centralcalicruzer

Podgieree - thanks for the link, I have now saved to my computer for future use. Even though Princess clearly takes any year's form, it's nice to have the current one. Makes me feel more "official" lol!

I used last year's form just yesterday. I faxed it just before noon and when I came back from lunch and checked at about 1:30 I already had my OBC!

Getting ready to fax my request in. My brokerage statement is 12 pages long, does anyone know if I have to send the whole statement or can I just send the page that shows my Carnival shares? Each page has my name and account number on the top. I know I need to black out the account number.

Princess should try to vary their ports in Alaska a bit. I love Sitka, but need a HAL cruise for that.

My daughter is a Production Singer on the Grand currently, and she was just in Sitka two days ago.

We did and we did :) Keeping in mind that it was relatively inexpensive for the 4 day cruise, approximately $50. It allowed us on the ship earlier with access to our stateroom. It also came in handy the 2 or 3 times we needed to use guest services. It also allowed us immediate access to a tender when leaving the ship in Catalina. We were also able to leave the ship pretty much at our leisure upon return to Long Beach as it gave us debarkation tags with the #2 on them. We waited very briefly in the show room while the ship was cleared and we were off the ship by 9:30.

 

Overall, I found it helpful and useful at the $50 price point. I'm still debating its value for a longer trip but am leaning towards it being a perk I would purchase again, especially since only one person in the cabin needs it.

We haven't cruised Carnival in a while but looking to book a three nighter on either Imagination or Inspiration. So is FTTF pro-rated based on length of cruise? And if just one person in the cabin purchases it it is good for both parties in the cabin?

Fun review so far, looking forward to the rest of it. DH and I haven't cruised Carnival in a while, but looking at one of the short ones out of Long Beach for the same reasons - a quick, affordable getaway that doesn't require driving.

I hesitated when it was in the $45 range and have been kicking myself ever since. When I saw the pull back I contacted my IRA broker (Schwab) and asked them if there was an underperforming stock I could sell and then purchase 100 shares of CCL. Done and done in a day with an order to re-invest the dividends. I don't even have a cruise booked at the moment, but looking at one for November. Also, I think the dividend is $2 per share going forward if I'm reading correctly. It's already up almost $2 per share from when I purchased it July 2.

I think this is a very good idea.

Crew should be in the crew area..not using passenger cabins.

I also think they should eat in the crew mess.

(Yes, I am a grumpy old woman !!)

Entertainers are staff, not crew. They don't share in tips. Most staff are professionals and make decent wages. They are not slaves. Most of them have cabins on deck 4, but some staff members do have cabins on passenger decks. But they are LIVING in these cabins for 5-6 months at a time. They have ALL their possessions in these cabins. It's not practical to have someone in that situation pack up all their belongings over and over again because of an unfortunate incident with another guest cabin. It's the cruiseline's decision to allocate some passenger cabins for staff for whatever reason (not enough cabins on deck 4 perhaps) and the cruiseline chooses not to sell those cabins. Crew are usually not allowed in passenger areas when they are off duty, nor can they eat at the buffet. Some staff can eat wherever and whenever they want, but many of them are limited to the buffet only during "off" hours, i.e. not main meal hours. And the percentage of staff that are using the facilities you are so concerned about is very small compared to the number of crew. None of this takes away from the very unfortunate incident with the OP, and I agree that Princess should do something to compensate her.

I've seen lots of dumbbells but I can't recall ever seeing barbells other than in a Smith Machine. Lots of weight machines that can work the same muscles, but I know for a purist it's not the same! I feel like I have seen a "boot camp" type of class on offer (for a fee) but I've never taken a for fee class at the gym. We love working out in the gym and can usually find something there for us.

We saw the Beatlemaniacs on our first Princess cruise, 2012 Eastern Caribbean on the Emerald. Fast forward to our 2017 Eastern Caribbean on the Royal (same itinerary, different ship) and lo and behold there were the Beatlemaniacs again! I think the chances are pretty good that you will get to see them. Not a guarantee of course.

