Daisyloo

No at non US ports. Cozumel authorities had food "sniffer" dogs at the port the last time we were there.

You can't take food off the ship in US ports either. A few weeks ago we returned to Fort Lauderdale after our Princess cruise. When we got up to the customs/immigration booth there was a pile of fruit on the agents booth. I asked her what that was all about, and she replied "some people just don't get it that they can't bring food into the country from a cruise ship". She had an exasperated look on her face as she said it.

Thanks so much for the quick reply. Beautiful photos. Really explained the overhang. It doesn't look too be a dealbraker!

Definitely not a deal-breaker for us. We were just in L110 on the Royal and loved it. The overhang would only be an issue if you wanted to look straight up at the sky. We liked it as we never had rain on our balcony unlike the lower decks (it rained a couple of times on our cruise, nothing major, and our balcony stayed dry).

I think there are fewer itineraries to these islands because they are so far away from the Florida cruise-ports, not because they are less desirable. We have been to all of them several times and enjoyed them all.

Aruba is nice, and easy to get around. You can walk off the ship and easily walk to the main shopping areas. Taxis are plentiful and fairly inexpensive, and public buses are easy and cheap to use. Aruba has beautiful beaches and interesting landscapes to see.

Bonaire is also easy to walk from the ship to the main shopping area. It is a wonderful place if you are into snorkeling or scuba. A sight seeing tour of the island is interesting.

Curacao is also an interesting island, and easy to walk from the ship to shopping areas. The architecture is very interesting, as is the swinging bridge across the shipping channel.

We like all three of the A B C's.

My DW and I are thinking of booking last min Montreal to Boston on the Maasdam. We have been on the Maasdam a few times but have never stayed in an inside cabin. Could anyone recommend what inside we should consider.

We cruised on the Maasdam twice, both times in inside cabins. Stay away from cabin 500, on the main deck. Great cabin size wise but every time the ship pulls into a port the noise from the thrusters and the winches for the ropes was awful. The noise would start about half an hour before docking and would wake us up from a dead sleep. The day we were at a port we had to tender at, when they dropped the anchor it sounded like a locomotive going through our room. It would be a great cabin if you were doing a TA and had no ports in between, but for a port intensive trip I would avoid.

Our second cruise was in cabin 614, midship on the main deck. It was great. Nice and quiet. I would book it again.

I did not like Julianne's dress on her. It seems more suited to an older woman, (matronly) and I thought it did not look good with her pink hair.

Why not? Cruises out of China cater to the Chinese tastes. Cruises out of Brazil cater to Brazilian tastes. Why would it be such a bad thing if cruises out of the US catered to US tastes? :confused:

Don't assume that because a cruiser is North American all they want to eat is hot dogs and fries, or whatever you deem as proper "plain" food. There are many of us who love to try new foods and cuisines. Part of the enjoyment of travelling is getting the chance to try something different. If you want to eat "plain" food, go ahead. There is always that choice on the menu. But I don't want to eat that boring "plain" food when there is a whole world of exciting food to try.

We were in L110 from March 29 to April 8. It is not obstructed at all. The bridge wing is in your line of site as you look forward and down, but that is it. It is a great cabin.

Do you have a good friend or family member who could drive you? They could even drive your car so you would be comfortable. You could pay them instead of paying for parking. Even if you gave them 100 pounds each way, you would still be ahead of the game.

We plan on having our son drive us to the airport for our next cruise in November - it's 22 days. We just paid $135 US to park for 11 days at Buffalo airport. We figure we will pay our son to drive us and pick us up and it will be a bit cheaper than paying to park.

We have sailed both the Regal and the NA. Last year in Nov.-Dec. we did one week on the Regal, got off and got right on the NA for a 2 week B2B.

We enjoyed both cruises very much.

Our observations: The Regal is a beautiful ship, new and bright and airy feeling. Love the Piazza area with all the entertainment options there, the International cafe, Alfredo's pizza etc. The NA does not have a comparable area.

The buffet restaurant on Regal is large and much better laid out than the NA. We never had trouble finding seats in the Horizon Court on the Regal whereas we did on the NA in the Lido. Food is subjective, but we liked the food on both ships about the same.

We had regular balcony staterooms on both ships. The Regal's balcony was tiny, but adequate to sit out on and watch the world go by. The NA cabin had a small sofa whereas the Regal only had a chair. The beds on HAL are wonderful, on the Regal it was good, definitely better than the usual rock hard mattresses Princess is known for. The bathrooms were very similar in size and amenities.

The entertainment was slightly better on the Regal we thought, but again that is subjective.

We think the MDR on the NA is better than the Regal, but only slightly.

Overall, we don't think you would go wrong with either ship.

As a matter of fact, we just got off the Royal Princess and loved it, and we have 3 weeks booked on the NA for Nov - Dec this year.

If you have any other questions I would be happy to try and answer them for you.

Happy sailing.

How would they know who sleeps on which bed? If you are fine with your child on the Pullman just let them sleep there regardless of what they say. Am I missing something?

Ditto

I am sailing on Sunday too, and I was able to get into my personalizer. It would let me print off tags and boarding pass. (I already have done this a few weeks ago, but it would let me do it again today).

If you still can't get in try calling Princess - maybe there is some issue with your account. Good luck and have a nice cruise.

