MaineYachtClub

On the Coral Princess 107-day world cruise last year, there were 18 formal nights.  Most of the passengers dressed up for the evening.  There were many couples in tuxedos and evening/cocktail dresses.

15 minutes ago, GonzoWCS said:

Is there such a thing as "fake" coffee?  Asking for a friend.

 

Cheers

It seems American coffee is, according to trinitygirl 😁

7 hours ago, trinitygirl said:

I have been thinking the same thing!  I had no idea Americans didn’t have kettles. In NZ and Australia, a kettle is the first appliance anyone ever buys/is given when they leave home.

There really is a quite simple explanation why Americans don't have kettles.  We drink coffee, real coffee, not instant.  So, we may not have a kettle, but it would be a rare kitchen that doesn't have a percolator, drip, or Koerig.  We have a percolator, a single cup drip and an expresso machine.

On 4/27/2023 at 11:15 AM, LACruiser88 said:

We use the below detergent sheets, they work great and very easy to pack!

 

Undoubtedly, THE best option for bringing laundry detergent.  Each sheet is about the same size as a dryer sheet and does one load.  A couple of these take up about as much room and weight as a tissue.

Your question made me go back and check my travel insurance policy and to do a bit of research.  Of course every situation is different, but depending on the date that the policy was purchased, the look-back period of the policy, and changes to your health during that period, a pre-existing condition waiver may not be needed.  I found this on a senior travel insurance site:

Travel insurance only cares about changes in your health 60-180 days immediately prior to buying travel insurance to determine a Pre-existing Medical Condition.

The Travel Insurance Carrier cares about:

• New Medical Conditions
• Changes in the Severity of an old Medical Condition
• New recommendations for treatment
• Changes in medication

If you haven’t experienced any of these in the 60-180 days prior to policy purchase, you don’t have a pre-existing medical condition per travel insurance.

For example, if you have high blood pressure and your medication dosage hasn’t changed in years, it would not be considered a pre-existing condition.

Seeing an eclipse from the deck of a ship would be very cool.  The V leaves San Diego on April 6 with the 1st port being Puerto Vallarta on the 9th.  The captain could certainly put the ship in the path of totality if he wanted to ... and was allowed.  Shalandara is probably right though.  Unless HAL specifies that this will be an eclipse cruise, there is a better chance of seeing it from land or on the Zaandam for about twice the price.

DW and I are considering the Volendam Panama Canal cruise in April 2024.  The ship will be sailing the Mexico coast at the time of the solar eclipse.  I've asked Holland America if it would be in position to view the eclipse, but they could not answer me. I'm wondering if anyone here might have some thoughts or insight.  Thanks.

8 hours ago, richardAnn said:

i have a tendency to get up earlier than my lovely wife,and i like to explore the ship untill she gets up wich is usually around 830 to 9 am .we  have att as our cell providers .we have a wifi pkg with our room so can me and my wife text each other so when she gets up i can go back to the room and get her so we can start our day  not sure what to do att says i can get a text only pkg for 50 dollars per line but i am wondering is there a better option i truly hope someone can help us on this issue

Texting does not go over wifi.  Even if you have wifi calling turned on, texting (and voice) will still incur charges.  However, email does use wifi.  You and your wife can email over the ship wifi package and not accrue any additional charges.  It's not as convenient, but is an alternative.

Consider the rest of the cruise, not just the 1 day in the canal, when making your decision.  We transited from Pacific to Atlantic and chose the port side figuring we could sit on the balcony and have a little shade during the day.

5 hours ago, dan4182 said:

You are correct, time will tell whether masking makes any difference or not.

If it doesn’t, a lot of unhappy cruisers will exist!

"Unhappy cruiser"? Isn't that an oxymoron?

On 4/20/2022 at 4:08 AM, wblotner66 said:

Where did you find the offer for a meal plan on princess?

It is in the "FAQ: Alaska Cruisetours".  The meal plan price list is located at 

https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/learn/faqs/cruisetours/2022-alaska-pre-paid-meal-packages.pdf

13 hours ago, Gramma of Boys said:

Where were you able to see the menus?  We are looking at the meal plan for Princess also.

I found the name of the restaurant at the lodge and then did a google search for the specific restaurant. For example, at the Denali Wilderness Lodge there is a restaurant named FANNIE Q’S SALOON. Searching for that, I found the menu.

If it is anything like the meal plan offered by Princess, I agree that it seems quite pricey.  We were able to see menus at the lodge restaurants and decided that we could do better a la carte.  Then we booked an excursion that includes dinner and that made the decision easy.

On 4/2/2022 at 12:23 PM, shamrockace said:

We too are booked on a 2023 Princess World Cruise although we are doing the 97 day instead of the 111 days as we've gone thru the Panama Canal before and can save money there.  We will get on at LA and off in Florida saving two weeks worth of expenses.  As we saved years for this trip and don't expect to ever do it again, we are really being careful with our budget while trying to see all we can on this once in a lifetime trip.

 

We booked an inside cabin and have cruised up to 3 weeks in one with no problems.  We sleep like hibernating bears in our dark little cave and save money.  We also just became elite so we will get free laundry and like West Coast Gal above, we got the early booking package deal.  While we are not drinkers except occasionally, the internet and gratuities being paid ahead will save us money.  Total for both of us is about forty thousand seven hundred with inside cabin, port fees, tax, and the package.

