beg3yrs

@Charles4515is generally correct but there are reports (and I have experienced this as well) that iMessage actually does work on Princess ships as long as you're connected to their WiFi. There seems to be an unacknowledged exception for this kind of messaging. WhatsApp seems to work as well. All that said, I wouldn't stake my livelihood on this as it's not promised and probably could be closed off at any time.

We were on the Sapphire in January. Rounded Elephant Island heading for Antarctica and out of nowhere we ran into 100 knot winds and big waves. The wind could have been higher but that's the highest the ship's anemometer goes. Anyway, the Sapphire rides rough seas like a champ! According to Captain McBain, that extra beam she has over the other Grand class ships makes a big difference. And yes, nobody wanted to be outside either.

My experience with Singapore (which is likely more restrictive) is that your proof of prescription isn't necessarily the script (which the pharmacies keep anyway or is often electronic) but the drugs are in packaging (usually the bottle) from the pharmacy clearly marked with your name and the contents.

Wow, only 45 minutes between the two start times? Assuming it's a 30 minute show, it's kind of hard to empty the theater and fill it up again in only 15 minutes. Are you sure the second show isn't at 9:15? IIRC when we were on the Island last year the second show was at 9:15.

I agree with BamaVol. You'll probably change your clocks the night you embark. I think Princess avoids changing clocks on the last night cuz not everyone will get the message and there would be too many people off an hour during disembarkation.

Last Sunday night I emailed a benefit request and first thing Monday morning the credit had been applied. This is for a cruise in September of 2025, yes, 2025.

Even with the old notification system using door hang tags it was a problem with people messing with the tags. Reversing them or just taking them.

Yes but voljeep was insistent that this had happened before and was looking for situations where it had happened. I just wanted to point out that he probably wasn't mistaken but as you said, it was another situation.

He certainly did. Missing the ship in a foreign port and getting back on at the next foreign port won't be a problem. Senor Frog's and the like tend to be in foreign ports so I suspect people missing the sailing and getting back on at the next port were likely in the Caribbean or west coast Mexico or European sailings. My momma told me that when you find yourself in a deep hole, quit digging...

@memoak has it right. Credit cards are MUCH safer than cash. That said, for us there are some on shore expenses where DW and I think cash is better and that's usually tips and very small purchases. Personally I carry about $80 in cash in various small bills, an ID and a credit card. I usually come back with around $60, my ID and maybe a few credit card receipts. Oh yeah, don't forget your medallion (but you won't cuz you can't get off the ship without it). You won't need anything for porters except on embarkation and maybe disembarkation. We figure a couple of dollars per bag at embarkation and maybe $20 for the person who takes all our bags on one cart and whisks us through immigration. Bus drivers on tours we give about $5 per person and the tour guide for a whole day gets $10 per person and half that for a half day. It's really up to you and of course how much you liked their services. It can vary with us too.

The ship's staff "knows" you weren't on board. That causes lots of other problems too. Announcements over the PA looking for you, security going into your cabin safe to try and find your passport to give to the port agent and so on. You show up at the next port and likely you will be denied reboarding.

Looking forward to meeting you F2F on the Discovery in April. DW still calls her computer the "Hard Drive" and to keep the peace I remain silent (we have separate computers cuz back in the day when we tried to share, she started rearranging my files - new computer for her). You're showing your age asking about carburetors but that's ok as between two of my cars there are four carburetors. The other two daily drivers are fuel injected. Hmm ... I wonder if hard drives are carburetors, is the cloud then fuel injection?

Would be good to know if your Canadian airport has US immigration there so your flight into the US is already pre-cleared. I know that many flights to the US from YVR are that way.

This is not a given. Next ports are likely to be foreign and embarking there will not invoke PVSA restrictions.

I have not seen any language in the EZair documents that states if you book a short connection their guarantee is voided. If EZair sells it to you, they should stand by their guarantee. That said, missing your sailing really sucks and you should do everything you can to lower the risk of missing the ship. Stories about trailing luggage are awful unless you really like the clothes in the shops on board. You also need to be careful that joining the ship at a later port doesn't violate PVSA rules. That probably isn't the case for a journey from Galveston though. As skynight said, it's best to arrive the day before. Unfortunately for many, it's not possible or practical to do so. Going from Victoria to Houston, the time zones work against your early arrival for same day flights. I don't know how your routing goes but red eyes are good for getting in to your destination early in the day. As far as connections go, those early in the day before delays build up are safer than those later in the day. Also check the airport websites for their minimum connection times as they vary from airport to airport. I like to use a minimum connection time that's 50% longer than what the airport recommends. EZair uses a blanket 90 minutes which IMHO is actually reasonable but for some airports you can easily get away with less.

I don't think sea trials are measured in months, more like days to a week or so. They're mostly a series of pre-planned maneuvers the ship must perform, typically at its extreme limits of performance. There are other things of course but those are the most spectacular. Hard turns at speed, emergency stops and starts and so on. Almost every system, especially those involving safety, will be exercised and evaluated during sea trials.

That's cuz it's divided, one side for running/jogging and the other side for walking.

A sparkly ball cap to match the sparkly top would be fine in some circles ...

Coast Guard evacuations are at no cost to the patient. Really! True! Fact!

I would be watching carefully for the early sailing. I used to do program and project management for a large defense contractor and much of the job involved estimating schedules. One high-level technique was to look at how long similar projects took and then include complexity factors, i.e. is this job more complex or easier? Is it bigger or smaller? Is it a first time build or has the builder built many of these before? These are useful if you don't yet have a detailed build plan. Anyway, looking at how some of the Behemoth of the Seas projects are going, considering they've done them before but they're larger than the Sun Princess; I see the latest one is already at sea doing trials. Seems to me the Sun Princess should be fast approaching sea trials to make her first sailing with passengers in only five months and from the videos we've seen recently, she's nowhere near ready. We're booked on the June 1 sailing and I think that's a safe one. February 28? I'd have a plan B and C.

The only way I've been able to purchase OBC ahead of the cruise with a gift card is to call. Even that is fraught with peril as not all reps know how to do that.

Oxo was writing about RCI and Princess. You already know Princess ships don't have helipads so it must have been a RCI ship.

I've been on at least three ship tours and haven't had to deal with ladders or even stairs except for one tour which allowed us to optionally climb the steep stairs on the outside (not really a ladder) into the superstructure.

Hey! Maybe they're updating the databases and grandfathering the old Plus-40 and Plus-50 packages to get all the new bennys! Right ....

It's like those celebrities who get their undies in a bunch whenever some politician gets elected they don't like. "We're moving to 'some other country'!" Yet, they never do no matter how much we wish they would. Personally I keep thinking I would like to try some other line like Seabourn but I never do. The IRA says NO!