lilyhammer

Thanks for the info. Interesting about the medallion app being replaced by a new app. I can't seem to log into the app using my email/PW (keeps giving server error) but I could log in with my booking #. Looks like Regal princess uses Symphony and Concerto for reserved seating.

So I was able to make a reservation for the same time every night. Assuming you like your waiters the first night, is it possible to lock them in for the rest of the cruise, or is it luck of the draw where you sit every night?

Just booked on Regal Princess and I noticed that unlike booking on Carnival and Royal Caribbean, it did not ask me anything about dining. Does Princess not have fixed dining times like other lines? If so, when are they and how do I request a time? I prefer fixed seating as I always have a seat ready to go and can head right in without waiting.

If not, do I need to make reservations on the app every day then? It looks like these reservations can only be made after final payment? Are there any tips/tricks or caveats to this? I usually like to dine early - what is the earliest that Princess dining starts? 

Thank you, it looks like the standard fare princess is offering is refundable. It's such a breath of fresh air as other lines hide it in the fine print that its nonrefundable and make you jump through hoops to get a refundable fare quote.

Hi, I'm looking to book my first Princess cruise and I noticed that Princess has a price guarantee, but it shows that this is only for the first 72 hours after booking. Does this mean that they do not re-price for price drops before final payment like other lines? Or is there some fine print where any sales that happen before now and final payment are only for new bookings? I'm wondering if I should book now or wait a little. I'm looking to book a 2025 cruise, if that helps.

I've been cruising since the 90s and it seems like the music on RCCL cruise ships have been the same 70's and motown classics forever. So many headliner singers (who are great singers, don't get me wrong) seem to have peaked in the 80s on star search and old talk shows and sing songs from the 60s and 70s. At least on other lines, they've sung songs from 80s, 90s and 2000s. I would like to see something new. Every decade has so many icons and great songs they could be slowly adding in.

Can you get cans of soda with the diamond vouchers? Or only fountain drinks? Like could I ask for 4 cans upfront and stockpile them in my room fridge? Or will they only give you one drink at a time?

Yes, the one thing I hated about the once a day cleaning is the amount of trash/plates that piled up. If you have 3-4 people staying in a stateroom, it's already pretty cramped. You only have a tiny coffee table to place items on, or a tiny desk/counter which is already cluttered with other stuff. 

We bought a water package, and the trash cans pretty much fit two empty bottles. We all got C&A water bottles too, so we had a ton of water to get through. We often went to Sorrentos and brought back pizza and the plates/cups would just pile up. Or if we got snacks from Cafe Promenade, those are also given on plates that pile up. If only there was a place to drop off used plates on my floor, as I was certainly not going to bring them back to the food places.

Note, we also eat in our hotel rooms, but hotels have large trash cans near their breakfast areas, where we can deposit our food trash. I'm not advocating for cruise ships to change to disposable food wares, but noting that maybe there could be a place to deposit plates/cups.

The family cabins that hold 6 are great options, but there are not that many on each ship and they tend to sell out fast. For a family of 4, I'd recommend looking at 2 cabins (like two inside connecting cabins if price is paramount). Often the price of 2 cabins isn't much more than 1 cabin that holds 4. There are a lot more cabins that hold 2 vs ones that hold 3 and 4, so the 3 and 4 people cabins have a higher MSRP and sell out faster, especially during peak periods.

If the kids are little, it's really hard to all stay in one cabin when they go to bed so early. It's much nicer to be able to close the adjoining door and still be able to stay up and enjoy your cabin.

If the kids are older, some rooms for 4 just have a sofabed that they need to share and that could be an issue (space wise and whether they want to sleep next to each other).

Here's Molly Burke's video. It looks like she was on the Celebrity Edge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRepA3ITrxg&list=PL_Xm8PicNxr25s-MsDFTW2aqpJug-IQvr She talks about it about 5 minutes in.

They have a special area for it. I saw a youtube video by Molly Burke which was all about this. She's blind and has a seeing eye dog and brought it with her on a cruise. I'll see if I can find a link.

