Whimsy

It was an amazing experience and well worth the $149.00. I would not do it every cruise but even my travel companion, who is not into specialty dining, loved it when we were invited. We were invited but I would definitely do it again with someone on another cruise. 

Coral Princess is scheduled for a dry dock in 2024, about 3 weeks in length. Have there been any rumors on what they are doing to her? Thinking of booking her for 2025. 

How do you get to La Plywood from the water taxi? Is it far from the water taxi stand? I have one traveler with me who can't walk long distances. I'm trying to figure out the best options for us but the women are reluctant to be in a taxi.

Following...

Thank you for the review. Very thorough. What nights were your formal nights? I'm glad they are making the Love Boat Dream the old way! 

4 hours ago, Desert Cruisers said:

The reason that there is currently nothing on the website might partly be because Princess must first transfer current cabin bookings from the Sky to the Caribbean.  This includes figuring out what to do with cabin categories from the Sky that do not exist on the Caribbean.  We have been told that we probably will hear about a cabin assignment for our October 16 cruise in mid-December.  We are booked into an obstructed view balcony which does not exist on the Caribbean.  Our cabin number on the Sky is an obstructed oceanview on the Caribbean.

 

The Caribbean is due to leave NY to Fort Lauderdale on a repositioning cruise on November 6.

To clarify, you still currently have an October 16 booking on the Sky/Caribbean Princess? Now THAT at least makes some sense, if they were swapping around rooms. It's dumbfounding no one at Princess can offer that information if that is the case. 

Princess has canceled cruises, swapped ships but the Caribbean Princess and the Sky Princess has a huge gap of weeks with no sailings. Does anyone have any inside info of what they are doing? If you just search on the website by ship they both have nothing for October, Sky has nothing for September. They canceled our 8 day on Caribbean Princess on November 12 and now it has nothing at all on the calendar. I can't seem to find any answers. 

2 hours ago, CORealtor said:

Our office manager here in Colorado has an aunt and uncle that survived and were transported to Seattle.  Princess is paying for their flights to get there today to be with them.  

That is wonderful that Princess is helping with their travel arrangements to get their family to them. I hope they make a full recovery. 

31 minutes ago, Dani24 said:

 

I am curious, is Princess facilitating people contacting their families? For instance, for those that may not have cell or internet service are they providing a way for those folks to reach out without being charged?

 

I've still been seeing lots of reports of people who know someone on the Royal now but have been unable to get any confirmation of their well-being even as of this morning.

We were on a cruise one time and friends received  a message from their daughter that there was a fatal accident back home. Princess let them make as many calls as needed with no charge. I am sure in this instance they will accommodate everyone as best as possible. Thankfully most of those passengers not affected would have cell service while in port and be able to make contact with loved ones. We did a float plane on our trip to Ketchikan and had this happened I would of made sure to reach out to my daughter to let her know we were safe since our bear trip was something we anticipated for months. 

I just heard about the accident. I am so sorry for all those injured and the loss of life. We did a float plane while in Ketchikan, it was such a memorable experience. My prayers go out to the victims and their families. 

I am helping someone with an upcoming cruise and need private transportation for a family of 11 from an airport area hotel in Orlando to the Pier. I have searched and there are many companies, just wanted some personal recommendations if possible. 

Thank you! 

We recently was on the Dawn and our experience with the Butler we had was a disappointment. She did have snacks in our room every afternoon but when we wanted to dine in our room one evening she told us to order from the room service menu. I had to ask if we were able to order from the dining room menu which was met with a sigh. When we called in the morning for breakfast we were "scolded" that we should of filled out the hanger for the door. This was on sea days, we didn't know what time we would wake up!

While at dinner the last night in Cagney's we saw her taking dessert back for two ladies dining next to us to their room for later. Great idea but since she never told us she would do this we didn't have that option. She also never once told us that the phone in the room was to contact her.

Very disappointed with our "butler" experience!

Supply and Demand. More people are traveling, prices are up across the board on all kinds of travel whether it's cruising, all inclusives, tours, etc. There are still many flash sails and last minute deals on unsold cabins if you are close to a port or can drive. Your travel agent should have access to these last minute bargains but living far away from a port makes it hard to take advantage.

I almost did not put that part in their about the TIPS because I knew someone would would pick it apart. I was right. I just know that those few dollars we share make a difference.

I truly believe it should be a part of everyone's high school education to work summers with the public. I think the world would be a gentler place.

Having worked for years in the service industry I consider myself a good tipper. I agree. I know we have pre paid the gratuity but a little extra is not going to hurt me and it does exactly what it stands for:

To

Insure

Prompt

Service

The others have a point. If the server knows I will give them a few dollars they give me prompt service.

Just went on the Dawn to Bermuda 7/20-7/27/18 they didn't have a daily paper. Great cruise.

No daily paper with the ships activities? How did passengers know what was going on?

The roll call for 8/17 is one of the quietest one I have ever seen. We might be the only ones on the ship! LOL

Sometimes the rep at Princess cannot find the travel promo code for whatever reason. I have to hang up and get a new rep to help me. Your travel agent should be able to go into the Princess travel agent booking site, pull you up as a guest and view your promo codes as well. Not saying your agent is not doing their job but they should be able to pull some space, get launch fares and combine with promotions. There are tips and tricks with everything, you need to find an agent that knows the product and how to combine.

On the Royal Class ships the Deluxe balconies have a love seat type sofa and table for a sitting area that the standard balconies do not. The bathroom will still be the same as a regular balcony, with a shower not a tub. We did one on the Regal for a 7 night cruise and we liked the layout as we like to order room service and my husband likes a sofa area to sit on to relax. We enjoyed the extra room and found it's a nice compromise if you don't want to pay for a mini suite.

A Premium balcony on other class of ships refer to the locations. Such as a premium balcony on Caribbean Princess refers to Caribe deck balconies or aft located balconies. The balcony is bigger on that class of ship, thus the premium label. The cabin does not have the loveseat sitting area.

I have a strong love/hate relationship with both cruising and all inclusives. I have been to many of both.

IMO, between the two, the food and entertainment on cruises wins hands down. The service is always better, I feel the ships are cleaner and I'm not looking at my food some nights wondering what this is made of. I cannot recall a single stand out dinner at an all inclusive but I can tell you about many on cruises.

The beach relaxation at the all inclusive wins hands down. I'm not laying on a beach, relaxing and having to watch the time to get back to the ship. Laying on the beach at the all inclusive we can think about going back to the room to get ready for dinner and then just close our eyes and listen to the waves a little more with no rush.

The beauty of the All inclusive is you know up front this is exactly how much the trip costs, air fare, hotel, food and drink. You can never leave the resort or you can spend extra doing excursions and shopping. Cruising there is always ports you will want to explore, a lot of temptation with shopping and on extras on the ship. A drink will cost, extra dining venues, casinos. etc. Can you say no? Sure but the vast majority are going to have "extras" on their bill at the end.

They both have a purpose and meet different needs. I am cruising in a few weeks then looking forward to 3 nights on the beach at the end of September. I can hang out next to the ocean from the time I wake up till the time I decide to call it a day and there is never a shortage of loungers!

Yes - a comedian. Andrew Kennedy. Tuesday night, 2 shows at 7 and 9. Thursday night at 10:30 he did an adult show.

That's great!

Thanks!

I can't post them, but I brought them all home from my 7/20 -7/27 cruise on the Dawn. If you have specific questions, I'll look through and answer what I can.

Were there any comedians onboard? I’m interested in what type of shows and entertainment they had.

Thank you!

I can tell you this:

When you are nearing the end of this life with family by your side I promise you will not be thinking :boy..I'm sure glad I was able to save that extra $700 from the cruise I took 5 years back" no way...so thats why i say go for it...spend the money..get the upgrade..you work hard...you deserve it..live a little..you will always have debt..you will always have ebs and flows of money in your lifetime..see the world while your legs are strong and you knees are sturdy.

-Best,

Mark

So well said! I've been living with this attitude for a very long time!

I have the bid notice for a suite upgrade on the Dawn. I have a low bid for a Family suite with balcony for my daughter and I on an upcoming cruise. I like the idea of a larger bathroom with the double sinks and the separate tub and shower but other than that I am not sure I want to keep the upgrade bid.

I should add that we typically sail in mini suites but have sailed in full suites before but it depends on the upgrade price. We would be happy in either.

Thoughts?

The best way to find these is a forum search for "Dawn dailies". https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search.php?searchid=133904215

 

Some were posted in June on this thread: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2640298&highlight=dawn+dailies

Just go down to message #10.

 

Hope that helps!

Thank you so much! I didn't know what it was called for the search. The link to the June thread was very helpful!