GRAYTech

Princess should just get the app to do push notifications, would solve many of the on board communication issues IMHO. And yes, force the app to vibrate only as to not disturb other pax with an annoying tone every time someone gets a message.

Looks like RCCL has a onetime fee per cruise for $7.95 for unlimited text and calling other pax on board via wifi with phone alerts for both. I'll bet it isn't perfect but I also bet it's a whole lot better than what Princess has to offer.

New Years will obviously go later. Our backup plan is an extra glass of wine or two. Combine that with the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in, add a little rocking and you are off to dreamland for the night.

Grand class aft Vista suite IMHO is the best cabin class on the ship. We have done several with our two kids as they were growing up and it worked great. Cheaper than doing a mini and inside for the four of us and everyone gets the suite life.

Enjoy! Holiday cruising is the best.

Keep the suite and go with an open mind. We have been in both E732 and 733 and loved them both. Noise was not an issue nor the motion but only you can decide for yourself.

We love the aft vista suites. You feel like you are on the boat lby yourself. Make sure to take advantage of the perks especially Sabatonis breakfast, MDR room service and laundry.

Please report back after your cruise. It will be interesting to hear your thoughts.

The day pass is really the way to go. Use it in one port, go back to airplane mode until the next port. If it's two port days in a row and less than 24 hours later you are still using your initial $10 day pass.

The day pass allowed me to catch up on voicemail / make calls / send texts etc. The ships internet while slow, was usually good enough to send/receive Email.

For the OP to be correct the ships Cell Tower would have be left on in port which is a big no-no. As noted, locals would be connecting to it and raking up unexpected charges.

The takeaway from all of this is look at your phone and read the texts you get to verify you are using the TravelPass. I also put my phone into airplane mode when I'm not "using it" even with the TravelPass activated.

Watching movies or TV shows on Netflix uses about 1 GB of data per hour for eachstream of standard definition video, and up to 3 GB per hour for each stream of HD video, the Op was billed $2K. Roughly 225 GB.

 

that would make it 225 hours of SD video, or 75 hours of HD video (unlikely) on the cruise. It is not possible to use that much data.

I thought this too because the OP posted 8/GB but the ATT charge is actually $8 / MB (Megabyte). That makes 225 MB worth of data which is more likely.

DOH! I should've known from reading the OP that this was a joke. Shame on me :)

Can't be true... $2000 @ $9/GB you would have to use more than 222GB of data. Unless you were streaming movies from the time you boarded there is no way "normal" or "accidental" connected use would rack up more than 200GB worth of data. The even number "$2000" is also a tell. If I had a $2000+ cell phone bill I would put it in writing down to the penny.

If you were streaming something the entire time I hope it was worth it. Personally I have a hard time paying the $.26 for a Redbox Movie with a promo code. The movies lately have simply not been worth it even free.

Forget the dock area -- there's no food, no water, no electric, no plumbing, no roads, no airports, no infrastructure at all. The islands that took the brunt of the storm will not be "open for business" this Caribbean season.

After seeing video from the St. Martin dock area I would tend to agree. However, it is their economy. They will be highly motivated to get the dock area safe and ready for ships via tender at least. So yes it's bad but I wouldn't write-off the entire season just yet.

We took a cruise about 6 months after a hurricane hit Grand Turk. We rented a golf cart (fun) and ate lunch at a local restaurant so we did our part to impart a few dollars into the local economy at the time.

Entire neighborhoods were simply scoured off the face of Grand Turk. It looked like someone took a giant pot scrubber and erased the landscape. I can't imagine what the locals from St. Martin and St. Thomas are going through now.

And what nobody is saying is that hurricane season isn't over until November 30. We are all acting like this will be the last storm of the year ... :(

Very true. Jose is right behind Irma, fortunately it looks like it will miss the US anyway but the Caribbean islands may take a second hit.

I would wait and see what happens.

Princess may respond with some offers if you keep your current cruise knowing the itinerary will significantly change. Something like a cabin upgrade on your current cruise or 1/2 price on a future one?

