CalTexCruiser

6 hours ago, reedprincess said:

As of 11:20am EDT, Port Everglades is open for both land and water side operations..

And Sun is on the schedule for Oct 11

. Terminal 2.

 

So you were right after all and the guy that yelled Yankee was "wrong, wrong, wrong"

The Coast Guard has set the following port conditions as of today:

1) Tampa:  port condition ZULU (i.e., port closed)

2) Miami: port condition YANKEE (i.e., ships seeking to come in need to go to alternate)

3) Fort Lauderdale: port condition YANKEE

4) Port Canaveral: port condition YANKEE

17 minutes ago, islandchicklet said:

I would imagine that is Harmony because it sailed from Galveston yesterday but it is supposed to be hugging the coastline

Yes that is Harmony.  Looks like its sailing in 10-15ft waves at the tail of Milton.

Free roller coaster ride for all passengers... no queuing required.  

8 hours ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

The Port of Tampa will probably not be open on Friday, but ships scheduled for that day will more than likely sail on the day it reopens. I would prefer to be on one of those ships instead of living in a home without power in an area with recovery efforts underway. 

Remember that the workers at the port will also be in homes without power, and likely will struggle to secure food, water, and supplies for their families.  

In fact, based on the videos of traffic out of Tampa, many of these workers may already have evacuated.

Keeping cruise ships sailing will be way, way down on their list of priorities. 

Unfortunately Milton now up to 180 Mph

I’ll be shocked if Tampa port will be operational on Oct 11.  Likely widespread power outages.

18 minutes ago, sgregel said:

I am on Serenade on Friday, 10/11.  Haven't heard anything from Royal yet.  Flying into Tampa on 10/10 and staying at Embassy Suites.  My flight hasn't been rescheduled yet.

Sandy

Tampa Airport has announced it is closing tomorrow Oct 8 (Tues).

Milton's landfall is early AM Oct 10.

You may want to check your airline to see if they are operating.

2 hours ago, buffet24 said:

Then you should ask your friend to buckle up because it's going to be a rough ride... 🤢

Looks like the captain's trying to stay on the "clean" side of Milton (the side with less rain).  However, I suspect the sea will get a bit rough as the ship gets closer to Milton.

The deeper the purple, the higher the waves.

Looks like Harmony is staying close to the Texas coast.  It is supposed to be in Costa Maya Oct 8 (Tues).  Doesn't look like it'll make it.

Any reports from those on board?  I assume captain has cancelled all ports and this will be an all-sea day cruise?

Milton now a 160-mph MONSTER.

Hope everyone heeds evacuation warnings in FL.  

In worst case scenario, the storm surge up the bay in Tampa would be devastating as Milton pushes the ocean into a narrow confined space.

Prayers that the track will stay south away from FL.

4 hours ago, cruisedoctor said:

I spoke with the hostess in the Signature Dining Room this morning.  Upon questioning, she indicated that they would be moving up to Deck 8 as soon as this cruise ends.  

 

 

Thanks for the update @cruisedoctor

Next time you speak to the hostess, could you ask what, if anything, they plan to do with the two walkways through the Sanctuary dining room to the Wakeview area.  Do they plan to close these walkways during dining hours (breakfast, lunch, dinner)?

Or will folks in swimming attire walking through the Sanctuary dining room be part of the daily evening entertainment?

5 hours ago, dog said:

 I don’t really care about the view, more so, the smokers & speedos  dripping while brushing by my table in the classy Sanctuary private dining room.

Hopefully you'll be able to snap a few choice photos and post back here.

19 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

Thank you for the thorough update! 

 

We'll be in a suite over Thanksgiving and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what becomes of things. 

 

We'll be in the Retreat on the Celebrity Apex the week before as I'm planning to do a comparison and I don't think it's going to fare well for Princess.

As I recall, you paid quite the sum for the Vista Suite.  Good luck.

Apex Retreat is beautiful.  We loved it.

We'll be trying our first NCL Haven experience on the Joy, 15-night Panama Canal in late November, and the Joy's Haven areas also look gorgeous.

Princess' attempt at the ship-within-ship by comparison is pretty pathetic.  It started out promising with the Signature Suites with their dedicated dining and Sanctuary area, but they've now bastardized it to a pretty weak offering.

28 minutes ago, cruisedoctor said:

2 downloads

 

 

 

My guess is that no one at Princess Headquarters. who is making decisions about this new “exclusive” dining room, has actually been on board the ship, and seen that these two walkways, that are necessary to get passengers to the Wakeview Area, will be running through their exclusive area where all the suite guests will be dining.  I can just picture a family of mom, dad and their two little screaming kids, dressed in bathing suites and flip-flops parading down the walkway to the Wakeview Pool, while Mr. & Mrs Big Bucks are trying to enjoy a quite dinner.  You can’t put up a wall on either side of the walkways because the waiters wouldn’t be able to easily get from one area to the others.  If you close off the walkways, then the only way to get to the Wakeview Area would be a long walk on the outside of the ship.

