Papa Yoda

Some lines like Carnival spell out specifically that power strips without surge suppressors are fine, and some lines will just take all power strips away, rather than take the time to determine whether they are surge suppressors or not. Usually, in that case, they will provide their own power strips.

 

As a further note on electrical safety onboard, know that our cousins from Europe and Down Under have power strips that are markedly safer to use onboard ships than we do in the US. This is because the European/UK/Oz use of 220v generally means that the power strip's circuit breaker (the little on/off switch is really a circuit breaker) will open both legs of power, while US ones will only open what is considered to be the "hot" leg in US wiring, while the neutral is not opened. With ship's wye wired power, that leg that a US power strip thinks is "neutral" can still be pouring current to whatever caused the circuit breaker to pop, and this could cause a fire.

Emphasis mine.

That's what I was concerned about and referring to. Knowing household strips only fuse the Hot and not Neutral, and not knowing if both legs are covered, I'd avoid them.

If your power strip/bar/board has a surge protector or a circuit breaker in it, please don't bring it on any ship I or any of my friends or loved ones may be on, unless you are very sure it is approved for Marine use (and almost none are).

Fire is bad, and though that trusty surge protector strip may have been with you for thousands of miles and hundreds of days at sea and has never, ever caused any problems (yet), it is still a potential fire hazard.

Thermal Suite on the Crown is down a flight of stairs from the Lotus Spa so look at Lido deck plan. And there is a open sort of wheelchair elevator if needed. You can't get there from Lido deck itself, have to go down from Sun Deck via the Spa.

Heated Tile Loungers, Gentle Sauna, Gentle (ha!) Steam room, Aromatherapy Steam room, and rainforest showers, all co-ed. Plus they give you a scrubber pad and fancy smelly gravel to rub yourself with. On the Crown there is one regular shower in the TS area.

And the changing rooms have regular Sauna, Steam and showeres, non co-ed.

Enjoy!

We did a b2b2b, total 15 days, in November, 3 booking numbers. We had separate Shareholder OBC on each leg (actually wound up less since each leg was less than 7 days $150 vs $250). One cabin change after leg 1. Everything (including unused internet minutes) rolled over after each leg - the Folio summary was delivered after each leg.

CC loyalty level bumped after leg 2 and had to go see the Captain's Circle host to get that taken care of.

Steam room and dry sauna is located in the bathrooms.

... and those are not co-ed, but as noted the Thermal Suite has "Gentle Steam", "Gentle Sauna", and Aroma Steam rooms that are co-ed, plus the heated loungers. Suite guests get free use, others pay daily or cruise length pass rates.

If you have already been (free) upgraded do they ever still offer an up sell opportunity for a better type of room or once they give you a general upgrade are you done? Cruising in about 50 days and did get a nice upgrade already (BF to a B1). Just wondering if a suite up sell may come our way. What drives who they contact?

Yes they do! The two seem to operate independently. The Upsell fairy blasts emails to folks or their TAs in the next tier down, then:

"This offer is ONLY available by calling 1-800-243-7342 extension xyz (M-F). Offer expires NOVEMBER 14, 201x AT 4:00PM. This offer is based

on availability and space is limited. Calls/voicemails will be handled in the order received."

Also note, if upsold (i.e. a paid for upgrade) to a full suite, then you need to call Captain's Circle and get your extra cruise credit.

On ours it shows as Paid when selecting "Optional prepay gratuities" in Cruise Personalizer "Payments and Credits"

Yes as cr8tiv1 says - but even better is a 4 top set up for 2 - it depends but we've managed to get them on some cruises. See the maitre'd at the "change tables" times - earlier the better (2:30pm usually is the first chance) and point out your needs.

Double Ditto the bed bug warnings. Our neighbor got 'em, fumigated, reinfected from a backpack style briefcase that he kept with him. The briefcase had traveled to various hotels.

J&J (JF - retired RRT) are doing a pair of Canal Full Transits, b2b, LA to Lauderdale and back, I think the "and back" part is the start of the World Cruise.

Could be fun if BB's are floating around on a 111 day cruise.

Having been in one of those cabins on the Crown, there is the 30 in. previously mentioned door that can be opened. No other dividers can be removed.

This just sounds like a staff failure to keep up -- they know to a head how many kids will be on the cruise and they know well ahead of time. I agree, they should be ready and able to accommodate the kid bubble. Sorry your cruise was painful in this regard, you didn't deserve it.

Also note that wine by the glass in bars and in the dining room is from a limited selection versus what is available by the bottle. For example, only Woodbridge and Clos du Bois Chard by the glass.

