RoperDK

Following. We are on the Harmony next year. Enjoying your review!

Is there a lounger on the balcony along with the chairs and table?  I have seen several photos that show them.  If not, have you had any success with tipping and asking for a lounger to be brought to you? Most importantly, is there enough room on the balcony for the lounger?

Is a bottle of water a suite perk now? We are platinum and get a large bottle of water each at embarkation.  I've read that bottled water is now a suite perk. We've never had one in a suite before. Just trying to decide how much water to order.

Thanks in advance,

Dawn

Thanks everyone! We always arrive at the port early so it sounds like we will be fine. I do like the ports that have reserved (pre-pay) parking. You'd think that would be standard by now. Our friends are now leaning towards parking at the port. To us, it is just less stressful.

Dawn

Princess usually uses Terminal 2 and/or Terminal 4 which both abut the Northport Garage. Last time I parked there was the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. Plenty of spaces at 11:30 that morning even with three of their largest ships coming and going that week. Remember more or less the same number of vehicles leave early each morning as those that start arriving a couple hours later.

 

You can search the official port ship schedule to see which terminal your ships arrives and departs at:

https://pevvesseltraffic.broward.org/webx/

(the next seven days are automatically displayed, use the 'Filters' option for future time periods)

 

You can safely assume you will arrive and depart within walking distance of the Northport Garage. Possible exceptions are the days both Royal Princess and Regal Princess are in port; one of them will have to be at Terminal 21. And the smaller capacity Coral Princess and Island Princess may occasionally use Terminal 19, though by the end of this year when Celebrity's Terminal 25 reopens after its renovations are finally complete an M-class Celebrity ship won't be bumping the second Princess ship out of Terminal 4 to 19 or 21 on certain days.

We've cruised on LOTS of Princess ships out of Port Everglades and always park in the termial parking. Always ample parking! No problem!

Enjoy your cruise! :D

Thank you fishywood and OCruisers. I have never had any problems finding parking at any port we have cruised out of, but I've also never cruised out of the "Saturday or Sunday" turnaround norm. We will be on the Crown leaving on a Tuesday. Princess has only 2 ships leaving during that weekend (Regal and Royal). Since Princess uses that one terminal, I feel we will be fine. Certainly, other disembarking Crown cruisers will be leaving us some parking. :D

Thank you,

Dawn

I highly recommend Park n' Go in Ft. Lauderdale. They accept reservations, will park your car for you, drop you at your pier in a very timely manner. There are monkeys that roam the property---so cute! Upon return, their shuttles are at the pier, your car will be ready when you arrive and you receive bottled water. All this for a percentage of the cost of port parking!

Thank you Saturngrl. We will pass this info on to another couple that is traveling with us. I looked it up and Park n' Go was highly recommended. Perhaps we have become lazy after 30 cruises, but we just park at the port. We always have points for hotel stays, so parking at the port is our splurge.

Thank you,

Dawn

We are leaving out of Ft. Lauderdale on a Tuesday. On Saturday 6 ships head out. Sunday another 6 ships leave. On Monday another 2 leave. We will be on Princess. They have one ship going out on Saturday and one on Sunday. Does Princess only go out of a single terminal? Would they have enough parking left? We want to park at the port, so no off site for us. I've never had a problem finding parking, but I've only gone out on the busy days.

Thanks in advance,

Dawn

Following. We are doing this itinerary, also.

Dawn

Thank you Essiesmom! Those pics are great! I actually see people on our deck 4 balcony.

Dawn

We were supposed to be on this cruise, but couldn't due to family illness. Our friends did go and said that they thought that the back of the ship on deck 3 was closed off during the Canal transit. Can anyone confirm this? I had told them that this area would show a great perspective to watch part of the transit. They speculated that it was closed off due to cables attached at the rear of the ship. They were unfamiliar with the ship layout and really weren't sure if that was the area that was closed off. My reason for asking is that we have booked a deck 4 aft wrap cabin on another partial Canal transit and I wonder if our balcony would be unavailable during the transit, also. A deal killer for us. Hopefully, someone just off this cruise can answer this question for us.

Thanks in advance,

Dawn

This might be a dumb question but what do you mean by “aft wrap suite”? The corner units?

If so, I thought several times about grabbing those but my vacation planner always talks me out of it. He doesn’t like their proximity to staff stairs or something.

Just wondering if I am thinking of the same thing you are. [emoji2]

 

 

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Hi CirrusPilot. No, it is not a dumb question. Yes, I am talking about the corner units. I think there has been some confusion because of the class of ship we are all talking about. The corner wraps on the older Spirit class ships (Spirit, Pride, Miracle, and Legend) are actually SUITES, called Vista Suites. They have two separate rooms - living area and bedroom. There is a dressing area, walk in closet, bathroom with Jacuzzi and his and her sinks. The wrap balconies are amazing. I have sailed in them over the years (including a 12 day Hawaii) at least 5 times. There are no staff stairs nearby on this class of ship. If my memory serves me well, the least desirable deck is 5 because there is only one room in that suite as they are smaller. If you ever have a chance to book one of these suites please do! The only drawback I have encountered is more vibration than cabins mid-ship.

Now, if you are talking about the aft wrap balcony (not suite) cabins on the Triumph, Dream, or Vista class ships then they are one room balcony cabins that are a bit different shapes depending on deck. The balconies are still amazing. Yes, they are close to a crew stairwell. While we have not stayed in the aft wrap balconies on these ships we have sailed in the adjacent L shape balcony cabins. We heard NO sounds from those crew stairwells. Maybe others can chime in on that.

Hope that helps!

