Live Island Princess FLL to LA

[crimlarks]

My wife and I are on this cruise.  No issues with the Medallion app.  We have the same table reserved in the Provence dining room at 5:40 every evening. All our dinners were about an hour in length. The wait staff we have has been excellent. The comedian they had on the first night and last night in the Princess showroom was really funny, and the show “Do You Want to Dance?” On the second night was really well done.  Our cruise director Olivia is a lot of fun, and Ian is an interesting character.  Once I found out that Good Spirits was the place to get good coffee I’ve been getting a Red Eye and some pastries there every day.  It’s right in the Plaza on deck 5. Hasn’t been an issue with service.  So far it’s been an enjoyable experience. We’re on this B2B with the return from LA to Ft Lauderdale. So far the internet has been good as well. I watched a YouTube video this morning with no issues. I tested the speed out in the Caribbean and it was about 6 MBPS download and even faster up. Not bad. 

Edited April 30, 2022 by crimlarks

[MissP22]

48 minutes ago, crimlarks said:

My wife and I are on this cruise.  No issues with the Medallion app.  We have the same table reserved in the Provence dining room at 5:40 every evening. All our dinners were about an hour in length. The wait staff we have has been excellent. The comedian they had on the first night and last night in the Princess showroom was really funny, and the show “Do You Want to Dance?” On the second night was really well done.  Our cruise director Olivia is a lot of fun, and Ian is an interesting character.  Once I found out that Good Spirits was the place to get good coffee I’ve been getting a Red Eye and some pastries there every day.  It’s right in the Plaza on deck 5. Hasn’t been an issue with service.  So far it’s been an enjoyable experience. We’re on this B2B with the return from LA to Ft Lauderdale. So far the internet has been good as well. I watched a YouTube video this morning with no issues. I tested the speed out in the Caribbean and it was about 6 MBPS download and even faster up. Not bad. 

I'm glad to hear that not everyone is affected by poor DR service. I think the key is timing. Early has always been a better choice. 

How has the medallion delivery service been?

I'll bet there's only a handful of people doing a B2B  cruise like yourselves. 

[crimlarks]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

I'm glad to hear that not everyone is affected by poor DR service. I think the key is timing. Early has always been a better choice. 

How has the medallion delivery service been?

I'll bet there's only a handful of people doing a B2B  cruise like yourselves. 

Most of the beverage service we’ve had has been at the Explorer Lounge, ordering directly from the waiter/waitress. 
I did order breakfast in our room for 9:30-10:00 this morning and by 10:30 it was obvious we weren’t going to get it. So I called room service and they apologized. Then we went up to the buffet and had a nice leisurely brunch. Also, we had prepaid for a dozen cans of Coke.  I called room service to get them delivered, but they didn’t appear. So called them again the next day, they apologized and we got them within about a half hour. 
So for us, room service has been the only spotty service. 
on the other had, Connie ordered a bathrobe on the TV and room service brought it within 10 minutes

Edited April 30, 2022 by crimlarks

[NoWhiners]

2 hours ago, crimlarks said:

So far the internet has been good as well. I watched a YouTube video this morning with no issues. I tested the speed out in the Caribbean and it was about 6 MBPS download and even faster up. Not bad. 

 

Thanks for posting your experiences. If you think of it, when you are in the canal or even just after, could you report how the internet is then? I am curious to see if your service stays the same as you get to the Atlantic. Many TAs are reporting huge issues with Internet, no credible explanation offered by Princess 🙂

 

Thanks.

[crimlarks]

We started at Ft Lauderdale and will be transiting the canal tomorrow (looks like it takes pretty much all day).  When we exit we will be in the Pacific

[NoWhiners]

1 minute ago, crimlarks said:

We started at Ft Lauderdale and will be transiting the canal tomorrow (looks like it takes pretty much all day).  When we exit we will be in the Pacific

 Ooops--I must have missed that. Thanks for correcting me. Hope your internet keeps working 😁

[Loveh2ofl]

On which deck and which area (eg port/starboard, forward mid aft) is the quarantine area?

[vjmatty]

2 hours ago, Loveh2ofl said:

On which deck and which area (eg port/starboard, forward mid aft) is the quarantine area?

For the November 2022 Greek Isles and transatlantic sailings it is Emerald Deck aft section. Such a pity to waste the only public aft deck on the ship. 

[crimlarks]

12 hours ago, NoWhiners said:

 Ooops--I must have missed that. Thanks for correcting me. Hope your internet keeps working 😁

We’re waiting to enter the first lock. Just tested internet speed - same results as earlier - about 6 MBPS down and up.  I’ll test again when we’re in the Pacific. 

[PatriciaF]

Day 4 Patters.  Hot hot hot in Cartagena.

[Loveh2ofl]

4 hours ago, vjmatty said:

For the November 2022 Greek Isles and transatlantic sailings it is Emerald Deck aft section. Such a pity to waste the only public aft deck on the ship. 

Thanks - would like to know which deck it is on the current sailing as I'm on the next one....enjoy your trip in November!

[GonzoWCS]

12 hours ago, crimlarks said:

We started at Ft Lauderdale and will be transiting the canal tomorrow (looks like it takes pretty much all day).  When we exit we will be in the Pacific

Thanks for posting your experiences.  Following along.

 

Cheers

[jeno]

15 minutes ago, PatriciaF said:

Day 4 Patters.  Hot hot hot in Cartagena.

