shepp

I think they have found that there are enough people who will pay the high fares that they can charge them.

Same as with the much-higher-than-inflation annual price hikes to Disney parks.

I use a nightlight app on my Kindle Fire. There are thousands of options for the color of the light and the brightness is fully adjustable. (It can even also serve as a clock.) Kindle charges while I sleep. Perfect.

So what is it and why so important to some? Mike

Because some of us book obstructed view cabins as an economical step up from insides, and depending on location a cabin's view can vary from virtually unobstructed to looking-out-at-the-side-of-a-tender fully blocked. The POV photos on the site let you know what you'll be getting, much more accurately than looking at a deck plan does.

Next month I'll be sailing for the third time in a Grand cabin I originally booked thanks to Theo's wonderful labor-of-love site. Conversely, I'm in an inside on an upcoming Coral cruise because none of the available obstructed seemed worth the extra money. But if you don't book obstructed OVs, then the site will be of no importance to you whatsoever.

Two reasons DCL cruises are relatively expensive is because there are no casinos onboard and 8-year-old Princesses tend not to drink much booze. Two big revenue sources that underwrite Princess' lowish fares gone or reduced.

On Princess ships, have never nurtured or desired to have relationships with staff. But, on X & RCI it is a total different atmosphere which has allowed us to become well acquainted with officers when on our sailings and beyond.

I'm curious how that works.

Granted, on Princess I rarely see officers just hanging around. But on RCI and Celebrity do they spend a lot of time shmoozing with passengers rather than sailing the ship, or what? And what is this "totally different atmosphere," anyway? I've only been on X twice, never Royal. But in my innocence, I imagine the atmosphere on a Celebrity ship is more like a Princess cruise than the atmosphere on the Behemoth of the Seas. And, comes to that. why is a lowly cruise director or even a line dance teacher less deserving of your friendship than someone with epaulets on their snazzy uniform?

Next month we'll be sailing with someone who lives fairly near us. We met her and her late husband on a cruise maybe eight years ago and have stayed in close touch ever since.

And we actually booked two Canal cruises - one full transit, one partial - largely because friends we'd met on other cruises were going to be aboard too. We did the partial with friends we've since visited in Colorado several times. On the full transit, we'd planned to join two other couples from the Bay Area who'd been on our trivia team on a Transatlantic but one couple suddenly moved to Orlando, leaving just four of us. The four of us went out to lunch last week. But we'll be staying with the other couple in Orlando in November before heading to FLL for a HAL cruise. Just today we phoned a lovely San Francisco woman who was on two of our cruises and on our trivia team both times, and I e-mailed yet another couple we met on a cruise last year. And in two weeks we'll be meeting up with a British couple we played trivia with on our other Transatlantic who will be visiting San Francisco; we visited them in Liverpool on the same overland trip we stayed with another English cruise friend.

So yeah, we've made lasting friends onboard a surprising number of times.

Says it in the fine print at the bottom of the FCD purchase form: Shipboard credit is non refundable and only applicable to each Future Cruise Deposit purchased and applies to the holder of the Future Cruise Deposit only, excluding 3rd and 4th berth passengers.

Still, you should be able to use it for a reduced deposit, no? Did you call Princess?

Oh nooooo. That site is a treasure for the, um, thrifty among us.

Several years ago we used Green Way Tours for a combo jungle zipline and boat trip down the Toruguero Canal. It was fun and worth the money. They also do a full-day tour without the ziplining but with a 45-minute walk through a national park. Keep in mind that whatever you do, it ain't the Galapagos. You'll probably see sloths and monkeys but group tours in the middle of the day offer limited opportunities for birding.

If it's a punch card to use like out of the carts around the ship, I'm in!

Not to sound cruel, but people already took the time to write (negative) responses to your question. Did you read them?

Out of 24 Princess cruises I've sailed, I'd say there were magicians - often pretty good - on maybe 4 or 5. And in a similar vein, a hypnotist was featured on 4 cruises. My husband and I have each been hypnotized onstage a few times - great fun!

Long shot here, but...

I'm a bit late booking an obstructed view on the Diamond next year. What's left are cabins looking out on the upper level of the promenade deck or overlooking the staircases up. After consulting renter's photos I booked E201 since water level is visible and I figured I'd only see people's heads and torsos, and then only for a while. Anyone sailed in a "staircase cabin?" I'm thinking of switching to a cabin farther forward, where the bottom half of the view is blocked by the railing but there's no other obstruction...except for people standing in front of the window. Thoughts, anyone?

Maybe the Disney ships are just full of magic from the parks so it's easier to stay excited? Although I must say, we all have terrible energy sometimes, but vacation is where we NEED that higher level frequency. Time to stop and smell the roses and just have fun! :D:ship::tropical-drink:

Sounds to me like you'll be happier on DCL.

