodwill measure. Yeah Princess!!!

Puerta Maya (Carnival piers) was full today with three Carnival ships in port (Vista, Dream and Paradise) using the piers. Next door at the RCL piers was the Adventure and Jewel. At the pier near the city was Serenade and Star Legenda. There was no room for any more cruise ships today in Cozumel and tomorrow will probably be as busy. This time of season the ports at Cozumel are all booked up. We are now waiting for the Vista to clear the area and the other two ships who are welcoming passengers back in order to leave to allow us to land. We have been on over 30 Princess cruises and indeed have missed ports. In all cases (two last year) we were given a small OBC as a token from Princess. We have a large number of newbies on board and so far, Princess is convincing them not to go on Princess again. If this were my first time, I would remember it all too well and look at other cruise lines out of Galveston. We have a 26-day cruise booked for this fall so we will be back.

Captain just announced that we will dock in Cozumel today at 1700 hrs (5 PM) and will remain there overnight with the gangways open all night.

No The Allure is on its way to Cozumel.

The young kids are probably having a good time on the Lido deck pools. They are young enough to not care that much. Swimming, pizza and ice cream, what a kid's dream. For the rest of us this sucks. This is our 35th cruise on Princess and while we have missed a port, never had we missed two ports on the same cruise. We have never missed a Western Caribbean port until now. I can imagine with all the new Princess cruisers onboard they are openly hostile. The Allure is also skipping the port. There are 7 ships in port today so far in Cozumel.

Give them time to post the refunds to you folio and to add any goodwill OBC after the HQ approves it. In all my Princess cruises (30+) they have given the goodwill OBC.

the 3080 is what they call bottom berths. However, many rooms can accommodate more such as 3 or 4 with drop down beds and couches for those rooms that have it. I asked this morning and was told there are 360 children aboard who most likely are staying in their parents' cabin. That is the most I have ever seen in my over 30 Princess cruises. No, it never includes the crew.

Princess will refund the port tax and usually give a small OBC as a token of their apology for missing the port. While Mahogany Bay is a really nice port that Carnival Corp built for Carnival's family of cruise ships (9), it is a very treacherous port to get into due to the lengthy narrow entrance with no tugboat assistance available.

Just looked at the map Alure OTS and NCL Dawn are in port at Coxen Hole. Mardi Gras is in port at Mohagany Bay and the Ruby is on a slow path to Costa Maya where the Alure OTS and Caribbean Princess will join us. I think the captain gave up too quickly. We have been to Roatan many times both to Coxen Hole and Mohagany Bay so sad we missed this port. The entrance to this port which must be done in reverse is a very narrow channel and wind has canceled it before. Tugboats are not available and cannot be used due to the narrow channel so if we ran aground it would be disastrous.

For a $100 FCD you will be able to reserve a cruise for $100 deposit. This used to be 2 years but now is 1 year. Depending on the length of the cruise you will get $50 - $250 onboard credit (OBC) so free money to be used on that cruise. For instance, you can reserve a one-week cruise for $100 deposit and get a $100 OBC to spend onboard. The FCD must be bought for each person.

The gargantuan ots will be with us all week in every port. She is traveling on our port side this morning. In Roatan we will be in Mahogany Bay with the Carnival Mardi Gras while the gargantuan will be at Coxen Hole. Saw the band Symphonee last night in the explorer's lounge. Hopefully they will get better as we go but will not be here tonight. It will be the piano bar for us tonight. This is the first formal night with the champagne waterfall.

Talkorpi we are on the ship with you on this cruise. We have a balcony near the aft elevators. Since we have been on the Ruby before and many other Princess cruises we are looking forward to your reports. Perhaps we will run into you sometime this week. Having been to these ports many times we will be just kicking back and enjoying the views. Checkin was a breeze but we checked in at ~11 AM so just walked through to the ship. I have never seen it that easy. For the first time they were telling pax that lunch was available in the MDR while before they would deny it (liars!). Result was that the MDR was very busy. We actually left port around 1500 which I had never seen before so one for Princess. We can see a ship lights in front of us and one behind us. Allure will be with us at all ports and return to Galveston! We stayed last night in a hotel in the NASA area as it is more reasonable and the restaurants are plenty. Short 45 mile down I45 to the port. We had made reservations at our usual parking lot and they took us to the ship after parking. For those coming in the future parking was at a premium so make reservations! Looking forward to your posts.

Carnival is building a new cruise port near Freeport to be completed in 11/2024. https://www.bahamas.com/pressroom/carnival-cruise-line-breaks-ground-on-new-multi-million-cruise-port-on-grand-bahama-island

We generally go on longer cruises 8+ days so the number of kids aboard has been very small since cruising started again. We are going on a 7 day cruise the first of April and expect more kids aboard. Since Princess is more tuned to the older group and doesn't have the kid attractions like water slides etc., I don't really expect a large number of kids aboard even though it is spring break in many areas. We really do not mind having kids around as long as they are behaving and not making a scene. We have been on other cruise lines where one time we had 600+ aboard and never found them to be an annoyance. Sure they were everywhere as expected and tended to gang together in groups of 4 to 8 or so. They were having fun and we were having fun sometimes just watching them. We may be old senior members but still remember when we were young and do enjoy seeing them.

Thanks for the info on the Ruby VSP. We will be boarding the Ruby in four weeks. In the past we have been on ships hit pretty hard with noro and managed to escape getting it. I agree wash your hands often and particularly after using the restrooms (head on a ship). We generally stay away from the WFM due to the threat of illness and only eat food that is served to us by the ship staff.

Texas for one. Ships in Galveston have to charge a sales tax on all sales until the ship reaches the open gulf. Also they have to sell alcohol only bought in Texas which means a very limited choice.

If you turn your cell phone on while on the ship at sea, it will say "cell at sea" or something like that and you will be tied into the ship's cell tower. It is not cheap so if you don't have your phone on airplane mode expect your next cell bill to be in the $100's. They bill through your provider.

Really Princess? These "wonderful" desserts are even disgusting to look at.