nbsjcruiser

Thanks - how long was the airboat tour? Did you find it was a good length of time to spend on the boat?

Thanks @brunello22

We'll be in the FLL area for 5 weeks in November and I'd like to take my wife on an airboat tour of the Everglades. Its something she always wanted to do. Can you kind folks recommend a decent tour that won't break the bank? We'll have a car and I know the south Florida area well so transportation wont be an issue. thanks in advance

I see the prices have shown back up - they seem higher than before but maybe that's just me. Sky Princess prices are now gone. We just booked the Sky yesterday. I'll compare prices when they show back up to see if they went up. Seems strange to me that they'd need a blackout on a ship in order to adjust prices.

We've got 2 bookings for this ship - November 2023 and February 2024. Browsing around the Princess web site today I noticed that all cruises on the Caribbean Princess for November-February are now showing as "Pricing not Available". Is she going into drydock? I haven't had any correspondence from Princess on cancellations so I'm wondering if anyone has any info. thanks in advance

Yep, same thing we are seeing as well. Like you, despite being 61, I'll do the flowrider and will even try a water slide but the downside to that is kids everywhere, noise, belly flop contests - no thanks. That's what I like about Princess. I can head up to the pool deck where its decently quiet - no hairy legs contest, belly flop contests. Find a chair, sit down and have a nice relaxing day at sea. The menus were very underwhelming when we were on the Liberty last fall. The service matched it as well. Nowhere near what it used to be when we first started cruising RCI in 2004. They have dumbed down the menus, noticeably reduced service to the point where I find myself now wondering out loud if they shouldn't just do away with the MDR all together and just have everyone bell-up to the buffet. Even restaurants like Chops are now so bad that I wouldn't even bother going there again. Princess food is heads and shoulders above RCI.

Others are providing good info on checking in and sales and so on. I did want to comment on the differences between the two lines. Like you, we were dedicated RCI cruisers and are currently Diamond level. A few years ago we decided to try Princess again (we had cruised once before) and the difference was noticeable. Food was better, service top notch and there weren't screaming kids running all over the place. We found Princess more to our liking (we're in our late 50's/early 60's) than RCI. Anyway, we're now 3 cruises away from Elite status which comes with some nice perks. Free bar set up for each of us, free laundry, first off the boat at tender spots and so on. Last year we picked up a 4 day cruise on the Liberty of the Seas because some family members were going on it so we thought we'd join them. The food in the MDR was not as good as I remember it - certainly not in the same league as Princess. Service was hectic and rushed and people dressed anyway they wanted to, even on the evenings that were supposed to be fancy nights. The whole experience seemed down-level to me and for the money they want, certainly not worth it. Princess has made the decision to up their game with food and service and it shows. You won't be disappointed with the Regal (we've been on it 3 times) and I'm willing to bet you won't look back once you've tried Princess.

Thanks for posting that. We'll be buying our coffees since we won't get the value out of the Zero Alcohol Package.

Trying to purchase this for our upcoming cruise. I can't seem to find where to buy it online under my cruise booking. Can anyone point me to where I can find it? tks

Head to the room, drop the luggage off then make a bee line to the Dining room for a proper lunch. Back to the room unpack the carry-ons then its a nice drink somewhere along with a well deserved cigar, something I like to enjoy only when I'm on a cruise. Dinner later in the MDR of course, then catch the show to see what's going on for the week.

We have done Plus a couple of times, haven't tried Premier. We've also cruised the standard level. I might have a different outlook than many. I kind of like the 3 different levels. The basic level (standard) is my favourite. I don't drink a whole lot and so I can save significant money typically by buying my one or two drinks a day. Occasionally the Plus price is low enough for me to jump to that level but our next two cruises are at the standard level. So I really like the three options. Works well for me.

Food is objective but fwiw, we were on the Sky in February and found Crown Grill to be quite good in service and quality.

If you're thinking about booking a specialty restaurant like Crown Grill or Sabbatini's, do it using the Princess Medallion app BEFORE you get on the ship. We never booked any of those restaurants until we go on board but last fall on the Sky I was surprised to find out that they were all 100% booked by second day of the cruise. When we cruised the Sky again in February, we booked one of the last spots on the Crown Grill on the first day, as soon as they opened up mid-afternoon on boarding day.

That's the number I called after posting here and it worked. Initially I called the 800 number for royalcaribbean, got someone and told them I wanted to purchase OBC for a relative on their cruise. They sent me to the certificate web site. That didn't seem right to me so I told the person that I wanted to buy OBC and not a certificate but they said that this was the only way. That's when I posted here and was supplied with the number above. That worked.

That was the frustrating bit when I called RCI. I specifically said I wanted to buy OBC and they sent me to the certificate site, which didn't work anyway.

We just completed our second cruise on the Sky. Wonderful ship as you note. We've been on the Caribbean Princess, Emerald Princess and the Crown Princess - pretty much all the same ships. We have two cruises booked on the Caribbean Princess - one for November and another for February. While we enjoy the larger Regal Class ships like the Sky, the smaller CB is still a nice ship. Its sort of like a shrunken down Sky Princess. The Piazza is smaller of course but the layouts, while a bit smaller, are much like the Regal Class. The service and food is still quite good so for us its all about the itineraries more than the ship. Mind you, if I was looking at the same itinerary, I'd definitely book the larger Sky but you will still enjoy the CB I'm fairly certain.

Yes, thanks - I told the girl that but she still sent me to the gift certificate site. Thankfully cruisecritic came through with the needed info tks to @taglovestocruise

Thanks for the info - that worked. They gave me a website (royalcaribbeancertificates.com) but when I got there, the country field was mandatory and you cant select anything. Frustrating. - thanks again

I have a sister going on a cruise on the Oasis in a couple months and I'd like to purchase some OBC for her as a gift. Is there a way I can do that online or do I have to call in?

Exactly. I wouldn't do it unless it was lunch or breakfast. I'd rather not be embarrassed when I'm declined entrance. We've been exclusively Princess now for a few years but last fall we joined some friends on the Liberty of the Seas. Dinner time in the MDR was like the Golden Corral. Tee shirts and shorts everywhere. Of course, the food was not what I remembered it to be either. Anyway, I've not seen anyone wear shorts on any recent Princess cruise and in fact on our last cruise they turned someone away who was wearing a muscle shirt at lunch. So, as long as you don't mind being singled out (possibly) then go for it.

Yep

This is precisely why we have converted from RCI to Princess over the last 5 or 6 years. The food an service is noticeably better on Princess than RCI as well. Beds are more comfy too.

Luncheon menus from our embarkation on the Sky Princess in late February

We'll be dropping off my daughter and her husband at a Royal Caribbean ship next week at Port Everglades. I assume we all will need some form of ID to get past security - any other hints when it comes to dropping people off? Perhaps a preferred entrance?