Shippy

16 hours ago, KKB said:

No, it was mentioned that HOU/IAH people said "never again"--I guess i thought they were referring to the airports not the port.

 

Sailed Ruby in March...arrived 1045 & was onboard before 11--easiest embarkation ANYWHERE.

 

We sail the NCL Prima from Galveston next month so I guess we can compare then!

  We did not realize that HOU is basically a Southwest Airlines airport.

We flew American. Only 2 checkin desks for them & only one of them open.  I asked about getting an earlier flight from DFW, our connection, because we had a 4 hour layover. She said I would have to take that up at DFW. I told her that was not a good idea since my luggage would be tagged for the other flight. She just held her ground & said to take it up there.The lady was a total snot but we were stuck with her even though we had first class tickets.

 I was a bit confused ( I am OLD) when we got to the gentleman who checks your passport before security.

I asked where tsa precheck was. He was a total snot & said to just proceed...they all get you through. Of course we wound up in a wrong lane.

Looked like only one desk for DELTA also. We do not care for Southwest and after our Experience with American there......

Unable to get a through flight from San Francisco.

We though going out of Galveston would be quicker than flying yo Florida but when you ad the time from the airport to Galveston, I think it is actually longer.

Unfortunately not much that we like goes out of the west coast.

 We were on the Regal last week....There was NO green line in the beginning or facial recognition at the end.

Waited OUTSIDE the port for over an hour before they let us inside.....got there after 10 & had green line status which didn't matter.

Over an hour to get from the ship to outside the port....carrying off our own luggage.

14 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Express walk off began at 7:30. I would have done that and skipped the lounge.

I would have if I had a knowledge of how bad it was getting through the port. We were up early enough.

   We first got the plus package when they introduced those bizarre sundaes that you could get 2 a day of....NO substitutions.

    Just of the Regal & was at the International Cafe when someone said that those giant cake slice were now covered.

   Then I went over to the gelato station. I heard you could now get a scope of whatever you wanted & it would now be covered in the package.

As I waited in line, I noticed they had a menu. When by turn came up I asked if the banana splits were covered & she said yes & you could customize it.

   I had a scope off pistachio, vanilla & strawberry with chocolate sauce, lots off whipped cream & cherries &.of course a banana AND in a heavy glass dish. I had expected plastic.

  The next day I read the menu again & discovered a Frangelico sundae. That is a tasty liqueur. SO... Frangelico, vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream & a cherry. And served in a very large, heavy glass beer mug.

My new go to sundae.

   Crown Grill

Under appetizers, definitely the scallops with caviar.    I have them hold the caviar    :O)

The scallops are cooked perfect & in a wonderful sauce.

Then the shrimp bisque  Followed by lobster tail.

We just got back from our first.....maybe last Galveston cruise.

We flew in from California & I was concerned about the logistics getting to Galveston

   We flew to DFW & then a short connection to HOU (Hobby) airport. We came in 2 days early & my daughter had arranged private transportation from HOU to Galveston.

  I was worried about many possible complications that could have come up but none did.

THEN>>>>>the way back.

  We had arranged for private transport from the ship at 8:30 in the morning to the airport. We were staying in a suite & carrying all our luggage off ourself. So, we hung out in the Concierge lounge to be escorted off at 8 am. I thought 1/2 hour would be plenty of time.

Did not start off to bad & I was happy there were ramps all the way instead of escalators.

BUT It was about how many ramps there were. I had heard the port gets backed up & I ASSUMED they meant outside, not inside.

     It took a very long time. Before I knew it, it was 8:30 am & we were still walking down ramps.  There was no separate line for people carrying out all their own luggage, so as people got their luggage along the way, it just slowed down the line. We panicked & called the driver asking him to wait as we were almost through the line.....or so we thought. Strange as people could get their luggage.

   Eventually, we got to the customs lines. Another nightmare. All the other ports we had been at had a separate line for U.S. citizens vs foreigners, this did not. SO... the customs lines moved VERY slowly as some people had to take out different paperwork like visas..

   Bottom line.....Moving quickly, it took us a little over 1 hour to get out of the port. Luckily for us, the driver was incredible & waited.

    It would have to be one hell of a cruise offer to get me to sail from Galveston again.

Almost forgot to mention. The ride from HOU was 1 hour & I know that was the closest airport.

About a year and a half ago I had my first knee replacement.

  There was a complication because of the  tourniquet. I spent 4 days in the hospital and still could not walk to the door of the hospital room

BUT….I still would have been able to enjoy a cruise 2 1/2 months later . 

We wanted to do that once.

We live by San Francisco so we wanted to get off there. The cruise continued up to Vancouver.

We were told NO because there were no customs scheduled there for that day.

They were not about to do that for only 2 guests to get off.

 Love the Penthouse.

We are also both seniors. In the Penthouse you have a separated room....you can youtube the different categories... So I can lay down in the afternoon & my husband can relax & watch TV or do something else without bothering me.

  On the Royal class ships you have a suite lounge which we really like.

You also get priority on & off the ship & with tenders.

   We were on the Royal Princess right across the hall from the concierge lounge.....loved it.

Great drinks & snacks. Comfortable seating.

I am an insomniac & up a couple of times a night. Although the lounge was not manned 24 hrs, you did have access. The concierge showed me which refrigerator had the milk.

So, at 2 am, I would walk across the hall in my robe & slippers & get some milk & cookies.

