NewPennCruiser

When we go on 18th January there are 3 Princess ships alone going out that day. I hope the luggage goes the right way. :eek:

They need to make sure people head to the right ship as well. Yes, traffic is crazy when there are 8 ships in port and if you are driving in on your own, pay attention to the posted Port signs as to where the ships are that day. We cruised out of PE a few years back when there were 3 Princess ships in Port and the Princess reps were constantly reminding you which ship you were waiting for at the pier. It could be very easy to just head to Pier 2 because you think your ship will be there when in fact it's not. Every once in a while there would be an announcement that you were waiting for the Emerald and if you were supposed to be on the Ruby you were at the wrong pier and to see a Princess rep. HAL and RCCL frequently have multiple ships embarking in PE on the same day as well.

Your best bet may be to check your Cruise Personalizer on the website. Click on itinerary and the first sentence will tell you how many formal and smart casual nights there are.

We are doing a 4 day cruise on Ruby later this month and it tells us there are 0 formal nights. Not sure if they might have one for a 5 day cruise or not.... Dave

We do it all the time and so do many others. People will be in formal attire (you'll see that at the buffet too) but you won't stick out. Enjoy yourself! Dave

As someone else said, this is the only foreign country that I have rented a car in and it was easy to get around. There really aren't that many roads so grab a map and explore. It's really hard to get lost. We got our car at a rental place located in the Renaissance but there are probably multiple locations around town. I would recommend reserving a car in advance if you choose to do it because things can be hectic when ships are in port. We actually rented while on a "non cruise" vacation. Dave

We've done this a couple of times as well. We usually rent through National in Florida so we take their shuttle to the Airport Rental Center, get the car and explore for the day. Then it's easy as can be to just return the car and fly home.

Dave

Actually you don't need to take the shuttle once you drop your car off. It really doesn't matter which terminal you go to and the Rental Car Center is attached to Terminal 1 via a walkway. After you drop your car off, just follow the walkway to Terminal 1, go down the escalator to arrivals and walk out the door to catch your cab to the port. We have done this a couple of times. Depending on how busy they are, you'll be at the port within 15-20 minutes of dropping your car off. Dave

Well said..... We had friends just come back from the 11/3 cruise and they had a great time and it was their first time on Princess. We cruise on the Royal in February and I can't wait to see her. Will she be perfect? No. Will she end up being our favorite Princess ship? Maybe, maybe not. But that's not the point. I like options and I'm actually excited that the Royal is different. We all talk about the fact that it's nice there are options for everyone and Princess is just giving that to us. Have a great cruise! Dave

We really could not resist a great deal and booked a last minute cruise on the Ruby departing on December 14th from Port Everglades. I had some vacation days to burn in December and this just seemed like a great way to end the year, especially with Interior rooms going for $149. I just thought I would check in and see who else might be on this cruise. Dave

Loved hearing the new horn as it left the channel. Pretty cool! For those of you on the ship, have a great time! Dave

We have disembarked twice in Vancouver. The first time we paid for a Princess transfer to SeaTac because the air back from there vs Vancouver was much cheaper. The transfer will not save you anytime at the border and it took us so long that folks who had "early" flights missed them. We were taking the Redeye back so we were not in a hurry at all and not affected. But the ride was long and we swore we would never do it again.

Our second time we just flew home from Vancouver. Much more pleasant and at least for this trip the fare was roughly the same as SeaTac. Check your options and if you choose to do SeaTac, leave time for the border crossing. Dave

Pulling up yo the docks as we speak.....:):):)

 

Bob

Welcome Home!

Pretty cool. All the cameras seem to be focusing on the ship now. Dave

Hope I'm on the right web cam. All I see is water and lights. There are three cams and I'm on #1

Yeah, there are various webcams but right now it appears you're on the right one. It looks like she is about to meet the pilot boat. Dave

I have read in some reviews this wi-fi is very spotty and doesn't work well unless you are close to the bulding where it is purchased. Any experiences??

debbie

We were on the Dawn in June and we bought the 3 day internet package after we got there and we were able to access it from our balcony MOST of the time. Most people seemed to congregate near the gazebo area in the evening but I thought it seemed pretty strong throughout the Dockyard area just off the dock.

