seamanfs

119 days until we board the Crown for 20 days in the Caribbean!

Great news! Your blog and a good cup of Coffee in the morning are two things I enjoy!!

Still probs this morning in UK. Cannot pre pay gratuities in cruise personaliser. Option has no passenger drop down menu. Been same all weekend Princess pls sort.

Same thing for us. Tried to pre pay gratuities and could not. Will try again today.

Your wrong there. Has your cabin ever been left dirty because the cabin steward was making towel animals. Get a life and worry about real things like terrorists or starving people not towel animals

 

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Exactly! We had a steward,Denis, on our Ruby Alaska cruise who took the time, without being asked, to make 4 towel animals for our 2 granddaughters. They loved it and we appreciated the gesture with a good extra tip at the end. Do my hubby and I want towel animals every cruise? Absolutely NOT! But for our granddaughters enjoyment it was appreciated!!!

We took our 2 youngest granddaughters, ages 9 and 11, on the Ruby to Alaska one week ago and our room steward, Denis, on Dolphin deck made the girls 4 different towel animals. They loved it! That is the on;y time in 35 cruises on Princess that we had towel animals!

I agree! Really like the dining choices on the Royal. Alfredos, Buffet,dining room,IC,Crown Grill were our favorites in February over the course of 20 days!

Thanks everyone. I was using AOL on my desktop--it still does not work. But my IPad works fine!

I have the same problem with AOL. If you find what the problem is before we figure it out please tell us!!

Hand washing helps if you have touched something that has been coughed on. Or touched by someone who has a cold and has coughed or sneezed into their hand. It doesn't necessarily need to be airborne. Guess it pretty much depends on exactly what is causing the cough. Bacterial? Viral?

 

I have to admit I can be a bit obsessive about some of this stuff. I am the person that carries antiseptic wipes and cleans the airplane tray, armrests, air flow control and seatbelt. I also wipe down the cabin: TV remotes, telephone, door handles, for example. All only takes a minute and if it only once keeps us from getting sick, I think it is worth it.

We do the very same thing! No noro as yet and very minimal respiratory infections. We board the Royal in February for our 31st Princess cruise.

Love your blog! Read it every morning with coffee in hand! Wish you were going to be on the Royal this February. We have 20 days to look forward to.

Really enjoyed the review and the photos! We are taking our 2 granddaughters on the Ruby to Alaska next June and it will be their first cruise. They are so excited already for June 2017 to get here!

One of our favorite Princess ships! Wish they would consider building some new ones just like her!

We had the ugliest, rattiest and ugliest bathrobes on the Royal a few weeks ago!! We asked for different ones halfway through the 20 days and the new ones were in worse shape!! So I would not wear those robes in front of anyone!!

Always purchase Travel Insurance! I had to be air evaccuated to Miami 5 years ago from the Ruby. Our bill on the ship was 3200.00. It was charged to our CC and reimbursed fully by our medical insurance, Any charges not paid by medical were paid by Princess Travel Care. Medical evac for me and my husband paid entirely by Princess travel insurance. That small fee for the policy is worth every penny and then some. Accidents and illness can happen to anyone of any age!!

So very happy when I read you will be blogging from the Emerald!! Glad you had a great holiday at home but missed my daily read with a cup of coffee by my side! Happy cruising!

I've started to just plan on doing some laundry myself. I love the free laundry, but sometimes it's just easier to do it myself.

Same here! We just do it ourselves. It only takes about an hour and we know nothing will be lost or dried to a crisp!!!

Had rt. hip replacement on April 8th of this year. We delayed a trip to the Black Hills with the grandkids until the middle of July just to give me a little over 3 mos to recover!!! I would not do the catamaran whale watching tour this soon out from the surgery. Too many unknown conditions to worry about! Good advice to take a cane for the ship's movement too. Last thing you want is to fall and dislocate the joint!

Is it just me or does anyone else do their undies in the launderette rather than sending them to the ships laundry. No problem with most things but undies are personal! No I'm not ashamed of them.

 

On the CB last month over 300 elite so had note saying it would take up to 72 hours.

Yes we just do underwear and any other delicate items in the washers in the laundry room. It only takes about an hour and costs about 4-5 dollars. A lot of my stuff is that travel knit material and I dont trust that it wont tumble in a super hot dryer for hours!! Just a personal preference I guess!!

Thanks! We are doing a Hawaii cruises in Nov and glad to hear the Ruby is still sparkling!!

Double yuk!! That is a definite eyeopener for me! We use clorox wipes and go over the phone, door handles, thermostat,remote, etc. Have never gone over drawers or shelves. Maybe we should!

We recently cruised on the Caribbean Princess last February and we both had the All-Inclusive Package, during that 5 day cruise not once were we approached by wait staff for our orders when we in the pool area . We had to go to the bar for service and it was at times slow and understaffed. I don't think it had do to with the servers knowing you had the AIDP because they just weren't around to even know. I think it was more an understaffing problem.

