Psychedout

By 1:30 we were getting hungry so got back off at the Hilton Marina and headed back towards the hotel. On the way we stopped for lunch at Shula Burger. Nothing special, but it filled our tummies.

After a short rest at the hotel, I logged into the Port Everglades webcam on my iPad. As each ship started to leave the port, I would run to the end of the hallway and watch in person! I had never paid much attention to the webcam so I was surprised to see how they zoomed in on the people on deck as the ships pulled out of port.

After our late lunch, no one was ready for dinner just yet so we walked back to the Hilton Marina and boarded the water taxi again. We actually did some of the same route that we had done in the morning, but in the dark it was fun to see the homes decorated for the holidays. By the time we got off the boat, hunger had returned and we stopped at Carrabba’s Italian restaurant on the way back to the hotel.

Nice review and pictures. DW and I saw the Pegasus V go by as we are at the Hard Rock Café in the Grand Cayman Island. We also stayed at the Riverside Hotel pre cruise one year. You did not go to the Cheese Cake Factory :eek:

Hugh :D

Hello, we have a 12:30pm flight out of Vancouver after our Alaska Southbound trip in July. On the Princess website it said to not book a flight home any sooner that 12:00pm. I was wondering if we used the Princess transfers to the airport, if we would still make it in plenty of time for our flight home.

 

Thank you!

We did this in September, our flight , however was later in the day. I think we docked at 7am and were on the bus to the air port after 8am, you should check this out with Princess and see what they have to say. Have a great cruise. :D

Hugh ;)

Thanks for your replies---I've never been on a Princess Ship without the IC.

We missed it also :o

Hugh :cool:

I hope I'm not violating any rules.

I remember the when I was looking to book our first few cruises, we would look at pricing/itineraries and go from there. However, as the days have gone by, I'm not sure this is a great way to decide. Truth be known, we've stuck with Princess for some time, mostly due to itineraries.

So here's the issue. Every time I have booked with Princess, we have seen substantial fare reductions. I'm not talking about 20%, but rather much higher. We have booked Alaska and most Caribbean itineraries. And none would be considered off season. Maybe not peak, but the ships were fuly booked. And we've had cabin upgrades each time as well.

 

With that experience with Princess, I have to ask, how can one compare pricing when there is a high probability that the fare one books will be markedly lower come final payment time?

 

We're about ready to look at some European cruising itineraries, and though we enjoy the Princess product, if pricing is a big issue, I might be inclined to switch. However, how do I even know if pricing is a big issue with the history that I've experienced with Princess?

 

TIA

Hey Northville, Burton here. We always received a reduction in the price when Princess had a drop. ;) Having wrote that we never know if it will happen.

Hugh :cool:

Just returned from my first Celebrity cruise on the Reflection. Had a 1A balcony room on the hump (great location). Wanted to share my thoughts on the experience as compared to my experiences on Princess. Granted, this was just one time on Celebrity vs. 6 Princess cruises, but here are some insights on a number of areas. Overall, I like both cruiselines and will cruise on either again. Some specifics, though, are:

 

Liked these on Celebrity

1) Large, deep covered balcony (had the triple sized one)

2) Roomy, well designed bathroom with large shower with doors and decent amount of storage space

3) Extremely comfortable beds and pillows

4) Great buffet layout (stations) that didn't seem congested, even when busy. Lots of seating including lots of outdoor seating with no smoking allowed.

5) Excellent buffet food - far better than Princess. Same quality as MDR.

6) Officers/staff were very visible and talked with passengers, asking if you were having a good time and was there anything they could help with

7) Very friendly crew who greeted passengers whenever they saw you

8) A covered "welcome station" at the gangway that had icy cold washcloths, water and punch, and seats to sit down to relax a minute before reboarding

9) MDR food was very good - about the same as Princess but I felt some of it was better, except for the bread - bread is much better on Princess

10) Nicer balcony floor - it was a wood laminate that was much more comfortable to stand on than Princess' blue cutout matting

11) The free drinks include lemonade and juice, although the orange juice was very watery

12) Many more TV stations, but much fewer movies - and the movies they do have were mostly violent R-rated

13) Persian Gardens (same thing as Princess' Thermal Suites) - many more hot stone beds (16) that were nice and hot, 2 different type of saunas, one aromatic steam room, and a cold room (25 degrees F, felt great). And each of these rooms could seat 7-15 people each!

14) Bigger and more elevators (8 of them are glass)

15) Very easy to get around the ship. No trying to figure out which elevators to use to get to certain places on certain decks.

