cruisinsince75

I'm not so vain, but I do have a scarf that is apricot.  Does that count?  😁

Cost is $25pp.  Needs to be with one of the airlines listed.  Here is the link https://maketraveleasier.com/holland/faqs

I would do Luggage Direct with HAL for sailings disembarking in FLL.  You won't see your bags again until you are at your final destination.  In my opinion, it is well worth it. Then early walk off ship and take cab or Uber to the airport and 10:30 flight should be fine. 

Hopefully, everything else will go smoothly.  We are on the Regal this coming November, so will be following along.

On 1/12/2024 at 12:34 PM, PacnGoNow said:

Sounds good to me too!

Venezia… we love the fill up stations (what we call it), around the neighborhoods from the local vineyards.  Cheese, olives and bread from the local markets.

 

Doest’t get any better.

Ahh!  Vino Sfuso!  That was great!  Also, walking the Rue Cler in Paris, picking up a bottle of wine, some baguettes, ham, and cheese and walking to the park in Paris below the twinkling lights of the Eifel Tower at sunset!  Much better than dining at an overcrowded and overpriced restaurant on the Champs Elysees!

Now getting back to coffee...  I prefer mine not to be watered down swill from syrup.  

Will see how this works on our November cruise.  This will be our first mass market cruise in many years.  Driving to Galveston rather than flying is a real plus.  We too are like the OP.  Morning breakfast in stateroom ordered off the card.  We write in our preferences on the card.  Even on smaller ships like Seabourn they sometimes get it wrong.  We have the premier package and are sailing in an accessible mini-suite.  I wonder if I can still get eggs benedict or a Denver omelette delivered to our stateroom.

17 hours ago, syesmar said:

I’m curious what their response / behavior was to you fellow travelers that they caused to miss the walking tour? Somehow, “oopsie! I’m sorry, how ‘bout that time!” just wouldn’t have cut it. Absolutely inexcusable. Good for you that they had to find their way back after St. Peter’s!

It was a company sponsored cruise to reward salespeople that made their goals.  She was a co-worker that had a reputation of always doing things her way.  I was not her boss, but was in charge of booking three private tours on the cruise.  She and two of her friends during our stop in Pisa, were busy shopping and stopped to get gelato.  Once back on board, i asked her what time it was and what time she was told to be back on the bus.  She answered both correctly, but said time got away from them.  I told her in front of the entire group, that if it happened again on any of the other tours, that we would leave them.  Which we did in Rome after waiting a little over 10 minutes.  Amazingly, she and her friends got back in plenty of time on our tour in Malta.  As a side note.  She got fired a week after that for fudging some numbers.

On 1/10/2024 at 12:16 PM, kazu said:

I agree with the OP - ok to wait for 5 minutes if it’s outside in the terminal but not an endless amount of time.

 

DD DH and I had a tour one cruise a number of years ago and arrived 5 minutes late.  They were gone and apologized.  No worries - we were the ones late.  It was a valid reason but irrelevant and I had no issue.

 

they should leave on time but what I abhorred was if we had a stop and a meet time there was always that one couple who were late.  More than once found shopping.

 

At least on a private tour you can tell the person (or couple) that if they are not going to be respectful of others’ time, they will not be permitted on any others and left behind if it happens again (only happened once in decades - most on private tours are VERY respectful of meet times).

 

One of the many reasons I prefer them 😉 

 

Happened to us on a couple of private tours I had arranged.  Same group of people on our Pisa/Florence tour and again on our Rome tour the next day.  It is called no respect for others.  We missed our walking tour in Florence because they got back to our bus so late.  I warned them the first time in Pisa.  However, they did it again in Rome.  We left them outside of St. Peters and they had to find their own way back to the ship.  

We also sail at 3:00 out of Galveston on the Regal.  Originally, it was 4:00, but got moved up to 3:00.  That is a really quick turnaround.  

We have the westbound crossing booked for 2025 and am curious if this still is a feature, or are there any other cooking classes going on during TA crossings?  

8 minutes ago, Bill B said:

 

 

Club Orange Terms & Conditions: Club Orange pricing starts from US$25 per person, per day on cruises 13 days or less or US$15 per person, per day on cruises longer than 13 days.

 

You or your TA has to contact HAL to add it to a booking.

Thank you!  We are on a 14 day TA crossing, so it seems to be worth the money.  I will reach out to HAL.  

How much does Club Orange cost and how do you add, if already booked?

On 1/9/2024 at 9:45 AM, mnkauf said:

 

Accessibility - 6 out of 10 - We had a rolling walker and you could not get bye the carts in the hall.  You either moved them or waited for staff to move them or collapse the walker (this was not great).  We had a handicap-accessible room which meant the walker would fit through the door.  I heard from many who did not have this benefit and it was a major pain for them. 

 

 

This is worrisome for us.  My wife and I have mobility scooters.  Fortunately, we are in an accessible mini-suite right be the elevators and the scooters are only 21" wide.  However, our friends are in a suite that is aft on the Riviera deck, so it may be challenging to get to their room for a visit. 

Enjoyed following your LIVE FROM posts.  Glad to see they got embarkation and disembarkation procedures smoothed out.  Or as someone else posted recently calling it the dismemberment procedure.  🤪

Worked for you but not for me.  Mines November 2024.  Only minimum deposit.  Tried chat, tried calling, and tried cruise consultant.  All got the same answer.  New bookings only.  The cruise consultant was the best.  Issue was we booked an accessible mini.  It was fared as a standard mini because none were available in standard mini.  When they tried to refare the price actually went up.  I was able to rebook at reduced fare, then canceled the previous booking.  Didn't make sense and still doesn't.  But easier than figuring out the new And old Princess apps! 🤣

This whole thing about the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea brings back memories of the Somali pirate attacks back in the mid 2000's.  I remember the 2005 attack on the Seabourn Pride.  We had been on the sister ship, the Legend.  On our Azamara Quest cruise our CD, Tony Markey recalled that day as CD on that ship.  What the captain and his crew did to keep them from boarding the ship was truly remarkable.  Using water cannons and ear piercing technology to drive them away.  

https://www.google.com/search?q=pirates+attack+cruise+ship+2005&sca_esv=25e166837710fba2&sca_upv=1&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS1047US1047&sxsrf=ACQVn08zmDW2en7azij8npjG1GwopdXQBg%3A1704844838420&ei=Jt6dZbKmGfOUwbkP3tSJwA4&ved=0ahUKEwiy0fb3wdGDAxVzSjABHV5qAugQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=pirates+attack+cruise+ship+2005&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiH3BpcmF0ZXMgYXR0YWNrIGNydWlzZSBzaGlwIDIwMDUyBRAhGKABMgUQIRigAUjkJlDDCljyF3ABeAGQAQCYAX2gAbQDqgEDMi4yuAEDyAEA-AEBwgIKEAAYRxjWBBiwA8ICChAjGIAEGIoFGCfCAgUQABiABMICCxAAGIAEGIoFGIYD4gMEGAAgQYgGAZAGCA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:39757744,vid:1SsY7nEuJDs,st:0

On 1/3/2024 at 9:09 PM, retird said:

Holland America does have “Luggage Forward”.  Where the company picks up your luggage at your home and ships and delivers it directly to your ship for day of sailing.  It is not cheap , but might be worth it

This looks like a great option for us as well.  We are doing a TA from Rome to FLL and plan on spending a week driving through Umbria and Tuscany before boarding the ship in Civitavecchia.  We both are disabled and require the use of mobility scooters.  We can fit both scooters in an SUV with the seats folded down and still have room for a small suitcase.  We can have our larger suitcases sent Luggage Forward without the hassle of trying to handle them.  Thanks!

I stand corrected,  It appears that the Grand Class and the Gem Class ships DO NOT have the second fold down rail.  

I believe that is an ADA requirement  We are in an accessible mini-suite and found a youtube video that showed it.  I found a accessible balcony stateroom on the Majestic that shows it 

5 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

Ohhh my!   I didn't know that 'Hold' was gone !

Yep, I found that out for myself this week. However, you can have two cabins booked for the same cruise.  I had noticed that the fare for our cruise had gone down in price last week and there was a cabin still in our category available.  I could not get Princess to re-fare.  I had to book the new one online, then later canceled the original booking.  

On 1/6/2024 at 12:59 PM, kiwimum said:

@san diego sueTry this, appears it might work.  Go to the night and restaurant you want to reserve. Go thru the steps to reserve.  There is a pencil showing on the page for new reservation,

click on it and it will show your booking.  In the upper right hand corner is a head with plus sign.   Click and it will ask for additional guest booking number.

i have not progressed past this step as we are traveling alone.

good luck.

Thanks!  We got them added.  What is strange is we can't add them to our reservations in the crown grill. They show as companions and I check the box to add them.  Then I get to the payment box and when i select and book, i get an error message each time.

18 hours ago, mthomp5 said:

Thank you!  Now I see where I can access the web version! Never knew I could access Ocean Ready that way.  I logged in and got info entered for my DH so he has all green checks now.  But dining options not yet available.  I’ll check as we get closer.  But it’s nice to know there is another way to enter the info outside of the app!

Are you Platinum or Elite?  Do you have the Premier package?  Maybe we were able to because we are Platinum or because we have the Premier package.  Our cruise is this November.

1 hour ago, mthomp5 said:

Didn’t know there was a web version for the app???

 

 

Go Princess.com and log in using your user id and password.  User is either your email or booking number.

Then click on manage booking.  Here, you need to enter your name, date of birth, and booking number.

Then choose the option at the top, check-in (even if you have completed that on the app)

It will ask you to download the app either from google or apple.  Right below that is a box to take you to the web version.  Click there.

It will take you to the check in screen.  If you scroll down you will find a Mine My Way option.  Click there and you will be able to choose your dining times for each day either in the MDR or Specialty Restaurants.  Hope this helps.

33 minutes ago, san diego sue said:

I don't like this new appl.How do we add friends  as traveling companions for our dinner reservations now. Don't see it on the new appl.

We are having the same problems.

The price of our Regal cruise went down in price.  I tried to get it refared, but was told the price actually went up and not down.  The only choice I had was to rebook online and then cancel the original booking.  The CVP was very helpful, but I found it odd to have to do it that way.  We were booked in an accessible cabin C432 and end d up in an accessible cabin C433.  
 

Anyone else ever run into this?