If their boats can sail they are going to want to put people on them. Right after 9/11 we were offered and did a 5 Day cruise in a window view cabin for $99/pp and $49/pp pax 3 and 4. It was so cheap we did two cabins for the 4 of us. If Port Everglades gets socked this may all be a moot point.

There's a fridge in all the cabins on Princess.(y)Tony

While true there is a fridge in all cabins we have never had one that worked very well. A bucket of ice from the steward, room service or just walk out to the pool bar and request one. Worked much better than the mini-fridge.

You can also put a couple of glasses of ice cubes in the fridge and it cools down overnight.

For the folks that could care less about internet access, I'm not an all important person that the world revolves around but I am the only person in my sole proprietor business. If I couldn't get access to the internet on occasion I couldn't cruise.

• I'm completely repeating hearsay here, but I've read that Royal Caribbean basically has a lock on most of the available satellites for this use; in other words shutting out the other cruise lines from access. I would imagine there's no fix until more satellites are launched.

(if this is incorrect I'd love to know the real story, I'm interested in this from a technical perspective.)

Read up on VOOM. It's pretty cool what they have done from a tech perspective.

We have always done late traditional dinner because the times we do MDR breakfast at a larger table it really didn't work too well. As noted, non-English speaking made for awkward moments. Oatmeal and raisons falling out of a nice, but older gentlemen who couldn't hear anything. We always try larger tables in the MDR for breakfast/lunch but have not, as of yet, had a good experience.

I know this thread was about the MDR but thought I would add that years ago at the Captains party the Captain greeted us by name with the help of two crew members who's job it must of have been to memorize the pax names and feed it to the captain upon entry. Princess did pay attention to detail at one point anyway. It was an unexpected touch that probably helped keep us coming back to Princess over the years.

Before S&S there have always been the unruly few here and there. With S&S I would say that's true as well so no real difference that I could see.

One side note was a younger pax (mid twenties maybe) got on the elevator embarkation day around 2PM. Proclaimed she had already consumed 8 shots of tequila and was headed for more because it was all you can drink. She wasn't falling down drunk or a nuisance at that point but it was only 2PM. I looked and didn't see her later that day so who knows how it ended. I know my day would have ended with a very long nap after 8 shots of anything in an hour or two.

The hard copy itemizes by person. Use that...

I paid for everything on my card, only the grats were on their cards.

Anyone that thinks the browser lock icon or https:// means you are 100% safe should read-up on the Heartbleed SSL Bug before providing your info. Yes a secured connection is MUCH better than an open one but nothing is 100%. I, for one, never do anything on a free/open wifi that I wouldn't be willing to write with a large marker on paper and post on the coffee shop wall for all to see.

I have Verizon with unlimited talk/text and 10GB/mon data. I do the Verizon TravelPass while cruising in the Caribbean which is $10 per 24hours to gain access to your domestic plan voice/text/data. As soon as we are in port I turn my phone on and connect to the local cell towers. You get a text from Verizon confirming you are using the TravelPass. Then I use a VPN via cellular data (not wifi) to do anything I would not want compromised. Speed was pretty good this way too. It's also about as safe as you can get while away from home but keep in mind even this is not 100% safe - nothing is.

Because the TravelPass is for a 24 hour period It's usually good for two ports. One before you depart for the next stop and then when you arrive that night/next morning at the second port. That made it $5/day to call or text and "safely" use the internet at decent speed while away. That's less than the cost of the scotch I'm drinking while checking in back home. BTW St Thomas, St. John and St. Croix are US territories so they don't require the "TravelPass", you just use your phone as you normally would back home with no extra charge. I think Mexico and Canada is $2/Day for the pass.

The princess app while onboard was itemized. Had each drink listed that was purchased where and when. Got the final bill and the beverage purchases were lumped together for a given venue. For example, drinks purchased in the MDR during dinner for one evening were listed individually in the app but showed up as one line on the final bill. In the past I kept the charge slips and wrote on them to tally it up later but most of the time there were no slips provided last January on the Crown.

