CalLuvsCrusingToo

On 4/14/2024 at 3:59 AM, John Bull said:

https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/southampton_accommodation.htm

 

Those are almost-all of the Southampton city centre hotels.

Most are modern, some are historic.

Some expensive, some not.

Most full-service, some with just basic facilities.

But you get what you pay for, and there are none that I would caution against - except the Mercure Dolphin whose future in uncertain.

 

See the little thumbnail map at the bottom of that page.

With luggage you'd need a short taxi hop to Mayflower terminal (red A on that map), so any hotel is as convenient as any another. 

Ocean terminal (red D) is walkable even with luggage from hotels blue 8 & 15, mebbe 4, 5, 6, 7 & 14..

Most convenient hotels for the city centre, old town, waterfront, pubs, restaurants etc are

 

Blue 4 Premier Inn West Quay , Premier Inns are the UK's biggest & best budget chain, the West Quay one is popular with cruisers

Blue 5 Holiday Inn Herbert Walker Ave is particularly popular with those sailing out of City cruise terminal, which is directly behind the hotel. Beware - the city's two Holiday Inn Express's are way out on the city limits, very inconvenient.,

Blue 6 Leonardo Royal. Don't confuse with the Leonardo, which is a little inconvenient and in the centre of a traffic gyratory.

Blue  7, Pig in the Wall is a quirky boutique hotel, set in the old city's wall.

Blue 8 Ennios is another boutique, in a former brick warehouse over the owner's Italian restaurant of the same name.

Blue 16 Moxy, next door to P.I.West Quay, is a quirky recently-opened Marriott brand, rapidly becoming popular with cruisers.

 

JB 🙂

Thank you for suggestions.  We booked Holiday Inn (Herbert Walker) for end of May.

How do we know if our cruise is out the back of hotel, City Cruise Terminal? 

Were sailing on Princess Sky.

Also taking National Express from Heathrow to Southampton.  Is that Holiday Inn anywhere near where NE drops off?  Thanks for all your help! 

4 hours ago, Sprocket said:

Booked 4 cruises since the event.  $150 OBC added to all, only one had to have PP added done at time of booking.  Just heard from my host and they will be contacting us for travel details the month prior to departure for transportation etc.

 

We will be reevaluated next year to see if we qualify.  Thrilled I made it this year at least!

When you say event, do you mean your cruise with the hosts in Ft.Laud?

Are you talking about Diamond offer email?

If youre talking about Diamond, I was told the Diam offer will be applied the First week,

of the month  before you cruise. 

Wondering if this is Only for cruises booked After Diam offer appeared?

Or can Diam be applied on cruises we already have booked before Feb. 2025?

We have a cruise June first. 

That would mean I would be getting contacted by host first week in May...

Hoping thats how it goes.🤷‍♂️🤷‍♀️

I just keep track of casino room charges by watching my Folio on Princess app.

Weve had many Medallion cruises, and so far its been very reliable.

At the end of cruise you can scan your medallion onboard (kiosk near GS desk)

for a paper copy.  Otherwise, I take a screen shot of what it shows on my Folio.

Charge to my cc appears within a day or two off the ship.

We just got off the Hawaii cruise with them that ended this weekend.

Didn't know it was their last trip?  Thats sad to hear.  Thanks for posting.

1 hour ago, ccqueenanne said:

 

Port Valet is GREAT. To be clear - it's a free transfer for your luggage, not yourselves. But if your airline participates and your flight is within the time parameters for Port Valet, it's fab and totally recommended. It'll also allow 4 adults to fit into any Uber/cab. If you don't/can't use Port Valet, you'll need to ensure you order an Uber big enough to hold all of your luggage. Or join the cab line and wait for a cab with more luggage space. With four people, I'd pick an Uber/cab vs paying for 4 transfers on the coach. 

We usually head straight to Taxi, cuz if youre in Early walkoff?

You'll be outside in no time.

Last couple times getting off ship in Seattle, there was No wait for taxi.....

but a Huge amount of folks waiting for their Uber!

For the small price diff?  We head straight to Taxis.

We found were at the airport within about 35 mins from getting off the ship!

Anybody else get Diamond email offer?

It sounds really great but short timeframe til end of Feb 2025.

Curious if/when anyone books it?  Uses it?

So many great suggestions!  Does anyone from Princess EVER Read them?

1.  Top of my list is Non smoking casino!  It reeks & miserable in there and drifts outside!

Smokers CAN find Other places that are allowed. 

2.  I like the person who suggested MUSIC, lets call it read the room!

So many oddball B side songs that REPLAY over and over.

Who plays Slow sappy ballads in the casino and Other places?🤦‍♂️🤦‍♀️

We need Happy, Upbeat!!🤩

Its suppose to FUN, vacation!

And Look at your Demo audience!  Play that, but ADD songs so they don't repeat every 6-8-10 hours!

I would volunteer for that job, just to get it right.  You're welcome Princess.

3.  And while I'm dreaming.... how about Change your most watched TV shows with Different episodes!

I've seen the SAME Frasiers, and Everybody Loves Raymonds, and Rebas on Every ship!

Isn't there a way to Change seasons, instead of the same dozen episodes for YEARS?

How many people want to read the Same book on every cruise?

Thats how I feel about the same-o episodes on every ship.

Time to Change seasons, forpetesake.

Carry on....

17 hours ago, molly1995 said:

We booked for an Alaskan cryis in June in a mini suite and keep reading aweful things.   How is the food, service and entertainment.  Also have an 11 year old who loves ping pong and pickle ball.

We were just in a miniS on Ruby.  You will Like it for the space, and 2 tv's.

Only thing I wish Ruby mini had was the Curtain inbetween... I really missed it.

Newer ships have the big curtain, so can close it if you want to. 

Feels more like 2 seperate rooms, With the curtain.

On 3/25/2024 at 8:46 PM, itsnotjustme said:

I go the other way and think they will go with option #1 or #2, and I favor #2 over #2.  Of course, my casino host when I made Pearl told me I would have free drinks until 1 Apr 2025.

Thats pretty tight if you only get drinks for One day.

Or keep your Aug booking as it is.

If/when you get a good bounceback offer?

Can use for Next booking. Good luck

8 minutes ago, suekel said:

Today we're still in Panama.  Went out to sea last night then came back for a port day.  It's so hot.. only managed 2 hours at the pool. 

Did the charcuterie in Vines last night.  It was just ok. 2 cheeses, 4 meats, olives and pickled onion. No bread,  no crackers.  Served with what tasted like soy sauce. Splitting one is an ok snack. If I paid $15 for this,  I wouldn't be happy. Great server though. 

Not having much luck in the casino.  It's a Prestige Cruise so unless you're a part of that,  the casino hosts basically ignore you. 

Back to the Crown Grill tonight. I absolutely love the restaurant managers and head waiters at all the venues. 

Tomorrow is the MTP luncheon. Only my second invite. 

Nap time so I can stay up and watch Iowa State and Illinois tonight. 

Agree with what you've experienced. 

I don't know if its because of Prestige cruise.... but when I was just on Ruby?

That was the LEAST attentive casino Host(s) I've EVER experienced!

Nobody EVER came by, introduced themself, or said diddly to me.

No host came by to set up a comp dinner for us.

No host did Anything for us.  Like being ignored.

So maybe its just current casino host/mgr of Ruby?

They seemed New to me, like they didn't know what they were doing.

I hope its a one off.  But I certainly wouldn't hurry back.

5 hours ago, jmdlv1 said:

This was all table games.

I played a little VP but no big winnings there.

Been on other cruises where I won more but this was a first.

It was in Port Everglades 

Sounds like overkill. 

Not a fan of flying there.  One more reason for me Not to sail out of Pt. Ev.

Agree, that sounds ridiculous.

31 minutes ago, Pops37 said:

Loyalty emblem on picture (avatar).

Is anyone else seeing the wrong loyalty level symbol in the new app??

Just posted this on our rollcall,

Were Elite, but app says something like "Welcome First time cruiser!  😹

White (Loyalty level) on App medallion.🤦‍♂️🤦‍♀️

At least we got the right color when our actual medallions arrived last week.

