AKman2495

We usually get to the theater about 1/2 an hour early for the first show. The late show is usually a lot quieter and easier to get into.

We eat early in ATD and almost always share a table so we often have little to no wait.

Depending on the show time and what else is going on, we sometimes go to the early show and eat later-but that is not typical.

For example, one night they had a 6:45 show. We went to that and had dinner afterwards.

Sometimes there are two shows we are interested in inn two different venues so we may opt for the late show in the theater and have had no problems getting a good seat without a long wait.

As I said, we usually always share a table and the head waiters know this so they sometimes set us up at a table for 2 without us having to ask.

When we do eat early it is usually around 5:30 when we hit the MDR. We are usually out by 7 or so.

We like to keep things flexible

We did a 17 day full canal on the Coral and had an inside. We never felt a balcony was necessary. My mother, who joined us, was upgraded to a caribe balcony and we did use hers occasionally.

During the day, in the canal zone, it is just too hot to sit for a long time on the balcony. It is far better to move around. There is a lot more to se than just the wall of the locks.

Also, on the trip to and from the canal you are at sea much of the time and there is not a lot to see.

I will say mom's balcony was not too bad at sunset, when things at least felt a little cooler....

We were lucky going from the Pacific to the Atlantic. That way, you get to see the Pacific locks, the lake, the River and the cut before you get to Gaitun Lake. It is 3 hours across the lace and it was the perfect time to hit the buffet for lunch and a nice sit-down in the A/C.

Also, the Locks at the Atlantic side give you a real perspective of just how hight the ship is raised (lowered). Looking back from the last lock, it is amazing at just how high you go!

We are usually back well before departure. One time, however, we were on a ships's tour that came back an hour late. The ship was there waiting for us, but the cool towels and the "welcome back" were not there. It was like "get on the ship"!

The tour was worth it, though!

We were on the Crown back in 2014 for a B2B that happened to include the Super Bowl. They had the game on Muts, in at least one lounge and in the casino.

They also had a ton of food that went with the various parties throughout the ship.

While not a big football fan, I did check in from time to time.

I think the best thing about the Super Bowl was the next day. It was a sea day and we got up early to walk the promenade. After that, we got cleaned up and went to breakfast around 8:30. I swear there was not a soul on deck 7 from stem to stern. It was like a ghost ship. We got to breakfast and I think there were less than 20 people in the DR. We had a quiet breakfast.

The party crowd didn't show up until after 11 and were they quiet....

That was one of the nicest days at sea...

On all of our B2Bs on Princess we have received a letter stating that we did not have to attend the second muster drill and we had no problems in not going.

On the last leg, we went to the buffet just before muster and got some snacks and drinks. When muster sounded they told us it was muster. I pulled out my "in transit" card and they said it was OK, but that they could not serve us.

FWIW...

We are just 3 short weeks away from sailing for the first time on the Royal. We are really excited and are learning all we can before we board. But every review/live from has been on the Regal. I know they are virtually identical, but still where are all the people sailing on the Royal? Do you think it's because of the itineraries the Royal is running?

 

Just curious.

Well, it's probably because all the people on the Royal are so happy they're speechless! ;)

We were just on the Royal in September coming back from Europe and it was a wonder full 15 days. Food was great and I though the shows on the first leg of the cruise were better than the on the 2nd leg, but that is subjective...

Overall, I was a great, relaxing cruise.

Thanks for your reply! I know you can just get off the ship in Key West and walk but can you do that in Nassau and Port Canaveral or do you have to take a taxi to go exploring on your own?

You can walk anywhere-you just might not get very far.

As far as the ports are concerned, As someone else pointed out, Port Canaveral is a departure port so there will be no excursions. However, if you fly in the day or two before, you will have some time to explore.

Do some research. I would start with the ships excursions for each port. That will give you a good idea of what is out there at each port. Then, you can decide for yourself whether you want to go it alone or with a ship's excursion.

Just remember one very important thing-the ship will not wait for you if you are late (ships's excursions, though, are an exception). If you go off on your own and lost track of time, you could get back to an empty pier.

First time cruiser here, family of 4 princess Alaska cruise in August

1. I have AT&T cell provider, what's service like for international/roaming fb

Expensive. Do not use your cell phone on the ship. It is way too expensive.

