Sxxacy

I will comment on the things we experienced… as a couple in our early 30’s – our 9th cruise.

EMBARKATION/ALFREDO’s

Very smooth. We arrived too early, around 10:30, and were checked in and waiting to board the ship for about an hour – but that was our fault for getting there so early. They opened the doors at 11:30 and we were on board about 10 minutes later (after the platinum/elite guests). We are Ruby (4th cruise) members on Princess. As suggested by others on Cruise Critic (CC), we went straight to Alfredo’s for lunch. We each ordered a pizza and shared the veal ravioli. The pasta had one of the richest, most delicious cream sauces I had ever eaten – delicious! The pizzas were very good. Nice and light. DH tried a calzone later in the week and it was nice and cheesy but a bit heavy on the dough ratio.

ROOM

We had a standard balcony, Dolphin deck, D603, and it was nice enough. Nothing special. Asothers described, the balcony is on the smaller side but we had no issues with it. We were out there on the port days and sometimes to read at sea. The size of the balcony was not a “make or break” for us. The shower had the curtain, which isn’t preferable but there are magnets at the bottom so it clings. The water pressure was really weak – this is a pet peeve of mine, especially since I have long hair – so it takes forever to rinse. But again, this was not a deal breaker on the cruise. Hair dryer is weak. I brought my own. Our steward, Edwin, was nice enough and took care of the few requests we had but we rarely spoke to him, let alone saw him. I don’t think his English was strong. Our room was always made up for us 2-3x/day. No complaints.

FOOD

We usually eat in the MDR 5+ times on a 7 day cruise and like many others that have been on this ship, we found ourselves unable to stay away from that buffet! Having been on a Carnival cruise in the fall with very little selection on the buffet, I was very excited to see the EXTENSIVE variety of food items available at the buffet every day at lunch and dinner! Breakfast also had a beautiful variety of items, but they were mostly the same every morning, as is the case with all breakfast items. My favourite was the eggs Benedict I ate literally every day. Though, on the last sea day they had an array of chocolate items in the breakfast buffet which was a fun surprise (chocolate dipped cookies, chocolate croissants, chocolate breads, puddings, French toast etc.).

The favourite food items that stood out from the buffet: taco station, beef tenderloin, ribs, pork/shrimp dumplings, breaded shrimp/scallops, deep fried cheese balls, key lime pie and chocolate raspberry tarts, fresh soft cookies and the cheesecakes. I’m probably forgetting some. The selection was great.

Crown Grill – we ate there once and it was delicious. You can order as many of anything on the menu as you’d like and it’s included in the $25 surcharge. We ordered the scallops, sea bass, filet mignon and ribeye and they were all amazing – especially the filet mignon. We tried the sampler for dessert (a small portion of all of them) and they were good, but no amazing. Personal taste though. We enjoy rich, heavy desserts – not the fluffy ones.

Main dining room – we only ate here once, for the formal night with Lobster and Beef Wellington. Service was slow, but maybe that was because it’s the most popular night in the dining room. The Beef Wellington is my favourite meal on the cruise, and I was not disappointed. Very tasty.

International Café – other than room service, this was the only food option available after 10:30pm. It always had a nice selection of salads, snacks and desserts. The tomato quiche they had one evening was delicious!

ENTERTAINMENT

We went to 80% of the shows. We saw the magician, Scott Alexander, and he was pretty good. The Comedian, Carl something – he was hilarious. The regular crew shows were good. Fiera was definitely their best production show. That one was insanely packed – definitely show up early for it. The marriage game show was good, but they held it in the Princess Live “theatre” which has very limited seating. Not sure why they would do that when that show is one of the passenger favorites. For sure, a lot of people were turned away because there wasn’t enough room for everyone.

THE SHIP

It’s beautiful, sparkly, new and clean. All of the staff we encountered were friendly and helpful.

PORTS

Princess Cays – we are big on snorkeling, so we never even attempted to find a lounger – other than to put our bag on while we went swimming. For those that do snorkel, go to the LEFT when you get off the tender. To specify, when you are facing the ocean/ship, the best snorkeling is on your far right. I clarify because I read different reviews on which way to go for snorkelling-some said left and some said right. Perhaps it depended on which way they were facing. We went to the far right (if facing the ocean) and down some little steps to the beach… the area was a bit rocky but just get your gear on and go right – that’s where you’ll find some fun stuff to see. We didn’t eat anything from the BBQ so I can’t comment on that.

St. Thomas – we took a cab ($9 pp one way) to Coki beach because we had read on CC that they had good snorkeling. It’s a good 20 minute cab ride each way. We tried both sides of the beach and neither had anything but grass or dead coral/rocks. We did see a turtle, which was the only silver lining to that snorkel trip. Disappointing. Aside from the snorkeling failure, the beach itself was BEAUTIFUL. It’s smaller but the sand is smooth and there are no rocks to worry about in the water. There are drinks available and snorkel equipment can be rented. Same with chairs and umbrella’s – not sure of the prices though. Our cab ride back was only $7 per person.

