luv2travel06

I think there was an omelet station at the back of the ship when we were on the Emerald Princess in 2021 and 2022. This time, when I asked there for an omelet, I was sent to the main serving lines. I do not recall what the setup was on the Caribbean Princess in 2020 and 2022. On this cruise on the Ruby, someone would write your omelet request on a piece of paper at the main serving lines and tell you it would take 10-15 minutes to receive your order, and you would be given another piece of paper to give to a server in the buffet so they could pick it up and deliver it to you. (Instead, I would just wait nearby.) The omelets were made in a preparation area between the port and starboard serving areas of the buffet. Having been on four prior Princess cruises in the recent past, I'm pretty sure I would have remembered having been previously served an omelet of the quality depicted in the photos. Other than the omelets, we found the food on the cruise to be quite satisfactory.

Returned from our 14 day Circle Caribbean cruise aboard Ruby Princess about a week ago. Overall, we were very happy with the cruise, once we were able to convince a dining room manager to arrange a fixed dining time and table for us at dinner. One thing we found quite peculiar was the omelet situation. The procedure was not the most convenient, and the omelet was pathetic--like something from a box of 12 at your supermarket that you would microwave for 3 minutes, not the big fluffy omelet I got used to seeing on our prior cruises. I commented about it on a survey we completed on the ship. I should think that if the Captain or CEO was served one of these omelets, they would say, "We need to fix this." Thinking that maybe the first one I was served was an anomaly, I ordered another later in the cruise. These are photos of that omelet. You be the judge.

On Ruby Princess now. Just received disembarkation information that says self disembarkation is only for passengers that have no more than one piece of luggage each. When did that start? On our last cruise, they initially wouldn’t let people with more than one bag use the escalators, but the line for the elevator got too long because it included people with wheelchairs and scooters needing assistance, who were not supposed to participate in the self disembarkation. What has been your recent experience with self-disembarkation?

I, too, followed the process above. While I received an email saying I would receive a response within 2 days after submitting the requested information, it was 5 days before I received the confirmation and was able to redeem the perk. Still waiting for confirmation that the OBC has been applied to my booking. My first thought about the new process has been that, as is often the case, customer service and convenience are not enhanced by adding a middleman.

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Did the transit this morning, turned right around and exited without delay. They had said there may be a delay due to protests at the Canal this morning. On the way in, a boat pulled up with maybe a dozen and a half boxes, which were souvenirs from Panama that were sold by the Lido pool. The cruise director told an interesting story… He was on the Zaandam when everything shut down for Covid. No countries would allow them to dock and they were running out of supplies. The Rotterdam VI brought them supplies. The Captain of the Rotterdam at that time is the current Captain of the Rotterdam VII, and this is his first time back to the Canal since Covid, and his cruise director was on the Zaandam that he brought the emergency supplies to. You can hear the rest of the story once you are aboard. 🙂

On Rotterdam Panama Canal cruise now. We received notice last evening that due to unrest in Panama, we will be entering the Canal, turning around, and leaving. There will be no docking and no excursions.

Yes, TA = travel agent. As far as cellular data, we have TMobile and free cellular data in most ports, but not at sea.

We are doing the same itinerary in October. We booked an inside cabin after what would have been the final payment date. Ten days later we received an upsell to an oceanview cabin through our TA. This past Tuesday I checked out an emailed promotion and contacted my TA, who was able to get us upgraded to an obstructed view verandah for only $129pp.

If you booked through a TA, any changes have to go through the TA. Just this week our TA (who has booked 30+ cruises for us) helped us get a verandah instead of the oceanview we booked based on a new promotion after final payment. He has previously done this for us as well. But in the past, we have lost certain benefits of a prior promotion if we wanted the benefits of a new promotion, so it is necessary to do the math sometimes to see if you come out ahead. So it is likely they are currently in the process of doing upsells and cabin assignments. Assuming guarantee cabins are assigned last, you are essentially asking them to move you to the front of the line instead of assign the cabin based on their schedule/process. Maybe your travel agent can make that happen, but if not, you will get a cabin assigned eventually. Best wishes for getting a great cabin!

If you went with Bonaire Vista Tours, they no longer appear to be in operation.

