PapaGoose

Funny how it escalated from “my security monitoring company” to “a national security monitoring company” in a hot flash…. I apologize if I hit a nerve! You could always ask them nicely. That’s what we do up here in the land of Mounties , hockey and beavers.

Instead of thinking of it as “forcing them” why don’t you just ask if they are open to using WhatsApp? We, here in North America, seem to fight using something that most of the rest of the planet embraces. Last year we went on a Panama Canal cruise and I asked some friends and family to access WhatsApp so we could keep in touch. Everyone agreed with the exception of my 81 year old father in law. I am sold with the ease we had when communicating with everyone! Using wifi to contact them was much more cost effective than paying for cell service. The FIL still won’t bite on it though. They are the only people calling our landline at home. Apparently they think we will pick up that phone on the kitchen counter quicker than the cell phone in my pocket… maybe we should just get rid of the landline! I have found that all of the excursions we have booked for our upcoming South American cruise have been through email or WhatsApp with most of the tour providers asking us to communicate through WhatsApp once we set sail. Easy peasy

We sailed in an aft facing balcony last February on the NCL Jewel. I’ll post a photo or two and let you all guess where we went. Awesome views!

And don’t forget to be polite! We really like polite people up here…. Thank you for visiting!

A quick search on the internet reveals availability for all shows in August 2024. We got seats middle/middle so we wouldn’t miss anything. Make sure you bring your phone or a camera with video capability. It’ll be worth it!

I’ve been toad that boiled frog is quite tasty…

We sailed on the Royal Princess back in 2019 on a 12 night British Isles itinerary. It included a stop in Glasgow with a 2:00 am departure. We bought our own tickets nice and early online for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo (2 parents and a teenage son). The tickets were mailed to Canada quite quickly. Neither the DW or teenage son knew anything about the Tattoo and I kept deliberately quiet on the subject until we were actually there. We booked a day excursion with Clyde Coast Tourism which included picking us up at the port of Greenock, a lovely drive to Edinburgh which included a stop at Loch Lomond. We took the high road… and another stop at Stirling Castle. We had time in Edinburgh before the show to grab a dinner. You might be better making a reservation as it was crazy busy there. We watched the show which was awesome! DW and 15 year old skeptic still talk about that night! The tour group was very organized in letting us know where to meet after the show as it was again crazy busy in Edinburgh. We had a nice quiet drive back to Glasgow which included a nice shot of Scotch provided by our guide Catriona for anyone so inclined. We loved Edinburgh and a few days later when we tendered at Queensferry, Princess shuttled us all to the Edinburgh city centre where we partook in a Harry Potter walking tour. Once again the lad was happy! I highly recommend the Military Tattoo as part of a BI cruise!

One of our stops on our upcoming SA cruise in February will be Montevideo Uruguay. We are planning on doing a morning walking tour and would like to have a steak/bbq lunch somewhere near the port or old city after the tour. There seem to be a lot of Parillas or steakhouse grills in the area but the reviews are mixed and some are very dated. Would anyone like to share any good and recent experiences with this type of restaurant in Montevideo?

It has been some time but we really enjoyed our pizza experiences at Alfredo’s on the Royal Princess back in 2018. Best pizza we have had on a cruise ship but my dear Italian mother in law still makes the best!

I agree with Ex-Airbalncer about the Royal Caribbean boards. This is the Canadian Cruisers forum and we might get upset thinking about you cashing in $400 in US OBC since that would be around $10,000 in Canadian funds after the currency exchange… 😉.

Question for you Ken. When you first boarded in Valparaiso did they have a table set up to collect corkage fees for extra bottles of wine? Where did the security check for containers of beverages in carry on luggage take place? In the terminal or onboard the ship? Thanks for keeping us up to date on your travels so far!

In 2018, we did a wonderful British Island and France cruise on the Royal Princess. While preparing for our departure in Le Havre, we had a “honk off” with an Aida cruise ship. I forget how their horn went but the Royal belted out the Love Boat theme for all to hear more than one time. Our 15 year old son declared the Royal Princess champion. While spending the occasional sea day on that itinerary we introduced the show “The Love Boat” to junior on our stateroom television. He didn’t have a clue who any of the walk on celebrities were but he did like a few of the starlets…

Ahhh good old Pop Shoppe. Great memories!

If it was me I’d try to check in at the terminal/ship as early as possible then head out to see a bit of the city if embarkation goes quickly and smoothly. If all goes well you might have time to grab a bite or see a highlight or two. It really will depend on how efficient the embarking goes. Hope you enjoy your trip!

We all need some “down time” even Maslow…

I’m guessing they always stopped by Hollywood to pick up all those movie and tv stars…. 😉.

I thought you said boarding starts at noon. If the ship departs at 6:45 pm you’ll have to be checked in at least an hour before the ship departs. I wouldn’t risk messing around in the city. Line up before noon, get onboard and chill out on the ship. News lately about boarding in Buenos Aires is that it takes longer because of damage to the main terminal due to storms. For our Feb 5 Princess cruise out of BA we have already been advised that we will need to check in first at another location before being shuttled by buses to the ship. Just my opinion.

Do you recall what type of tv they had? LG, Samsung or another?

My understanding is that Uber is treated badly by Buenos Aires taxi companies etc and it can be difficult finding your Uber car at EZE because they don’t let them come close to the cab pick up area. Just saying…

Indeed it is an abbreviation for Dear Wife. My DW calls me PITA. Pain In The A$$…

We ran into this problem trying to purchase a second single single wifi package earlier today. Someone on a similar thread suggested deleting or unchecking my DW with the CC we have on file. I did that then she inputted a different credit card on her app. She was able to purchase her own single device wifi package right away. Now we have two single device packages, at $15 per day each, before they jack it up $10 per day. I guess we’ll delete her card now and I’ll check her name again on my end to cover both of us on my original CC.

And pretty much all of Canada refers to soda or soft drinks as “pop”.

Thanks for the tip! We had the same issue with DW’s attempt to purchase a single device wifi package. We took your advice, unchecked my DW for the card I have listed for the two of us, put her card in on her account and app and voila, we completed the order and saved $10 per day compared to tomorrow’s price. Funny thing is, I had placed a call to Princess and was on hold for 40 minutes. While waiting for a representative I read your advice here on Cruise Critic. We followed your steps and literally 15 seconds after the purchase was confirmed I got a “hello this is ….. how may I help you?” on my cell. I politely told the rep that we had solved the issue ourselves. She immediately asked if I was interested in upgrading to the Premium package…. I’m kidding, I hung up before they could try an upsell. 😉.

My understanding is the single device wifi package will go up 67% $15 to $25 while the 4 device package will go up only 12.5% $40 to $45. Still an increase is an increase…

Good to know. We plan on taking lots of small bills so we have close to exact payments for small purchases. Enjoy your time there!