jackyfromwyk

47 minutes ago, 20165 said:

Yikes, that exactly our fear if we do decide to get on early.  We also prefer to get on later, closer to the time our room will be ready, but that darn Sanctuary reservation thing is enticing us to get on early. 

We there also sold out on port days or can you even get one on a port day?  We dont plan on getting off the ship so if they do have them available while we are in port, we would be interested in that.  thx

 

we got to the sanctuary probably within 15 minutes of start of boarding.  no stops anywhere, it was our 11th Princess cruise so we knew the ships layout, beeline to forward elevators - pass the elevators and take the stairs- ran up from deck 5 all the way up to the sanctuary.  they had one! lounger left for one of the port day afternoon only. 

17 hours ago, Dreamcruiser185 said:

Just trying to get a spot in the Sanctuary, which is usually sold out by the time we always get there.

Good luck! The Sanctuary is one of the highlights of our cruises.as well.  We tried again on our October 2023 cruise on the Sky.  Arrived at the port 9:30m, boarded as the first in the platinum group right after elites.  Ran up the stairs to the Sanctuary and it was completely sold out.  There were a lot of back-to-back cruisers that took ALL the spots.

Just got off the Sky yesterday. We always do walk-off and carry our own luggage.  We left the stateroom around 0600, stopped by guest services for the final bill and walked off in just a few minutes.  Called an Uber from the curbside and it arrived in 5-7 minutes.  Got to the airport in just a few more minutes, walked right through TSA which had no line at all.  Got to the gate at 0710.
We were booked on a 12:04 departure and were able to get moved to the 0815 flight instead.  Got home 7 hours earlier than planned.

i would not recommend this, but it sure worked out for us.

Speed Soduku should be posted in the patter.  On our past cruises it was usually in the morning around 9am.  
Basically it is a group of people solving the same numbers puzzle and the 1,2 or 3 fastest to solve the puzzle correctly get a small prize.

I have been checking the journey section on the app, but it seems that it is incomplete (probably because our cruise is still a bit away)

I love the live report from the Sky Princess.  
Thank you for taking the time out of your vacation to post your experiences.

We will be embarking on the Sky in the near future and were wondering if you noticed speed Soduku being offered.  
 

We have not gotten any emails confirming shipping.  The app is showing that it has not shipped yet.  When I contacted Princess via chat (a few minutes ago) I was told it should arrive tomorrow.  Our cruise departs on 11/26.

The chat button is usually located in the center bottom of the home page.

Not sure what’s going on but I have been trying to get in touch with Princess and all I’m getting is “ technical difficulties”.  Maybe that’s why the chat seems to be missing.  Also, I have been on hold for 20 plus minutes now, so maybe the technical problems extend to call ins as well.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7021e3.htm

I’m confused.  If the vaccine is effective, then why does it matter if others on board are vaccinated?  If it is effective then those who have gotten it are safe, right?  Anyway, I will cancel my Princess cruise if I have to get the shot.

I just wish Princess would make a decision on passenger vaccinations.  We are booked for a cruise in September and need to make a decision to keep it or cancel it soon.  
 

Thank you all for the input. 

I will call the port and ask them if they have anything in place to get packages to the ship. 

Otherwise I will just have to bring extra books etc and deal with the added weight ( I know I can just download books, but I don't like reading them on a tablet).

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has any experience shipping/mailing a package to themselves on the ship.

We are looking to do some B2B2B cruises and looking to ship a few things to ourselves.

No "contraband" items - just reading materials and other personal items.

We are planning to cruise in/out of Fort Lauderdale on each turnaround rather than a point to point, so timing of the delivery is not as critical.

We are looking have the package delivered to the ship, so that we don't have to leave the port and go to a UPS/FEDEX location to pick it up.

This is the address / format we were planning on using:

Port Everglades

Princess Cruise Lines, Terminal 2

Ship's name - Sailing Date - Cabin Number - Passenger Name

1850 Eller Dr

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309

Any other thoughts, advice and suggestions are welcome.

We were on the Ruby a few years back during the super bowl. Club Fusion was all decked out in the team colors, the bartenders were dressed up, and all TVs were showing the game. You could also watch the game poolside -MUTS.