I'm interested in how you were able to get Carnival tech support to take in your information over the phone. I was having trouble with the shore excursion guarantee form and not receiving a response. I contacted the general number, by facebook chat, called esolutions, emailed shoreexcursions@carnival.com multiple times and all anybody could tell me was that I needed to submit the form.

I submitted that form so many times, tried several different browsers, saved screenshots of the completed screen and they kept telling me it didn't go through and they had no records of my submitting it.  The last email I received from them, they wrote "If you are not able to complete this online please bring all the information with you on your cruise and visit the Carnival Adventures Team once you arrive so that they can assist at that time."  I’m pretty sure that’s not the way this works and I’d get outright rejected then. I pretty much gave up when my excursion disappeared from the list. They’re not selling it anymore, but still haven’t canceled it, so I'm still waiting to figure out what to do in Belize.

I noticed this excursion has reappeared on the shore excursions website for my cruise. It's severely lacking in information, so perhaps they have found a new vendor, but not worked out any details yet. Mine still has an x next to the name, but I think this is a promising sign. Anybody else see the same thing?

I booked this back at the end of August for my March cruise. It seemed like a new excursion with hardly any information and no reviews. I've been trying to price match it with their shore excursion guarantee ever since with no luck. I wasn't getting rejected-- they just kept claiming they didn't receive my form. I contacted them by facebook, by phone, by email, I tried using different browsers,  I tried emailing them screenshots of my completed form. I must have filled out that form at least six times. The last person I talked to said to try the form again and lo and behold, the excursion was no longer showing up. 

I contacted them about a week ago asking whether the excursion had been cancelled. The person from eSolutions said that it looked like it had been pulled and they didn't seem to be selling it anymore on any cruises in the spring. She hesitated to tell me it was cancelled and said that when carnival did cancel it, I would receive a refund. So maybe? I looked into the rendevous caye excursion instead, but they are all sold out for the morning and I don't want an afternoon excursions.

I suppose it's possible it's sold out and the Carnival rep didn't know what she was talking about. But FTTF shows a big "sold out" and still shows the listing. I don't see it listed anymore on the shore excursion list in the shore excursion guarantee page and I feel like the x in the name “x_Goff's Caye Barrier Reef Snorkeling & Beach”  is a bad sign now. If they do cancel it, I wish they would do it ASAP so I can plan something else. 

I sent in the form two weeks ago and have not heard anything back (good or bad). Does anybody know how long it takes Carnival to respond? The fine print says 5 business days, but maybe they are really backed up. Does anybody have an advice on how to proceed? Should I fill out the form again?

This is a tender port, so I'd rather book with Carnival than the independent excursion provider.

FTTF is available on the March 3, 2019 Vista Cruise now.

I got so excited seeing this, but I'm still not seeing it for my March 17, 2019 Vista cruise. I'm still seeing the message "We currently do not have any excursions for this port". I tried in 2 different browsers, but that didn't help. Anybody else see the same?

Yes! I love the 6M cabins on the dream class ships, with the 2 bathrooms. It seems like the balcony room cabins + balcony combined are the same size as the outside cabins, so the interior area in an outside cabin just seems so much roomier.

I feel like the balcony cabins on the dream class have more liabilities, like the cove balconies are too close to the water and your balcony will end up wet/salty. I've heard some are over the galley so will be noisy. Then the cheapest next class balcony overlooks deck 5, so everybody can look right into your balcony. No thanks!

I've never booked ahead of time. We always go to Playa Mia when we go to Cozumel. This is place is great for families!

The first time we went, my son just missed the age cutoff for free by a few months, but the taxi driver wrote something on a brochure and got him in for free. The next time, the taxi driver talked to the guy who opened the taxi door for us and he walked with us to the ticket booth and got us a unexpected ($4?) discount per person. The next cruise, the weather was terrible, so we decided not to go.

Playa Mia can get crowded if there are a lot of ships. Check schedules and try to get there before ship excursions.

I used epassportphoto.com when I needed a photo of my then 2-year old. He was pretty fidgety so I was worried that the "one" picture they took at walgreens would not work out.

