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The only time you might have a problem is when the ship is delayed for some reason. We've have gone out of FLL many times and never had a problem when we arrived at the port at 11:00 am.

On our Panama Canal cruise in Feb our group had our ground transportation pick us up at 11:00am. They dropped us off where they were collecting luggage and went straight trough check-in. We dropped our carry-on luggage off at our rooms (Plaza) and were eating lunch in the buffet by 12:00pm. We all could not have been happier.

After our Jan Panama Canal cruise on CB we were turned off to Princess entirely. We have never had a truly terrible cruise but this last one was as close as we hope to get.

 

Anyway just wanted to post regarding the Cartagena peddlers. They are incessant but generally polite.

I wanted to add warning about the psuedo Cuban Cigars that were offered and being purchased by many unknowing passengers that we saw. These were definitely knock offs.

 

Princess probably did save me a bundle in retrospect. We would have definitely done some homework in advance and looked to purchase a loose emerald but the restricted port time due to propulsion issues definitely nixed this.

 

Also if not mentioned I would recommend bringing water shoes to Princess Cays. The beaches near the pier were very rocky as you walked into the water.

 

Happy Cruising to all.

Sorry to see you are "turned off" with Princess. We did the same cruise in Feb with another couple, we all had a great time and do it again.

I agree with you with Cartagena and their peddlers, they were way too much for us. By the way you did not miss much about buying a loose emerald. DW bought one four years ago and paid about $400, she tried to buy another one and it was $1,600. We did enjoy going through the Old Town and looking at the current one, but not being hit on by all the peddlers. By the way we asked our guide about the peddlers and she stated they are having problems with people coming in from Venezuela.

On our recent Star Princess cruise, we were at an 8 top (but only 4 of us most nights). There were 3 butter dishes on the table, each with 3 balls of butter. When one was empty it was replaced with a new dish with 3 more balls of butter.

On our Panama Canal cruise last Feb on the Caribbean Princess, in the MDR we were at a table of 4 and there was enough butter balls for us and when we ask for more dinner rolls we were served more butter ball. What is with this measuring butter ball?? All you have to do is ask for more butter and you'll get what you ask for :D.

Stayed at the Day Inn on State Rd 84 on our last Panama Canal Cruise in March. There is a Mc Donald's next door and small mall with restaurants, bar grill, dollar store, liquor store and much more. The service was great and when we checked in we were early and they let us keep our luggage in a back room while we found something to eat. They also have a pool where we sat and a pleasant afternoon until dinner time. Breakfast was OK (Mc Donald's next door). They have a free shuttle from the airport and will schedule a shuttle to the port for $8. Will use them again next time we are in Ft Lauderdale - the price was right.

The last time we flew out of FLL we arrived at Delta little more than 4 hour before our flight. I asked the gal that checked us in if we were to early and see stated not right now (8am). I asked why the 4 hours, and she stated because when a lot of ships are in port they have a problem with a backup of baggage. Then I realized all the baggage I saw when just our ship was in port.

Just got off the Caribbean Princess on Thursday. Four of us did a 7:30 walk off, had Howard Transportation pick us up, drove us to Delta @ FLL, walked right in to check in (no lines yet), was TSA pre (no lines), and was sitting at gate D5 by 8am. That was the fastest I ever got to any airport in 15 cruises.

It's an extension of what's provided on the ship. You can send messages to others on the ship, view the patter events & if you want to logon to the internet, it's available at the going rates.

Thanks for the info. I do not know if I will need it, but it sure is nice to know it is available.

Thanks again...

I have another question. She also mentioned MedallionNet WiFi. I was wondering if this is a free WiFi or the same that is on board the ship???

When are you going on your cruise ?I was wondering if it was April 1 2018

 

 

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We are on the Caribbean Princess sailing on Feb 26th.

We are looking at doing a cruise to the Southern Caribbean in December visiting the following ports: San Juan; St Thomas; Roseau - Dominica; Barbados; Saint Lucia; Basseterre, Saint Kitts - Nevis; - just looking for some feedback on these ports - is this a good cruise itinerary? Many thanks.