16) Ship did not feel crowded despite having 3,000 pax

17) Very little "junk mail" delivered to cabin

18) Escargot is on the Every Night menu in the MDR! Yumm - they were the best ones I've ever had!

19) Lovely large MDR

20) Guest Services desk much less crowded and had more crew to help

21) Very few smoking areas and did not smell smoke anywhere. Nice to have a smoke free casino too.

 

Don't like as well on Celebrity

1) Balcony cabin was larger than the same on Princess, but cost more. It was much narrower than a Princess minisuite (it had a very hard sofa), but cost about the same as a minisuite. I think a Princess minisuite gives more space for the money. Decor was OK.

2) Extremely little storage space! This was a big problem. Only 3 drawers, a shelf over the beds that was very high for a woman to reach, and a small closet with no shelf. I had to keep some stuff in my suitcase under the bed.

3) Afternoon tea isn't really afternoon tea. It was just the same goodies available to pick up in the buffet. You just get it yourself, make yourself some tea at the beverage station and sit in the buffet seating to eat it. And rock music was playing! Definitely not real "afternoon tea."

4) Have to prepay for excursions.

5) My balcony rail was very worn and rough with lots of splinters sticking up. Couldn't rest my arms or hands on it.

6) Very few daily activities compared to Princess.

7) Only 2 pools and they were both CROWDED (packed out) by 9am every sea day! Also, all the other lounge seating in other areas was too. Much easier to just lay out on my own balcony.

8) Only a few movies were shown in the Central lounge during the entire week. Princess has many (and better) movies everyday, including MUTS.

9) It was nice to have a covered balcony, but the "covering" was metal and it reverberated the neighbors conversation so it was often very noisy while sitting out there.

10) Very loud music in the foyer each night

 

Like on Princess

1) In minisuite (which is what I usually have), there is a nice big tub and large bathroom. Have a clothesline that helps with drying bathing suits or other clothing.

2) Afternoon tea - a classy event

3) Very good MDR food

4) Crew helps pax in buffet to get drinks and silverware. At dinner, there are tableclothes and it feels classier

5) More daily activities

6) Wider cabins

7) Lots of storage space in cabins

8) Don't have to prepay for excursions

9) MUTS and daily movies - many are very current ones

10) More pools that are less crowded

11) Lovely atrium/piazza with nice venues (esp IC) that makes sitting there a relaxing experience

12) Better loyalty perks

13) Better FCC program (although not as good as it was until recently)

14) Self-serve laundromats on each stateroom deck (and cheap too). Really a great perk for long cruises.

 

Don't like as well on Princess

1) Hard, uncomfortable beds and pillows - even the foam topper doesn't help. In all fairness, though, I heard they're replacing the beds so maybe that will help.

2) Buffet food that seems like banquet quality food to me. Dinner is a bit better, but still not MDR quality. Very small and crowded food area with too little seating. Very little outdoor seating and what is there is the smoking area. Plus, there is smoking allowed on a pool deck near the buffet and people have to walk through it to get in. Yuck.

 

I think prices are better on Princess, plus my travel agent gets me 15-18% discount so it makes the prices even better. Celebrity doesn't allow discounting.

 

I read on another thread that some people thought that the free drink package was causing others to be drunk, but I saw nothing like that. There was a very diverse demographic because it was spring break week. Not alot of elderly, mostly middle-agers (many with older children), and quite a few younger families with small children. Teenagers had basically taken over the Hideaway and often were a bit roudy. This is probably just because of school break.

 

Again, overall Celebrity provided a nice cruise and I'm willing to sail them again. Princess is still my favorite, but frankly any vacation where I don't have to work, cook, or clean house is a GREAT time! :D ;)

Thanks! We have been contemplating a Celebrity Cruise :D

Hugh :cool:

This site has most ports of the world and the ships in port each day for a year in advance:

 

http://ports.cruisett.com/

Thanks :):)

Hugh :cool:

Hugh,

Just curious as to where you find the port schedule for Ft. Lauderdale two months out on the webcam site. I can't find it! :)

Thanks

Ken

Sorry Ken: o I misunderstood you. I assumed you were looking for current schedules.

Try this http://www.bluetoad.com/publication/?i=177607

Hugh:D

Sorry Ft Lauderdale

The Royal is in Port. Have a great cruise!! We are sailing her next February :)

Hugh :cool:

Sorry Ft Lauderdale

Here is the link to Port everglades website/cam. the site has all the information you need

http://portevergladeswebcam.com/

Hugh :cool:

Is there a port schedule for 1-2 months out?

