Meanee

If I was a ship's engineer and had to deal with problems caused by people messing with the TV inputs I would try really hard to either have easily accessible inputs available or else to lock things down so tight that nobody could mess with them.

 

I deal with computer problems every day that are caused by "busy fingers".

This is why allowing it and making it much easier, would be better for everyone. Give people a remote HDMI port. A button on remote "Ship's Video / Your Device."

Then you can watch these problems disappear.

Technically, yes, but it will be quite a PITA.

Depending on Samsung phone, you may need to purchase MHL to HDMI adapter. They are quite cheap, around $10 on Amazon, but not every phone supports it. Google your phone's model, see if MHL is available.

So that's only one part of the process. 2nd part, you will need to connect the HDMI cable to TV. Not all Princess TVs have accessible HDMI port. On Royal, TV was wall-mounted, and their VOD system used that HDMI cable. I was able to unplug it, and plug in my laptop, but you need to have fairly dexterous fingers to get to it.

Now if you manage to connect HDMI port to TV and still won't see much, you will need to switch inputs. Remote you will get in your cabin won't let you do it. Your solution is either to bring a universal remote with you, or use your phone to change inputs. If you have fairly recent Samsung phone (Note 3/4, S4, S5, or any S6 variant), you can download an app, called "IR Remote" and use it. These phones have builtin app, based on Peel remote, but it's beyond horrible.

If you are fairly handy with your phone, and somewhat tech savvy, it will be walk in a park, and in 5 minutes you will be on it. If you are not very friendly with technology. it could be a problem for you. Cruiselines don't like when people screw around with TV, which is pretty upsetting. For example, some hotels actually have input panel by the bed. Plug in your laptop/phone/whatever a foot away from you, and picture is on TV. Cruiselines, not so much.

Looks like a nice day in Skagway!

 

 

 

You DO realize that it's not a static image, and it changes, right?

Human nature is to bitch and moan. If someone had bad experience, they will shout it off every bell tower in the world. If someone had great experience, chances are, majority won't even post a review.

And keep in mind, everyone has different food tastes. Some people will go to a buffet, expecting 5 star dining experience, with aged steak, and gigantic lobster tails. And when they do not get that, up goes a review saying "Never again"

Not saying that all bad reviews are wrong, but take it with a grain of salt, on items that cannot be "measured", like food.

So far I've been lucky with GTY. On Allure of the Seas, booked inside guarantee, received a balcony in a very nice spot.

I only do Anytime dining.

On RCCL, they scanned our card before we entered the dining room. I think few times on Royal we were asked. Do not recall being asked on Crown, or NCL Epic.

I am seeing that MP elevation is 7972 feet. A typical commercial plane is pressurized to the same altitude. On a plane, relative humidity is around 4%. In MP, it's 45 to 65%, and that will make it feel much worse.

Just tossing some information your way.

We are supposed to get there at 930. So what does everyone think, shouldn't be a problem getting a van/taxi at that time should it?

On a turnaround day, there's an ocean of taxis available. There's literally no waiting to get one, even if there are gazillion people flying in and boarding every ship in port.

They will stop your cab on the entrance to port. Make sure you have your cruise paperwork and passports ready. They want to make sure you have a passport, and cruise document is for that day.

I agree with the advice but expect the cab ride to be twice that much. I've never heard of just $7 from the airport to the port - especially the Princess terminals since they are at the north end of the port (the airport is due south of the port; as others have said you can see the ships from the airport).

Last time (about 2 years back), I paid $10, with tip.

FLL definitely.

I wouldn't even worry about Princess transfer. A $7 cab ride, and you are at the ship in 10 minutes. There are always tons of cabs there, they expect heavy cruise traffic.

I laugh at the people trying sooo hard to get onboard before others. We are platinum and sometimes it takes us longer to get on than regulars due to the increase in P&E cruisers now. It is nice to get on and get settled then have a nice MDR lunch but not worth rushing or being rude to do it. Still have to wait for all to board anyway so why stress about it.

 

As for cruising with Carnival, our first cruise was a 3 day to Mexico so my DW could see how she handled being sea sick. The only thing she got sick about was Carnival. Very odd and peculiar things happened to us on that cruise but, fortunately, we decide to try other cruise lines and now have settled on Princess. Oh, NCL was as bad, if not worse, than Carnival. Never again for either.

There are things that you can only book onboard and it's first come first serve. For example, we rush onboard to get Chef's Table reservation. We walk to see Maitre'd as soon as we step off the gangway.

It's not just all about running to MDR to eat early.

I'd rather take a Staten Island Ferry than a Carnival cruise...

Who's getting upset? You are the one that appears to be agitated. :(

Nope, not at all. But "OMG, these lesser people who are not triple-platinum-with-diamond-sprinkles are getting somewhat similar benefits" threads/comments are entertaining.

