satxdiver

We were on the November Emerald reposition and there were no pool towels in the stateroom. It has been a few years since we saw pool towels in the stateroom. We have never seen a sign out/in on a Princess ship but have seen it on other cruise lines such as RCL. On the last cruise with many seadays if you did not get your towels before the chair hogs then you had to wait in line as they quickly cleaned the few left and took them to the pool area to distribute. They were giving out towels one at a time.

I also had the spinning wheel at midnight CT. It means that IT had the website down for some reason. Usually they take it off line on either Saturday or Sunday night late for maintenance.

Perhaps maybe a more involved description than just awful. Many of us who will be cruising out of Galveston are all interested. I will have a contrasting experience next month when we sail on the Carnival Dream out of Galveston. Later in April we will be sailing on the Regal out of Galveston.

I have an android recent model and it did the same for me. I read on another thread that with this new ap one has to logon using the booking number. Already a minus for the new ap. We will see what other deficiencies it has. I book on two other major cruise lines and the Princess ap has to be the worst so far.

We (50) started out on a Princess tour to Cape Breton Island from the port in Sydney NS on a tour bus. The bus broke down about 15 miles from the port and we were stranded on the side of the road for 3+ hours when a new bus came to pick us up and return us to the ship. They had to use a bus that was supposed to take a tour that afternoon which was canceled at the last minute. When we returned to the ship they canceled the tour and gave us each $100 OBC along with apologies from a ship officer. Princess had chartered all the busses in the area. The tour operator was profusely apologizing but no more busses to be had. I had often wondered about pax left behind on ship tours and what happened. It made me realize the benefit of using a ship tour versus a private one. Interesting story.

Houston built a multi-million dollar cruise port to attract cruise lines from Galveston but no one wanted to take the offer. So after 5+ years and growing unhappiness by the voters they contracted with PCL and NCL for practically nothing to use their new port. The city had the cruise lines sign a 5 year almost no cost contract thinking that would get cruise lines interested in the port. Both cruise lines did not like the port for the reasons mentioned above and left after the contract was finished. Houston has since converted the port into commercial uses. We were on the first Princess cruise out of the port and were greeted by TV helicopters overhead and fireboats shooting their water cannons. There was a big todo on the TV and newspapers. It certainly was convenient for us but it was a complete disaster. One cruise we did not leave port until the next afternoon. We did not cry when they closed the port.

Back in the early 90's I used to fly into Hobby on Southwest (aka cattle car) and the airport was small and grungy but it was close to South Houston where I was working. IAH was way far north although I later had assignments more in the center of Houston and used IAH. Only in recent years that AA and Delta started having a few flights into Hobby but their major flights went into IAH. IAH was mostly a Continental airport later United when they merged. I drive to Galveston the day before staying in the NASA area and driving the short distance to the port. It makes it nice that I do not have to fly. I do wonder why those who live in far away ports pick Galveston. I have found that the vast majority of pax are from TX, LA or OK who drive to the port. .

HOU is about 40 miles and IAH is 70 miles. IAH is located on the far north side of Houston requiring a drive through the center of Houston and commonly called Intercontinental or Bush.. HOU is on the near south side in a not too nice of an area and is mainly used by SWA and named Hobby. Hobby is the original Houston airport before Intercontinental was built..

Just checked my account and it lists 12/31/31 as the expiration date. I have 4 cruises booked for 2024 and 2025. I first obtained the MOBC back when it first was offered submitting my DD214. I just wonder what magic you performed to get the further out expiration date.

Partly due to competition. Carnival and RCL both have the same cruises to the same ports out of Galveston. PCL left the area 6 or so years ago and are now trying to return and build up a clientele so lower prices!

This is regardless of where your home is outside Texas. All pax have to declare any liquor you are carrying and pay the tax of usually a few dollars. It is enforced by the state and not US officials. They can be found at a table just outside the federal area. If they can see the liquor you will be stopped, otherwise just keep walking. In other words hide the liquor and just walk on by. Only liquor bought from a licensed distributor can be sold in Texas including cruise ships. Texas alcohol laws forbid any sales such as two for one or liquor packages. Decades ago they did not enforce this with cruise ships but now they do (part of TX backwards policies). Furthermore state tax must be collected on anything you buy while on the ship (or off) so if you order a soft beverage state tax must be collected. These laws are enforced while in TX waters. It takes a little over an hour for the ship to reach international waters when they will open the bars and honor the different packages without TX state taxes.

If there is a difference in time, Princess will have you move your clocks forward/backward to match the time of the next port call. Unlike other cruise lines Princess always matches port time in every port I have been in. It reduces the chances of leaving pax in a port due to a time difference.

Not only can Princess not give you drinks in your package but besides paying for the drinks they will charge you sales tax as an further insult. They are only able to sell liquor bought from TX distributors.

