richla

You will definitely have to carry your own luggage off the pier. Princess hires no ground staff on straight visitations.

We also have an Oct 7 cruise. We received our bid acceptance on Sept 6. We have bid on other cruises and the time certainly varies.

They usually just collect it and return it to you the night before debark. A couple times there wasn't anyone collecting it. We've never had an issue yet.

They are the smaller eating spots that costs money, such as, Alfredo’s, GiGi’s, Kai Sushi, Ocean Terrace, O’Malleys, Planks, Salty Dog Pub, Steamers, and Vines.

Are you saying you can no longer put suitcases under the bed?

We'll be doing that same cruise in October, then staying in Barcelona a few days. We look forward to your posts.

The posted list includes Ham radios. If detected, they will be confiscated. The normal walkie-talkies families carry around are not taken. That being said, we turn all confiscated items over to ship security prior to debarkation and they sail with you. It would be between the passenger and the ship if they will allow use prior to the end of the cruise. If the passenger has special permission for an item, the ship will contact us in advance with the passenger's name and specifically what is allowed. It's not taken if previously authorized. Every ship has a different list, including knife blade lengths, alcohol, extension cords, etc. All carry on and luggage is screened. No system is perfect, I'm just describing the process.

Only 2 of our 4 were used on our last cruise. I will say that our travel agent originally booked us both using both of mine. I called our TA and explained that we'd only receive one of our room credits. She contacted Princess and switched to one of my wife's. Now we both get room credit. I'd say just call your TA back and correct it.

We are doing the two-week Rome to Barcelona Oct 7th. We'll be following your journey with interest.

We always fly to FL and debark in LA closer to home. For us, we find that we are packed neater for the flight there at the start of the cruise. We pick up odds and ends during the cruise and maybe end up with some dirty laundry at the end. We don't need to worry about how we pack, luggage weight restrictions or fitting everything in. It's just a drive home.

We used that same one on our last Princess cruises. Worked great.

We had that once. I re-installed the app and it showed complete when I opened it.

Yes, it arrived in the morning on the same pier opposite the Zuiderdam doing a full turn. Most of the day was spent bringing on a media production crew and equipment well into the evening. Princess is shooting a major commercial there today (Friday). At one point actors will be walking down the pier singing the love boat theme. Unfortunately, I'll miss it. I took the day off to get some pre-cruise stuff done. We will be boarding it on Sunday as passengers.

Same here. I just used our IPad. I could have used my wife's phone also by just tapping my name. After that everything showed good on my phone.

My mistake. I remember now. But there was no Salty Dog in the Wheelhouse like before. Just looking at the menus makes me hungry.

That may have changed. On our last cruise on the Grand Princess in December there was no Salty Dog in the Wheelhouse. There is now a Salty Dog Grill by the pool.

They will process you. Completing the Medallion check ahead just makes it smooth and quick.

In screening we don't care about the plastic bottles of soda.

That's not the case in some US ports. If it doesn't go to the luggage handler/porter, you'll need to carry it through terminal passenger screening and then on board the ship to your room on your own.

We also just had our upgrade bid accepted. The Diamond is still scheduled to arrive in San Diego on Nov 17 to prepare for the first revenue cruise on the 20th.

We made it through almost all of the opening introduction before changing the channel. Seems like just another reality dating show.

We prefer the older ships. They still have the traditional Wheelhouse Bar with its floor that still offers ballroom dancing. We tend to shy away from the really large ships anyway.

Most of the ships that have the Wheelhouse still offer ballroom dancing. The newer ships, like Royal and above really did away with the wheelhouse. There is still some ballroom in the center atrium, but it's tile floor instead of wood.

The medallion has many ways to wear it. She can also put it a clip attachment. I like the watch attachment you can get on Amazon. It just stays on my watch band and I never have to think about it.

I agree with your assessment on Princess. I think the Diamond being here is just a temporary fix as they relocate from the Asian market. My post was mostly to clear up the San Diego and Carnival ship history you mentioned.