Itchy&Scratchy

now that patters are out of the way, I'll start with the more personal stuff. We usually fly in the day of the cruise, but with all the flight cancellations and shortages, we decided not to risk it and fly in the day before. I chose Crowne Plaza because it was a little more modern than Embassy Suites (as in less dusty and old because my DH can't breathe due to allergies) and had a free shuttle. That backfired when the shuttle didn't show up for 1.5 hours, the hotel staff hung up on us 4 out of the 6 times we called, so it was pretty bad and even though the hotel itself was nice, we won't stay there again. Eventually we took a taxi for $25 (too much), but we were exhausted and just wanted to shower and sleep. The next morning I had a leisurely breakfast which we brought with us from home (hotel food prices were ridiculously high) while the boys (DH and DS11) decided to wait until they are onboard. We took an uber to the port around 10:30-11. Uber arrived within 2 minutes of us placing an order and we were at the port about 5 minutes later. Our medallions were not sent to the majority of our roll call fellow travelers' homes, so we picked ours up at the port. It took an extra 30 seconds. We used lovely silicone bands to hold them (from amazon): DS wore a blue camo, DH chose green camo and I chose purple which matched my phone. The bands worked great, but even though my DH's wrist is narrower than mine, he found the band to be too short for him. Embarkation at 11 took very little time and soon we were headed to the buffet. The buffet had a very nice lunch and it wasn't crowded at all. Cabins were ready by the time we were done with the lunch. To our surprise, our luggage was delivered around 2 pm. We played the "mustard grill" on the TV and then stopped by the muster station to get our medallions scanned. After that we chilled and unpacked. The show that night was a comedian, and we chose not to go. A lot of people didn't like him anyway and left before the show ended.

please know that you can book the same excursions directly and usually much cheaper. So, don't despair! It was much worse last November when we HAD to purchase a cruise excursion if we wanted to go ashore, because we had an unvaxxed kid with us. One of the ports changed literally 72 hours before our sailing, so guess how everyone was scrambling to book literally ANYTHING during that time.

I am a very fluffy American... 😞 But we only get a half a spoon of Nutella on our crepes. 🙂 Pure heaven! My DH and DS aren't fluffy... Must be me. But my grandpa with untreated diabetes lived to 85+ and dad with untreated diabetes is 74... My other side of the family was skinny and only one of them made it to 75. There are worse things than diabetes. At least most people with type 2 can say that they have enjoyed getting there. MDR gelato only came in two flavors last week on Enchanted: vanilla and chocolate. One different flavor of sorbet was also offered during dinner. We liked the raspberry flavor. DS very much enjoyed 2 scoops of chocolate gelato during dessert time. people love to judge. 🙂 when I see an enormous sugary concoction, I usually comment like this: "A diabetic coma coming in 3, 2, 1..." but I always mean it about myself. it didn't even look appetizing, unlike your photo.

the same people who did the same with the crepes last week on Enchanted. They piled ALL the toppings on one poor crepe... Monstrosities, indeed.

the computer won't know anything. I had to go to GS to remove mocktails/soda charges from our folio after our kid with the package ordered them on lido deck. The crew charged them to my husband instead by simply taking the room number instead of actually doing the medallion thing/taking a name with the room number.

there was plenty to watch for all three of us. 🙂 We love the free on demand movies Princess offers.

same on Enchanted last week:

we didn't have a problem with sticking around the airport on Tue, Nov 29. We left the ship around 9:15, go to the airport right away, dropped off our luggage with Spirit for our 1:55 pm departure, and then went through security, and firmly planted ourselves at the gate. I read a book for a bit, the boys were on their phones (DH and DS), then DS and I got him a lunch at Steak and Shake, and then it was time to start boarding at 1:10. It's much worse when the return flight is at 5, like it used to be when Spirit temporarily didn't have any mid-day flights. Ugh, that was painful. But pre-pandemic we weren't worried too much about sitting around at the airport for hours. To be honest, during the holidays Spirit's luggage drop off line lasted at least an hour, so we wanted to make sure we had enough time...

Stayed at the Crowne Plaza two weeks ago. Will not stay again... The hotel itself was good, the room clean and spacious, and it actually had a pod coffee maker (we didn't use). But they greatly soured our experience with a 1.5 hour wait for a free shuttle (after a long day) and by hanging up on us 4 out of 6 times when we called to ask if it was still coming. Eventually we took a taxi for $25... When we complained at the front desk at check-in about the unreasonably long wait (the hotel is like 3 blocks away) and the hang ups, we were told to basically get over it, because a free shuttle is not a guaranteed amenity. They said they were super busy at the hotel. We were the only people there! If they told us they were busy and the shuttle would take over 1-1.5 hours, we would have taken a taxi and saved all the aggravation. We were super tired and it was 10 pm when we finally got there. We landed at 7:30! The lady checking us out in the morning was a lot more apologetic and understanding. We took an uber in the morning - took 3 minutes to arrive and about 5 minute drive to the port.

