donovan52

We’re booked on this ship in May of 2018, and was wondering what Internet speeds are like onboard. Is the old, slower than “dial up” system, or has Princess updated their services? Prices are pretty high for subpar speeds. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Reg

Hi everyone. My wife and I are considering a cruise on the CB. We have cruised Royal many times, but this is our first Princess cruise. We are looking at a British Isles itinerary near the end of April, and while I have been able to determine there is no covered pool on the ship I was wondering if anyone knew if the pools would be heated. Additionally can anyone point me in the direction of dining room menus so that we have an idea of the kinds of meals we can expect. Any other information about the ship would be useful as well. Thanks in advance for any help.

Reg

Thanks folks.

Thanks Bob. Do you happen to know the price of a glass of soda onboard?

Does anyone know the current cost of the soda package on the ships? Also the cost of pinacoladas? These are my favourites.

Same here. We've been on all of the Voyager class ships, except for Voyager, and never encountered this vibration issue in the hump area. And any noise in the passageway has to be from people in the passageway. It is very hard to hear anything in the elevator alcoves from a cabin.

We've done four weeks on the Adventure (two one week trips and a back to back), all in hump cabins, and I will say our cruise in December was the first one where we experienced the vibration. It wasn't subtle, it was a decent vibration that definitely took a little getting used to. It didn't bother us enough to keep us from booking in that area though and we experienced no sewage smell or noise issues.

We need help in finding a hotel that is very accessible to the boardwalk and things to do in Halifax. Being on a HoHo route would also be great.

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

The Westin Hotel is directly across the street from the Halifax Seaport Farmer's Market and Pier 21, and there is an entrance to the boardwalk next to the market. It is our favourite place to stay because we find the location great.

I really use to like Portifino as I use to love the seafood skewer! Now that Adventure Of The Seas have Giovanni's rather than Portifino I have a question of the people who use to like Portifino and have now tried Giovanni's.

 

Do you now prefer Giovanni's or do you really miss Portifino?

and.... Since I have made a reservation for Giovanni's on my upcoming Adventure cruise, have I set myself up for disappointment and will be longing for the days of Portifino?

We were huge fans of Portofino and were disappointed that it would be gone when we went on the Adventure in December. We booked the first night at Giovanni's to give it a chance and we were blown away - our service and food were both better than they had been at Portofino and didn't miss it one bit! We were happy we'd booked the first night because that gave us time to try it a second time. :)

We booked the "Fun at the Beach" tour through Serenity and it was one of our best days!! We booked as a private tour, $60pp and I felt it was a great value!

I have some photos of our day on my review - scroll down to post #94 to see them!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2144344&page=5

Our guides were Hans and Alisha and they were amazing! I will definitely book through Serenity again.

Barrachina (a restaurant in Old San Juan) has free luggage storage from 9am-5pm. Here is their website: http://www.barrachina.com/indexb.php

It is a very convenient location (with decent food/drinks) if you are looking to shop around Old San Juan.

Thanks again for the info.

 

I'm also curious about St. Croix. We'll be travelling with a large family group, and it seems like our options are a bit limited in this port. Could you please tell us more about the fort, and also about the logistics of walking to the beach? Was there much else of interest there?

 

Thanks again!

We actually didn't check out the fort at all, just walked in front of it to get to the beach. When you get to the end of the cruise pier you leave through a gate and turn left (walking by all of the vendor tents). You'll see the fort straight ahead. The walkway to the beach is along the water in front of it. It is a simple walk and the walkway is easy to follow. I'd say for us it took ten minutes from the ship until we put down our towels on the sand. (It is actually easier than my instructions make it seem!)

I saw a couple of people with stand up paddleboards (but didn't notice where they were rented from) but didn't see jetskis though. With a large family group this would definitely be the cheapest way to do things!

There is another beach that the poster just before me mentioned (WilsonFamilyNRH) which I've heard is good as well, but I've never been.

WilsonFamilyNRH - glad to hear you are having a great time!! Wish we were still onboard!

Jayblue - My first cruise was a 3 night on the Sovereign (smaller than the Jewel) and after that we jumped right to Voyager and Freedom class. I hadn't even considered a smaller ship until the Jewel was in port in my city and I was able to go onboard for a tour. I fell in love with the solarium and knew we'd give her a try at some point. SO glad we did!

