luv2travel06

I think there was an omelet station at the back of the ship when we were on the Emerald Princess in 2021 and 2022. This time, when I asked there for an omelet, I was sent to the main serving lines. I do not recall what the setup was on the Caribbean Princess in 2020 and 2022. On this cruise on the Ruby, someone would write your omelet request on a piece of paper at the main serving lines and tell you it would take 10-15 minutes to receive your order, and you would be given another piece of paper to give to a server in the buffet so they could pick it up and deliver it to you. (Instead, I would just wait nearby.) The omelets were made in a preparation area between the port and starboard serving areas of the buffet. Having been on four prior Princess cruises in the recent past, I'm pretty sure I would have remembered having been previously served an omelet of the quality depicted in the photos. Other than the omelets, we found the food on the cruise to be quite satisfactory.

Returned from our 14 day Circle Caribbean cruise aboard Ruby Princess about a week ago. Overall, we were very happy with the cruise, once we were able to convince a dining room manager to arrange a fixed dining time and table for us at dinner. One thing we found quite peculiar was the omelet situation. The procedure was not the most convenient, and the omelet was pathetic--like something from a box of 12 at your supermarket that you would microwave for 3 minutes, not the big fluffy omelet I got used to seeing on our prior cruises. I commented about it on a survey we completed on the ship. I should think that if the Captain or CEO was served one of these omelets, they would say, "We need to fix this." Thinking that maybe the first one I was served was an anomaly, I ordered another later in the cruise. These are photos of that omelet. You be the judge.

On Ruby Princess now. Just received disembarkation information that says self disembarkation is only for passengers that have no more than one piece of luggage each. When did that start? On our last cruise, they initially wouldn’t let people with more than one bag use the escalators, but the line for the elevator got too long because it included people with wheelchairs and scooters needing assistance, who were not supposed to participate in the self disembarkation. What has been your recent experience with self-disembarkation?

I, too, followed the process above. While I received an email saying I would receive a response within 2 days after submitting the requested information, it was 5 days before I received the confirmation and was able to redeem the perk. Still waiting for confirmation that the OBC has been applied to my booking. My first thought about the new process has been that, as is often the case, customer service and convenience are not enhanced by adding a middleman.

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Did the transit this morning, turned right around and exited without delay. They had said there may be a delay due to protests at the Canal this morning. On the way in, a boat pulled up with maybe a dozen and a half boxes, which were souvenirs from Panama that were sold by the Lido pool. The cruise director told an interesting story… He was on the Zaandam when everything shut down for Covid. No countries would allow them to dock and they were running out of supplies. The Rotterdam VI brought them supplies. The Captain of the Rotterdam at that time is the current Captain of the Rotterdam VII, and this is his first time back to the Canal since Covid, and his cruise director was on the Zaandam that he brought the emergency supplies to. You can hear the rest of the story once you are aboard. 🙂

On Rotterdam Panama Canal cruise now. We received notice last evening that due to unrest in Panama, we will be entering the Canal, turning around, and leaving. There will be no docking and no excursions.

Yes, TA = travel agent. As far as cellular data, we have TMobile and free cellular data in most ports, but not at sea.

We are doing the same itinerary in October. We booked an inside cabin after what would have been the final payment date. Ten days later we received an upsell to an oceanview cabin through our TA. This past Tuesday I checked out an emailed promotion and contacted my TA, who was able to get us upgraded to an obstructed view verandah for only $129pp.

If you booked through a TA, any changes have to go through the TA. Just this week our TA (who has booked 30+ cruises for us) helped us get a verandah instead of the oceanview we booked based on a new promotion after final payment. He has previously done this for us as well. But in the past, we have lost certain benefits of a prior promotion if we wanted the benefits of a new promotion, so it is necessary to do the math sometimes to see if you come out ahead. So it is likely they are currently in the process of doing upsells and cabin assignments. Assuming guarantee cabins are assigned last, you are essentially asking them to move you to the front of the line instead of assign the cabin based on their schedule/process. Maybe your travel agent can make that happen, but if not, you will get a cabin assigned eventually. Best wishes for getting a great cabin!

If you went with Bonaire Vista Tours, they no longer appear to be in operation.

We have an 8am flight to the U.S. on Delta on Monday and need to get to Schipol from Movenpick 5am-6am we think(?). At that time in the morning, is a taxi our best option? Thanks in advance for your advice.

Watch for a promotion that includes a free upgrade from Signature to Elite. It was offered on the September 2024 Alaska cruise we just booked. With gratuities, OBC, excursion credit, wifi, dining credits (we would never pay to go to those restaurants otherwise) included in promo, it was cost effective for us.

HAL contacted our TA with several upsell offers in the last couple months before our upcoming cruise. We accepted one for a little more that we really wanted to pay and they assigned us to a cabin below B.B. King's.🙄 So we agree with OP above.