Daisyloo

Hi. Enjoying your review so far. I would love to hear more, and see photos too if possible. I am cruising in July to Alaska on the Zaandam so very interested in your experience.

Could you explain a little more in depth how the luggage transfer to the ship from the Pan Pacific hotel works? (I assume that is where you stayed)?

Thanks

You will find that the Lido buffet will have some of the same foods that you would see on the MDR menu, and many other things as well. There is a salad bar, usually a soup or two, meat carving area - maybe beef, lamb, turkey or pork. There will usually be a fish choice on the buffet and usually a chicken. Several different vegetable choices, and rice , potatoes, pastas, etc etc. In short, there will be lots of choices. We always have the problem of wanting to try more than our tummies will fit.

If formal requires at least a 'dark suit', how dark is dark? I'm not asking what can I get away with? But what is appropriate? Navy blue OK? Dark grey? Pin stripes with a dark base? No flames requested. Any polite responses welcome.

 

I think any of those are appropriate. When you see and hear what some people try to get away with on formal night, any suit is okay.

My DH usually takes his dark grey suit and always looks well put together.

Hi

 

I have been reading thru the posts but would like to confirm the following

 

I will be arriving around 9:00pm at FLL and need a hotel for the night – August 16, we are 4 people staying in 1 room. We don’t need anything fancy since we are only there overnight

I was thinking of staying at the Hyatt place for $99.00, do they charge extra for more people? Any suggestions of another hotel for 4 with breakfast if possible?

 

Looks like the Hyatt provides transport from the airport to the hotel so we are set for that

 

Next morning, have breakfast, leave around 11:00 for pier. They Hyatt charges $7.00pp for the shuttle, I think I’m better off with a taxi.

Will the hotel call a taxi for me or should I call and if so does anyone have a # for a taxi company?

Any approx. price for the taxi?

 

Leaving from the pier to FLL airport when we return are there taxi’s there or should I make reservations and have one available, and if so any suggestions on who to call.

Any approx. price for the taxi?

 

 

Thanks

The hotel might charge extra for the room for 4 people- check with them to be sure.

The taxi shouldn't be much - the Hyatt is close to the pier, so maybe $10 -$15. When the hotel calls a cab for you, you might want to specify a mini van or a SUV cab as you will need it for the luggage.

From the pier to FLL is also a short ride. Depending on traffic, maybe $12 to $18. Don't fall for the "it's a flat rate to the airport" - it's not. Your cabbie should have his meter on. Also, there will be lots of taxis waiting at the cruiseport on your return. No need to prearrange one.

When you see how luggage is handled consider yourself lucky that is the only damage you had. A few cruises ago, DH and I were waiting in line at the passenger services desk on Emerald Princess. 2 people ahead of us were complaining about damage to their luggage. One case looked like it had been run over by a truck, and the other had one whole corner ripped open. This was right after embarkation so I think they were complaining that the damage was done either by the baggage handlers on the pier or maybe by the Princess handlers. So just losing your name plate seems like a non-issue.

It is unfortunate that you lost your phone. However, it was due to your own negligence and was not the ships's fault in any way. There are several thousand people on the ship and not all are honest. I doubt the ship putting out a notice would affect the person who is dishonest, and an honest person would already have turned in your phone. Chalk it up to a lesson learned and move on. Go buy a new phone and re-download the apps.

We have sailed Princess several times, and based on what we have seen on board you will be fine with what you are planning to wear.

I have never looked into this so would appreciate help to learn what it is about. Can someone explain how this works? And, as I am Canadian, does it apply to me? Can the benefit (whatever it is) be applied to an existing booking (i.e., if I do whatever is needed now, will it benefit my booking for Oct or just new bookings going forward)? Thx for helping me understand all of this!

Yes it's good for Canadians too. If you were to buy 100 shares of CCL now, yes it can be used for your cruise in October, and any future cruises on any of the lines owned by Carnival. You just have to fax them proof of ownership of the required 100 shares and they will apply the OBC to your account. I think you have to have that proof to them a few weeks prior to the sail date. We bought our stock about a year ago. We have had $350.00 in OBC so far. We have 2 cruises booked for this year: that will be another $350.00 this year. To us it is a great investment!

