sweetsleep

While I have purchased a membership with them for several years and thankfully have not needed to use it, you need to understand that MedJet Assist does NOT cover illness nor evacuation from a CRUISE SHIP. ONLY a true land based hospital. A cruise ship is at best an emergency room, NOT a hospital.

So, you would need to be transferred to a land based hospital if ill and only then can you use the Medjet Assist transportation to return you back to home.

It is NOT a be all to end all type of coverage and should NOT be considered as a travel insurance policy for a cruise.

Read the limitations of their services carefully before you buy.

Yes, they are extremely good and deliver on transporting you back home from anywhere in the world where you are an INPATIENT in a hospital,even an ICU.

Cruise ships are not covered in their policy.

I totally agree with the last poster.

I am a very compliant CPAP user-I am NOT overweight but have unusual airway anatomy that has relegated me to the "beast" machine.

I cannot fathom going without my "sustenance" machine especially on an expensive vacation. If I go even ONE night without my CPAP I feel horrible the next day. Usually that occurs on call in the hospital or on a red eye long haul flight

Time to change doctors if that one advised you to "go without it". Really BAD advice. And yes, I AM a physician. That is why I am shocked about that poor advice.

There are some CPAP machines that you can choose to use distilled water or convert the machine to not using it. Don't know what machine you have but that may make your packing easier.

There are also travel CPAP machines that never need water at all-but they require a prescription and may not be covered by insurance if you already own a cpap machine.

Both Princess and Holland America will give you a gallon of distilled water for medical purposes for free. But a gallon of distilled water is cheap even if a cruise line won't provide it for free.

Do not listen to people who do not know you that say you don't need it for a trip. Really? Your health and getting a safe and good night of sleep are priceless.

Hope you have a great cruise and some GREAT sleep

If you are not Platinum or higher the nightly cocktail/appetizer event is quite nice in whichever lounge they hold it on the ship-it varies.

I loved the premium fresh fruit bowls,free corsage/bouttonierr for formal nights and fresh flower arrangement too.

You can either use the mini bar setup provided or get a bottle of wine or some coffee cards.

FREE laundry service.

Premium bathrobes and slippers. Nicer toiletries.

Tons of storage space

Free dinner in a premium restaurant on embarkation day-which is around $20-25 per person so figure that into the "cost" to upgrade to a suite.

You can reserve dinner whenever you wish and if you want a 2 top? No problem if you are in a suite.

If this is a special birthday/anniversary/retirement cruise this is a nice way to go.

Can you tell I am spoiled?

How long is your cruise and depending on what you paid for you current cabin(we don't need to know that though) is helpful in your decision.

The suite perks are really wonderful and if I were on a 7 day cruise or longer that price to me is well worth it.

Just go to the Princess website to see what the perks are.

The only danger is that once you sail in a suite you are spoiled for anything less.

Hope you make a great decision and have a great cruise.

Check out Viber,it is a VOIP free service and you can talk and text from anywhere in the world so long as you are on WiFi and the person you call/text is also on WiFi. You will need to have anyone you want to call sign up for Viber-but again it is free.

There are other free VOIP apps besides Viber.

Have had incredible sound when people have called me in the US from both Sweden and Barcelona.So is does work very well. Sounds like you are on a crisp speaker phone. Amazing.

This will not work on any ship while you are at sea though. But not sure why you need to check in if your loved ones have your itinerary and know you are at sea unless there is someone ill?

More things to remember(and a prior poster gave you some GREAT ideas and info)

1. Check to see the dates that the Nong Ping cable car is out of service-usually 3-4 times a year. If you don't have a bad fear of heights take the glass bottom car!!

2. Octopus card-you will both need your own card to enter and exit the metro-you can't just swipe through and hand it to your companion. The metros are also a neat touristy thing to do-very clean,really interesting ads and always some snack shops or little bakeries to grab food. BUT you cannot eat or drink on the metro-huge fine if you are caught.

The Hong Kong dollar doesn't vary much from the US dollar-its about 7.75 HKD to buy 1 US dollar.