If this is your first Caribbean cruise, this would be a great one to see a cross section for the Caribbean. Actually this cruise was one of our fist cruises 15 years ago. Beware that the hurricanes last summer took out St Thomas and Dominica. St Thomas is recovering, but I have not heard how Dominica is doing. They are pretty much on their own with very little backup. Hope enjoy the cruise if take it.

Reads from a script very monotone. Not the best in my humble opinion.

Thanks for your input. I was afraid of that, that is the reason I was asking. I really enjoyed the historian we had on the Island Princess.

Just received an email from Princess about our entertainment on our up coming cruise. We are going to the Panama Canal and they are showing the Destination Expert to be a Cheryl Lake. I was hoping if anyone had her before and what they thought of her. The last time we were at the canal we had a historian and he was excellent, was hoping we would have another historian on this cruise. Thank you all in advance.

I read a thread where that on the Caribbean Princess last month cruise, the ship stated they would be arriving to wait to go thru the canal at 5am. Apparently quite a few people complained that they got up at 5:30 and some a 6am and found the ship was already starting to enter the locks.

We are on the Feb 26th cruise. We all booked a guarantee, we all did an Ocean View, mine was an unobstructed OF on the plaza deck, the other couple did an obstructed OV. What was strange to me was Princess assigned us a stateroom. We just got our documentation and we were not upgraded, but the other couple was upgrade from the OV to OF and their stateroom is next to us. They were never notified and when I call our TA she wasn't notified either and just laughed a little and stated who knows why and we might still both get upgraded to a balcony by the time we board. I do not think so just checked everything is Sold Out, the only thing left are interiors a very few balconies we would not be interested in.

EWR (Newark) the poster’s home airport is hardly a small regional airport! It’s one of the three very busy airports in NYC (or NJ for EWR).

 

 

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How about trying GRR.

Princess state on there own website that pools are pooled fleet wide

I'm curious, could you tell where you saw this on Princess website. Someone a while back told me it's there, but have not been able to find it. Thanks..

What's amazing about having your luggage make it to your destination:confused:?

The comment by a SW staffer? Yes, a little too amazing.

SW uses smaller regional airports. I find their personnel a lot more personable and they pay more attention to details. Not like what you see on You Tube or television.

Lately we have been cruising with one or two other couples. We always place on our luggage tags at the airport. One time when we were flying SW (we fly out of a smaller airport) and try to be the first flight out the day of the cruise. On one flight we were to have a 2 hour layover, but when we finally landed we had less than a hour. Before we landed in Florida we were going to make plans to see if we could get our luggage at the first port. However, to our surprise we found all our luggage coming out. When I checked in for our return flight I thanked the gal from SW for their service. She replied that our airport personnel notice we were on a cruise and made sure they were the last ones on so they would be the first ones off. So we now always put them on first and carry a couple extras for spares.

This is what we have been using https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017BVFA00/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 . I like the stainless steels ties and have ordered extra and used them on my ID luggage tags. I place them on our luggage before we leave the house. When the ship leave after 6pm we fly down the same day and have never missed our luggage at the airport.

It is a suggested amount that can be adjusted at guest services.

I agree but in the future if this gets out of hand I'll opt out and do it the old fashion way.

I've done walk off's several times to FLL. We never made it much before 8am. The problem you have the ship must be on time and I do not think Princess will have permission to disembark before then. Also; I noticed Customs personnel are just getting into position to check everyone out. Even if that worked out you still have to get to FLL at least hour to hour and half before the flight to get thru TSA. I usually can find a flight and have made it at noon or a little after and have make it home before 5pm.

Thanks for all your posts. Have been enjoying and following them everyday to help plan our cruise in February. Especially enjoyed all the photos. Have a save trip home.

Thanks again...

Yes, Destination Expert Chris Roberts gave an interesting talk in the Princess Theatre about the canal. He’s also doing talks about the other destinations. He’ll also be doing a live commentary from the bridge as we transit the locks.

 

 

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Thanks. I'll be looking forward to them on our Panama Canal cruise in February. I really enjoyed them while on the Island Princess.

Several years ago on the Island Princess, during sea days going to the Panama Canal, we had an historian doing lectures in the afternoons. Do they still have the lectures on the history of the canal???