cruisehappy001

Pam,

I hope that you have a wonderful time on your cruise! Congrats on 50 Credits!!!

Please take a picture of the MTP menu, it will give me something to strive for! I have heard that they are fancy, elegant and personalized.

If you happen to hear the stats for the cruise such as # of people at each level, and the cutoff number of days for the MTP, I would be curious to know for the fun of it.

I hope that it ends up being warmer than you were expecting... We were pretty hot in coastal SOCAL for the last couple of days!

ENJOY!

Happy Cruising! :D

Mark

A couple of things I forgot to mention.

 

I had to laugh at Captain Stefano Ravera... Before sailaway, he announced: I am Master and Commander of this ship... :D He repeats this every day! This is a new one for me!

 

One issue I have on this ship is that the hot tubs close at 9:30 p.m. Of course, my son is very upset, and I can understand why. Why do those close so early? This, again, is a new one.

 

This cruise is generally a good one for my husband and I. But for a younger crowd, yawn.... :(

I hope that you guys have a wonderful cruise and enjoy the family time!

Sounds like my kind of Captain... The only Captain that I ever saw while he was out and about and that I interacted with quite a bit was Captain Marco Fortezee who was the Captain of our Emerald Princess TA last fall. He was a great Captain and had a wonderful crew due to his great leadership and management style.

One big thorn in my side on Princess has always been the early closing of the Hot Tubs!!! I would freak out at a 9:30 closing time, as I really hate when they would close at 11PM or Midnight! We tend to be night owls, and my Mother has a lot of aches and pains that a good hot tub soak before bed helps out a great deal with. Many times we wanted to go after a movie only to find them closed!

I wish that they would at least leave one of the tubs open very late.

Happy Cruising! :D

Mark

Lol, I was wearing my Barbie hat. ;)

OR... were you PARTYing too much! LOL! ;)

One year away for this exciting cruise! :D

Happy Cruising!

Mark

sailing panama with coral next week, wondering how buying casino credit ahead of time works... for example, can you purchase $1000.00 and bet only small amount than cash in rest of credit for actual cash??? thanks

Yes, if you pre-purchase casino credits in advance you will get vouchers in your room that you trade for cash at the casino cashier. There is no requirement that you gamble with that cash, but I am sure that they hope that you will! Some find it handy to avoid travelling with big amounts of cash.

Happy Cruising!

Mark

While we’re on the subject of why, why doesn’t Princess offer more and longer cruises out of LA? We’re not really interested in California coastal trips, but it sure would be welcome if Princess could schedule many more ten days to Mexico than they do now. I asked Future Cruise Sales about the 11/16 rt Panama Canal cruise from LA, but that is completely sold out, no surprise. Why don’t they add more of these? Nothing against Fort Lauderdale, but one of the best aspects of our just completed cruise on the Ruby was the fact that the cruise port is 40 minutes from our house.

The person you asked must have been confused, :confused: because if you were talking about the 11-16-16 cruise on the Island Princess shown below, it it definitely not sold out, :D but selling pretty OK due to it's uniqueness. You should check it out! (I did just look and see that Full Suites were sold out if that was what you were looking for??)

http://www.princess.com/find/cruiseDetails.do?voyageCode=2636

Panama Canal, Mexico & Central America (Partial Transit)

Roundtrip from Los Angeles, California

Ships: Island Princess

Wed, Nov 16, 2016

There is a roll call for it here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2211977

I agree that it would be nice to see more varied and longer round trips out of LA!

Happy Cruising!

Mark

I have never had a problem dropping the form in the box, but I do try (not always successfully LOL!) to do it early enough that I can watch for a confirmation email while still on the ship.

One thing that I do as a matter of practice is to take a digital picture of any important forms or written correspondence that I give to Princess on board for documentation and my recollection purposes. Never had to use it as proof, but I do feel better as the photo is time stamped for my purposes. (Obviously this could be faked by a nefarious individual, but we are not talking about a court of law here! LOL!) Luckily I have never had to fall back on something like this, but I feel better knowing that I have the information stored in my photos for future reference.

Just thought I would share my idea since so many folks on a cruise have a "Memory Recollection Device," AKA some sort of camera with them most of the time! I am a Tech Nerd, so I even usually have a waterproof one with me in the pools or at the beach. I am waiting for the time that I have someone take my picture in the water with a huge shark in the background!

