Cruisin Kay D

We have a 5:30 PM flight from FLL on the day we disembark a Princess cruise from Port Everglades. We are considering a rental car for the day. Do any car rental companies pick up at Port Everglades? Is it best to get a taxi to the airport and pick up the rental car there?

Were the pictures of the "4 AM food in the cases" taken at International Cafe on Deck 5?

RC is firm in its rules, even when they don't tell you the rules. My experience: 10 years ago we actually were kicked off a Royal Carib ship 4 days before boarding!! About 2 months prior to the girls' graduation from high school, I called directly to a Royal Carib phone number to book my husband, me, my granddaughter & 4 of her friends. The Royal representative took all the names, birthdates, credit card deposit, and various other information (if using a passport # or birth certificate) and he assigned us in 3 cabins with hubby & me between the girls, with 3 on 1 side & 2 on the other side. About 3 weeks prior to the cruise, I went into the RC website to check the names, birthdates, etc. I found that the RC booking repr I talked to apparently had changed the birth years of 2 gals which made 1 appear to be 27 (not 17) and other one to be 22! I couldn't understand the mistakes and promptly changed them to be accurate! Four (4) days prior to the cruise I called in to confirm that any unspent money their parents put into an onboard account would be returned to the girls. The person I spoke with said she needed to put me on hold to check on this...at end of hold I was talking with someone higher in the chain who said we could NOT board ship due to not enough adults with the girls! I asked if I could get one of the mothers to go too.....answer NO, not enough room in the 3 rooms we were assigned....then asked if we could be moved to cabins that would accommodate us and answer was NO. I begged, pleaded, cried, cussed and go nowhere. Woman said you are welcome to go to the ship but we would be denied boarding (HUH? drive from TN?). Woman said it was my fault for putting in wrong birthdates.(NO was NOT my doing!) Woman said they would consider giving me the money back (HUH? why maybe?). My question to her was WHY did you not call me about this problem? (No answer, still said my fault.) Not only did girls not have their "dream" trip and a cruise line "might" give $$ back, I had to find somewhere to take these girls for their Senior trip, and tell them of the change, hardest one to tell this situation was my granddaughter. I got lucky to find a condo in Daytona Beach -- we ended up having sunny gorgeous weather there....and the cruise had rain every day!! Took quite a while to get the money back from RC -- received several calls from RC, asking why I cancelled the cruise, and I said I did NOT cancel it, RC kicked us off. I did not book RC for years after this!

That is SIMPLY TERRIBLE on RC's part!! It is simply unbelievable that a cruise ship change by the cruise line for a cruise far in the future, that they could not accommodate you!! But I know vividly the crap that RC put me through 10 years ago just a week before boarding by kicking my group off the ship and blaming ME for lying & booking online & typing incorrect birthdates when I absolutely booked by calling RC on the phone!!! Accounting didn't want to refund me the full price for 7 people and kept calling to harrass me as to why the cruise was cancelled 1 week prior to boarding, when it was RC that caused the whole thing. If I were you, Sunseeker, I would be looking to book with another cruise line!!! RC has treated you as if they do not want your business. So take it elsewhere. Not all travel agents would have had patience to straighten out her situation.

It would be nice if they gave you connecting oceanview cabins. Do you see any of those available? Honestly, connecting cabins are nice -- we used them on Radiance of the Seas as well as Carnival, Holland and Celebrity back when we used to take 4-6 grandchildren with us on cruises! (Now the 6 are in their 20s.) It was especially nice to have 2 bathrooms and all that space. Since RC chose to change ships, they should honor the Kids Sail Free perk. They may book you with 1 or 2 kids and your husband with 1 or 2 kids, but how you all occupy the 2 cabins is up to you all! You probably wont ever have the door betw the cabins closed anyway with their ages. I will be eager to read how your call goes and how you are treated!! Good Luck!

Hoping you get a NICE HELPFUL person!!! What date is the cruise & for how many nights? Have you tried to make a dummy booking to see what cabins are available? Maybe I can look for you.