The AIBP costs one day less when bought on Day 2 so make sure it is written up that way - that can be hit or miss - and it won't cover any day 1 drinks. You can't buy it after day 2.

Likely the Engineer explained it to the Marketing person who explained it to the PR person who ...

... I'm thinking the Engineer said: "to 100 rooms we added 2 connecting doors"

and Marketing took it from there

Basically, Lew is right :cool:

Rule #9!

There's never been a line to buy AIBP on board. They sell them in all the bars on embarkation day and any cocktail server will get them for you. Buy them with your first drink order. Last time we bought them from the waiter in the MDR at lunch on embarkation. Day 2 you need to go to Int'l Cafe to buy and make sure they don't charge you for Day 1.

Stop telling the newbies how wonderful it will be....the reality will never live up to your descriptions! Let them find the joys of cruising on their own...that's what make memories and makes it special!

Okay, so we did a b2b on Ruby this last September and the pizza crust was way too thin. And we had one of those aft balconies on Riviera (only Ruby has them) on the starboard side under the smoking area and smokers flicked butts and ashes that wound up on our balcony. Not a whole lot but enough to be annoying: nothing like standing at the rail enjoying the wake view and getting hit. Or stepping out in the morning and finding a butt where only sea gull poop belongs. Full disclosure. Otherwise it was fine... ;)

We've stayed in aft balcony on Pacific Princess - very much worth it except you'll be envying your neighbors in the Owners Suite. We've heard the bow facing balconies are useless underway, whereas aft facing are sheltered and almost always comfortable. If possible get deck 7 for privacy. There is no glass below the railing - it is solid steel.

what is a Princess TA (CVP)?

Cruise Vacation Planner. Princess employee. Maybe like a cruise consultant? I've been assigned a few over the years but never talked to one.

Thanks Ice!,

Went to AMEX site - saw the Offer, added it to the card, went to princess, added 1K$ payment to an upcoming cruise and got an SMS from AMEX thanking me for using the Offer. Well done and you gotta love CC.

Please, does anyone know whether allowing at least 2 hours between types of alcohol-eg Rum, or Tequila would be safe? I was intending to keep to Cocktails made with the same base, but have just found several I'd missed earlier-I'd doubled up, and would like to change the chosen Cocktails. I usually drink a half-strength Crème de Menthe, it's a liqueur, mixed with lemonade, so definitely not much of a drinker here :D . I already know to alternate with Mocktails and Sodas, had planned 1 Cocktail to 2 each of Mocktails and Sodas, and I know to keep nibbling at something, so I'm not drinking on an empty stomach, and finding something nice to eat is NEVER a problem on a Princess Ship!

 

As to timing, keep your colors together: Clear spirits (vodka rum) _or_ Colored spirits (Bourbon, Scotch, etc) can generally be mixed during a given drinking session.

If I recall, it is 1 shot of spirits per 100 pounds (body weight) per hour will keep you well below the legal limit in the US (.8 % blood alcohol). 1 shot or 1 beer, or 1 glass of wine.

Strive not to mix the grain and the grape!

Yes. Yes. No, you pay full price.

Sorry couldn't help myself. :D

yes! thanks for the heads up!

Working to Cruise: Do you mean you lose $100-$150 per cruise or put that much on your card and play off of it?I wonder if they actually track how much you lose or just how much you put on machine to play?

 

As I said before,I normally don't gamble but would not mind putting $100 on my card and play some of it and stop and cash out if I am not doing good.I am just curious if they would offer me a casino rate on that little gambling.

 

We cruise Princess usually twice a year and usually West Coast cruises.Wonder if they offer it on the Coastal or Mexico?

In my experience, casinos - including cruise ships - only track what you "Buy In" with. They figure their take as a percent thereof. Much harder to figure out what you "lose" overall since there are so many variables.

We got casino rate (had to rebook since it came out mid stream) on our upcoming West Coast Getaways - saved nearly a grand on a Premium Balcony. It's on all cruises and is capacity controlled. The discount percentage is less on Alaska, Europe and Japan.

I've moved my FCC's * all over and back again. No issues with moving from one cruise to another. But as you noted, if you want to ensure you keep your booking for 2017 you will need to pay that deposit.

This is normal behavior, stop slapping yourself!

Edit:

As noted: FCC = FCD that you pay $100 PP for on board. I've moved them from one cruise to another and kept the OBC associated. And if 2017 is a "3 for free", you may get a deal there

Over and over again! I guess I'll stick with my 4 day cruise in November!

Well that's just phooey! Bumped into the capacity controlled argh.

I just checked some mock bookings and the casino discount is working on cruises into 2017 - so don't give up!