As I'm about to embark on my first cruise, I have been intrigued on CC when people mention bringing a meal back to the cabin from WJ(your bad Mongolian noodles). Can you please tell me is this literally a plate with cutlery or are there take away containers for this?

I'm picturing people wandering the halls and elevators carrying plates?

 

Thanks.

There are no take out containers - you can use a second plate to cover your first one (I hear there are trays but we really don't need one with only one plate each). We only had a couple sets of stairs to go down and didn't need to go down the hallways at all - no problems whatsoever.

I've periodically seen people taking the regular WJ plates/cutlery out to the pool deck to eat. Never seen the styrofoam carryout containers, though. I don't believe they offer that, and probably won't.

They have actually set up I'd say over a dozen tables on the pool deck just outside of the Windjammer. They are meant for people who bring their food out and are set with salt and pepper shakers.

Hoopster95, I'm sorry I didn't reply sooner! I'm not in the orange hat but I believe that is Ryan's dad. I am the third from the right, if I remember correctly!

Thanks for your review with all the amazing photos! We have only 11 months to go before our first trip on the Jewel!

 

I'm curious about your comment that you do not think you would have broken even. Looks like you sampled a lot from the drink menus (in the name of research, of course, for which we thank you)!

 

Did you do a final accounting?

 

Amusingly, I think this is the biggest question in our household: which level of beverage package to get!!!

We didn't do a final count because even when we were given receipts the amounts on them were 0. I don't think I'd break even with the ultimate package again mainly because I wouldn't need to do all of the sampling next time! And I usually had 2 or 3 glasses of Moet which wouldn't be included...I'm sure if I put some effort in I could make it worth it! Haha...I just don't know if I'd want to again. I'd be perfectly happy having a frozen drink every afternoon and a martini of some sort at night. I don't generally drink anything except water with my meals anyway.

Check-in staff are usually not cruise line employees, they work for a 3rd party contracting company. Maybe the Saturday people are better than the Sunday people?

That's what I am thinking - different staff members, maybe they got used to a more hectic day of boarding? They most definitely weren't as friendly as those we met on Saturday (but the only one who was actually unfriendly was the woman checking set sail print outs and directing you into lineups, and I think she was just overwhelmed - but then again, I'm not even sure why she needed to be there...)

Several posters on this thread seem to be on AOS in the next few weeks/months. I have a question that they may be able to answer on their return. We sailed AOS in 2012 Transatlantic with lots of sea days. The Ice Shows were scheduled for those sea days and tickets were passed out first come first served on ealier sea days. For this cruise, only the first day is a sea day. So!!! Question: when is/are the Ice Show (s) and how are tickets allocated? Appreciate any help. Especially if this is something that I need to do on RCI website (such as it is) before sailing. Marshall

We went on Dec 14 and ice show tickets were distributed on boarding day as well as the next morning. The shows were on that first day (at sea) I believe at 2pm and 4pm and on Wednesday at 7pm and 9pm. I am at work but can double check my info when I get home. You don't need to do anything online before you go and the times and location will be in the compass. We loved the ice show :)

We sailed on AOS in 2008 and booked again for Feb 2015. We had a great experience the first time and expect nothing less this time. We understand that she has gone thru some upgrades. Really looking forward to the movies by the pool! Understand the Aquarium Bar is no longer. It was our favorite place to hang out. Our go-to point if we got separated. And a great place to meet with friends and have a drink before dinner. I am sure that whatever changes were made that we will love it. We agree that you cannot make everyone happy, but hey, we am on vacation and we WILL have a great time. Can't say that we have ever had a bad cruise. We have enjoyed every minute of everyone!

I think the aquarium bar is just called the lobby bar now, so you could still meet in the same spot!

We were in the Adventure in December and while a few things (Windjammer food, happiness of the crew in general) were not as good as in the past, we still had a fantastic time and would do it again in a second. We thought the entertainment was great, we had a great room steward (maybe the best we've ever had), and great service from the Champagne bar and Pool bar.

