j3000

Considering booking this room. Any comments from you experts? Pros? Cons?

Roger! Thanks people! Over & out!

Thanks.... so generally speaking.... a BC room say, should be preferable to say a BV or BZ... etc? Correct?

I just posted another Thread, but prob. should have asked here. What do the balcony room categories - BA, BB, BC, BD, BE, BF, BV, BW, BY, BZ - refer to?

size? location? quality/ or what?

Trying to figure out what the balcony room categories - BA, BB, BC, BD, BE, BF, BV, BW, BY, BZ- mean? Is it a rating? i.e, Is BA a BETTER ROOM than say, BY or BZ? Does it refer to location? Or what?

If you were ever in the military, you will get OBC.

http://www.princess.com/military_benefit_program/

 

We just got off Regal on 1/17. We had cabin E405. It was a deluxe obstructed balcony. There was no real obstruction. but if you looked down you saw the deck below you. Straight out, you saw the ocean. These type of cabins have a love seat in them, desk chair and small table. Check them out.

What deck were you on geo?

Here's another dumb question. Booked on Regal Princess for East. Car. in April (but the same question might apply to any boat). Ports of call are: Princess Cays Bahamas, St. Thomas, St Maarten. Which side of boat -port or starboard- would be best to have room, to get views of ports while docked?

Get a travel agent and try and get the cruise in canadian dollars. I am canadian also and got a Caribbean cruise on Regal in Canadian dollars. I also understand if you paid the cruise in Canadian dollars you can pre-order things and it will also be in canadian dollars.

Marlster

Thanks Marister ... without "recommending" anyone... are you able to just mention who you booked this cruise with? just for information? (ps I'm on the OPPOSITE end of the country!)

Ok - so no O/V cabins? So ... if you want an ocean view... what are your options - the "Balcony" rooms?

OK on rec. TAs. Generally speaking - better to book direct with the cruise line? or thru TA?

ALSO - is it possible for me to go to a website now, to see which rooms are actually STILL AVAILABLE right now, for this particular cruise?

Ok. Here we go. We're about to book a 7-night Eastern Carib. cruise on the Regal, out of Fort Lauderdale April 3-10. 60+ couple, no major problems or quirks :D.

Some issues I'd like some help with please?:

1. Booking. How / where is the best place to book online? Thru Princess direct? Or one of the (hundreds!) of booking sites online ? (and, if so, which ones?)

I DO like to get a good bang for my buck (and yes, I'm Canadian, so I'm painfully aware of the exchange rate these days!) Anyone know who might be offering deals on this partic. cruise?

2. Rooms/cabins & deck plans? Which deck & area should I look for? We are kind of "middle-of-the-road" people, so we'll stay away from the Upper & Lower price brackets. We'd like an OceanView (which side is best?) - not sure if we need or want a balcony, which I assume is more $$. (we live on the ocean & see it every day ...so it's maybe not such a big deal to us). I guess we want to be somewhere mid-ship? for ease of access? (eg near the pool etc. is not important) And just in case of rough waters - are any areas/deck less prone to motion-sickness? Again, which deck prob. offers best "bang for the buck"?

Any advice / comments appreciated!

Question for CruiserBruce - WHY do you need to be there sooner for an international flight? I've never found that to be the case. (we don't clear customs till we land back in Canada). Explain?

JohninDC - sorry, what is PE & POM??? And, re booking a later flight - yes, wish I had that luxury. This partic. flight will get us back to my final destination at 5:30pm vs the (only) other later flght, which doesn't get us back home until 12:45am the next morning. You can see why I'd like to catch this flight!

update: oh! figured it out! PE -Port Everglades it is!

Booked on Regal Princess April 3-10. Looking at return flights on April 10 (Sunday). There's an Air Canada flight 1217 that leaves FLL (for Halifax) at 10:25am, which we'd LOVE to get! HAS anyone done this? CAN it be done? if so - how? Would really appreciate knowledgeable input.

Mother-in-law (80 years old) & daughter, embarking on this ship out of Tampa next week (April 4). looking for any tips, advice (money-saving or otherwise) that might make make their trip more enjoyable, fun. All replies appreciated!

