xavier

How much a porter or any other server makes per year has nothing to do with the amount of a tip. When we cruise we normally drive to the Florida port, drop the bags with a porter and then park the car. Believe me it is worth it to me to have someone else unload the bags from the car and get them into the trolley. To me that is worth at least 5 dollars a bag. When debarking, after finding our bags the sight of a porter coming to us is extremely welcome. When we debarked from the Regal in December we had 3 checked bags and wound up carrying 3 smaller but heavy bags. The porter took all 6 bags, stayed with us through a half hour long or so Customs, and took the bags all the way to our car and loaded them into the car neatly. He was also extremely pleasant. I don't care if he earns 500 K a year, his help was easily worth the 50 dollars I tipped him.

Could not have said it better myself! You captured my sentiments exacelty.

I applied for the TT (Trusted Traveler) TSA Pre card earlier this year and debated whether to get the Global Re-Entry at the same time. Decided that the extra cost wasn't worth it as I wasn't sure how it could be used when returning from a cruise. For now, I have TSA Pre and may change my mind next year. We'll see.

Got global entry because American Express reimburses $100 fee and it was much better times and location for me to go for my interview ( airport vs far away suburb and weekend hours) than TSA

Not sure how the card can help if there are no kiosks at the ports. Best case it may save a few seconds while the ICE officer scans the card rather than passport. Am I missing something?

No, I was just wondering if maybe this was a special line or something

Hi all,

When we were interviewing to get our global entry card the agent mentioned that it was also good when coming back from a Caribbean cruise! Has anyone had any experience with this?

Thanks,

Cathi

We'll be in 9916 and 9316 a week from today. I will be doing tons of pics ans video

Yay! Can't wait to see them.

So, what is the least number of days that has ever gotten you into the most traveled lunch, or cocktail party?

 

If you wouldn't mind, I would also be curious to know the itinerary.

 

Thank you! :)

70 something when they use to do the cruises out of San Juan PR

Which is better a premium suite s5 or a vista suite s6? Is there any difference? Also do both rooms have covered balconies?

We have stayed in both and the cabins and balconies are almost completely identical except that on the S5 suite the balcony is completely covered and on the S6 balcony it's about 3/4 covered. I like the sun my hubby does not so the S6 was perfect for us as in the S5 we never got any sun on the balcony.

I'm sorry if this has been asked a million times... Never cruised NCL and I'm trying to find out as much info as I can. The more I search the more confused I become. Looking to book an aft penthouse suite on the Breakaway to Bermuda. I'm looking for balconies that get a mix of sun and shade. I was looking at the suites on deck 9 but it appears that there's only a small strip of sun that comes onto the balcony. Sure would appreciate any info you kind folks could shed on this. Thank you.

I called the dining line as soon as I got to my cabin to schedule a balcony dinner. There was no answer, so I waited and called back later. They told me to call a different number. When I finally got in touch with the right person, they told me to be waiting in my room at a certain time so someone could call and discuss the details. Nobody called at the appointed time. I called back and asked to get things set up. They told me to wait in my cabin and they would call back. Eventually they did call back and we got things arranged. The whole process took much longer than I expected and it was a bit of a hassle. (I was under the impression that someone was going to meet with us in person to discuss the details and menu options, but that certainly didn't happen.)

 

In the end, it was well worth it and the balcony dinner was one of the best experiences of the cruise. However, if I could have made the arrangements online in advance, it would have been absolutely perfect. They were not at all organized or quick to respond, and as a result, I spent time in the cabin waiting for the phone to ring that I could have spent exploring the ship. I am highly in favor of online reservations based on my experience trying to get reservations made on the ship.

We have done the balcony dinner 3 times , twice in a mini suite and one in a suite. The only time someone came to our cabin to meet with us was when we were in the suite and it was at sail away. I assumed that the person just wanted to see sail away or be in a suite.

At least it is still teak and not the new blue/silver uncomfortable furniture.

It may seem silly but if the suites started using that balcony furniture we would switch to a different cruise line!

We have found in our Princess travels that suite upgrades are usually done with new Princess cruisers in order to hook them. We have heard countless stories from passengers with 0 cruises given suite upgrades.

Upgraded from insides/OV's/balconies. :(

FYI, We are Elites and got upgraded to a suite.

Has anyone ever been upgraded from a Mini Suite to a Full Suite? I always request no upgrade but maybe I should rethink that.

We were upgraded from a Mini to a VS Suite once and Once we were offered an Upsell.

We sailed in a PH suite onboard the Regal's sister ship, the Royal, for the inaugural TA last October. This was our first cruise in a suite and we're hooked!

 

Our suite was on Riviera deck right across from the Concierge Lounge. The Concierge Lounge features a high-end coffee machine that dispenses cappuccino, expresso, latte, etc. at no cost. There are various snacks available throughout the day. There is a concierge on duty during the morning and afternoon to assist suite guests.

 

I don't believe anyone mentioned that breakfast at Sabatini's is a suite-only perk. It's breakfast done very well.