Uh oh. Them's fightin' words. LOL. The points aren't exactly imaginary. They do yield tangible benefits.

These points exist in Carnival's computers. And they have no benefits at all, if some glitch wipes them.

Either way, yeah, them fightin' words. I really don't care if I hurt someone's feelings if they are getting upset about me (who paid $40-something) going to board shortly after they do.

While I disliked my Carnival cruise, I bought FTTF. It was good value, and to be honest, I couldn't give two craps about plat/suite people not feeling being elite enough. They've earned their priority right by accumulating imaginary points. I earned it by paying for it once.

Just wondering what prices are like onboard. Is it cheaper to bring in luggage ? I live in Canada so foreign exchange factors in, but if it's reasonably priced onboard it would be convenient.

 

Taking a 10 nt Carib with my family of four so I am guessing we will use a fair amount.

 

Thx!

"Reasonably Priced" and "Onboard" should not be in a same sentence :-)

Let's just say lava pools in hell will turn into a skating rink before I step on another Carnival ship (maybe Vista). But I love Princess. Classier, quieter, more comfortable, more sophisticated, not too snotty, and has good age range. And does not feel like college kegger (looking at you, Carnival)

As you can see it depends on the ship.

Could be. Or I could just be that lucky. Out of all my cruises, I was never on the same ship. It was new ship every time, and spanning 4 cruise lines.

The "Anytime dining horror story" keeps coming up every now and then. and I guess I am just lucky I never experienced any wait, or bad staff.

Something's off about this.

I am a cruise "newbie" and I never took traditional dining. With 7 cruises under my belt, I never had any issues described above, across 4 different cruiselines. I completely hate the fact that with Traditional dining, we have to show up at certain time. It's a vacation, I'd rather not follow another schedule (yes, yes, I know, shore excursions, shows, etc).

Longest I was made to wait was 15 minutes on Oasis of the Seas, in a fairly comfy waiting area, with wine available for purchase. And since we do not keep schedules, we came at peak and non-peak times. 15 minutes was longest I ever had to wait... No reservations, nothing.

I am already booked and for this September (10 day Mexican Riviera from LA). So I guess I am out.

 

What makes Princess particularly attractive is the "free" all inclusive beverages for two adults per balcony state room.

:eek::eek::eek: Where?

Could be a promo or something. I am booked on my 3rd Princess cruise, and first time hearing about it.

 

ETA: we could watch iTunes content from my laptop on the TV but had to change the volume on my laptop. Don't know why that was but it wasn't a huge issue.

Very easy explanation. Imagine your HDMI port is just headphone port that also does video. To adjust volume in your headphone, you would use your computer's volume controls, right? Same idea here. Audio processor sits on the computer, and your volume controls the processor. TV just takes the signal and presents it to you in audio/video format.

Fix is to adjust your laptop for max volume, and then use your TV remote to adjust volume.

I'm not tech savvy at all. So to use an app, the other person must have a smart phone with the same app?

Depends.

If you are using WhatsApp, or Facebook Messenger (it can now call), you would need other person to be on same platform.

If you are using Skype, Google Voice, or your carrier WiFi calling, then you can just dial a number.

Also, keep in mind, JFK has an odd baggage rule. A lot of airlines have a hard cutoff, won't accept any bags after 60 minute to the departure mark passed. Other airports, it's 30.

I left a bag and scuba gear on a curb, thanks to that rule. Arrived 3 minutes after cutoff, they couldn't do anything. Lost about $600 that day.

Agree with Meanee that the "best" and cheapest way to receive calls or place calls from anywhere in the world while cruising on ship is to use one of the wifi apps like WhatsApp if you subscribe the ship's internet pkg. In fact we each carry our smartphones so we can easily contact one another on the ship via wifi. Back in the old days before wifi or smart phones, we would carry walkie talkie on the ship which was inconvenient and too much hassle.

If you use T-Mobile WiFi calling, you can call other phones using your phone number, and others can reach you as well, on your phone number. Also, it will pick up queued texts that were not delivered to you.

How does this work? Unless you each have an internet plan only phone could be connected to wifi at a time. And since the connection(s) have to be up aren't all your internet minutes ticking away?

Princess@sea allows free messaging to other subscribers. It's free to use (wasn't there a charge for messaging until recently?)

Basically, any service that needs to "leave the ship" will be charged. Internet will be charged, Intranet (local network) won't be. Since Princess@sea is relayed through server on the ship, it does not need to "leave" the ship to communicate with other passengers. But services like WiFi calling, Facebook, WhatsApp, Skype, require external connection, and you need to have internet active (and pay for those minutes)