Janet Foster

I took the picture myself outside of my hotel room and I got the name of the ship from the site “Marine Traffic”    Ship is still there 

Why was it anchored out of PVR for 24 hours? 

yes

Hello! We are in our mid-late 50’s, first time cruisers going on an 11 night western med cruise in mid April this year. I can give you some background as to how we made decisions since we are new as well. We choose our cruise because Italy was on my bucket list but having never been to Europe (from the USA), I was a litttle intimidated by trying to plan a land vacation. We chose the Crown Princess for a couple of reasons: 1.) it seems like an adult cruise line for people who enjoy good food, good company, fewer kids (no ice skating rinks or rock climbing walls), great ports and seems to be geared toward couples wanting to spend quality time together, fun but not too wild and crazy. 2.) 9 great ports on a 12 day cruise with 3 stops in Italy. We are starting in Spain (in Barcelona - 2 extra days here before we board), France, 3 stops in Italy, 3 stops in Greece including the mainland/Greek Isles, a stop in the Adriatic Sea to visit a small country near Croatia and we end in Rome where we will stay for an extra 2.5 days. The airfare through the cruise had great fares (~$2000 total round trip with more or less direct fights). Although Italy was my bucket list place, I am THRILLED to get to visit these other countries as they just weren’t originally on my radar so it feels like such a gift to get to visit there.

 

I knew that a port intensive cruise could be exhausting and this 11 night itinerary has 3 sea days interspersed throughout the cruise. 2-3 port days to go exploring and then a day to relax etc... That really made a lot of sense to me and seemed really desirable so that played heavily in my decision to go with this cruise. We wanted more port tme and less cruise time but people can differ there so figure out kinda how you feel about that. We were looking for more of a “centralized home base” to come back to after our sightseeing land excursions but we definitely want to feel a little pampered when we got “home” and to be able to enjoy the ship’s offerings as well.. I really didn’t do a lot of internet exploring after I booked the trip (we booked in September for an April cruise). I loved the itinerary and the pace and the ship sounded lovely so we just went for it without tons of research first. Now that I have had time to do all kinds of research, e chose well and got a good deal. We booked straight through Princess and got a great deal. We are the kind of people that would buy a fast pass at an amusement park to skip the lines or will pay a little extra to guarantee great service so we went with a Club Class Mini-Suite. Husband is 6’4” so he needs to not feel like he is in a closet for 2 weeks. I am afraid I have spoiled us doing a mini suite out of the gate but oh well, lol.

 

I would figure out your budget, how long you can be away (remember to start/stop the cruise in different cities so you can visit each one for a couple of days, feel where your heart is telling you to go (what are you longing to see), what ports take your breath away a little when you open their website then think about your fellow cruisers...do you want them to be fun party people who will dance into the night with you, great conversationalists you can become lifelong (or at least “cruiselong!) friends with or do you and your honey want to cocoon yourselves and reconnect? Knowing all of that will help you pick your cruiseline, your ship and your itinerary. After that, it’s just fun picking out your cabin and choosing shore excursions (we booked all private small group excursions and booked none through the cruise....they were less expensive and more personalized with just 2- 3 other couples so you could make new friends for sure!) I could go on and on but this is the criteria for how we picked which med cruise to try first! Hope this helps!

GREAT POST.... Thanks!

Can anyone tell me when 2020 will be released for the Med Schedules?:)

Thanks in advance.

Thank you for all of this helpful information this is my first cruise and my first post! :) I am full of questions but won't take up to much of your time so I will ask you only a few. Thank you in advance.

 

1- I get car sick, so I am worried about being on the ship. Is it better to buy Over The Counter Meds or get something from my Physician?

 

2- I am taking my 2 daughters (16,11) and can't decide between Mexico or the Caribbean I have to say I am a little concerned with Mexico right now. Any thoughts? Planning for 6/2016

If you get car sick I would recommend a scrip from your doctor. They have the behind the ear patches,

Scopolamine Transdermal Patch

i would put one on about a hour before you get on the ship.

Regarding "problems" in Mexico.. Can't say I have not gone/avoided a cruise to Mexico because of problems. If you are on a ship sponsored tour you should be fine.. if you venture out on your own then you "could" have a problem but you could have that kind of problem anywhere you travel.

Royal, Celebity, Carnival & DCL have on their websites NO extension cords. I read people who had them confiscated.

 

Luggage is not gone through with a fine tooth comb--depends if they see it when Xrayed or when they are going through your luggage looking for other things, and happen to see it.

 

SO it is POSSIBLE to not have yours taken if they don't see it...the reason the rules exist is for safety reasons.

My husbands cpap machine needs an extension cord. Last cabin we had he needed two. It happens

Happy cruisin.

