Hoosier-Cruiser

November 1998. DW and I took a cruise for our 10th anniversary. We were on the third sailing of the Ruby Princess out of Fort Lauderdale and had a wonderfull time.

On a side note, the first cruise (besides day cruises to the Bahamas) that I ever took was on the Big Red Boat back in the 1987.

She is scheduled for a time in drydock after she leaves the Port of Houston and before she takes up residence in Fort Lauderday at the end of May.

Southwest has more frills than United.

Ain't that the truth. I regularly hve to fly to the UK for work and you don't get much of anything on the domestic or the international legs of the trip (and you have to pay for baggage).

I understand your feelings, they're similar to the feelings I get regarding chair hogs at the pool.

 

However, you then sit next to at least one person who is angry at you for the whole flight. The people for whom the seats are being saved are likely to have words with you as well. With SW having 3+3 seating you'll likely have another angry person next to you.

 

Is that what you really want?

I guess it all depends on the situation. Would I want to ruin the end of a vacation that way, no.

I'm also getting extremely fed up with the people who pay for one early bird service and then get on and save seats for others. On one of our recent flights, one woman saved a total of five other seats.

 

Darn ... probably shouldn't give others ideas.

Maybe it's just me, but that makes me want to sit in those seats that much more. It would be difficult for me to choose another seat if I saw someone doing that.

Depends on the itinerary. Could be as early as 180 day, could be as few as 120 days or less. For my Eastern Caribbean cruise in June, most excursions were available on day 127, several for one port were not available until around day 108. Just keep checking every few days, enough to know when they are available, but not too often to drive you crazy.

I was 33 and my wife 32 on our first Princess cruise 5 years ago. We had a great time. There is plenty to do for all age ranges. This year we are bringing the kids along (ages 13 and 9). I'm sure they will have a blast.

While thee are older people on board, most of them are there to have a good time on vacation. You should have no problem at all.

There aren't too many travel agents in my area. The one I did visit stated that they could get me the same price as Princess publishes. I thanked them for their time and booked it myself. Next time, I will have to check out some online TAs to see if I can do better.

We booked our June flights back in January. Hopefully we will get a decent number. I honestly don't care as long as each of the kids are next to one of us.

OUr flight is at 8:30pm on the day we disembark. We originally planned to do one of the tours, but had the same problem as you. We decided to cancel the tour and rent a car. We are still planning on going to the everglades for an airboat ride, but we will also have the freedom to go to the beach, go shopping or anything else that we want. The rental car and airboat tickets cost less than the tour and not sitting in the airport for 6 hours is priceless, especially with our two kids coming on this trip.

I've never paid much attention to the details of the internet packages because I usually prefer to stay away from it while on a cruise, however this year were are flying home on Southwest Airlines and to get seats together on the trip home, we need to "check in" 24 hours before our flight. We will be at sea the last day, can I just turn on my iphone and use it to check in online quickly? How will I be billed for that? Or is it better/cheaper to use the internet cafe's computers and do it that way? If it matters, I'm an AT&T customer.....

 

Leaving tomorrow and this just occured to me. Thanks for any advice!

To avoid this, I paid for the "Early Bird" service from Southwest. They check you in 36 hours before the flight, 12 hours before anyone else. You are all but guaranteed Boarding Group 1. At $12.50 per person, each way, it seemed the best way for us to ensure that we get to sit together with our children.

We were planning on the airboat and Flamingo Gardens, but our flight is very late (8:30pm). I decided to rent a car and go sightseeing on our own.

Yes, there are 2 options.

Everglades Airboat Ride & Eco-Adventure with Fort Lauderdale Airport Transfer (Disembarkation)

For flights leaving after 1pm

Everglades Airboat Ride & Flamingo Gardens with Fort Lauderdale Airport Transfer (Disembarkation)

For flights leaving after 2:30pm

Both are also available with transfer to Miami airport as well (with later departure times.)

Sounds like you should be more upset that the French haven't come up with a cheaper alternative. Could it be hat gas/labor/licensing in France makes it so other companies would have to charge close to the amount the cruise lines do? If so, why would anyone bother with the losing proposition. Don't blame the cruise line for someone else not providing an alternative to suit your desired budget.

Le Verdon is the closest port to Bordeaux that can accomodate a cruise ship. The round trip distance from the port to Bordeaux is over 200km (125 miles). Given the distance involved and the guarantee that, if your tour returns late, that the ship will wait for your group, the price is rather reasonable.

Sorry that this is going to swear you off Princess forever, but it really isn't exploitation or extortion.

We only have a debit card and I was afraid of this happening as well. I plan on calling Princess about 10 days prior to sailing and "gifting" myself enough on board credit to cover what I think my total charges will be. Princess only places a hold on the card if there is a balance due. Since all my daily charges will be coming off an account that has a credit, I will not have to worry about the holds.

Looks like Princess fixed the cruise documents and the pre-cruise emails. The links to the documents now work and the emails have reappeared.

Those are both pictures of the Terrace Pool on the Riviera deck (aft)

Sounds great, but what do you do with your luggage? Our flight doesn't leave till 4:30 pm

If you look a couple of posts prior to this one, you'll see that we are renting a minivan. Toss the bags in the back (a kid too if they aren't careful) and we are off.

Thats a great idea versus sitting at the airport all day. :rolleyes:

We've sat at an airport all day with the kids in the past. Never again.

I found that I can spend about 10 hours going on an airboat ride, having a good meal, playing mini golf and riding go karts with the kids, go watch the sailaway (may be a bit depressing, so we may skip this) and get back to the airport with plenty of time to spare. It'll also be cheaper than the 4 hour Princess disembarkation tour.

Southwest also says 4 hours. Our flight isn't until 8:30pm, so we are renting a minivan to take the family sightseeing.

The aft pool is on what I call deck 14.5. It is up a few stairs if you try to get to it from the Riviera Deck and down some stars if you try to get to it from the Lido deck.

Both the aft pool and the Retreat pool (accessed through the Lotus Spa) are adult only. Neither pool has a charge to use them.

Change the stars to vinow dot com

Check here:

http://www.**********/general_usvi/cruiseship/ship_schedule.php

Hours of Operation

Sea Days Hours of Operation:

9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

10:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. (Group Kidsitting for ages 3 - 12*; Teen Program complimentary)

Port Day Hours of Operation:

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. †

6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

10:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. (Group Kidsitting for ages 3 - 12*; Teen Program complimentary)

† A supervised, complimentary lunch service is available with parent consent.