You just take your own picture against a white background. We took a whole bunch, then picked the best one. Then upload the picture into their system. You can center it and make sure it fits all the size/spacing requirement, then they give you a .jpg that you can print yourself at home. I just printed at costco since my printer wasn't that good.

It worked great and was actually free like they describe.

Ah fenton, thanks for your explanation. I was wondering how they could have messed this up. Sounds like this will become an issue for any medical visits after oct 2015. A quick google search came up with some helpful links that I will pass onto royal caribbean to let them know this will be a big issue.

It's nationwide cruise travel insurance, choice cruise plan. This is the first time I've used it. They sounded very similar to the typical travelguard or csatravelprotection plans I've used in the past, but had additional cruise benefits (like for missed ports). I don't think it's unusual for travel insurance to want to go through your primary medical insurance first, but this is my first time having any incidents on board.

I'm not sure if it's my insurance being a pain or royal caribbean doing it wrong. I'll try your contacts and see if they can help.

Thanks!

So my son visited the ship doctor while we were on our last cruise and received some medication. I am attempting to get my insurance company to pay for it. According to my travel insurance, I need to go through my primary insurance first and they will cover what it doesn't pay.

My primary insurance says that the diagnostic codes used in the statement the ship doctor provided to me are invalid and that they need to correct it and send a new one. I contacted royal caribbean and they told me that royal uses their own diagnostic codes (?!?) and they will not correct it and there is also no way for me to contact the ship doctor. When I asked them what I was supposed to do next, the agent just shrugged "sorry". =(

The travel insurance also requires a form for the ship doctor to sign and date. How do I get this completed when I can't contact the ship doctor? Does anybody have any advice/experience about making a claim after a cruise? I feel like they have put up a few impossible hoops and expect me to just go "oh well".

Hi everyone,

I thought I had read here that you didn't have to buy a soda package on the first day and that you could buy it as late as day 3 and only be charged for those remaining days. FYI, I bought the soda package on day 2 of my cruise and they said I would be charged for the full 7 days--that only the higher drink packages did not require the full 7 days.

Just wanted to let everyone know so they don't make the same mistake as I did. I had some OBC so I still bought it, but would have bought it the first day had I known that's how they charged it. If this is the way it's always been done, my apologies for misunderstanding.

Yes, for the life of me, I get it that "on vacation" message every time I try using Chrome since Saturday. My Chrome browser is up to date, I've cleared my cache and nada. I was just about to post and see if anybody else was seeing this.

I got it to work in Opera yesterday, but today it just spins trying to load the page.

Then I tried Internet Explorer and it worked. So I guess the solution is to just keep trying other browsers? Sounds very inconsistent. It's like the site is blocked or something. I'm also on Windows 8, if that helps.

I saw Donovan and Rebecca from AGT on our last cruise and they were amazing! We were wondering how they could do a 1h show of strength acts, but Donovan also sang while she danced and they had some videos while they changed/rested.

We also saw some quick change artists in the ice show, who might have also been on AGT. I don't know how they can change clothes so quickly, but it was really fast and impressive.

Since Park N Go is asking for $12 a day prepaid to park for my upcoming Allure cruise, seems like I should just part at the port, so I have some questions.

1.) Do you pay for the week when you drop off or when you leave? Are there any discounts, like AAA? Do their prices ever change (like for peak periods)?

2.) I read that there is parking near the pier, lot #18. Does anybody have any first hand experience about how far this is? 5 min walk? 15 min walk? more? Sounds like it is not a garage, but a large unshaded lot. Should we drop family and luggage off first, and then go park? Or is it close enough to walk with luggage?

3.) After the cruise, can you grab a porter and have them take luggage to your car? Or should we have someone wait with luggage at the pier and we should pick them up after we get the car?

4.) Is it a crowded mess leaving? Ex. like after a concert ends and everybody is trying to leave at the same time. I've always taken shuttles, which mitigate lines since they can only take a small number of people at a time.

Hope people have some advice! I'm sad Park N Go considers the Sunday after Thanksgiving to be "peak".