NoDayButToday

I’m a coffee snob.

The free coffee is “ok” to “bad” depending on the day and the cruise. They do seem to brew it onboard, but it just isn’t great coffee. Honestly, I switch to tea for my cruise caffeine. I kept trying to make the free coffee work for me and I was never truly happy with it. Tea works just fine instead for the week. Some people bring the Starbucks Via, but I am not really a fan of that either (I can taste that it’s instant even though it’s a decent instant-see? Snob), or do their own pour over or French press-although pour over would be easier to clean up the grounds.

I think the Pride has my favorite decor of the ships I've been on. I've seen some people describe it as the "Haunted Mansion" ship-and there are parts that are reminiscent of it. I really liked the ship and the way it was designed and I kind of hope they don't do a major style revamp on it.

Are they sweet or sour gummy tails?

They make them both ways.

Our next cruise was booked as a surprise for an anniversary gift. I told him about it on our anniversary last year (after booking it 6 months prior). I explained to my PVP that it was a surprise and to make sure he receives ZERO communication about it. They handled it. Even now that he knows about it and we have added the booking number to his account he still hasn't received a single email-even a receipt for the payment he made as a surprise for me-I got the confirmation email for that (which mildly ruined his surprise for me because I woke up one morning to that email).

It sucks that the emails ruined the surprise, but it's still something nice you did for them and I'm sure they appreciate it even without the "big reveal".

We are going to be in Cocoa Beach/Port Canaveral for the day pre-cruise with my sister in law, who is gluten free. Does anyone have any experience with the restaurants in the area and finding one that isn’t too expensive and can also accommodate the gluten free need? Thanks!

It happened to my October cruise on the Breeze too. Someone in my social media group called and said they are doing upgrades to the system so cruises keep disappearing from view for the moment. She told them ours wasn't sold out yet either, so it may not be a sell out, just the upgrades.

How far open should we keep the cabinet door to make it work better? Just a crack-like put a bunched towel over the top to prevent it closing, or leave the whole thing open?

You can pre-purchase online for the past couple years, just like with Cheers (it's in the same category for the fun shops). I don't remember if there is any price benefit to doing it this way though. You pay for it when you purchase it, we always do it so it's "one less thing" to go on Sail & Sign when we get onboard. There will be a slip of paper in your room, like all fun shop purchases, saying that you got it and telling you to get your sticker. We usually just go up to the big area on Lido where they are selling it, since we are headed up there for lunch anyway, and get the sticker there. Super fast and easy, and get on with our day.

This is the beach to the right of the pier, along with the excursion pier and whale exhibit…..

 

 

I know you said the green umbrellas to the left are the free ones. We have never ventured to the right of the pier-do you know if these are free cruise line chairs or owned by independent vendors?

As always, wonderful review! Amber Cove was definitely useful, it doesn't seem many have covered it in detail and we are heading there this fall for the first time.

We do it for a few reasons. The first is that it's fun to design a different one for every cruise. We usually sail around events (birthdays, anniversaries, a big family one for my parents to renew their vows, etc), so each cruise gets a different banner and they are sort mementos of that trip (and pictures of the banner have also been useful when I'm organizing pictures from each cruise). This next cruise is over Halloween and my husband and I had a lot of fun designing a Halloween themed banner together. Also, while we certainly don't NEED it to find our room, it sure is nice to see your door coming in that very long hallway of doors.

I don't think our ship, the Conquest, has a Tandoor but darn because we both enjoy Indian food.

 

 

 

Thanks!

There isn't....but there is a vegetarian Indian option on the dinner menu in the MDR every night. It changes a little every night, but it is always delicious. I get it at least once or twice every cruise.

After muster drill when I put my phone into airplane mode and my staff can no longer contact me about things. One of the best parts about cruising is the ability to go completely off the grid.

That or when my husband and I go for our ritual mani-pedi together the night before we leave. My job is one that doesn't allow nail polish, so as soon as I have pretty feminine nails again, I know I'm done with work for a bit.