Taking the Oasis out of FLL on a Sat. morning. We originally booked an early morning flight that got us into FLL at 10:45am. Unbeknownst to us, the airline canceled our flight and re-booked us on a later flight. We now get into FLL at 1:05pm. We need to be on the ship no later than 3pm since it departs at 4:30. Will this new flight give us enough time to get our bags and find a cab from the airport to the ship?

 

Flying in the day before is not an option for us. This airline does not have any earlier flights that day. I'm just so upset that the airline cancelled our flights (they also cancelled and re-booked our return flight too).

As long as your flight is on time you should be okay. A cab ride to the port is only about 10 minutes.

That said, there are many things that can go wrong that you should be aware of: possible weather delays, mechanical issues with the plane etc. You said you can't fly in the day before, but does your airline have a really late flight the day before? A red eye?

That balcony looks just fine to me; big enough to sit and drink my morning coffee and then a glass (or two) of wine before dinner.

I agree completely. It's all we need.

That's so nice that your son wants to dress up. :)

When we sailed with our sons, at the time both in their early twenties, I expected complaints about getting dressed up for formal nights. But they loved the whole formal night thing. The older son even learned how to tie a bow tie.

I pretty much agree with dmwnc1959.

We have sailed both the Regal and the Emerald and loved them both. I think that you will be happy with whichever ship you choose. If I had to give a nod to one or the other I would probably say the Regal.

I am looking at a 10-night cruise in the fall on the Royal Princess.

 

Pricing is for Eastern Carib itinerary for 4 ppl (2 adults, 2 children ages 5 & 8) sharing one room. Prices include all taxes and fees. Gratuities additional.

 

Inside category IB: $2989 USD (3798 CDN)

 

Obstruced Balcony Category DZ: $4156 USD (5280 CDN)

 

 

The inside cabin is a sideways cabin in a good location on the Riviera deck. The balcony cabin is forward facing above the bridge on Lido. Oversize balcony, steel rather than plexi up to railing.

 

New to Princess and I don't know whether these are great prices, average, or high. Sucks to be Canadian right now, as our pricing is so much higher with the poor exchange rate. Not to mention flights..

 

Feedback much appreciated!!

 

Thank you.

Are you tied to Princess for your cruise? Holland America sometimes has a deal where the third and fourth persons in a cabin sail for a big discount or sometimes even free. Example: a couple of years ago we sailed in a balcony cabin on the Westerdam with our 2 sons age 21 and 24. My husband and I paid full fare, our sons were $52.00 each. That's all they paid for a 7 night cruise. Total. HAL doesn't offer this type of deal on all cruises but I see it offered fairly frequently. Much as I love Princess, if I was looking to have 4 in a cabin again, I would look at HAL and see what deals they are offering.

Whatever you choose, have a great trip. :)

Another vote for the Hampton Airport North Cruiseport. We have stayed there 6 or 7 times now. It has always been very good, and we have it booked again before our next 2 cruises.

They have the free shuttle from the airport to the hotel. They will also shuttle you to restaurants within close proximity to the hotel for free.

They now use an outside company to shuttle you to the port. This costs $6 each and is well worth it.

Across the road in a large plaza is a grocery store, dollar store, liquor store, several clothing stores, a Big Lots, laundry mat, etc. There are several restaurants too - Subway, Slackers (sports bar that gets good reviews, a pizza place, a Thai place that also gets good reviews, a burger fast food place. Also, across the main road there is a really good German restaurant, and just at the corner is a McDonalds, so there are lots of choices near the hotel.

The hotel itself is always clean and staff are friendly and helpful. The buffet breakfast is good with lots of choices.

No, if you eat in the buffet you don't need to be in formal dress.

On the non-formal nights you can eat in the main dining room wearing "smart casual" attire. ie: long pants and a shirt (golf, sport etc). Ladies, the same or maybe a skirt and top or casual dress. FYI there is no charge to eat in the main dining room, only in the specialty restaurants.

Not sure about the pasta question, but probably.

The MDR will not be open for lunch on port days.

Thanks for the info. There is a Bed Bath and Beyond very close to me! :)

I've often seen them used, on different ships. I would also like to know where to buy them here in Canada.

Over the years I have been on 2 flights that had to turn back to the departure airport because of mechanical issues. Both times that meant we were much later arriving at our final destination. Neither was a flight prior to a cruise. But they could have been, and we would have missed the ship. To us it's just not worth taking the risk to fly in the day of the cruise.

No, you can just buy it directly from the website! So much easier that way. You just order online and it ships directly to you. I just got the regular shipping and it came in about 3 days, so not bad.

 

Glad to see this was helpful to someone! Hopefully they still have some good stuff left, it's been a few weeks since I ordered mine.

Thanks again for posting this. I ordered from them on Friday. It was delivered yeasterday (Tuesday).

I got 4 rings, 3 pairs of earrings and one necklace. :D

On our recent Zuiderdam cruise, there was no code yellow the first two days as has been in the past. So one could get drinks, salad, pastries, desserts, etc on our own. I believe HAL has always served the hot foods in what they call the Bistro - eggs, meats, pancakes etc at breakfast and hot entrees at lunch.

That's what we found on the Nieuw Amsterdam this past November. It sort of surprised us as we have always had them serve the first two days.

We were on the Zaandam last summer and loved the automatic handwasher that was at the entrance to the Lido.

On the new Princess ships they have a hand wash station in the buffet restaurant. If people would only wash their hands frequently there would be much less illness on ships.

We are sailing on the Royal in a few weeks so not very happy hearing there is Noro aboard. :eek: