shofer

We are thinking about cancelling our UK cruise and just spend several days in London.  I have used the London Day Pass before but DH & I were really amateurs and did not use it correctly.  Wondering if you have to make a reservation for Westminster Abbey or if you have the pass, just go to the head of the line?   I know we skipped the ticket shop at Tower of London and had a tour with the guards/guides.  Our time was limited (this was 2018) because of needing to board our cruise ship.  

Any info is greatly appreciated.

8 hours ago, 1025cruise said:

Unfortunately, agricultural laws will prevent you from taking any food that is not prepackaged off the ship.

I took a Caribbean cruise in 2017 with my mom.  Before we got off the ship, she wanted to take an apple or orange on our excursion.  I made her leave it in the room.  When we got on the pier, there were 2 woman with giant garbage bags collecting any fresh fruit/food from the ship,  I had to do an "I told you so."

8 minutes ago, dog said:

Concerto is midship. Fine.  Food was good. Waiters excellent.

Sounds great.  Thanks for answering.

5 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

Regal has the same 3 main dining rooms as on Royal.

whoops!  I meant we were on RCCL.  I forgot there was a Royal Princess.  But I checked out the review on this board and that answered my questions.  Thanks anyway.

It has been several years since I sailed on Princess so I am having trouble understanding this new Dining Time.  It worked well on Royal although we weren't pleased with different tables/servers every night.  It appears that there seems to be multiple dining rooms on Regal?  Is there any difference between them?  Thanks for any help with this.

28 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

The Medallion has zero cost. If you don't book with Princess Plus or Premier fare then it will cost $10 - total not per person - to have them shipped to your home. There is no requirement to pay this fee as you can simply wait and pick up the Medallions at the port in the same manner you previously picked up the Cruise Card at the port. There are no longer key cards.

Another question!  What is Medallion Class?  I wish the website was easier to navigate.

9 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

The Medallion has zero cost. If you don't book with Princess Plus or Premier fare then it will cost $10 - total not per person - to have them shipped to your home. There is no requirement to pay this fee as you can simply wait and pick up the Medallions at the port in the same manner you previously picked up the Cruise Card at the port. There are no longer key cards.

There are no longer key cards.

I guess the videos I've been watching are old since they show people using a key card.  Thanks for the prompt answer.

I haven't been on Princess for several years and so new to this Medallion thing-y.  I saw on another thread that it $I0/pp.  Is it worth it?  Doesn't your key card still work? Or is this just another scam that Princess is using to generate more revenue?

My friend & I are booked for a British Isles cruise in September and really looking forward to it.

Sue

3 hours ago, Thunderbird19 said:

https://www.nationalexpress.com/en/airports/heathrow/southampton-to-heathrow
 

London friends recommend the National  Express bus service as super easy, frequent, inexpensive and convienient (as Jimmy mentioned above) 

We used them in 2018 after a pre-cruise stay in London.  5 BP/pp/senior with 1 BP tax.  So 11 British Pounds for both of us London to Southampton.  Five BP taxi to the ship.

21 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

 

 

There's a difference in price between a nurse visit/consultation and a doctor visit/consultation.  I've been to the medical center on RC and Carnival but not Princess.

 

On RC in January it was $152 for a doctor visit and $107 for an outrageously marked up generic antibiotic that I probably could have bought for $15 in Cozumel if I could have diagnosed myself. 

From a previous cruise when I had a medical visit for conjunctivitis (pink eye).  I spoke with Medicare after I came home and they said if you were within 2 hours of an American port, they would cover your visit.  Unfortunately, it was a sea day but my charge was $78 which my cruise insurance did reimburse me.

On 1/23/2024 at 1:20 PM, PACrew said:

I hope everyone is completing the surveys after the cruise. 

The worst food I ever had on a cruise was on Vision of the Seas-2015 Med cruise.  Even the buffet had poor selection and taste.  That survey got a big, fat ZERO.  Everyone in our group did the same. Two years later, we were on Vision again for a Baltic cruise and the food was great!  So I guess they do pay attention to the survey.

On 1/21/2024 at 11:04 AM, gadaboutgal said:

Be careful in recommending Celebrity.  We are on Constellation for 30+ days right now and are extremely disappointed in the dining.  Case in point, last night's dinner offering was Meatloaf and a vegetarian pot pie with only mushrooms and potatoes.  We sail most of the cruise lines at least 100 or more days a year and find that Celebrity food at this point is no better than MSC or Royal-in fact their offerings are better than what we've found on Celebrity--such a decline, such a sad state of affairs!

Oh, that is so sad to hear.  DH & I always raved about X's food and I can only think of one time out of 7 cruises when I sent something back.  Our last trip with them was in 2018 for a 15 day Trans-Atlantic that they billed as Boston, Broadway & Bermuda.  That was the best new Itinerary I have been on in a while.

On 6/25/2023 at 2:43 PM, gnome12 said:

Most European hotels don’t provide washcloths; I believe Europeans don’t consider them hygienic. 

I was shocked by this when staying in Amsterdam.  I hated having to wash my face after removing my makeup using a towel.  Our London pre-cruise stay was at the Grosvenor (sp?) and they had wash cloths.  I had brought some, just in case.

On our TA (Southampton to Ft. Lauderdale) on Silhouette in 2018 was our 50th Anniversary cruise.  Our kids gave us a magnetic sign w/our wedding photos on it and we had it on our door.  No one took it but we did get a lot of attention because of it.  All the doors and walls on a cruise ship are metal.  We often used magnetic hooks on the inside walls.

We did a RT Barcelona for the Mediterranean cruise and there were a large number of Spaniards and Spanish families. I thought the entertainment content was geared to the Spaniards but it was in English.  This was in 2015 so there may be many changes since then.  Have to say that we were 12 hours in port, for the most part.  Our tours were all privately arranged and we did extensive and exhaustive sight-seeing.  I would go again in a heartbeat.

5 hours ago, firefly333 said:

I've read rome and greece have lots of mosquitoes. Pack some insect repellent. More so than islands in the Caribbean. 

We did Med-2015 and Baltic-2017, both in May and there were no mosquitos,

3 hours ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

 

As mentioned, the bar staff is not included in the daily gratuities. They get tips from the 18% added to each PURCHASED drink. Since the Diamond drinks are not purchased, they do not receive a tip for those drinks. That is why I thought we ought to be tipping more than $1 on the free drinks. An 18% tip on a $14 drink is $2.50.

Well I guess I was misinformed about the tip pool.  I always tip generously for service rendered so will do so on any future cruises.

On 2/2/2024 at 8:01 AM, cruiseguy1016 said:

I hate to turn this into a tipping thread but here goes. We (myself included) need to be tipping more than $1. If drinks now cost $14, then a $1 tip is less than 10%.

Since I always pre-pay gratuities, my understanding was the bar staff is included in this pot.  Also, I am Diamond for the 4 drinks/day that I am not charged, so I felt adding $1 was just a bonus.  I never exceed the 4 drinks/day since I prefer to chew my calories.

On 2/2/2024 at 9:45 AM, doghog said:

Never been handed a receipt for CAS drinks. 

There was some discussion of the receipts on this board so I was expecting it.  But it is a new thing from last year.

On 9/5/2022 at 8:48 AM, davekathy said:

No gratuity automatically charged. Tip what you want no matter the drink.  

There is a spot on the receipt where you can add a tip.  On my last cruise in October, I just added $1.00 as a tip for each drink.

21 hours ago, crookedhalo said:

Slightly different question but in same vein - we are looking at our first ' Diamond ' trip. What if you don't use your four coupons one day. Do they carry over? Next, are they limited in time for use? Like 6p to midnight or similar? TYIA for any info.

They do not carry over.  However, they used to re-up @ midnight and people who liked to party late at night were unhappy that they were using the next day's vouchers while they still had some from the day before.  Now they re-up @ 5 AM.

On 1/24/2024 at 4:09 PM, DaKahuna said:

 

 If you are not Elite or higher or do not have a drink package, you will be charged for the drink.  

 In days of old, they checked your Sea Pass card upon entering but that was when they used the entire Sky Lounge. 

 

My last cruise on Royal had a load of Diamond+ and Pinnacles and the Crown Lounge was restricted to those members per the Cruise Compass.  They even had someone posted at the door!

My friend (who enjoys riding my Diamond coat tails) & I wandered up there before dinner one night and I scanned my card which went green and the "bouncer" opened the door for us.  I scored a drink and we noshed on the snacks which were pretty good.  Better than most MDR food.  Unfortunately (don't know why) we never went back on a 12 day trip.

9 hours ago, doghog said:

Call the CAS at 1-800-526-9723 to verify her tier level.

I don't know if X awards the 4 drink voucher to Elite.  The last time I looked at the Elite benefits, it was free drinks in the Elite lounge between 5-7 PM.  

I did this itinerary on Jewel 10/19-10/31 leaving out of Newark with stops in Boston, and assorted Canadian stops.  We were 2 wks too late for spectacular leaf color but it depends on weather and that's a crap shoot.  Finished in Quebec and some did BTB and some started there and ended up in Newark. (I think). Stayed an extra day in hotel in Quebec to sightsee.  Met some people at the hotel who were getting on the ship.  I have to say after being on Symphony, Jewel was a come down.  But the climate is so different from the Caribbean which makes a difference on the big ships.  The hot tubs got a good work out.

Hubby and I took our first Diamond cruise 1/29/22. We both received 4 drinks/each on our cards.  We never used them all.  Hubby always called me a cheap date because I am mostly 1-2 drinks.  Never had wine on this last cruise together on Symphony.  

Took a Canada/New England trip in October,2023 and my friend did not share in the voucher perk.