Madame B

We sailed from Pier 91 on August 7th.  We took an uber from the airport that day at noon.  The cost was $56.30, which I thought was a bit high.  When we got off the ship, there were taxis lined up, so we asked the price.  The first driver told us it was $45, but told us we had to go to the first car in line.  That guy told us $75, then tried to say that he was giving that price to someone on the phone.  We went with him since we had no choice.  The price changed to $48 when he dropped us off.  He also told us at that time that he would not take a credit card.  Thankfully, we had cash so gave him $50.  He then asked us where was his tip.  That reminded us why we prefer an app based rideshare!

Thanks for the updates!  My brother and sis-in-law are on this sailing!  We kept up with the drama from Saturday and we were wondering if passengers were compensated.  We haven't heard from them since Sunday, so hopefully they are enjoying their beverage package and catching up on much needed rest!

Thanks for the responses!

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I'm considering a cruise in October on HAL. My best priced flight home at disembarkation would be at 10:30am from FLL. Is this doable???

I dry my hair on the balcony with a glass of wine...it may look a little frizzy but after the wine who cares!

 

I like your style![emoji485]

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I'm on summit now and wish I packed my dryer. Bring your own

 

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Thanks!

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Thanks for all the posts/opinions! After reading these, I remembered that we have a small dryer stored in our guest bath. I’ll pack that instead of my large one with the large diffuser. Yes, I have thick, frizzy hair!

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Does anyone have a picture of the blow dryers on the Summit? I'm trying to decide if it is worth packing my own.

We took a similar cruise on Princess two years ago and LOVED it! We used Alla Tours for Berlin and SPB and were extremely satisfied! We toured Helsinki, Tallin and Stockholm on our own. Copenhagen is a lovely city. We sailed from there, so we had two days in the city.

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I'm not a gambler, but I love rolling the dice for a guarantee balcony. I always do it, especially when it is offered at a discount. We usually have a category upgrade within the balcony category. We are not particular about our cabin location since we are very mobile. On two occasions with Celebrity, we were assigned family aft balconies. These have separate living rooms, two televisions and extended aft facing balconies!

We took this trip last May on the Regal Princess! The weather was slightly cool and we wore light, not heavy, jackets and jeans. The seas were calm and we did have some light rain in a few ports. We did a lot of walking without sweating.

Since May is the beginning of the season, expect good cruise rates. In fact, we were upgraded from balcony to mini suite after final payment due to rates dropping.

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CABIN #: 8168

DECK #: 8 (Constellation)

CLASS: FV-Family View Veranda

AREA: Aft facing

BED NEAR: Bath

QUIET?: Very quiet even when docking in the AM

BALCONY VIEW: Aft-facing, with a little side view

BALCONY SIZE: Huge - 2 tables, 4 chairs and 2 footstools and there was still room for lots more. About half the veranda is covered and half open. People above can look down on the open part but only from deck 9; we could just see our railing from the Oceanview Cafe on deck 10. This is an amazing veranda!

WIND A PROBLEM?: no

SOOT A PROBLEM?: no

STORAGE: Plenty. Large cabinets under the desk, 2 more multi-drawer cabinets in the separate sitting room, six small drawers in the closet, another cabinet in the "curio display case" in the entryway, big closet with lots of hangers, cabinets under the bathroom sink. This cabin is meant for families and there would be ample room for 4 people - for 2 people we had loads of empty space.

OTHER AMENITIES: This cabin had a large pull-out sofa bed and a second smaller loveseat with an oval table in between. Sitting area is separated from the bed/bath by a partition and sliding door. The entry door faces the starboard side of the ship but then there's a 90 degree turn aft. There is an amazing amount of space - it's a suite without the suite price or butler.

PROBLEMS/COMMENTS: This is the cabin next to the corner cabin. The corner has an even larger veranda but has less privacy, and if it's windy or rainy, less shelter. The cabin on the other side is a Concierge Class cabin, at a higher price point. Because it wasn't overly warm on our cruise, we definitely loved having the extra protection from the wind. This was an outstanding cabin, good access to the public areas from the aft stairwell and very quiet. LOVED it!

We were in this cabin last month by booking a Veranda Guarantee and loved it!

We did not do an evening tour and I don't think there was a Russian show in the ship. Both days were full with touring.

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We sailed the Caribbean Princess recently and some of our family members got the chili served on the room service menu. They loved it! Unfortunately, I did not get to taste or see it. Has the recipe ever been published? If so, does anyone have the recipe? Thanks in advance!

The port is about a 3 hour drive from Berlin. Also, Berlin is a large city. With that said, I recommend that you use a tour company. We used Alla Tours for Berlin and St Pete and got a great deal since we were booking both. See my response to your other post.

Since our cruise includes Berlin we would like to have some advice on how to approach that stop. We have been looking at the Princess tours and they look very good but we were considering doing this on our own. Would you recommend that approach?

 

Is the train near where the ship docks and can we book passage on that independently? Does anyone know the cost of a return trip? If we do the independent travel is it easy to see Berlin on foot by yourself or do we need to consider booking a tour in the city?

 

Any information about this stop will be greatly appreciated.