Happy Cruising! :D

Mark

Princess is still being paid the full fare as advertised/published by them.

You have a lower out-of-pocket because your TA is kicking back part of their commission to you.

If you want Princess insurance you have to insure the full value of your trip not just your out-of-pocket amount. Simple concept.

 

But I am curious if it is you that insists on Princess' insurance, or did your agent not offer any alternatives? Princess' insurance is based on a percentage of the fare value because of the included non-indemnified cancel-for-any-reason coverage. If you do not require the CFAR but want medical and evacuation insurance your TA certainly should be able to find it at a lower rate even if the rate is age-based. (Considering that you booked five cruise legs, your agent should be salivating to offer you outside insurance that they will earn commission on...)

A little on and off topic question (Sorry if too much off topic!) for anyone who has used a travel agent, had Princess Platinum Insurance, and then used the CFAR cancellation:

What amount did you get as a credit compared to what you actually paid the TA? The published amount from Princess which is "full fare" that you were booked under with them? (Which should be higher than the actual amount paid to your travel agent taking into account the discount that they gave you?) I assume that the travel agent would not lose anything that they were paid as a commission as it is now between you and the insurance company, corect? Basically if you got a good discount from your TA, it seems that the cost of the insurance that you "lose" may be at least washed out with the discount??? Not sure if this is making sense, but in theory it could be a wash or better for you if Princess Insurance credits you for an amount greater than actually paid to the TA directly? We have never had to cancel, so we have been lucky! What have other people experienced with the credit amount as opposed to the amount paid to your TA?

Happy Cruising!

Mark

P.S. I also hope that everyone always gets to go on there cruise and does not need to cancel! :) Cruising is so wonderful!!! :D

Read that the new Princess ship to be based in China is to be named the Majestic Princess. http://www.cruisetheseastravelandmediacruisingaustralia.com.au/cruising-news/entry/princess-cruises-to-name-new-china-based-ship-majestic-princess#.VhdE1C1XixY.facebook

Pam,

Thanks for the info! As someone already mentioned, I too had heard the rumors of the Sky Princess name here on CC, but do think that the Majestic Princess is a better name.

Happy Cruising!!!

Mark

I am about to purchase casino credits to redeem for cash once onboard. I wanted to purchase $1500 USD, but it seems as though $1000 is the max allowed.

 

Is this correct or is there a way around this to buy more credits?

 

Thanks

If you are ordering it online thru the Cruise Personalizer they limit to $1000 PER transaction. You can do multiple transactions to get up the the amount that you want. I am sure that there must be some limit, but I know that you can do $1000, $1000, and $500 for sure.

Happy Cruising!

Mark

Best of luck to you that it will be minor and that you can still enjoy your cruise!

Sending positive thoughts your way! :)

Happy Cruising!

Mark

Glad that everyone was safe and that the Princess Crew did a great job of getting the fire out and doing what they train so much to do!

Happy Cruising!

Mark

I guess that the hoists are hidden in plain sight! I must have missed them hidden under tarps. I wonder if they will magically appear if I browse through some of my old photos? LOL :confused:

I'm glad that they are there for those who need them!

Happy Cruising!

Mark

Hi all

 

I am hoping someone may have cruised on the Golden Princess and have first hand knowledge regarding whether there is a hoist for pool access? I would love to have a swim as we will spend most of our cruise on-board rather than going ashore as we are travelling in familiar territory.

 

TIA

 

I have posted on the Disabled Cruiser forum also.

Not to my knowledge, but it looks like the Lotus Pool has steps with a handrail going down into the water if you are able to manage steps. I'm judging from the deck plans and photos only, no direct personal knowledge until 11/11/2016 when I sail on the Golden Princess myself. I was specifically looking for steps with handrail access as me and ladders do NOT get on at all!

I was just on the Golden last month and I did not see a hoist, nor have I ever seen one on a Princess Cruise. The Lotus Spa Pool is a good choice as I can say with 100% certainty that it has steps and a rail for entry. Also it is not as deep as the other pools. It is an adults only pool, and sometimes few people use it as they assume it is part of the Sanctuary and has a cost, but it is free. My mother likes this pool due to the easy entry as she cannot really or easily do the ladders as well. Access this pool via the Lotus Spa, and there are a few steps to go up to the pool level from the Spa.

Also the Aft Terrace pool has steps to get into it, but it is a bit steeper if I remember correctly, also it is deeper.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I have attached a picture so you can really visualize the Lotus Spa Pool with its entry steps. It was netted off as the seas were a little rougher. It was drained a bit because of this as well. Look on the left of the photo and you can see a splash I caught in the picture!

Same story for the attached picture of the Aft Terrace Pool... Netted off and drained some for sea conditions. Also caught a splash too! One note for this pool as there are stairs (about 7 or 8) that you need to go down from the Lido deck to get to the pool area so people are aware. Alternatively you could access it from the end of the Aloha deck passenger hallway via a couple less stair steps that you have to go up. Just FYI.

Happy Cruising!

Mark

If the picture is too small (because CC limits the size) I would be happy to email the larger originals if anyone wants, just get me an email address. (Be sure to space it out so that the computer bots cannot read it! For example... JoeCruiser AT gmail dot com *** THIS IS NOT MY EMAIL ADDRESS, I JUST MADE IT UP! LOL)

All of these technical issues to figure out so that you can enjoy your cruise, right?!? LOL

 

I had made a few edits while you were posting just FYI... Or maybe even the portable HDD via the DS port???

 

An idea from out of the blue, maybe you could ask WD tech support if you could connect a CF card reader to the USB port on the HDD? I doubt it, but you never know.

 

I also seem to remember reading about someone here posting about a wireless multi-card reader device??? Only thing is I do not know if it supports CF cards?

 

This is pretty cool if you had a phone or tablet with you... OR THE WD WIFI HDD via the SD card???

 

http://www.eyefi.com/lp/cf

 

Not sure if any of this helps or not?

 

Happy Cruising!

 

Mark

OOPS after looking closely that is only the CF to SD adapter, you have to buy the eyefi Mobi SD card separately to put into it.. More money...

Now that I think of it though, could you not use a basic CF to SD adapter in your camera to then use a standard SD card which could be downloaded to the WD (Or other brand) drive? something like this:??

http://www.amazon.com/Eye-Fi-Compact-Adapter-Professional-Digital/dp/B001DKO7R8

Bedtime is past for me here, good luck on your project, and I hope you have a wonderful cruise!

Mark

Thanks for that.

 

We are heading off on 34 days cruise and I am still trying to sort out what to do myself. I don't want to take my laptop and my DSLR is CF card only, so perhaps this would work, I have an Epson P-2000 but it is only 70 GB so not sure it's enough.

 

Maybe this can work after all.

All of these technical issues to figure out so that you can enjoy your cruise, right?!? LOL

I had made a few edits while you were posting just FYI... Or maybe even the portable HDD via the DS port???

An idea from out of the blue, maybe you could ask WD tech support if you could connect a CF card reader to the USB port on the HDD? I doubt it, but you never know.

I also seem to remember reading about someone here posting about a wireless multi-card reader device??? Only thing is I do not know if it supports CF cards?

This is pretty cool if you had a phone or tablet with you... OR THE WD WIFI HDD via the SD card???

http://www.eyefi.com/lp/cf

Not sure if any of this helps or not?

Happy Cruising!

Mark

Thank you.

 

What I was told was that the device connecting to the Passport need a keyboard to set up the connection, but of course often sales people have no idea what they are talking about.

My understanding from my very brief review of the passport manual (but do not fully trust my memory! LOL) is that you can set it up initially on your home computer to behave as you like while you are away...

I think my new camera has something like a Keyboard on it's huge (LOL) 3 inch touchscreen for entering Access Point passwords, etc.. I dread having to do this, but my new camcorder does have NFC (Near Field Communications) where I can touch my Smart Phone to the camcorder for easy connection... Maybe there is hope for an easy process after all! Once connected you can remotely control the camcorder from your Smart Phone! Sounds like it could be fun! Also good if the camcorder is on a tripod under a rain shroud while I am under a cover on the deck!

Also you can access the HDD with a Smart Phone as well!

Happy Cruising!

Mark

Here is another idea for people who do not want to take their laptop with them:

 

http://www.frys.com/product/8228216?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

 

It is one example of a wireless HDD that has a SD card slot on it to backup/copy your photos to the HDD.

 

I have not tried one of these yet, but one caution on this model it is THICKER than the one pictured, that must be a smaller capacity model. Sorta deceptive in my mind!

