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We were on the 3/18-3/25 sailing and had a smooth embarkation. We were late completing our online check-in an ended up with a 1:30-2:00 check-in window. I was tempted to show up earlier, just to get on the ship & start “vacationing” earlier, but having read about the long lines we decided to stick to our assigned times. We arrived at the terminal about 1:15 pm, went right up the escalator and had about 10 people in front of us for security screening. Then on to the Latitudes check in line with about the same amount of people ahead of us. Waited maybe 5 minutes, checked in and went directly on the ship. Quick & painless. I would suggest arriving later if you want to avoid lines. We also kept our suitcases with us as we were concerned they’d get to our cabin very late with the later check-in. Worked fine for us as we only had one each and rooms were ready shortly after we boarded.

 

 

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I appreciate the info. How was your disembarkation? It sounds like that has been the cause of the trouble. Hopefully isolated incidents, but you never know.

Any updates from last week? I am going to be embarking this Sunday. Traveling with two kids I don't want to show up early if it's super long wait time. Typically everyone is excited to get on board, but I'd rather show up late if it's going to take 3 hours of waiting in line.

Hi - cant hel with the balcony, hiwever have you read the ussues concerning disembarkation from Dawn at Tampa. People seem to ge saying that this is still a problem and as a result boarding is starting later and later.

 

I think the last post about this said boarding only started around 11.30 and passengers are queueing to get into the terminal from 10am

 

We go in a couple of weeks and its something that is of concern.

 

You may want to try and follow the thread especially due to your early flight when the cruise finishes

Do you have a link to that thread? I found it the other day on mobile, but now I don't see it. I'll be on Dawn in a few weeks and have a noon flight. Never been a problem at any other port, but I'm concerned after hearing the recent stories.

Thanks OP for the heads up! I'm used to Princess where you could use your OBC for the daily gratuity (or whatever they want to call it). I don't think we have a lot of OBC coming up but I'll make sure it gets used.

Pretty sure they give you an on board credit for your current cruise. Did you check your statement from your last cruise?

Not much action going on in this part of cruise critic. My cruise starts today, I'm probably going to go to Melia with the fam. I'll let you know how it goes when I'm back next week.

I'm following this as well. I'm traveling with a 5 and 8 year old and I've been told that everything Nassau shuts down at 5pm. Not sure if it's worth the price if everything closes that early. Right now, I'm tentatively planning on Melia but might just float the idea of staying on the ship. Any help is appreciated!

We have 3 rooms booked on the Escape in November. Was looking forward to NCL but this could be a deal breaker. My wife loves Coke and can't stand Pepsi. Final payment isn't until next month so we'll probably look around for other options. NCL'd and dimed.

We did not prebook it. Took a cab from port to hotel and went to front desk. paid and got a arm band. It was very easy.

 

The plus side is if you don't feel like it your not out anything.

That sounds like the smart option, but are the prices the same? It looks like $35 per adult and $25 per child on that website. I'll be there this fall and traveling with children. Trying to find some backup plans if we don't think Atlantis is worth the high costs that they charge.

To me it's not 3 cheap vacations vs. 3 expensive vacations. It's 9+ cruises in a lower cabin vs. 6+ cruises in a balcony vs. 3 in the lower level Haven suite. On the same ship, with the same ports, and 90% of the same amenities available. I just don't see the value at current prices for a room on a ship that I don't spend that much time in.

I'm booked on the Escape for November.

B6 with large balcony = $3528.68

Haven H5 suite = $7168.68

Haven booking advantages

250 Internet minutes

free dining package

extra $225 in OBC

I'm sure free dining is nice, but I can eat quite a bit without doubling my cost. I'm sure I'll try a suite at some point, but it seems like NCL is trying to test the high end of the market currently.

I agree with you that she is a human being and I'm sure her anguish was real. But I'm not sure why the fact that I don't feel sorry for her makes me a bad person.

It's just how the internet works. It's like highway traffic. Everyone driving slower than you is an idiot and everyone driving faster than you is a maniac.

You would need real facts on the ground to have the whole story. And we're probably never going to be provided that level of detail. A lot of people want to throw tomatoes but I'd be surprised if everyone is so perfect under the light of day. Let's just all agree that NCL did what they had to do and the Dad/Uncle did the best that they could do. I really would hate for anyone to miss a ship. Most of us have been young and stupid (or at least one of those to a degree).

“Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.” --Elbert Hubbard

This promo actually works ok for my family, but we are traveling with an inside cabin and a studio and for our dates, they no longer get the beverage package. Hopefully the next promo will have the bev package and we can get that switched over.

Sorry, haven't been on the Escape yet. Is there any specific reason that port side is better? I've been doing some research for an upcoming cruise on that ship and this is the first I've seen of a preference on side of ship. Hopefully someone who has sailed can stop by and help.

We are booked on that same cruise. As of right now there aren't any plans for adults or our little kids to dress up. I've never been on a ship during halloween so I don't know what to expect. Limited packing space will probably make it not an option but might have the kids dress up a little if we can work out something functionally small. Anybody been on Getaway type ships over Halloween?

We love the Intercontinental.

 

Make SURE you ask for a port view; only one side has a direct view, and it's a GREAT view.

 

It really got us in the mood each time, watching the ships come and go.

We always get in at least one day in advance.

