Cruising Lynne

It would be good for Princess to inform people that there was a breach. Not everyone has Cruise Critic or Facebook. I am going to see if the cruise youtubers are talking about this.

No. My cruise is very soon. I just logged into app and on the main site on my lap top. Everything looks okay. I am grateful to have cruise critic to know what us happening so I can keep my eye out for anything strange happening with any of my accounts.

This is very scary. Others have said that data breaches happen all the time, but I have never had one where so many random people can see such personal info. I am having regrets about booking a Princess cruise. I will be a one and done!

Just checked on app. It just says we are too close to sailing to order. I did order them about three weeks ago. We sail in 11 days.

Thank you! I will check.

I am also wondering where to check on the app?

Should be a fun trip! I really enjoyed our cruise on POA back in 2011.Was not a big occasion trip, but still a lot of fun. I guess you will be able to see fireworks as you sail by the islands, and in ports if you are there in the evenings. Maybe Kilauea will have some lava flow for extra drama. Hope that you will you get to enjoy this trip.

I would go the earlier week. I went the June week one year out of Boston and there were too many people that week celebrating college and high school graduations. It should be warm enough for people from the North to enjoy a nice beach day. We often go the third week of May and have gone snorkeling and to the beach. We live in New England.

While I do not like less time in Bermuda, I do like the Breakaway. It would be a nice change for people in the Boston area to not always have a Jewel Class ship to take to Bermuda. When Breakaway came out back in 2013 we drove to NYC from Massachusetts for one of it's first cruises in the U.S. just to experience the new ship and shows. Rock of Ages at the time was the main show, and I really enjoyed it. The next change I would like to see for cruises out of Boston is some different itineraries. Perhaps some longer ones that go to the Bahamas and the Caribbean. Maybe some day on one of the new Prima class ships.

Due to concerns about sodium I rarely order soup on any cruise, and prefer to drink bottled water. I will drink melted ice bucket water if I do not have any bottles. Most of my recent NCL cruises have been through a casino, and the NCL casino cruises include basic drinks in the casino and bottled water at the casino bar. We usually get a couple of bottles before we head back to the room at night. One cruise on Dawn several years ago I had swollen ankles. I believe this was from a combination of salty food, too much alcohol, and not enough water. It may have been the first time I ever had the unlimited drink package!

I think Halifax is an interesting alternative to Bar Harbor, but I agree that less time in Bermuda is bad. I just checked the NYC to Bermuda cruises for 2026. They have three days in Bermuda, but I only see them for March and April. I prefer to go in May, and love three days in Bermuda. I have done the Boston to Bermuda trip almost every year for at least the last ten years and a couple out of NYC to try different ships. I have enjoyed not having to worry about getting back to the ship the first two days there. Maybe more will be added later for 2026.

I am wondering where to find tracking info? I am waiting for medallions.

Don't let the people in this thread scare you off. Most of them probably don't even hang out by the pool. Some people are being ridiculous claiming that it is okay to move some ones things after 10 minutes. If I am sitting by the pool and decide to take a dip no one should touch my things. I can not believe this discussion has gone on for ten pages!

I also prefer paper tickets for cashing out and budgeting my casino cash, and I prefer being on ships that have a ticket cashing machine so you can cash out without having to go to the window. My husband likes to use the machines to cash out his smaller tickets to quickly get cash to use to tip the drink servers. On a side note: There may be more cruises in my future. In June my husband had an accident that destroyed our utility trailer which he had turned into a camper, so no more camping for us. Luckily he did not get hurt. Besides, I always tell him that my idea of roughing it is getting an inside cabin instead of a balcony.

The not having to sign out pool towels is so nice. It was like that on our HAL cruise. And none of them accidently came home with us! LOL We like being treated like law abiding adults.

