lhsail

We are hoping to do this cruise for our 35th anniversary, preferably the itinerary with the Dublin overnight. I admit, I had sticker shock when I first priced it out, so we're waiting on booking. Princess is almost the only game in town when it comes to the British Isles. Love Princess, but competition is a good thing.

I got one addressed to Jane, not Jane, then several hours later received one property addressed. They are a nice touch.

We have sailed both lines several times in the past three years, mostly standard cruises out of Houston, but we did 12 days in the Med on the Epic and 10 days on the Royal Princess in November. We also did a 10 day partial transit on the Coral Princess several years ago. My vote would definitely go to Princess for the Panama Canal. Of course, if the perks offered by NCL are important to you, you need to take that into account. I believe the ships NCL is using for the transits are their older ships, the Carol is also an older ship, but I think you'd find it nicer and better maintained.

Good luck and book early. We hadn't sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale for about three years until this past November. Yes, it was the boat show, and the addition of all the large RCI ships. I was shocked by the prices and lack of availability. We just booked a cruise for the end of January and ran into the same issue.

Food is subjective, but our last two HAL cruises we frequented the specialty restaurants because we were so disappointed in the food in the MDR. Not so on Princess. At one time we would have said HAL was superior in many ways, but I barely glance at the information we get from HAL now.

This may not be the place b/c it's cc, but I hope yall will pray that my daughter who is 20 is safe, she is on a study abroad in france and she and her group of girls/guys were going to go to the fireworks, but decided against it - me, as a mom, I just count the days until she comes home.

Prayers have been said.

Ihsail

 

I would still come to UK, what has happened in main land Europe and risk

 

to cities like London should not stop you cruising around UK,

 

I was in Canada in 2014 when it had its own terrorist attacks, I can still recall

 

all the police cars. I will still visit Nice, Ottawa,Boston, Paris, London Istanbul

 

etc just when and how needs to given careful thought

 

Sadly the list will only get longer, if you are concerned about flying into

 

London then fly into Glasgow or Manchester instead,

 

 

 

yours Shogun

Shogun, I appreciate your comments. I'd like to think we are cautious, not scared travelers. Thanks for your suggestions about alternative airports as flying in and out of London was a concern. I'm sure we will do that cruise at some point. But, seems my now that we've started the research my DH is totally enthralled with idea of all that seafood in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. :)

When's the best time to check on a paid upgrade? I haven't sailed on Princess for 15 years. I booked an OV nd would like a balcony if the price is right. NCL offers

upgrades 2 weeks before the cruise. How about Princess?

The process for Princess is totally different from NCL. NCL has an upsell department and you can proactively reach out to them about a paid upgrade about two weeks out up to the day before departure. As previously noted, Princess will contact you, or your TA if you booked through one, if they wish to offer you an upsell.

The US father and son that were killed live in our town. I do not know the family, but that hasn't stopped me from feeling tremendous grief today. I hate to cave, but we've been looking at a British Isles cruise next year and I think we're going to the east coast of Canada instead. We were on a Med cruise when the attack happened in Brussels and it did make us wary. Prayers for all those impacted by last nights horrific act.

Probably ten years ago you got a set of cordial glasses for completing the card and it did require a drink in each bar, they still reside in our home bar. We were also on cruises for the bar tab drawing. That wasn't all that long ago. Maybe it varied from ship to ship.

How do I find the rewards chart & the points needed to reach the next rewards level?

It used to be available on the Barclays website but I could not find it. Also, thought I had a printed copy but can't seem to find that either. If you go into your online account as though you are going to claim a reward you can see what's available. Kind of a pain to do it that way. If I happen to run across my copy of the chart I will post later.

As others have said, this is not the best rewards card out there, but we have continued to use it for several years. We charge almost all our purchases to the card, but religiously pay it off in full every month. We enjoy watching the points accumulate and being able to at least pay in part for a cruise with the points we've collected.

The trick to this card is as you go higher up the rewards chart, it takes fewer additional points to reach the next rewards level. To get the biggest bang for your buck, you've got to patient and not use the points on smaller items. I keep thinking we should be looking for a card with a better return, but that won't be happening before I pay for our November 10-night on the Royal totally with points. I've had many opportunities to interact with Barclays over the years and, with one exception, have had excellent customer service.

Having done this several times I can safely say 'it depends'. It depends on the embarkation port and even on the day. We had a friend walk on the ship in Houston with six bottles openly displayed and no one said a word. We were stopped by security in Houston with bottles in our carry on and were asked to go to the table to be charged corkage, which we had fully expected to pay. If you are not charged corkage at the time you board, you will most likely be charged corkage if you take a bottle to the dining room. However, we've had the rare occasion of not being charged when we boarded and the waiter failed to charge as well. Bottom line, if you bring additional bottles you need to be prepared to be charged. We enjoy our wine and it's worth it to us to be able to enjoy better wines for a better price point even after the $15 corkage.

We've cruised extensively on Celebrity and Princess, with a few NCL and RCCL thrown in there. We find Celebrity and Princess very similar. Celebrity Solstice is probably the most beautiful ship I've ever been on, but we'll find out about the Regal Princess this fall.

Glad to see the comments regarding the space on the ship. We were on the Norwegian Epic in March in the Med and the weather was cool, therefore most people were inside most of the time. The public rooms on the ship seemed to have been designed with the anticipation that a certain percentage of individuals on board would be outside at all times as every venue was over crowded. We're far from anti-social, but it got to be too much. We are on the Regal in November and very much looking forward to it.

We went mid-March and I assume your weather will be warmer, but I did not take adequate outerwear. I managed with layers, but sure wish I had taken my long sweater coat. Was also surprised how cold it was inside some of the churches and other sights. Somehow I forgot a nail file. None available for purchase on the ship and our busy port days left little time to look for one. The pharmacies I managed to duck into didn't carry them.

Is anyone cruising out of Barcelona in the next few weeks staying at the Hotel Granvia or anywhere near there? The hotel is on Gran Via, less than a block from Passeig de Gracia. We left a Roku stick in the TV and the hotel staff has confirmed they have it. We have the remote and power cord, but didn't get the stick itself with us. To have the hotel send it back we would have to have a courier service pick it up, making that option cost prohibitive. If anyone would be kind enough to pick it up from the hotel and put it in an envelope back to us once you are back in the States we would be most appreciative and will reimburse all expenses.

If anyone is willing to do this please let me know and I'll communicate contact information. Thank you.

Yes, check the roll call. Much to my surprise ther are quite a few kids on board.

Agree, this list is out of date. We were very disappointed to find on the Jade in January that the list had been cut significantly.

Have been trying to keep up with this thread this afternoon in an effort to stay informed on the situation. It saddens me to see a thread started by those on the ship for the purpose sharing their experience is being used by others to make it about them and how they've been wronged in some way by the cruise line. Having sailed most of the major cruise lines I'd be surprised if you found one you had no fault with. I've been cruising since the early 80s and, yes, it's not the same as it used to be. However, in January we sailed in a balcony cabin with beverage package included for not much more than we spent per person for an outside cabin in 1985. So, I don't expect the same experience I had in 1985.

To those on the ship, I applaud your positive attitudes. Prayers for your safe travel back.

We visited with the future cruise rep about onboard upgrades when we were on the Jade a few weeks ago. She indicated that NCL's practice is to offer upsells/upgrades in the last few weeks before the cruise. As a result by sail date there generally aren't cabins available that people would want to upgrade to. Don't know that this is a fact for all cruises, but based on our experience and what I've read about upsells on CC it sounds reasonable.

What type of coffee is in the cabin?

Don't know the brand, but I thought it had a bit of a funky taste to it. Tasted similar to the cheap coffee often found in hotel rooms. I always take sugar free individual liquid flavored creamer to make it more tolerable. We're going to be on the Epic in March and I'm going to have to find an alternative. DH will have a fit if I try to take those to the Med.

I found mine by using a website that allows TAs to "compete" for your business. You enter the info re your cruise and it comes back with offers from TAs. I picked one, checked the company out via BBB and having been using that company ever since.

Same here. We cruise a few times a year and I have done some pricing with other TAs, direct, etc., but always come back to her due to pricing, OBC and service.

We were told on a recent Jade cruise that they could not be opened for fire safety reasons. We've frequently have had them open on Princess cruises.

I know they started handing out tickets at 7:30, but I don't know what time people started lining up. We had priority tendering due to gold status.