As for ports, it depends on the port.

You can use your phone on airplane mode and use the ship's wifi. That will cost too, but it is much more reasonable.

Thanks everyone. I really think we want to do cave tubing in Belize.

 

Book through carnival or another reputable company?

Just be flexible. When we to to Belize it had been raining for a month and the cave tubing was flooded out.

Our excursion to Maya ruins was also flooded out, but they switched us to Altun Ha, which was a great experience.

My DW loves the bags. She carries them off the ship and we have never had a problem with them.

As for being inconspicuous, the thieves in Paris who work the phony petition racket had no problem figuring out who we were-and we didn't have a blue bag with us.

Fortunately, the tour guide warned us about them and we had no problem with them at all.

We have sailed on Princess exclusively and we have enjoyed every cruise.

The worst cruise was a super bowl cruise was was the back end of a 2 week B2B. We 1 was beautiful. Week 2 was odd-but that was mostly due to a large group of mostly obnoxious people.

There was one guy who was awful. One night they had open seating so we decided to eat in the traditional dining room for a change. We were seated with this bozo. The funny part is that how table mates were there and they were sitting at other tables. He was confused as to why they weren't at his table....

Fortunately, it was only one dinner.

Otherwise, the cruise was great...Since they were all drunk most of the time, breakfast was a quiet affair. The morning after the big game, we went to breakfast around 8:15 am and the ship was almost deserted. The MDR was a ghost town and we has plenty of attention for breakfast.

There are literally 100's of threads about what to wear or not wear on formal nights. If you do a search you will find lots of answers/suggestions/views, etc.

Not 100s but 1000s!

thank you pam. i did the search and found all of them including specialty restaurants.It helps to know what to expect.

Of course, before our first cruse I did the same thing and was looking forward to enjoying the selection I had preferred only to board and find out that had just switched menus! So much for advance planning!

You were on one of the "small" ships. The ships that do the canal (at least until the newer, bigger, better canal opens are the small ships.

The small ships don't have soft serve ice cream.

The big ships have soft serve and some even have gelato.

Our first cruise was on the Coral Princess on a 15 day canal cruise and we had soft serve many times during that one. So, the smaller "Canal" ships do have it. Perhaps on the OPs cruise the machine was down.

While Princess does not have strict formal nights, what I have found is that most people follow the dress code, despite what you may read on this board.

That means you'll see maybe 25-30% tuxes, and most of the rest in suits. There will be a few who choose not to dress, but they are about 5-10% of the total.

I am afraid that, with the exception of Cunard, that's about the best you're going to do...

Need input from those of you with experience please. Where is it that people go to see what their actual cabin will look like and the associated view? I have looked and looked and can't seem to find any details about where we were assigned. I read from many of you about being about to get specifics and views. Can you share your secrets? In my case we will be on the Emerald princess

I prefer to get all those details when I board the ship and get to the cabin;)

Getting complete photos on each and every cabin is going not going to happen.

You can see where the cabin is on the ship by looking at the deck plans.

Most cabins are very similar to the diagrams on the Princess website.

You can also google photos of Emerald princess Cabin C434 and see what turns up.

I've never been on the star, but I have been on other ships that have been rated disasters and have not seen any of the problems people have talked about.

So, I ould take the negative reviews with a grain of salt.

It is like figure skating scores. they throw out the highest and the lowest scores as they tend to be biased.

As for Alaska, Princess is the highest rated cruise line for Alaska-so they must be doing something right.

Relax, enjoy and have the greatest experience of you life. Trust me, Alaska is like that.

The Coral has a wrap around promenade deck (I mean you can walk continuously around the ship on it) but it is not open at the bow. Rather, it cuts through a corridor. That said, it is a great walk!

For a normal person who eats a variety of foods, the dinners in the MDR are portioned very nicely for healthy eating.

As long as you don'r have 4 appetizers, 2 orders of the main course and 3 deserts, you will be fine.

As for breakfast, you can order a healthy breakfast very easily in the MDR.

Lunch in the MDR, however, is more like a dinner to me and is often too much food.

As for the buffet, yes, you can eat heathy there as well, it is just a lot harder because it is up to you to limit what you eat.