 

I am about 1/2 way done with our excursions and have spent about eight thousand so far.  This includes a four thousand dollar India side excursion for 5 days that includes the Taj Mahal.  Many of the beginning island excursions will be on our own snorkeling or beach day or walking around town so cost will be minimal at those.  But my cost does include the Barrier Reef, Komodo dragons, jumping off Skytower and many other "must do" things.  I've also booked some independent but more thru Princess because of the Covid.  This might change later as things open up, but I didn't want to get left behind on any must do excursions.  I plan to spend about $10,000 on excursions total but that is a guess at this point.  

 

We eat out almost every day here at home and hubby and I are both not adventurous on food so I don't predict eating at most places except on ship.  We generally eat once a day so mostly plan to eat on the ship saving money there.  We are also not shoppers so costs will be minimum.  We are both 60 and we don't spend much on medical either.

 

Allowing for all this, I budgeted sixty thousand for our world cruise.  Do I think we'll spend it all?  No; but I want to allow for any surprises.  

 

There are so many factors that can change YOUR budget.  But just an idea helps, I know.  

The item that I don't see in your budget is travel insurance.  I'm not a gambler when it comes to my health, especially in this time of COVID.  Even a short stay in a foreign medical facility would be scary expensive.  I don't even want to think about the price if someone would have to be evacuated.  Our RTW insurance will run about $8K.

On 2/24/2022 at 8:08 AM, Daniel A said:

On the Princess website Medallion FAQs :

"Is an Medallion wearable safe to use if I have a pacemaker, or other medical device?
The Medallion wearable includes magnets and RF technology that have been designed and manufactured to meet the radio frequency (RF) requirements set by the Federal Communications Commission of the United States. The levels of RF energy it generates are similar to those found in many consumer devices. Manufacturers of Implantable Pacemaker and Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillators (ICDs) typically recommend that you keep your medical device 9 inches (23 cm) away from RF transmitters comparable to the one found inside the Medallion wearable. However, as every device differs, so you should check directly with the manufacturer of your medical device and physician for guidance."

 

Link here:

Princess MedallionClass® - Frequently Asked Questions - Princess Cruises

 

 

Thanks for posting that.

On 2/15/2022 at 2:43 PM, Grammyluvs said:

Has anyone had a pacemaker and had trouble with the lanyard? I read where it could cause problems since the medallion uses an infrared signal. Can’t remember where I read it. 

I believe the problem is that the magnet can interfere with a pacemaker.  Any magnet should be kept at least 6 inches away from the implant location.  The lanyard is probably not a good option.

4 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

The tech rep assured me that I can get onto the internet without having home wifi because of some setting that he did. 

Be aware that getting on the internet without wifi uses "data".  1G of data will allow your apps to work in the background (they all use a little bit of data), but if you start surfing, using maps, checking weather, etc. it will be used up pretty quickly.

I can't help with what is the best smartphone for non-techies.  Check AARP.  They promote something called a "Cricket".  May be something that meets your needs.

On 12/31/2021 at 3:02 PM, BennyBrun said:

I would strip all your perks now ( beverage, insurance, specialty dinning and air) so that if you have to have your money tied up it will be just the cruise fare and fees.  If you decide to go, then add all the perks back before the deadline.

I can't seem to be able to find a way to strip all the perks on-line.  Must I talk to an NCL agent?  Thanks.

16 hours ago, dmh165638 said:

You will now need a negative Covid test 48 hrs or less prior to arriving in PR for any travel origin including the US.

My flight is scheduled to arrive in San Juan at 5:10 PM on Jan. 15.  My plan is to get tested Jan. 13 around 6:00PM.  I'm concerned about what happens if my flight is delayed and we arrive more than 48 hours after my test.  Is the 48 hours contingent on the scheduled or actual ETA?  I'm thinking about rescheduling my test to the morning of the 14th, but even that is no guarantee with the way flights are being canceled.

I'm curious where the information that the stop in Kralendijk is canceled is coming from.  We're on the Jan 16 sailing on the Epic and Bonaire is still showing on my itinerary.

18 hours ago, gmbhardy said:

Don’t want to throw a wet blanket on your fire, but we didn’t like Posh very much. We stayed in the Haven so Posh was included. If we would have paid extra for it we would have been very disappointed. Very few people used it so it was simply very boring. They rotated the bartenders all week so we weren’t able to build a rapport with any of them. Vibe on the other hand is a blast, so I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you’re expecting a Vibe “vibe” you might be disappointed.

Thanks for the info. We got into Vibe on the Escape and it was amazing.  Spent as much time there as we could.  The bartenders were great and the other guests were just fun to be around. If Posh on Epic is as you say, they need to take a lesson from Escape.

Any support, one way or the other, from others who have experienced Posh?

I've read everything that I can find about the Posh Beach Club on the Epic.  Yes, yes, I understand that tickets are very difficult to get for the non-Haven passengers.  Nonetheless, it can't hurt to try.  So here's the question.  Once on board, where do we have to go to check for tickets?  On the Escape, Vibe tickets were not sold at Guest Services.  Rather, I seem to recall we had to go to Headliners.

Single most unique thing to do in Roatan - Steel Pan Alley http://steelpanalley.org/

Learn to play steel drums with some local kids at a school set up to promote their learning island instruments.  In our 2 hours there, we learned 3 songs.  DW had never played a musical note in her life and loved the experience.

@WillCruiseForMoney,  thank you for posting the list. That's a handy reference. How do we get this into a sticky for the Norwegian boards?