 

I think if your camera had WIFI you can store PICs directly to these type of devices.

 

The photo department will backup your SD cards to a DVD, but for a fee!

 

Happy Cruising!

 

Mark

I was told that you can't transfer drect from the camera with wifi.

 

That may be wrong but it is what the salesman said.

The salesman could be right, plus it may depend on the particular model of camera, etc.!

I am not an expert at all as I have just gotten a Camcorder with WIFI and to be honest I have not played with it yet. I really need to figure out how it works by playing with it! Looking quickly over the manual it shows you are able to copy from the camera via WIFI, but I do not know about it doing it automatically to the SD and a HDD at the same time? My choosing the wording "store PICs directly" may be misleading as I meant later copying directly without a computer to the HDD via WIFI. I am unsure of streaming file copies to the HDD at the time of capture???

I did have one of these drives I mentioned as it was $30 less on a sale, but felt it was too thick and a bit heavy due to it's battery so I returned it for now before trying to use it. Too much on my plate now! It would have been a nice gadget that I would not really need as I always travel with my laptop anyway as I have to do some work while away usually! :( If travelling without a laptop, I may have thought of this device as an option, but I have many SDXC cards to carry me through a trip as I Download each night to avoid loss of vacation memories.

From my cursory research I am pretty sure that the HDD can be able to be set up like an access point or computer-less network, and you could connect the camera to it and COPY your pictures to it via WIFI. The camera has a content streaming service via Panasonic software, but I know nothing about it yet. One thing that I am positive that you can do with the WIFI HDD is to set it up to automatically download a SD card inserted into it's SD card slot, so that could be helpful for someone while travelling without a computer at least.

Someday I will have more answers after experimenting, but not now LOL!

I hope my rambling made some sense, or had some value to folks out there? :confused:

Happy Cruising!

Mark

Here is another idea for people who do not want to take their laptop with them:

http://www.frys.com/product/8228216?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

It is one example of a wireless HDD that has a SD card slot on it to backup/copy your photos to the HDD.

I have not tried one of these yet, but one caution on this model it is THICKER than the one pictured, that must be a smaller capacity model. Sorta deceptive in my mind!

I think if your camera had WIFI you can store PICs directly to these type of devices.

The photo department will backup your SD cards to a DVD, but for a fee!

Happy Cruising!

Mark

Thanks everyone, my Mom is getting eager for her Escargot fix! I on the other hand will pass! LOL

I was planning on finding a non-formal night when we like the MDR menu for the next night, and asking a head waiter in advance for a couple of portions for my Mom. She will be in heaven with her Escargot and her favorite Princess Crunchy Rolls to sop up the goodness left in the dish!

Happy Cruising!

Mark

While on the Escargot topic, maybe someone can answer the question that my mother has asked me?

I cannot really remember, but is Escargot always a Formal Night dish, or can it be a non-Formal Night dish? I seem to remember that there were "French" themed nights in the past and this may fit in with that theme?

I have not seen that anyone has posted the cruise menus from this Alaska season thus far, so I have not been able to research it.

Escargot is a favorite for my Mom, so it would make her happy to be able to look forward to it! (We do not do Formal Night anymore, and not even the MDR as much either.)

I "borrowed" this picture from someone here or on Facebook at some point, and I thought it would be appropriate to share it here! LOL!

Happy Cruising!

Mark

As I read his post he's booked a full suite (based on the credits he is receiving) as a single cruise but not sailing solo? ;)

You are 100% correct, I read it wrong as I first glanced it over and had Single Booking stuck in my head! Thanks for making me wake up and read it properly. I was just hoping to find him more cruise credits I guess! LOL :)

Happy Cruising!

Mark

I am booked in a suite on a 14 day Caribbean cruise from Fort Lauderdale in November 2016. I booked this cruise as a single 14-day cruise with one booking number even though it can also be booked as two 7-day cruises (with a stop at Fort Lauderdale in the middle).

 

My Cruise History in my Member Profile on the Princess website lists this cruise with STATUS "Future", CREDITS "4", and DAYS "14".

 

Note that it already lists the 2 cruise credits for each 7-day leg of the B2B even though I booked it as a single booking. In the past, I have had to contact Princess after the cruise to get the extra cruise credits, so they appear to have improved their software to grant the credit automatically.