 

Reports are that John Padgett (Princess' President) was on the last sailing prior to the TA.  He must have seen the POS that is the Sanctuary Dining Room.

This dining room is going to be so undesirable that the Sanctuary guests will all be opting for Specialty Dining every night with the new Premier Package, assuming space is available to accommodate the likely surge in demand.

Holy sh*t.  A picture is worth a thousand words.  I had no idea when others said that the walkway to the Wakeview pool is through the Sanctuary dining room, that it literally runs right through the gut of the dining room.

And there are TWO (2) !?@ walkways.

Ugh.  That's pretty disgusting.

2 hours ago, TRLD said:

During the strike on the west coast cruise ships were not impacted. They were not core to the issues that the long shoremen were striking over and they did not strike the cruise ship ports.

I was a bit concerned since most cruise ports are also commercial ports.

In a video I saw, the president of the Longshoremen's Union said that on Oct 1, they will shut down all ports all over the world if their demands are not met.  Probably just hyperbole. 

The targets of the shutdown are East Coast ports, including those in Florida.

Just a heads up to those with cruises sailing in Oct.

The Longshoremen's Union has threatened to strike after their contract is up on September 30.  The planned strike may start as early as Oct 1.  The Biden administration has said they will not intervene.

Not sure if it'll affect passenger cruise ships. 

On 9/20/2024 at 2:07 AM, 2UKSotonCruises said:

Very poor communication from the ships management about all the ongoing work on board. Ruined our customer experience every day with unwanted jack hammering, angle grinding and deck party one night boom boom boom in our room room room! I SUGGEST EVERYONE RAISES A COMPLAINT WHO HAS BEEN AFFECTED. I'll add all my youtube links shortly to our car crash/road digging experiences. Including The Dome yoga angle grinding class and adult area angle grinding being today's/latest shocking experience with no communication to passengers about any of this work.

Where was the deck party held--I assume pool deck?

LOL.  We will definitely ask for a table WITHOUT the "ocean" view, and as far away from the "ocean" as possible.

Interesting that Princess management decided to stick the most expensive cabins in the least desirable dining location.

I wonder if this will negatively affect how much people are willing to pay for the Sanctuary cabins, particularly the suites.

39 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

In my experience the YC has the most generous amenities of all the lines when you consider the price (for perspective - our sailing on the Sun Princess is $20,400 for our family of four in a Vista Suite vs $7,900 for a similar sailing in the YC, but the YC comes with access to the thermal spa, 24/7 butler access, and a long list of other things not included in the Sanctuary on Princess).

Oof.  20k for the Vista suite is a bit steep.

The living room is a bit narrow and Princess has that silly curtain between the bedroom and the living room, so not the best privacy for 4 people 

For comparison we were quoted 22k for 5 on the Enchanted for the Sky Suite.  And that comes with two master bedrooms, a large living room, real doors for the bedrooms, and a suite experience manager (AKA butler)

3 hours ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

And I assume that the Sanctuary Restaurant will now just serve the same menu as the main dinning room?  I assume it will use the same kitchen.   When it was a separate restaurant it was basically the same menu but elevated cooking.

Yes similar underwhelming setup as Reserve Class dining on any other Princess ship

17 minutes ago, commodoredave said:

My wife has taken 3 Celebrity cruises (I've done 4) for a total of 32 days. She has Select status, which equates to VS 100 days. She has taken 7 Silversea cruises (I've done 8 cruises) for a total of 80 days, which equates to basic entry level with Celebrity. So, her 3 cruises and 32 days with Celebrity gets her a status level match with Silversea that she couldn't have achieved with 7 cruises and 80 days with Silversea. And her 7 cruises and 80 days with Silversea gives her nothing in terms of status match with Celebrity. Whoever thought up this system understands very little of rewarding loyalty. 

Agreed.  I made Elite with Celebrity after 3 sailings (22 total days) due to sailing in upper level suites.  That is now matched to VS 250 on Sliversea.  

Intrigued by our newfound status, we almost booked our first Silversea sailing through the Panama Canal this December, but ultimately chose a different line because we did not want to disembark in Lima, Peru during rainy season.

4 hours ago, EDVM96 said:

With the Plus package, you will get up to 2 ear plugs per day. The Premium package offers unlimited ear plugs. 😆

 

But is it unlimited with the 80 or 90 Premier?

4 hours ago, dides said:

Report from someone onboard now that they have started to dismantle Park 19 (Credit Kathy S on FB)

 

Nothing screams Sanctuary than the banging and drilling of a construction zone.

Will Sanctuary guests now be provided with complimentary ear plugs?

7 hours ago, lennythenose said:

We aren’t Platinum or Elite nor have we made final payment. We are booked in a suite in May 2025 and I have booked Crown Grill and Signature Dining Room. 

We are just Ruby and have NOT made final payment.  Booked in a suite and able to book any specialty dining on the Sun for May 2025.

But strange that you can book Signature Dining, as my understanding is that no reservations are needed.  The system does not allow me to book Signature Dining.

We were able to book specialty dining now for May 2025.