Are there things conveniently close to the Intercontinental? I have a reward stay through IHG and I could use it at the Intercontinental or the Holiday Inn Port of Miami for no cost. I'll be traveling with our younger kids so I'd like to be able to grab any items we missed or didn't want to fly with. Any help is appreciated!

So I'm new to NCL as well. We have a 4 day dining package on our upcoming booking. How does A la carte pricing work with the dining package? Do I get up to a certain amount?

EDIT: I did a quick looking around the website (in case anyone else is wondering) and it looks like you have to pay an additional up charge for A la carte restaurants. I'm assuming after that you can order whatever you want, but who knows. NCL seems to move things around a bit.

Aargh! I paid off my balance (early) yesterday! I quickly added the offer to my card as soon as I saw this, but the charge had already gone through. (If you add an offer while the charge is pending, you usually get the credit)

 

So...I'm wondering now if I pre-pay gratuities and buy some OBC in one transaction if that will be coded in the right at to get the credit? Hoping people post their experiences on this.

I think you can still get the offer. Check out this article I read not long ago. I haven't had to use it, but it sounds positive. Good luck.

http://thepointsguy.com/2016/02/redeem-overlooked-amex-offers/

It looks like it is going to work out well for me. I have a final payment due on Dec 8th. I'll just buy 1K in gift cards and take the free $50. I have my TA double checking to make sure that I can pay a booking through them with a princess gift card. It looks like it is possible but I just want to verify before committing to the purchase. Edit: They confirmed there is no problem paying for a TA booked cruise with this gift card so I put my order in. Quick 50 bucks!

Meh, the cruise I'm going on is listed as one of the options. We aren't taking a 3rd or 4th, but I have a call into my TA to see if there is any better pricing available. Worth a shot.

Not sure what you mean by dividers up. All balconies on all Princess ships have dividers that can not be moved. You can't move to another cabin and find balconies without dividers. There is a 2' door in the divider that can be opened to provide access between balconies, but does not provide one double size balcony. If you are on a Grand Class ship, the Caribe deck balconies are the largest (excluding full suites) of all the balconies. They are 9'x9' with sufficient room to hang out. Only issue is that there are only two balcony chairs and one table on a BD Cat. cabin. There are two more chairs inside the cabin that can be temp. moved to the balcony. If you are not on a Grand Class ship then balcony sizes vary.

Sorry, I guess I just meant the doors. Maybe every door is the same but from my memory it seemed like some were of different sizes throughout the ships and different balconies on different floors. I will be traveling on the Emerald Princess (which the OP was specifically asking about) which apparently falls under "Crown Class" according to the Wiki I found. I just wanted to see if anyone had a pic of what the space looked like with the "door" opened. There will be 3 couples with rooms next to each other and I realize it doesn't open up to a gigantic deck (although it would be cool if that was possible on some newer ship), I just wanted to get an idea of how much room we would have and how easy it would be to travel between decks.

I'm in my mid 30s and will be going on my 6th Princess Cruise here in a few months (I think they made up some loyalty level called Ruby). I don't know if I've seen much change but I definitely agree with some of Times Prince's list on things that would add to the experience.

I think this thread should get back to your original intent - what are the things missing that used to enhance our cruise experience.

 

Please note before reading that we love Princess Cruises and plan to be back.

• Steel drum and island bands on deck playing throughout the day in the Caribbean
  
• Deck party (not present on most of the cruises we've taken in past years
  
• More than 3 bands onboard - covering a variety of dance and listening styles
  
• Remember the Sun Princess class ships' Disco for the young and boisterous?
  
• Really live bands - not two people with a synthesizer instead of musicians
  
• 9 hole mini-golf course
  
• Printed TV guide
  
• Princess Patter the first day giving all the shows and movies for the whole cruise, and when they will be.
  

That said, we'll be back.

Anybody have any decent pics of the balconies with the dividers up? There are a few of us with adjoining rooms on the Caribe Deck (BD level rooms) on an upcoming cruise. Not sure if we should keep the rooms or not, but the divider up thing sounded like a decent deal if there is sufficient room to hang out with friends. I googled around but couldn't find much.

I found if you put in Fort Lauderdale city several locations come up and then you choose the one that says port Everglades.

I just tried that and it just ends up putting FLL airport the pickup and the return location. Hmm...

I typically use Hotwire for booking car rentals but I can't get port everglades to come up in their system for a return. I just tried sixt site and it doesn't show port everglades as a return location (says the closest is Hollywood at 9km). Is there some other name for the port rental area? I'm trying to rent a car for my pre-cruise stay and then just drive it to the port on the day we sail and drop it off. I can cab to the airport after the cruise. Any thoughts or advise is appreciated.

It was offered to some passengers, not all. What the criteria was for Princess, we don't know. Either passengers got the offer, or they didn't. I think it's a combination of past cruising history and some gambling history. A lot of us, who did get that offer, don't gamble much. But there's no way of knowing.

 

Nice, there's no way of applying for it, sorry. However, if you do gamble fairly heavily, you'll get some type of offers.

Interesting... We received a mailer with some cruises that had a small poker table in the corner and said something to the affect of, "see why these cruises appeal to casino players like you" and had a code underneath that. I never called in specifically about that code but I might try that and see if we can get a better deal on a cruise we have booked for Feb 2016. Anybody have info on what exact kind of mailer you got to tell you about a casino rate?