cruisequeen4ever

Interesting. We weren’t thrilled with our recent Sabatini’s experience. It started out strong and then wilted away with meh entrees and progressively slower service. We’ll have to give this adjusted menu a try.

Congrats on the nearly free cruise!

I really enjoyed your blog; please blog as many of your upcoming cruises as possible!

I’ve never been, but from the pics I’ve seen, I can’t even imagine having 2 mega ships there at one time, let alone double that! Talk about 2 hour water slide lines and fighting over lounge chairs. CoCo Cay has always seemed really cool, but it would really detract having that many people there.

We did the Hawaii cruise on the Royal over Christmas and New Years, and it was fantastic! They did not offer any of those Hawaiian dishes someone mentioned above, but maybe that was because of the holidays or supply chain issues. They did have a make-your-own poke bowl station one day on the way back to SF. It wasn’t really true poke, though. We did have wonderful Hawaiian activities, though…lei making, hula lessons, and ukulele lessons. In Honolulu, a group came aboard to perform hula in the theater. There was some Hawaiian music, too. Have fun!

Wow, that’s such great service!! Have an incredibly special cruise!

The Deluxe Balcony idea was great, except there aren’t any on the Ruby. OP, I know what you’re saying. I need an accessible stateroom now and have to plan our cruises around their availability. They typically book up far in advance. Keep checking each day, though, and hopefully one will open up. I second that the bathtub in a mini suite would be way too challenging and risky to get in and out of. Be safe, have fun, and good luck!

After reading this thread, I now realize I received the same call. It was a man with a British accent from an Arizona phone number. He left a voicemail saying he was offering a special package for Elite members. I was not about to call back. If it turns out to be legit, Princess should make it known that it is safe and from them. I know that princess responded on Facebook as pictured above, but it still makes me nervous.

That would be awesome! I just hope I get one someday! 🤣

That’s very helpful; thank you.

Thank you both. That’s really good information, and I will watch some YouTubes of the marina area.

Funny! Ok, cool; thank you! I really liked that you can pre-book and know what you’re gonna get. I have used PrimeTime before so good to know the connection. Yay; I’ll start following! Happy sailing! 😀

You pull up, and you either get in a long line to hand over your luggage or strike gold with a porter choosing you to be graced by his help! Have cash in hand outstretched, and you may luck out, but even with my hubby doing that, it took multiple attempts to convince a porter to take our luggage. Fort Lauderdale is much smoother. After luggage drop-off, it’s smooth sailing.

Are there shops inside the secure area of the port in Cabo?

Thank you for sharing your experience! Is there shopping inside the secure port area of Cabo?

It was fun to read about your cruise experience because we were on the parallel Royal Princess sailing. I don’t know if your captain said anything, but ours announced one time going to HI and one time coming back that we were parallel to you guys but too far to see you. We had to veer south due to the storms. It was cool to know you all were out there with us in the wild blue yonder. I’ve never heard of Opoli. Would you recommend it? I’m doing a cruise out of LA soon and am trying to decide on which transport service to use. I hope your mom heals well, and I hope you blog the Solstice cruise as that’s the one I’m soon doing. Thank you for sharing your experience!

We’ve been to both Dickinson Bay Beach and Jolly Bay Beach in Antigua and love them both. Both have beautiful long beaches, inviting water, lounge chairs for rent, and restaurants. Jolly Bay has jet ski rentals. Dickenson Bay had (pre-pandemic at least) a swim-up, floating bar out in the sea that was awesome.

You may be mixing up Juneau with Anchorage. Anchorage is our big city. Juneau is the state capital but very small and has lots of cool excursions. Anchorage may be a big city, but there’s plenty to explore…Reindeer Farm an hour away, Wildlife Center an hour away, Alaska Native Heritage Museum, Zoo, great Alaskan food at places like 49th State Brewery, Simon and Seaforts, and Glacier Brewhouse, beautiful coastal drive to Girdwood for a tram ride to the top of Alyeska, and lots of hiking trails. For the cruise itself, I suggest going with Princess or Holland America, since they go to Glacier Bay and are the original cruise lines to do Alaska. Princess owns their own lodges here, so if you want to do a Cruisetour, they are best. The one way cruise between Alaska and Canada will give you the best scenery. Happy planning!

I’ve never had a watered down drink on Princess. They’re very fair with their drink prep.

That sucks! I was so hoping to redeem one of the free cruises after saving my points for years. I’m not paying all those fees, though, on a “free” cruise when I can outright pay for a cruise on another cruise line for less!!

My mother-in-law writes on her intake form “If you want a good tip, please don’t try to sell me anything.“ That works really well for her.

I have a feeling it’s because of the Caribbean typically uses shuttles and vans for their tours, which don’t have the below storage for a scooter or wheelchair the way a big bus does. I totally understand your frustration. I second the recommendation to hire your own taxi to take you guys around.

We would hate that because that’s only a discount instead of a free product. We don’t purchase any drinks package usually, making this idea a non-benefit.

I have been following her blog for years, and my heart breaks for her. I hope she has a fantastic oncologist at home and will get the treatment she needs, so she can resume her exciting life at sea! Praying!

It depends. On both of our cruises, we were able to dock. One was on the Regal, and the other was on the Royal, which are comparable sizes to the Sun. They had a well-flowing system to board the shuttle to Mykonos town. Some people took the public ferry, which was cheap, but could be delayed. Some people walked. it was the return that was a long wait to get a shuttle. Our ship waited for the delayed public ferry to arrive as there were passengers from our ship on it. I wouldn’t count on that though because the ship could’ve left those passengers behind.