regnig

What you describe is not limited to the Vista ships; all the HAL ships cook and plate the hot foods for you.

Ruth I suspected as much but since I’ve only sailed on the Vista class ships and the OP was going to sail on the Veendam I wanted to make certain that I qualified my comments. And, I so very much like the way HAL handles the “buffet” over Princess or RCCL as there is a certain level of civility to it. :D

In the Lido HAL staff will serve you for the first 48 hours to prevent Noro. After that you serve yourself - providing no illness is detected onboard. I think it works very well and never have problems getting what we desire.

On the Vista ships even after the initial 48 hours a lot of the food is still served to or plated for you by the staff. At breakfast they make your egg order, Omelets, fried eggs and poached eggs to order and plate it for you along with your meat choices. At lunch they make sandwiches to order and will also serve you any of the food in the steam trays. Fruit and salad is "help yourself". At dinner again food in the steam trays will be plated for you and if you want to customize your meat selection (rare, med, etc) they will cook it to order.

And, yes the objective is to increase income. :)

How right you are! Just look at how Princess changed all those categories of their balcony staterooms a bit ago. The extra sized ones on the Caribe Deck jumped a couple of categories.

When we deal with the FCC she/he automatically turns our booking over to our TA using the information from our current cruise booking. The FCC is able to see what kind of “group booking discount” our TA can offer us (apparently that's stored in HAL's system) and that's the price the FCC advises us of. The FCC sends an email to our TA advising her of our booking and by the time we get home we have an email from our TA advising us she is aware of our booking and indicating any other discounts & OBCs that we will be getting. It's kind of like "one stop" shopping for the best deal.

Many thanks to you all! One of the couples we are cruising with this year will be very happy campers or better said cruisers. :D

We are Elite on Princess and when we booked our 1st HAL cruise on-line at HAL's site and then turned it over to our TA she gave HAL our Princess Captain Circle number and they in turn made us one star with HAL and put Mariner Numbers on our booking. They did not give us any "points" but it got us started and also meant we could have gone to the dining room on boarding day ... which we did not do.

As we make it our habit never to eat after dinner on a cruise we have never even looked at the spread in the Lido that is set out at aprox 1030pm. BUT this year we are taking along some friends who have asked "what do they serve?" at that time. So can someone please give me an idea of what they offer at that time? Cruise is 11 days on the Noordam if that makes any difference.

Thanks!

I'd suggest your rethink carrying off your own luggage. If you go that route remember you must have a hand free for the escalator. I do believe you will still have to go through immigration in FLL.

My recommendation would be when you get the disembarkation form, exactly when varies depending on cruise, it will show that you are not taking a tour, transfer or air flight and therefore they assume you have personal arrangements. When you fill it out put that for those “personal arrangements” you need to be off the ship as early as possible. Although you won’t be in the 1st group (those carrying their own luggage) the time span between them and when you will disembark shouldn’t be more than ½ hour at them most. HAL does a wonderful job of keeping the individual “color groups” small enough that finding your luggage shouldn’t take long. Another hint to get out of the terminal in record time is to grab the 1st porter you see. They will not only help you locate your luggage but seem to work magic getting one through immigration.

To get the exact answer for your question call Ship Services at 1-800-541-1576. They will give you the price for your cruise and can book it and will bill it to your credit card. I recommend you ask for them to send you an email of confirmation which they will do. We always book it in advance just to get it paid for.

Wow, Good to know! We usually bring camp suds and a portable clothesline and do our own laundry, but I had considered using the laundry service on our next cruise as we will be on board for 11 days. I am now rethinking this! Thanks for posting.

Since the Noordam does not have washers/dryers for cruisers own use I do recommend the "Laundry Package" @ $7.00 a day for unlimited laundry or at least the always available "stuff the bag" (and it holds lots) offer at $20. In either case you clothing will come back pressed and, according to your directions, either folded & wrapped in tissue or on hangers. They do a wonderful job.

If the only thing you need is to have your suit pressed don't bother getting any kind of "package" just fill out the slip indicating all you want is for it to be pressed leave it on your bed and your stateroom steward will take it from there. Just make certain you do it enough in advance that you have it back for the time you want to wear it. If you are already getting a "laundry package" that does not cover dry cleaning. What they wash they iron without charge but if you just want it pressed along with you other laundry there may be a charge.

BTB, have you ever tried just hanging it on the bathroom door when you shower as that warm moist air can really take care of lots of wrinkles? Also recommend you leave it in a dry cleaning type bag and layer other clothes over it before folding it around them. You might find you have no wrinkles to worry about. :D

I am thinking of just rolling on my 29" Samsonite suitcase with spinner wheels rather than checking it with a porter. Has anyone done this? Any problem getting it through the screening machine?

Also, when disembarking if you are doing self disembark can you just roll it off with out having to carry it up or down stairs. That is going to depend on what deck your stateroom is on. If you need to go to another deck to disembark your only two options are carrying it up/down stairs or patiently waiting & waiting for an elevator with enough room for you and your suitcase.

Which deck and where on the deck do you embark and disembark on the Caribbean Princess?

Thanks for any info!

See comment above. Additionally if the cruise terminal has an elevator you MUST have one hand free to hold the rail. If not you will be directed to use the terminal elevator and again patiently wait and wait and wait as they are slower than the ships..

The product that we use is Spray Nine. It is readily found in large home stores like Home Depot (I bought some 3 days ago there) and automotive stores also.

I checked its website and this is what it said:

Kills viruses and bacteria:

H1N1 Swine Flu, Influenza A2 Virus, Common Flu A2 Virus, Avian Flu H3N2 Virus, Salmonella Choleraesuis, Escherichia coli (E.coli), Hepatitis C Virus, Rhinovirus Type 37, Norwalk Virus, Herpes Simplex I and II, Poliovirus Type I, Rotavirus, MRSA, Streptococcus pyogenes, Shigella dysenteriae.

.................

Spray Nine is one of the greatest cleaning products on the market. Sherwin Williams carries it and I believe it’s about $7 for a 40oz (aprox) spray bottle. We use it not only to clean bathrooms and other areas inside but it does a wonderful job in cleaning our vinyl outdoors furniture, all the white vinyl cladding on the house, etc. One word of warning - do use gloves as the stuff is not gentle on the skin.

We applaud HAL for their 48 hours of “Code Orange” on all their sailing as it really seems to help. Additionally since HAL’s Lido is not all self serve like so many thatother lines that also helps to cut down their cases of NORO.

If you decide on cruising the wonderful Westerdam the following might be of help in selecting your stateroom:

VERANDA SIZES ON VISTA CLASS

The Port and Starboard standard Veranda/Balcony on the Vista Class (Noordam, Oosterdam, Westerdam & Zuiderdam) are the same size 6 ft. deep by 9 ft. wide. The aft/stern verandas are deeper and vary depending on deck.

The exceptions to the 6 ft. depth are as follows:

Port and Starboard Veranda staterooms on the Deck 4, Upper Promenade, are 7.5 ft. in depth. The Verandas for the popular Staterooms 4164 & 4166 have additional width which is not reflected in the deck plans.

Port Staterooms on Deck 5, Veranda, 5056 through 5138 and Starboard Staterooms 5053 through 5135 are only 4.5 ft. deep.

We always try to book Port side 4134 through 4164 as the view is completely unobstructed and the area very quite.

It's hard to believe that there have already been several post and that no one has mentioned the BREAD PUDDING & sauce desert in the Lido. The Westerdam & Noordam served it at lunch and into the early afternoon. It is the best! I also agree their oatmeal cookies are veryyy good.

I do believe that the only "steam rooms" on the Island are within the Thermal Suite section and therefor there is a charge for use. There are two saunas that are free but unless they have changed you must pay for the Thermal Suite to use the steam rooms.

I am on the Crown also and we too heard the announcement. It sounded like the speaker was standing right over me. Being on Princess ships many times, I recognized it right away as the drill announcement and did not worry about a thing. I just wondered when they were going to turn it off.

 

The captain did apologize several times and he did explain what happened. It was just one of those things that can happen but I can see how some people might get frightened. The captain did acknowledge that this experience taught Princess something about their system because as mentioned before the announcement was not heard in the crew quarters and it should have just so that the crew could get up to the passenger decks and assure anyone that there was not a problem.