Dawn

I am the OP and was talking about a single cruise. The Legend (Spirit class) on a Jan 2020 specialty cruise (8 day partial Panama Canal transit). Today's pricing reflects a more normal trend. Suites are higher than balconies. I don't know if it was a glitch or not, but I booked an aft wrap suite for less than the price of a standard balcony. I feel very lucky indeed! Others also must have taken the plunge because all of the ocean suites are gone, along with over half of the aft wrap suites, and several of the grand suites. My philosophy on cruise pricing is to always be satisfied with the price you pay, if upgrades happen or prices go down than that is an appreciated bonus. On this particular cruise I am quite satisfied!

Dawn

Well, the plot thickens....

I just went on Carnival's site to check pricing on the Jan 2020 Legend Partial Panama Canal sailing that I booked over the weekend and the sailing has disappeared from the site. My booking still shows just fine. This cruise has only been available for booking for a short time. I suspect that there was an error in how they priced cabins and they are now fixing it. We shall see.....

Dawn

We booked one on deck 7. I like some sun, and I thought having cabins above and below us would be nice as less noise. Oh I’m so excited!!!!

 

 

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Our friends had one on deck 7. Very nice! We are excited, too!

Dawn

Dawn, what deck? We may be “neighbors!”

 

I assumed that maybe it was a glitch in their system. I saw it the day they released the itinerary for booking and hopped on it just in case it was an error and they changed it! I can’t wait to have that big old balcony to watch us go thru the locks, it’s going to be the perfect place to watch the transit. And with all the sea days on that sailing I figured we will really use that balcony and make it worth it. :)

 

 

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We are on deck 4. We sailed to Hawaii in that cabin on the Spirit years ago. It was amazing. I like deck 4 Vistas as they are totally covered, but all of them are nice. Which deck did you pick? You will be spoiled once you sail in one! All the suites - ocean, vista, and grand were priced so low couldn't believe it.

I got a vista suite on the Legend Jan 2020 partial Canal transit for $100 cheaper than a regular balcony. I’m freaking excited!! We have never had a suite before.

 

 

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Yes, that is the cruise I was talking about! We booked a Vista suite yesterday, too. Couldn't believe the price. The cruise hasn't been available for booking for long either. We've cruised in suites and balconies many times and the suites have always been pricier.

Dawn

I've been cruising for a long time and on several different lines, but I have never seen this happen before. This pricing is on Carnival's site. I don't want to step on any of the forum rules, but was just curious about why this would be. Has anyone ever experienced this before? Any theories?

Dawn

I just scored a vista suite on the Legend partial Panama canal cruise. I've sailed in them before, but it has been a few years. Do they still have loungers on the balcony along with chairs and tables? Seems that I remembered that they had removed the loungers and just had a few chairs now. That would be a huge waste of space!

Thanks in advance!

Dawn

I dumped this one in favor of miracle out of Tampa. I couldn't stand the thought of 10 days with 3 people in an ocean view room. Balcones and suites were sold out on this one. Just couldn't do it.

I think you made an excellent choice! We have been on over 20 cruises with Carnival and last year's 5 day Fantasy cruise was just not up to par. I have come to the conclusion that I NEED a balcony. It just enhances my cruise experience. We booked the Fantasy for a quick getaway and thought the ocean view would be okay. It wasn't! Also, this ship's cabins are much smaller than the newer ones. There is no sofa, only a small chair. Hardly enough room to move around. We thought service was fine, but the food was not up to the standard we expected from Carnival. BTW...we are also on this Miracle cruise to the Panama Canal. We LOVE the layout of this class of ship!

Dawn

We really like the mini suites near the back of the ship, they are completely covered with very little foot traffic

 

here is a link to a webpage going into what balconies are covered vs. uncovered

 

http://www.cruisedeckplans.com/Princess/odell/res76zxu/princessbalconies/index.html

Totally agree with this! We sailed SB on the Coral last year. We had mini D706. Loved the covered balcony and there is a viewing deck on the aft just steps away for a more panoramic view. We picked a port side cabin and think it was a good choice.

Dawn

What is the procedure for switching cabin occupants once onboard? On Carnival you go to guest services and request the change and get a new card for the new cabin. Very simple, no questions or problems. What would be the best way to set up charging privileges during online check-in? Cross set up for the different cabins or set up all individual charge accounts? We are trying to apply a discount to both cabins in our group (we are paying for both cabins, but not the onboard expenses of our guests).

Thanks in advance,

Dawn

Enjoying your review. We just booked the Crown for next year. Can't wait to hear about your cruise!

Dawn

We are booking another Princess cruise. Last time we had the drink package, but don't plan on it for the upcoming cruise. We have in the past ordered liquor delivered to the cabin along with mixers before the cruise. I couldn't find a way to pre-order this time. Just wine was available. Did I miss where to order? Also, are liquor and mixers still available from the room service menu?

Thanks is advance,

Dawn

Thank you vache! We will be on our first Premier cruise next month. We are looking forward to seeing what it is all about. I am concerned about crowding, though. I play slots and enjoy particular ones. I am not overly patient and don't want to sit at a tight machine just to play. My husband plays on the tables, so he enjoys a crowd. We will see. Appreciate your input.

Dawn

Thanks fishywood and Keith1010. My cruise is still several months out, but I will look elsewhere. Seems unusual that there isn't any information about the property out there. I thought that it might be a lower cost alternative to the downtown hotels for our traveling companions. We are using points so that wasn't a concern for us.

I understand that it is under renovations following hurricane Irma. It is totally off the grid. The Marriott site doesn't even show it. The hotel website says nothing about its status. Do any of the Miami locals have any information? Makes me wonder if it will remain a Marriott property.

Thanks in advance,

Dawn