No you have to have bubbles or cheers in order to get soda and juice for no charge

I meant with the bottomless bubbles package since that's what the OP was asking about. Sorry, should have been more specific.

Never had a problem with other tablemates-although we have had one couple that just wanted to keep to themselves at the table of 8 with 3 other couples. I'm not sure why they didn't request their own table, but they didn't have interest in interacting with the rest of us. Oh well, their loss.

We have had a really, really bad week-long experience in the dining room on Princess though. There was a very large, loud group that had their own "section" of the dining room, but them being separated to their own area didn't make a difference. They were very obnoxious, their kids were 100% unsupervised the entire time and ran around through the entire dining room (sometimes running into waiters and being general little terrors), they yelled at each other across the section and sometimes across the dining room at guests who were running late. It made a lot of people not in their group really frustrated and very annoyed, we heard a lot of other tables talking about it too. We said something to the Maitre D' who said there was nothing he could do because they were a big group and that was why they were seated away from everyone else, but said we weren't the only ones to complain. The cruise line refused to do anything to reign in this group, even the children running around being a danger to their own employees.

Illinois (at least Northern Illinois) is a pop area too.

When I first moved to Florida someone asked me if my store served Coke and I told them sorry, we don't have pop here. She stopped and went "oh....you're not from around here, are you?" Six years later and I'm fully assimilated to soda, it feels weird to even write pop now!

And to confirm other answers to the OP, yep! You can order the juices at dinner for no charge (they are free for everyone at breakfast/sea day brunch in the MDR). You can also order soda or juice from almost every bar on the ship for no charge. Also, if you bring your own cup to the bars, they will usually fill that for you, even if it is bigger than the somewhat small-ish cup they usually use at the bar. They probably figure it'll just save them trips to fill your cup. Keep in mind that it is usually cans of soda instead of fountain soda, so it's usually a little warm and then poured over ice so it'll get a little watered down. My husband is a huge soda drinker and brings his Yeti, which seems to keep the watered down soda situation just a little better-plus they always fill it, which is about a can and a half worth, so less trips to the bar for him.

For our 3rd wedding anniversary (the leather anniversary), I got my husband a leather passport cover, and then booked a Halloween cruise for the next year "so he could use the passport cover". I booked the cruise last February. Our anniversary is in June.

I lasted 2 weeks before he knew. I'm terrible at keeping secrets from him. He always knows when something is up and can usually get me to tell him. And then he's just too perfect of a person, because I finally added the booking to his account a couple months ago, and then I started getting "thank you for your payment emails"-he started making payments on his own gift, lol.

There's already a huge chorus of love for your reviews here, but I love them too! Your style is wonderful and I'm completely living vicariously through your Paris trip already, can't wait to get to the ship part!

I also love that your daughter and her fiance sail with a MTG group, my husband and I always bring some of our board games with us onboard, but we are rarely able to get anyone to play with us on sea days (other than the people who come with us). I should tell him to convince his online D&D group that they should sail together a few times a year so they can actually play in person, lol.

My sister sailed and is gluten intolerant, but not celiacs. She went to the MDR the first afternoon and told them she had to be GF, and they let her pick out her dinner that night. The thing she very quickly learned was that a lot of their GF dishes tend to not have sauces, so she wasn't that happy with dinner the first night. However, she also learned that they would still give her the sauces on the side so she could control her intake and still get some of the flavor (because she knows her own limits), but they would always advise that they couldn't guarantee GF. They were amazing to her, everything was great, and there was a night that we got to the table and there was a plate of GF cookies sitting and waiting for her at her seat because the chef just felt like sending them to her.

Basically, don't be afraid to speak up if there is something that you aren't a fan of with the GF options. They were super accommodating and just wanted to make sure she found food she liked.

