octoberdana

So you pay the same as the website but you just get additional OBC? We aren’t entirely sure of our dates so if there isn’t a significant discount (other than reduced deposit) it may be better for us to wait.

Thanks for all the info and pics!!! Really appreciate it. Going on the Allure on July 8th sailing. Loyal Carnival cruisers, but I felt it was a time for a change. Going to Alaska in June on Ruby Princess, and then to Allure. Went on Sovereign of the Seas in another lifetime, so I will consider this my 1st RCCL cruise.

 

I am staying at the FT Lauderdale Hilton Marina. What floor in the tower is the minimum to get on to be above the bridge to see the port? Is there anything to worry about, been seeing lots of not so good reviews of the hotel?

 

Someone posted that MGM runs the casino. Can you use your MLife card onboard?

 

Can't wait to be there!!! Thank you for everything!!!

I was told by the casino host that they no longer track M Life numbers... so we didn’t use ours.

I like Amsterdam. So I would choose Princess :)

Royal goes out of Amsterdam. Are you saying you would go out of Amsterdam and go with royal?

Or you don't like Amsterdam and I should go Princess?

Thanks!

We are on the same cruise.

We are celebrating our 25th anniversary with a British Isles cruise in the spring/summer 2019. The Princess cruise is on the Crown in May and the Royal cruise is on Brilliance in June. Price is only about $150 difference and we are gold on both lines. Really having a hard time deciding because we prefer the food and classiness of Princess but the service and entertainment on Royal.

We are thinking it will come down to itinerary so thought I would post and get thoughts. Open to other things to consider as well:

Crown Princess itinerary:

Begin Southampton

Port 1 Guernsey

Port 2 Cork

Port 3 Dublin (2 says docked)

Port 4 Belfast

Port 5 Glasgow

Port 6 Invergordon

Port 7 Edinburgh

Port 8 Paris/Normandy

Return Southampton

Brilliance of the Seas itinerary:

Begin Amsterdam

Port 1 Inverness/Loch Ness

Port 2 Greenock

Port 3 Belfast

Port 4 Dublin (docked 2 days)

Port 5 Holyhead

Port 6 Cork

Port 7 Dover

Return Amsterdam

Appreciate insights!

We are celebrating our 25th anniversary with a British Isles cruise in the spring/summer 2019. The Princess cruise is on the Crown in May and the Royal cruise is on Brilliance in June. Price is only about $150 difference and we are gold on both lines. Really having a hard time deciding because we prefer the food and classiness of Princess but the service and entertainment on Royal.

We are thinking it will come down to itinerary so thought I would post and get thoughts. Open to other things to consider as well:

Crown Princess itinerary:

Begin Southampton

Port 1 Guernsey

Port 2 Cork

Port 3 Dublin (2 says docked)

Port 4 Belfast

Port 5 Glasgow

Port 6 Invergordon

Port 7 Edinburgh

Port 8 Paris/Normandy

Return Southampton

Brilliance of the Seas itinerary:

Begin Amsterdam

Port 1 Inverness/Loch Ness

Port 2 Greenock

Port 3 Belfast

Port 4 Dublin (docked 2 days)

Port 5 Holyhead

Port 6 Cork

Port 7 Dover

Return Amsterdam

Appreciate insights!

We are looking at two 12 day cruises to the British Isles. One is with Princess in early May 2019 on the Crown Princess:

itinerary is:

Starts in Southampton, England

Port #1 Guernsey

Port #2 Cork

Port #3 Dublin (2 days overnight stay)

Port #4 Belfast

Port #5 Glasgow

Port #6 Invergordon

Port #7 Edinburgh

Port #8 Paris/Normanday

Ends in Southampton, England

The Royal Caribbean cruise is on Brilliance of the Seas in June of 2019. Itinerary is:

Starts in Amsterdam, Netherlands

Port #1 Inverness/Loch Ness

Port #2 Greenock

Port #3 Belfast

Port #4 Dublin (overnight 2 days)

Port #5 Holyhead

Port #6 Cork

Port #7 Dover

Ends in Amsterdam, Netherlands

Both cruises are within $150 in price so that is not really a factor. We are Gold with both Royal and Princess so that is not really a factor either. We will be celebrating our 25th anniversary on this cruise and we really want the best places to visit..

Would love input as we need to decide soon. Open to input on ports, ship differences, etc. Thanks in advance.

We are doing a land vacation trip to Europe in 2019 so we won’t be ready for another cruise until 2020. This was to be our first celebrity cruise and it has put a bad taste in our mouth.

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We were booked on the December 8th Equinox cruise. Just got a call that the whole ship has been chartered that week and we are being offered $200 in onboard credit to book a different cruise. Well, the other cruises in December are a lot more money and we aren’t able to go in January. Looks like no Celebrity cruise for us.

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We are considering driving because the air fare coming home from our cruise is ridiculously priced. And we would have to stay in Fort Lauderdale one more night to even make it in the budget anyway. It’s a 17 hour drive so that will suck. [emoji44]

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Wow they gave passengers that much for not rolling out ocean medallion? On our recent cruise the air conditioning broke in 100 degree weather and the most people got was $25 and that was only if they complained.