The app of course no longer functions after you leave the ship. I wish I had copied the info from the app into a spreadsheet which would have allowed me to track expenditures by person, not just a lump sum total. Based on the final bill totals the AIBP would not have been worth it for the 4 of us so maybe it wouldn't be worth the effort. Princess could also make the on board charge info available via the website for a period of time post cruise. Hey, how about the ability to download a CSV of the data too? OK Just wishful thinking.

I asked her flat out if he would be included in the tipping pool from the auto gratuities and she said he definitely was. Now, why would she lie about that??

We asked several delivery staff and got a similar answer from each, yes they are part of the pool. If you put the tip on the card it goes into the pool. If you hand them cash it is supposed to end up in the pool but it's up to them if goes into their pocket.

They appreciate the cash... I take 100 singles and a bunch of 5's for room service and like others give $2 for small orders that they just drop and go. $5 or even $10 when they setup the table with a cloth, silverware and distribute the dishes / pour the coffee.

I have also not tipped at all when there was a clear attitude coming from the server. I'm sure the vista suite looks like a palace compared to their quarters but I have paid to be there. I shouldn't get even a hint of snarky from a RS server and normally don't, it's the rare exception but boy it sticks out when it happens.

...You get Bar Soap, separate Bottled Lotion, Shower Gel and Conditioning Shampoo plus Bath Salts, Shower Cap, Sisal Mitt, Eye Gel Mask, Emery Board, Lip Balm, Cotton Balls & Q-Tips, Linen Spray.

Thanks for this and I think you are correct. It is shampoo and conditioner in one so my other post was incorrect, they are not separate as the OP wanted to know. The "other" one is shower gel not separate shampoo and conditioner.

I found a picture on another thread of what we get in a full suite. Three bottles and the round soap. It's actually OK stuff and the steward will keep you supplied.

I know Vista, Penthouse and Owner's suites have the better bathroom amenities. Separate shampoo and conditioner. So if you will be in a "full suite" you will have the upgrades. I think Elite pax also get the better bathroom stuff. Not sure about club class or regular mini's, someone will know.

Bummer on the roof-top box and subsequent flooding. Bad enough losing the value of the box and extra expenses but the hassle it created when all you want to do is get home at that point. Having the patience of a gnat, I know how my two kids would have reacted.

Not berating the OP here just pointing out that It's a shame the world we live in means anything of value might get legs if left unattended. We have "lost" things in the past too which made us more proactive. Nothing visible is left in or on the car. No cup holder change visible etc. The crook looks in and moves on because the only thing left to steal is the car itself.

We don't shut off the water when we go. I'm uncertain if it would cause any issues with the hot water heater, softener, boiler furnace etc. Instead I have installed a number of sensors and cameras to monitor the house while away. If the temp goes out of range or there is water on the floor in the utility room I get an Email and text alert. I check the cameras to see what's happening and can call in a relative or neighbor to resolve it. If the house is broken into, there will be video evidence of it on my OneDrive account.

We have never been anywhere but aft. We were spoiled by an aft Mini-suite on the Dawn; now it's even worse, with D737 or D736 on the Grand. Love the quiet, the wake, the vistas that give you the best of both sides of the ship, just at the back.

Have to agree, we did a B2B on the Grand in D736 & D737 - Loved it.

We took an upsell to a Vista from a balcony years ago and hands-down the grand class Aft Vista is the best cabin and location on the ship IMHO. I think it's even better than an owners suite. We didn't need the "extra" room of the owners suite and with 4 in an owners suite you end up with a rollaway bed stored in your room the whole cruise.

The only downside is once you sail in an Aft Vista you likely won't want anything less.

You shouldn't have to Muster again, unless it's a muster station change - and even then, you usually don't have to do the muster again, just familiarize yourself with your station.

This may vary by ship or captain. On our B2B same muster station and when we asked both the steward and pax services we were told EVERYONE must muster regardless of B2B status. "It's not only information and procedures for pax it's also training for the crew, some of which may have come on at the start of the second leg of your B2B."

So our cruise it was everyone and no one was allowed to leave until all pax on the ship were accounted for in all musters stations.