St. Maarten – we did the all day (9:30am-4pm) excursion with Captain Bob through Soualiga Destinations (it is the #1 excursion on trip advisor). It appealed to us because of the day on a boat, multiple snorkel stops, and rave reviews on trip advisor. If you take this excursion for the snorkelling, try something else. Yes we stopped 3x to snorkel, and one of them had a few turtles, but that’s it. No live coral or colourful array of fish. I’m not sure that anywhere in St Maarten has better snorkeling, just be advised that if you’re hopeful for good snorkeling on this excursion, you’ll be disappointed. Other than that, the driver we had for the day, Sam, was really fun. You arrive, check in, then have a 30 minute ride out to the first island area for snorkelling. This ride is on open ocean, and it was a rocky day – so be prepared that they ride could be really rough with a lot of bouncing. We stopped at 4 different places for the day. The lunch offered is a choice of chicken, fish or ribs and then either rice or fries. No dessert. The fish was dry, and the fries rather boring and cold. If I did it again, I’d get the rice and ribs. We also took a trip to the famous Maho beach (where the planes practically touch the beach) but didn’t get to see any planes come in. The trip back to the pier was a race between our boat and another which was lots of fun. He sped up to 75MPH.

GYM

Good enough for what it was. I also found it disappointing that the spa is no longer attached to it. On previous cruises and cruise lines, I would certainly enjoy a sauna or steam room after my workout. I did enjoy the rain-shower shower heads they had in the gym change room though (but there are only 2). Although I failed to make it to one of the classes, I liked that ZUMBA was offered twice a day on sea days at no additional cost.

DISEMBARKATION

We were “White Group 1” which was scheduled to get off at 7:55am. We waited in the dining room for our group to be called for about 5 minutes and were on our way off. By 8:30am, we were in a taxi. The process was quick and painless! While waiting for our taxi to FLL airport, a Princess rep approached us and offered their shuttle for $11 per person. I found that to be strange… clearly, everyone is aware of the Princess shuttle, and as we were clearly standing in the taxi section, we chose not to use it. For the record, the Princess shuttle would have cost us $22 total for 2 of us, and the cab cost us $14.

I hear ya haha

Worth it? I would want to skype - and I've read that the Internet quality is spotty and unreliable and slow - just wondering if the Regal is somehow an exception. I don't want to waste my money.

Did you have an account separate for casino credit? Or use the regular OBC?

Did you have an account separate for casino credit? Or use the regular OBC?

This is perfectly fine - just finished doing exactly that.

 

 

 

Just go to the Customer Service desk and request the cash - if you try to go the Casino route, they will tell you that you have to gamble or they will freeze your Casino account. Customer Service couldn't have been easier to deal with.

When you say customer service desk, do you mean the pursors desk or is there a CS desk in the casino?

And as I understand it there are 2 diff types of OBC, right? Casino OBC and regular OBC?? Can both be cashed out?

Thanks again for the info on this

What's to stop someone from pre purchasing $1000 OBC then cashing it out (to cash?) at the pursors or casino to spend at the ports? Any restrictions on cashing out prepaid OBC?? Thanks!

I have recently pre-purchased casino onboard credit for my upcoming cruise. Should I wish to cash it out (for simplicity's sake let's say I only use $200/$300), how would I go about getting the remainder of my money ($100)? Can I cash it out anytime into cash? Any hidden fees or policies with this?

Awesome review, thank you!!! I can't wait to go out there in 2 weeks! :D

Oh never mind I see it now - just couldn't view in the CC app.

We just did Coki on our own last year and it was amazing! We have been to Sapphire before too and enjoyed it.

 

I have a COMPLETE review listed in my signature line. Just click on it and scroll down to find the beginning of the review. There are TONS of pictures in it from our snorkeling that day. I was amazed. :)

I don't see any reviews or links in your signature??

My apologies - I missed the 10 day cruise part. I was thinking it was a 7 day. With that in mind, I think the price is decent but still think it'll drop a bit :)

That is high pricing. Under $500pp USD on a new ship (inside cabin) is acceptable in my eyes. Guaranteed that the prices will drop too as the fall is the cheaper time to travel (hurricane season in some places).

Also, this thread might get deleted. Not sure if you can talk about numbers.

We rented a Jeep from the agency right in from of the cruise port and snorkleed at Sapphire Beach. It wasn't very crowded at Sapphire the day we were there even though there were two ships in port that day. There was plenty enough to see in the water and conditions were good.

 

 

 

The Jeep allowed us flexability to change locations if conditions were not good, if it got crowded and a place to store our gear while we were in the water.

Good to know! May I ask the vehicle rental place?

I just received cabin assignment for Mar 29 departure on Royal. Booked IF guarantee and got upgraded to IA! I guess it was too much to hope for an upgrade to balcony!

Awww sorry you didn't get the balcony! We are on the same sailing and from Canada too!

Reading all the posts about this and it looks like it's between Trunk Bay and Coki beach. We have our own gear.

Those who have gone your own way to Coki - any other info/details you have would be much appreciated! Cab price? Distance away?

Any other gems in St Thomas for snorkelling?

Thanks :)

Those that have booked guaranteed room

(Balcony or other) - when does the actual room normally show up on your online booking? Just over 2 weeks out and anxious to know where we will land!! :)

Sooo...what's to stop someone from going on the site daily to hold price until it drops?

Thanks for the review! We are an early 30's couple as well about to board that ship in a few weeks with the UBP as well! :)

I was told that there is a way online to hold a booking price on NCL website for 24hours. Can anyone confirm if this is true and how to do it?

Thanks!!

Do they have an official one on board? Will it be listed in the daily itinerary? Anything I need to bring/know beforehand??

Thanks!

Other than booking a transfer through the cruise line, what are the best ways to get from FLL to the Miami cruise port?

Anyone know how much the cab would be?

Or is there a car rental place that is at FLL and has a drop off near Miami port/with shuttle?

Thanks!!

Anyone used any car rental places that are close to Miami port that have a shuttle to cruise?? Preferably one with a Miami location and an airport location?? Thanks!

Beef Wellington??

What do they serve instead on formal night???