High C's

We just disembarked last weekend after spending 32 nights on board. And I would sail her again in a heart beat!

And we DID have toilet issues. At the beginning, we were given the run around, and given the silliest of reasons. BUT I was able to elevate the issue to the Hotel General Manager, who was an absolute gem. Turned out that the valve needed replaced on our toilet. After that there wasn't a moment of problem. As well, during our cruise they were working on replacing drain lines for the toilets in the 600 and 700 series cabins (all decks) as well as replacing heat exchangers. We saw the workmen often when walking the outside decks, and then saw the old exchangers and lines dockside when we arrived in Liverpool. I have no idea if this work caused the sewage smell.

But I can tell you that it was one of our best cruises, and we loved every minute on board. We don't expect to get on a ship and not see some signs of wear and tear. Heck, my house shows signs of wear and tear! We were on vacation. And we were treated extremely well. The staff were friendly and hard working. And I appreciated everything they did for me.

Like life - a cruise is what you make of it. There were miserable people on board, but I can't help but think they are the same when not travelling too. We met some wonderful people, and look forward to staying in touch with them.

Our sailing was not without issues. We had a rough start due to weather and the ship was delayed by 24 hours departing the first port (Houston), was late arriving in FLL to pick us up, had an emergency medical evacuation in the middle of the Atlantic, missed a port due to weather, missed another port due to dock workers strike. I'm probably missing stuff. But if you are not able to roll with the changes, then cruising isn't for you. "Stuff" happens. Despite all of it, I'd give anything to still be on board! :D:D

I copied this from the Princess web site while doing a mock air booking:

 

 

•No fees will be charged for changes and cancellations made more than 45 days from the outbound flight date or sail departure date (whichever is earlier).

 

•Change and cancellation can be made 45 days or less from the outbound flight date or sail departure date (whichever is earlier). A fee starting at $150 up to the full cost of the ticket, per ticket, will apply.

 

•Tickets are nontransferable.

 

•In some instances, name changes will not be permitted, and will require cancellation and rebooking of flights.

 

•Prices are for e-tickets, per person, and include all flight taxes and fees.

 

•Prices do not include baggage fees or other fees of up to $200 for the first or second checked bag.

 

•After ticketed departure time, no changes are permitted and ticket has no value if guest has not cancelled the ticketed flight reservation.

 

•Reconfirming flights is the guest's responsibility.

 

•Federal law forbids the carriage of hazardous materials aboard aircraft in your checked or carryon baggage.

 

•Prices are not subject to increase, except for charges resulting from increases in government imposed taxes or fees.

 

•Cancelling your cruise/cruisetour booking for any reason will cancel any air bookings associated with the cruise/cruisetour booking, and fees will be applied if applicable.

 

Note the second from last bullet. This was the case on our recent Hawaii/Tahiti cruise. We are also booked through ezAir for our upcoming Royal Princess TA. When I first booked, air was $698.00. There were 3 price drops and I took advantage of all of them. Long story short, we are now booked at $564.00.

Prices have been all over the board and the lowest now (for our selected dates) is $591.00. Lowest Delta fare is now $669.00.

 

We are Delta Sky Miles members so Delta is our preferred airline. We book early and keep a close eye out for price drops. We LOVE ezAir.

 

Harry

Thank you! :) We have always arranged our flights independently, but I think I will take a closer look at ezAir!

Just go on the web site and do a mock booking. Search for your cruise. When it comes up, go to the next screen (as if you were going to book it). When you click on cruise details, the next screen will have a block up top that says "Get a Flight Quote". Click on that and plug in your dates and it will show you flight options with prices. If the price has gone down since you booked, you can call your TA or Princess to change to the lower fare or you can go to Cruise Personalizer and do it yourself.

 

We had several price drops for our Hawaii/Tahiti cruise last year and I did the change each time. When it came time for our final payment, fare prices were up but we still paid the lower fare. We love ezAir.

 

Harry

I'm not sure I understand. I thought that if the fare went up (airfare portion), you were charged that new rate, and the only way to avoid it is to pay the airfare in full to lock in the price.

Well, things appear to be fixed. FINALLY. They had to come and replace two valves on our toilet. Apparently it was broken. Gee - really??!!! Anyway, lets hope it stays that way. They did apologize and send a bottle of wine.

Thanks to all for your suggestions!!! :)

:mad:

We are currently on the TA cruise on the CB. Since boarding in FLL, our toilet has not worked. It may flush once or twice a day, but that's it. We've reported it to the cabin steward, his supervisor, and the front desk. We have been told it hasn't been flushed "enough" to work properly. Umm, ok. :confused:

The best response was the one today from the Purser's Desk who told me that the toilets on board "are not meant to be flushed in the morning". I KID YOU NOT!

Needless to say we elevated it to a supervisor, who sent the plumber AGAIN to fix it. We are getting quite anxious as we are on board until May 20. A month without a functioning toilet is too much to expect.

