Superfragger

People who don't want to pay attention aren't going to pay attention regardless of the delivery method. In the end, if something ever happens it's them that are going to be floating bum-up in the ocean; not you.

I'm 27 now, so not that far ahead of your son, and feel like Princess is the best fit for me. We don't really like hanging out with younger people, nor hogging the bar, nor feel the need to be constantly stimulated with exciting things to do. I guess it really depends on his temperament; best thing to do would be to ask him if he'd be interested on a more relaxed cruise or feels the need to be constantly stimulated.

Just call them on Facebook.

Aside from perhaps the 8-year-old, I'm not sure your teenagers will be wanting to participate in the kids' activities anyways so I wouldn't base my decision on that.

As far as "feeling like youngsters," we prefer the laid-back, traditional feel of Princess, so we don't care much about the age of the crowd as we often make our own fun.

Are we the only ones who book mini-suites but never actually use our balcony except to walk/stand outside for a few minutes? :confused:

Not at all. We've always cruised in Interior or Obstructed Oceanview and on our recent cruise were upgraded to a Mini-Suite which had a balcony. We were rarely if ever in the cabin other than to take a nap, so we don't really understand why 1. people spend all that extra money and 2. with all that there is to do and see on the ship, spending all that time in their cabin.

Your best bet would be to contact Princess directly for more info and the booking you're looking to make.

The state of the tide can make a difference. The ship goes up and down with the tide...

Ports are usually deep enough that the ships don't have to play with their ballast.

Anyone any idea what work is being carried out in the refurb that Sapphire is having in March.

Only in drydock for 14 days. So they are probably painting on the sea witch livery, adding the luxury beds and modifying some of the dining venues as they have on other ships.

We boarded the Regal last weekend. Fortunately we did not have any attitude from the porter who took our two pieces of checked luggage. I only gave him $2. I thought it was adequate considering he moved our bags about 10 feet from where we gave them to him to the container holding other pieces of luggage. If you multiplied one bag per person times $1 per bag, that's $3,600 for the dozen or so men to split for a morning's work. Add in additional tips for those they helped with disembarkation, that's a nice day's pay, especially since they probably don't declare most of their tips as income.

 

We did get attitude from a cab driver on our last cruise who did not think we paid him enough. I wish now that I had not given him any additional tip. We had shared a cab from the port to the airport due to his thinking the other folks were with us.

Weird cab drivers are part of the experience on the way back from Port Everglades.

perhaps 10 was too much.

10$ is indeed a it much imho. I only leave 2 or 3$.

2. Food choices have changed from great to just ok

Food choices are subjective as well. As an example, I haven't been as phased by the whole burger fiasco; there's still some form of steak on the MDR menu every night.

Frozen lobster on a cruise ship is no good anyways, so why the fuss?

Just a guess, could the stop there be only for dropping off passengers for tours?

I would doubt it, as the Sapphire departs Copenhangen at 11pm and arrives at Skagen at 9am.

I'll say grandparents are a very helpful when traveling with babies but also provides good bonding time with them especially if you don't live near them.

 

I'll say that fort Lauderdale, San Diego, and Vancouver are all ports that you can fly to and sail out of without the need for carseata with some pre-planning. The combination of hotel shuttles from the airport or frequent city bus/train service can make it possible.

 

We cruised with HAL last year with both kids under 5 and the only kid related hiccup was when the 4 year old had to go pee while on the shuttle from the hotel. This next time when sailing with princess, we will stay at a hotel near the princess terminal in fort lauderdale so we can walk to it.

 

We are elite on princess but only 2 star on HAL...that being said, last time on HAL they took us to the front of the checkin line seeing us traveling with two kids. Grandparents got to tag along too. The buffet waitress on the ship did magic shows for our daughter every night and when we went to the dining room we went early for anytime dining to get a table quickly and service was fast.

Good luck convincing my wife on the grandparents part! :')

It's different than doing a cruise without kids, that's for sure. But it's enjoyable seeing kids get so excited for so many of the same things. My oldest is more of a cruise hound than I am, she's 5 and been on 5 cruises already. And it's actually easier than packing up hotel rooms every few nights and worrying about carseats.