My same problem!!! I am going to try that line too. I agree 100% you and I should not be penalized for not using our points when the darn government shut down cruising forever!!! There was no alternative for us! I asked RC about it recently and was told that is up to the banking company that has the cards if we get our points. So I will be calling again to try to use them, but I fear we are going to get a HUGE RUN-AROUND on the disappearing points!! In 2015 I booked our family of 19 in balconies paying for everything with 2 Royal credit cards, and continued to build up points. Used some in 2019 for onboard credit for a 7 nt cruise. (We took 5 cruises, total 10 weeks in 2019, and completed 2 weeks in Feb. 2020 on another cruise line, just b4 covid locked us up forever!) Our 1st cruise was end of March this year, with another in mid-July, both of those on Princess. Have an RC cruise booked 2 months from now & want to use points for onboard credit for drinks!

Sounds like complete BS they are doing to you!! You better make a call ASAP.....they wont even notice til right b4 the cruise & then will deny you boarding!!!! And they will blame it on you and try to keep your deposits. Happened to me 10 years ago and I "boycotted" RC for years. Princess, Holland, Viking have never done me wrong like that!! What are the ages of the kids?

We have the 3 Specialty Dining package too, for our October Allure western cruise. I read somewhere that the cruise line makes an initial reservation, but that it can be changed if we choose. Is this true?

Water in cans???

Thanks for this information!!

Martincath, you are amazing! I appreciate so much that you took time to educate me about so many places in YVR!! Several of your suggestions were some I had already looked and liked. Thanks so much!

Does anyone have any Princess Patters for Alaska cruises? I would like to find any Princess Patters and dinner menus this 2022 years Alaska cruises. (We will be on Royal Princess northbound mid-July.)

Martincath: THANKS!! If incoming flights are hopefully on time, all 6 of us will be going to hotel together. Should we plan on using a van-taxi or should I look at booking a limo-type service? Can 3 plus luggage fit into most taxis? Or should we plan on each couple using their own taxi?

Martincath: THANKS!! Do you have a favorite seafood place, perhaps on Granville Island? Restaurants with views are quite appealing. Also, one of our group is primarily skipping meat, though he is not totally vegan. Do many restaurants have sharing policies -- hubby & I don't eat huge meals! I am finding some good food choices at Happy Hours at several pricier restaurants....most of us are small eaters.

Can someone explain the pricing for a taxi from YVR to city (Blue Horizon hotel)? 3 couples (likely each couple will go in separate taxi because we are using different airlines and arrivals at different times. Can someone explain the pricing for a taxi from hotel to Canada Place to get the ship?

I have been debating back & forth about staying near the airport or staying downtown. I presently have a reservation for Blue Horizon for 3 couples. One couple is on a different flight, but all of us are scheduled to arrive between noon & 1 PM on a Thursday. We are staying 2 nights pre-cruise. We plan on sightseeing the day before boarding the ship, using the HopOn-HopOff bus as well as the little boats in False Creek. Any advice? Also need some restaurant advice.

Are there any wheelchairs in the check-in area(s) of Canada Place? My husband can walk and stand for a very short time, but he cannot stand in lines....usually we get him into a wheelchair to go through the maze of lines. I have read there have been lines taking 30-60 minutes or more!! We will be boarding Royal Princess on July 9. The port cruise schedule shows 3 ships that day: Royal Princess, Koningsdam and Ocean Victory (whatever that is?).

Are there any wheelchairs in the check-in area(s) of Canada Place? My husband cannot stand in lines....usually we get him into a wheelchair to go through the maze of lines. We will be boarding Royal Princess on July 9. The port cruise schedule shows Royal Princess at the East Berth, Koningsdam at the West Berth and Ocean Victory at the North Berth.

We were on Emerald in late March and was able to block the light beside my side of bed. On the upcoming cruise, we will bring eye masks.

The embarkation lunch menu in MDR is one of our Princess favorites. Always order the baby shrimp louis avocado appetizer, a salmon entree and the orange souffle dessert, together with a glass of wine -- soooo relaxing!