loliola

It also says you can bring more if you want; just must pay $15/bottle if you do.

Dave..you rock!

Dave (or anyone else) do you have a photo of the midship exterior promenade area? I'm interested in the obstructed balcony rooms on emerald deck in this area (specifically E433). Thanks!

Just booked the 5 day Western Caribbean Getaway next October 24th on the Emerald. Wondering about other cruisers' experiences sailing in late October. I know hurricane season is June 1 through Nov 30th but it seems like late October

might be a fair bet for weather. What's your experience been like?

I notice the Emerald is missing on the schedule the first 2 weeks of December, 2015. Anyone have any insight about the reason?

Dry Dock.

This has given me real fits this morning. Well, that and the fact that the Royal dry dock dates changed, and they set up a dry dock for the Emerald since sending out their schedules. With any ship that offers logical (B2B bookings with one booking number) voyages, if you have your heart set on a specific cabin, it's important to figure out if that cabin has been set up as a logical cabin or not. We had, I thought, way more than enough FCCs for winter 2015/16, but the issue with logical cabins and unexpected dry docks has us 8 short. I wonder if Princess will extend those old (aka "good") FCCs?

When is Emerald's dry dock?

I wish people would stop saying that Caribe balconies on Island/Coral are larger than other decks; it just isn't true. Some Caribe balconies are larger; quite a few are not, mainly the ones on the humps. Island and Coral are very different from the grand class ships, it is necessary to look at deck plans carefully or go to the very helpful website provided by Tom O.

Can you take long walks there, along the shore? Or is it a small area?

Bon Voyage, Dave! May your cruise be an awesome one!

The Princess charter (if they still have it) is a cattle car made bearable by wine.

I love Pam's sense of humor :)

Thank you for the review. We have booked the Royal Princess for a Baltic cruise next summer. Can you, or someone tell me what the small area of the promenade looks like outside of Crooners bar? From what I can tell, it appears to be extended out the side of the side. We have a cabin booked on the Emerald Deck just above the area. The balcony appears to be a little larger than others. I have been looking for pictures of that area, but haven't found any. Wondering if that outside area is a smoking area on the ship and also if the balconies are easily visible directly above. Anyone have pictures?

 

Thank you for your help

Here you go! Not sure if this is the Crooners Side or the Facets side, but someone posted this lovely photo which has been my desktop for a while now :)

This is the mobile phone app for Marine Traffic AIS. If you have an iPhone look for the app titled 'Marine Traffic Ships and Wind' for $3.99. :D

Got it, thanks! This is going to be fun....I am on the coast in New Hampshire, I bet it will be interesting even up here!

I had an "obstructed" view balcony on the Royal but I was lucky!

E438 had no life boat in front of the balcony only the rescue boat that was a lot smaller and below my balcony. All cabins aft of that do have lifeboats in front of them!

 

Lovely photo! Wish I were there right now...:) I'll have to wait for my E425 until next December on the Regal...sigh...

Pricing is all driven by supply and demand. No particular time is better other than the fact that you can sometimes lock in a lower price by booking very far ahead, like when itineraries are first released.

Was just on the TA too. No wifi in cabin E415 either. I had to stand in the hallway outside my cabin to get the wifi. Pam I tried done same thing you did but signal was gone the second I entered the cabin.

We are in E425 next year...wondering how you liked your stateroom, location, obstructed view, etc. if you get a chance to post :)

Excellent for balancing a wobbly table or if you cant find a coaster...

Not must do's, but

 

There are three classes of Princess Ships sailing the Alaska route in 2014. They are: Grand Class: Golden, Star and Grand Princess as well as the Crown Princess. These are similar ships, but not identical. The first three were sister ships when built have an indoor pool. The Crown is an enlarged version with 500 more passengers, does not have an indoor pool, but does have many other nice features. Then there are the Coral & Island Princess. These are sister ships with approx 2,000 passengers each and lots of public space. The Coral was updated during a recent dry dock with the addition of the International Cafe and an improved Horizon Ct. Buffet layout. The Island is not scheduled to go into dry dock before the 2014 Alaska season and does not have these improvements. These are my favorite Princess ships. The Pacific Princess is a small 670 passenger ship which many passengers enjoy.

 

I would select a voyage that goes into Glacier Bay.If time and money allow I would also book a Cruisetour and not just a voyage. Princess has excellent cruisetours in Alaska with lots to choose from.

Wow...that was an excellent explanation! I was on the Island through the Panama Canal...did the Golden in Alaska...loved both but would absolutely choose Coral or Island next time in Alaska...passenger ratio is noticeably better and really loved the ship!

Perhaps they are busy lowering the price of our cruise!!!

Definitely the fettucini alfredo and the goat cheese souffle..and the post-dinner coffee drinks!

I have Verizon and they have a plan you can get for traveling which is much cheaper than it would otherwise be. I learned it the hard way because I accidentally left my phone on and even though I had it in the safe it still managed to connect and rack up big bucks. Which is ironic considering that it's sometimes hard to connect when the phone is in my hand! You might want to check with ATT to see if they have a similar plan.

ATT is currently on my bad list because of horrible email issues that have been going on for over two months and they seem to be unable to solve them.:mad:

 

Sent from my Samsung capsule.

That's great and will be helpful while you are in port...but it won't do you any good while on board!

I'm excited to say that I have found pictures posted of an angled balcony. They are from a current cruiser, and are taken on the balcony rather than from the ground looking up, or a stock photo.

 

Woo Hoo!! She said it measured 54sq ft. That could be a 9x6. I am happy, happy, happy.:)

This is the rest of her description which goes with those photos:

Basically one side of the balcony where it aligns with the normal balcony is 4 ft deep. The other side is 8 ft deep. I measured the width of the balcony as 9 ft (which is 54 sq ft not the 56 I previously stated).

I have one of these booked also - happiness!! :rolleyes:

Island does not have IC; Coral does.

http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/slideshow/AlbumID=4230192023/PictureID=161672820023/a=2520751023_2520751023/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

For some reason I cannot upload this file, so hopefully this snapfish link works. This is a photo of the Patisserie on Island; pretty much a regular bar with a coffee brewer and platters of pastry out front. You can see the bartender reaching for the coffee pot. I was down there 6:30-7ish every day and was able to get coffee.

On our panama canal cruise we asked the waiter whether we might be able to get escargot at some point during the trip... he replied that they were going to be on the menu two nights later. The following evening, he brought 4 orders to our table upon our arrival. The expression on my parents' faces (who have never eaten snails) was priceless...they had no choice but to try them...and of course they loved them!

Now that is NICE! Unfortunately, I'll only see it in pictures, Im sure.

My concern is that Princess and now NCL Breakaway are all going to these "balconettes". As they retire the older ships is this what we have to look forward to? I agree that I will probably forego balconies, rather than pay ridiculous prices for these. I have never considered HAL, but i will be giving it a look. Princess is turning off a lot of loyal cruisers with these "julliettes". I have a cruise on the Coral in March, I hear it is a very nice smaller ship. Looking forward to it. I will not be booking Royal Princess.

Having been on the Island (sister ship to Coral) I feel pretty sure you will love it...

Thanks. Does not seem like there will be much of anything for me.

Not true. The coupon books make excellent coasters ;)