artvlay

Never looked at the sanctuary procedures. Can you please give me an education as to the best way to book it. We will be on Island Princess. Also, do they rent full or half days and what do they normally charge.

Thank you 

39 minutes ago, sandyoftheseas said:

We are Elite and travel with carry on bags only.  We drop our bags in the room but leave them in an area that can't be seen from the hall because the cabin steward will prop the cabin door open.  The cabin steward is usually in the hall or a nearby cabin and I inform him/her that I have left our bags in the cabin.  My husband keeps his backpack with him as it has all of our important documents,money,credit cards ect.  

Thank you 

Haven't sailed on Princess for five years. I just read that you can't get into the room until about 1pm. Do they allow you to drop your carry-on earlier?

We are renting a car in NJ and then dropping it at FLL the morning of our princess cruise.

I was thinking of dropping our luggage at the pier and then driving over to the airport to return the car. Then taking the cab back to the pier without schlepping the luggage. Does this make sense?

32 minutes ago, JGmf said:

This is what we use.  We are like the @memoak couple.  Pocket for me.  Wife clips to her bag.

 

 

So the medallion fits snug in these?

I found watch type medallion holders on Amazon. Are they a good way to hold the medallion during the cruise?

I can't get a straight answer from Princess.

Where does Princess dock in NYC? I have been told both Brooklyn and Manhattan.

I need to book a rental car but not sure where the closest agency will be.

We will be arriving on Island Princess.

Sailing from Ft. Lauderdale soon and wanted to know what the current policy is regarding bringing water, soda, etc. onboard at embarkation.

59 minutes ago, mconthehighseas said:

I still use a TA,  even though I do most of the planning on my own.   If there are changes to itineraries or a cruise gets cancelled, the TAs get notified before we do (in my experience), and that extra time is invaluable for making changes. I also don't like dealing with the people who handle the phones for Royal; I have found them to be frustrating.  But I know people who have had excellent luck and use "their" specific sales agent.
Some TA's can get you extra perks or send a bottle of champagne to your cabin.
But all of this is personal choice. 

 

If you have a good relationship with a TA, I'd stick with them.  Otherwise, it probably doesn't hurt to try going a different route.

 

I feel exactly the same way as this person wrote.
 

We are upper tier D+ so we have been on quite a lot of RC cruises. We are also stockholders .

We definitely see a decrease in everything on the Royal cruises including food quality & variety, entertainment quality, and quantity of staff onboard.

On our Jewel cruise a few months ago we decided to look at other cruises out of the NYC market. We booked a January cruise on Carnival Venezia and just got back.

The food quality was better in the MDR for both breakfast and dinner. The food in the buffet for breakfast was horrible. For lunch it was about the same as Windjammer except it had a deli in the buffet that was good. The baked goods in the Carnival buffet were light-years over Royal's gelatinous desserts. The Carnival buffet desserts were bakery quality and Royals is school cafeterias.

A huge advantage to Carnival was their free stand along food operations outside the buffet. A pizza stand made excellent personal pizzas, on sea days the seafood restaurant serves good Chinese food for lunch. There is a Mexican operation that also serves Italian sandwiches and finally a Guy Fieri's Burgers that served some of the best burgers I've ever eaten.

The design of the Carnival Venezia was horrible and nowhere nearly as functional as Royal's ships but the food was much better.

So when deciding on cruises I will now consider Carnival whereas I rarely have gone on them.

So with all the very good information here I have a question. Many comments in this thread mention "group rates". How do you find these rates without asking an agent. It seems like searching for a needle in a haystack.

It is amazing that they can loose it from the porter stand at the curb to the ship. That area should be empty of everything but equipment as there is not another ship.

We are Diamond Plus on RC, and Elite on Celebrity. We like both but give the edge to Celebrity. We would go on more Celebrity cruises if they sailed from Bayonne, which is about sixty miles from home.

Royal has really cut their food quality and selection as well as their entertainment/musical performers are obviously downgraded.

Due to this we also are looking elsewhere. We tried Carnival for the first time in about ten years.

We just got off a nine night Carnival Venezia cruise and had the following comparisons to Royal/Celebrity.

Food was better in MDR on Carnival although not as good was the buffet in both quality and selection. Breakfast in MDR on Carnival was better in quality and selection. Carnival buffet breakfast was really subpar.

The free choices for food options on Carnival blew away both Celebrity and RC. They had Guy Fieri's Burgers, which were restaurant quality, a pizza stand that was far superior to Celebrity and RC, a Mexican operation that also served Italian type sandwiches and on sea days you can get Chinese dishes for lunch  from the seafood stand.

They also had a comedy club on Carnival that was a big advantage to Celebrity/RC.

Another enormous advantage that goes to Carnival are their desserts. The baked goods in the buffet were bakery quality everyday! Their chocolate chip cookies were much more appetizing than Celebrity/RC. 

The baked goods on Celebrity RC are a step down from grammar school cafeterias.

We kept saying that we couldn't understand why Celebrity/RC couldn't do a better job. It can't be the money, it isn't that much of a difference in the end. Do Celebrity/RC food operation planners go on competitor ships and taste what is served elsewhere? All they know is to serve the same gelatenous deserts, feh!

Sailing from NYC is more difficult than Bayonne so that is a big advantage for RC/Celebrity.

The Carnival Venezia was a very poorly designed ship. Without a question the advantage goes to Celebrity/RC, it isn't close.

If Celebrity and Royal could do something about their food operations it would be a big improvement.

These are our opinions after 88 cruises.

Anyone know of a shared ride from FCO airport to Civitavechia?

25 minutes ago, Jim_P said:

Yes. I was solo, but there was enough in the jug to make a full refill. Of course you can always just tick the box on the menu for both people and get two jugs delivered.

A very sensible answer 

On 1/27/2024 at 10:39 AM, Jim_P said:

Theres complimentary hot chocolate you can have brought to you in the morning as part of the complimentary room service breakfast, and it is amazing. Best hot chocolate I've ever had and they bring it in a big metal jug. Im on the QM2 next month and Im already daydreaming about sitting on the balcony drinking that chocolate in the morning.. 

Im not sure if theres any in the coffee machines in the buffet. Other than that the only hot chocolate is what you can buy in the cafes. 

Does the metal jug contain enough for two people?

Is the room service hot Chocolate available all day?

Also, has Cunard kept room service free?

On RC they offer wifi packages midway through the cruise. does Carnival?

I'm going on 9 nite cruise and may need to get in contact with office in the middle of the cruise. Seems like a waste to get a wifi package when I won't use it for the first four days. Can I buy wifi half way into the cruise? any other suggestions? Thanks

Thank you for the great info

We are going on Venezia and wanted to know if our Google Fi works on the ships, the private island or on the Bahamas.

Thanks

We are going on  9 Day Venezia in two weeks.

We are planning on making reservations for Steakhouse and wanted to do it on a night that isn't a formal night or a night that doesn't have a good menu.

We cruise often on Royal and know their menus and formal night schedules but haven't been on Carnival for a few years so are looking for advice.

I don't know if we can book onboard and maybe to ask the dining room staff for guidance.

Thanks 

Going on Venezia next month out of NYC.

What is the current policy for bringing water or Snapple onboard?

I'm very familiar with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity, but haven't been on Carnival for a few years.

We will be sailing on Venezia in a few weeks and are thinking about going to Fahrenheit Steakhouse.

My question is are you limited to what you can order?

On Royal or Celebrity you can order two different appetizers, can you do that on Carnival?

Thanks 

His was included in his Oceanview cabin for a total of $1400 for a week Alaska cruise