Any suggestions on what we can do while we are on board? We have never had this type of issue before. And I can assure you that we have ALWAYS used the facilities before noon! ;):rolleyes:

Thanks in advance for all constructive suggestions. :)

I just got back from a 7 night Mexican Rivera cruise on the Crown. Our first time cruising on Princess, we usually cruise Carnival or Holland. I must say I was totally disappointed with this cruise line, or maybe it was just the ship. Food was good but that was all, no entertainment unless you want to watch reruns of The Love Boat, which we did.. The crew were not very friendly at all, room stewart did not even know our names. The ship is old. Cabins are very small compared to what I'm use to. Very disillusioned.. Won't be back, I'll stick with Carnival...

I'm not sure judging entertainment on a cruise ship equates to "whats on TV". While the entertainment may not have been to your taste, I'm sure you can't say there was NO entertainment in the venues.

Hello High C's,

 

you might have a problem, finding a cab if things get really busy. But the subway is basically next to the terminal. Quite within walking distance. And it's only 2 stops till Hauptbahnhof.I would schedule 1 hour with lots of time for getting lost and finding your way. Especially Hauptbahnhof can be a little tricky.

 

Have fun in Berlin,

 

seebaer

Thank you seebaer! That is extremely helpful. If there are indeed no cabs available, we will immediately head over to the subway. We've decided on a later train, which will leave us ample time to find our correct train platform at Hbf. If we are too early, we'll have a coffee and sit back, feeling proud of ourselves! LOL :D

When a ship is docked (vs. needing to tender), it is usually there by the scheduled time. Unless there is a clearance problem with the authorities, passengers can usually go ashore within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time.

That was my assumption too. But upon reflection, the first train was leaving virtually no room for anything that could go wrong. And with sail away not until 10 pm, we still have plenty of time to do the tour even with taking the later train. So that is what we have chosen to do. :)

HiC's,

 

We are on the CB with you, are you doing Berlin independently or are you picking up a local tour in Berlin?

We have a tour booked, and are being picked up at the Berlin train station.

See you on board! :)

You arrive at 7:00am. Is your train at 8:39am? If so, you are calling it tight at best. Debarkation will probably start about 8;00am.

Hmmmm. Haven't booked the train yet. But perhaps I should move it out by a half an hour or so. Thanks Paul. I assumed we would be able to get off by 7:30 ish.

I have posted this question on the Northern Europe board, but thought I'd ask our esteemed Princess travellers for their experience.

We will be in Hamburg on May 5 (on the CB transatlantic), and need to get to the Hamburg train station. We are scheduled to arrive at 7 am, and our train departs for Berlin at 8:39. We are scheduled to dock at the HafenCity Cruise port.

Will there be a sufficient amount of cabs readily available to transport us?

Alternatively, assuming I am reading the info correctly, the subway is approx. 1 km away from the cruise port. Does anyone have experience walking there?

Many thanks in advance.

We will be in Hamburg on May 5, and need to get to the Hamburg train station. We are scheduled to arrive at 7 am, and our train departs for Berlin at 8:39. We are scheduled to dock at the HafenCity Cruise port.

Will there be a sufficient amount of cabs readily available to transport us?

Alternatively, assuming I am reading the info correctly, the subway is approx. 1 km away from the cruise port. Does anyone have experience walking there?

I posted that post, nobody hacked me. I had two nights of terrible meals, that was my experience, but that ended quickly and for the rest of the cruise we had great service. I think we did not have the same waiters, for one thing, but in all honesty I did have those two yucky nights and then it ended.

 

Would you prefer me to lie and say things were great when they weren't?

Not at all. The point was whether you actually said it or not.

How unfortunate that you had an immensely bad experience, but luckily it wasn't experienced again by you or others on board. After the anticipation and excitement for this cruise, it would have been disappointing if everyone experienced what you posted.

No the person that posted service was bad later said she didn't know anything about it when I asked who posted. Had I been reading her Live would have seen she did post it. Later she posted service was better.No one hacked anything. Where in the world do some of you come up with such nonsense. She didn't want to admit to her friends that it was her live post that did that and the Maitre'D read it. Enough said.

No offence meant. But the OP's complaints were quite passionate and explicit - not something you could forget posting. So one could only assume someone posted under her name without her knowledge. As you say, enough said :)

Dinner last night was awful and frankly it was awful the night before as well but I figured the first night is always crazy for the staff but they usually have it together by night two. This was not the case. Our waiter has never introduced himself to us, never makes recommendations for what to order, and we sat for an hour before we had our orders taken. Then of course it's rush, rush, rush and we are asked to leave while eating our desserts! Terrible service, the worst I've ever had on any ship.

 

The food itself is horrible, bland, rubbery chicken, and we never get what we order. I ask for chicken breast and get dark meat. I ask for no sauce on the food and it comes soaked in sauce. I ask for light salad dressing on the side but the salad comes soaked in dressing, and I am pretty sure it's not the low cal stuff. It seems our waiters ignore our requests. After asking the head waiter, I still got the wrong food! OMG what is going on here? I was truly expecting a higher class of food but instead the food is the worst I've ever had on Princess. And everything is saturated with salt, yucky table salt. I was kosher salt, come on Princess what is going on here?