3. Jade markets-maybe we went to a crummy one but I was not impressed. Most of it looked fake and made of plastic.

You will really have more to see than you have time but you will not get bored that's for sure. Really good walking shoes are a must-one day we walked over 7 miles exploring the markets! Bring a travel umbrella too.

Have to disagree about the vegetarian food at the Buddha. I thought it looked pretty awful and the place was not clean at all. It truly looked like vomit.

We brought tuna salad kits from home with us for our touring days plus bananas from the hotel buffet and applesauce plus granola bars.

I am not an adventurous eater, would never eat the street food either-one of my colleagues did that and get pretty sick for a few days.

Bathrooms at the Buddha were the worst-some stalls just had a hole in the ground in the ladies room. So, you are forewarned. Most bathrooms we did visit(and we tried not to go often) in Kowloon did not have TP. Guys,you are lucky!

There are tons of high end shopping malls everywhere and they do have bathrooms up to US and UK standards.

I was there in August for a conference and the heat and humidity were brutally hot. Like Memphis in August on Steroids!!! 4 days to tour, 5 days for the conference.

Highly recommend the Ho Ho bus-2 day pass gets you a lot of bang for you buck.You get to bypass the line to Victoria Peak and the other route takes you to Stanley which is lovely. Don't pay money to go the observation deck at the Peak. There is a nice paved walkway down from the mall which gives you wonderful views for free and its less crowded. We were lucky and had a completely clear day for the peak so plan alternative things to do in case of rain/fog.

Take a comfortable back pack and water bottles with you.

Highly recommend the Big Buddha on Lantau Island.

Agree the Po Lin nunnery and Nan Lian gardens are divine and free.

If you arrive by plane to Hong Kong you can get your Octopus card at the airport and take the airport express train into the city-uber cheap and fast. You can also get your tickets to the tram up to Big Buddha at one of the tourist kiosks in the airport too.

Try to get an Octopus card-the mass transit is soooooo cheap,clean and very convenient and taking a bus will waste a lot of valuable time. You can use that card to buy snacks,water,etc at a lot of places so it's a great value-you can decide how much money you want to put on it and get the remainder refunded to you-but in Hong Kong dollars not US. There are several kinds of Octopus cards so google it to see which one you want to buy to save time once you get on land.

We felt very safe at all times(3 sisters. Not everyone speaks English especially in Kowloon but if you need help finding stores or restaurants look for younger people as they are fluent in English.

The street markets in Kowloon are incredible to walk through-Ladies market,Goldfish market,Flower market and Bird market. Bring an extra empty suitcase to put lovely and inexpensive things you will definitely find. Beautiful chopsticks sets,silk/satin embroidered purses,lingerie bags,shoe bags,pajamas,robes,etc. You can get all of your Christmas shopping done there. Stuff is really reasonable,decent quality and worth paying for an extra suitcase fee on your airline. I wish I had bought more things when I was there. Yes, you can negotiate prices-they expect it.

Designer shoes and handbags are hundreds of dollars more expensive than in the US-my sister found that out and walked away.

Try to see the Symphony of Lights in the Harbor from both the Kowloon and Hong Kong Island side-its free and is about 15 minutes around 8ish every night.

You also should pack lots of hand wipes,alcohol gel and most definitely toilet paper when you leave your hotel-we were glad we did for sure especially walking around the Kowloon area which is not as clean or pristine as Hong Kong Island.

I have used GE only at airports that the designated kiosks. Not sure I ever got a GE "card". Can I still use the GE customs area at Port Everglades if I don't have that card?

Thanks,we both have TSA pre check and Global Entry-are they doing GE at the cruise terminal yet?

10:20 am flight out of FLL too early?

I am holding flights on American on March 25 out of FLL.Need to purchase by 11:59 tonight.

Is this possible?

We can easily do self walk off and get a cab.

Price difference for later flights on all other carriers as well as American was really significant-like $150 or more per person.