Of course, exercise is a must. We like to walk in the mornings and will usually shot for 2-3 miles a day.

I didn't gain a pound on our last cruise, for which I am pleased.

So, yes, it can be done.

Thanks to those of you who posted helpful replies.

 

For the "groaning poster": Yes, my question is likely redundant. but FYI, I did a search on this subject before posting the question. However, if you use it yourself you must know that the search feature often turns up nothing (despite trying to phrase the ? various ways), or else results in miles of posts that don't directly address the question. After reading through at least 10 of them (some had many, many posts w/out any reference to my question), I gave in and just asked on this board.

 

You can often find cruise critic threads on almost any topic by just putting the question into google. you will be amazed at what turns up.

In reference to my last reply concerning my husband and I needing to get off asap from our ship to get through customs; and get to the FLL airport to make our 10:10am flight home

and planning on departing when we are told to do so....does anyone know what the earliest time of disembarkation would be if our ship (Royal Princess) is scheduled to arrive in port (Ft. Lauderdale) at 6am? On our last cruise with HA, they opened up the buffet area for passengers to catch a quick and earlier than usual breakfast before disembarking. Only if possible, it would be great to be able to down a cup of coffee and grab a quick bite to eat before disembarking for the long day of traveling home. Thanks for your suggestions!

The earliest you could probably walk off would be around 7 am. On the Royal, The Horizon Bistro opens at 5:00 am for continental breakfast and the regular buffet opens at 6 am for breakfast. The MDR opens at 6:30.

One nice thing about early walk is that you can get some breakfast.and leave your bags in your room. After breakfast, you can go back to the room, collect your stuff and head to the rendezvous point for disembarcation.

Being educated in Chefs school, I'm pretty sure my palate is trained for seasoning, appeal and overall flavor balance. There is NO way anyone here would cook that exact recipe for guests at their home or go out on a Friday night and order it.

 

People here are so protective of Princess (the company that charges you thousands) that even marginal meatloaf gets defended.:eek::D

That's what they mean by "ignorance is bliss":D

Not sure why you included my quote in your post. Isn't that what I said? Nowhere did I mention, express or imply "technically".

No, it was your comment about having two separate booking numbers. I have been on cruises with one booking number but in reality it was a B2B with 2 legs. Having one booking number makes no difference.

I agree with those that said this is a B2B Cruise. However if you have any doubt contact your TA. Do you have two different booking or invoice numbers? If you do then it's a B2B Cruise.

Technically it is a B2B

It is not "technically" a B2B it is a B2B. As for for checking with the TA, having the same or different booking numbers makes no difference.

That is why Princess stopped the illusion of the "same booking number=1cruise" fantasy.

Our first cruise was a 17 day cruise from Vancouver to FLA through the Panama Canal-with one booking number. In reality, it was a 3 day coastal to LA and then a 14 day LA to FLA cruise.

We had to leave the ship and go through customs (in reality, our group got off waited about 15 minutes and then paraded in a room handing in our customs declarations. We made a big circle and marched right back on the ship.

What yo have booked is a B2B period.

We are on our first cruise with our high school daughter on Celebrity over spring break. Is it best to make excursion plans at every port? If we book an excursion will we still have time to do some shopping? Does everyone leave the ship when it docks or do you have a late breakfast? So many questions as we would like to get the most of our cruise without being overbooked. Our daughter would like to see each island and shop as well. Help is greatly appreciated.

Being on your first cruise is great. As for excursions, you do not beed to book up every hours the ship is on shore. However, one of the reasons for cruising is to see other places. Depending on the time in port, you can book an afternoon excursion and enjoy a late breakfast. But, usually, the ship docks in the mornings and port days are busy.

Plan ahead. What interests do you have? Are you interested in history? Ancient ruins? or do you want to snorkel and spend time at the beach?

Look through the available excursions offered by the ship. For first time cruisers I recommend using the ship's excursions as it is easier and the ships tours guarantee the ship will not leave you behind.

As for shopping, most ports have a shopping area near the port. We often have a morning excursions, get back to the ship and have lunch and then go shopping in the afternoon.

You have many options. Some excursions include time for shopping too.

Start looking at what is available and enjoy!