2fercruzin

Hi there will be two of us cruising in a suite, and we want to swap out the complimentary minibar for coffee card(s).

 

Can someone tell me do we get a card each?

 

Thanks:)

1 minibar swap out = 2 coffee cards

Let your cabin steward know what you'd like and he can take care of it for you, or call room service directly. Enjoy your coffees!

Eastern Caribbean Voyager (10 days) - Caribbean Princess - May 2018

 

I booked this morning for May 2018 under the Red, White and Blue sale for a $1.00 deposit. Unfortunately, I realized too late that there is a $100 cancellation fee (per person) after booking if you book and put down a $1.00 deposit under the Red, White and Blue sale...so although it's only $1.00 deposit, it is $100/pp if you cancel after booking....I totally missed this one...It is a bit tricky on the part of Princess, but the booking is on me....it got by me in my enthusiasm to book earlier than I usually would for only $1.00...

 

Advantage Princess....

I believe the OP of this thread is actually asking about those booking the 1 day only sale on 5/22 with $1 deposit2. We snagged a 2019 Alaska for a total of $2 which is totally refundable.

If you booked under the Red, White & Blue sale going on, it is actually $100 deposit and states quite clearly that the deposit is NOT refundable. Sorry you read it wrong, hopefully you can make the cruise and not have to cancel.

We knew last January when we booked it that 5 days would fly by like a NASCAR race, and it sure did! But, as far as having the 'feel' of a full cruise it sure hit a home run for us. From the first prime rib welcome dinner, to the not wanting to go home last evening Princess filled our mornings, noons and evenings with toilets that can suck the life out of you if you sit & flush, shower curtains that become your best friend, music, games, 2 fer drinks, production shows, MUTTS, pizza, ice cream, dance lessons and a dance floor to show off those moves, a casino, room service, chocolates on our pillow and lots of free champagne to mentions just a few. Doesn't seem to me that we missed anything. Thank you Princess!

Here's to our next one which will be 3X longer . . . aaah, 15 days of bliss. :)

I was on the same cruise. While it was very nice, there was a distinct lack of bands and music around the ship. There use to always be different bands playing every evening in the Explorers lounge and I never saw or heard any on this cruise. That was always a lively wing of the ship but not anymore unless it was after I went to bed. No pianist in the Adagio as I use to really enjoy that lounge in the past.

 

Other things absent were the Pub lunch and EZ Check. It was a 5 day cruise and I guess much of the entertainment was cut back.

 

I still enjoyed the cruise but wish some of my favorite activities had not been cut.

I'm sorry you missed him but Ryszard Sulek captivated us every night (except the 1st night) at 9pm in Adagio with both classical and more modern requests, he moved to Crooner's on the last night. You are correct about Explorer's. It seemed to be used for game after game which was a refreshing change for us; it did have some music after 10pm and was used one night for Heat #1 of Princess Pop Star.

I too missed the Pub Lunch, but it's hard to fit everything into a short cruise - next time. ;) When we looked at E-Z Air's schedule it is not listed on short cruises so we knew going in we'd have to schlep our bags.

wow, interesting final night - hope everyone is ok! So glad to hear all the positives about the Emerald - We've decided to check on staying an extra night and changing our flight - don't like worrying!! :)

Glad to hear you're rethinking your flight. Being stressed is not a good way to end a great cruise. Happy sailing. :)

Congratulations! So nice to know that the Upgrade Fairy is alive and gifting. Our last 2 cruises we were offered an upsell, but nothing beats that freeby.

Enjoy!!!

 

Edited to add: Actually, there was another unplanned evacuation. This time a local ambulance pulled up to the ship's gangplank just before we were to leave Costa Maya and did an emergency medical evacuation of a male passenger. A female passenger (I assume his wife) came off the ship with him and someone from the ship's staff helped bring what looked like a bunch of their luggage off the ship and into the ambulance with them.

 

I hope both passengers who were evacuated are doing well.

Yes, we did have a rather different last evening didn't we? I missed the local ambulance evacuation in Costa Maya though. Healing wishes are sent to all involved.

Were other passengers able to get off earlier? We've got a 10:50 am flight and I'm going to stress about it for the next 5 weeks...

Please don't stress, vacations are for relaxation.

We could have had an Express Walkoff as early as 7:15am but didn't want to get off that early. If you don't need help with your bags and can manage the gangway completely by yourself, you can get the earlier Walk Off. Once we were off the ship (5 minutes after we got the go-ahead to disembark) we were through Customs in another 5-10 minutes, grabbed the taxi and it was about a 15 minute ride to the airport. We made it to the gate by 11am.

2fercruzin: Mahahual (Costa Maya) and Cozumel. We did an independent tour in Mahahual, the Chacchoben Extreme Tour which took us for a short walk through the rain forest to Mayan ruins, then a bus ride to a lagoon where we were served drinks (both alcohol & non-alcohol), fajitas, rice & beans. After lunch we could swim, kayak, sunbathe or wander the area for about an hour and a half.

 

2fercruzin: Hello, I was wondering if you could provide the name or website of the independent tour for Mahahual? We will be there in January on the CB and there is only ship excursions that I could find. Thank you.

 

Bill

Hi Bill,

The Native Choice Costa Maya Excursions at http://www.thenativechoice.com.

There are a couple variations and with or without the lagoon & lunch. We took the Chacchoben Extreme Tour. The people there are so friendly and our guide, Erick was the best. He's of Mayan descendant and was very informative; we even got a quick Mayan language lesson. Once you're off the ship it's a quick 10-15 minute walk to their office or you could catch a taxi, but it's a nice stroll.