Buying travel insurance? Yep. Just in case.

Any advice?

I sailed on Coral last year in early June-second time on her after the Panama Canal. Wonderful ship still.

My sister and her husband were on the Star this June-they could not wait to get off the ship-it was dirty,smelly-so bad they could not stay in their cabin on at least one day. I would not book the Star based on what she told me. She sent in a major complaint to Princess after her cruise and sent them photos of how bad the cabin,balcony,doors etc looked.

We used onetime1 based on reviews on CC. Would book them again in a heartbeat. Very professional,on time,clean SUV from LAX to San Pedro and clean town car from the port to LAX.

Glad I chose them.

Cost for the SUV and town car was the same-$55 from LA plus a stupid airport pickup charge of $4-not their fault. But 4 people and luggage for that price would do fine in their SUV. Cheaper than awful Super Shuttle(I think) which charges per person,not per vehicle.

Very personal and attentive service.

I am not aware of any special perks at lunch on embarkation day.

On all other days you can order from the MDR menu for breakfast,lunch and dinner-even on formal nights. But the suite breakfast in Crown Grill/Sabatinis is really wonderful. Not to be missed except for early port days.

You are also allowed to order room service on disembarkation morning-that is a HUGE perk.

We did SHARE on embarkation night-very good food but I would not pay $39 for it. It was very "salty",but then I think most food on the ship is way too salty.

Speaking of salt, the SaltyDog was really good-did that our last night on the ship.

Have not made it to Crown Grill-menu looks really good but I cannot eat that much food-at any price. SaltyDog was worth the $19 cover in my opinion. Good value overall.

I did the pre order recently.

Decent deal.

The ship's water,while it tastes okay,still has a lot more sodium in it than the bottled water. We took our bottles to the MDR too. We both did notice much less "swelling" in our ankles from drinking the bottled water versus the tap water in the MDR.

We just bought a case of water while in port to replenish what we drank from the preorder. Worked out great.

This is especially nice on cruises with lots of sea days if you preorder.

Does the Crowne Plaza offer any shuttle to local restaurants or stores like Vons or CVS?

If you get there early you should have no problem. That area is just absolutely gorgeous. Hope you have good weather the day you go. It is so lovely you may not want to leave! You can likely save time in the line by getting tickets in advance?

Will this cruise have as much gorgeous scenic cruising as a Baltic cruise? That is a real factor to consider. Did the Emerald on a Baltic cruise and was soooo glad to have a balcony to sail up the Oslo fjord as well as the Stockholm archipelago. Just breathtakingly beautiful. We sailed in very late August(28?) out of Copenhagen so it was getting cool but not really cold then.

Granted this itinerary is different from a Baltic cruise but it was sure nice to enjoy a balcony on that particular cruise.

Can the "dirty" comforters fit in the laundromat washers? If so,then problem solved??

Maybe the first order of business upon arriving in the cabin is to take these comforters straight to the guest laundry? Small price to pay for cleanliness.

Works for me!

Has anyone ordered a chicken caesar salad or salmon caesar salad? That might be really good if they give a larger salad portion!

First ever cruise out of and returning to San Pedro.

Is there a Global Entry kiosk or customs line there?

Can you buy a bottle of wine or champagne for the buy one get 1 for $1 during happy hour?

Perhaps the people who were wearing shorts for many nights had their luggage lost and it missed the ship?

Just a possibility as I have had table mates at ATD who had no proper dining room clothes for 3-4 days before their luggage finally arrived.

Saving ONE seat for a spouse/family member in the theatre to use the bathroom is a TOTALLY different issue than ONE person thinking they can save 6-8 seats for "family/friends" who did not show up until the lights were down and the show had started. That is my experience when I refused to allow a rude person to save that many seats.

If a seat/lounger has been empty at the pool for more than 30-45 minutes-obviously food or other forms of entertainment are much more important to them than getting wet or a tan.

It happens on land based vacations as well and the staff are usually much better at being attentive to chair hog abuse than the cruise lines are.