On 3/23/2024 at 8:04 AM, ldubs said:

 

In SF a year or so ago we rolled our large bags on without any issues.  It wasn't really what we wanted to do.  For whatever reason the curbside luggage drop was a mess that day, so we just wheeled them on.   

YES.  We had that happen when SF ship was delayed berthing and luggage guys couldn't take our bags right away. 

So we said screw it, and brought our bags on with us.

Bags were either 26 or 28" Roller bags, and fit thru scanner fine.  I was surprised!  Thought scanner was alittle smaller, but it did indeed take bigger bags.

Rolled bags into our cabin (which wasn't ready yet, but door was open, and nobody cared) then went about our way. 

If you can lift your bag?  You can Wheel it on.

Did you say Where you disembarked? 

Where this happened?

Also, were you still onboard ship?

I've also won large amounts in the casino and never had that happen.

Thats kinda scary.....

Nice of you to do that.  We just did that one end of Feb.  Weather was pretty good.

A nice tour that we always enjoy is Aviary tour in Cartegena. 

And we booked Sanctuary for Transit day. 

Its a good day to Stay Onboard that day. IMO

As almost half the ship got off mid transit for tours off ship.

We totally enjoyed staying onboard with Not as many people!

Have a good time!

18 hours ago, leck57 said:

 

The exterminator needs to travel to Oz. Just logged in to the App and the first screen (the one with number of days to embarkation) shows in the background but the spinning wheel spun for at least three minutes before it opened. From there I tried to open the My Journey page and I'm at two minutes of spinning wheel and counting. Had no problems until the recent update.

Ditto.

And if it loads before you get kicked out?  You might be able to DO a couple things.

But theres a definate learning curve.... to how to Do things This Apps way.🤔

My jurys still out on this one.

On 3/22/2024 at 3:46 AM, emmak8 said:

I am on Sky Princess March 25 Spain and Portugal. I hope it IS NOT a VIP or prestige cruise! Anyone know?

Have a great cruise either way!

I don't know if its Vip?  I have been kind of ignoring those...

Prestige cruises I know about so far are:

May 3 2024 British Isles Regal

April 4 Hawaii Crown

June 22, 2024 Meddit Sun

Aug 11, 2024 Greenland/Canada Emerald

Jan 19 2025 South Carrib Enchanted

Feb 16 2025 PC Emerald

17 hours ago, Palo4911 said:

I am so glad you were able to take care of the transfers! Maybe the same host can take care of your older issue with your FCC's you never got on the other cruise (?)

 

Are you doing the BASK selection?  If so, maybe we will meet at the dinner :O)  I'd love to get the name/contact info of the "helpful" host from you!

Thanks for that, I really tried... and after 5 trips with diff Cust Serv agents, wasn't worth it. 

Not even the Finance Mgr onboard corrected it.  Those Fcc's were suppose to go towards booking and since they were nowhere to be found?  My theory is, it went to casinos portion of what was owed.  Thats the conclusion we came up with cuz nobody could find it.  (we can't see what they paid anymore)   Long story short, I gave up. I really don't want to confuse the new host with anything else.  I plan to win it back lol

Hint, I believe the helpful host will be at your dinner.

We chose TREK, cuz the Excursion is showing sold out.  So figured it was a way

to see it afterall.

Are you going to CC Meet & greet onboard?  I think its first seaday, check on our rollcall, will ask around Whose Palo?   See ya there. 😉

On 3/19/2024 at 2:05 AM, emmak8 said:

Is there a way to find out if a cruise is a prestige cruse? As a non prestige player 

I found myself on board one of these. The casino was packed and no machines available. I saw players with 28000 points playing $8 a slot spin. Way out of my comfort zone! Nightly drawings ? $2000 winners not $50.

You can ask on that Rollcall or post the question if you know what cruise dates youre interested in. Someone may be able to respond.

I know there are 86 Prestige guests on our cruise early April, only cuz Host sent mass

email to all of us and there were 86 cc'd people.

