Optotronics

I have a related question.

We fly out of FLL on southwest late in the afternoon. I also prepaid for early boarding so we could hopefully sit together. So with ez check; does princess go online the night before debarkation and check us in and print boarding passes and luggage tags? Or do we need to go online and pay princess for 15 mins of internet to check in and a fee to princess for printing the tags?

Been on 40 cruises never tipped porters when getting on ship they are long shore men union and well paid. I always tip the drivers who take us to the port and load and unload our bags, we have never had any problem getting our bags the cruise lines would go ballistic if the porter started messing with the bags.

 

 

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I agree, they are not going to risk their high paid union jobs by not doing what they are paid to do.

We are cruising on the NCL Dawn in January 2019 and will be going to Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, Barbados, Grenada, and St. Lucia. We would like to snorkel in at least three ports. Does anyone have any suggestions on the best ports, excursions, or even private tours for snorkeling? Thank you!

Yes, Bonaire and st Lucia were the best I've ever experienced.

In Bonaire catch the water taxi over to Klein island. Don't remember the cost, not much maybe $10 or $12 round trip.

In st. Lucia go snorkeling at anse chastanet, it's the best by far. We signed up with Spencer Ambrose tours for the "snorkel adventure" $65/pp and tons of fun!

Yes. Just off the Royal 2 weeks ago. The Royal Princess has the old $29 menu and the dish you speak about is on the menu. We were told that the new $25 menu is not available on all ships and the Royal will retain the old menu for now.

 

You didn't ask, but in the DR lobster was served with 3 split tails. The next evening mounds of lobster tails were available in the buffet.

Thanks everyone,

I was hoping to be able to have a nice large New England lobster tail.

We were on Royal in November and did the UBD dinner on the balcony. When they came to the room the day before for the menu planning I asked about the type of lobster and was told it would not be the small Caribbean lobsters the size of a large prawn, but the real lobster tail and was told it would be. Come dinner time, the split Caribbean tails arrived:(

Yes, the day of lobster night these tails appeared in HC as well.

I figured if lobster 3 ways was still on the menu in sabatini's, it would be my way to get the real lobster;)

does anyone know if sabatini's on royal princess still has lobster 3 ways?

I heard their menu had changed on some ships.

Maybe they will have a camera and rfid sensor at each hand wash station and track who it not washing their hands:)

The possibilities are endless.

The medallion will only track you if you let it. Just pop it in your rfid proof wallet and remove when you want to use it.

It also won't save you or find you if you go overboard. RFID only has a short range of only only a few meters and that's not going to trigger any man overboard alert when someone's signal disappears because they could just be out of range or slipped it into something metal that block rfid.

It will help them see which places onboard are being used and which are not and will assist with future ship designs

Last sunday was busy, 7 ships, just 4 today - Regal, Eurodam, Allure OTS, and Costa Deliziosa.

 

We board Regal next sunday, I'll wave to you !!

Where are the cameras located? Do they get both sides of the ship?

Most likely either a TA purchased gift or by using travel agency group booking amenity points as one of the several options for using those points.

 

In the past a bottle of wine was sometimes a benefit included in a promotional offer but don’t recall any recently.

 

My travel agency uses amenity points for an OBC to use for anything which eliminates the need to exchange a wine voucher for credit & any problems such as EddieCruzer experienced.

We did get OBC from the TA as well.

I'm not sure why the TA didn't just give us more OBC rather than both.

How did you book? Most likely it is a gift from your booking agent.

Yes, it was with a TA, but never mentioned this and they didn't do this on our previous bookings with them. I was hoping everyone was getting this.

I was just looking through our personalizer on our 3/20 cruise on the royal and when I examined the "travel summary" under the heading of special services. Besides the case of water we preordered it shows a line item for

"Bottle red or white wine qty 1 price $20. (Which we did not order)

I then checked the other cabin we booked for wife's parents and it too shows this wine in the booking.

Is this something new that's replacing BOGO?

I agree, I've seen the webcams for their ships to sometimes be a week old!

If they're not going to keep them current, they should not use them at all.

It gives the impression they are not maintaining the ships equipment.

Bad form

BOGO will now be every port day afternoon at the closest bar to the pier:)

Right before getting back onboard.

OK' date=' to take this one step further...if you book it as one cruise, you can only apply one shareholder credit, one military credit, right? I realize that the value of these increases with the length of the cruise, but I'd be better with a 14 day + a 7 day that I could apply 2 shareholder credits on than a 21 day with one credit. 14 night or longer = $250. 7 night = $100. So IF I had the option and was doing a 7+7+7, my best move would be to book as 14 + 7 and get $250 + $100. Yes, that assumes all else being equal (cost, other benefits).

 

If I choose to book a cruise as 14 nights that could have been 7+7, do I also get 150 internet minutes on each leg or do I get the 250 for an 8-14 night cruise? Do I get a minibar set up each 7 nights, or do I get one for the 14 nights? Again, my guess is that what I get is based on how I book it, but that's only a guess.[/quote']

I'm new, but know this one.