Hi Randy and Patti! I hope you remember us, Nina and Norman. You were so kind to us on our first Mexican Riviera cruise!

 

A few cruises later... I hope you have been well.

Hi Nina, of course we remember you, we had a wonderful time together. Remember, I tried my best to talk Norm into going to Alaska with us but he only wanted warm weather routes. Lol, now that you've been to Alaska I think he's ok with packing a coat -- no? ;)

Good to hear from you, our best to you both.

Thank you for sharing! We are happily boarding the Emerald right after her drydock. What were the drink options at the Suite/Elite event? Last summer, it was still just 1 daily drink.

I believe the standards . . . El Mejor margarita; Chairman of the Board; Mojito; House Port; Breeza Marina; Japanese Slipper & Cosmopolitan. It was nice to be able to pick from all of them at the $5 price every night.

I didn't mention that they are still running the buy one get one for $1 twice a day -- once in the late afternoon and then again at 10/11pm.

We got off our lovely Lady Emerald yesterday morning after a quick 5 dayer out of FLL. This was our 18th Princess cruise and we, as usual had in interior cabin, this time on Dolphin deck, aft.

Embarkation was a breeze and we were in our room before noon. DH purchased a soda card prior to boarding and his cruise card has it's sticker on it and his tumbler was on the desk in our cabin upon arrival. Unpacked our carry- ons and then went out to the Trident Grill for a hamburger lunch - yum. Muster drill was a little late but we sailed off into the sunset on time.

We went up to Skywalkers for drinks & hors d'oeuvres at 5pm. We liked the 'new to us' list of drinks that you can pick from each day instead of the old style of one special drink per day. The drinks are still $5 each.

Horizon Court was our choice for dinner as our travel buddies went to the Crown Grill as a benefit of their suite and we weren't up to that much food. HC food was wonderful - hot, varied and service was prompt and friendly.

2nd night was formal night and we skipped that to enjoy an UBD on our friend's aft suite balcony. That was our first time and wow, is it incredible. We were greeted by our waiter with a tray of canapes and our pre-selected cocktails. The photographer came and took several pictures of the 4 of us toasting the occasion with a beautiful sunset behind us. Then came the blue crab in puff pastry appetizer, the field of green salad with goat cheese, then steak & lobster with a bottle of French champagne, and for dessert a Norman Love chocolate masterpiece with another plate of chocolate cookies/candies/covered strawberries. How anyone eats all that I really can't say! The dinner lasts about 2 hours and if you haven't tried it, please don't hesitate!

There were plenty of activities planned, the chair hogs were out at the pool and the casino was tight (but that didn't stop me). ;) Lee Childers was our CD and after 3 cruises with him, he has become a member of our family and we loved seeing him again.

There were 2 stops on this cruise: Mahahual (Costa Maya) and Cozumel. We did an independent tour in Mahahual, the Chacchoben Extreme Tour which took us for a short walk through the rain forest to Mayan ruins, then a bus ride to a lagoon where we were served drinks (both alcohol & non-alcohol), fajitas, rice & beans. After lunch we could swim, kayak, sunbathe or wander the area for about an hour and a half. We both enjoyed our day. Unfortunately Cozumel was rained out for our planned beach day so, after canceling our excursion we wandered the town picking up our usual magnet & destination mug as well as a lovely Mayan wall hanging.

Of course we each bought 2 more FCC's and I've already been online and dreaming.

Disembarkation was fast and easy. We picked to Walk Off and were given the 9:30am slot. There must have been Custom's troubles because we didn't get off until 10:30am, but our flight out of FLL wasn't until 12:30pm so there was no problems with the later walk off. A quick $13 taxi ride and we were at the airport.

We only have one complaint for this whole cruise --- it was way too short. This is our second time on the Emerald and we'd sail her again in a heartbeat. Now we just have to wait until next September for our first time on the Coral to the Panama Canal . . . come on September! :)

Bassettmom and Mr Green said it best - 6 days only and arriving at half time.

Maybe Fiesta deck isn't listed because those 6 rooms are full suites and they can arrive when they desire. ???

Sounds like a great idea to me ;) but Princess hasn't officially told us that yet. I really think they completely forgot about Fiesta deck because only 3 ships have those suites. Anyway, we're planning on taking our prescheduled shuttle at 10am and if after checking our luggage we are denied entry - then we'll wait until it's our "Fiesta deck time". We sure won't wreck our cruise getting upset, but hopefully Princess will listen and end the madness in the near future.

Just got off the phone with Princess and am just shaking my head. They have no good reason for changing the boarding policy. Just kept repeating the company's mantra of "it will make boarding smoother". I said I just wanted to register my complaint at their fixing something that was NOT broken.

On top of that, the kicker is that we are in a suite on Fiesta Deck (not to mention the suites on Sun Deck) that are not listed on the policy at all. They told me to just show up at 10 a.m. and I'd probably get on ok. I told them that probably was not good enough and to let me know when to come. They said they would correct my Personalizer in about an hour, but what do you want to bet that I have to call them again??

I have verified with Princess many times ... and yes, they will discount your fare after final payment.

The only caveat is if you go through a TA and they will not allow it. If the TA has taken less commission to give you a great deal to begin with, and then you ask for a further discount because Princess offers it, you are taking away their bread and butter and they may not allow it.

But bottom line is -- Princess allows it.

If you work directly with Princess just give them a call and it's a done deal. When establishing a relationship with a TA, this would make a good point of discussion.

What a great boarding photo! Can't wait to read about your trip. :)

Mahalo and aloha,

Randy & Patti