capriccio

You left off the fine print at the bottom. Notice the footnote (up arrow) next to Galveston: Caribbean roundtrip from Ft. Lauderdale^, Galveston^ or New York (voyages that do not call to Martinque or Guadeloupe only) ^Voyages that call to Central or South America are excluded and only passports are accepted.

That was going to be my next recommendation! I'm so glad you were able to get an appointment. You all deserve a great cruise after this.

Seeing this picture I immediately thought of the aft viewing areas on the Coral Princess. How far across the stern of the ship does that deck extend and how deep is the deck? If all the way to the corner of the ship it looks like chairs might fit. What a great relatively secluded and shady space to sit and watch the wake.

If the last sentence is true it isn't updated on the US Embassy Tecugigalpa website as @cre8tiv1 ctied above and that doesn't mean a cruise line has to follow it especially if they think it may be a temporary waiver that could change at any time. There is nothing restricting cruise lines from imposing stricter (i.e, passports for all passengers for all ports) identification requirements. There have been posts here on CC describing just that.

I wrote post #22 in the thread noted above. Here is a comparison of the requirements to enter those countries in the WHTI where a drivers license and birth certificate is valid versus those in Central America like Honduras (Roatan) where a passport is necessary according to the US State Department: The US State Department has a search engine for each country that includes entry and exit requirements (plus lots of other useful information). For those countries that belong to the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) (I chose the French West Indies: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/FrenchWestIndies.html.html?wcmmode=disabled) they include the following note under Passports and Visas: NOTE: Caribbean cruises that begin and end in the United States (closed loop cruises) do not require that you travel with a valid passport. However, should you need to disembark due to an emergency and you do not have a valid passport, you may encounter difficulties entering or remaining in a foreign country. You may also have difficulty attempting to re-enter the United States by air because many airlines will require a valid passport before allowing you to board the aircraft. Always travel abroad with your valid passport. Honduras (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Honduras.html) does not belong to the Initiative and has no such note. Instead their section states: To enter Honduras, you need: A U.S. passport with at least three months validity...

One of the highlights of any visit to Sicily are cannoli where as much attention is put into the shell as the filling. They are a work of art and a gastronomic pleasure.

But these are not main pools and that is not how it is on the Sanctuaries on Princess ships. You can reserve your lounges in advance for 1/2 day, full day or the entire cruise or you can try your luck on any given day. On the MSC Yacht Club sun deck there is no need for reservations; there are plenty of lounges.

Actually if you are looking for an excellent suite experience, consider MSC's Yacht Club. We took our second YC cruise that includes the premium drink package in December and paid just about the same as our January 2025 Sun cruise with the Plus package is costing. The sun deck - no reservations taken or needed - includes a grill and bar, and the furnishings are much better - and further separated - than those in the pictures coming from the Sun.

And decent, i.e.thick, pads for the loungers that currently only have a cheap pillow.

"There is NO pre-reservation of loungers from day to day, including for Suite guests. Location is first-come-first-served every morning. Once a lounger is assigned, it is reserved for you for the rest of the day. If all the padded loungers are taken, you’d have to pick another." Wow, so suite guests have to get up early to ensure that they get a lounger even if they only want it for a half day or even less? That is going to be a mess especially on warm weather cruises. We are on a western Caribbean cruise in January where we have already visited all the ports and are just looking for a restful cruise where we are going to be spoiled. I'm glad we have until the fall for final payment. Hopefully by then we will know if this reservation process is working and if not, Princess will have made adjustments. @CanadianBurger - I add my thanks to everyone else's for this great Live From.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know the history of decorating cabin doors? We have stayed in hotels for a week at a time, including all-inclusives where guests stay for long periods, and have never seen door decorations. When we started sailing on Princess in 2007 we mostly saw the Princess provided happy birthday, anniversary, and graduation signs but in the past 15 years on many cruises there seems to be a competition for the most decorated door which means some are well done and others not so much.