The information for the holiday promo isn't on the website anymore (that I can find, anyway) but here is a link to a post which includes a photo of the wording - it just says November 2014-January 2015, no specific date mentioned

http://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/showpost.php?p=44722665&postcount=71

3.95 from midnight-5am

Also the menu was slightly different from that one, but not by much

Hi Everyone: I'll be sailing in Feb. with our family, four adults and three kids. We have early seating in the MDR. Our cabins are linked, so I assume we will all be together at dinner. Do you think we will have our own table, or will they seat others with us? I don't mind others joining us, but I think there are many people who do not want to sit with kids. Has anyone had experience with something like this?

 

Also, on other cruises, namely the Serenade and the Jewel, the schooner bar was awesome. It was very big and comfortable. On Adventure it is small. Any suggestions where we could go to get a pre-dinner drink in a less crowded venue. We are gold members (make it to the next level after this cruise).

When you board you can go to the dining room to see where your table is (and how big it is). If it isn't suitable you can request a change and if they can they will get you a different table. I'd suggest heading straight to the dining room once you board to get it straightened out.

We noticed that the Blue Moon bar (14th floor) was usually quiet when we walked by to go to the Diamond Lounge. Also, I'm not sure how many of you will be going to have drinks, but we enjoyed the Champagne Bar and it was rarely crowded. It was posted in the compass that the Champagne bar was adult only though, not sure if you were planning on going with your kids or not.

The pool bar and the sky bar were both open when we boarded last month. When you check in and get your sea pass card they'll give you a paper with day 1 information that says which bars are open (it's like a Cruise Compass page).

WOW! Follow the Northstar straight down to top deck. A shorter person in white is directly below. I'm the guy to the left with white shorts pointing my camera through the glass slats hiding half behind the blue panel... I just blew the picture up and can see it.

 

Thank you for these superb photos. I'll be saving them. I would like to add them to my Quantum review if that's ok with you, and I'll definitely add the link here to your review to give you the credit. Is that ok? Likewise, I have a bunch of excellent shots looking down onto Jewel in my review that you may wish to keep... and you should see yourself in them with your camera pointing up at me :p

 

Scroll down to post #175, #176 and next page #183 as she pulls away

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2137643&page=9

That is so cool! We are the group of four on the right (but in the middle of the photo). Yes, absolutely you can add my photos to your review :) Can't wait to read it, bookmarking now to show the rest of my group later.

thanks for the review. Do you happen to have cruise compasses for Adventure?

I have the compasses kicking around somewhere...I think they may have already been posted by someone else so I didn't take any pictures of them but if I can't find the other thread I'll have a look for them!

I love your review but would love some pictures of the ship areas for my wallpaper slide show. If you have any, please post!!!

I didn't take a ton of ship photos this time because we've been on the ship before, but I'll have a look through my older albums and see what I can find!

Eight of us booked Serenity for the Pigeon Island tour in St. Lucia.

Oh, great! Enjoy!

We spent two nights at La Terraza before our trip in December and absolutely loved it! Great location (much shorter walk to everything than I expected), clean, super friendly staff, has a small rooftop pool (and an elevator so you don't need to lug your bags up the stairs). We definitely plan on staying here again.

I am looking for a hotel that is on the beach, has free transportation from the airport to it's location, and isn't far from the Pan Am Cruise Port! Whew! I know I'm asking for a lot! Any recommendations?

I don't know of anywhere with an airport shuttle, but the only hotel super close to the Pan Am Cruise pier is the Sheraton Puerto Rico (Convention Centre), which isn't on the beach. Since you'd need to take a taxi even from the Sheraton (and they are zoned, the price difference isn't huge), you'd be fine to look at hotels on the Condado or Isla Verde beaches. We just got back from the Intercontinental Isla Verde which is quite close to the airport and wasn't a long drive at all to get to the pier. We've also stayed at the Marriott Stellaris but preferred the Intercontinental.

Hope this helps!

We had a similar problem on our recent Adventure cruise. When I booked online it said that night 1 reservations will receive a 20% onboard credit. Once onboard they offered Portofino 20% off on night 1 (but we had already paid full price) and were not aware of the online promotion. We had a much easier time getting it straightened out though, we just mentioned it to our waitress and she was able to have it noted for our second reservation.

The bartenders who were selling the drink packages onboard also knew nothing about the holiday promo with a bottle of Domaine Chandon and glasses of Moet included in the Ultimate package, but they were able to quickly find a supervisor who knew about it.

Totally agree that they should be doing a better job to make sure everyone gets the memo!