My experience has mirrored that of Thrak. When Princess comes out with a new offer' date=' I evaluate the total cost--taking into account any OBC, free gratuities, etc. What I've found is that the overall deal comes out very close each time--less than $100 difference, and usually more like $20! I see exactly what he does; if they add a good perk, they also up the cabin price.[/quote']

 

Sometimes, sometimes not. I booked B2B Japan cruises for next year that included $300 in OBC per person. I checked on fares after the OBC offer ended (and no other offer took their place) and they were precisely the same. And now both sailings are sold out.

We're doing the same itinerary next year, so the info you posted was very helpful indeed. Thanks!

(And wow, those shore excursions are pricy.)

My hubby and I will be aboard.

Simon

The 30-dayer from San Francisco to Buenos Aires remains our favorite. Amazing ports and penguins galore.

Cruise enough on Princess and you'll be invited to a Captain's Circle party where you can get free booze. Win a nighttime game show and win a bottle of shampoo, er, "Champagne." Cruise a thousand-plus days, become a Most Traveled Passenger, and you get a bottle of actually drinkable bubbly.

Please fill your water bottle anywhere but in the Lido. It is unsanitary and Princess has signs saying it is not allowed.

 

I know people like to do what they want with little regard for others but when I see that happening I ask an employee to step in.

Princess wants you to fill a glass from the Lido spout and use that to fill the bottle. I, frankly, see filling a bottle from a tap no more unhygienic than refilling a water glass and I bet you don't monitor that. On the other hand, I see the various environmental downsides of buying bottled water when the ship's H2O is perfectly fine to be a bit inconsiderate.

This is exactly why I don't like zodiacs, especially the way they run them in Mexico. They are aggressively chasing after the whales in a way that would never be allowed in Hawaii.

I've done a goodly number of Cabo whale watches on everything from a zodiac to a large catamaran, and I honestly prefer the cat. While the zodiac is undeniably thrilling, it's also restrictive. Last time on the catamaran we didn't get close to the whales; the whales got very close to the boat. We could also move around, go to the head, more easily deal with binocs and cameras, and have a nice tropical drink as we headed back toward shore.

And I've also seen non-raft boats attempt to get too close for the whales' comfort.

That rather depends on what you want to do.

I honestly don't understand why people who post questions like this don't give us a hint of what they're interested in.

Easy and dont know why there is any argument as it clearly states on what happens to auto gratuities on Princesses website - This gratuity will be shared amongst those staff who have helped provide and support your cruise experience, including all waitstaff, stateroom stewards, buffet stewards, and housekeeping staff across the fleet.

If I am eating in a speciality restaurant the gratuity I have paid for in MDR which I am not using is enough for those in speciality restaurant as they will get a share of auto gratuity. I have never ever had the need to tip extra on top of autogratuity in cash.

While I find the "across the fleet" thing troubling, I don't think that slipping an extra twenty or thirty bucks to a waiter who's served me well over the course of a couple of weeks is at all onerous. I've tipped that much for one slightly fancy meal in San Francisco.

I have no control over Princess' policies, but I can control showing my appreciation with a little bit of cash.

It's the Caribbean Princess. You just can't see Skywalkers in the photo. If I would have aimed up just a hair, it would have been in the pic.

Ah. I was looking for the shadow.

On the Caribbean, they added a full deck of cabins to the Grand class without increasing public spaces. Not my favorite ship.

Of the different loops--southern/inner/outer etc

Which is preferred?

Was surprised that some of the cruise options had so few real touring days (3/4) of a 7 day cruise instead of say 10 day cruises and seeing more

I did a lot of research before booking the Xpedition and the two available loops seemed roughly similar. I would figure out things you're most interested in - snorkeling, for example - and see which routing has the best snorkeling locations. In our case, we really wanted to see the winged albatrosses breeding on Española, so that decided it. And if you are into snorkeling, the season makes a difference.

Anyway, much as I loved the Galapagos, after nine days I felt I'd seen quite enough iguanas for the rest of my life. But YMMV.

Incidentally, we flew into Ecuador on our own and spent time in Quito and Cuenca before flying on our own to Baltra and spending a couple of days in Puerto Ayora for a couple of days before the cruise. There's a lot to see on Santa Cruz Island, so it was totally worth it.

And, by the way, I thought X did a brilliant job.

And, also by the way, we booked as soon as the sailing became available. After that the fares spiraled steadily upward. And upward.

. I don't think there is an International Cafe on Coral either?

In the interests of accuracy: there is. It's next to the Casino, which sounds awful but isn't.

It did seem the selection was sparser than on the larger ships, though.