I still believe that was the point of the OP's original concern and it's good to read that the Captain himself understood the lack of that internal procedure and the need to correct that situation. Would it have been better if the OP hand not mentioned "elite" or commented on not sailing Princess again, yea but I do understand the effects of coming off an adrenaline rush that the "mistake/accident" probably caused him so how about cutting him some slack.

I worked for many years in a Federal Building. We were always told to treat all alarms as real... (fire, bomb scare, tornado) What ever... treat it as real until you find out otherwise. My question is, why was the OP at the Passenger Services desk instead of his muster station???

I believe that after a period of time and no Princess staff showing up at his Muster Station he went to the pursers desk to find out what was going on.

How fortunate for New grandma that she must have been awake at 200am to hear the entire announcement including the beginning starting with "welcome aboard". While I'm not a particularly deep sleeper I doubt I would have heard or comprehended every word that came across the PA.

Isn't it fortunate that no one suffered any stress related heart problems during this "mistake".

Since this is the second occurance of this "mistake" I still feel that a procedure needs to be put in place for staff to be dispatched to all muster stations to deal with the passengers. That procedure needs to start with all announcements being broadcast in crew quarters along with passenger staterooms.

I believe I understand the OPs real concern. It has nothing to do with being inconvenienced at being awoken or feeling as if some type of compensation is due but rather that NOT ONE Princess staff member showed up to take charge during that 22 minutes. That might not seem like a long time to most but if one has a justifiable fear of a major problem (reporting to one’s muster station is not a casual event) it can seem like an eternity. Just think of the riot that could have broken out in the muster stations with no Princess personnel present, shades of “the captain fell into the lifeboat”.

Ops wanting to report it to the Coast Guard is perhaps a reasonable means to having Princess, and perhaps all cruise lines, establish some kind of a procedure to employ when the alarm gets triggered in error to ensure cruisers that no real emergency exists or that it is at least being investigated. And, while I’m pretty sure that “Behind the scenes, the crew and the Captain were very busy gathering information and determining whether or not there was indeed an emergency” some staff member should have been deployed to each muster station in an attempt to quell the fear the passengers must have felt. Additionally there was no need for them to take time to get dressed as the passengers are not allowed that time and were in some state of undress too.

I have a feeling the OP was venting his emotions as when a “potential” life & death situation occurs (or your child goes missing for several hours) once the real emergency is over and your worry and concern is no longer an issue it oft times is replaced with some degree of anger at having been on that emotional roll-a-coaster. How about we cut this guy some slack and quit beating him up please. Most of you are normally so very compassionate but these responses certainaly seem to be lacking any caring for the emotional ride these passengers must have gone through.

First thing you all need to do once on the ship is to go to your cabins and see what dates and times you have been assigned. Then go to the Pinnacle manager and try to straightened out things.

Thanks, sounds like a plan! :D

We're all Open Seating and can deal with either early or late but are really just hoping we are all assigned the same time. Have I missed any comments from people with linked reservations?

I’m interested in particular about the “reservation times” that cruisers have been assigned. Anyone care to share? Additionally if there have been staterooms linked as traveling together have the assigned reservation times been the same? Has anyone attempted to get their assigned reservation time changed? We've got 4 staterooms together and I'm just hoping we all get to do dinner together.

Thanks a bunch. :D

Like others I thank you in advance for taking on this daunting task. It would be great if you could include veranda sizes on your site since they can vary depending on class of ship and then deck to deck.

Thanks again, Barb

Any carry ons that you have will be run through a scanner very much like at airports so just make certain it is not too large. Most everybody has at least 1 carry on with those things listed in the post above.

I think I might be confusing my question :o I just want to know if you can walk all the way around the UPPER PROMENADE deck on the Noordam - ie is there a public deck that wraps the entire UPPER PROMENADE? I can't be for certain from the pictures on the deck plans on the website. It looks from the pictures that the only deck area is in front of the cabins, not under the life boat area.

 

Does anyone so for sure? Thank you!!:)

The answer to your question is no.