We sailed in Feb on the Caribbean too and agree completely. We did not have any drink package and had to go to the bar to get anything to drink no matter which area we were in, even the casino was impossible to get service unless we went to the bar. Never in 28 cruises had we noted that problem. We also thought the ship might have been understaffed.

I had the same excellent response from Princess Travel Protection as the OP.

 

My wife and I are covered under Medicare (primary) and Tricare for Life (secondary). Outside the United States where Medicare does not provide coverage, Tricare for Life becomes Primary.

 

However, Tricare for Life is secondary to any other health insurance - except for a policy that is specifically written as a Tricare supplement, and those of us on Medicare and Tricare for Life normally don't have a Tricare supplement. Even though the Princess Vacation Protection is sold as secondary insurance, it is not a Tricare supplement. The US law making Tricare for Life secondary overrules the language in the Princess Vacation Protection stating it is secondary.

 

As the OP said, when I notified the insurance company for Princess Vacation Protection that my other insurance was Tricare for Life, they asked me to submit directly to them - without submitting to Tricare for Life first. They paid everything in full with no problems.

 

I agree with the comment that Princess Vacation Protection coverage limits may not be adequate for someone with no other medical insurance, including someone with Medicare only (which provides no coverage outside the US). However, Princess Vacation Protection may be adequate for those of us with Tricare for Life since we only need insurance to cover the copayments and deductibles under Tricare for Life.

 

I normally purchase Princess Vacation Protection whenever I am cruising if I do not have non-Princess pre- or post-cruise activities to cover. I purchase it for the following reasons:

• I have received excellent response on claims.
  
• We have Tricare for Life, so I don't have to cover all of our potential medical expenses.
  
• Unlike third party insurance, it is not age rated. Therefore it is generally less expensive for those of us who are a little older (especially with the Platinum upgrade for Ruby and higher).
  
• It includes coverage for cancellation for any reason. I realize this is in the form of a cruise credit, but we always have another cruise scheduled.
  

We now have Medicare and TriCare for Life too. Thank you for the info.Hope never to need to submit any claims but now I know what to do!!

Actually, the correct way to submit the claim is to use TRICARE OVERSEAS, if you were not in the US, or TRICARE STD if within the US. They are the 1st payer. AON will pay you any unpaid portion including giving you back the deductible you had paid with TRICARE. Princess insurance is treated the same as the secondary insurances offered by the various service organizations. TRICARE really should make known the process as many current and retired military do not do it correctly.

Great point! We had an experience a few yrs. ago with my illness and subsequent air-evac to Miami and had Princess Platinum and they were great. Had TriCare Std as primary and submitted the bill for the Ruby Princess charges which were about $ 3500. The tricare rep. called and told us they were "walking it" over to the Intl. desk for payment as it took place outside the U.S. We appreciated the service and did not realize the need to file with a different tricare branch.

Aloha Kakou,

I thought my ears were burning! Love2cruise77 is quite correct...as of today, we only have confirmed cruises through the end of November. Leialoha and I are scheduled to be on the Ruby for the November 15th cruise, and that is our last confirmed date.

 

That being said, we have requested our assignment for this season to be the Ruby, so our fingers are crossed that we will be there for the remainder of the Hawaii season.

 

As soon as we know, we will post here on Cruise Critic and to our various social media pages:

http://www.facebook.com/eluamusic

http://www.facebook.com/tikidavemusic

http://www.tikidavemusic.com

 

Leialoha and I hope to see as many of you as possible this season!!

 

Aloha No,

Dave

(of Elua)

Perfect!!! We just booked that cruise and were wondering if we would be fortunate to have you on the ship!!! See you then!

We moved from an obstructed OV on the Ruby last year to an unobstructed forward on the Plaza deck, cabin P205. Worst move we ever made. The cabin was narrow and had room for only one nightstand, and the window was recessed into the hull of the ship so the view was actually worse than the obstructed we gave up. Also there is a vertical support bar that runs through the middle of the window. They were the same price so we thought the unobstructed was a better value. I liked being on Plaza deck but that was the only thing I liked.

 

We pointed out to Princess that their cabin diagrams are wrong (they show 2 nightstands for those forward cabins) and they just pointed to the fine print that says that the actual cabin may be different than what is depicted on the website. We would absolutely not choose this location again unless the price was exceptionally good.

We moved to that same cabin a few years back and agree 100%%!! Would never do that again!! Hated it!!!

We must have encountered the same Drake employee when we were boarding the Caribbean Princess. She was actually yelling at me, and I informed her that I didn't appreciate it and suggested she might get better results with a nicer attitude. I've never felt compelled to say anything like that to anyone, ever before.

 

We enjoyed our Caribbean Princess cruises very much but I would be the first to admit (and have) that the service on the ship seemed a little (sometimes a lot) off, though there were a few standouts.

Have to agree 100%. We were on the same time you were and there was definitely something off with the Caribbean. Did not get the same good vibe from that ship as other ships we've sailed on. I think part of it was the short segments (4,5 and 7 day runs) that did not allow for some of the crew to relax around passengers. There was always embarkation and disembarkation to plan for.Will not book those short segments again. This coming Feb we are booked on the Royal for 20 days.