Sayra

4 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

Adult toys

Do I just walk into one of the shops and ask to see their secret selection? 🤣

On 7/31/2023 at 6:49 PM, CineGraphic said:

 

You should see the items they DON'T have on display! lol (Yet another cruise ship 1st)

Curious minds need more details. Please. 

Thanks for putting this together. I’m doing my first Princess cruise since 2016 in January, so I was curious of the differences (but hadn’t taken the time to do this myself).

Do you remember what they prepared for you?

I want to say that I was asked what I wanted when I ordered. I couldn't come up with anything off the top of my head, so I just said something with lots of veggies.

I ended up getting a veggie pie of sorts with a red sauce on the side. It was really tasty, but I was so full by that point (and save room for desert), so I only ate about half of it.

(I tried to insert a pic, but it keeps failing to upload :()

I've done a vegetarian balcony dinner with no problems - I just let them know that I wanted one vegetarian meal when I booked it.

In addition, in our experience, it was too windy the majority of the time at sea to sit on the balcony anyways.* **

*But maybe it was just the weather we had in the Caribbean that week

**We would book the cabin again in a minute.

Thank you all very much. Sayra I'm not just going to the beach for the planes, we're doing the whole cruise just for the planes at st Maarten! I have wanted to go there for as long as I can remember, it is top of my bucket list. We chose this cruise just for st Maarten and we are flying from the UK for it! My poor dad, he knows the whole day will be spent by that runway! :D

Completely worth it. You will have a blast~

Literally, you will be sand-blasted depending on where you stand. Still worth it.

We usually take a cab to near-by Mullet Bay Beach and then walk back to Maho to watch the planes before heading back to the ship. I believe that a cab is normally approximately $8-9 a person (but check the boards, because my memory is failing me here). If you take a cab, you should refer to the beach as "Sunset" or "airport beach". I'm not sure why, but the cab drivers always seem confused by the name Maho (maybe I don't pronounce it correctly?).

IMO, if you are going FOR the beach, then I would go to another beach. Sunset has been very crowded the past couple of times that we have gone - there are much nicer beaches on the Island (some within walking distance). The reason to go to Sunset is to watch the planes - which is incredibly fun.

Dill pickles.

Although sometimes I put a pile of pickles from the grill in a bowl and eat them onboard, they just aren't the same.

When I booked last minute cruises (twice)(a little less than 2 weeks out), I would fax and call a few hours later. They would apply it while I was on the phone.

I've been to both St Thomas and St Maarten several times and have done a Princess excursion once.

St Thomas - The Cat snorkeling tour. It was fun - snorkeling was good and there were plenty of pain killers after snorkeling. But there were a lot of people on board - we even went to another Princess ship to pick up more people.

I have not compared this tour to others on the same island, but I have done similar independent tours on other islands...in my experience, the independent tours are the same price or less and have far fewer people on board.

I had the same problem when logging into the Princess site this morning, but I was able to access my bookings without logging in by putting in my name, DOB, and booking number.

Seems like Video On Demand takes care of the problem.

Agreed. This is what I write on all my surveys - please roll out on-demand to all of the ships. I don't need a TV guide if I can start the movies when I want to. Much more convenient - and it saves paper!

I've been able to choose seats using the record locator (found on the Princess site) on the airline sites a few days after booking, but before final payment.

For example, I booked our December TA on 5/26. On 6/2, I was able to choose seats on both our American and Delta flights. Our final payment is not due until September.

Tag on question -

How do you tip the porters if you don't see your bag after you leave the airport? I thought tipping the porters was a requirement so that your bag makes it safety to the ship.

We are using Princess transfers for the first time in a little over a week.

I've also always had bad veggie burgers on Princess, but it's been years since I have tried one. Maybe I'll give it another shot. Thanks for your review!

In Port Everglades a little over 2 years ago, we had to wait until noon to board the ship. Then when we went back later that year, they were allowing earlier boarding but there was a note at the check in that said your room may not be available until 1 to allow for earlier boarding.

I much preferred getting on the ship to sitting in the cruise terminal waiting.

Notes:

- the note was sitting on the check-in counter, but I don't believe that it was ever announced, so many people did not know about it

- after stopping for cookies at the International Cafe, we went up to our room, the door was still open; however, the room steward said that our room was really done.

I don't see anything on the website or my junk email....did anyone else get this?

We have a similar situation. On our last cruise, we purchased a rash guard shirt with spf 50 for my husband. That with a hat and he is all set for a day of sitting in the sun.

The problem with finding a spot where one chair is in the sun and one in the shade is that the sun and the ship moves. Before long, one of you is outside of your ideal sun exposure.

The ships are practically on the street in Downtown San Diego. They couldn't stop Uber if they wanted to. See the map below.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/bjxAYH1aAJn

 

When cabs pick up they line up outside. I don't if Uber picks up there or if they are a different location, but it couldn't be far if it isn't.

Thank you for the info! I did not realize that the ship docked right downtown~

Also, is an Uber a better option? Or are they not allowed in the port?

Is there a bus that stops at the ship's terminal in San Francisco? If you do the tour through Princess do you pick up the bus at the terminal. We are going with someone who has limited mobility and was wondering which was the best way to take the bus, through Princess or privately.

Thank you

I looked at the Hop on/Hop off bus for our April cruise, and it seemed that the Princess excursion was about the same price as booking it independently. If that's the case, I would just book it thru Princess since the description says that "you'll depart from the ship's pier".

I take the approaching of sitting on the balcony and using the wind to dry my hair and then taming it down with a straightening iron afterwards. More pleasant than any hair dryer.

For San Francisco as a port day from 7am to 11pm - is it worthwhile to get up early/stay up late to see the bridge in the dark?

Check the very back of the Horizon Court. On our Regal cruise a year ago, there was a special vegan section. (however, it wasn't on the Royal this past November).

There are vegetarian choices throughout the buffet; however, it was really nice to have a designated area where I could eat everything.