Mara4166

The best one for longer trips (unless it has been removed) : FREE LAUNDRY

We always do that for our cabin since we are very picky on cabin locations. The question is how to get the same cabin for the following cruise on a B2B when that cruise is not available for sale when the first cruise is booked.

We are looking into a long holiday in 2026 doing a TA from Southampton and then straight onto a Caribbean cruise. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can keep the same cabin for both cruises? My concern is that we would book the TA as soon as the summer/autumn cruises are available for 2026. If it is like 2025, the Caribbean cruise schedule will not be announced for several months after the Europe/TA cruises are available to book.. We are not worried about what ports we would have in the Caribbean, more worried about the cabin we are in and which ship we would be on which would be booked for the TA. My only thought is to check daily and book the Caribbean portion immediately, but there is no guarantee we would get the same cabin since I think Elites get to book a day or two early and someone might grab our cabin before I can book (we are Platinum). If we booked through a Princess Vacation Planner, are they able to put a “hold” on the cabin in advance? In the past we have always booked ourselves through Princess.

I almost regret asking the question about Hawaiian shirts on the thread and bringing it back to life a week ago 🙂. Based on the discussion we "probably" will not go on Cunard. I would love to do a round trip TA, but we also like to be a "bit" more casual when travelling. We do make an effort in the evenings and do not want jeans, shorts and t-shirts, but Cunard is probably not the line for us. I just wish other cruise line (e.g. Princess) enforced their dress code as well as Cunard appears to do.

Thank you. This is the impression that I have from reading many of the posts, but your comments summarize it very well. If we book this cruise, the Hawaiian shirts will be reserved for the daytime or in the evenings during the Caribbean portion of the cruise.

I am trying to work out what is acceptable as a dress shirt. My husband LOVES Hawaiian shirts. We could be in the middle of a blizzard in Alaska and as long as the building is heated he would wear a Hawaiian shirt. We would most likely be in one of the grills and I am hoping Chinos and a Hawaiian shirt will be okay for non-gala evenings. We have cruised with Princess before and are looking for a ship that has an actual Gala/Formal evening (he has a tux for Gala evening). I assume women do not need to wear a dress on non-gala evenings. I usually wear nice trousers and a top. Our trip (if we book it) would be a return TA with the Caribbean.

You may want to look at how many other ships are in port the day you arrive. If there are lots of ships, it may be later.

I was very worried about this on our cruise 2 weeks ago in D726 on Sky since I have severe asthma. I could not walk within 20 feet of the casino due to the cigarette smell, but had no problem on our balcony. We spent a lot of time out there since we were keeping away from any crowded areas on the ship. No smell of smoke at all.

We were on Sky in D726 2 weeks ago and it was lovely. It rained a few days and our loungers stayed dry since we kept them under the overhang when not in use. We could move them out to the open when we used them. The Dolphin PH balcony is Huge compared to the Owners suite 1 deck below. We love to spend time on the balcony on sea days.

The casino is certainly a smokers paradise on the Sky. I usually like to spend some time at the slots, but every time I got within 20 feet of the entrance on our cruise 2 weeks ago, I started coughing due to the stench coming from the casino (even in early morning - 6am). The casino and surrounding areas smell of old smoke. I think my asthma has become more sensitive over the last 3 years of semi-isolation.

I just boarded the sky and slept wonderfully last night.

We are seeing lots of flights coming and going from FLL this evening. Not certain where they are coming from but the airport is open but probably fewer flights than normal

Thank you everyone for the information about the porters. Nice to hear there is no rental car shuttle to deal with. we have a large number of bags due to bringing gifts from the UK to my family in the US and will refill that space with some shopping while here. We will probably try to drop off the bags on the way to the car return.

Our rental car is to and from the airport. Maybe Fort Lauderdale is different, but most airports I have been to, you need to take a shuttle from the rental car location to the terminal. Dragging a bunch of bags onto and off of the shuttle to then get a taxi is a pain. Much easier to drop off at the port and then just deal with carry-ons to get back to the port. our hotel is very close to PE (17th street) so we drive by the port to get back to the airport.

Does anyone know how early we can drop off bags at port everglades? In the past we have left a bag or two at our hotel during the cruise (lots of pre cruise land travel and shopping while in the US which does not need to be brought on cruise). When we checked into our hotel last night, the hotel indicated they will no longer keep any bags for us while we are away so we need to bring all of them with us. We are thinking of taking our rental car over to the port early on the 12th to drop off bags and then go out to breakfast and return the rental car with only our carry-on luggage. We have only left bags as we arrived to board so am not certain how early we can leave them

We did UBD once and will never do it again. The volume of food put us off eating. It was not enjoyable knowing so much food was going to waste.

you must never have travelled to the UK. When the smallest note is £5, it is common to tip in coins

You may to ask in your roll call in anyone has received an invitation

I believe it is a new idea to celebrate the TV show. Based on the princess web site it is starting on Discovey Princess on 1 October and is the 2nd formal night.

i am very curious about this also. It is the main reason I might not test if I am not feeling well. We are in a full suite and I would not want to be moved. I would not mind isolating in my cabin if needed.

i may be wrong, but I thought gratuities were only for the first 2 passengers in a cabin

We also use zip ties. I have a set that have a tag that are numbered (detachable tag with same number) so no one can take it off and then just replace it without me knowing when I pick it up. The only time it has ever been removed is when we have a TSA note inside.

I assumed they did not block the suites since they are so expensive. We are in an aft corner on dolphin in 2 months so hopefully it is not a problem. Do they normally block the entire deck or just 1 side. We thought we may need to walk down the other side of the ship and cross over to our suite at the back of the ship.

Some people do. I feel the 18% tip included in the drink price is sufficient for basic service. I tip extra when I get exceptional service

Does not matter since the UK is excluded from bidding. Hopefully they will add us in later, but the initial information indicated UK was not included.😞