GingerCandy

Thanks everyone. 😁

Do you use your room key to pay to do laundry, or do you still need quarters for the machines??  Thanks. 

You use your cruise card to get tokens from a machine in the laundry room. No need for quarters, they will not work.

Thanks. 😁

Do I use quarters or room key to use laundromat? Always brought quarters but never been on C. P.

Thanks.

Two more questions about using Park and Go Ft. Lauderdale.

1. What is a good time to have them pick you up after the cruise ends?

2. Does the Park and Go lot have restroom facilities to use before you start home? ;p

Thanks. Any other helpful information would be appreciated.

Thanks. That's what I thought, but wanted to verify. Thank you.

We usually take the bus to Port Everglades for a cruise. Since we have a ten day cruise, the bus will take us but not pick us up. We play to drive over from Southwest Florida. Where is the best place to park that includes drop off at the cruise ship and pick up at the end of the cruise? Any helpful comments will be appreciated. Thanks.

So sorry to hear this. I had been thinking of you both this week and now I see your post. We enjoyed our cruise with you that Christmas and our meals together. Still hoping to see you on another Princess Cruise. Take care and enjoy your sailboat. Best wishes from us both.

Thanks for all the helpful comments.

What hotel near the terminal in a good place to stay pre cruise and leave one's car at hotel for a 10 day cruise? Also would need to be shuttled from hotelto terminal and picked up at end of cruise. Thanks for you help.

Again,thank you all for the good replies and info. The mattresses sound fine. Yes, I too, always ask for a top sheet. It's a good option. Thanks.

I always ask for a topper because it seems to be hit or miss and you can always send the topper back if you find you don't need it.

Good point. Thank you both for your response.

How are the mattresses on the Emerald? Do I need to ask for the egg crate topper this time around? Thanks.

anyone have an idea or opinion on this subject.

Do you like the lectures? Find the valuable? Or never even go?

We attend these lectures whenever available and wish they'd have them on all cruises, even in the Caribbean. There is plenty of history for each island/country to provide interesting lectures. We don't attend the shopping lectures and do no shop on cruises. I can shop at home, if necessary. How much jewelry can one person use. ;)

We like the lectures, and I also liked the Spanish lessons they gave on one cruise several years ago. Granted, they were slanted toward how one could speak Spanish with vendors on the islands, but it was educational and interesting, just the same. I hope Princess reinstates more lectures. On the Ocean Princess Christmas cruise this year, there were historical lectures on all ports of call. It was so nice to have that option.

What you wrote is what I am afraid of. I can't stand severe heat, and unfortunately I think that the ferry is just too long of a day for me. I was trying to find reviews of the ferry where people in their 60's like dh and myself were able to tolerate the severe heat and humidity for that long a time. Most of the reviews did not mention any one having problems with the heat--we will be on the Coral, also for the after xmas, but New Years 10 day cruise. So after what you wrote, I will look into the train ride one instead, or just staying on the ship and viewing from as many angles as possible!

Having done both the partial and total transits, I strongly encourage you to take the ferry boat excursion through the canal. If it is the same type of boat as in the past, you should have no trouble. It has a top deck and a lower, interior deck. They have a box lunch for you on the trip and there will be plenty of water and beverages to drink. Seeing the canal from a smaller boat makes the canal so exciting and an amazing adventure. You are taking the cruise to see the canal, not the Pacific on the other end. You don't see much of the canal by train and it's also a very long day and not the experience of going through the canal up close and personal. You won't be disappointed with the boat excursion. I think it would be a mistake not to take the ferry excursion. ;)

Corfe Mixture: I appreciate your support as I know you had better luck than we did most nights. I agree with your assessment of the problems. We have never been disappointed with Princess dining until this cruise. We enjoyed cruising with you and your wife and hope to meet again sometime. Happy cruising. :)

At the chance of getting clobbered by irate cruisers, I have a question just the same. If anyone is on the Ocean Princess now, how is the food in the Main Dining Room? We couldn't believe how bad it was on the Christmas cruise. We always like the meals on Princess, but not this time. They even managed to ruin lobster and steaks. So just curious if it has improved or not. By the way, we were not the only ones complaining. ;)

Thank you all for your helpful info on Ft. Lauderdale excursions. I should have mentioned that we are full time residents of Florida, so that makes it harder to find an excursion that would be new to us. The boat tour seems to be our best option to give us a few hours off the ship while waiting for the turnaround. Back to back cruises waste at least a day of sitting and waiting in the same port time after time. We prefer longer cruises 10-14 days that are not back to back; but they are almost impossible to find anymore. So thank you for your suggestions. Much appreciated. We're open to more, if you have them.

On a Back to Back cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale, what excursions would you recommend of interest for that day we are in port all day; one that will also take us back to the ship in a timely fashion? We don't want to end up the airport. :)

Just came off a 14-day Holiday cruise on the Ocean Princess. She is absolutely beautiful!!! After the comments and questions on here, I actually went looking for condition, and can say I saw nothing bad that you wouldn't see on any ship a couple of years after the last refurb. Tiny bit of rust on a balcony rail, an occasional crooked lamp. I had to look hard to find anything wrong.

 

LOVED the Ocean Princess. Wonderful ship, the best crew, and without a doubt the best dining room meals of any ship I have been on (see below!)

I can't believe you and I were on the same cruise after reading your comments about the dining room meals. :-) We are loyal Princess cruisers so we've had many meals in the main dining room on Princess ships. The meals on the Christmas cruise were tasteless, unappetizing looking, and mediocre at best. Others said the same thing. PLUS, Princess was using the Christmas cruise to "train" most of the wait staff in the dining room. The service was very slow, and they kept changing the servers around so that one never got to know them and they didn't have the usual Princess professionalism. I'm glad you were happy, but it sure left a bad taste in our mouths. Food is subjective, I know, but I think you must have been the exception on that cruise as to liking the meals and service. It was not the usual Princess style. Other employees and our room steward were very good, but they should not have used this holiday cruise as a training cruise for so many servers. I think the chef needs some more training, too. I would not be proud to serve my guests the tasteless meals we had. Hope next cruise is better.

Thanks, all.

I agree, that on Princess we always take the life jacket. Guess I was remembering the time on Celebrity when we were told not to take the jacket with us. Just wanted to see if I was remembering correctly. Thanks again.

Do we have to take our life preserver to muster drill? I seem to recall that we did not have to on our Princess cruise a year ago.

How are the mattresses on the Ocean Princess? Do we need to ask for mattress toppers or not?

Thank you. This is our first time on the smaller Princess ships. It certainly will be different. Looking forward to it. :)

Is the "main" dining room called the Club Restaurant on the Ocean Princess?