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I was on this ship for 5 day cruise to Cozumel and Costa Maya.  We did 2 sailings so we had 10 days on the ship.  Every day/night was rough weather.  Not sure why..  For my friend and me, we had a blast.  The down side of the seas was that the lounge chairs kept getting stacked up and tied down.  

I have been on the Dawn with no issues.  Was on the Bliss and had a rough night while on a sea day.  Hubby and I have allot of fun when the seas are rough.  

On 1/14/2020 at 9:59 PM, Sabiney said:

We were on the Escape last month with:

 

Deepak Punia, General Manager

Duncan Founche, Asst General Manager

Kivanc Ucar, F&B Director

Jacky Tang, Cruise Director

Rodrigo Rodriguez, Executive Housekeeper

Godfrey Fernandes, Executive Chef

KitKat Reyes, Guest Services Manager

Jay Hizon, Restaurant Manager

Laszlo Pinter, Beverage Manager

Marthinus Visser, Cruise Next Manager

 

David Newball came on from the Epic to replace Patrick as Concierge.

 

And, a special treat for us was seeing Prejith Sukumaran again. He used to be the Executive Chef on the Escape and he has been promoted to Asst Food & Beverage Director.

 

Have a great cruise. We sure did! This is a great group.

 

Pat

 

 

NOOOOOOOOO.. I was hoping to see Jay on the Bliss in a few weeks.  He is the BEST...

On 1/25/2020 at 9:27 PM, cruiservictor said:

 

Thanks for posting this.  We board next Sunday and I see 3 of our old friends from the Breakaway - GM Djamel, Cruise Director JC and F&B Director Andreas (he was Executive Chef back then).

JC is allot of fun.

We went on the Sun for a b2b, 5 day out of PC.  Price was incredible and all we wanted was to be on the ocean.  My question, does anyone know the last name of the piano player, Derrick?

Love the review.  Next week we are headed on the same cruise.

Looking at doing a B2B on Grand Princess out of San Francisco in March 2019. The cruises are a 10 day Mexican Rivera followed by a 7 day California Coastal. Neither of these cruises show any type of promo at all. Usually it seems that pretty much any cruise is under some sort of Princess promo but these offer zip. Poop. What's up with that?

My PC trip in Jan 2019 had no promos. The only reason I booked PC was my friend wanted to try them.

I'm new to Princess and when I booked there were no promos. I keep looking at the sailing and still no promos.. Even if they did have some, do I have to cancel my existing to get the promos?

I am new to Princess. My friend and I will be doing the PC in January 2019. I've been a sole NCL person, so this will be something new. I have noticed that there no perks when you book with Princess. I made the mistake of going through an online cruise agent and will not do that again. I always book directly with NCL and going through a travel agent, I am not getting good customer service.

I agree it’s individual. All kinds of reasons people sail. Me itinerary is the only thing that matters. Then for me the bargain chase is “fun”. I don’t care about the ship. But I jaded since I sail at least every month.

I want to know your budget queen research technique. When I first started sailing I was referred to a PCC with NCL. He would call me with 'silent' specials and I was able to get on the EPIC for $1000 - 7 day cruise. We got two studios and it was fun to see the new rooms. Then my PCC left and nobody seems to offer this type of service. :(

I also got off the Island Princess last Wednesday, and had Club Class dining.

 

The only line I ever had was standing behind someone who was on the wrong line and had to be explained several times why they were in the wrong line by several people before they would leave.

 

Steve

What is Club Class?

On the other hand….

 

I've been booking with the same large online agency for years. My TA is friendly, very responsive, has gone the extra mile for me more than once, and routinely gives me an 8% discount on the fare and often a group OBC or other perk in addition. No booking or cancellation fees.

 

What I'm unsure of is this: did you book when Princess was running a specific promo that your TA simply ignored? And did you know about it at the time and just let it go by? Or did you find out post-booking that there was a special you were eligible for that was in effect at the time you booked? And how long afterward? I find it tough to believe that a reputable TA would be told, "I want the Three for Free Promotion Princess is running" and then respond, "You can't have it."

I knew about the specific promotions and when I completed the reservation I noticed it wasn't on my receipt. Thus the call. It was during the call I was told I wouldn't get any of those promotions because of the rate I purchased, however if I wanted to pay more then I could get them. I tried to get a refund on the deposit and was told I couldn't. I will never use a TA again.

I have always booked directly with my cruise lines. I have heard good things about having a TA so I thought I would try it. Well I had a very bad experience with my first and last booking with an online cruise TA. When I booked I wasn't given all the perks that Princess was offering and I was told if I wanted them I had to pay more for my trip. Is it possible to have Princess take ownership of my reservation? I really don't want to be stuck with this TA and unfortunately it is a non-refundable deposit. Basically I got less for booking through the TA than if I booked directly.