When you book as a single cruise of 14 days you will get 250, if as 2 separate 7 day cruises you'll get 150+150.

If they offer a free specialty dinner as a perk, the it's the same way, 1 dinner if booked as a 14 day, one each leg if booked as 2 separate.

There is another way to look at this. If other people are willing to pay for some of these perks, it will keep my price lower. I have no problem with other folks paying for what they want, it makes sense to be able to customize their experience, like choosing to go to specialty restaurants, buying drinks, shore excursions. Think back to when you first starting cruising, what were the fares then? For me a balcony has been in the $100ish per person per day for over 10 years, so if Princess chooses to offer folks the chance to pay for upgrades, it helps defer the costs for the rest of us. People want choice, and Princess is giving all of us a chance to customize our experience. I fully understand why this site is called cruise"critic". Cruising is the best bargain anywhere. A 3-4 star hotel, room service, maid service, going to different ports with sea days in between, good enough to great food with lots of choices and no dishes or cleaning to do. Try that anywhere on land at these prices!

Anything to keep the price lower for the rest of us.

I wish they would increase the base price on each passenger by $10 and get rid of the art auctions.

I have another idea to both save then money and resources as well as generate revenue.... offer an option in the personalizer for $5 fee they will stop leaving all junk mail (only leave patter and disembarkation paperwork).

I would buy that in a second:)

Maybe next surprise will offer upgrade to elite for the cruise?

7- day upgrade to elite for $100

8-17 day upgrade for $150

More than 17 days for $200

Is this where it's headed?

We are planning on renting a scooter from Special Needs Group which is advertised on the Princess website.Has anyone used them in the past and will their most basic scooter fit through the doorway?Thanks for any info!

As long as it's the one for 250lbs or less, I was told it would fit when we ordered from them last week.

I guess we should now refer to it as unhappy hour. [emoji483]

I was thinking that as well. When 3:00pm comes around many will remember the great times in crooner's during unhappy hour:(

Soap and water is by far the best. There are some commercially available wipes that are active against viruses' date=' Honestly, the best answer is probably to wash before you go to dinner and then to wash again after you handle the menu to order. While some lines wipe off all menus, I doubt that even they use a product that will kill both most bacteria and viruses. You have no idea how many people have handled that menu and where else their hands have been.

 

A lesser alternative is to wash well before leaving the cabin and then use a hand wipe (not sanitizer, but a physical wipe containing product) after the menu. While it is true that you can become ill from one viral particle, it is also true that the lower the bacterial or viral load, the less the chance of causing illness.

 

There are people who wipe down all cabin surfaces, airline seats, tray tables, etc. and there are those who trust the room steward to do it. But no matter what, you are responsible for your own hand washing. This is your best protection against diseases that are transmitted by hand to mouth contamination.[/quote']

Good point! I've learned to never touch my eyes nose or mouth to prevent getting sick. I'm not a germaphob, but do take lots of care when onboard.

We will need to find some kind of hand-wipes for after the menu.

I'll also ask the matre d', maybe they do take the precaution of wiping them after each use.

We're only been on a few and knock on wood no sickness yet.

We do take along Clorox wipes with us and give the surfaces in our cabin a good wipe down first thing.

which do you use when going to the dining room or buffet?

I've never used the hand sanitizer because of the stickiness afterwards and the hormone disrupters.

Until just moments ago I thought both were effect against norovirus.

I was wrong, CDC says alcohol based hand sanitizer will help prevent the spread of the flu virus, but are "largely ineffective against norovirus and it's better to use soap and water.

Kinda scary because I notice very few who take the time to wash with soap and water and dry with paper towels...maybe like 10%.

I hope princess is following this.

There are going to be a lot of unhappy repeat customers when they try to use their coffee cards that explicitly state terms that are NOT being abided to by princess.

Finally got a cabin assignment, an upgrade from a BD to a DB- bigger balcony- we can have our chairs looking forward lol- all packed- well almost- just have to shuffle some things around-trying to bring our 2 bottles of wine and not have to buy them in Fl- this one is easy as far as ground/air going/ coming- mid day on both, talk some more tomorrow

Hi crisp1,

Did happy hour disappear on the royal yet?

There is a reason most cruise ships are registered somewhere else other than the US. It is because many of the laws people are quoting do not necessarily apply to them. So all the Cruise Critic lawyers may/may not apply to the cruise company. And will remain that way until the individual complaint is resolved in a court of law. Othetwise it is all just speculation.

I don't think there's any speculation.

I didn't put the terms that on the coffee card there, they did and it's their responsibility to abide by their own terms on the card. If they want to change their terms, then they need to have cards printed with their new terms and let the old cards run out their course.

Princess ships are not registered in the US and do not fall under the FTC.....also they are subjected to international maritime laws....they can pretty much do what they want....:)

We bought our cards from the princess website which is in California (inside the states). If a card is purchased this way, FTC and state of California rules do apply.

I suppose that those cards that are purchased onboard may not be covered by US law. In either case the terms that are printed on the card should be adhered to by any company that operates "honestly".