On some ships there is an additional charge for some of the gym classes. I can’t see any marking for that.  Does anyone know the situation on those charges? Thanks! 

[Loveh2ofl]

5 hours ago, vjmatty said:

For the November 2022 Greek Isles and transatlantic sailings it is Emerald Deck aft section. Such a pity to waste the only public aft deck on the ship. 

just looked at the last minute sailing availability for the lax 5/11 panama canal sailing on Island Princess  - balcony staterooms are available aft on Emerald Deck - close to the aft deck doors on both starboard and port sides - so would seem the quarantine area is elsewhere at least on that sailing.

[PatriciaF]

56 minutes ago, jeno said:

On some ships there is an additional charge for some of the gym classes. I can’t see any marking for that.  Does anyone know the situation on those charges? Thanks! 

I haven’t seen any charges posted either in the patter or in the gym…which is pretty small.  

[NoWhiners]

1 hour ago, crimlarks said:

We’re waiting to enter the first lock. Just tested internet speed - same results as earlier - about 6 MBPS down and up.  I’ll test again when we’re in the Pacific. 

 

It is interesting that the speed was so good in FLL. That is the end of a TA and it didn't sound like things got better as they got closer to FLL. Maybe they are resolving the issues? 🤞

 

Thanks for the continued internet speed reports.

[culvercitycruiser]

We wish we were cruising with you. You guys are lucky.

If any of you watch YouTube, you might know La Lido Loca, Tony and Don’s Family Vacations, Don are on board this cruise

They do a great job of filming their cruises. 
Enjoy your cruise. We just got off the Majestic Princess yesterday. This is one of my bucket cruises. I just gotta convince my boyfriend to spend $4,000pp to go in January 2023. 
Enjoy,

Christie 

[Manderius]

Because this is a 14 day cruise, do they test you on board every 7? Just curious ..I have a 21 day on princess so wanted to see what that looked like

[Scottyren]

On 5/1/2022 at 9:28 AM, Loveh2ofl said:

Thanks - would like to know which deck it is on the current sailing as I'm on the next one....enjoy your trip in November!

I just found the quarantine deck accidentally on the Island.  It is deck 8, Emerald Deck, starboard aft section. All blocked off with some signage to stay out. 

[Loveh2ofl]

15 minutes ago, Scottyren said:

I just found the quarantine deck accidentally on the Island.  It is deck 8, Emerald Deck, starboard aft section. All blocked off with some signage to stay out. 

Thanks! - does that mean portside door to aft outside deck is blocked too?  Or not to your knowledge?

[skid1127]

Day 6: 

The app issues worked out Day 3 and no further medallion issues either. Hot tubs finally opened Day 4. I notified our room steward on Day 3 that the air-conditioning was warm and we did not have any cold water in the bathroom, not fixed I used the CrewCall chat app Day 4 to notify them of the same issue, their response was to call concierge. I called concierge the same day and was told by Michael it would be taken care of. Fast forward to morning of Day 6, still warm in the room and no cold water. Concierge doesnt know why it hasnt been fixed. No offer of follow up communication or timeline. My patience is running out.

[Steelers36]

13 hours ago, Manderius said:

Because this is a 14 day cruise, do they test you on board every 7? Just curious ..I have a 21 day on princess so wanted to see what that looked like

Is your 21 actually 3 x 7-nighters?

[MissP22]

1 hour ago, skid1127 said:

Day 6: 

The app issues worked out Day 3 and no further medallion issues either. Hot tubs finally opened Day 4. I notified our room steward on Day 3 that the air-conditioning was warm and we did not have any cold water in the bathroom, not fixed I used the CrewCall chat app Day 4 to notify them of the same issue, their response was to call concierge. I called concierge the same day and was told by Michael it would be taken care of. Fast forward to morning of Day 6, still warm in the room and no cold water. Concierge doesnt know why it hasnt been fixed. No offer of follow up communication or timeline. My patience is running out.

We had a horrible experience with the Emerald many years ago where our room was sweltering. My husband even resorted to sleeping in the Piazza one night. After complaining for days on end they moved us to a mirror image cabin on the other side of the ship and it was identical, without hardly any AC. 

After 1/2 our cruise they finally found us a cabin that had air conditioning. 

To this day I read about people getting that same exact cabin having the same problem.  

It wouldn't be close to cabin E327 or E330 would it???😲

[skid1127]

57 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

We had a horrible experience with the Emerald many years ago where our room was sweltering. My husband even resorted to sleeping in the Piazza one night. After complaining for days on end they moved us to a mirror image cabin on the other side of the ship and it was identical, without hardly any AC. 

After 1/2 our cruise they finally found us a cabin that had air conditioning. 

To this day I read about people getting that same exact cabin having the same problem.  

It wouldn't be close to cabin E327 or E330 would it???😲

We are Baja deck mid-ship. Fingers crossed I can brush my teeth not with hot water tonight! Otherwise I'm moving into the spa 🙃

Speaking of mid-ship, this is our 1st time staying in this location, we've always been forward before. Day 6 and I still never know which way to go, lots of user error and wrong turns.

One of the bands on board is called Opus and is reggae themed. Very entertaining. Their percussionist, Geffrey, plays solo steel-drum sets occasionally and is fantastic. Currently pool-side jamming out. 

[PatriciaF]

Day 6 Patters