J&KCruisers

The ramen stations on ships that do not have a designated bar is sporadic. On Majestic, they have a designated bar which has ramen all the time and it is delicious. 

I would just go with the flow and take it when they have it.

The laundromats on the ships work really well. Perfect activity on those sea days!Also, they have plenty of ironing boards for freshening up clothes wrinkled in transit.

A lot of people ask about laundry service which takes a couple of days. A quick walk down the hall and a couple hours will get the job done in a fraction of time. 

Doing a little laundry can reduce packing load. We do it on that last sea day of a cruise so when we get home we are not lugging a bunch of dirty clothes with us.

Happy Cruising

John

If this is your first time going under the Golden Gate, getting the full experience of approaching, then going under then past the bridge is a pretty wonderful experience. Sitting aft is a pretty plain experience because you will only experience the going under then leaving.

You are correct, you pretty much answered the question yourself.

Happy Cruising!

John

Go to the steakhouse and they have it every night! I totally recommend it and they do an amazing job with the entire dinner. The fee is an absolute bargain compared to a land restaurant.

Cheers.

On December 22, 2018 at 8:36 AM, donaldsc said:

 

If I was cruising in August and had cards w unused punches, I would order as many coffees as there were punches left on the card and not drink them.  I realize that this would be a totally useless protest but it would make me feel better.

 

DON

Specialty coffees come out to less than two dollars each versus five to seven at any place on land. So the idea is to make the crew (which is busting their butts to make sure everyone has a great vacation) make a bunch of drinks which will go to waste. Maybe to really feel better,  while the drinks are getting made, get 20 sandwiches and soups from the International Cafe deli counter and then just leave them piled on a table in the middle of the atrium and not eat them.  Euphoria! :(

If Princess allowed cutting the line on the return, there would be a riot in some ports and they would ultimately lose customers. The perk disembarking the ship is something few even see. I could only imagine in a place like Cabo San Lucas with three ships in port and crew escorting folks to the front of the line, it would be a mess. I agree with the one post, get a bar stool near the line and enjoy a drink and let the line draw down. Or get back to the tender location earlier!

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Traffic in Seattle can be very unpredictable and heavy. The entire area is very congested and what seems like an easy 20 trip to SeaTac may take more than an hour.

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In 20+ cruises, we have NEVER had to wait to get into the Cabin. It is one of the main reasons why we choose Princess.

It is great to just drop our stuff and start the cruise!!!!

Happy Cruising:cool::D

We have done a couple "Spring Break" cruises.

It will have lots of kids under 21 and few college age. The problems are the young kids running all over the ship unsupervised. Princess trys their best with the "youth security", but the results are marginal at best.

I concur, book a longer cruise if you are trying to avoid this.

Happy Cruiseing:D:D

Some of these post give the basic good advice:

Go to the dining room after 7 for best service and to avoid the hustle of all the early diners. 7:30 is optimal.

Cabo could be a short stop. Go to Cabo Wabo and explore the downtown. The water taxi will cost $8 pp and will take you to The Office on Medano Beach. The beer is cold, guacamole and ceviche are really good and you have a wonderful view.

In Mazatlan, we LOVE to go to Stone Island which is a beach close to the port. Lety's Restaurant is a palapa restaurant where you can sit and eat, they have beach chairs and you learn what heaven feels like. A can't miss for a relaxing day.

In PV, make sure you make it to the Malecon and visit old PV. Very charming with a great vibe. A little touristee, but it is beautiful and old.

Happy Cruising:D:D

Just done messaging a friend in PV who owns a talavera shop on the Rio Cual in old PV. He said they have rain, but the brunt of the storm stayed to the south, so they are fine.

Great news and hopefully Princess will keep the port calls. Puerto Vallarta is one of my favorite ports and our November 21 cruise needs to get there.

Happy Cruising:D:D

Skagway is one of the best places to rent a car to drive into the Yukon! Super easy to do and a highlight for many on the alaskan cruise.

Juneau is pretty compact and I am not sure where you would go except to Mendenhall Glacier, which has buses and easy taxi service.

Ketchikan is a nice place to arrange for a tour to take you out to many of the lakes and trails to see the wildlife. The area is pretty linear and the car rental process would take away from the visit. There are a bunch of locals who can show you the area for about the same cost as a rental.

Sorry the OP had a bad cruise. Frankly, our focus on a cruise is just relaxation and enjoying the experience. Some feel the need to judge and rate everything which is the opposite of what we are doing.

Happy Cruising:D:D

Another vote for the shuttles. Lower cost and extremely convenient. Just exit the terminal and they are sitting across the street to take you to LAX.

Happy Cruising:D:D

Most of the drivers of the Pulmonia's are older gentlemen who will give you a wonderful tour. Ask to go to the market downtown or to a bakery to get some fresh baked sweet bread.

For $20-30 you will get a wonderful view of Mazatlan and an experience you will really enjoy as part of your vacation.

The past 5 years has been really tough on the Mazatlan tourism when the cruise ships backed out. They are making a come back and it is nice to see.

Old Mazatlan is a very charming area and Stone Island is a real treat. Nowhere in the U.S. can you find restaurants where you sit on the beach, literally feet from the water enjoying beer and food the way you do on Stone Island.

The entire day will be the best/most relaxing day on your cruise!

Happy Cruising:D:D

Just back from a 7 day on the Crown Princess with a stop in Mazatlan after the boycott.

We toured the old town in a Pulmonia and it was just beautiful. Very clean and the people were absolutely awesome. We felt totally safe (more than our stop in Hollywood)!

