satxdiver

Just checked my account and it lists 12/31/31 as the expiration date. I have 4 cruises booked for 2024 and 2025. I first obtained the MOBC back when it first was offered submitting my DD214. I just wonder what magic you performed to get the further out expiration date.

Partly due to competition. Carnival and RCL both have the same cruises to the same ports out of Galveston. PCL left the area 6 or so years ago and are now trying to return and build up a clientele so lower prices!

This is regardless of where your home is outside Texas. All pax have to declare any liquor you are carrying and pay the tax of usually a few dollars. It is enforced by the state and not US officials. They can be found at a table just outside the federal area. If they can see the liquor you will be stopped, otherwise just keep walking. In other words hide the liquor and just walk on by. Only liquor bought from a licensed distributor can be sold in Texas including cruise ships. Texas alcohol laws forbid any sales such as two for one or liquor packages. Decades ago they did not enforce this with cruise ships but now they do (part of TX backwards policies). Furthermore state tax must be collected on anything you buy while on the ship (or off) so if you order a soft beverage state tax must be collected. These laws are enforced while in TX waters. It takes a little over an hour for the ship to reach international waters when they will open the bars and honor the different packages without TX state taxes.

If there is a difference in time, Princess will have you move your clocks forward/backward to match the time of the next port call. Unlike other cruise lines Princess always matches port time in every port I have been in. It reduces the chances of leaving pax in a port due to a time difference.

Not only can Princess not give you drinks in your package but besides paying for the drinks they will charge you sales tax as an further insult. They are only able to sell liquor bought from TX distributors.

When I board I simply ask the room steward for the distilled water. It appears later in the room and I get charged. However the ~$4 charge is not worth brining my own. and yes after a cruise there is always water left over. Distilled water is not good to drink and after a period will result in problems. Other cruise lines that we go on provide the distilled water for medical equipment in a one gallon container.

According to TX beverage laws, the ship is not able to provide alcohol in state waters on any package. Furthermore the ship must sell only alcohol bought from TX distributors so therefore they have a limited quantity aboard. Once the ship reaches international waters (little over one hour) can they open their bars and sell alcohol purchased from other areas. Therefore you must pay for any alcoholic drinks by the drink in TX waters and they must charge state tax for anything purchased including soft drinks etc. Another quirk is that if you are bringing back any alcohol or cigarettes purchased while on your sailing, you must pay TX state taxes regardless of your final destination once you deboard. TX has set up tables just outside the restricted area as you leave the terminal to collect the tax and usually has a spotter to direct pax to the table. US customs does not have anything to do with this and will not say a word about it to returning pax. So unless they can see you carrying it unconcealed you can just walk past on your way out of the terminal.

We were on the Emerald last month. Daily menus for that day were available on the TV but ordering from room service had to be done on the ap or calling. We were on the Enchanted last year and you could order room service from the TV. Evidentially it varies by ship.

I was on the Emerald last month and they had stuffed olives at Good Spirits. I had one in every morning bloody mary that I ordered.

In answer to a question above, the "new" ap requires androids on Google 12 or 13 and evidently is a memory hog. As I have said before the internet "experts" reminds me of my dearly departed BIL who as a teenager worked in the Sears garden shop as an "expert". Now on another thread we find out a "new" ap is about to be released with even more problems. If the current ap has serious bugs then in PCL view they release a new ap with likely more bugs.

If this "new ap" works as well as or better than the old ap, we are all in trouble. Whoever PCL has writing their ap is incompetent IMO. I have always had problems with the ap on androids. I am not going again until March and April but hold no hope of the ap actually working. I have and use CCL and RCL aps on my cellphone and they actually work and are more robust than the PCL ones. I have a dim opinion of the IT department at PCL in case you had not figured it out.

We have found that ordering drinks via the "ap" is fruitless unless you have them brought to the stateroom. I took a few times to learn do not use the ap elsewhere on the ship rather have a crewmember take the order and deliver the drinks.

Ships are made of metal while wood and other building products are not allowed. This is partially because of fire danger on ships. In a similar manner open flames, heating appliances etc are also not allowed. I always have a collection of magnets with me when on the ship and use the blank walls in the cabin to port things I want to not forget. I also use hook magnets to stretch my extension cord across for my CPAP by the bed. Yes, I know about the outlet hidden behind the bed but this is easier. While I do not put anything on the door, some do using magnets. So magnet away!