We got to port at 10:00 am and were in general boarding group 2 eating lunch by 12:30. They had those of us who got there early sit left and then general boarding for our deck was right so we weren't in the first group. But still early!

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On the Emerald last week they hung banners in the Piazza and they had a special dance and a beer stein holding contest. They combined it with a balloon drop.

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Hubby and I both played a few slots on our cruise, didn't spend much. We just got the email, the timing is too soon for us or I'd be all over it. Great deal!

We stayed aft in the Emerald, mid ship Caribe on the Caribbean. Our next cruise will most likely be on the Ruby or the Regal/Royal.

If you pay partially with onboard credit can you still cancel and rebuy?

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I was going to suggest getting a Lyft. They were substantially cheaper than Uber in LA and depending on how far you live from the port, could save you several hundred dollars.

Our first cruise we stayed in Caribe deck and we did enjoy it. We had a mid-ship balcony. However, our last cruise we stayed on Aloha deck and we LOVED it. It was the perfect distance from Horizon, Lido, etc. Also, I loved that the elevator said "hello" to me in Hawaiian whenever it opened on floor 12. :) We loved the full covered balcony on Aloha deck too.

My question is I loved staying aft but hubby didn't. He wants to move for our next Princess cruise to the middle of the ship. I see that the Aloha deck balconies are pretty small (we had the AFT corner one A747), are those balconies going to run the same as the mid-ship Caribe deck? Really do like being up on Deck 12- so I'm wondering if an aft-mid Aloha would be a good choice in the future.

I was able to move up to a higher category balcony on our last cruise after final payment by just paying the difference so I can understand why original OP is confused. Edit: glad t see it worked out for you.

We just did A747 and loved it. Not quite as nice as A750 but the location is super convenient and the view is amazing. :)

Thanks for sharing your experiences which thankfully didn't affect our stay there. We had a park & cruise package that included parking our car during the cruise, shuttle, buffet breakfast & a cocktail hour glass of wine for $250. It was slightly cheaper than paying to park our car at the port & was a more relaxing experience.

 

We've had shuttle issues at the CP and Doubletree but could walk to the CP. Both cost about the same price & the CP has places such as SP Brewing within easy walking distance to eat.

 

Appreciate sharing your experiences & something we'll consider before another visit.

Good to know about the breakfast included rate we paid $268 per night just for the room!

We just used the Barclay's card for everything for 3 years and got $1400 towards our cruise. We have the Costco card but I struggle with having to wait until February to get our rebates... I like that with Barclay's we could get it credited sooner. Also, we have the Chase Sapphire but honestly the travel cost is so much higher through the website for hotels and airfare that we never end up using the points.

>> The food in the buffet was not great. Almost every lunch and dinner most of the dishes were Indian, Asian, or Spanish. << We're on the Emerald next month, so here's hopping the Horizon Court menu is as described - especially wrt dishes from the Indian sub-continent! For breakfast there's usually poached fruit (apple or pear) and Congee - so Mrs SoCal and myself are generally sorted from a culinary perspective.

It was poached pears every morning. I don't mind them serving Indian food, but every meal for days got quite frustrating especially with very little recognizable options for those of us with American culinary tastes. ;p

It was pretty miserable but I guess we were lucky enough to be on excursions most of the time when it was down so our misery was at least limited. The AC did work when we were underway, just not when docked in Puerto Vallarta or Mazatlan. It was brutally hot in both places though so not a good thing. This was the cause according to the letter we received from the Hotel General Manager on October 7th:

 

"Our recent re-position from the cold waters of Alaska to the warm waters of Mexico caused marine growth that had developed in the intake pipes of our seawater cooling system to die, therefore clogging the filters and greatly diminishing the capacity of our cooling stations. Our Engineering team worked around the clock to remove and clear the filters, and we are pleased to report that conditions have been restored back to normal capacity."

Yuck!

We got back on the ship early in Mazatlan to escape the heat, only to be greeted with more heat. :( I'm glad that they gave you guys something it was truly miserable. I honestly thought I was going to pass out for a while, I went to the pool just to escape it and I'm not a swimmer.

As for the previous poster who asked about the milkshakes, I told the employee at the ice cream place that i had the package but she said it was a recent change. I considered having customer service remove it but the lines were horribly long and I decided $2.50 wasn't worth it. Also I just realized that my spacing didn't copy over from Word, sorry about the words crammed together. :(

Curious about why not?

 

We stayed at CP in January & it was good and previously stayed at Doubletree...we'd happily stay at either one again.

Our stay at the Crowne Plaza was not good. Hotel is run down and is generally showing signs of age. For almost $300 a night with taxes and fees, breakfast was not included but was an additional $12-$14 in the hotel restaurant which required a 45 minute wait to even get a table. Our room was on the 10th floor and only one elevator was working it would often take us 10 minutes or longer to get up or down from our room. The shower didn't drain so water pooled around our feet in the bathtub while we were showering. The only positive was that it was close to the cruise port and we could walk it. Not even any coffee or water in the lobby, instead you had to buy snacks or water. For the $ I expected more especially out of a Crowne Plaza.