I'm with Toxicfairy - ten night cruise, ten dresses. MAYBE nine dresses and a cute top to pair with the jeans I would be packing or traveling in anyway. I like dresses and that is what I mostly wear to work. Most of them roll up into almost nothing, I try not to take anything on a cruise that will need ironing, so lots of knits, jersey, etc. For daywear, it's usually shorts/jeans and T's, depending on itinerary. I fit almost everything into a carry-on, my husband takes a full-size so I may need to squeeze a pair of shoes or two into his suitcase lol!

I had an inexpensive "waiter's" corkscrew taken from me by TSA at LAX last February. No blade on it, just the corkscrew. And yet, they let my husband keep his small folding knife because the blade was under the limit. Go figure. I should have put it in my husband's checked bag, but decided to carry my small roller on at the last minute instead of checking it. Thankfully it was just one I had purchased for a couple of dollars at Wal-Mart when we needed an extra one for my daughter's wedding reception. My stepdaughter was working on the ship (the Royal) and let us use her corkscrew that she already had on board, but I assume we could have gotten one from our room steward who brought us wine glasses.

As I was explaining above, the minimum compliance for formal night seemed to be:

 

1. Wear dress pants and dress shirt with necktie and no sportcoat or:

2. Wear dress pants with dress shirt open at neck with sportcoat.

3. Wear Guayabera shirt ( google it) with dress pants.

 

If you don't wish to get cleaned up for formal night, there are many alternatives:

 

1. Get a hamburger from Trident Grill/ Salty Dog

2. Get pizza at Alfredo's

3. Eat as much as you wish at Horizon Court

4. Order free room service.

5. Have wine and tapas at Vines, followed by dessert at International Court

6. Order the Ultimate Balcony Dinner

7. Book another cruise line.

You left off another choice for those not wishing to comply with the Formal Night dress code request - eat at one of the specialty restaurants where Smart Casual is always acceptable.

It's hard to tell the fabric of the first dress, which looks fabulous on you by the way. I think the second dress looks more formal but I would wear the first dress on a smart casual night. I love them both.

Does anyone know how they handle that if your ship doesn't go to Skagway? A couple of itineraries I am considering go to Haines instead. I know they are close in distance, but don't want to assume they will have the same events while in port.

I did the L.A. Marathon a few years back, and it will be crazy anywhere along the route. The course cut-off time is probably 6 1/2 hours but there may be people finishing up to 7 or more hours even if the course is officially "open" by then. Think 25,000 participants, plus family members and just general spectators all along the route. Traffic will be terrible. How long is the tour supposed to be? I tried to look up this operator but wasn't able to get to the website. If they can pick you up later and head first towards the areas where everyone will have already passed (i.e., Chinatown, Hollywood) it might be ok. There will definitely be a LOT of people near your hotel which is just south of the finish line.

I'm so glad you were able to get everything taken care of, and that's so funny about getting the new driver's license in time too. About two weeks before our first family cruise, my daughter's wallet got stolen out of her car (which she had accidentally left unlocked parked in front of her dad's house). We applied for a new one right away, but didn't think it would come in time, so I also called Carnival who assured me her school photo ID would be fine since she was under 18. As it happened, the new driver's license came the day before we left. AND, when we got home, my friend who was feeding our pets told me that a County Sheriff showed up at our house looking for my daughter. Of course my friend was concerned, and he wouldn't tell her why he was looking for my 16 year old daughter, just left his name and number. Turns out, he found her DL along the side of the road near his property out in the country, miles from where it was stolen. Just coincidence that he was a sheriff. So after all that, she now had two driver's licences!

I did not find our Alaska cruise to be any more casual on formal nights than our other cruises, but I did see more people in jeans and sweaters on casual nights than in the Caribbean. I feel like on port days more people just went straight to dinner in what they wore in port, not necessarily sloppy or grubby, just a little more casual than other cruises. We did see lots of long gowns and suits on formal night, I was kind of surprised but it may have been because we sailed from San Francisco and there were a lot of people on board who drove to port.

I don't see that it says that. Are you thinking that it's Libby Riddles who brings the puppies onboard? It isn't. She does come on in Juneau. But it definitely says that the puppies come on in Skagway.