  We are sailing on the Regal next month. I got the exact same cabin as on the Royal     :O)

19 hours ago, arizonaperson said:

 You might be surprised how many people win a suit and are compensated. Like I said , I had a friend that had an incident on a cruise ship and filed suit with a Maritime attorney and never had to go to court , never  had to go to California-everything was done on the phone or video chat and was offered a settlement and took it.  Yes it took a while to do everything, but if one feels that they need to be compensated or the cruise ship was negligent,they should talk to a maritime lawyer to see if they have a case.I don’t know anything about the small claims court portion ,that’s not what she filed.

  Also really doesn’t matter what our feelings are on any of this, Op/ author needs to do what they feel is necessary and legal.(  Op lives in Canada and I believe is a Canadian citizen )  have no idea if it matters on citizenship if you can file suit or not. And I’m sure no one else will know what the statistics are at how many cases that are filed and how many won. 

 My best to the OP as they navigate their way around their incident .

Just out of curiosity....what kind of injury did your friend incur ?

Might it have been something that seems a bit more obvious for negligence than a tooth  problem ?

I SERIOUSLY doubt you will receive at more compensation BUT am extremely curious.

PLEASE let us know what happens.

On 10/13/2023 at 7:10 PM, Stamp1 said:

Thank you. I needed to hear all this as they almost had me convinced. Some of the things they said were dead wrong. They said I would have to pay an extra $18 a day room cleaning fee and $5 per person to eat in the dining room.

I am obviously not a confident Princess cruiser. Usually go with HAL. I would complain to a supervisor but don’t want my free balcony and big casino free play offer taken away. 

Not really sure what you are talking about. Do you mean the daily gratuities ??

Even with your 'free' room offer you would be expected to pay those just like port & tax. Those things are NEVER covered.

 Our casino comp cruise is next month. We ASKED for the plus package to be added. We were never harassed to get it or the insurance....which we never get.

did not know they even had a book club !

17 minutes ago, antsp said:

You know it 2023, I did check the dates on this thread

?

No, you do not need testing BEFORE you board...

HOWEVER.... we came home with Covid on our last 2 cruises.

One last year. One 2 months ago.

Luckily, the current strain seems to be very mild compared to the original.

Moral to the story... do not travel if you are scared of catching it.

We are in our mid 70's & will continue to travel & lead the life we choose    :O)

Unfortunately, those 'free' ice cream desserts actually have very little ice cream in them. I tried them on 2 different occasions.

There is usually some kind of cake or cookie taking up much of the bottom & a lot of cream. Not light cream like the canned kind but a very heavy cream & candies on top.

  So the 3rd time I just asked for the ice cream & sauce & they obliged but I hear they do not always do that.

3 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Yes, that is the way it is supposed to be.  They took care of it….did they charge you $10 for shipping?

 

Did you have an option, on the App for shipping to home, or only pick up at the port, when you

ordered your medallion’s?

 

No charge but I think that is because we have the Plus ?

Our cruise is in November out of Galveston.

I could not get out of the "BLUE" lane even though it looked as though we had completed everything necessary.

I called Princess & they said it was because we were picking up our medallion at the port. To get into the GREEN lane we would have to have it shipped. He said he could handle that while we were on the phone.

As soon as we got off, I checked my app & we were in the GREEN lane with medallion to be shipped instead of picked up at the dock !

We had a cabin right across the hall from the lounge on the Royal.

It was a wonderful location.

I am an insomniac & the concierge showed me which frig they stored milk in.

I was able to just walk across the hall at 2 or 3 in the morning & get milk & cookies.

Needless to say....we got the same cabin for our upcoming cruise on the Regal.

   Is the lounge on the Regal also accessible 24 hrs a day ? I realize it is only manned certain hours.

Thanks

Not sure how you made the original booking...

I book with an internet agency that lets me see all available cabins.

 I would check that first & then pay the extra to pick.

If it did not show specific cabins in a category I wanted but allowed me to book.....the assumption is it is a guarantee booking..

I would NOT pay extra to pick a cabin number if I had not first seen what was available.

9 hours ago, no1racefan1 said:

Are you suggesting that OP just accept that Princess is charging additional charges they are not aware of agreeing to? 

  Not exactly sure how this part works....

since a third party company handles the bids...are they the ones that actually make the charge or is it Princess ?  If it is the other company.....?

11 hours ago, donswife said:

I thought the bidding was handled by a third party vendor, so Princess agents will not have a clue what is going on. Is there contact info in the original email?

You are right.

Princess has NOTHING to do with the bidding process. It is handled by a third party company.

Do NOT get mad at the Princess agents. They have nothing to do with it. They probably know nothing about it.

It will say on your bidding offer that everything is final if your bid is accepted. I do not think there is a way to reach them.

DO NOT LOCK YOUR DOOR IF YOUR PARTNER IS SOMEWHERE ELSE.

    I did that & then took a nap. I did not hear my husband knock. He could not get in. The cabin steward could not get in.

They had to call a supervisor to open the door !

   Use the 'do not disturb' feature on the outside panel.

1 hour ago, drizzle63 said:

I will probably think twice about the type of cabin I'm getting on different class ships. I had my eye on Reserve Minis on this cruise for myself and travel buddy, but wanted them close by and that didn't come up because I'm such a last minute planner. We opted to share a suite, the space is nice but outside of the Reserve dining there really isn't enough draw for me to pony up for a suite on this class ship having learned the difference!  

 

Were you in R609 on the Royal? I would totally choose a location near the lounge again!

   That was my cabin, and will also be the same on our Regal cruise.

I could walk across the hall in my robe in the middle of the night for a snack      :O)