When I board I simply ask the room steward for the distilled water. It appears later in the room and I get charged. However the ~$4 charge is not worth brining my own. and yes after a cruise there is always water left over. Distilled water is not good to drink and after a period will result in problems. Other cruise lines that we go on provide the distilled water for medical equipment in a one gallon container.

According to TX beverage laws, the ship is not able to provide alcohol in state waters on any package. Furthermore the ship must sell only alcohol bought from TX distributors so therefore they have a limited quantity aboard. Once the ship reaches international waters (little over one hour) can they open their bars and sell alcohol purchased from other areas. Therefore you must pay for any alcoholic drinks by the drink in TX waters and they must charge state tax for anything purchased including soft drinks etc. Another quirk is that if you are bringing back any alcohol or cigarettes purchased while on your sailing, you must pay TX state taxes regardless of your final destination once you deboard. TX has set up tables just outside the restricted area as you leave the terminal to collect the tax and usually has a spotter to direct pax to the table. US customs does not have anything to do with this and will not say a word about it to returning pax. So unless they can see you carrying it unconcealed you can just walk past on your way out of the terminal.

We were on the Emerald last month. Daily menus for that day were available on the TV but ordering from room service had to be done on the ap or calling. We were on the Enchanted last year and you could order room service from the TV. Evidentially it varies by ship.

I was on the Emerald last month and they had stuffed olives at Good Spirits. I had one in every morning bloody mary that I ordered.

In answer to a question above, the "new" ap requires androids on Google 12 or 13 and evidently is a memory hog. As I have said before the internet "experts" reminds me of my dearly departed BIL who as a teenager worked in the Sears garden shop as an "expert". Now on another thread we find out a "new" ap is about to be released with even more problems. If the current ap has serious bugs then in PCL view they release a new ap with likely more bugs.

If this "new ap" works as well as or better than the old ap, we are all in trouble. Whoever PCL has writing their ap is incompetent IMO. I have always had problems with the ap on androids. I am not going again until March and April but hold no hope of the ap actually working. I have and use CCL and RCL aps on my cellphone and they actually work and are more robust than the PCL ones. I have a dim opinion of the IT department at PCL in case you had not figured it out.

We have found that ordering drinks via the "ap" is fruitless unless you have them brought to the stateroom. I took a few times to learn do not use the ap elsewhere on the ship rather have a crewmember take the order and deliver the drinks.

Ships are made of metal while wood and other building products are not allowed. This is partially because of fire danger on ships. In a similar manner open flames, heating appliances etc are also not allowed. I always have a collection of magnets with me when on the ship and use the blank walls in the cabin to port things I want to not forget. I also use hook magnets to stretch my extension cord across for my CPAP by the bed. Yes, I know about the outlet hidden behind the bed but this is easier. While I do not put anything on the door, some do using magnets. So magnet away!

I find it hard to believe that PCL cannot design an ap that does not require the latest version of an android. This is particularly true when RCL has an ap that does work on older androids and is more robust than PCL's version. So now I had to shell out more to get an S23 with 512 gb to run this "wonderful" ap. Incidentally it does work on this version after shelling out $$$. When I spoke with the onboard internet "expert", we both spoke English as a primary language and I clearly understood when he told me it does not work on some androids. What he did not say was that it only works on the newest androids but he did tell me I should get an iphone (over my dead body!). Reminds me of my dearly departed BIL who as a teenager was hired by Sears to work in their garden area as an "expert" on the products.

I just left the Emerald a little over a week ago. I never could get the "wonderful" ap to work on my android (galaxy S9+). Early in the cruise I went to the internet cafe to get help. The male crewman told me the ap was written for the iphone and did not work on all androids. So looks like I need to go get an iphone (over my dead body!) or do without. It was kind of nice not carrying that brick around with me. I use the internet connection for my laptop (windows 11 thank you) and access the needed daily documents/reports that I need. So I just walked around seeing what was happening reading the very abbreviated patter each day. I have little to no confidence in a new ap. I also cruised on RCL and CCL earlier this year and their ap worked fine on my android which just points out how inept the PCL designers are. They should hire the ap writers from sister cruise line Carnival to write an ap that works.

We were on a TA in 2018 and stopped at three ports in Iceland. We did several private excursions and they were great. The weather was clear so great ports. Last year we did the NYC to Greenland cruise stopping at three tender ports. The fourth one was missed due to wind. It was a great cruise in that we were able to experience Greenland but do not want to repeat it. In the three ports we did not do a tour as they were few offered so instead we got off and just walked around the small town taking in the scenery and their small town. All three ports were obviously not tourist places and the locals all came out and watched us. They were friendly. The only thing we bought was chocolate. It was delirious hand made. Both were very interesting but we have no desire to go back as our tickets were punched. .

We were on the Ruby in early April going out of and returning to Galveston. They had the facial ID working when we debarked. We were on the Dream last year when they had the facial ID working out of the same terminal. So what is the problem? Sounds like Princess in Galveston has really fallen on their face and will impact their bottom line in this port.