No. we just stayed at the new table. I think we did that twice. other nights it was fine. If you dont like your table , just look for a better one & go there & stay there ...hahhahaa no big deal....

then if you like, just ask them to seat you in that same area for other nights.

S&S - that seems about the same approach as Oasis. very flexible.

negc: correct!

dhk: we had reservations, but we never seemed to make it on time. but we still got seated when we did get there.

there is also another line where they seat MTD guests with NO reservations for that nigh. that line seemed a bit slower , but still seemed to move quickly.

all in all MTD was no problem.

stitchli - ship was always crowded. captain announced there were nearly 6000 guests aboard + 2000 or more crew. crowded? yeah.

- went to gym every day. best gym I"VE been to!!! crowded on sea days, not crowded on shore days. plus a nice track to run outside of deck 5.

- there's floor by floor maps of the ship everywhere + by the elevators.

just go to a deck & wander around or look for something on the map & go there.

Again, I think it's your choice. we didn't ask for same table. we just asked for table for 2. sometimes they would lead us to the back or somewhere not nice so the wife would find a nicer table & say "Oh , that one would be fine." & we'd just go sit there. drove'em crazy of course 'cause it fooled up their whole computerised seating system. & the waiter & maitred' would come scurrying around & say it wasn't avaialable etc. hahahah who cares??? it is now!!

nope. you have a choice. we asked for table for 2 each night & that's what we got.

also re wine. pkg.

you get wine in DR & you can take any unfinished back to room & bring back next night . ( that was never a problem foer us HIC! but just to let you know.)

nope. you have a choice. we asked for table for 2 each night & that's what we got. no problemo.

- sorry, I dont have the Daily sheets.

- Yes I did buy the Gold (cheapest) 5-bottle wine pkg. The cost of it worked out to around $27/bottle. So I checked the prices of the wines offered in the pkg. against the price on the DR wine list. the most expensive one was $35 on the wine menu, so I ordered 5 bottles of that fella!!!

- no, we're not excur$ion$ people. we just got off & wandered around & came back. to each his own.

- favorite activity ...hmmmm tough one. didn't have many "favs"....

prob. eating & drinking ...oh & Marty Daniels in the golbe & atlas pub put on a good show...

I'm not sure re MTD .... we didn't really "choose" it. They told me it was all they had left when we booked (a month ago). It was nice to be able to go when we wanted, it was pretty easy to change our times if we wanted to, and we always showed up late & still got table right away.

It costs $85/person more, because gratuities are pre-paid.

You'll have to decide.

1) main dining room & buffet only. we had the my time dining.

my feeling on the spec. restaurants is that it all come from same kitchens, but you pay extra for the "surroundings"?

2) re toilets...just a random thought of what impressed me, that's all

3) i think? you can bring drinks (cans) (not alcohol) back from the islands.

we did. security is pretty thorough though. i tried it with 2 cans of beer one stop & got caught. had to walk the plank!!

Did the March 26 - April 2 Cruise. I'll try to answer any questions.

Big boat, rooms fine, food -no complaints for what you expect, toilets flush nice, getting aboard is A LOT FASTER than getting off, main deck (5) is like a live shopping channel, shows OK - corny like all these places, also lots of corny activities, lots of ways to spend more money, deck chairs by pool are like a sardine can, people from all over the world, mostly nice, cabin attendants a little too intrusive, guard you table at the buffet, get to the first formal night - free champagne, also free champagne at the art auctions,

anything goes on fromal nights white tuxes to t-shirts, brought a sports jacket & wore it for an hour each formal night, islands are nice for a walk-off, weather was great, don't try to sneak liquor on board,

for sick jokes, keep asking people to "press Deck 13 " on the elevators, and say "good morning Sir" to all the staff all day long , no matter what time it is...

found it all a bit repetitive by the end, ...OK, but won't be rushing back for another cruise... maybe I'm missing something.

About the 4th day I started singing the lyrics to the Beach Boys "Sloop John B" song over & over to myself...