yoyosma

After coming off the Golden last week, I finally had an epiphany on how to get from one end of the ship to the other. :p The worst bottleneck I have seen yet was on Promenade deck at the intersection of the casino/piazza/bar. They put up those sale tables on the deck at the edges of the balcony, and then crowds of people stand in front of the tables, filling the space. Coming out of the casino are people walking to the aft of the ship who meet crowds of people walking to the front of the ship, complicated by scooters, walkers, strollers, etc. all creeping along as if on parade. To add to the fun, the photographers take over the little area in front of the casino, and lines form with people wanting to get their pictures taken right where the scooter parade must pass by. If some entertainment is taking place in the piazza, then the rails are thronged three-deep with people hanging over to watch. It's a nightmare.

 

However, I realized that instead of going up or down a deck or two, I could swing to the right and go behind the elevators to get into the next bottleneck, the madhouse outside Explorer's, etc. The only problem with my scheme is when the photographers have taken over the area around the elevators, too. One solution might be for people to look around and ask themselves, "Am I blocking traffic?" (I know, that's never going to happen.)

Wow you are bringing back memories. I just go with the flow. It seldom takes me that much longer but I do believe going up 1 or down 1 floor helps depending on what is above or below. I really do dislike the photographers taking up the passage space, especially by the mid ship elevators or whenever they block the Piazza stairs.

Wash your hands frequently for at least 20 seconds using soap and warm water. wash them just before eating. hand sanitizer is ok for bacteria but not as effective for a lot of viruses. but it is better than nothing. I use it at the buffet after getting my food - I exect the handles are contaminated by all those people who can't be bothered to wash.

Avoid touching railings and elevator buttons. I use my elbows a lot.

I sometimes go and wash my hands after handling the menus in the dining room too. It depends my take on the general health of my fellow passengers. You can sometimes tell there is something going around.

Get your flu shot.

I sometimes get sick after getting home but that could be the exposure to stuff in the dry airplane air and then returning home to the cold after the warm. Hard to say. I also use stuff like airborne if I think I may be getting sick. It does seem to help me a bit.

I know this is probably silly, but if someone coughs or sneezes in the elevator or hall I hold my breath until i get off or past the point of the cough/sneeze.

Does anybody know what is immediately in front (forward) of inside staterooms R207 and 208 on the Royal?

 

These cabins are the only two forward that are in the IE category; just wondering why? This will be our first time on the Royal - not sure what the white space is in front of these "sideways" cabins.

 

Thanks for any replies....

I think it is a crew area and/or ships storage area, this would be the whitespace between the two cabins, not next to the cabins. I was in cabin M217 last November and one morning I could hear what sounded like a hilo backing up - the beep beep beep and motor running. It wasn't loud, but I was sleeping late and it woke me up. Just one morning. It sounded like it was lower in the ship.

Given the size of the spaces you are asking about, it could be crew quarters or storage.

There is another issue you may encounter when dowloading to your kindle on board ship. Logging on to Princess's internet requires pop ups or multiple windows, forgot which. My Kindle Keyboard can't handle them, so I can't log on. No problem, I just use my ipad mini or my nook hd. The kindle stays at home now.

It is also good to know that you can use your internet minutes more wisely with your own device, like the ipad or a laptop. You can download your email then read off line and compose replies off line then log in again and send them. Last time I used the ships computers you couldn't open tabs to load pages to read offline later either.

Spirit is my airline of last resort. I won't say I would never fly them, but if I have a choice I will not fly them again. Their planes are not clean. I had an issue with my seat being dirty the last time I flew them. I didn't have anything to clean up the armrest and tray table before takeoff so I asked the flight attendant and was told that is not their job. So I asked if they could bring me something to clean it up. Not their job. I asked to get up and get something myself and was told that I couldn't leave my seat. It was disgusting and the attendant was snarky. The woman next to me told me I should report it but I knew it was useless. I read afterward that a businessman was forced to sit in a previous passengers urine so the plane could take off. The door was already shut so he couldn't even leave the flight. This was in an article about the CEO and his disdain for his customers.

Personally, I worry about safety as well.

A shame because at one time it was my airline of choice. The attendants acted like professionals, they were really good and inexpensive. No more.

Princess has/had a sailing or 2 that stopped in Haines this year. I was very tempted to take that cruise. I haven't looked for next year yet.