Whichever one you chose (I prefer the first too), if you can't see Denali when you arrive at the Talkeetna Lodge make sure you leave your room number at the reception desk for a wake up call if it 'comes out' while you are sleeping. We had just gone to sleep around 11 pm (still light out since it was mid-July) when the phone rang with the message. It was interesting to see people still pulling on clothes and grabbing camera equipment rushing to the lovely large deck facing the mountain. We stayed there until after 1 am (still light out) just enjoying the view. We were also lucky to see it again the next morning, especially since we had booked an excursion flight over the summit (one of the top 3 excursions we've ever done).

If you haven't already, check the official website of the port: https://www.miamidade.gov/portmiami/cruise.asp There is an entire page on parking: https://www.miamidade.gov/portmiami/parking-information.asp

"All balconies..., smoking only permitted indoors..., use of mobile phones...and any liquids that can spill over the balcony..." makes me think and hope that possibly the restrictions apply only to outdoors.

After our Princess cruise last July we flew out of FLL at 11:15. I just checked EZ-Air with a mocked booking and it allows booking flights after 11 am.

Our 8 and 3 years old granddaughters enjoyed looking for them on our family cruise last summer.

Our 8 and 3 years old granddaughters liked looking for them on our family cruise last summer.

According to the deck plans, the Sun mini-suites are 303 square feet, while minis on the Royal class (checked the Sky) and Gem (checked the Emerald) are 323 square feet. It certainly looks from the picture that they are about foot narrower. Those numbers include the balcony.

If you haven't checked back on the responses on the Princess board, there are quite a few:

As others have noted, each cruise line runs their own program. With Princess EZ-Air you pick the flights and seats. Payment is due at final payment. Changes - especially important if the fare has decreased - can be made up to ticket issue at 45 days without charge. We have never had any issues getting seat upgrades through the airline the same day we make reservations in EZ-Air (economy to economy plus on United due to DH's loyalty status) and we have always been awarded our loyalty miles. More importantly, considerable savings are realized, especially on overseas flights.

I just answered a similar question on this current thread: I posted 3 recent threads from the Princess board answering this same question that you might find useful.

Welcome to Cruise Critic! Our first Alaska cruise (and only our 3rd cruise ever) was an Alaska cruisetour in 2007 on the Coral Princess. It was magical. We were so impressed with the Princess tour logistics - dedicated train cars with a guide in each one and comfortable hotels. The Coral and Sapphire are our favorite Princess ships especially for Alaska (done it twice on the Coral) and the Norwegian fjords (once on the Sapphire). They are smaller than the Caribbean Princess (which we've sailed on numerous times in the Caribbean); that means fewer passengers which makes disembarkation in port much easier than the larger ships. They both have covered pools which is important given the itinerary. I absolutely concur with the earlier comments that you need to make sure Glacier Bay is included in the itinerary. If you check the Princess forum, there are a few recent threads comparing the Coral and Sapphire Princess specifically for the Alaska cruising season:

As i understand it, not just Princess ships but all cruise ships in Australia and New Zealand. At least that is what we were told on our 28 day Round Australia cruise last spring and that was really appreciated since the casino is right next to the International Cafe on the Coral Princess. The IC was our favorite place for breakfast but we would have ruled it out immediately if there was smoking in the casino.

I think many of the decorators probably are reliving their teen years when they decorated the outside of their lockers. I wasn't impressed then or now.

Having once had a delayed boarding - on the Enchanted Princess no less - that we were warned about a few hours early (due to a medical emergency the day previously that pushed back the arrival schedule), I will warn you that it will most likely be absolute chaos at noon. In our case, we arrived 45 minutes after the new boarding time and the lines were still long and confused with many annoyed passengers. Some people didn't get the message, some didn't believe it, and others couldn't get or didn't ask for a late checkout from their hotels. Pack your patience and have a great cruise!