C-LAD

What is the status of refunds for refundable OBC?  We are waiting for our OBC refund from a Sky Princess cruise which ended on March 14th (5 weeks ago).  Anyone have experience with OBC refunds considering the current situation?

16 minutes ago, 13cheermom said:

Curious where did yours ship from?  We are also in NC, and wondered if they were still shipping from overseas now.  We don't sail until May, however we are leaving few days prior to sightsee in Seattle.  I'm assuming they will arrive way before our departure date.  

Ours came from Singapore thru Japan via FedEx.  Arrived 18 days before sail date.

I understand on the Regal the Medallion takes place of your cruise card.  How do they verify your Traditional Dining table assignment?  In the past the table assignment was listed on your cruise card.

13 hours ago, bulldog on water said:

Had same issue.... played around and on “documents page “ hit first light blue line under passport info... took me to another page where I just hit passport arrow then another page to confirm passport info.... all green now... good luck, because calls to princess did not help!

Not sure what procedure you followed but deleted previous passport info, reentered info and all green now.

1 hour ago, Daniel A said:

I have found that on occasion, the app showed an orange circle even after it was previously green.  I checked back again after a few weeks and it was green again.  Has happened 2 or 3 times to me.  Now everything is green!  Is there a green checkmark next to your photo at the top of the screen?

No, both photos (mine & my wife's) both have a section of a circle around them in orange (the rest is green) along with a small orange circle with an asterisk.  This program is not new - you would think Princess would have solved all the bugs! 

Anyone having current problems setting up Ocean Ready for an upcoming cruise?  "Travel Documents" section will not complete, circle will not turn green and has an orange circle with an asterisk inside.  Contacted Princess Ocean Ready yesterday and a customer service rep. indicated they were having issues with the App.  Their IT was working on it and should be corrected this AM.  Checked again this morning and issue still exists.

If you don't use your FCC the funds are returned to you after 2 years in the form of a check.  You cannot transfer them.  This is all highlighted in a footnote on the FCC confirmation. 

And we were on the Caribbean Princess in January and got our unused OBC via check in about 3 weeks!

I believe the Medallion works for getting off and on the ship but in many ports the port security people want to see your cruise card for access (plus in most cases a photo ID)!

Never had a problem getting a table for 2 at Traditional Dining.  But in many cases they are located only a couple of feet from another table for 2.  And in some cases there's another table for 2 on the other side.  More like a table for 6!

2 hours ago, voljeep said:

pre-order water before the cruise - very reasonable pricing ...

Or better yet - bring a couple of bottles of H2O in your carry on and refill from the tap!

Yes!

You meet in one of the venues on Deck 7 - if you get there early enough, there will be plenty of chairs.

Tells baggage handlers what bin to put luggage in so when it is loaded on the ship, it is in near proximity to the cabin.  Number indicates cabin deck level.

15 hours ago, seafish said:

Unless something has changed - Coral did have casino cut in half & mid-ship cabins added during a 17 day LA/AK B2B2B - not good.

Actually I was referring to the major revisions to the Island Princess - not only did they add cabins to the mid-ship area but added two levels of cabins at the stern by removing the Universe Lounge!  200 more passengers and removal of an entire venue - now that's really "not good"!

48 minutes ago, seafish said:

Coral & Island were our favorite ships until Princess decided to do major surgery for more cabins resulting in reduced public space & a very small casino limiting gaming opportunities. Have since avoided these ship - JMO.

Fortunately, revisions were only done to the Island Princess

48 minutes ago, seafish said:

Coral & Island were our favorite ships until Princess decided to do major surgery for more cabins resulting in reduced public space & a very small casino limiting gaming opportunities. Have since avoided these ship - JMO.

46 minutes ago, steelers36 said:

Card games and video slots a-plenty on Majestic.

 

Just got off the Caribbean Princess and the 2nd Traditional Dining was at 7:45 pm.  Now if we could only get the "few" from wearing their hats in the DR, wouldn't that be nice!

And while most guts do wear a jacket Princess also says "For more

formal settings, men should bring a suit and a nice pair of shoes

(or, at the very least, a shirt, tie and slacks), while women may want to bring an evening dress or a skirt with a good blouse.

I really think a lot of people just don't realize that Princess is actually more lenient then it's led to believe.

If you like being comfortable, you can do without the jacket & you'll be fine.

We were on the Caribbean Princess several weeks ago and several individuals were wearing tee-shirts and shorts in the MDR on formal nights. Way too lenient - apparently don't want to "disturb/upset" their casual passengers!

about two miles. Nice walk along the shore

We were there in January and the walkway along the shore was closed just past the shops due to the hurricane damage. Must bypass by going out to the road and coming back further down. May be open by now.

We returned yesterday from our 2 week Circle Caribbean cruise on Caribbean Princess. I am not going to do a day by day review but will try to break it down into categories. Any questions, I'll try to help as best I can.