Most cruise lines will not allow extension cords & will confiscate if found; some will do the same with power strips as well.

In my last 10 yrs of cruising, never had a power strip or extension cord taken away.

I didnt think you could smoke on any balcony any more....

 

Did I misread a memo??

Noo... there is still no smoking off any of the balcony cabins. There three smoking areas. Casino Bar; Deck 11 Starboard side and Deck 5 Port side.

We're booked in cabin 11206 - Cloud 9 Spa Suite on the Dream. Sailing out November 22, 2015. A friend of ours had this room previously and raved about this suite. Looking forward to it. :)

You will love it... If you can download the play by play action it is fun looking at the sights for the first hour down the Mississippi. We even saw the Pilot boat hook up close to midnight...

This will be my first cruise since I was 7 years old!!! EXCITED !!, [emoji2][emoji1]. My question is,, are we supplied with shampoo,conditioner, shower gel etc. like the hotels? We will be in a Junior Suite. Also, I have seen people complain about the price of the shuttle,,, What shuttle would that be? I see that we are not allowed "irons". Would a small travel clothes steamer be taken away as well?

How exciting for you! What port are you cruising out of? Sounds like you have it all going on. Some ships have laundry and ironing rooms you can use. :-)

We plan to take this itinerary and are booking a balcony. Which side of the ship would be best? Is the Port side always the one facing the shore? Thanks

Port side...

Yes go port side..

I suggest going on this website

Cruise

Deck

Plans

Dot

Com

you can see the layout of each cabin... we had 11206. Cloud Nine Spa Suite.... it was heavenly... but there are only four of these on the 11th deck. Our balcony was 65 ft.

Then cabins 11209 - 11249 are CLOUD NINE SPA BALCONIES the balcony is 35 ft.

Then cabins 11247 - 11278 are BALCONY CABINS the balcony is 35 ft.- These cabins do not get the CLOUD 9 Spa Amenities

Cloud Nine Balcony Amenities

Exclusive amenities: Exclusive entry access to the adjacent Cloud 9 Spa facilities, upgraded in-stateroom amenities and Cloud 9 Spa Package exclusive to guests booked in Spa Accommodations.

Cloud Nine Suite Amenities

Exclusive amenities: Exclusive entry access to the adjacent Cloud 9 Spa facilities, upgraded in-stateroom amenities and Cloud 9 Spa Package exclusive to guests booked in Spa Accommodations. Only 1st and 2nd guests booked in Spa staterooms will receive the access and amenities; 3rd and 4th guests are not entitled to spa access and amenities.

I have a question- what do you wear when you go into these rooms?

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2246826&highlight=dream

Here is a link to some of the pictures (back end of that thread) ... and we did a tour right when we got on the ship. We had a spa room so it was included.

When we went to the SPA we had our swimsuits under our robes for the thalassotherapy Pool. One day we went to the different rooms and just had our robes on and then we each took showers in the locker rooms.. the showers are heavenly.. So for most of the treatment rooms a robe would be just fine. Love the relaxation room. We would go in here after our showers and relax with the fruit infused water.. I MISS THIS.....

The white thing overhead was a loud speaker and not a camera

There was hardly anyone ever out here except when we were out there. I had to take my camera and go around to get this picture of the front. Someone would have to be pretty desperate to be looking into your balcony...

Here is the link where I put the review of the highlights going down the Mississippi...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2246826&highlight=dream

We sat on our balcony drinking champagne and eating strawberries as we cruised for the first hour, looking at the sights TOOTALL had mentioned. It was so much fun... So glad we moved to 11206

We were just in 11206 a month ago. There were no sounds coming from the deck above. We originally booked cabin 11205 but after reading a review of a fellow cruiser he pointed out the first hour into our cruise down the Mississippi and all the highlighted areas were on the port side. Plus I wanted to be on the port side for the dockings.. which we were. We loved that cabin. There was hardley anyone ever out in front of the ship and when there was we didn't have any one looking around our balcony partition. We had no "cameras" on our balcony. THere was no way anyone would be able to see from above as there is no access to see you. I did not see holes in the partition of the balcony next to us. Here are pictures I took. I loved that cabin and would book again.

CONTINUED

Speaking of Rum Runners - I thought you put them in your pocket so they didn't show up through the scan. I've watched YouTube videos on how to pack them, etc. Are they that easy to get on?

You can put the small ones in a pocket and they don't show up through a scan. My husband had one of the larger ones in his pocket as we came back on the ship from Cozumel. We had so many that we had to pack them in our checked luggage. Depends on how many you are bringing. We had the "SPRING BREAK CRUISE KIT".. LOL Been using them for the last 6 years with no issues.

http://portno.com/cruise-webcam

 

having trouble pulling away.?

Elation did that on Saturday... at first it looked like they were coming back to dock.... strange.

