restasured

Especially in a tender port, the ship doesn't just have to worry about getting in, they have to worry about getting everyone back on board and getting out. If the forecasts had worsening weather through the day, that can be a big factor in the decision whether or not to cancel.

Per the OP, the weather was forecast to get better throughout the day, not worse.

If you think bringing alcohol on in water bottle is the reason you can no longer bring water I have to say you might be a little naive. Carnival most likely saw that many, many people where bringing on bottled water and saw a way to make more money. Why would they not want to charge for water when they know tons of people are bringing it on. Even at the lower cost of the water they are making money off of this.

We have been on over 20 cruises and yes a few people have brought on water. But, on any given cruise the amount that actually bring on water is I am sure less than 2 or 3 percent. I don't see that a $2.50 - $3 profit on less than 200 people is going to make a big dent in the bottom line. But the difference on, even using the same percentage of people smuggling booze on, at $6+ per ounce of lost revenue in mixed drinks is $20 - $30000 a cruise, or more.

to all the fools who felt the need to put booze into water bottles, seal them up again and try to bring them on board I want to thank you. because of you passengers are not allowed to bring water onto the ships any longer. there is always one that spoil it for others.

You can still bring water onboard. But it has to be in cans and not bottles.

Princess uses the same 'powdered' egg stuff that Carnival uses for scrambled eggs. Their toast and bagels are also pre-toasted.

Agree that for the most part Princess's buffet is better than Carnival's. Though I did have a bug crawl out of the asparagus in the salad buffet on the Golden.

Princess's MDR menu is uninspiring to us.

 

I Agree, we said on Caribbean Princess and found the MDR menu to be much more limited than CCL, RCCL or NCL. On CCL, if I don't see anything that I really want or like I can always order a strip steak. Not the best cut or a $50 steak but plenty edible. On Princess their "steak" is Tenderloin Medallions. I tried them and the gravy they pour on it is pretty much what you taste. The CCL changing selections are much more, to me, appetizing than Princess's, but then I am not a Trained Professional Chef, just someone that knows good food when I taste it. :)

First of all, ....

 

The one thing that kinda gets me is the room steward thing. I've only been on 3 cruises, but I've never had a room steward trying to get in my room at 7am, and to be honest, never hear anyone else have that happen either. QUOTE]

 

Probably had their clocks set to San Francisco time and it was really 9am. :)

If they are told they must sail, they must sail regardless of ships sponsored tour or not. Or risk a fine.

The port authorities are not going to make a cruise line "unhappy" by telling them to leave a couple of hundred passengers behind, at least before the scheduled time that agreed upon. So sorry but your insistence on this does not hold water, so to say. And in a situation that your scenario should come about the cruise line would determine if the cost to repatriate the passengers is less than whatever fine would be issued.

Caribbean Princess is a copy of the first-generation Grand Class (Grand, Golden, and Star Princess)..........................hindsight there are a lot of anomalies that thankfully were fixed on the next ships delivered to Princess.

I muchly :) appreciate your comments. It was a much better job than I could put together. I guess the biggest complaint that I had was the area around the International Café was just too confined. The areas where the shops were and the walkways (hallways) were a bit more narrow than other ships we have been on. We only have about 160 days on ships, mostly NCL, CCL and RCCL but they just seem to be laid out "better". As was stated the Windjammer is on the back of the ship but you have to take 2 elevators to get to it. There were a few other things that could have been laid out more functionally. And of course this is my opinion only. We are in our mid 60's but aren't "dead" and I know that Princess, HAL, and the more luxury lines cater more to an older generation, but though we are older we still like to hang by the pool for the fun and games, go to the clubs and dance, things like that. On the CB cruise we were on it just seemed like the crowd was more "subdued" than we enjoy being with. So that could have been a part of our not liking the ship as well, but I would have had a hard time putting my finger on what fishywood stated, but couldn't agree more with the comments.

We were booked on this cruise, but decided just before forfeiture time that we didn't want to go. We have cousins from Seattle that are on it and going. Just talked with them and they are about to depart. The tugs are there and will be helping them get out in the next 30 minutes or so. NOW I definitely wish we would not have cancelled. But no fear, I am diligently looking for other cruises. We were on CB for the 4 day cruise when it came back to Bayport (we live about 7 miles from the pier). It wasn't one of our favorite ships. Princess has some very nice ships but CB just wasn't to our tastes. She is nice and clean and the food was fine, the entertainment good, but just not open enough on the inside of the ship, for us. That was the major reason we cancelled. One couple of the cousins are Platinum and the other couple are Elite and have never been on CB, so we didn't say anything to them about our feelings toward the ship. CB is a one off ship and not like any of Princess's other ships, and our cousins really enjoy Princess over other cruise lines, though they one is Diamond and the other Diamond Plus on RCCL and they have cruised on several other lines, Carnival, Seabourn, NCL, Viking. They don't really like the river cruises, too port intense for them. :) But again, NOW I wish we would not have cancelled. Oh well. Lots of cruises to choose from.

You are going on vaction and worry about spending an extra $3 ?

Really ?

 

I am worried about this comment. Is it possible that you can explain please.

 

Not my original post, but I will try to explain it slowly for you. Some people are not wealthy and if you can save $3 - 50 times you have $150 that you can use for something that you might not have been able to do without the savings. Does that help?

Earlier postings seem to think some are hogging the chairs are spending too much time in them. So if there are no rules limiting a persons usage then why would they make such comments?

Rules are rules and courtesy is courtesy. As was stated before, there is limited seating near the IC and the comment was made that some people will get a table and play cards or grab a book and read in that area. There are a few hundred places aboard that are much better, for people that want to grab something from the IC and eat it there. There are lots of people that think they should be allowed to go in the dining room on formal nights with cutoff shorts and a T-shirt also, because it is THEIR vacation. Courtesy has just about disappeared. I realize some people don't think when they do a lot of things, but when they see people standing with a plate and a cup of coffee, near the IC and they are sitting there taking up a table playing cards, you would think they would get a clue. But there are many that are totally clueless.

I agree I don't punch holes in my credit cards either!

 

But then again I don't need them to enter my home or my Bedroom.

I can use cash at home ,while on ship I have to use my cruise card.

 

Merry Christmas!! :)

 

Reader

How about having them pre-punched when checking in and the people that want them in pristine condition can go to the service desk, where they would not be punched and get one that is not punched. I have a very strong belief the line would be less for those getting unpunched cards than the people getting them punched.

Agreed cruise ships and cargo ships are totally two different markets, but I believe the point the poster was making was there are a large number of "ships" that sail through the Houston Ship Channel and the port of Houston is a totally viable port. The Gulf Coast and seems especially the south Texas ports have a number of days that fog creates a huge problem, at some times of the year. That being said, we were on the 4 day short cruise on the CB in early November. The act of getting into the port and getting on the ship was outstanding. Got to the unloading area about 10:45 dropped off 3 passengers and went to park the car. Was in the terminal with the rest other 3 before 11. Was in a line that seemed long but had at least 15 and maybe more agents checking people in. We were through the line and walking on the ship before 11:30. The cabins weren't "ready" but the area to our cabin was open so we went to it to just drop off our carry ons. Room was already made up, dropped our stuff off and up on Lido by about 11:45. Disembarkation was super easy. We took self disembarkation and was in our meeting place about 30 minutes earlier than assigned. They called our time and took maybe 15 - 20 minutes from on the ship to in the car and on the road. Of course we live in La Porte, which is where the ship docks so took us almost 10 minutes to drive to the house. :) This was our first Princess cruise. We have been 3 - 6 times each on NCL, RCCL and Carnival. We are booked on the TA on CB to Europe in April, but still debating it. We noticed the sewer smell between the casino and the theater on all nights of the cruise. I don't know if this is common for this ship and have been looking at other posts about the CB. The last night of the cruise we were on the wind was quite high and the CB is a quite tall ship so there was a considerable list and the outside areas on the lower decks was closed.

And of course we prefer inside on Caribe deck. As one poster said, they are dark, day and night so easy to take a daytime nap. If I want to see what it looks like outside the TV has a channel that shows the outside, not that I care what it is like. When I get out of the room and where I am going, I will find that out. :) And of course for the price of a balcony we can take two cruises in an inside.

But isn't this what reviews are for .......... When 4 people tell me not to drink the milk because it is spoiled and I will get sick, "Ignore them. Enjoy it yourself and make up your own mind" is terrible advice.

Huge difference between spoiled milk and a cruise. One is pretty easily determined the other is 100% subjective and opinion. That is easily proven by reading 4 or 5 cruise reviews from the same ship, same date. 2 or 3 will say it was a perfect cruise and 2 or 3 will say it was horrible. I am a firm believer in "if you want to have a great cruise, you will and if you want to nitpick and be miserable, you will".

My daughter and I enjoyed a fun Mother/Daughter cruise in June, 2015! We cruised on Carnival's Triumph and had a blast. Here is a little about our stop in Progreso.....

 

Great review!! We haven't booked yet but just waiting to see get the other couples dates and we book. Your review is exactly what I expect from real cruisers. People that expect every stop to be like downtown Manhattan really turn me off. I can't wait to go and see Progresso with a totally open mind.

One other point that should be noted when you compare Disney to other cruise lines is that every room on Disney has a bath tub. To get a tub on most other cruise lines, you need to book a JS/mini-suite or a suite. The tub is a luxury even if you don't take baths since it is much larger than the tiny shower in a typical room on other cruise lines. Finally, almost all Disney rooms include a "bath and a half", an amenity available only in suites on other lines.

For the cost of DCL cruise I can buy a bathroom. With a full sized tub :)

DCL is more than kids' clubs and characters. Like I've said, it's not a floating theme park. The service and relative elegance of the ships appeal to many people as well as the lack of upcharging/nickel & diming.

 

I don't go to RCCL boards and say RCCL isn't worth it because I've never been on one of their cruises.

I would think it might be difficult to make a comment about "upcharging/nickel and diming" if you have not experienced it. I don't find RCCL, NCL or CCL doing any of those things. You pay for alcohol drinks, as you do on DCL, I don't have any idea if DCL has "upcharge" dining facilities or just the standard dining room. But the "upcharking/nickel and diming" you have not experienced doesn't happen if you don't use the facilities. You can go on an RCCL or any other cruise for the price quoted plus your tips, eat, drink (water, juice at breakfast, tea anytime, etc) all included in the price. So nickel and diming is only if you want to be nickel and dimed, just as paying 50 - 100 percent more per day to go on DCL. I am not into Disney and haven't been on one of their cruises. The grandkids and to a lesser extent the kids are Disney fans and the couple of times we have gone to Disney world we all enjoyed it and we have talked of taking the kids and grandkids but because of lack of vacation on the kids part going to Florida and cruising for a week is not a good option for us. We may consider a shorter cruise sometime though. Galveston is less than an hour away. If we were close to Port Canaveral we probably would go on one.

I know the tail of the dragon. Found by accident on our honeymoon lost in the Smoky Mountains.

Me too but I ride it the right way, 2 up on 2 wheels. :)

I've never sailed Celebrity, so I don't troll their boards and comment on the value.

 

I think Disney is worth it, if you don't think so, don't cruise Disney. I won't miss you.

A bit testy are we?

Same reason as to why the Disney Resorts charge so much more than other hotels in the Orlando area.

Yep. Because they can.

I will continue to head to the buffet in the morning, get breakfast for myself and my wife, and bring it back to our cabin. If true, it's a stupid rule and I will refuse to follow it. The crew will have to forcefully knock my eggs and bacon on the floor to stop me :D:D:D

Yep, that is what makes cruising such a fun experience, people that refuse to follow the rules. NOT

One reason I prefer the Freestyle Cruising for our family is the cost of taking formal wear or dress up clothes. The baggage limits and fees that airlines charge for extra suitcases makes it expensive to take formal wear. Then the clothes often need pressing by the ship...another cost. The other big reason is my DH dislikes dressing up for vacations...He is on vacation so the business casual "suits" him better.

I would go with the "DH dislikes dressing up for vacations" as the excuse. The baggage limits and taking an extra bag is maybe $35 and pressing maybe another $25. After spending $1200+ per person for a balcony room, I don't buy into the $70 extra charge.

They are lovely family photos to cherish. May I just point out though, that in the golden age of cruising your dress code would have been described as informal. On most lines there were Formal nights, where men wore Dinner suits/tuxedo's and bow tie. Informal nights, consisting of Suit or Sports jacket and tie, and then there was also resort casual, which would be allowed after some port days only.

QUOTE]

 

I am guessing you are considering the golden age to be the 1940's and maybe the 50's, possibly some of the 60's. By the 70's suits were very accepted, though it was still probably 70% tux's and dinner jacket's. But the cruise lines didn't give you a choice then, it wasn't "the suggested attire" it was "you will wear or you won't get in" and it was enforced. Some lines had "loaner" jackets but if they had run out or didn't have one that would fit you they directed you to the buffet. I agree with many that someone in Dockers and a polo doesn't majorly bother me, but on lines that have a written suggested policy I do think the people that go to the dining room should adhere to the suggested policy. If not out of respect for the cruise line at least for their own respect.

I for one am so excited for my first cruise on NCL and NO formal night. High heels and rocky boats don't mix. I had to to change shoes immediately after dinner on my last cruise. Flip flops and formal wear don't mix ;)

Rocky boats? You obviously weren't on a modern cruise ship. :)

I have no idea why they insist on maintaining such an outdated policy. My solution is to not follow it and let them loan me a jacket. We have actually chosen NCL several times over HAL because of their formal nights.

 

Does anyone miss having to pack suits and ties to go on vacation?

I am one of the "old fogies' that enjoyed the Formal nights. But that was in a day when people actually wore clothes that fit and they didn't look like thugs for dinner. I usually complained to the better half about having to dress for dinner but actually enjoyed seeing all the people in their finery. Packing a suit, a couple of shirts and a couple of ties isn't nearly as much trouble as many people go to in trying to smuggle booze onboard.