Reports of being able to access it from the ship are spotty but like I said we were able to use it on the balcony most of the time and I was using an iPad. Access was actually really good the first day we were there because we were the only ship in port. The Royal Caribbean ship joined us the 2nd and 3rd days and with a lot more people using it, things slowed down, especially the last night before we both left.

Dave

It's on the Sapphire 14 day Hawaii itinerary right now. We are on the ship and purchased the 12 bottle silver package. Dave

I got a good laugh out of the subject on this thread and it reminded me of our cruise a couple of years back on the Caribbean Princess in New England. We had previously stayed on the Plaza deck on the Emerald and loved the location so when we booked the New England cruise we chose Plaza Deck again. I know on both cruises we were port side with ocean view and near the elevators so possibly in cabin P248 or P302. (sorry can't remember exact cabin)

On the New England cruise we were awakened one morning by noises and vibrations that made it seem like our beds were falling through the floor. What we ultimately figured out was that we were directly above the forward area used for tendering on Deck 4 and they were opening the doors and putting the side dock out, etc. We tendered twice that cruise and just happened to tender off the port side both times, but we were prepared the second time. At least it wasn't in the middle of the night, but if you're in one of these rooms and you happen to tender, be prepared around 6:30am to 7am (whatever time they start to prepare things for tendering) for a lot of loud noises.

We still would stay on Plaza Deck but might pay a little more attention to location next time. You have to remember that Deck 4 has a lot of crew and mechanical areas below the cabins that could be the source of many of the noises folks occasionally hear.

Dave

I have aft pictures of both ships that show the difference. Hopefully this works (I've never tried to attach photos before)

This will be her last Canal transit of the season so we'll have to see if she gets a touch up once she hits California. I noticed it a month or so ago watching the PE webcam so it will be interesting to see if they do anything before Alaska.

We will be on her southbound cruise out of Whittier on May 30th.

Dave

We specifically asked this question on the Coral in January. "If we don't fill the card on this cruise, can we use it on the next cruise?" Of course, the best deal is the largest bottle package. The staff stuttered and stammered (in more than one location) and could not answer the question. After the coffee card dust up, we decided not to take a chance on "leaving wine on the table". It is a great deal, but our favorite wine is now $49 a bottle on the ship and wouldn't be included. They never offered us the make-up the difference option. They did stress that we could have the wine in our cabin, but I was under the impression that we could also use the card with room service delivery.

 

Still, we like the program and may try it on a future cruise, once they figure out how the program really works.

I definitely agree with your comment about how they really need to figure out how they want the program to work. All the waiters were willing to sell you the package but as soon as you asked a question, they had to run and find someone else to help you. What I failed to previously mention is that it did take questioning 3 people about whether we could use the card for both weeks until we finally got an answer from the Head Waiter who actually did seem to know what he was talking about. We love the program and hope they roll it out as an option on all ships. It won't appeal to everyone but it does to us because we saved a lot of money on 12 bottles of wine over the two week period. We prefer to drink wine at dinner and not in our room so we rarely take more then 1 or 2 bottles with us and do usually purchase wine at dinner. We also didn't have any problem finding enough options on the wine list that still fell within our package price range. Reds on their list do seem to be pricier then the whites, but we eat a lot of seafood and drink mostly white wines so it worked out great for us. Dave

Someone previously asked about using the wine card on a b2b. We just returned from the Crown, sailing 2/4 through 2/18. We inquired about the card the first day and specifically asked about using it both weeks because that would dictate what we purchased and we were told that we could use it for the duration that we were on the ship. So we purchased the 12 bottle package. They did not ask us if we had booked the trip as one 14 day voyage or a true b2b....it didn't seem to matter. In any case, we enjoyed using the package at dinner through both weeks. Dave

Just got home today from Ft Lauderdale on a cruise with Princess. We stayed an extra day and rented a car from National at the airport. The Car Rental Center at FLL had numerous shuttles running. They are large green buses. Dollar/Thrifty had their own shuttles because they are located off the airport premises. (I saw nothing for Enterprise) We were off the ship at 8:20 and even with 6 large ships in port, we were in our rental car by 9am and heading out to explore. The shuttle driver even carried all the luggage on and off the shuttle bus. It was very easy and efficient to use.

Dave