Otherwise, you don't usually know until youre onboard.

And you're right, the casino can be Very busy.  I like to go at Off times, and hope that someone isn't sitting at my fav machine, killing time playing min bet. 🙈🤪😆

17 hours ago, Palo4911 said:

I finally got the email yesterday from the executive host - did you get the email yet?

Hello yes, got the same email.  I've been emailing this host & heard from another.

She said she understood how we felt being notified last minute. Was also able to

correct my Transfers that were charged on my acct & had it removed.

This is what a good host does....replies and fixes issues, amongst other things.

This is Not my "host"  who doesn't reply, and doesn't do anything for us.

So while onboard, I hope to find out how we can change hosts. 

1 hour ago, 555 said:

We always select the 2 nd early time and it's always been packed in the DR waiting. I don't recall them ever asking for proof of which time you select. Maybe they should have disembarkation tickets? 

We were in Elite holding area in First Self disembarkation group. 

Suppose to be let off first.

Theres No way that many Other people should have been let off beforehand.

Seemed a free for all.

On 3/16/2024 at 6:55 PM, Sprocket said:

The instructions in the email are pretty clear.  Take your receipt to the casino cashier and they will reimburse you.

 

Aren’t you still nearly 3 weeks from your cruise?  They are just coming off  huge B2B Prestige cruises with a Diamond Event in the middle.  The information they require before your cruise is minimal all the casino events take place on the ship.

 

There will be an Executive Casino host on board, go to the meet and greet on the ship ours are normally held in the Vista lounge and they will provide lots of information.

 

Don’t stress over this trust me they are very busy right now and they haven’t forgotten about you.

I like your enthusiasm. You should be on the Host team. lol

I know about the Trips out of Ft Laud offered and the exec dinner, yada.

We turned it down as too close to another trip we just did out of Ft Laud,

and to be honest I don't like flying there.  Told my supposed host that IF

they offer same on the West coast?  We will be there.

Otherwise, our cruise only a 2 1/2 weeks away and still No word.

Prestige my eye.....🙄

Also just got a mystery charge for 2 Transfers posted to this prestige cruise!

Check your Travel Summary. 

We live close so are NOT flying in and do Not need transfers! 

No idea where this came from?

Plus IF this is Prestige we shouldn't be charged in the first place....So I'm trying to get that corrected.....one thing after another.

Thanks for your take.  Glad you had a good experience with yours Sprocket.

On 3/11/2024 at 12:14 PM, JGmf said:

Wow, that's a thoughtful set of suggestions...and your comments are spot-on: NCL is indeed rather comical/insulting in how they treat their players.

 

I just sailed on Princess and received a come-back offer for a free mini-suite, paid-for drink package, and $1500 in Free Play for cruises up to 14 days.  My play was pretty typical of how I play on NCL.  With love like that, it's a tough sell to return to NCL.

 

Let's hope the folks at NCL see some ROI on improving their players club and add some meaningful changes...

Thats the kind of perks I used to get regularly on Princess with a high level of play.

Last few trips the best I've gotten is Balc, $600 FP and NO perks.

Therefore I'm Not booking any more cruises on Princess unless perks included.

I got one, which I booked.  But many others Without perks, I've let expire.

Agree with above that NCL needs to Eliminate the bogus $200 Admin Fee!

Thats why I steered away from NCL when booking casino comps.

Let me know if/when Ncl comes to their senses and eliminates Admin fee.  Thanks

26 minutes ago, rheathslc said:

We just got notified that we won our bid to upgrade from Mini-suite to Club Class Mini-suite for our cruise on the Discovery on March 31st - so 13 days out.

 

I bid the highest amount of $80pp, but was not hopeful we would get anything because the cruise showed sold out. 

 

Sooooo excited! Club Class dining is a huge advantage imo. Plus we were on Emerald deck with a totally uncovered balcony and walls that jut into the room on both sides between the sleeping area and sitting room area. Now we're on Riviera with a totally covered and slightly larger balcony plus no pesky walls taking up space. 

 

Yay!!!

Is that $80 pp, per day or for whole cruise?