 

Pre cruise: We flew in the day before, stayed at the Hyatt Place. Publix within walking distance for picking up cruise supplies. We had dinner at the Bistro Mezzaluna next door, excellent food!

 

Embarkation: We took a cab to the ship around 10:30. The Elite area was already crowded. The let us on the ship before the rooms were ready, not sure I like that. Also, no more fried scallops on the buffet. It was a tradition, sorry to see them gone. No more life jackets at muster, that was nice. We were able to go directly to the aft for sailaway and toast the cruise, not having to go back to the cabins to take the life vest back. I was pleasantly surprised at the passenger make up. I heard 12 children on board but there were also many younger people (20's, 30's) on board which was nice.

 

Cabin: We had 2 mini suites side by side on Emerald, E729 and E731 with the extended balcony. We opened the door between for ease, E731 has covered extended balcony and was perfect for dinner for 4 the night were were in St Thomas for the balcony dinner. This was 3rd time in this cabin on Caribbean Princess. Tile is work, some rust on the balcony but nothing that was going to spoil our experience. We are pretty low maintenance people, just grateful to be on vacation. The door dividing the 2 balconies never banged, even the last day when we had very rough seas. It actually was pretty amazing it never moved as we were rolling along. Our cabin steward, Menardo, was one of the best we have had, genuinely sincere when talking to us about our day and telling us about his years on the ship.

 

Dining: We chose anytime dining, some nights shared to avoid a wait but if you usually checked between the 2 dining rooms there was not a way. We figured out the rhythm and would go down around 6:30 and never had a wait. Early diners arrived around 5 and would finish up around that time. If we wanted to see the show we dined earlier when necessary or caught the late show. Food was excellent as usual. Fettuccine was never served in the Parmesan bowl but I personally like it that way, I think the bowl absorbs the cream. We are not buffet people so we only ate breakfast there for speed and variety as I don't like most breakfast dishes and stick to yogurt, fruit and cereal. Had quite a few burgers by the pool and pizza, all were hot and fresh as usual. Some lunches in the dining room as well. No complaints about food or service.

 

We dined at Planks and Steamers. Food was okay but I wouldn't go back. I had a broiled seafood platter but it was pretty tasteless, The ones that had BBQ seemed to be happier. They did let us order from both menus only being on one side. 2 of us wanted seafood, 2 wanted BBQ. We also dined at Crown Grill one night, excellent as always.

Entertainment: The cruise director staff was very active and mingling. Duval was the highlight at any event we attended and he was a part. That young man will be the cruise director someday with his great talents.

 

Shows were hit or miss. My major complaint was that to get a seat you had to get there at least an hour early. I wonder if they should start thinking of having 3 shows a night. Just a thought. They had an overflow feed in Explorers lounge but that too would be packed and most of the time was out of sync. The first comedian was awful. He actually was much of the conversation on the ship, about how bad his material was. He told us he had a sarcastic sense of humor but so do I and I get more laughs at a dinner party then he did the whole 2 shows we saw him perform. The second one was more entertaining and we enjoyed the ventriliquest as well. We did not see any of the production shows.

 

Ports of call:

 

Princess Cays: We didn't get off the ship as I figured the water would be too cold to my liking. We wanted to watch a movie around the pool but all we had were commercials for Princess. It seemed the MUTTS did not have as many movies as were normally would see on board. Disappointing but we just moved on and read a book.

 

St Thomas: We had a friend who had never been there and was into jewerly so we took a cab downtown and took her shopping. We had a fun day then came back to the ship as it was my birthday and we had the balcony dinner. Wonderful exprerience, great food, excellent service. As an added bonus you have nice flowers in your room for the rest of the cruise. A very nice experience that we feel is worth the upcharge for a special treat.

 

St Marteen: We took a cab to Maho Beach. I read not much of the beach was back so we didn't bring swimsuits. We were sorry as there was plenty of sand on the far side from the Sunset Bar. They do not have the chairs and loungers back yet but at least half the beach is back. We had a nice time watching the planes, lunch and drinks. I have no desire to use the pool there, it looked cloudy. We have a pool and are pretty picky about getting in public pools. It is what it is. The devastation to the island, especially the French side, is awful. It will take them a long time to recover

 

St Kitts: We did a 4X4 tour of the island with a beach stop. The guide was very knowledgable and we enjoyed seeing the rain forest and sights, The beach stop was not long enough though but we knew that when we booked the tour,

 

Barbodos: We did a swim with the turtles and snorkel. One of the best tours of the cruise. The craft was nice, the water was perfect. We saw 3 turtles and the crew was very helpful. Rum punch after snorkeling and while we had free time to swim and sail back.