My husband saw the comedy club manager use the restroom, not wash his hands, and then go back to the comedy club to continue his table touches and hand shaking. I was so disgusted when he told me that, we told guest services, but I don’t know if anything happened after that.

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As soon as they announced that increase my husband and I decided it's no longer worth it. We like getting to go to our room as soon as we get on the ship, but not $90 worth of like. We can either go to the ship a little later, or lighten the load we bring with us when we get on the ship. We will enjoy our last FTTF cruise this October for sure though.

I'm a large woman, so I understand the concern.

The only places I've ever had REAL concern was the chairs on the balcony-I can't totally fit comfortably in those, they are a little too narrow for my hips. I can fit, it just isn't the MOST comfortable seat. The seats in the dining room are one of the other concerns-but you can request a chair without arms. I think that's a thing where you can just go to the dining room the first day when they have open time for table arrangements (it'll be in your Fun Times where and when to go) and request it. I've never specifically requested it, and there was always at least 1 armless seat already at my table, and I notice on every cruise that either through coincidence or fantastic dining room staff, armless chairs always appear where I was sitting at the table after the first night. Every other venue has a combination of couches and seats so you can select where to sit based on where you will be comfortable.

I will say this, I have never felt excluded or embarrassed because of my size on any cruise. The staff is incredible and will accommodate you however they can, all you have to do is ask if there is something you need to make you more comfortable. And by the way, this extends to the spa staff too. I have had some wonderful massages in the spa on the ship. Just relax, and enjoy your vacation with your family!

The color of the water in St Kitts is my absolute favorite shade of ocean. I've only ever seen it that color there, and I will never forget how beautiful it was. Some day we will have to go back, if just to see that gorgeous color in person again.

It's good to hear that San Juan is doing well. I've heard a lot from friends who have family there that other parts of the island are very, very slowly recovering. But the tourist dollar is helping for sure. I can't wait to go back in October. And I always have to stop at the Starbucks too. Not for the pastries or the coffee, but because Starbucks Puerto Rico still carries my beloved Almond syrup that was discontinued in the US mainland nearly a decade ago. Last time I was there I picked up 2 bottles of it (and got some very weird looks from ship security when I came back on the ship and they realized my 1 liter bottles weren't alcohol, but instead just sugar), and I ran out over 6 months ago. I need to replenish.

We've been trying to decide what to do when we are in Puerto Rico this year. I'm on the Cuatro Sombras website now. I'm debating doing their cupping seminar now (if I can convince my non-coffee drinking husband to do it with me), it looks like an amazing little roastery.

I saw your posts on Instagram when you went and was hoping to see a review at some point. This trip looks amazing and your pictures are incredible (and I love that you ended up at Portillo's when you were in Tampa-for us it's a very welcome taste of home and always a stop whenever we drive the couple hours to see a Chicago sports team play in Tampa, along with all the other Illinois transplants that seem to wriggle out of the woodwork for a game and Italian beef all at the same time).

Cuba is a bucket list trip for sure, I'm really hoping we are able to make it soon, I get nervous those restrictions are going to tighten up again. Thank you for such a beautiful view of it in the meantime!

We bring our Tervis cups-and yes, they fill my husband's 24 oz cup with soda all the way when he goes up with his cup and his soda package. I think they figure that they can either do that, or he'll just come back in a few minutes for another (and it probably doesn't hurt that he tips cash on every soda).

I'll probably bring my Walmart version of the Yeti this year, I've gotten a little attached to it since I bring it to work every day. I just really like my water really cold, and that's the best way to keep it that way. I don't care if it's tacky, there's a lot of other tacky things people do, I guess this is my thing.

We will be in San Juan from 8a-4p on our cruise. I work in management for a major coffee chain, but have never been to a coffee farm/plantation and I know that Puerto Rico has some fantastic local coffees.

Has anyone done a coffee tour? Is this something that is doable time-wise for this length of port stay? Do you have any recommendations for a certain farm over another?