 

Does the OP have any specific questions?

 

Lew

Hi! I'm not the OP but was wondering how the size of the balcony is on the PH suites. thank you.

The Owner's suites have wonderfully large wrap around balconies that are basically useless because of the daily dusting of oily soot.

But that was suppose to be alleviated on the Regal. Do you know for certain that this is happening on the Regal?

What is the usual length of time for Princess customer relations to answer a complaint? I have a complaint about the shore excursion we took two weeks ago on the Ruby. I tried to resolve it on the ship. The shore excursion manager sent me a letter in response to my written complaint (two days later) saying that he was unable to get in touch with the excursion operator and would pass along my complaint to Princess's offices in California. I followed up last week with an email to Princess customer relations.

When we emailed Customer Relations we received an email return the next day saying someone would get back to us with the next 10 days. On the 10th day we received a phone call and a resolution.

Yes it came in our mini bar setup.

Ours too. We traded out all the soda and mixers for Perrier. Plus all bars sell it.

I agree. There is no way the bartenders are going to be the alcohol-drink-package police. People are going to be sharing these packages just like they do with the soda packages.

Or maybe the servers will be told to look the other way and just serve whoever has the card. Perhaps princesses mark up on liquor is so high that they won't care. Obviously I have no idea just guessing like the rest of you.

There are stands & a large kitchen on the beach for hamburgers & such. There is no charge.

The beer & punch stands do charge...I think it's the same price as onboard.

Steve

However, a rum punch tastes a lot better when your feet are in the sand!

We Received an upsell offer on the Grand last year. We were booked in a mini-suite & I think the upsell $199pp to a full suite. We had our choice of either a VS or PS Suite and got to choose our exact suite. Of course, we accepted !!

Unfortunately it doesn't. We were on the Royal in December with my 2 brothers and sisters in law who had cruised once on Princess (Coral in Alaska in 2012) and all 4 of them asked what happened to the carpet? The different colors and wave pattern was such a simple and elegant solution to determining where you are that I can't imagine why they decided to change it.

Oh my. Thanks for the info Capriccio, it's much appreciated.

I'm sure this has been discussed but tried to do a search and could not find an answer...My parents are going to tne royal and I'd like to give them the heads up about the 2 different colored carpets depending on the side of the ship. Does the Royal have this feature? Thanks so much, just trying to make things as simple as possilbe for my parents.

I knew they were on separate sides of the boat, I was just wondering if you could open the divider and walk freely between the two.

Unfortunately you cannot. There is a large vent separating the cabins. The vent is over 3 or 4 decks I cannot remember which. We were in D736. Peeked over to D734 and it was a nice large balcony.

Sorry to let you know that they are not side by side together. They are on different sides of the ship. 734 is on the Port side and 735 is on the stabboard. There is a large vent separating the cabins.

Just back and my kitchen will not stop rocking!

We boarded about 1215p and on board by 1220p. We are elites but that didn't matter there were no lines and things moved quickly. We stayed in D736 and loved it!

First night ate in the crown grill and it was delish, who can say no to rack of lamb?!

First night or two the ship was really rocking but it was fun.

We could not believe how empty princess cays felt but the when the CD Lisa Ball mentioned that only half the people got off the ship it all made sense.

There were 600 people who were staying onboard for the next sailing!

This was a very very happy crew. Everyone was smiling and welcoming. The bar staff everywhere and believe me, we had to try every bar were so very friendly and nice. Once we were in the wheelhouse and saw the captain and some of his staff there. On the way out the hotel manager stopped by just to chat we didn't know him but I thought that was great!

At the platinum/elite party the top 2 cruisers both had over 2000 days with princess. I can't imagine having over 2000 days at sea and not being number one! Bummer.

I thought Lisa Ball to be a very personable and funny CD.

We had the ultimate balcony dinner, which we have done before, and it was spectacular.

Unfortunately, where princess didn't shine was the last night. We had signed up for ez check and this turned into a fiasco. I won't go into details but it was just a comedy of errors on princesses part. It was a shame that this was our a Experience of our cruise as everything else had been spot on great.

Leaving the ship was painless (except we were leaving waaa!). Our group was called within minutes after it was scheduled. Quick line for taxis and we were at the airport.

Even though this whole revue has been random here are a couple more random musings....

The a/c was not very good. It never got cold. Whilst this was fine for me as I'm always cold for my hubby not so good.

There was a definite smell/stench in some areas of the ship.

Vines seems to have gotten a little more generic or perhaps I have just remembered it wrong. The wine list there is no different than any of the bars or dining rooms. I thought they use to have different offerings.

Whilst waiting in line at the passenger service desk it was quite apparent that people had disdain for the suite/elite line. One man started yelling at us when the passenger service agent took us before him. To the agents credit she apologized profusely to us that we had to hear that.

We would book this suite again in a heartbeat. It's like you are cocooned in your on little world. We would sit on our balcony which was huge by the way, for hours just listening to the roar of the wake. What a life!