rocklinmom

Always good to get insurance, you never know what could happen. Anything from falling and breaking an arm to an ear infection to kidney stone, etc. We always book the Princess insurance and thankfully haven't had to use it so far. The Platinum coverage is great and basically makes the amounts covered larger, and as Elite (or in your case Platinum) we get it for the price of Standard coverage which is nice. When you book it the system should recognize your status and automatically charge you only the Standard price. 

I would highly recommend NOT flying in the day of your cruise. Too many things could be delayed, flights, connections, baggage, transportation strikes in the UK, etc. That could definitely add unnecessary stress. It's really easy to book your own hotel on their website (and can cancel up to a day or two prior) and the Princess transfer to Southampton is easy to book on your Personalizer and then just take a cab to the meeting place (and they handle your bags for you). Can wake up in London and head to your cruise. But do whatever works for you. 

B305 and B541 are both BB balconies that show with a red dot on the Royal deck plan. The red dot means quad cabin which is twin beds (can't be done as queen) with bunk beds above the beds that come down from the ceiling. 

11 hours ago, DUCHESSRN said:

The computers in the Internet Cafe on Deck 5 were faster , there was a student doing his classes on line in there . 

Oh I'm glad to hear this! My daughter has to register for spring college classes and pay her tuition during our upcoming cruise, so if our Wifi package doesn't work well enough we will pay for her use the Internet cafe. I think they charged by the half hour of use or something like that.

We have sailed out of Southampton twice. I booked Marriott hotels in London but I see they are showing $500 prices for September 2023. An idea for you is the Hampton by Hilton London Waterloo which shows only $258 a night, either a queen or 2 twin room. If you have a third person it's only $10 more for a sofa bed option. Hampton's include free breakfast and are a good value. This one is located only five minutes walk from Waterloo train station, so you could take the train down to Southampton. Or you could take a taxi to Victoria Station, where Princess usually does their cruise transfer pickups, and use the Princess cruise transfer. 

In my many years of booking Princess shorex's I have never seen the price go down. They definitely do go up, based on demand usually. For example, I waited on a certain shorex once and when they added another busload (that 20 tickets remaining thing) the price went up $5pp. So if you know you want a shorex I would book it. You can always cancel it later if you change your mind. 

We are elite and our app shows the 50 percent Wifi discount. I agree that your status could be wrong (hence the blue medallions) so might want to call in and get it corrected. 

Am I seeing the classic Caesar salad (not the new kale and chickpea version) and the classic LoveBoat dream dessert (no bright red coating on the chocolate heart)? I hope to see those on the Royal so maybe there's a chance. 

We used 80 Francisco St. garage for a cruise a few years ago and it was way easier, just booked online. Now it seems you can only fill out the form and wait for a callback to take your credit card info (hopefully securely) over the phone to reserve a spot. On the form it also says that the longterm cruise parking spots are in an uncovered area (up top perhaps). It states that if you park anywhere else in the garage your car will be towed. I'm not sure about leaving or returning in possible rain next month in an uncovered area. At this point I think I will look into parking at SFO and take a taxi/Uber to and from the port. 

I will try to post, although historically I haven't had a lot of luck doing it live. I did request paper copies of the Patters so if I get them I will post whenever I can. I have my college students as my "tech crew" to do that kind of thing haha. 

11 hours ago, trbarton said:

I’m on the Royal November 27 cruise to Hawaii. Many staterooms available. A friend of mine recently bid for a Mini Suite & their bid was excepted within 1 hr. Perhaps the closer to the cruise that you bid the better options you have in the cost. I looked at bidding for a mini suite over a month ago & traveling solo I would have had to pay at least $2,000. They paid $600 for a mini suite. 

We will be on the Royal Hawaiian cruise for the holidays so I'm hoping you will post about your cruise? 🙂 

Wow great food and menu pics, thanks! We will be on the Royal so it won't be the World Marketplace but they will probably have similar things. And kudos to you for being patient in the MDR and then using the buffet for your backup dinner. We have done that before too, it's not like anyone would ever have a lack of food on a cruise ship 🙂 

Loving seeing the menus, thank you! We will be on the Royal but they tend to be similar. And there is the new kids' menu too, thanks! 

Ooh love Princess food pics! Keep them coming please! 🙂 And would love to know more about the vegan/vegetarian section in the buffet. 

46 minutes ago, Buckeye10640 said:

I still play too...old school as I refuse to use the tablets...lol. I generally play only one card at a time. Last cruise I won $200 !

Yes we love using the good old fashioned paper cards with the colored stampers. So fun and brings back childhood memories for me. We have also won many times that way. 

Thank you all! So happy to hear that we can still play Bingo 🙂 

Is Bingo still a thing on Princess? I can't seem to find an answer. I search photos of current Patters and don't see it, or I'm missing it? Can someone who has sailed recently please confirm if we can still go the Vista Lounge and play Bingo? Or is it all online app stuff now? 

So glad to read your reviews, we will be on the Royal in December. You sailed out of San Francisco, so where are you headed? If Hawaii would love to hear about that as well. And I'm happy to hear that I can request paper copies of the Patter. How did you do that? 

Yes I am hoping to see that Amex offer return as well. For Princess it was the World's Leading Cruise Lines cash back offer. Would be nice if it appeared before December so we could use it! 

Ah good to know! Since the Anza parking lot is separate is it still connected to SFO by the Air Train? If not how do you get to the terminals?

Thank you! Yes if we don't stay at a hotel the night before we might just park at the SFO parking garages. For the long-term one it looks like you take the Air Train over to the terminal? We would probably just catch a taxi from there. 

20 hours ago, seekatz said:

We have parked at SFO the past 2 cruises out of SFO at one of the hotels that offers parking and airport shuttle in the past 90 days. We took the the airport shuttle to the International Terminal and took BART into the city. This would be for people who are able to walk to the Princess cruise terminal, its about 20 min walk with our roll on luggage. Bart is $ 10 each person each way and parking is about $ 10 each day. This takes a bit of research and time, but can save money on a longer cruise.

I was looking at doing something like this, but the hotels around SFO have a limit of 10 days to park there and our cruise is 15 days. Are there any that will allow longer parking times? 

Do they still have Bingo? There's nothing like sipping a drink in the Vista Lounge stamping a Bingo card and hoping to win some cash. I hope they didn't get rid of it with the Medallion online gambling stuff. 

This excursion credit is also showing on the 12/22/22 holiday cruise I'm watching, so I guess it does apply to cruises before January? It says as long as booked by Halloween (although some here are saying it is actually thru 11/2). 

How were the Hawaiian ports? Any issue with docking times or tender lines (if applicable)? And did you do any Princess excursions there?