nbsjcruiser

To your point, who the heck is Radiqal Gaming and why in the world would I just say "yeah, sure, go ahead - here's my credit card and contact information"?

It was listed as an Eastern and yes our stop was Grand Turk which is in T&C. i think people use both names interchangeably. We've been there several times and as you note, other than the beach there isn't much else unless you want to hang around the pool area and party and drink - no thanks.

We were in the Turks last month and we got sucked into purchasing two chairs and an umbrella. They walked us what seemed to be half a mile down the beach and the umbrellas didn't help because the sun was too low all day. When we were leaving I noticed some chairs near the dock and may of them were in the shade. Are the chairs in my attached picture free for the day or do they have to be rented somewhere?

The last few cruises we've been on out of Port Everglades, we showed up around 9:45. Doors opened around 10, we were let in after the folks in the Green Lane (about 10:15 or so), walked in, through security, got our Medallion and were waiting upstairs in the Platinum lounge around 10:40. Ship opened about 10:50 and we were on board before 11.

Addendum to my review: Cabin - Princess beds are very comfy. The room was comfortable, maybe a little warm for us at times but overall we were happy. The room attendant was excellent, the room was always cleaned and taken care of. Great job.

See above

Each dining room has it's own galley and each dining room has different personnel so there can be a variance in quality and service although generally it shouldn't be as noticeable as it was on that cruise.

$22 for the umbrella by the pool is what we paid. If you go to a more fancy area near the pool with padded chairs you pay more. I think they were looking for around $50 when we were there.

Last year we were on a RCI ship that docked downtown and we spent the day wandering around there. It was a very hot day and so we stopped for a couple cold ones. You can grab a taxi from Amber Cove and get them to drop you off in Puerto Plata and do a tour there if you like. Not sure of the price but the pick up area outside Amber Cove seems well organized. There is a free hop-on hop-off golf carts - we thought they had stopped this but we saw them toward the end of the day. You can hop on one of those and get off at a spot that looks interesting. We generally just follow our nose except for a couple of stops - we like Bombanera Restaurant, although it was closed. We also grab a pastry in Mallorca (San Francisco street) and wander in the Parroquia San Francisco de Asis church on the same street and most time we'll take a walk around San Juan Bautista Cathedral. Then we generally walk down through town, stop for a bite to eat somewhere, a beer. Wander through some stores - basically anywhere that looks interesting. We do one of the two forts usually although we didn't this time. Toward the end of the day we end up near the port, grabbing a cold beer just enjoying the day.

Not a big fan of that idea.

Thought I'd do a quick review on the Caribbean Princess. We were on the Nov 12 sailing to San Juan, Amber Cove, Turks/Caicos and Princess Cays. Embarkation/Disembarkation - boy does Princess have this down pat. We arrived at the pier at around 9:30 or so after dropping off our rental car. Stood in line until around 10 or so, doors opened and those who had their medallion (not us) were let in first and then about 10 mins later our line was opened. We were upstairs, in the Platinum lounge by 10:40 or so and were walking on the ship at 10:55. Disembarkation was so fast I could hardly believe it. We literally walked off the ship, grabbed our one suitcase and did the facial recognition thing in under 20 mins. Ship condition - Overall the ship wasn't too bad although I would say in honesty, she needs a little TLC. Paint peeling off elevators in the Piazza is not a good look and there were areas where different carpet had been replaced that looked like a last-minute job. Floor seemed wonky at times in some areas like the underlying weld on the metal flooring had let go. I'd give the Ship a 7 out of 10. She needs a couple months dry dock to spruce her up a bit. Don't get me wrong, I'd go back next week if I had the opportunity but the Caribbean Princess needs attention before it gets out of hand. Food - this one is going to be a little weird. We ate dinner every night in the Palm dining room. Service and food quality was as good as I have ever seen on any cruise. We've found eating early (around 5:30) seems to be the sweet spot for service and hot food and they nailed it all week. The Coral dining room on the other hand - I have no idea what they're doing there. We ate breakfast there 5 times and lunch twice. The pancakes (ordered twice and then we gave up) were Lilly white, cold and had a rubber texture. I ordered Eggs Benedict each morning and the eggs ranged from soft boiled to hard boiled. I really should have sent them back every morning but I hate doing that. We didn't learn until the last sea day when we were eating lunch there that the Coral dining room was a sh*t show all week. We ate lunch with a couple who had been eating there all week and they said there were massive complaints there all week and I have to say that lunch there was not good. Quality and service were both bad. Apparently the Maitre D' was asking people to address all complaints directly to him. I feel bad for anyone who dined there because their experience was night and day compared to ours in the Palm. Buffet was good, no complaints and the steak we ordered from Chops in the MDR was perfect. We did no other specialty dining. Itinerary - The captain did have to reverse the itinerary to avoid a major storm in the Caribbean and we had great weather as a result - kudos to the Captain. San Juan - Like we normally do, we did a self-guided walking tour. This is one of our favorite stops. Princess Cays - we had a clam-shell and enjoyed the beach as we always do. Amber Cove - Started out pretty good. Sat by the pool after we rented a chair and umbrella - We've been there twice and I thought umbrellas were free? Maybe I'm wrong on that. Anyway, it was sunny and warm - all good until a Carnival ship rolled in and things quickly turned into a scene reminiscent of the Trailer Park Boys. We left around 2:30 or so. Turks/Caicos - we kinda got sucked into a chair and umbrella here. They walked us for about a half mile down the beach, away from the main area where the umbrella they gave us did only a marginal job since the sun was directly in front of us. We're going back there in 2025, we'll just hang out near the main area and grab a chair up in the trees right near the exit of the pier. Not sure but I think they may be free. Staff - all good especially in the Palm Dining room. Wife has some allergies and the head waiter checked in with her every night with the next day's menu to ensure everything she ordered was going to be ok. Above and beyond service here. Comedian was awful imo. Not even remotely funny. She finally realized her show was going down the toilet and began to hone in on some insufferable oaf in the crowd who was insistent on making sure everyone knew he was in crowd. It only made matters worse. We would have left but we were sitting next to this moron a few rows up from the front and I know how that would have gone. We didn't go to any production shows, so no comment there. There was an entertainer who did 2 shows - he did some R&B stuff (wish I could remember his name) but he was quite good. Pool area - no issues getting a chair provided you didn't need to sit right next to the pool. The Chumley's were on board with us and I feared they'd use up all the chairs and make getting one in the sun impossible but you wouldn't have known they were on the ship tbh, unless you were told, so no issues at all. That's about it. Any questions, feel free to ask away

Looking at the price Princess charges to do a tour to Altun Ha, we can book a tour company for $57 vs $90 from the ship for the same tour. It wouldn't surprise me if it was the same company. Anyway, has anyone used this company in the past? https://www.coralbreezetours.com/tour/altun-ha-mayan-ruins/

Our daughter and son-in-law are sailing on Celebrity in 2024 and we'd like to purchase OBC for them as a xmas present. Is there a way I can do this on line at celebrity.com? I have all the pertinent details - ship, sail date, room, reservation. Thanks in advance

Our son and his wife are sailing on the Caribbean Princess in 2024 and we'd like to purchase OBC for them as a xmas present. Is there a way I can do this on line at princess.com? I have all the pertinent details - ship, sail date, room, reservation. thanks in advance

Oh, I hadn’t realized that was possible. I thought once a device was logged on that was the only device you could use for the week. Great, tks

Hello all, We've purchased internet for 1 device on our upcoming cruise on the Caribbean Princess. I'll use my iPhone for the week but occasionally in our room my wife would like to hop on Facebook for a few minutes each morning. I've created a hotspot on my phone in the past and let her use that to connect to the internet from her laptop - any issues doing this on the ship? Anyone do this in the past? tks in advance

To clarify a little more, a vacation planner called us yesterday. She noticed we had put this cruise on hold. She told me the reason why it was non-refundable was because of the cabin category we chose, ocean-view guaranty. She moved us up to a selected room (it was cheaper actually) and the $100USD deposit became refundable. She also was able to give us a $75USD OBC so it was a timely call. Might use cruise planners from now on instead of the website or calling in to the 1800 number which lately has become a crap shoot. At least the planner knew everything about the ship and was able to steer us in the right direction with a little OBC as well. I'm not generally a fan of TA's. We've tried TAs a few times and it's always the same issue. Booking the cruise is great but if you want to talk to them later, get a price drop or make a change, it's difficult to get them. We've missed price drops this way. At least with the Princess planner, if the person you need is not there, you get someone else. Anyway, confusion clarified 🙂

If I go to the bottom of the Princess home page and click the 50% sale: and then follow through to booking my cruise on the Sun, guaranteed Oceanview, I get this: So $270 non-refundable deposit. If, however, I just do a search on the front page, same cruise but instead pick an ocean view room instead of a guaranteed oveanview cabin, I get this: Higher deposit, completely refundable. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

ok, I figured this out - the non-refundable deposit relates to the current sale they have on. It is a reduced deposit sale. If I ignore the current sale, deposit is fully refundable. sorry for the confusion (I still dont like their website 🙂 )

I went back in, chose the identical options I did first time through and now I see this: So it is refundable? I wish they could get their website figured out. Confused now

Yeah, that's what it is unless I buy their insurance which I'm not going to do. Gotta admit, this leaves a bad taste. The more Princess changes things, the less I like it.

Looking at perhaps booking a cruise on the Sun Princess for November 2024. I noticed that the cancellation policy now states that if you cancel before final payment it is total fare paid minus $135CAD ($100USD) unless you have Princess Vacation Protection. I've never noticed this before. Am I understanding this correctly? If it is as I read it, this is an issue. We cruise twice and sometimes three times a year and we often change them - maybe work commitments or airfare is cheaper at a different time. This makes it much less likely that I'll book well in advance. I'm not open to throwing away money and I have my own insurance. Screen grab below:

I wasn't on this cruise but you guys were in our home city of Saint John yesterday and I managed to snag a couple pics of the Venezia before she left port.

Nope. I'll spend the extra 2 minutes and save $10. We have priority boarding anyway so we show up well before the ship opens for boarding, will walk the Blue lane, get our medallion and head upstairs to wait for our boarding time.

None of these nickel and dime charges will impact us. The last 2 cruises we were on I quickly realized neither one of us came anywhere near drinking enough to come out ahead on the Princess Plus package we bought so we'll save the Extra $500-$600 pp on each cruise we book and take the standard fare. If I want a drink, I'll buy it. If I want to go to Alfredo's, I'll pay the $15 once on the cruise otherwise I'll enjoy the Dining Room food and hope they don't dumb that down like Royal Caribbean has. We don't do room service very often (once in 33 cruises) and since I sit on the internet every day working, having access to the internet for the week is not a perk for me. In a weird sort of way, I kinda like this. We'll book the lower fare each cruise and save money. I think in many respects, people look at all these add-ons like they're missing out on something or will be a lower class passenger if they don't participate. Princess does a good job pretending they're giving you something and if you drink enough, I suppose you might be. But for us, doing the math, Princess Plus and Premium is just an offer to pay for perk that I don't need or want. My way of thinking is, if I can't pay for Alfredo's once or twice or can't afford a few specialty coffes for the week, I probably shouldn't be cruising anyway.