capriccio

Yes. We've used that test twice in the last 6 months.

Bon Voyage! I'm jealous! We were supposed to be on that cruise. It was a family (8 people) cruise originally scheduled for 2020 that was cancelled (obviously). Unfortunately our youngest granddaughter is 34 months old and too young for the covid vaccine until last week so we canceled at final payment and rebooked for next year's early July cruise. Here's hoping the 3rd time is a charm!

Wow - I wonder if the executive chef has changed since January. We had some of the best MDR food on any of our 27 Princess cruises. The ship was at 33% capacity which could influence that but it was also experiencing supply chain issues and still managed excellent dishes in the MDR for all meals including 4 nights with beef options plus shrimp and excellent fish dishes on many nights. We didn't go to the buffet or a specialty restaurant. I would never write off a ship on the basis of the dining experience on one cruise. All executive chefs are working with the fleet wide recipes but obviously not all executive chefs are created equal.

You will get more responses if you ask for comparisons on both the Celebrity and NCL boards: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/16-celebrity-cruises/ https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/64-norwegian-cruise-line/

I don't think any cruise line has input on the repair schedule. Could they be hoping that the local officials can stabilize the rock slide and get the pier repaired more quickly than that?

That happened on our June 2019 Land of the Midnight Sun cruise on the Sapphire Princess. We didn't get into Gravdal (Lofoten Island) until 1 pm IIRC and then disembarkation was by tender. We were lucky our excursion company was able to reschedule but the tour was shortened and rushed.

When you do take your first cruise, participate in the Roll Call here on cruise critic (https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/20-roll-calls/) and sign up for the Meet and Mingle usually held on the first sea day with your fellow Roll Call members. Attend and pick their brains for recommendations; most of us like to share our knowledge and experiences.

We are frequent Princess cruisers and in the past, before 2015, frequently booked full suites (now we book mini-suites). We loved the extra space in the full suites and the Sabatini's breakfasts. We were totally unimpressed with the Concierge Lounge on the Royal Princess although I understand that it is more robust now as are inclusions like Club Class. In January 2020 we took our first MSC cruise and, at the recommendation of our TA, booked a Yacht Club cabin. We loved it. The cabin wasn't as large as the Princess full suites but the service was fantastic and at times over the top (we really didn't need a butler to accompany us to the theater after the first evening but it was great to be met by one at the gangplank when returning from an excursion and bypass the line). It truly is a "ship within a ship" experience with the dedicated Yacht Club restaurant, lounge and YC pool grill, plus the dedicated YC beach and restaurant on their private island. If you decide on MSC, make sure you do a status match before making your reservation. Our elite Princess status matched MSC's top level. Also check and see if they still offer military AND civil service (local, state and federal) discounts. We took advantage of the latter since my DH is a retired fed. I will warn you that their website is, in my opinion, horrible. In order to maintain your status match you must take an MSC cruise every three years so we are planning a fall cruise in the Yacht Club.

There is more information on this thread:

@claudia814- since your flight isn't until next January, there is probably more than an 50% possibility that your departure time will change - at least based on how often schedules are changing now - so keep an eye on your reservation. I hope your departure time changes to 11:30 or a little later!

We had the same reaction at Ypres in Flanders (Belgium) in the mid 1990s. What still remains in my mind were similar trenches and the small museum with antique stereographic viewers and a picture of a dead horse up in a tree. I don’t remember any pictures of human victims, just that horse and the enormous destruction all around. Driving through Flanders there are multiple cemeteries in many towns ranging in size from a dozen gravesites to tens of thousands, with many unknown soldiers sometimes only identified by nationality based on their uniforms. It was heartbreaking then and now.

Port Everglades does not accept parking reservations. See the cruise parking information at www.porteverglades.net,

Just arrive after your ship has completed disembarkation and those passengers have collected their luggage and left the port (10:30 ish). All those parking spaces will be freed up. I agree with @breezer, I've never hear of any issues with parking availability at Port Everglades even on the busiest weekends in the winter.

Possibly patient zero was symptomatic and tested positive. Then when they investigated and tested his/her contacts they discovered many asymptomatic cases?

@Coral - I was just about to ask the same question! I'm terrible at remembering names, especially of someone I only meet for a few hours but Monika is one of the very few tour guides names I remember in over 30 cruises.

Princess and the cruise industry in general are between a rock and a hard place but the current treatment of Princess passengers on certain ships/itineraries is mind-boggling. The public wants to cruise again. The demand is there but the passenger experience is dying by a thousand cuts. Princess needs to make a clean break and take the Crown off-line now with generous compensation (FCC, shifting, etc.) and if ships can't be fully staffed reduce the capacity accordingly. This will add to their debt in the short run but is the only way to keep current passengers, stem the deservedly horrible publicity and, hopefully, survive the near future. We had an excellent cruise on the Caribbean Princess in January (at 33% passenger capacity and full crew capacity), a good one on the Enchanted Princess in March (at 65% passenger capacity and definitely less than 100% crew capacity), and were scheduled (for the 3rd time since 2020) to be on a family cruise on the CB beginning two weeks from today. At final payment I canceled the CB cruise because a vaccine was not yet available for our almost 3 year old granddaughter (Princess would have let her sail) and even in late March it was evident that Princess was increasing capacity and relaxing Covid protocols. I'm so glad I did. Right now I don't intend to cruise Princess (or any other line) until our next cruise on the Coral Princess Around Australia next April (celebrating our 50th anniversary with 2 siblings and spouses) and I rescheduled for the CB cruise for next July. I will be watching the situations closely and investigating other lines for future cruises.

The Miami Boat Show is February 15 to 20 so prices will be high pre-cruise in Miami. Pre-cruise you are contending with the beginning of Presidents Day (Monday, the 20th) weekend and the beginning of the busiest cruise week in January and February because it is winter vacation week in many public schools. Cruises (at least in pre-covid times) sell out at premium fares as do hotel rooms, especially near the beach. Sunday, the 19th, is also the Fort Lauderdale marathon which is not nearly as big an event as the Boston, NYC or the Marine Corps marathons but it does bring in additional visitors for the weekend. I think you will need to up your budget. Reserve something you can live with now with no cancellation fee reservation but keep looking.

What are your dates?

Just as important: how many ships are also disembarking? At Port Everglades in pre-covid times during high season (Christmas through Easter) there were frequently 7 ships at full capacity disembarking passengers on Saturdays and Sundays.

Credits greater than $25 are not returned to your credit card account. They are returned to you by check mailed to your home address. Credits less than $25 are paid out at customer service in cash.

It is now a digital book that, in my opinion, is virtually worthless. In our experience the contents do not vary by sale, Note that you asked this in a recent thread and received 36 replies (the second posting below).

You are paying for convenience and safety. We wouldn't park anywhere else.

That concern obviously includes the more than a thousand crew members on each ship living in close quarters who interact with an ever changing group of thousands of guests.

Thanks for the explanation. That is a difficult problem facing many cities. I didn't have the same experience the last time I was in the neighborhood a couple of months ago.

Can you elaborate on that statement? I live in Broward County just north of Fort Lauderdale and haven't heard any reports or complaints of the 17th Street hotel area turning sketchy. I know it is a favorite of cruisers given its proximity (next door) to Port Everglades, closeness to the airport, and reasonable - compared to the hotels along the beach - prices.