But it also says puppies come aboard on every Alaska sailing. And not all sailings visit Skagway. So it IS kind of confusing! And I think Libby Riddles does bring a sled dog on board with her, just not multiple puppies. We missed her on our last Alaska cruise since we were on an excursion during the time she came aboard. And we visited Icy Strait Point instead of Skagway, although I'm not sure puppies were being brought on board in 2013. The two sailings we are looking at for this summer visit Haines rather than Skagway. Hopefully puppies will come on somewhere!

I don't know, 40% is a huge difference. I think you have to do what's right for your family and your budget. If it 's a once in a lifetime trip and you have the money, then go for Glacier Bay. If budget is a big concern, then maybe you opt for Tracy Arm. You do take a chance of not being able to enter Tracy Arm Fjord, or you could see this:

You had old coffee cards that could now only be used for punches, not unlimited brewed coffee. If they had exchanged your wet ones for new, dry ones, theoretically they could have been used for unlimited brewed coffees as well as the punches. So, I kind of understand Princess's position on this. Personally, I would have just set my coffee cards out on the desk in my cabin until they dried out...

On another note, if you had the PBP, why did you even need new coffee cards? Everything from a coffee card is included in the PBP. Or were you hoping to use them on yet another cruise where you didn't have the PBP? And if you are Elite, won't you have the opportunity for two new cards every time you cruise if you choose to exchange your mini bar set up for them?

I'm with you on the wine purchase though, it IS disappointing because that worked well for us when my husband had the AIBP last year and I mostly drank the bottles of wine at 40% off. Although it sounds like you both had the PBP, wherein you could just order wine by the glass as part of the package, right?

Thank you all for the sweet words of encouragement. I went with the 2nd dress. Everyone called it black, but in real life it's called smoke and is a gray with some dark blue tones. Actually that's another thing I like about it. I don't wear much pure black and this will go with the shoes I already have. The dress is getting shortened at the alterations place now. Being 5 feet even is a trial. This dress was a petite and I still have to have it hemmed.

I wish I could have gotten them both, but it's not in the budget. I already have a short formal dress that I plan to wear for the 2nd formal night.

 

I cannot wait to go on this cruise and wear this dress!!!

I actually thought the dress looked like a smokey blue-gray, but everyone was saying black so I went with the flow. Have a great cruise and make sure to come back and post photos of you and your husband all dolled up on formal night! I'd love to wear a gown sometime, but don't know if I could get my husband into a tux!

My wife and I are booked for the 15 night RT from LA to Hawaii. That itinerary includes 9-10 sea days. My wife and I would love to be able to enjoy our suite balcony during those sea days, and we enjoy the odd rum and Coke. I had my TA check on purchasing a 350ML bottle of Rum, but the only Rum available was coconut flavored rum!:confused: That wouldn't be my choice for a rum and Coke. According to Ship's Services, they don't offer plain rum!:( You can order Jim Beam, Jack, Crown Royal, Vodka, Gin, Courvoisier, Cutty, Johnny Walker, and something called Cruzan Coconut, but no plain ordinary Rum! :rolleyes:

I just checked on the Princess site under "Cruise Gifts and Services" and there is a choice of Bacardi White Rum or Cruzan Coconut Rum. I was not logged into a personalizer since I don't have a cruise booked currently, but you could easily check yourself and see if you can pre-order the Bacardi White. Might not be your rum of choice, but it's not coconut!

When did Princess actually implement the BOGO Happy Hour? The first I remember seeing it was on a Pacific Coastal in 2015. Prior to that, I recall a few specific drinks being around $4.00 at Happy Hour. And 3:00-4:00 PM was always an odd time for us, unless it was a sea day, we were often still in port. On our ten day cruise on the Royal last year I hit the afternoon happy hour twice. So, although it was nice and I'm a little disappointed that it's being phased out, it wouldn't make or break my cruise or cause me to leave Princess. Do other lines have a similar Happy Hour?

The black is more formal but the pink is really cute on you. Get both, won't the cruise have two formal nights anyway?