We have an 8am flight to the U.S. on Delta on Monday and need to get to Schipol from Movenpick 5am-6am we think(?). At that time in the morning, is a taxi our best option? Thanks in advance for your advice.

Watch for a promotion that includes a free upgrade from Signature to Elite. It was offered on the September 2024 Alaska cruise we just booked. With gratuities, OBC, excursion credit, wifi, dining credits (we would never pay to go to those restaurants otherwise) included in promo, it was cost effective for us.

HAL contacted our TA with several upsell offers in the last couple months before our upcoming cruise. We accepted one for a little more that we really wanted to pay and they assigned us to a cabin below B.B. King's.🙄 So we agree with OP above.

We are packing for our 14 day Baltic Sea cruise on the Rotterdam, embarkation is Saturday!! Should we pack our orange shirts for an Orange Party, or do they not have that on every cruise?

Have also asked this question on the Baltic Sea cruise board, where they suggested I ask the same question here. The description of THE BEST OF TALLINN & EXCLUSIVE CONCERT excursion on Holland America includes: "A special visit to the Holy Spirit Church is accompanied by a concert of medieval music." If you have taken this excursion, is the "concert" a string quartet, an orchestra, an organ, a couple of flute players...? Thanks in advance.

The description of THE BEST OF TALLINN & EXCLUSIVE CONCERT excursion on Holland America includes: "A special visit to the Holy Spirit Church is accompanied by a concert of medieval music." If you have taken this excursion, is the "concert" a string quartet, an orchestra, an organ, a couple of flute players...? Thanks in advance.

We enjoy the Princess Circle Caribbean cruises, have enjoyed the Emerald Princess 3 or 4 times, and will be doing a Panama Canal transit on that ship next year. Our first time on the ship we kind of connected with our dining room steward and he made sure we got a better table on that cruise and the next one a couple of months later. Between the cruises he was promoted but came back to the dining room every night of the second cruise to see us and bring us a treat. 🙂

For the first time in 36 cruises on various lines, we purchased the beverage/HAI package for our 14 day Baltic cruise. HAI was discounted 50%, so when we did the math, it made sense. With all gratuities, wifi, dining, excursion credits included, it was a decent value for us. Normally, we never eat at the surcharge dining venues. On cruises leaving from the U.S., we would normally carry on the allowable wine (for DW) and soda allowances. Normally we would only buy alcoholic drinks at happy hour prices. Now we don't have to worry about any of that and we can have our favorite coffee beverages with no additional charge and DW can have wine with dinner if she likes. But now we have over $500 OBC including shareholder benefit we have to figure out how to spend.

Thanks to all who have replied so far. We greatly appreciate your assistance and information.

We will be docking at the F638 Frihamnen berth for an overnight in Stockholm in mid May. We are trying to determine the best way to spend our 2 days there. The cruise line tours don't appear to be the best. We looked at Viator tours, but are uncertain about getting to the initial meeting points. It looks like tickets for the Vasa museum can be purchased online, but while some of the website will display in English, the ticket purchasing portion does not seem to, and there are a couple of options offered. Is it practical to walk to the museum from the pier? What would you suggest as to how to spend 2 days in Stockholm? Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

We will be sailing on the somewhat hobbled Grandeur OTS in January. Is there a main dining room (not an upcharge venue) open for lunch on embarkation day? We have started to take advantage of this on other lines rather than deal with the hustle and bustle of the buffet. This will be only our 3rd RCL cruise, first since 2015.

I had a $50 per port excursion credit and the cost was $49, so I signed up since it was free. I believe it was called the Black Swan Electric Boat Cruise. You board in the area where all excursions involving boat rides depart. The waiting area is covered, as is the boat. Once you exit the bay, you head over to a marked area where the manatees hang out and watch for them to pop up, and try to get a little closer--much like a whale watching excursion. Not a lot else to see, but the guide was entertaining. They don't guarantee sightings, but we saw them. As the boat has electric power, it was a quiet, pleasant ride.

We were at Harvest Caye in October. It is a beautiful place! If the sand were as soft as the beach at Half Moon Cay, it would be perfect. Expansive beach, large pool, lots of nice shops and activities, well-maintained...I had an excursion credit so I used it to do the electric boat ride to see manatees.