I can imagine, but we don't live anywhere near a cruise port so doing a cruise with our one-year-olds involves all the hassle of car seats, hotels, flights plus the actual cruise itself.

Apparently you don't read very well. Where did OP state this ruined their vacation? Where did anyone ask for some consolation? What was reported was a factual statement of a 20 minute wait with the giving of pagers which is contrary to what Princess has written and published as their CC policy. Apparently you never bought a service like club class or you would expect to receive what you purchased. A bit of jealousy on your part that you can't use Club Class?

I've used ClubClass quite a few times in the past and can't quite grasp why I paid all that additionnal money for what is essentially the equivalent of a fast pass that isn't really that much faster.

We have the Scandinavia cruise booked for next year, departing from Southampton and stopping in Brugges, Skagen, Copenhagen and Oslo. There is a stop in Helsingborg, Sweden on the map and the ship itinerary in the Port of Copenhagen registry shows that the next stop is Helsingborg, but on the official Princess ship itinerary there is no indication of a stop here.

Does anyone have any info on this?

This is 1st time sailing with Princess have done P&O previously but i'm struggling to find any info about port dockings, Zebrugge is ok but what about Copenhagen & Oslo? Husband has trouble walking sometimes so i like to do as much research as poss before sailing. And as its sailing from UK will it have tea & coffee making facilities in cabins and will there be british beers available on board. Thanking you in anticipation

It may change but it looks like the Sapphire is scheduled to be at Oceankaj which is in Nordhaven.

http://www.cmport.com/en/ships-in-port/calls

http://cruiseportwiki.com/Copenhagen

In Olso, it appears that the Sapphire is scheduled to be at Revierkaia which is near the opera house.

http://oslohavn.no/filestore/Cruiseliste/Forventedecruiseanlp2018.pdf

http://cruiseportwiki.com/Oslo

Was considering doing the same sort of thing!

 

Can you tell me what the $ price is (including service charge) for a half bottle of rum on board please? My account is in GBP and the Princess currency conversion rate does not appear to be very generous. Just wondering whether it will be worth waiting until I get on board to buy the stuff.

 

Thanks for the info.

The 37.5cl bottles of white Bacardi rum were 17 or 18$ USD iirc. I was generous with my doctoring of the mocktails and had a hard time finishing my second bottle, but then again I only had 3-4 drinks a day.

Just bring a small flask and fill it up before leaving your cabin. Please be advised though that I'm not completely sure this is legit, I'm always very discrete about it and have never gotten into any trouble.

I admire the lot of you that travel with small children. I would never imagine doing anything other than roadtrips until they're out of their diapers.

Daka, the flu is very common at this time of the year. There's no way of knowing where you got it from, and no amount of sanitation will prevent you from getting it.

If you reserve Princess shore excursions pre-cruise, you must now pay for them when you reserve them. Can use posted OBC for this if you have any.

Important to note that even if you have to pay immediately it is fully refundable up to a certain point before the planned excursion.

...but that's the point... you don't get out near the pads without taking the up close buses? Well as of a couple of years ago that was the case? They also 'used' to have a tour that went onto the AFB to see the Apollo 1 pad/memorial etc. (Needed photo ID for that particular bus). The latter tour 'may' have gone away?

The narrated bus tour that took you out to the Saturn V hangar (which is honestly the highlight of KSC) was included in the regular fare and brought you near the crawler-transporter and several unused launch pads.

So for 25$ more you could buy the "Up Close Tour," which I think is now called the "Explore Tour." It took you behind the scenes, into one of the actual control rooms and into the Vertical Assembly Building (VAB) if it was not being used, and much closer to the crawler. It also included a meal.

We spent the entire day there once and didn't manage to see everything. It's definitely worthwhile but I would skip the "up close" tours as you see plenty in the visitor complexes and out near the pads and old assembly buildings.

Am I correct in thinking that "mocktails" are included in the soda package?

Yes. I spike the mocktails with some rum I bought off of Princess Cellars.

Can't believe we're four pages deep on a 20-minute wait at ClubClass dining. While inhabitual, if this one-time occurrence ruined your vacation I think you're well beyond consolable.