We then went to Stone Island and stayed at Lety's. The food and hospitality was amazing. Lety's family still runs the place and the food quality was there. Shrimp and grilled fish were delicious, cold beer and kindness abound.

I am convinced that the best port day on any cruise is a stop in Mazatlan and sitting on the beach on Stone Island.

Happy Cruising:D:D

If you are looking for quiet on embarkation day, you are probably out of luck!

The Crown is a nice ship, but as other posters have mentioned, you will mostly be pushed to Deck 15 for the Horizon Court buffet. Burgers and Pizza are excellent but that means sitting outside.

I would just go with the flow, maybe take some food down to your cabin if you have a balcony and get ready to enjoy a nice cruise.

Happy Cruising:D:D

Since the inception of the fax it in service, we are batting about .500 on whether we get the CCL Shareholder benefit or not.

During the good old days of scan and e-mail to Liza McDaniel, it was super easy. In a day or so, you got the confirmation and it was always there when you boarded the ship. Not any more.....

My experience is that either the fax or snail mail system, most of the time, there is no confirmation on either the personalizer or through any type of e-mail back. It is generally a crap shoot when you get on the ship to see if it has been credited.

I generally bring the brokerage statement and CCL Shareholder Request with us to show to passenger services desk on the ship and they have been able to handle it. On our last cruise, they spent 10 days trying to get it credited to no avail. The lesson I learned was do not book the thermal suite until that credit appears somewhere.

We cruise Princess exclusively and love the value and service, but this area and the shareholder benefit I would rate as poor to bad!

Like I said, it is a crap shoot with some people getting good service and some not which is something Princess should look into. If I am an executive in the company, this would be a red flag!

Happy Cruising:D:D

Taking the BART from SFO to the Embarcadero Station is one of the easiest and most convenient ways to get to the port. The walk from the BART station to the ship is 15 minutes max and super easy.

Every car on the train has an open area which you can pull your luggage and there are seats right by where you can sit or you can stand.

Getting into the city with a cab is very expensive and the BART is an easy straight shot from SFO.

Once you get to the Embarcadero Station, walk up to the street level and you will see the Ferry Building. Go left and you will see the ship down the way and you can walk. Super easy!!

If you are a huge packer and need help with you luggage, discount the above. If you can handle your luggage and walk for 15 minutes, it will save you about $50 each way!

Happy Cruising:D:D

In November on the Star, we were booked in a Plaza ocean view room and it was Great! The room was perfectly located, very quiet, easy access for disembarkation on port days and great for going up to the show or getting a cup of coffee or snack at Horizon.

On the Star, the laundry was right across the hall.

I would recommend if you can get one of the rooms.

Happy Cruising:D:D

We are just off the Star on November 24.

According to the staff on board, they are replacing "all" of the carpeting on the ship and some upgrades to the engines and overall power systems.

No major changes (a la International Cafe, Vines, etc). The ship will come back really refreshed. The ship was in really good condition when we were on it and this seems like just progressive maintenance.

Happy Cruising:D:D

The Crab Shack is an absolute must if you like seafood! The value is incredible ($20 pp) and the food is delicious.

The best selection is the mixed steamer which includes crab, shrimp, clams, muscles, corn and sausage. One serving was enough for the two of us, but they will keep on filling it if you ask. They serve it in a single pot for two and it is easily a $100 meal on land.

The appetizer are the shrimp and hush puppies, the soup is chowder and then the main course. We have done the crab shack two times on each of our past couple of cruises and love it. The mud boil (crayfish) and the crab legs are solid, but the mixed steamer was the ticket on our recent cruise.

I totally recommend!

Happy Cruising:D:D

I was at the Passenger Services Desk and a woman was literally yelling at the staff that her "room was way to small" and that she demanded a larger cabin! The typical "This Ship is Sailing Full" was on the counter but they worked to accommodate the lady with an available cabin which turned out to be a mini-suite.

They produced some paperwork and when they told her she would be responsible for the additional cost (which I imagine was substantially more than she had paid) she literally melted down in front of all of us!

She huffed away after providing all of us with a macabre level of entertainment that afternoon. Everyone in line snickered a bit and person for person consoled the staff for the grief they had just experienced.

I saw the lady on the cruise and she seemed to be uptight all the time. I tell people that it is impossible to not have a great time on a cruise, but for this lady, a clear exception to that rule.

Happy Cruising:D:D

For flavor and the best all around steak, the ribeye cannot be beat! We eat in the steakhouse on each cruise and one of us always gets the ribeye and the other gets something else and we split the portions.

The fillet is always tender but the ribeye has much more flavor. The pork shop is also done extremely well.

Happy Cruising:D:D

If 80 feet down a hallway (basically the distance most people walk from their front door to get their newspaper and back) is the breaker for this person, I would encourage them to cancel.

Let's review 80 feet (in my estimation)

Distance from the elevator to the horizon court buffet entrance.

Distance from the elevator to the Princess Theater

Distance from the elevator to the casino

Distance from the elevator to any of the dining rooms

Sounds like cruising is just not this person's cup of team. I recommend a land vacation!

Good luck!

We have done both multiple times. My vote is Tracy Arm because the scenery is just spectacular. If seeing a glacier calve is on your bucket list, then Glacier Bay is the pick. In Tracy Arm, you only see the Sawyer Glacier from a distance and will not see calving.

Doing both would be fun. If you are in Juneau for an extended day, the small boat to Tracy Arm would be ideal because they can get right up to the Sawyer Glacier and the calving is supposedly very active and exciting.

Happy Cruising:D:D