Reina del Mar

It was so much easier when you could just turn up without all the endless faff of booking every thing, every place and everywhere !!!! All my working life I had to follow very strict timetables, now retired I don’t really want my life to be ruled by schedules.The freedom of acting on impulse has been long awaited.

Maybe I misunderstood..thought it was anything white /gold, not necessarily formal wear. Think it’s more likely you have to plough through pages to find the notice in the first place.

True…there are so many pages of information many might not have found/seen it.

On a recent 18 day cruise on Sapphire, the third formal night was listed as White and Gold night. There was information about it in the many pages of pre cruise bumf..but many people had not found it by the number wearing white/gold !!!

Read the OP’s first post…Allure !!!

Hold hands ?? If someone gets lost, arrange to meet back up at the meeting point/ coach ? Listen to meet up instructions about when and where to be? Don’t wander off ? Use ‘Find my Friend” or similar app ?

There were about nine coaches leaving San Pedro for Lax from our cruise. We found this out from the list of coloured disembarkation labels and times. The lady we spoke to at guest services did not have a clue and could only tell us that the coaches went to all terminals and stopped ‘on request’. We had thought we might be tight on time, so this wasn’t an option for us..we took a taxi. The transfer would have been about the came cost but we would have needed to wait for coach to fill up, then possibly drop off at several terminals. Hopefully someone who has done the transfer will offer more details.

I agree..we weren’t sure we’d done the right thing buying it…we did have a few mock tails in the evenings but not sure we’d buy it again..probably didn’t break even !

Sorry to hear that.. Web chat is usually picked up in less than five minutes here in UK.

Just checked..I paid £11.80 for 12 bottles of water for 7 days on Allure out of Galveston in August..but think that was with a 30% or 40% discount..before they changed the bottle size. Also £129.22 for two Classic Soda packages..again with discount.

Web chat or email the cruiseline, then screen shot reply….they are likely to give a variety of answers!

Wasn’t ‘gone’ during our March/April 2023 cruise. Wanted to use OBC so booked it onboard..must be done on first two days to have same price as pre cruise. I did a live chat with Princess pre cruise to check..and kept a screen shot of their reply. Bar tender kept trying to have us order non alcoholic beverage package, but we insisted we wanted a Classic Soda Package and that is what we eventually bought.

Agree Adult child and GF could sort things out before sailing, or maybe has a friend he would like to invite ? They could pay some contribution if not the full cost.

Take a bottle or drinks’ cup with you and refill it using a beaker from buffet ?

Not 100% sure..but think they are now offering larger bottles of water at an increased cost. When I ordered the price was much less than they are asking now..even though there’s a discount at the moment. Tried to find it on ‘Manage My Booking’ but bottle size not showing on my booking now.

I am sure many people do this Maybe if cruiselines asked more reasonable prices less people would try this. Dozens a day or just one, it is still stealing…you must live with your conscience.

Princess would need to sort out the Medallion App before attempting to do something like this !! It crashes and has glitches so frequently that some people would miss out. Offering Dining requests, arrival times, check in, Sanctuary, drinks packages, speciality restaurants etc etc on booking might be simpler, so then it’s up to you when you book..as long as there was no opportunity to get your deposit back if you simply change your mind, want to swap cruises. ..obviously a different story for medical issues.

B2B cruisers having first choice before anyone else can board seems unfair…a bit like the library being ransacked. Maybe..just maybe..those booking early should have first choice..encouraging people to book as soon as cruise opens up. However..then you’d have the unfairness of those in USA being offered booking dates before those in UK, Australia etc..and of course Elites can book a day earlier than others. I am not really sure what the fairest way would be. As some wise person once said- ‘You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time!’

Doesn’t always work out. We had a very good travel agent. She tried hard to sort out our issues..involving her manager and the local area manager. None of them could do anything..of course they had other customers and our booking of four cabins could not take priority. However….It was our booking, and I did not have other clients to deal with. I phoned RCCL and spoke to them..with the same result as travel agent. They were prepared to talk to me even though TA had booked it. Still not sorted ! So I emailed Michael Bailey..One of his minions phoned and emailed from USA to UK and it was eventually sorted out to our satisfaction. Took me many hours but I wasn’t prepared to give up. We all enjoyed our cruise in the end. Be determined , refuse to accept what doesn’t suit , RCCL caused the issue, not you and you can get it fixed !!!!

Paid $68 plus tip from San Pedro to Lax terminal 2 earlier this month, for two adults, two large cases and two roll aboards. Took about 45 minutes. Dropped at door to international departures. Road was quite busy. Board at taxi stand showed $65 so we were a little over due to traffic.

Depends whether you really need the tablecloth and champagne…maybe we are just ‘cheap’, but..you can just order breakfast from room service and open the bottle of Champagne you carried onboard ???? If you are ‘nice’ to the delivery person, they will explain you can add additional items to those on the actual menu that is provided. Depends what you are looking for but we had omelettes, additional fruit etc. We usually have room service breakfast on all port days to avoid the scramble of the buffet. We have found it to suit our needs as they will put it on the balcony if you wish and the delivery chap we had on our last cruise was amazing. Obviously you need to tip. Our only ‘issue’ was placing the trays on the floor outside the cabin..(back issues.)

Maybe things have changed..our situation was pre Covid..D and SIL had a suite with SIL’s Dad and GD in balcony nearby.…for booking purposes only. We were in adjacent balcony to Grand suite. Fortunately we were all close enough to have the same steward…so he didn’t miss out on any tips by putting GD in with D and SIL.

I heard the Lady Future Cruise Consultant on Sapphire Princess was rude to some of our fellow cruisers. We were waiting to confirm how many FCDs we had. A gentleman consultant saw us waiting and enquired what we wanted. I explained..he checked with lady who said neither of us had any. Later that day someone phoned the cabin and said we had two each. Does not inspire confidence !

Can’t wait……2024 here we come !

Maybe I used the wrong terminology..I meant buggies are available to transport passengers to the gates. Maybe you thought I meant luggage trolleys ??? I think the cost of luggage trolleys is outrageous..but that is another story! Suppose traffic varies due to time of day..our experience was early morning and although Tom Bradley terminal was quite busy, it wasn’t at a standstill as we travelled through.