 

Martinique: We took the ferry to a beach area and it was very nice. It was a beach behind a hotel that one of the crew told us about, we took the ferry to the Les Trois Islet area. Walked about 10-15 minutes then off to the right were it was less crowded. We found out there was a spot to catch the ferry to the left when we left. Round trip on the ferry was $7 and they took American dollars. No chairs, food or drink but it was a pleasant area to enjoy the water.

 

Trinidad: It was raining and we had a beach excursion. About an hour over the mountains to the beach and we got lucky, it stopped raining and we salvaged our time! Some people hired a cab back but we rented 4 chairs and 2 umbrellas for a few hours for $25 for the 4 of us. I'm sure if it would of been a sunny day the price might of been more but it worked out fine for us. We enjoyed the scenery on both rides. I heard some people were upset the shops were closed as it was a Sunday. The shopping around the port is limited.

 

By now we were exhilrated we had a sea day to rest up!

 

Bonaire: We did a 4 wheel drive of the area. Lots and lots of catcus, saw wild donkeys and flamingos. We stopped for a while at a hotel for a drink and looked at the beautiful water and wished we were in it. We saw the salt mines, light houses and slave houses. Bonaire is just as lovely as I remember from our last visit. We picked up some nice pieces at Elements. By the port and down town are all the same pricing, let me save you from looking.

 

Another blissful day at sea!

 

Grand Turk: I know many people bash Grand Turk but I personally love it. We rented 2 beach chairs and umbrella for $15 for the day and the place had free wifi, food and drinks. We were at the place with the padded blue loungers. Bathrooms were clean, food was good, internet was pretty fast before the Carnival ship arrived and it got more crowded. The only negative was they tie up the party boats right in front as they day goes on but we just entered the beach away from them. We had a few drinks after at Margaritaville to enjoy the fun then back to the ship.

 

The last sea day we were rocking and rolling until dinner time. Packing and swaying was quite a challenge! I wanted one more afternoon by the pool but you can't have perfection everyday. Instead we had lunch in the dining room and just relaxed.

 

Casino: Dealers were very friendly while they took my shirt! Gamblers were lite on this cruise I was told.

 

Disembarkation: We used EZ Check and have Global entry. From the Coral Dining room to our gate at Southwest in 25 minutes. Very smooth and easy!

 

A few notes: There were 3 formal nights. They installed new 43 inch TV's throughout the cruise and they are really nice with movies on demand, etc. They are very user freindly.

 

The were many elite guests so there was a note that laundry service would take 3 days. I sent a few things out but do prefer to launder my own clothes.

 

Platinum and Elite lounge was in Club Fusion every night from 5-7. The usual cheese, crackers, shrimp, drink specials. It's a nice place to unwind and enjoy a drink. I also enjoy people watching from Crooners.

 

I know the Caribbean Princess is older but it was our 4th time and we were happy to be back on again. Our last cruise was on the Regal and it's a lovely shiny new penny but the balconies are so small, It was nice to have room to stretch out again. The crew was very freindly and we seen them handle rude people very professionally. It never ceases to amaze me how rude some people can be. The first night at dinner a man put on a spectacular show over sparkling water and for the next 2 weeks we would see him and he was "that guy" the whole time. He might of been the nicest person otherwise but you know what they say about first impressions....

 

We were very happy with the cruise even though they had to substitute some ports due to the problems with the Caribbean Princess. I know some people were disappointed and cancelled but we had been to the other ports so it made no difference to us. We loved having 14 nights of vacation to enjoy, weather was good and we had wonderful service. My husband retires this spring and we look forward to planning even longer adventures when it works with my schedule.

How was the noise from Club Fusion below your cabins. I understand you also get thruster noise when docking - How was it?

Is anyone familiar with the far aft mini-suites on the Caribbean Princess' Dolphin & Emerald decks - specifically, Cabins D732, D733, E731 & E730.

I understand the balconies extend towards the aft of the ship and wrap around so you can look directly towards the back. Correct?

You will sail through the first set of canal locks in the early AM (exact time depends on Canal reps) and in the case of the CB it will be through the new locks. They will then anchor in Gatun Lake and transport passengers on excursions only via tenders to the shore. Ship will then sail back through the same locks and dock at Cristobal to pick up passengers returning from the excursions. Not much in Cristobal but they may have locals at the dock with some items for sale.

We are contemplating a Panama Canal cruise next year on the Caribbean Princess. Heard good and bad comments about the mini-suites at the aft end of Emerald Deck. Would appreciate any feedback from those who have cruised in one of these cabins.

Thanks in advance.

In our experience it was not an expanded menu.

It's the same menu as the DR.

Just an extra side dish or 2.

That's exactly what it is but you do get a dedicated staff in a separate area from the MDR. Great perk but question if it's worth the extra cost. Might want to use the extra cost for several trips to the specialty restaurants!

For what it's worth - if we keep paying for the excursions (x) months in advance so Princess can use our money interest free, what incentive does Princess have to discontinue the practice?! Maybe we should all wait until we get onboard to make our tour plans!