partybarbie

I’m leaving for a Panama Canal cruise in two weeks. Shots aren’t required for Cartegena, Columbia or Panama City, Panama. I will probably bring my Covid vaccine record with me, just in case. It’s not currently required though.

I think you got lucky. My recent experience was horrible and too lengthy to waste my breath repeating. After 84 cruises with Princess, I will never book directly with them again.

I probably know as much as anyone else. CNN is reporting that it is a problem, but it seems to apply more to cargo ships than cruise ships. Ships are still going through, just not as many, and there are weight restrictions.

A couple of major differences would be the lack of Alfredro’s pizza on the Ruby and the lack of Skywalker’s on the Grand. The Grand does have the One Five nightclub though. The Grand doesn’t have the Adagio bar. Another difference is that the Grand has a covered pool and the Ruby doesn’t. I would still probably go with the Ruby.

I’ve sailed on the Ruby a few times, the most recent being last October. For an older ship, she’s pretty nice. We have a group going on her again, next month, for a Panama Canal cruise. She has a beautiful Promenade deck and a really nice Crooner’s bar. I’m sure you will have a great time in Alaska.

I would go with Glacier Bay, but I really enjoyed sailing roundtrip out of Vancouver more than San Francisco. It seems like you have already made plans to leave from San Francisco though.

We were on the Royal in May and we were constantly getting charged for drinks. We both had Princess Plus, and didn’t go over our limit, so I am not sure what the problem was. All of the charges were removed, except for disembarkation morning when we were again charged for drinks. I hadn’t checked my account that morning because I didn’t even order a drink. I would love to know how that happens.

We did have the Princess insurance, but it was before final payment. We did get the deposits back immediately because they were FCD’s. I was told that the new policy was only passenger two could be swapped out, not passenger one. My TA also tried to help, even though I hadn’t booked with her. Princess wouldn’t even discuss it with her and wouldn’t let her take over the booking (which is my own fault for waiting too long to transfer it to her). It’s been a huge fiasco. The cruise has gone up over $1,000 per person since we booked two years ago. It is a long story, but the cruise is being sold in segments. My husband and I will board the ship in Auckland, for a 17-day cruise, and my mom and sister will now board in Sydney for the 13-day segment. Princess is only too happy to resell the original booking and pocket the extra money. The cruise is almost sold out, so it won’t be a problem for them.

I hope your TA can help you. I just went through this exact situation and Princess refused to change out Passenger One for a different passenger, even though Passenger Two was staying the same and was on the original booking. After three phone calls, and a supervisor, no one would help us. Lesson learned. I will never book directly with Princess again.

So glad I found your Live From. Thanks for the fantastic review. Can’t wait to board the Ruby next month. Our friend, Paul, will be the Piano Man in Crooner’s. He is really good.

Lol, too much other stuff getting in the way. If you weren't on your pause, I would have seen you on the Ruby next month. We will be on the Panama Cruise. Hope you will be back to cruising soon.

I believe the $14 is AUD. The poster is Australian and on the Diamond Princess. We only paid $40.00 per person, per day, for our cruise in February. I'm guessing we will be getting nothing extra and liking it, lol. At least the promo that I booked us under included a free specialty dinner, but that says $29.00 each. Should be interesting. 😏

We had a 12:30 flight on our January cruise. We disembarked around 8:00 am and had plenty of time. There was a bus company at the cruise port that sells tickets to LAX for $25 each. They prefer cash. We used the bus without any problems.

My husband and I were on the Crown in January. The wait times for dinner, even with reservations, were unacceptable. We would line up at 6:30 pm, for our 6:40 pm reservation, and we wouldn’t be seated until after 7:00 pm. One evening, we didn’t even receive our first course until 8:00 pm. I would recommend booking a couple of nights at the specialty restaurants. You might also have better luck with an earlier or later dining time.

I also book through a TA and receive the upgrade bid notices. I just don’t see the attraction of playing “cabin roulette”.

Thank you to all of the live posters. I know how challenging it can be. Has anyone been to Crooner’s? Would love to know who the current piano man is?

The majority of the flavored ones are Absolut. The ones I can remember are lemon, orange, and lime.

There’s several, although I don’t recall all of them. My go to gin is Bombay Sapphire, so that’s included. The vodkas are Sky, Absolute, Tito’s, and Grey Goose. I’m sure there are a few more, but that gives you an idea.

My dad and I booked three, four-day cruises, B2B2B, and received three mini-bar setups. Unless the policy has changed, the length of the cruise shouldn’t matter.

Yes, you are supposed to.

Photos from last week’s dinner at the Crown Grill, on the Crown Princess.

Ours also shows up at the same time.

LAX is a nightmare. We can wait a few minutes for the Princess bus. I would prefer to fly into Long Beach, where I would take a cab, but I couldn’t get decent flights. I had a friend that recently tried to use Uber at LAX. The guy was late, said he couldn’t take the luggage and to call someone else. I don’t need those kind of problems.

No, it doesn’t include the transfers. The current transfer price for LAX to San Pedro is $34.00, each way.

We arrived at Pier 27 at 11:00 am, on 11/13/22, and had no wait at all. The ship was already boarding.