I do wish Princess would mix it up a bit. I haven't been to Sitka in years. It was on our lask HAL cruise to Alaska. It also stopped in Haines. And funny thing, we took an excursion to Skagway. I'm really itching to go back to Alaska next year. And another port I miss that HAL uses and Princess doesn't is Seward.

Does anyone know what happened to this web site? https://pevweb01.broward.org/Public/PublicMovements.aspx It was the web site that provided you with the marine traffic and berths ships were assigned to while in port everglades. This schedule provided the information one week out. I am sailing on the Caribbean Princess Thursday and sure we will utilize pier 2, but am still curious as to where this web site went or if there is another like it?

Cheers!

Ken

Is this what you are looking for?

https://pevvesseltraffic.broward.org/webclient/public/publicmovements.aspx

But YoYos Ma - you received the photos. I wonder why Deb's email won't permit that size??

It would be a restriction by her mail service/server, mine is different. I have thought about emailing the photos one at a time, but since they are available on CC, I shouldn't need to do that.

Got a mailer demon back saying the files were to big.

Sorry, we were unable to deliver your message to the following address.

 

<drmrjm@cox.net>:

Remote host said:

552 5.2.3 DATA size exceeds maximum permitted

[bODY]

OK, just forwarded them to your cox.net email. Hope you get them, I could see the attachments on the forward.

I can't figure out why but I have not received the photos at either address that I gave you, even checked junk and spam. Darn, I guess I will just have to wait for the "in person" experience. Thanks for trying.

I got mine, they are really good pictures. Seems strange that they aren't getting though, but all those spam filters and firewalls may be defeating you. I'll try forwarding my email to you and see if you get that.

Sent photos to YoYo and Deb. It looks as if it worked this time. Enjoy!

Thank you, great pics.

CI66774, would love a copy of those photos too, if you don't mind. I will be sharing that cabin with my husband for the Easter cruise. Thanks in advance. Email is in my signature.

Great summary, I am so looking forward to my 3 weeks in January/February.

We usually prefer the covered balcony mini suites but are in an aft facing balcony cabin on our next cruise. While I will miss the bigger bath a lot and the sofa a bit, I just love the aft facing balconies, especially the ones on each end of the back. We are in C752 on the Ruby at Thanksgiving. When I saw it was available, I just grabbed it and never really looked back. I have not seen any of the Emerald Deck mini's available and I booked this cruise over a year ago. I would not take a Dolphin Deck mini because the balconies are too exposed and I think a lot of them have a view of the life boats as well. So for me, I would keep the balcony cabin. I am assuming you are on one of the Grand Class or off shoots there of. Otherwise my comments are not very relevant.

Make that much larger than either Royal or Regal.

I just took a look at some sideways cabin photos on cruise deck plans. The site is free but you have to buy a subscription to see the photos and I don't think I can share the photos here. No pictures for the Emerald Princess, but several on the Ruby Princess and one on the Crown Princess. None of them had barrel chairs at all, just a desk chair. The cabins have a bit more room and maybe more storage. I would take one if available and I was traveling solo. Not sure what's directly above them, I would make sure it wasn't something noisy like the buffet area or the pool seating area.

Terminal logistics should be interesting that day, especially if Allure or Oasis is in port as well.

One of them will be, the Allure I think, as the Regal departs on a Sunday. We will be on the Regal for it. I am betting Regal will be at berth 2, maybe Royal will be at 4? Or 21, 26, or heaven forbid 29. I'm not sure if the construction on 4 is done yet and if it is large enough for Royal/Regal. It could be real interesting if they were parked nose to nose at a 45 degree angle.

And the pull down beds may block balcony access.

Although I drop some money in the casinos on board, I have never received an invitation to a casino cruise. I am curious. Is there a minimum amount you must spend in the Casino on a cruise to qualify? Is the cruise a special price? Or is it extra money to sell slow selling cruises? Details please and thank you.

There goes quiet evenings on Marina deck forward balconies that I love so much. no peace there now.

Didn't search for this, but I seem to remember someone getting locked out on their forward facing balcony during sailaway on the first or second Caribbean sailing of the Royal last year. I remember the posting on CC for help! Was probably the handle closing on the sliding door though.

Thanks, the price for my category has not changed since I booked it and the OBC is the same. If I wanted to give up the aft corner cabin I could save about $600.

People should note that the balcony looks to be the same price as OV.