Reina del Mar

Saw that the cost of a taxi from Galveston pier (RC ship) to IAH was $ 190 plus tip, last Sunday (20th August 2023) if that helps you decide ??????????

For those lucky enough to be able to book in USA….T&Cs in UK do not allow this !!!!

Acceptable during the day…yes. Consider when and where you are cruising..might be too warm to wear Denim.

Sometimes we have found that it would have been preferable to avoid the Main Dining Rooms on Formal Nights, as the service has been SO slow…you tend to get a few funny looks being ‘dressed up’ in the buffet though...

I don’t understand why Royal would be accountable. Obviously it was a dreadful accident. Surely the Grandfather cannot feel any worse than he already must feel ? Bringing the whole situation to the fore time and time again will not help anyone.

Our cruise was from Santiago to Buenos Aires, so I’m afraid I can’t help with the itinerary you are asking about…sorry. We sailed in January and our ports were Puerto Montt, Chilean Fiords, Scenic cruising, Punta Arenas, Montevideo, Ushuaia, Falkland Islands..not in that order but that’s all I remember.

We had a wake view balcony on Sapphire earlier this year..was on Caribe deck. Long way to walk to the rear and balcony not as large as anticipated. Husband loved it..I found the walk a bit far, as I have knee problems. Must admit a very quiet area of the ship with space in the corridor outside..

Quite a few years ago we did a transfer through Princess for a sailing out of Fort Lauderdale. They put us in Intercontinental Hotel at Miami. All transfers etc included. Problem was we had to wheel our cases to the outside of the hotel..to be put in lines for several different coach transfers. Cases needed to be outside by 10am for transfer at noon. I had been reading Cruise Critic and noticed someone had mentioned cases being ‘picked up..aka stolen’ so waiting for almost two hours in the Miami heat watching our cases, did nothing for our stress levels. We now fly into Fort Lauderdale and book our own hotels…taxis (not tech savvy enough for Uber/Lyft) are easy enough. Obviously depends which port you are sailing from.

Have always found Princess offer a fair selection of cheeses until this year in South America where selection was limited and cheeses were not overly fresh…most disappointing !

No insulated cup with drinks’ package on Sapphire Princess in March 2023.

I’m sorry to say I think each price is per person. First night more expensive due to transfers but if I remember rightly the price for second and subsequent night is also per person, per night.

We did a pre Covid South America cruise around Cape Horn and were very fortunate that although quite chilly, our weather wasn’t rough. We were in a mid ship balcony..felt no movement. This year we cruised in an Aft Balcony from Santiago to LA. The aft balcony was a good cabin in so much as it was in a very quiet area with little passing footfall. Even though the temperature was in the 30s, we felt the ship moving much more. The views were amazing, the balcony not as large as I had anticipated. My husband found no problem walking all the way aft, but since I was in the middle of a ‘flare’ of an autoimmune disease, I found the walk quite long. He would like to book an aft cabin again, I am not so sure.

We have used Princess transfers/ hotels and also sorted ourselves out with hotels and transfers. The Princess packages are more expensive as they charge per person, but do take control of your arrangements. There are Princess reps at the airport and at the hotel which takes the stress off you. When we are visiting a ‘new to us’ port, we tend to use the Princess package but if we are departing from somewhere we have been previously and know the ‘lay of the land’, we tend to do our own bookings.

Disappointing, but not the end of the world. More ‘stuff’ to lug aboard …will I need an extra rollaboard for cans of Diet Coke, Water, Wine, now crisps, chocolate and sweets??? No, think we can manage without !

Sorry, unable to help but didn’t want to read and run…..check with Guest Services if still onboard. Mistakes happen..we had to have drinks taken off our folio when we had Drinks’ packages. Wasn’t a problem.

That’s interesting to know. Left a wonderful review of our excellent MDR waiter and his assistant and would like him to know we thought he was so impressive. Left a not so good review of the Assistant Maître d’hôtel and hope he got to learn something from our comments too !

I have heard of people in UK being unable to speak to cruiselines, if they have booked with a TA, so it is not different..but I tend to insist and then they will speak to me..maybe I have been lucky..I haven’t needed to speak to them often but when I have it’s been fine. (Princess and Royal Caribbean)

I book with a travel agent. However if I have a problem I need to have sorted and the TA takes too long (in my opinion) to fix it, I ring the cruise line. More often than not they will speak to you and sort your concern. I have read that folks have told them they can’t get hold of the TA to allow them to look into booking but I have never needed to say that.

I don’t really understand ……Please can anyone explain ??? if we have paid tips for twice daily cabin service, which has sincebeen reduced to once a day, and stewards have now been allocated double the cabins, surely that would mean double the tips ??? Thanks for your help.

We are unable to have ours shipped to UK for Caribbean/ South American cruises and have found no difficulty picking them up at the pier. For those who tend to forget things like passports, it might be a better option as one less thing to remember !

Always ask for a zero balance paper receipt when checking out of any hotel. Hand in keys at the same time. $2 doesn’t sound excessive but on first reading I thought it said $20 which would be another story !

We exchange money for travelling before we leave..not keen on ATMs in our home country, even less while abroad. We don’t order a huge amount of the various currencies, but usually have enough for coffees, tips and taxis. We don’t use debit cards abroad, preferring the additional security of a credit card. When we make the exchanges, more often than not we are given notes, so coins for bathrooms/locals buses tend to come after we have had a coffee in a local cafe. Of course, coins are unlikely to be accepted when returning currency to banks. It is not easy, but try to work out how much currency you might need in each port..depends on whether doing your shore excursions independently or using ship’s offerings. Many places offer ‘no commission’ foreign exchange, but their rates tend to be lower to make up for this. You’ll probably end up paying something, one way or another. At least that has been our experience.

As we fly internationally for most of our cruises, we have to pick medallion up , on check in. Haven’t had a problem…yet !!!

Not sure I would use Princess transfers in Fort Lauderdale as airport is very near the port. Flying internationally, we tend to arrive two-three days before sailing. It is easy to find a taxi at the airport to your hotel. Some hotels offer low cost shuttles and those tech savvy use Uber or Lyft. Some hotels have low cost shuttles to the port..we have done a shuttle and a taxi at various times. Approx $20 to hotels on 17th Street Causeway and less to port for two adults with large cases. Shuttle to port was $9 per person.(2022) In the past, when we flew into Miami we used the Princess hotel and transfer package..it worked well , was quite expensive, but we find it simpler to fly into Fort Lauderdale and do our own thing now we know how everything works.

Very true..UK bookings follow a different set of T&Cs where we are allowed only one change in our bookings, at an admin fee of $100. Seems so unfair when reading that our transatlantic friends can make several changes without cost, if their fare decreases. Maybe they are trying to bring things into line…would have preferred it if our rules followed USA though.