We took this exact trip in May of 2015. It was truly amazing. I highly recommend staying at the Hotel Bethel. It was in the middle of things and an easy subway ride from the airport. The pictures that we took from our hotel window, much less the street in front of the hotel, are some of our favorites! Taxis to the ship are easy to find. There aren't many hotels near the cruise port. We also highly recommend Alla Tours. We also used them for Berlin. Hope this helps!

We are sailing on the Regal Princess May 12th to the Baltic. After 40+ cruises this is one area we have not visited and this is the year for it. Since we have not cruised to this area before we are looking for any information that will help with our planning. Some of the things we are pondering include:

 

1. We are flying into Copenhagen on the 11th and think we will take the Princess transfer to the ship. Can anyone suggest a hotel at the airport that is "reasonable" in price...hopefully one that has a shuttle service to and from the airport.

 

2. If we were to forego the Princess transfers and stay at a hotel in the city is there one that you would recommend at a reasonable price? Do hotels in the city have shuttle service from the airport or is there a need to take a taxi? Are taxis into the city easy to find and are they reasonable in price?

 

3. Does anyone know of hotels that are in the vicinity of the cruise ship terminal?

 

4. What are the pros and cons of booking the St Petersburg tour with Princess versus a private company? Any particular tour that anyone would recommend?

 

Any other info or tips would really be appreciated.

 

Thanks:

Royal's Navigator has one on deck 11. Perhaps you visited here.

We haven't been on the Royal. We've been on the Grand and Crown. I think it must have been one of those ships. Thanks!

We were on the Caribbean Princess about 7 years ago and are returning in a few weeks. I seem to recall that there is a window looking into the bridge. Can anyone verify this and let me know which deck this is on? We are taking our grandsons and think they would love this!

Before going to the French Quarter to indulge in adult beverages, I recommend taking a street car ride up and down St. Charles Avenue. The homes here are spectacular.

My recommendations for really cool bars are the Sezerac Bar in the Roosevelt Hotel for their signature drink and the Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleone. Both are in walking distance from each other!

My recommendation for dinner is Cochon. They have some great pork dishes. For breakfast, The Palace Cafe' can't be beat!

Regarding Mulate's, they actually didn't relocate to NOLA from Breaux Bridge. Both locations were open for years. Ownership of the Breaux Bridge location changed after a divorce, then death years later of the original owner, then storm damage.

Enjoy!

Lisa2324,

If you haven't yet, join the roll call for this sailing. It is very busy and many are on it that have done this sailing several times in the past.

Were there ports where you didn't need local currency or were you prepared with all types?

 

Thanks so much!

We did this trip in May. Many of the shops in the many different countries take both euros and American dollars, so there is no need to get their money. You may need a few small euro coins for restrooms. In fact, there were no free restrooms to, from, and in Berlin.

I'm enjoying this review! We got off the ship on the 24th of May. Below are a few things that I wish I would have known prior to the sailing. Hope this helps anyone sailing this itinerary in the future.

1. We think that the taxi cost to the port is a fixed amount. We were charged 205 Danish krones. This amount was on the driver's meter when we got in the car. There were four of us from the Nyhavn area.

2. We had a 9:55 am flight the day we disembarked. We booked the earliest Princess shuttle at 6:35 am because we were afraid that there would be no cabs at the port that early in the morning. There were cabs there at 6:00 and many were larger, station wagon type cabs. Taking a cab would have been more economical. Also, we prefer to do luggage walk off.

3. Many of the shops in the many different countries take both euros and American dollars, so there is no need to get their money. You may need a few small euro coins for restrooms. In fact, there were no free restrooms to, from, and in Berlin.

We used Alla Tours for both Berlin and SP. We were very satisfied with these tours. We toured the other cities on our own. Regarding Stockholm, it was easy to get to and from Nynasham on the public train, however, it was a challenge to get around Stockholm once you arrived. Their central train and bus station is HUGE, busy, and a bit confusing. It is an hour ride each way on the train.

We stayed two days pre-cruise at the Hotel Bethel and were very happy with our choice. It is in a prime location, clean, and at a fair price.

This trip surpassed our expectations!

Do you mind sharing any information about cruise scheduling(or recent patters)? I'm sailing on Emerald in less than 3 weeks and can hardly wait. I'm trying to plan which night is best to go to Sabatini's but don't want to conflict with the 50th anniversary dinner or Discovery Star Gazing evenings?

We are just off the Emerald from last week's sailing. While I didn't keep the Patters, formal nights were Monday and Thursday nights. On the Thursday night we had a really good menu with escargot, lobster, and prawns. We ate at Sabatini's when we were on the Emerald in November and were not too impressed. We rathered Crown Grill, so we ate there again last week with our party of 8 total people. All were highly impressed.

I never saw a Star Gazing evening advertised.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

When we left BCN last year for a cruise, we joined a private tour of Montserrat on embarkation day with fellow Cruise Critic members. They picked us up from our hotels with our luggage, took us to Montserrat, then dropped us off at the port with our luggage. It was with Barcelona Day Tours. Just a suggestion if you want to visit that area. It was really beautiful.

For the posters that asked if rooms were assigned on weekends, the answer is yes, they are assigned on weekends. We booked our last GTY on a Saturday about 30-40 days before the trip (just within final payment) and the room was assigned on the following day, which was a Sunday with a two category balcony upgrade. We were notified via email.