satxdiver

Princess will refund the port tax and usually give a small OBC as a token of their apology for missing the port. While Mahogany Bay is a really nice port that Carnival Corp built for Carnival's family of cruise ships (9), it is a very treacherous port to get into due to the lengthy narrow entrance with no tugboat assistance available.

Just looked at the map Alure OTS and NCL Dawn are in port at Coxen Hole. Mardi Gras is in port at Mohagany Bay and the Ruby is on a slow path to Costa Maya where the Alure OTS and Caribbean Princess will join us. I think the captain gave up too quickly. We have been to Roatan many times both to Coxen Hole and Mohagany Bay so sad we missed this port. The entrance to this port which must be done in reverse is a very narrow channel and wind has canceled it before. Tugboats are not available and cannot be used due to the narrow channel so if we ran aground it would be disastrous.

For a $100 FCD you will be able to reserve a cruise for $100 deposit. This used to be 2 years but now is 1 year. Depending on the length of the cruise you will get $50 - $250 onboard credit (OBC) so free money to be used on that cruise. For instance, you can reserve a one-week cruise for $100 deposit and get a $100 OBC to spend onboard. The FCD must be bought for each person.

The gargantuan ots will be with us all week in every port. She is traveling on our port side this morning. In Roatan we will be in Mahogany Bay with the Carnival Mardi Gras while the gargantuan will be at Coxen Hole. Saw the band Symphonee last night in the explorer's lounge. Hopefully they will get better as we go but will not be here tonight. It will be the piano bar for us tonight. This is the first formal night with the champagne waterfall.

Talkorpi we are on the ship with you on this cruise. We have a balcony near the aft elevators. Since we have been on the Ruby before and many other Princess cruises we are looking forward to your reports. Perhaps we will run into you sometime this week. Having been to these ports many times we will be just kicking back and enjoying the views. Checkin was a breeze but we checked in at ~11 AM so just walked through to the ship. I have never seen it that easy. For the first time they were telling pax that lunch was available in the MDR while before they would deny it (liars!). Result was that the MDR was very busy. We actually left port around 1500 which I had never seen before so one for Princess. We can see a ship lights in front of us and one behind us. Allure will be with us at all ports and return to Galveston! We stayed last night in a hotel in the NASA area as it is more reasonable and the restaurants are plenty. Short 45 mile down I45 to the port. We had made reservations at our usual parking lot and they took us to the ship after parking. For those coming in the future parking was at a premium so make reservations! Looking forward to your posts.

Carnival is building a new cruise port near Freeport to be completed in 11/2024. https://www.bahamas.com/pressroom/carnival-cruise-line-breaks-ground-on-new-multi-million-cruise-port-on-grand-bahama-island

We generally go on longer cruises 8+ days so the number of kids aboard has been very small since cruising started again. We are going on a 7 day cruise the first of April and expect more kids aboard. Since Princess is more tuned to the older group and doesn't have the kid attractions like water slides etc., I don't really expect a large number of kids aboard even though it is spring break in many areas. We really do not mind having kids around as long as they are behaving and not making a scene. We have been on other cruise lines where one time we had 600+ aboard and never found them to be an annoyance. Sure they were everywhere as expected and tended to gang together in groups of 4 to 8 or so. They were having fun and we were having fun sometimes just watching them. We may be old senior members but still remember when we were young and do enjoy seeing them.

Thanks for the info on the Ruby VSP. We will be boarding the Ruby in four weeks. In the past we have been on ships hit pretty hard with noro and managed to escape getting it. I agree wash your hands often and particularly after using the restrooms (head on a ship). We generally stay away from the WFM due to the threat of illness and only eat food that is served to us by the ship staff.

Texas for one. Ships in Galveston have to charge a sales tax on all sales until the ship reaches the open gulf. Also they have to sell alcohol only bought in Texas which means a very limited choice.

If you turn your cell phone on while on the ship at sea, it will say "cell at sea" or something like that and you will be tied into the ship's cell tower. It is not cheap so if you don't have your phone on airplane mode expect your next cell bill to be in the $100's. They bill through your provider.

Really Princess? These "wonderful" desserts are even disgusting to look at.

Due to TX liquor laws they cannot start the drink package until the ship is out of coastal waters which appears to be around 7 pm or so.

You can certainly "reserve" a lounger for up to 30 minutes while you get your drinks, use the facilities, etc. It's when you "reserve" a lounger then disappear for hours. Saving a table while one gets their food is no different than one sit there while their partner gets their food. As long as they are getting food. Nice to know you do not do that including leaving someone to "protect" your table.

We will be on the Ruby in April and will be looking for this new dessert before making our decision as to its quality.

Once we had put our belongings on a vacant table only to return with food and seeing someone sitting there who had moved our stuff out of their way. Claimed they were told to sit there by staff. After that we left one of our party sitting there as it is much harder to move a person than belongings.

I did a ship tour several years ago and one of the places we visited was the laundry. They putt all the pax clothes to be washed in a big washer (much bigger than at home) and then into a huge dryer. One size fits all so to speak. It was a very impressive tour. The ships laundry (table clothes, sheets, etc) are cleaned in the same big room but different machines.

We were on the CB in November and were given a number waiting until our number was called.

This was the first time we have sailed out of PC and chose this lot due to the recommendations. We will not use it next February when we again sail out of PC. Sounds like we will like Park PC better and will book there.

Just left my auto at PNC on Merritt Island. Reservation they gave me when I booked and paid said the parking lot would open at 10:00 AM but when we arrived the sign at the gate said 10:30 so we waited behind a long line of cars also waiting. One is required to leave their keys with the parking lot. Transfer to the port was quick and efficient however. We had 11:00-11:30 AM arrival time at Carnival Magic and were barely able to hit the window. We are on the Magic now so at the end we will find out about their service. This was our first time using PC as we had used PE many times before. It was and will be an education.

Time to call your local Congressman and have them check out where your passport is. Congressional inquires get service much faster. Use them.

We bring our own shower gel and shampoo but use the liquid soap at the sink for washing hands. We have always done this but quit bringing our liquid hand soap after they started providing it.

When I had this happen last year Princess turned it into an OBC.

Don't try this on Carnival They charge a fee to cancel after booking. If you want a re-fare you have to submit a form for them to make a decision ...usually no. Depends on the booking where some "allow" re-fare allegedly. One of the many reasons to stay off the "fun" ship!

We book with EZair when it becomes available and then watch the prices on EZair as well check commercial flights. One huge plus with EZair is the ability to change your mind up until 45 days before and you don't have to pay for it until making the final payment. With the airline they want money up front and it is usually non-refundable unless you pay more to change/cancel the flight. We almost always stay with the EZair reservations. One big caveat is that they don't refund the money after final payment day when you change/cancel the EZair reservation before the 45 day deadline. (voice of experience!) You will get a credit to use on that sailing.

We sailed out of Red Hook once since cruising restarted. For my part they can keep using it for the immigrants and we cruisers use the port in NJ across the river.