ooops

We were on the Royal in April/May and they were giving 3 scoops for 1 punch. We're heading back to the Royal in a few weeks...I hope it's still the same.

Interesting topic. My husband has no vices, LOL, he drinks no coffee, no tea, no pop and no alcohol. We have been Elites for a while and I have never heard it was possible to swap out the liquor for coffee cards. Hmmm. I usually just throw the little bottles into my suitcase and bring them home to my teenagers!!! If this is true, that I can do the swap for two coffee cards that would be great as the coffee cards can be used for multiple sailings. Yes, I know you cannot get coffee on the sailing following the purchase but you can still use the punches for the specialty coffees. Hence, I have a couple of coffee cards still which have the JOKER on them. Can someone tell me if they recently swapped the alcohol for coffee cards. I am set to sail in Asia in April.

We were on the Oct 1st Coastal sailing on Ruby and traded our mini-bar for 2 coffee cards. Also, if they don't write the ship/sailing on the back of your coffee card, you may be able to use the coffee card for free brewed coffee & tea on subsequent cruises. Regardless, you can definitely use the coffee card for specialty coffees.

I have also been searching for options to the Galveston cruise port. I'd prefer to rent a car to explore the area, but can't seem to find a car rental company that will allow me to pick-up at the airport and drop-off at the cruise terminal. Seems my only other economical options are to use the cruise line transfer or a car/shuttle service. Any other options/ideas?

What is the cost of the transfer from the ship to the Beijing airport? We are wondering if it is cheaper to book our own rather than take the ship's transfer?

I believe the Princess bus transfer from the ship to Beijing airport (or city centre) is $79. If you're booked, you should be able to log into your cruise personalizer and find out. It's definitely cheaper to do it on your own (I have friends who did it last April), but a bit of a hassle if you've got luggage to deal with and if you don't speak Mandarin.

From I know so far, it seems that the train is not the best choice, as the new Tianjin port, International Cruise Home Port is still 25km far away from the nearest train station in tanggu. If there are many luggage, to rent a vehicle is the only way. Besides, it's also not convenient to get on/off train. I know a company,www.itourbeijing.com/china-tour/xingang-port/.They have coach transfer from Tianjin port to Beijing. Probably it can help.

 

In addition, its always foggy on the way from tianjing to beijing. The highway is often blocked for that.so its better not to take the risk of heading for beijing airport directly. It would be much safer to stay one night in Beijing.

Unless my life depended on it, I would not drive in Beijing or drive to/from the pier! Traffic is chaotic.:eek: Drivers are very aggressive, don't stay in their respective lanes (at least not for long), and the shoulder is just another passing lane. We had a private tour which took us out to Beijing & back to the pier, and as a passenger, I wasn't terrified (after I got over the shock)...we even started to count how many cars we were passing.