 

Thank you Princess for fixing your software to grant these extra cruse credits automatically. This saves the passengers - and Princess representatives - time and effort. It is particularly useful for all those people not on Cruise Critic who didn't know to ask.

I could be wrong here, but you mentioned that you were sailing SOLO in a SUITE... If I am thinking correctly I believe that you should actually be getting 3 cruise credits for each of the two 7 day segments leading to a total of 6. (2 for sailing in a cabin solo per segment, and 1 bonus credit per segment for the Suite.) Now I am making the assumption that when you say suite that you are talking about a FULL suite, and not a mini suite. If I am not right about this, hopefully someone else here can correct that.

I also assume that as a Navy Veteran you know about Princess's very generous Military OBC program?

Happy Sailing!!!

Mark

I must be dense. And the Internet Host was obviously not helping me (although he wouldn't have known we were both Platinum I suppose).

 

Anyway, I think I missed that since I was in the habit of pre-booking my Internet package to save some money, so when we turned Platinum, I bought less and over-looked that the free-bee is per person and not per cabin (there's only one login as I recall).

 

Last cruise was a 10-day so I had enough with the higher minutes package - just me again.

 

At least I found this out after only 1 7-day as Platinum. You'd think a Princess and cruise nut like myself would know better. But you can always learn something new on CC!! (Maybe that's why I wasn't sure on that first Platinum cruise if I was getting the best deal??)

 

=================

SO HOW DOES IT WORK? If both wife and I sign up, do we get 300 mins to burn, or do we have to do it sequentially (let one run out first)?

 

I always bought a package before cruise as it costs more to add minutes later in cruise. I wish I could pre-purchase the 460 min package and then get 300 minutes credit.

 

I am thinking I have lost the double benefit before by continuing to buy package before sailing and then it all needs adjusting on the ship.

 

Maybe I should go with the stated method of being recognized as Platinum at first login and getting the free minutes and then purchase add-on offered?

 

Could someone please guide me how best to get the free 150 x 2 minutes for a 1-week cruise and then add-on minutes if want/need more?

 

THANKS!!

One important thing for for multiple Platinum or Elite Cruisers to remember is that you MUST BE CAREFUL to use your individual allotted minutes first without going over as you will be charged for the minutes past your allotment as the free minutes are not combined with multiple eligible individuals in one cabin. (This assumes one person is using both peoples minutes, if people are using the minutes individually this point would be moot as you are not combining the amount of minutes. I hope this makes sense!) For the other persons free allotment you have to log in on a separate account to use those minutes. You both can log on separately and individually use your minute concurrently on different or the same devices, or you can use up one set of minutes and then go to the next set of minutes all depending on how you use them. Just be careful to watch what account you log in to, and ALWAYS TAKE GREAT CARE TO MAKE SURE TO LOG OFF OR YOUR MINUTES WILL KEEP CLICKING AWAY FAST! :eek: :mad:

I have never bought extra minutes as my Mom does not use internet so I essentially have two separate allotments available to me, but if I remember correctly that the deal offered for additional minutes to purchase when you log on to get your free minutes is pretty good. The "cheaper" additional minutes are only available when you first log in, not as a later add on. It all depends on your usage habits.

Happy Cruising!

Mark

I always hook my computer up to the TV in the Cabin, and have never had a problem. I do bring my own connection cables. I have not YET been on one of the ships with the newer on demand TV Systems such as the Royal and Regal, but I have read that people can still hook up by disconnecting the ships box and connecting their computer in that TV input. I sometimes will play movies if we just want to relax, plus sometimes I will show off some of the pictures and movies that I captured that day as well! It is your cruise, so enjoy it any way you like!!!

To give a little visual, attached is a sample of the rear of one of the ship's TV. (Missing from the right side of the picture is a Component Video Connection of RGB plus audio RCA Jacks.) It is a little tight hooking up in the back most of the time, so I suggest doing what I do and taking a flash picture so that you can study the layout to make for easier hookup.

Happy Cruising!!! :D

Mark

Looking at the deck plan, I see absolutely no problems above you. We still don't know what cabin you had before, but this one seems like a good one. It's nowhere near any pool.

 

Jim

I agree with this... you are not really that near a pool, and it does not look like there would be any pool chairs above you. It will just be a passageway above you, you should be a little bit forward of the Gents restroom, and most definitely not under swirls. Given the walking issue that you mentioned the location should be good for you.

Happy Cruising!