I find it hard to believe that PCL cannot design an ap that does not require the latest version of an android. This is particularly true when RCL has an ap that does work on older androids and is more robust than PCL's version. So now I had to shell out more to get an S23 with 512 gb to run this "wonderful" ap. Incidentally it does work on this version after shelling out $$$. When I spoke with the onboard internet "expert", we both spoke English as a primary language and I clearly understood when he told me it does not work on some androids. What he did not say was that it only works on the newest androids but he did tell me I should get an iphone (over my dead body!). Reminds me of my dearly departed BIL who as a teenager was hired by Sears to work in their garden area as an "expert" on the products.

I just left the Emerald a little over a week ago. I never could get the "wonderful" ap to work on my android (galaxy S9+). Early in the cruise I went to the internet cafe to get help. The male crewman told me the ap was written for the iphone and did not work on all androids. So looks like I need to go get an iphone (over my dead body!) or do without. It was kind of nice not carrying that brick around with me. I use the internet connection for my laptop (windows 11 thank you) and access the needed daily documents/reports that I need. So I just walked around seeing what was happening reading the very abbreviated patter each day. I have little to no confidence in a new ap. I also cruised on RCL and CCL earlier this year and their ap worked fine on my android which just points out how inept the PCL designers are. They should hire the ap writers from sister cruise line Carnival to write an ap that works.

We were on a TA in 2018 and stopped at three ports in Iceland. We did several private excursions and they were great. The weather was clear so great ports. Last year we did the NYC to Greenland cruise stopping at three tender ports. The fourth one was missed due to wind. It was a great cruise in that we were able to experience Greenland but do not want to repeat it. In the three ports we did not do a tour as they were few offered so instead we got off and just walked around the small town taking in the scenery and their small town. All three ports were obviously not tourist places and the locals all came out and watched us. They were friendly. The only thing we bought was chocolate. It was delirious hand made. Both were very interesting but we have no desire to go back as our tickets were punched. .

We were on the Ruby in early April going out of and returning to Galveston. They had the facial ID working when we debarked. We were on the Dream last year when they had the facial ID working out of the same terminal. So what is the problem? Sounds like Princess in Galveston has really fallen on their face and will impact their bottom line in this port.

Interesting review. Only comment was that if you had a 5 PM dinner time you could have asked for the same table every night. You would need to talk to the person at the MDR door the first night requesting the same table each night. That is what we do and get our request.

Self serve laundry rooms the machines you pay each time you use one. You may find using the ship laundry is costly. There is soap available in most self serve laundry for $$. In most self serve laundry particularly on the newer ships, you use your medallion to charge it to your folio. Very easy to use but...

We were on the Ruby last April from Galveston. The boarding went well as we were on the ship before noon. The debarking also went smoothly with two lines in the terminal one for passports and one for b/c. The passport line went quick since they were using facial recognition. We were off the ship and in our car in about 40 minutes headed out. Sounds like the Regal is a chinese fire drill.

We just deboarded the Emerald. My android would not work with the ap so I went to the internet cafe to get some help. What the dude told me was it was written for iphones and sort of worked on androids. So unless you have an iphone, it may or may not work aboard! He told me exxentially "too bad". My android works well on RCCL and CCL as I sailed both this year. Maybe PCL should hire the tech people from sister CCL to write an ap that works on all cell phones.

I have never worn a tie on a cruise any night. I quit wearing ties in the early 90's as my company relaxed its standards. For the last many years my formal wear is a short sleeved guayabera and some type of pants usually like khakis. I have worn nice shorts on regular nights. I have never had them even give me a second glance. The days of formal dress on cruise ships is long gone. As the world becomes less formal or even dressier, it will be more relaxed on cruise ships.

We have gone out of Galveston every year except the pandemic on PCL and CCL usually both and not had a problem. We are leaving on CCL in Jan and PCL in March. It will be interesting to see the difference in boarding and deboarding those two cruises. We will be watching cc for updates on the delays at Galveston and plan accordingly. Disappointing to hear all this.

There will be porters in the baggage claim area available for a tip. We use them due to walking problems. There also will be porters if you are parking in one of the offsite lots and they will meet you at the shuttles.

The fog issue is mostly in the first part of the year - February - April