bosswench

I found the Plus wines on Emerald Princess gross two weeks ago. There were much better options by paying the $2.48 up charge for Premium wines. I only drink wine with dinner so my wine bill totalled under $50 for a 15 day cruise. 

Is there any advantage to calling to upgrade? My TA just got us a large amount of new OBC for our cruise leaving in three weeks, and we already have Plus. I was planning to just upgrade to Premier when we are onboard. 

Can anybody who has been to Huatulco recently tell us the current taxi rate from the Port into La Crucecita?  I know that it's walkable, but my travel companions may not be up to it.

Thanks!

3 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

At the end of the white things is a mobility disabled room

Thank you Dee for this wonderful blog and sharing your adventure. Your pictures are incredible.

Since you mentioned the accessible cabin, have you noticed if there are many scooter or wheelchair users on board?  Do you know if they have been able to use the tenders and get off the ship at the ports? My husband and I are booked on this cruise in December 24, and he has mobility limitations.

On 1/3/2024 at 10:50 PM, Teechur said:

We had both Diet Coke and Diet Sprite on the Island Princess in September. I have also seen those two mentioned on threads about various Princess ships.

I appreciate the Diet Sprite since I don't want caffeine in the evening.

Caffeine free, diet soda is available?  Wooohoooo!!!! This alone could make Princess my favorite cruise line.

There are car rental agencies right on the pier. Rent a far and spend the day exploring. It's a small island with reasonably good roads. 

We are booked on Emerald Princess in April with quite a lot of OBC to spend. It there a way to use it in advance of sailing? I would like to be able to make a reservation for Crown Grill in advance. 

1 hour ago, Snaxmuppet said:

Techspeak follows... please feel free to ignore  🙂 

 

LOL! My background is as a database specialist, both as a programmer and DBA... I agree... stupid simple... and it probably wouldn't even require an additional DB query as the package would likely already have been read as part of building the customer object.

 

Just lazy programming IMO.

My husband is a developer for a major corporation.  *Carnival Corporation IT SUCKS" is heard  daily and loudly in my house. 

3 hours ago, nini said:

 

Please know that the only "on the negative" side experience we have had with Princess was on the Emerald in May 2022. The crew was grumpy, one snapped at us, and overall non-dazzling personalities. We did tip our steward a bit extra though.

 

The Grand in September 2022 restored our faith as did the Sky (crazy, right?) in June 2023. Both were fabulous!

Well that's concerning. Taking my first Princess cruise in 20 years on the Emerald in April (I am a cruise line agnostic cruiser). This is a 15 day special event sailing, almost sold out at a hefty premium price . My traveling companions are not very experienced cruisers so I hope the crew will be in a better mood. 

Thank you for this great review.  We are stopping in Cartagena in April and looking for a fun DIY day.  Can you estimate how much walking you did over the course of the day?  One of our group doesn't walk well.

@NorbertsNiece Loving your adventure and looking forward to following along.  We are booked on this cruise next December.  Thank you so much for sharing with us!

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

As @lx200gps has stated, it's something applicable only to passengers being picked up at LAX. Only "black car" services such as Uber Black and limo companies are permitted to pick up passengers curbside at the airline terminals. Taxis and and other rideshare services, such as Uber, Uber XL and Lyft are only permitted to pick up passengers at the LAX-it area. You either have to take a shuttle or walk from your arrival terminal to LAX-it. https://www.flylax.com/lax-it 

 

FYI, all taxis and rideshare vehicle are permitted to drop off passengers curbside at the airline terminals. 

Thank you for the clarification.  We are arriving at LAX the day before our cruise, taking a hotel shuttle from the airport, but need transportation to the Port the next morning.  The cruise is a Panama Canal transit so our end point is Ft. Lauderdale.

On 12/21/2023 at 8:34 PM, njhorseman said:

With four passengers and a lot of luggage they may need Uber Black SUV if curbside pickup is important.

 What is the difference between "curbside" pickup vs. regular pickup?  I've always had normal Uber pick up at the hotel entrance or port/airport designated area in the past.

Any suggestions for transportation from an LAX area hotel to San Pedro?  We are four adults boarding Emerald Princess for 15 nights, so we will have too much stuff for a standard Uber.

TIA

20 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

One email is fine. There have been reports here of people getting $250 in this situation. 

I received $250 twice in this situation on Carnival.  I have never taken a b2b on HAL so can't say if it will be different.

8 hours ago, FOPMan said:

There are several entrepreneurs on Aruba with wheelchair accessible vans you can hire for a tour. Upwards of $400 for 2-3 people for 2-4 hours.

Nope, not happening.  

16 hours ago, FOPMan said:

I do not remember them being accessible. There are curb cuts on many sidewalks/streets, however some of them aren't in the best of shape. Many of the sidewalks are not flat (slope to the street).

Thank you for the info. We are not concerned about getting around out on the streets. We travel quite a bit and he is used to those conditions.  Our problem is getting from place to place, his chair can go 5-6 miles on a charge, much farther than I can walk. 

Has anyone noticed recently if the free trolley or local buses have wheelchair lifts?  There are some general references to things being accessible, but nothing specific about transit.  My husband and I would much rather explore on our own than take a tour. TIA!

9 hours ago, serene56 said:

   Can you just rent a wheelchair for this port.?   I don’t think your be getting off with the power chair     Just going by my past experience with my dad 

I'm not sure how we would go about doing that. Do you have any ideas?

18 hours ago, serene56 said:

is he abole to transfer?    My dad could not use the tender since he could not transfer to the tender 

He is able to transfer.  He can walk a bit, go up and down a few stairs, and get in and out of the tender with minimal assistance.  But, his power wheelchair is heavy and we had a problem with them allowing it on the lifeboat tender in another port last year, which is why we are hesitant to book in advance.

Does anyone have experience booking Stingray City at the Port?  My husband uses a wheelchair, and with the tenders we cannot be absolutely sure he will be able to go ashore, so we will not book in advance. Has anyone had a particularly good or bad experience with any specific vendor? What time should we try to arrive on shore and how much should we expect to pay?

On 8/8/2023 at 8:29 PM, BlerkOne said:

On a least one brand (Carnival), they will often give $100 the first week and $150 for the second week as if you were on a 14 day cruise. I might try to see if Princess will go for it.

This was my experience with a 6nt/8nt b2b on Carnival as well. I received $100 for the first leg and $150 for the second. 

Can you rebook to another date when the ports are less crowded? My husband uses a scooter and found Alaska very accessible.  It would be a pity for you not to be able to get off the ship. 

On the Pride, February 5th sailing, and Grand Cayman is still on the itinerary.  We all assume it will change, but we haven't heard anything yet.

Submitted my request for shareholder credit the last week of December on my b2b in early February. I included both confirmation numbers on the form.  Got the email yesterday approving both, $50 on the 6 nt, and $200 on the 8nt.  I am on a very good rate,  but not one of the casino bargains.