Steven_&_Daniel

The location looks pretty good. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Old Sydney which is one block away from the ship. Walked there since we only had one bag each, so that was fast and easy. I'd love to go back to Sydney, but that flight is torture!

I may have ordered the Love Boat Dessert about every night on our recent 7 night cruise. Second night I figured out I needed a second one. The last night (St. Patrick's Day) he brought three in the shape of a shamrock.

That's cool. I'll have to keep that in mind. Thanks!

It's been a few years since we were at Princess Cays, and we've never really checked out the cabanas. From a quick search online, it looks like you may have to walk from the cabana area to the beach area. But it doesn't appear to be too long of a walk. I'm sure someone else can provide better feedback from their experiences.

Here's a map

Here are pictures

I don't know that it is available outside the MDR. You can show up for just dessert in one of the MDRs anytime in the evening. I have known people who have dinner early, go to a show and then go to the MDR for dessert.

I didn't think of that. That's a good idea. How late are they open?

Rather than start a second thread, since I'm kind of on the subject with my above post, is there anything you guys recommend from Room Service? I think I'm overdue for checking it out.

I've seen people leave their used dishes in the hall. I hate that. I assume it's better to just leave the tray on the desk when finished? If I'm going to do this, I want to do it right, haha.

We prefer the casual feel of eating in the buffet over the MDR. But I miss that delicious Love Boat Dream dessert. Is it still available? Is there another way of getting it besides the MDR? Maybe room service? We've sailed Princess 6 times and we've never even considered using room service. It's just something we never think of.

I would definitely avoid any cabin that is under where deck chairs are set up. The noise from dragging the chairs out of the way to clean the deck at night, then dragging them back into position to set up for morning is very annoying if you're a light sleeper. This would apply for any ship and whatever deck is below Lido.

As several have mentioned, stepping on board a Princess ship is like coming home. The entire world disappears, and an amazing calm just settles over you.

We've done most of our sailing on Grand class ships and feel most comfortable on them. But we also love the enlarged Piazza and buffet on the Royal class ships.

Love the International Cafe, a gym with an ocean view, watching the sun set into the sea on the Promenade Deck.

Personally, I still love hearing The Love Boat theme song. <3:ship:

There was a Smith machine in the gym when we sailed on Emerald a couple of years ago, but I don't know if that holds true fleetwide. I'm hoping so, as I'll be on the Sapphire for 10 days later this month -- I need to keep up with my powerlifting.

It's been a few years since we were on the Sapphire, but I'm almost positive that it does have a Smith Machine. I think all of the Grand class and Royal class ships have one.

Our first Princess cruise was a mini-suite on the Dawn (which is identical to the full suite on the Grand class ships). Ten days before sailing they called and offered us a full refund if we switched to a balcony. We definitely took it. Instead of OBC they refunded our money, but it took several phone calls and 2 months after sailing to get it. That was a while back, and they seem to do a better job with it now. (We booked directly with Princess.)

You definitely made the right decision. Enjoy your cruise!

We have not done that trip. We've sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale many times, L.A., and Sydney once. We've flown American, Delta, United, depends on times and prices. We always book our own flights both ways.

Upon reflection, I think I was confusing EZ Check with EZ Air. Sorry about that. We've never used EZ Air. We use EZ Check when disembarking so we don't have to mess with bags at all until we get back to STL and pick them up at baggage claim.

I guess I haven't been very helpful.

We fly out of STL. In order to use VISA rewards to book our air, we book our own and provide the flight info to Princess on their website. We also fly in the day before and book our own hotel. So we don't bother with EZ Air or transfers on the way there. We have used it on the way home, and find it very convenient.

You are correct, Princess Cays is on the island of Eleuthera. So mark it off.

Anyone who has been to Princess Cays who has never left the Princess compound, really should tour the island. I think we did that on our first stop there. It seemed disrespectful not to. It's a beautiful place, and the people were very friendly.

Whether or not you've left the Princess compound, you have been on Eleuthera.

3660 according to this article...

http://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Princess-ship-due-in-2019-to-be-called-Sky-Princess

We love the sideways cabins (without upper berths) on the Royal class ships. They feel very spacious and it's nice to walk in to the 'main' part of the cabin instead of a bathroom hallway. We highly recommend it.

Apparently it's not going to be fixed anytime soon. We got the same email and we don't sail until January 2, 2019. I love how they said, "lead time needed to make the necessary repairs is several months" which, apparently is code for 'more than a year'!

We had the same issue on the Diamond in 2015 from Sydney to Singapore. They cancelled one of the ports entirely in order to disembark on schedule.

I checked the modified times on our new itinerary and they're very minor. But if they cut the shore times again, we'll consider changing to another cruise.

We normally sail Princess, but recently sailed NCL for their Cuban itinerary. We enjoyed ourselves, but commented several times on how much we preferred Princess. Any cruise is better than no cruise, but given the choice between the two, go with Princess. It's more upscale without being stuffy. They also provide immediate access to your cabin, whereas NCL didn't grant cabin access until 2 pm. So, lots of people dragging carry-on around the ship. I know no one takes a cruise to watch TV, but Princess wins out there as well. Theater entertainment is also better on Princess.

The only time we strongly recommend NCL is for anyone who wants to sail the Hawaiian islands. Primarily because Pride of America is the ONLY ship that sails just the islands without a foreign port.

Those are both great itineraries, and they're both great ships. We've sailed both the Crown (several times) and the Regal. That is a tough choice. If you love spending time on a traditional Promenade deck, go with the Crown. If you like a great buffet, go with the Regal. Probably not extremely helpful, but a couple minor things to consider, LOL.

I don't know that you can really go wrong with either choice. Hopefully someone else will be more helpful.

I didn't know it was so popular, I also love the Beverly Hills Iced Tea. :cool:

If you want long walks, or lounging on the Promenade deck, go with the Golden. Otherwise, go with the Royal. Personally, we think the Promenade deck is the only down side to the Royal class. Other than that, we love it.

I found the link to fill out and submit the Affidavit on the NCL website at https://ncl.secure.force.com/CubaTravelAffidavit

We also called and paid NCL to process VISAs for us. They told to select Educational exchange – people to people.

The larger MUTS screen on the Regal & Royal were noticeably clearer & sharper than on other ships during our cruises. Maybe there was a problem with the video player or other components that resulted in poor video quality?

That's possible. I think the 'water fountain' only worked for 5 minutes the entire week. It was also making an extremely loud clicking noise that could be heard from half the Lido deck all during the last night and morning of disembarkation. So I wouldn't be surprised if there was another technical issue. I guess we'll have to see if anyone else on that cruise can comment.

Although unlikely, I guess it's statistically possible that every time I happened to look at the screen, they were showing SD content. I was starting to think that I had imagined HD quality on the Royal, LOL.

We were on board the Regal the week before Christmas. Loved the cruise, but I have a question. Has anyone else noticed the poor image quality on the MUTS screen? I usually watch at least one or two movies, or concerts, or something during a 7 day cruise. Every time I looked at that screen at various times throughout the day, every day, the quality sucked.

We were on the Royal's maiden Caribbean voyage, and I remember the quality of that screen being MUCH better than what I saw on the Regal.

Has anyone else noticed this?

It definitely depends on your personal taste and style of cruising. Many people say once you've had a full suite, you can never have anything else. We sailed on the Crown in an aft suite with the huge balcony, deluxe bath, and twin sliding doors. We never used the balcony, and certainly didn't spend much time in the bathroom, LOL.

We're always on the Promenade, Lido, or Sun decks. We only change clothes and sleep in the cabin. So we stick with inside cabins. We have found that we love the 'sideways' inside cabins on the Royal class ships. I buy a flower arrangement for hubby and it brightens up the room.

Stick with what works for you. If you're new, think about where you'll be spending time and book the type of cabin that best suits you.

I always pre-order the Personal Choice Arrangement for my husband through their website. We book inside cabins and the flowers really help brighten up the room. They're beautiful, smell great, and last a long time.