Temperatures can be very subjective and in New England they can vary widely. In October it could be in the 70's or it could snow - or possibly both in the same week.

As for transportation between Logan airport and the cruise port, it is only about a 20 minute taxi ride.

We have been on one HAL cruise - the Veendam in 2012.

I know food is very subjective, but we found the food in the MDR on HAL extremely disappointing. I actually sent my dinner back twice on a seven night cruise. The buffet wasn't much better. I remember one night craving something - anything sweet. The dessert in the MDR was not very good, the buffet had the same ice cream/ fruit pie/ bread pudding every night, and the coffee cart was closed by 7pm.

On the other hand, the steakhouse was comparable to the crown grille.

We are leaving on our second Alaska cruise in 3 weeks. The first one, last year, was also in September. We were told that the glaciers are more "pristine" looking early in the season before the summer melt. We were also told that there is more calving of the glaciers in the spring.

cruising this Saturday. The web site for Aurora predicts good showing on Aug 15 and 16th. We did star gazing on a Princess ship in the Caribbean and they turned down the lights above one of the middle pools so we could see the stars. This was a Discovery Channel "scholarship at sea" event, so just wondering if they do this in Alaska.

Last year on the Golden (sailing from San Francisco on September 9) they had at least two nights when they offered the "scholarship at sea" stargazing.

We have been on two RCCL cruises as well as six Princess cruises.

Here is our impression between the two:

The quality of the food on the Oasis was comparable to Princess cruises, however the food on the Brilliance was of MUCH lower quality than any Princess cruise we have been on.

The availability of food is much better on Princess than the RCCL cruises we were on. The buffet on Princess is open for most of the day and the International cafe is open 24 hours. Plus there is the pizza and hamburger venues open for long hours. We found the buffet hours on the RCCL ships very limited with other food venues also keeping very limited hours.

The dress code on both cruise lines is about the same.

The entertainment on the Oasis was slightly better and the entertainment on the Brilliance was much worse than any Princess cruise we have been on.

A good question. We are booked on the Yukon Expedition - white pass scenic railway excursion on our upcoming cruise and were wondering the same.

Last year we also cruised to Alaska and booked the Takshanuk Mountain 4x4 excursion while in Skagway and that was fantastic.

You know you are obsessed with cruising when...you check for a new cruise every day, looking for the right price!

Guilty!

I am a Princess fan. But I only go to their 5 star ships. I tried Regal Princess, Royal Princess, Emerald Princess and Crown Princess, and only enjoyed Regal and Emerald. The band on the piazza on Royal Princess was not great. Always the same playlists and the male singer not quite good. I like the Rhumba Duo in the wheelhouse and we saw them on Emerald and Crown. The bottom line is to choose a newer ship with higher star rating. The Coral Princess is a 4.5 star ship and was built in 2002. Too old for me to try.

 

But the food on all the princess ships we tried was good. Royal Caribbean can't compare when coming to food quality and selection.

Ditto on the food. While the food on the Oasis OTS was very good, the same could not be said for the Brilliance OTS.

We found the food on all Princess ships excellent.

While we have had great service from all waiters and waitresses on all of our Princess cruises ( with the exception of the MDR on the Caribbean Princess last April), the best service was from Joel in the crown grill on the Ruby Princess in February 2014.

We always walk off and are usually off the ship shortly after 7 am. Taxis are right outside the terminal and the airport is only about 15-20 minutes away.

If your ship arrives at 6am then walk off "should" begin at about 7am give or take a few minutes. You "should" be able to get off the ship, through immigration and customs and to the curb in about 15 -20 minutes. Therefore, in the perfect world, you should be able to get from the ship to the curb at the Airport about 30 - 45 minutes after the ship has been cleared.

The real questions is - can you check in and get through airport security relatively quickly?

If you are experienced travelers, traveling with very little carry on luggage, do not require special assistance, and do not mind possibly needing to jog/run to your gate then you should be fine.

Washers are not HE washers. Just regular laundromat washers.

There are token machines in the laundry rooms and you use your keycard to get the tokens. Last September the price was $3 per token.

Washers and dryers use one token each.

There are also vending type machines for laundry detergent and dryer sheets - sorry I do not know the price since I usually bring my own.