Sorry you came back with a cough. Hope it gets better soon. I am happy to hear that you enjoyed the cruise. It is great to hear about the level of service. I am starting to get excited to experience it my self. I will really be excited when the Medallions arrive. We are doing almost the same exact itinerary on a similarly sized NCL ship a month after this one, which will make for an interesting comparison. We enjoyed MSC Meraviglia, but the smaller ships are more relaxing for me. I like not having a long walk to get places on board.

Thank you for the reply. My husband will be happy to not have to bring the sport coat. He will do the shirt and tie. I will bring at least one dress. We have a table for two reserved for each night in the Botticelli dining room on Emerald Princess. I was worried that I picked the wrong dining room, but the location looked easy to get to from our room. I know they all have the same menu, but did not know if this one is as nice as the others which may be larger. I tend to over think things. We really are not that picky, and will both enjoy not cooking or cleaning for a week.

My first Princess cruise is next month. I was glad to see this thread, and hope Ms. TabbyKats comes back to let us know how the cruise was. Thanks to everyone for all the good info. We just did on line check in today, and I had been wondering if I needed to print out a boarding pass. Now I do not have to worry about that. I just have to go back and print luggage tags. Medallions are being delivered. I was wondering how many formal nights there may be on a 7 night cruise. I usually dress smart casual for dinner unless we have had a crazy busy day and go to the buffet. Is that good enough on formal night?

I do not know why some people find this so hard to understand. Some people just enjoy being contrarian (trolls). Usually, I can find a lounger if I am patient and keep my eyes open for a few minutes waiting for a lounger to become empty. It may not be in the perfect location, but that is okay. Sometimes my husband and I put our things on a chair from where the tables and chairs are, while we go in the pool or hot tub. If we are observant we can usually get loungers after a little while. It really isn't that difficult.

If you enjoy Vibe on all the Away ships I think that you would definitely want to get it on Prima or Viva, especially if you enjoy going in hot tubs, but I am not sure about Aqua. I did not go in the Vibe on Prima, but was able to peak in there. It looked really nice and was in a good location. We hung out mostly on deck eight and went in the infinity pools which were nice but there were no hot tubs out there, Just the two by the main pool. I told my husband that if we went on Prima again I would like to get Vibe passes. Another plus about the Vibe on Prima is that it is close to the grill area of the buffet. The buffet was often very crowded, and I thought how nice it would have been to grab food and bring it to Vibe to eat. That part of the buffet had breakfast food in the morning and eating it in Vibe while waiting for the coffee to kick in would have been pleasant. Of course it would depend on the itinerary and weather. I am hoping that Agua gets additional hot tubs. If not, I may book thermal suite passes since I am going on that ship out of NYC in the fall of 2025. I am really looking forward to checking out what differences Aqua may have. Prima was a great ship and our balcony room was spacious and comfortable. Aqua should be even better. I hope this helps a bit with your decision.

I never really thought too much about it. I guess if I am on a ship with Food Republic that would be a good place to go without a reservation. I have also gotten into La Cucina before without a reservation when we accidently went on the wrong night! Thanks for the suggestion that I do not need to always book all my specialty dining ahead of time.

Oh no, now that song is stuck in my head! I really enjoyed that show as well.

Its a big reason why I like NCL. I love not needing a reservation. It gives so much more flexibility to how you spend your time. I always refuse the Free at Sea dining since I get the two free specialty dining meals for being Sapphire and only want to have two pre set dining times to work around.

I am glad yo hear that you have enjoyed sailing on Jade. Yes, I will have to adjust my expectations. I have enjoyed Elements and Blazing Boots in the past, but after seeing each a few times, I wouldn't mind some new productions. I enjoy the NCL production shows almost as much as the actual licensed Broadway shows. I guess I do not actually always prefer Broadway shows. Six was good, but felt long to me. Not on NCL, but I also did not enjoy Cats. My expectations were way too high with that one. LOL

Thank you doing such a thorough review. Sounds like a mostly great family trip. The Boston to Bermuda cruise is one of my favorites. The additional comments about Princess were good to read. We are trying them for the first time in August. Hope we like it.