Itchy&Scratchy

Good info..we have same questions, so I hope more suggestions are coming😎😎

just go to the board dedicated solely to the discussion of a particular location.

I thought the number of choices and the food was very good on the Regal last week. As others have said, things seem to be lumped together, but you can still order as much as you wish.

 

Our last Princess cruise prior to this one was on the Caribbean Princess in December of 2015

 

We sailed Regal in April 2016 and we were thoroughly impressed with MDR AND buffet food. We expected the same when we sailed on Caribbean Princess in Nov 2016. We were disappointed with the buffet which was about 1/3 of Regal buffet's size.

Hi we have cruised Disney, Carnival,RCCL & MSC. Will my 11yr old be able to wear nice shorts and polo shirt to dinner on Princess?

why can't he wear pants? I put khakis and a polo shirt on my 6 yo for MDR, and shorts for the buffet.

You can still order a starter, a soup, a salad, a pasta, a main dish, a dessert etc. You can order it all if you want to, but who eats like that anymore?

we do. We make exception for salad, though. I don't want to waste my precious stomach space on salads when on a cruise. I'd rather get seafood and an exquisite dessert, and a decadent appetizer, and even a soup or two.

since this thread was first started Jan Swartz is no longer president of Princess Cruises but Group President of Princess and Carnival Australia.

really? Princess email to me as of October 18 2017 has Jan's signature as

 

Jan Swartz

President

Princess Cruises

My DS went on his first cruise at 3, but we didn't show him any videos or pictures. We did explain to him what's expected of him on the plane and on the ship in terms of behavior, and he did just fine. Oh, and he loved a bunk bed.

 

Also check out Travel with Children board on www.babycenter.com for invaluable advice.

dang. I think the best we've ever got was $100. That's on our very first cruise and we spent it renting a tux. Duh.

As to Bonaire, this is a terrific island for those who want to try drift snorkeling (off a boat) but the beaches are nothing to write home about.

I sort of see what you are saying, because the beach (sandy part) at the Lac Bay was pretty much non-existent, but Bonaire is now our absolute favorite destination for just being in the shallow water all day.

 

We spent around 5 hours in the water with our 5 yo. Just floating around, walking to the wooden platform in the middle of the bay and back - it's waist deep for a mile or more. It was the best water day ever. Other people windsurfed in the bay. Not much snorkeling there - no sea life to speak of that we saw. You have to go to Klein Bonaire island for snorkeling.

 

The beach itself wasn't anything - it was a tiny strip of sandy land, but we did get there early enough to get a lounger in the shade. I was pretty upset about the beach part until we saw the bay. Oooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh....

We want to go back.

 

Kiddo did manage to play with some sand on the beach, while we took a break from floating. He also loved seeing the tame iguanas and taking pics with them.

 

There was a bar on the beach, and lots of people were enjoying it.

yes, please check out Caribbean Destinations boards for each location.

 

Luc (Lac) Bay in Bonaire was perfect for our 5 yo.

Because it distracts you and the people around you and means you are't paying attention to what the presenter is saying.

no, I mean - before the presentation begins....

You added the excursions to your cart which means you want to book them. But Why did you add them to your cart if you weren't sure you wanted to go or did you want to do it before they sold out.

we put stuff in Amazon and Walmart.com carts all the time while we are making up our minds, but they don't charge us for the items until we actually click "place order" button. Duh...

 

In a regular store you walk around with a cart and put stuff in it. You don't PAY for each item as soon as you put it in the cart, do you? You can still change your mind before you leave the store.

 

Just because somebody puts something in a cart does NOT mean that they will go through with the booking.

 

We just booked a lobster boil for next week with some friend and we're required to pay upfront. They fly the lobsters in the morning of the dinner and I completely under and have no issue paying ahead. I bet that is a new policy because they probably had no shows in the past

bad analogy. I am sure OP paid for this cruise in advance, but he made NO booking for the excursions - he just merely put them in a cart. Not the same as making an actual reservation.

also is muster ever held on upper decks? (regal) that sure would be nice for me ;)

I didn't find Royal Caribbean's muster drill outside on a deck all that enjoyable. We were on the sunny side of the ship at 3 pm in FLL, with the sun shining directly in our eyes. It was really hot and uncomfortable. We were standing packed 7-8 people to a column about 7 rows deep. Nowhere to sit, even if you cannot stand. I cannot stand (back trauma), so I just sat down directly on the deck right in the middle of the crowd. It took forever until the actual drill started so our then 3 year old was getting hot and impatient as well. Thankfully, he had his toy cars with him so he was busy playing.

