cgolf1

There are people out there like us, at least I think there are, that don’t get a beverage package or the plus thing on Princess. The times the only option on X to book was with the beverage package, the most alcoholic drinks a day we had was maybe 5 on a sea day. So for us the elite happy hour will be nice and we are close to that level now. That said though looking at 2026 cruises Princess has the prices and itineraries that interested me the most. This year is our first Princess cruise and if we like it 2026 will be our second or third, we are now in the pattern of booking deals once the paid in full window closes to get a bonus cruise each year.

No but I am also very limited in land based restaurants we can go to unfortunately, and we do lots of research when traveling. Airports are rough and we usually just pack beef jerky or something similar for me. What I have liked is that by preordering, they can substitute things to make a dish for those with allergies that if you ordered the night of they couldn't. Having done galley tours on different lines, they all seem to have a separate area where the food for people with food allergies is prepped. So even if one is careful in what they order, it may be prepped in a common area and risk cross contamination. It depends on the person if that is ok or not. I really wish I wasn't gluten free, because I/we miss out on a lot because of it especially when looking to eat out. At home it is really a non issue.

We did set it up ahead of time, my wife is very impressed with the app compared to X and HAL, and my wife verified when she called this week because they applied it to both of us. It is just a learning experience with each line I sail. Thanks for the info.

Somewhere on here I saw it mentioned that people with food allergies should report to one of the main dining rooms when they board the ship. Is this just to confirm the allergy, or do they allow you to peorder that nights meal, I am gluten free? Or is this not needed at all? It would be nice to be able to preorder the first nights meal to make the first service go smoother for the 3 non GF people in our group.

Is that Port everglades with the tug? I have never heard of that happening before.

How was St Thomas being the only ship in port? We were going to stay on the ship because it has always been ridiculously crowded on shore. Then we found out like you we will be the only ship in that day. Will be nice to hopefully take a casual stroll downtown.

I am curious how the entertainment is onboard, between the main stage and around the ship. This will be our first Princess cruise and not sure what to expect. Last year on our first HAL cruise we were quite disappointed with the entertainment aspect of that trip, but still had an amazing cruise.

Following as we are sailing on Emerald soon on our first Princess cruise. Have a great trip

Will see on that after this cruise. This is our first Princess cruise and for me how they handle gluten free will tell a lot, along with the entertainment and stuff. We are in the try out other lines of our cruising journey now instead of sticking with one line. It's nice to have options.

Over the years I have collected and saved the keycards from our cruises and have been storing them in a business card file thing. Since we have the medallion now, will guest services print me a card with the cruise date, etc to keep as a memento?

While this thread is amusing, we have so far only sailed other lines, but admit to being bummed when they changed from Grassland salted butter, a local WI product, to other brands of butter, just wasn't the same. We will see what we get when we sail on the Emerald for our first Princess cruise. While it is small potatoes, real butter does add a little something something.

So reading this I am trying to figure out if we board early, hotel transfers always get us to port early, can we get into the room right away to drop off our carry on? Celebrity is set up to do this and it is great. This will be our first time on Princess.

New to Princess and have sailed on Celebrity, Hal, and Royal within the last 4 years, Disney seems like a lifetime ago. Curious what to expect and if there are any must do items or see items on Princess ships. Also take any tips and tricks as well. We generally are chill people onboard. Don't do the drink package, and may have 3ish drinks on a trip. Not big into the night time scene other than seeing a show or comedian. We use cruises to unwind and relax and not think about work. We will do some activities, like trivia and we did a board game that was kind of like an escape room challenge. I think what we have found is that once we left Disney a lot of the activities we did centered around our daughter, and we have progressively done less and less activities, partly because not as many seem to be offered for adults.

So we booked on the Emerald princess, and am seeing conflicting information on this when researching online especially with the lotus spa pool. Second question, is what type of pool is the lotus spa pool? Celebrity had a warm water pool in the solarium on a ship we sailed on, thelosotherepy pool (spelling is probably wrong), that was amazing. If this is that type of pool, if they have a weekly pass it may be worth it to us.

Sounds like food cutbacks, was not great on our last Edge cruise in February 23, and the butler thing I guess, I could care less about that one. That said we were looking to book a last minute trip this spring and at the prices X has I am guessing they are sailing pretty full. We are looking at other lines. I guess the 3 hours doesn’t bother me, but I realize that opinion won’t be shared by all.