Good info. THX

Go to SEA SCANNER DOT COM and look up the ship info

We are cruising in October with our two adult kids and their spouses. We'd like to purhase the Cheers beverage package for everybody once we get on board. I know we get it at some of the bars, but how do we pay for it? Will all 6 have to go on our SS card? That's going to be almost $2500 and I'd rather pay in cash if possible. Ideally, I'd like to give each an envelope with the cash in it as a surprise when we go to purchase the program.

There is no way to pay for it via cash as the cruise is a cashless system. Soo take the cash and go to the front desk and instruct them you need to put cash on "Joe Smith's" "Jim Brown's " etc... account. Do the same for your own acct. Then go to the nearest bar and each couple purchases their own CHEERS PACKAGE No other way to do it. By the way that is so nice of you to do that and I could see myself doing the same for my own kids/spouses... You could give them an envelope of money and they would still need to take it to the front desk, have it added to their card...

Hope this helps somewhat...

Layers. That's the operative word.

 

The weather in the Mediterranean ports in September resembles the weather in the northeast USA (New England, NY and NJ) so you can expect almost anything. On a recent trip to Venice in August we had 55 (f) degrees and overcast followed by light showers the next day. On day 3 it was sunny and warm (high 70's).

 

On the Costa del Sol (Spain), we had mostly bright sun and mid to high 80's.

 

So theer is to definitive advice except be prepared for just about any weather. A lot can change over 2 weeks.

So when would you say is the BEST time to go on a Med cruise? What time of year? TIA

oh my goodness I love that chest. So did the steward just put ice in on top of your waters or whats the story? also amazon you say. what should i put in the search criteria to find said amazing item? i wanna get me one of them for sure. i'm guessing the towel underneath is a requirement to prevent flooding as the ice melts?

 

this thread is a treasure trove of information. i am not going to take everything that every member suggested (i'd need several suitcases for those things alone!!!) but i am going to pick the few which i think make the most sense for me such as hiliters for the dailys, over the door shoe rack for toiletries etc.

Hello Hdowney....

the search criteria is "inflatable pirate treasure chest cooler" It was like $11 The cooler isn't insulated so it will sweat.. I just decided to put a fresh towel under it everyday in the event that it leaked or sweated. I was even thinking of putting it out on our balcony but that would have just made the ice melt faster.

We were recently on Carnival, so once we got in our cabin I was wiping down the cabin with our clorox READY TO GO wipes,

and then my husband was blowing up our ice chest. These items were in my carryon so we were able to get them out and use them right away instead of having to wait for our suitcases.

You might notice in the picture below, the plastic "rum runners" laying on top of the water. Google rum runner flasks. ***Just to be clear the rum runners are packed sporadically in our CHECKED LUGGAGE*** There are youtube videos out there on packing them.

We brought four of these rum runners so we could have cocktails in our cabin. We like to bring crystal light type drink mixes and water enhancers to have with our cocktails... If you are a soda drinker some cruise lines let you bring on canned sodas in your carryon (on RCCL and Princess we were able to bring cases of water and check with our checked luggage). Some people also brought a case of soda with their checked luggage. Just research the rules for your particular cruise line. We are not soda drinkers but if we were we would have stored the sodas in our ice chest.

When we first met our room stewart, I already had the waters in the ice chest and showed him the ice chest and asked him to have it filled up twice daily. I gave him $20. When he would come service the rooms I notice that he had an ice chest on his service cart so he would just transfer the ice from his ice chest into our little pirate chest. My husband and I would dump out the water the next morning and sometimes afternoon so it would be ready to be refilled. When I took that picture we had just finished dumping out the water so it was ready to be refilled.

Other items

Mentioned the over the door shoe holder. Here is ours it was on the back of our bathroom door.

Electronics

Not very many outlets.. Plugging in our phones, headsets, camera battery...etc... this power strip came in handy... and we also had two extension cords.

and I need two curling irons so this adapter helped me a lot.

I love when I find something new to use or try.

Hope this helps!

Let me know if you have any other questions

Also following for my cruise in October! First time so this thread has good info I want to keep :)

Thank you... This list is quite old and things have changed... But it is a good starting point for anything you think you might need.

One of my favorite things to bring now is an inflatable ice chest. Mine looks like this and I got it from Amazon. We keep it in the bathroom and put a towel under it. Our room stewart kept it filled with ice for us twice a day.. (tipped him well)

Our water was soooooooooo nice and cold... I carried it on in my carry on bag and we blew it up right when we got in the room. Had pre-ordered water ahead of time so it was waiting for us. We left it with the room stewart when the cruise was over. He was excited to take it down to his quarters.

This wasn't our door but our neighbors door. People love to decorate their doors and I thought this was so cute

HAVE FUN CRUISING