Kid's club program:

We had a fantastic voyage and didn't even get covid this time! Yay! Very exciting! I'll post all the patters, menus, etc., so please be patient. We paid for an upgrade bid from inside to an obstructed deluxe balcony. E324 was perfectly located, even if the view was a bit more obstructed than in other cabins. We dined at Santorini every evening at 6 pm. We were seated within minutes, however, the service itself was slow paced, unlike on our previous Princess cruises. We saw almost all the big production shows and enjoyed them very much - better than in previous years for sure. The food was mostly great - more about this later. We didn't use the kid's club - the kid refuses to go, but I do have a program for the 11 yo group. We didn't have princess plus, but we got the soda package for our son. He loved the sodas and mocktails, especially the Key West cooler:

it's totally possible with the meter - depending on the airport and port terminal locations, our METERED fares ranged from $15 to $23, plus a separate tip.

Tue Nov 29 2022: $15 fare plus $5 tip (told him to run the meter) (Enchanted princess to FLL terminal 4 for Spirit), minivan, 3 people. 2019: the taxi driver didn't run the meter and requested $50 upon arrival. I paid, but was very upset, because I knew it was supposed to be $20-25. By law they must run a meter. Stick to it. The bigger ripoff was a taxi from FLL to Crowne Plaza - $25 (literally a couple of blocks), no meter, but we were tired and upset that Crowne Plaza shuttle didn't show after 1.5 hours of waiting, so we didn't care.

but at least RCI has the same show repeatedly during the cruise, so if you missed your reservation, you could show up again without one and still have a good chance of seeing it. On Enchanted last week each show appeared on one day only, with two showings. We constantly missed the 7:30 showing due to slow service in MDR, so our only chance to see the show was to show up at 8:45-9 pm for a 9:30 showing.

it was on Enchanted last week. Also: Dune, a bunch of X Men movies, Maze runner (3 movies), Deadpool, Aquaman, last Jason Borne movie, the Martian (great movie), last Bond movie, some Spiderman stuff, Superman vs. Batman, etc. a bunch of older stuff, but some are still my favorites: Hidden Figures, Gifted, Elf. Some thrillers/horror I can't watch, like 28 days later. As usual, some stuff appeared only after it was played on MUTS.

we've just completed a 10 day cruise with a standard fare and $90 OBC per cabin. I had a fancy coffee every day, DS had a raspberry gelato (vanilla and chocolate gelatos are free at MDR), DH and I had several alcoholic drinks. And I still had $1.95 left at the end, which I donated to the crew appreciation fund. We did prepay for a soda/mocktail package for the kiddo, and he did use it a lot (but not near as much as he used the cheaper soda package on the Allure, because most bars were closed in the morning on Enchanted and Enchanted didn't have a free style coke machine). It didn't make sense for us at $40. It didn't make sense for us at $50. And it sure doesn't make sense for us at any more than that. We are going to try MSC next time - alcohol and wifi are included.

really? we've never seen the cruise tours there. And it's pretty big - enough space for everyone. They can't really send you away - there is a lot of natural space. Lots of chaises for rent, but some people don't need it. There is a resort to the right and to the left... We were there last week. Lovely as always, not very crowded at all.

we need shade and gorgeous views, so we usually go to Sapphire beach. this is to the right side of the regular beach (so you don't see pretty sand on the actual beach): It's not very big, it's quiet, has chaises for rent ($9 each), lot of natural shade, water is not too deep, it's pretty - great pics. Beach: We went to Magens once and left underwhelmed. A soup of people in the water, hardly any space with all the people there, water was murky, too crowded.

yes, the rates were an unpleasant surprise compared to 2019-2021 rates. interestingly enough, we went to Sapphire beach ($15 pp) and then the taxi continued to Coki beach ($14 pp). Weird, right?

if you are bringing a Bubblebum inflatable booster, please make sure that your child is at least 40#. It has a good seat belt fit on kids over 40# and has a min 40# limit. Mifold has a questionable seat belt for small kids. You can always take an open air bus like this: it's equally not safe for anyone. Other than that, you could bring a very compact and lightweight Cosco Scenera NEXT for your 16 month old: you may need to learn to install car seats with a seat belt locking clip because the seatbelts may not lock the way you are used to, and the vehicle may not have latch/isofix. locking clip: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Safety-Seat-Belt-Locking-Clip-Universal-Accessories-Adjuster-Black-Kids-Safety/1020329963