 

Ok today is a new day, maybe something will change. Fingers crossed.

Was totally upset by some of the awful posts regarding service and food. In fact the Dining room staff read it too and asked about it.

I asked too and the person who posted said it wasn't her as she loved the service. We had 15people with two tables. Most nights we switched couples so we could take turns dining with everyone. There were two sets of waiters(different for each table)All were exceptional. Food, out of this world. We aren't dieting on that cruise and tried everything. Many of us asked for special foods, prepared our way and got it. Also we had huge bowls of special ordered veggies each night too.

The staff on the cruise made this so memorable I can't even describe how far it exceded our expectations.

 

That's very concerning. Is this the post that was not made by the OP? Because it is quite specific and lengthy in terms of her complaints. I read through the thread again and couldn't find any other post that could possibly have upset the dining staff. So if the OP didn't post this, it causes me concern that someone ELSE can post on CC under our names! :eek:

But that aside, it sounds like ALMOST all of you had a great time. I'm glad as this cruise was booked solid for a long time so the anticipation must have been huge! :)

Thanks. Although I have read many good reviews, there were a few recently that were a bit disturbing. All in all, he offers exactly what we want. I just wanted to see if others had troubles onced booked.

Yes, I read those reviews too. But what I do like is that Gavin personally responds to them, offering either an apology, or an explanation. I have found dealing with him to be exceptional. I have faith that the actual tour will be as promised. We won't have Gavin himself, as he does his "typical" tour for a larger group, and we are touring on our own that day. :)

Was looking into booking either a private or his small group tour. I was just wanting some recent feedback.

I have a private tour booked with him for April. So while I can't comment on the tour, I can tell you that the communication is excellent, and Gavin is very helpful in organizing a tour based on your wants.

 

Good morning from the Caribbean Princess. We are docked at the Brooklyn terminal (I think). Sailing into New York City was very nice. Holli & I are scheduled to get off the ship at 1015. Hopefully we'll have an easy time getting to LGA when we finally get off the ship. I can't wait till we pick Misha up tomorrow as Holli & I have missed him tremendously.

 

I really enjoy posting about my experiences while I cruise. I hope that my information was both enjoyable to read and informative. Look for me again next September when I'll hopefully be able to once again report on my travels. I'll probably make one more post later in the week advising that I'm done uploading all my pictures. Until then, I wish everyone Fair Winds and a Following Sea.

 

Take Care All.....:):):)

 

Bob

Thanks for doing this Live, Bob. Enjoyed reading it very much.

The Effy store is just as good or better than Facets. Before I actually saw the store, I thought incorrectly that it wa some new kind of jewelry and not an actual store. I liked the selection and Holli really liked the selection.....:D:D:D

 

Bob

LOL!! Good for Holli! :D I don't blame her a bit. Something from Facets usually follows us home - quite often an Effy piece! So I am glad you liked the store and look forward to visiting it on our spring TA cruise! :)

Safe travels home and thanks again for the thread.

Please what is Effy?

Its a jewellry designer. When the jewellry store was "Facets", they would carry some Effy products. But apparently now the store is exclusively Effy.

An interesting story from yesterday. After breakfast in Sabatinis, Holli and her sister went shopping in some of the Piazza shops. I had to take care of a few matters with passenger services and told Holli I would join up with them when my business was complete. Before we parted, I reminded Holli of our mutual promise to each other in that we would avoid going into the Effy store. When my business was complete, I dropped off some items in the cabin and then returned to the Piazza to look for Holli and her sister. As I arrived in the Piazza, I bet you can already guess where I found the two of them. Needless to say, both of our resolves were non-existent and I left the establishment planning the extra overtime at work that would be needed as a result of our vist:D.

Bob: What do you think about the Effy store, when compared to Facets? I think I read in your blog that Facets is totally replaced now. Does Effy offer a good selection? I realize it will be their brand exclusively. And what do you think of the prices?

Thanks - and thanks for doing the Live From. :)

We are booked into the Hilton London Paddington for next May for 1 night post cruise. It is adjacent to Paddington station which is where the Heathrow Express runs to/from, making the trip to the airport to go home easy.

Don't count on emails. CD's schedules change often.

Even if you found out close to the cruise there is no gty they will be there when you board.

If you need absolute confirmation and it plays a big part in your decision it might be best to not do a cruise. :(

 

 

Cancel for any reason Princess ins. ;)

I wonder if the "any reason" has been "I don't like the Cruise Director"!! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: I'd love to hear the response to that claim!!! :D

Is it possible to buy tickets for the HOHO tour at the Titanic Museum stop?

I'm thinking what we may do is take a cab over to the Titanic Museum first thing, then afterwards jump on the HOHO before returning to the ship.

Our schedules still show Princess at South Queensferry. She's certainly been in a few times recently and always at SQ.

Darn! :( Maybe we'll be lucky next year. We don't call in until early May.

Again, Tartan, thanks for all the info you post here. Its truly invaluable!