Hal is generally pretty quick getting the obc applied. Princess is brutal (although I'm sure I'm be told I'm wrong):D.

Super impressed with HAL. But to be honest, have not had any problem with Princess either. But they weren't this quick, I know.

Does anyone know if there are electrical outlets near the head of the bed in a Neptune Suite on the Zaandam? I will bring a 12 foot extension but was curious if that will be adequate for my cpap. Hopefull someone who has sailed in this type of cabin will know. Thanks.

I faxed my proof of ownership of CCL stock at 1:30 pm today. I just got an email showing the OBC applied to my account at 3:30 pm. Wow! Awesome customer service. Thanks HAL! :D

We had an excursion on the Emerald that we were disappointed with. We went to the shore excursion desk and spoke to them. They agreed right away that we had not received what we had booked and credited our onboard account with a partial refund, which was what we had suggested. We were pleased with their handling of the situation. Good customer service.

You will be fine. We always put our wheeled carry-ons inside our larger cases and slide them under the bed. Never had a problem, even when we had us and our 2 sons in a verrandah cabin. We all had a large case and a carry-on and no problem storing them.

We had to wait an hour and a half with our luggage before proceeding. Not a big deal but would have preferred to wait on the "other side".

Not unusual. In Fort Lauderdale at Southwest counter - can't check in til 4 hours prior to flight. We had to kill about an hour or so til we could check.

So happy with the win for Meryl and Maks. He is such a good dancer and has never won before so I am happy for him. :)

I just do the ziplock bag thing for stuff like you mention, and for aspirin, tylenol etc. I use a sharpie marker and just write on the baggie the pill name and dose. Has worked fine for me so far.

Princess will provide you with distilled water on request, at no charge. Comes in a gallon jug so you will have ample for the cruise. You could take along a small container of some sort and pour some of the distilled water into it, then heat it up a bit by standing it in a glass of hot tap water, or the sink. Or take along a lightweight plastic tub, like the disposable glad or ziploc rigid containers. They are so light and would take up no room in your luggage.

My daughter and her new husband are going on their honeymoon in July on the Eurodam - 12 night Baltic cruise. They loved the cruise they did 2 years ago on Nieuw Amsterdam in the Med.

Listening to them plan all their excursions makes me want to do that itinerary too. Maybe in a few years when we retire.

You can book your excursions at any time. If you know what you want to do, go ahead and book. If you change your mind you can always cancel. Some excursions are in great demand and can be sold out prior to a cruise. So if you don't want to be disappointed, book.

Also, we have seen the excursions be higher priced if you wait to book on the ship.

We have cruised out of Port Everglades 7 times. The first 6 times we tried to get to the pier early, like around 10:30 -11:00 early. We always had to wait for a while til it was time to board. Sometimes the wait was 30 mins, sometimes longer - an hour or so. This March we decided to go later to the pier. We left our hotel at about 11:45. Took the hotel shuttle to the port which is about a 10 or 15 minute drive. Port was busy, but no waiting. We went through security, were checked in and on the ship in no time. In the future I think we will always opt to go a bit later to the pier.

I agree with the previous posters who said Plaza deck. We loved that location. We were just about 10 cabins forward of the IC. Loved being there. Easy to get to Piazza, IC, the dining rooms. Easy for getting on and off in ports.

On the cruises I have done they take attendance. Princess scans your ship card and HAL takes roll call. So I doubt you can skip it. Nor should you. It's mandatory for a reason - all our safety.

I doubt there is any rule about passengers with tattoos. You see lots of them everywhere you go. We have sailed Princess and HAL and seen them on every cruise. I doubt Celebrity is any different.

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Very interesting. It's always nice learning about the behind the scene things that make our shipboard experience the wonderful time it is.

A woman who changed from a wet bathing suit to a dry one... ON DECK...in sight of everyone. And, she did it multiple times daily... Yes...total nudity! I was the strangest thing I've seen...and everyone in the vicinity enjoyed the show immensely!

Have seen the same thing, but not on a cruise. It was in a land based resort. She did it every day. She was European, maybe Dutch or German. They seem to have a more open attitude towards nudity. To us it was weird.:p