I have sailed NCL solely and decided to do the a 10 day Princess cruise on the Island ship. Can anyone tell me what the ship is like after the dry dock? Any photos? What is the dress attire? Their website makes it sound like it is resort dress attire all the time.

It’s tied to your captain’s circle account. We called for my parents and it’s not tied to theirs. I can book at that price, but they can’t book at that price.

And I am a first time cruiser with Princess.. :(

I didn't get the email. Can you post the email you received. Heck for that price I would consider an inside.

We are here in San Juan and we are not seeing the devastation that everyone is talking. The locals are telling us that SJ survived the storm very well. We are over by the Double Tree and there is very little damage as comparison to what has been told via the news. Everyone around us has power, stores and restaurants are open. The locals are coming to the restaurants. Now they need the tourist..

I didn't see the free trolley. We got an Uber to the fort and walked Old San Juan afterward. Stores are open and welcoming people. It is definitely empty with very few tourist. What we saw was allot of trees down. The trees have been cleared and are just waiting to be picked up. Mother Nature has started to work and SJ is coming to life with the beautiful greenery. Two blocks from my AIRBNB is the beach. It is lovely and the water is blue. I personally didn't enjoy Old San Juan. All we saw was shopping, which a majority of it is in Orlando. We didn't go down to the pier and I hear that is the place to get unique items. So we did allot of building site seeing.

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We are here in San Juan and we are not seeing the devastation that everyone is talking. The locals are telling us that SJ survived the storm very well. We are over by the Double Tree and there is very little damage as comparison to what has been told via the news. Everyone around us has power, stores and restaurants are open. The locals are coming to the restaurants. Now they need the tourist..

I didn't see the free trolley. We got an Uber to the fort and walked Old San Juan afterward. Stores are open and welcoming people. It is definitely empty with very few tourist. What we saw was allot of trees down. The trees have been cleared and are just waiting to be picked up. Mother Nature has started to work and SJ is coming to life with the beautiful greenery. Two blocks from my AIRBNB is the beach. It is lovely and the water is blue. I personally didn't enjoy Old San Juan. All we saw was shopping, which a majority of it is in Orlando. We didn't go down to the pier and I hear that is the place to get unique items. So we did allot of building site seeing.

Today we explored El Moro Fort. No visible damage from the hurricanes. You could spend an entire day just at the fort. We learned allot about PR history by just roaming around and reading the signs. There is also a video that tells you about the history and how PR came to be part of the USA. There were kids playing with kites, it was lovely seeing the locals enjoying the grounds. The fort and wall took 17 years to build. Amazing.

Not allot of tourist so get the word out that Old San Juan and the forts are ready and waiting.

Sorry for the multiple post. I was trying to get the app working. Anyway, I'm on my laptop now.

We landed at San Juan this afternoon. The flight was smooth and the landing was perfection. During our descent I took a few photos. What we observed was the business area didn't see allot of damage, not seeing any blue tents.

Closer to landing, we went across residential neighborhoods. ( The first photo I posted) . There are allot of blue tarps as well as houses without roofs.

As we taxi to our gate, the damage to the airport can been seen. Building are torn and there are several planes that are totally destroyed.

The airport looks amazing. The damaged tiles have been removed and are being replaced. Luggage came arrived at baggage claim real fast. Our driver Jose picked us up and off we headed to the Airbnb apartment. During the ride you can see buildings that looked in good shape and then next to it another one that has major damage. We arrived at the apartment and headed out for lunch. There is still evidence of recovery, however it is nothing like I expected. Business' are open and people are back in the stores. Some of the business are boarded up. Others are trying to dry out. Gas can be found in every corner. San Juan definitely doesn't have an issue with gas. Every place we have gone has power. The street lights are working, however they are a bit of a mess. I have a friend from Canada with me, she has no concept of a hurricane. Her comment was, why haven't they straighten those signals up? Of course I said, hey they are working, you should be happy.

The second photo I posted was posted by the bar. This is a couple of blocks from my apartment. Gotta love the spirit. Tommorow we are heading to the beach and Old San Juan.

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Rodney Bay... Does it have the beautiful blue water? Anyone have photos that were taken after the hurricanes?

We are staying at airbnb this coming weekend. I have been thrilled with who I found. Jose also has a car service, so he will be picking up various parties and taking them to various apartments. We also have him schedule to pick up everyone and deliver us to the Pier.

Our traveling party of 8 (4 adults/4 kids) just found out our rooms were cancelled at the Holiday Inn in San Juan for THIS SATURDAY! I know several on here have commented that they're booking back up rooms in case something happens with their reservation. Does anyone have back up rooms that they will possibly cancel for Saturday night (12/2)? We have a "worst case scenario" room reserved, but it's not somewhere I really want us to stay. :o

I would look into airbnb. Best decision I ever made. My host has a car service. Jose is picking up each of our parties, taking them to the appropriate apartments, and picking us all up on Sunday for the drive to the Pier. I couldn't be happier and I am giving back to a private business in SJ.