 

I am much happier with Princess doing muster drills indoors with seating available (even though last time I still had to sit on the floor because we were not first in line).

Quote: "I always amuse myself at muster by looking for the people who put their jackets on way before they are supposed to (there are always some who can't follow directions)".

 

 

Ditto... we do the same thing. We like to count the number of people who put on their life vest when they are not suppose too. We have found the numbers differ depending on the region you cruise. The Australian/New Zealand trip this year had an extremely large number of individuals putting vests on. Even after crew told them to take them off they put them back on again with the rest of their group now joining them. Crew came back over and had them take them off and as soon as the crew left they put them back on which led to more individuals in their group putting them on. No matter how many announcement they made about not putting on the vests people kept putting them on. Crew was running all over the place trying to get them to take them off. We looked around the room and saw that we were not the only ones chuckling at the situation, even some crew members started to chuckle.

just wondering - why is it so horrible to put them on before we are all instructed to do so?

at least make sure you gate check it instead of checking it as luggage. There is no way to guarantee your car's seat safety and integrity besides using it on the plane, though. Have you seen how baggage handlers handle luggage? That's how they will handle your car seat.

Wait what? The fettuccine Alfredo in the parm bowl is gone? This is a practical joke right?

I'll let you know after Nov 26. If I remember.

Also, the fetticcini alfreado in the bread bowl is gone. No bread, it's lumped in a salad bowl.:(

the Parmesan basket pasta alfredo is gone from Regal?

It was something I was really looking forward to since last year - it's heavenly.

 

Caribbean Princess' pasta alfredo (no parmesan basket) was pretty bad and inedible. Even our 5 year old didn't want it.

Thanks for confirming my thoughts! Delta switched us to 11:30am for no fee :)

great, because my answer would have been NO.

 

With our very first cruise we didn't know better, so we had a 10 am flight. We self carried and literally made it to the gate when they were closing the doors. We made it but it wasn't worth the stress.

 

Our last cruise's debarkation was grossly delayed due to immigration/customs delays. We didn't get off the Princess ship until after noon. There were long lines at the security and luggage drop off at FLL, so we made it to the gate after 2 pm. Thankfully, we had a 5 pm flight.

are you also bringing a stroller? If yes, consider getting a travel car seat like Cosco Scenera NEXT for $34. Bungee cord it to a stroller or a rolling suitcase, like this:

 

https://community.babycenter.com/post/a57092524/cosco_scenera_next_on_a_chicco_liteway_plus

 

 

It installs very easily with a seatbelt (not latch), is superlight and great for travel.

 

also check out Travel with Children board on https://community.babycenter.com/groups/a10635/traveling_with_children

Bonaire (Lac/Luc Bay)... Oh, that water... We don't even snorkel.

If you're not going to be going on any excursions, you could always have lunch before you go, and then pop back to the ship quickly for a meal if you get hungry again. You can take a plate of food from the buffet back to your room, and from there you could load up your ziplock bags, but it might not be worth the trouble when you can get a fresh meal in a local restaurant for $5-10.

we personally don't trust local restaurants, especially when traveling with a kid.

So, we fill up ziplock bags with breakfast pastries and bring small boxes of Fruit Loops from the buffet. Plus, bottled water.

Straws. When you're in port and you want a can of soda, don't put your mouth on it. You don't know if the ice it's been sitting in is good. I got sick once by drinking a can of soda in Mexico. Didn't think about the ice having germs.

Princess ships have straws, I know that for sure, since our kid prefers to drink through a straw. No reason to haul it from home.

right now this Nov 25 5 day cruise says "Interior from $49 pp", but once you click on the "select a room" link, the interior is $349 pp. I think somebody forgot to change the numbers.

Blood sausage. (n) They had it on RC. It might taste good because they had it almost everyday in April. The name of it, how it is made and the looks of it just makes me want to hurl.:eek:

my husband loves blood sausage. It's made locally by a very popular store.

we rented from Alamo last year and took at taxi from the port to FLL. To be honest, it didn't occur to me that they might have a shuttle.

We've been using a safe since 2009. I have never seen the instructions on resetting the password on a safe.