For where? What Port? :D

Hugh :cool:

1st cruise upgraded to Suite

[ATTACH]305744[/ATTACH] ... j :D

We were upgrade to a suite on our first Princess Cruise also :D

Hugh :cool:

Thanks for the Review and pictures, looks like you had a great time.

Hugh :cool:

I'm sure it will drop. I have been watching the same thing for our upcoming 28 day cruise on the Golden in less than 3 weeks A couple of months ago there were still 12% of the cabins available including some very choice ones. As of yesterday there were only 4.5% vacant. While you might not get to 100% on the nose I'm sure more cabins will sell prior to sailing

Hi,

Where do you get the data on Cabins sold and available?

Thanks,

Hugh

Looking at booking an October 2014 Canada/New England cruise. Looking at the itinerary, the cruise departs New York and states (Brooklyn or Manhattan). Can anyone tell me which airport in New York we should fly into?

 

Thanks

 

 

Brian

We have sailed out of Brooklyn twice, fly into LGA a day ahead of the cruise. Book Dial7 ahead of time, never had a problem :D

Hugh :D

My black card stays firmly in my pocket except for entering our stateroom, making a purchase or boarding and leaving the ship....but I often giggle at M&Gs or when speaking to other Elite members how they not knowing where you are in the program will go to great obvious pains to make sure that their black card which is hanging from their necks is facing outwards.;)

Agreed, I always get a kick out of that :D

Hugh :cool:

I am thinking of purchasing OBC before my cruise. Is there any advantage to buy direct from Princess rather than through the travel agent (UK) that arranged my cruise?

 

Are there any restrictions for OBC bought through TA, eg is it non-refundable, can it be used to pay tips?

this is a new one for me, perhaps more experienced cruisers can comment. I never heard of buying OBC, since everything gets charged to your account.

Hugh :confused:

That happened to us too! I was so bummed.

We sat in the Lodge, hope for an opening in the clouds :(

Hugh :cool:

I've been doing a lot of research on these boards - and we decided to spend less time in Mt Mckinley (only one night) and more time at Denali (2 nights) (DA4,DB4) - we are then going to do either the Tundra Wilderness Tour or take the shuttle offered by the park in Denali on our full day there. From what I've gleaned, the Natural History Tour included in many of the cruise tours does not go far enough into the park.

Because of our budget, we could not include Mt Mckinley for more than one night although there are cruise tours that have Mt Mckinley and Denali for two nights each (HA5,HB5). If we were in Mt Mckinley for two nights we would definitely take the shuttle from the lodge to Talkeetna and book the airplane tour on our own. I would still like to do that - but am not sure if it is feasible with only one night...

Do Denali, we did and had a brown bear walk right in front of us : eek:

Hugh ;)

They have a list, plus they have a shuttle to Talkeetna and there are tons of private options there. You might want to check the Alaska port of call forum for suggestions.

 

That said, we took that day as a quiet day and just waited for the mountain to come out while hanging in a hot tub.

did u see the mountain? We hung out also but the day was over cast never saw the Mt. :(

Hugh :cool:

Yup Hugh.... that was me on the Diamond Princess last September from Anchorage to Vancouver.

Thanks Ann, hope to see you aboard again someday :D

Hugh

Have enough money to fly first class and pay for a full suite. Every time.

I am with you :D

Hugh :)

Princess scheduled all the Meet and Greets I have set up.

Make sure you get names and cabin numbers. I did one a few cruises ago and Princess changed out location :D and I did not know it till I got to our cabin, what a mess, I did not have all the names and cabin numbers.

Hugh :rolleyes:

Hi Hugh. I think so as I recognize your name and "handle" but not sure what ship it was and when.

possibly the Alaska cruise last year?

I do not recall that it was on the Alaskan Cruise last year. I though it was one of the Caribbean Cruise. Anyway the slot pull was great and well organized, I could have sworn you did it. :D

Hugh :cool:

If you are negatively impacted by motion I would think the Dolphin Deck rooms would be a problem. Also, as you stated, you'll be doing a lot of walking.

 

I don't believe you will hear much noise from Club Fusion on the Emerald Deck based on what I've read in other posts. My understanding is the mini-suites on the port side, particularly E730 and E728 sometimes experience bass vibrations from the band because they are situated above the bandstand. However, it doesn't seem to be a big problem on the starboard side. Also, you'll be very close to the aft elevators which is great for the Horizon Court.

I'm sure others with firsthand experience will reply.

We could here the band when on our balcony, we have stated in the middle of the ship on Dolphin deck. Never heard the music inside the cabin :D.

Hugh :cool:

I let the Ships Laundry do mine :D On a couple of our last cruises, the ship had laundry specials.:)

Hugh :cool: