CU64

Pickup on 2/27 IAH to Galveston Hotel; 2:30 PM

Pickup on 3/6 Cruise Port to IAH, 10:30AM.....Flight leaves 3PM

Originally booked Galveston Express RT but AA changed flight times, 2 hrs later. Not worth the hurry or waiting at airport. Lincoln Sedan MKT. 2 of us.

Barbara

Rather sit on ship than at airport for 3PM flight.

If using private car, can we ask for 10AM disembarkation time?

Trying to avoid the mad scramble at customs, et al.

Barbara

Do not answer phone; finally got someone; she did not know anything about text message that was left for me with different Tel # left by James at HUL; canned and does not answer number he left. I had a confirm # and Order #.

She was either distracted by texting, or something?????

I was patient for 10 min.

Barbara

You might also want to post in the Gulf Coast Departures forum:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=414

Such good advise.

BL

I like cruising out of Galveston , that one and only bridge could be a concern if you cutting it close to get to or off the island. Glad we were in a pre-paid town car and driver had a good sense of humor, he did get a good tip.

Please advise. Need to go IAH RT Galveston. Thank you.

Barbara

Any of you used Houston Urban Limo or Action Limo? Flight pushed 2 hrs later and cutting it too close for Galveston Express reservation. Fog and possible icy roads a consideration. Thanks.

I bring the above and use it to go to BR at night + it is good for safety to get around hallways in case of ER + it gives light for something you might misplace in cabin/earrings/contact lens. et al + good for purse on Airplane!

Barbara

Awesome! Thanks so much for your reply. I was really disappointed this last December when I had planned on using the Spa showers (4 of us in a room complicate getting ready) and there were no showers in the spa on the Grand!! They only have them in the treatment rooms. They didn't have a thermal suite either.

 

I like using the thermal suite with the heated tile loungers and the sauna rooms. It's so relaxing.

Thermal Suite Pass. Free if booking massage. Courteous to other passengers if using heated loungers no more than 30 min./signs posted/ my favorite

Barbara

Montreal to New York cruise on Cunard about 20 yrs ago. MD on board said to take 25 mg Dramamine. People at dinner could not walk/dishes falling off tables. I was afraid it would put me to sleep. It worked well. I took it before I felt seasick which is the trick.

Barbara

I like the bathtub as I take baths + makes the BR appear larger.

It is also nice to have 2 TV's sometimes. Just much nicer space especially with longer cruises.

Barbara

When our checked luggage had wine in it with our TSA approved locks they notified us to go to the naughty room to open our bag to prove it was wine without cutting our locks.

 

We flew to Vancouver on the day of a cruise & packed our wine in our 2 checked bags (1 bottle per bag). Arriving the morning of our cruise we put our Princess tags on in case they got misplaced on our n/s flight from LAX. Neither bag arrived on the carousel & the Princess airport rep said they "probably" were transferred to the ship. We didn't use a Princess transfer however with the tags they still sent them directly to the ship. That made it impossible for us to put them in our carry on bags or our 2 bottle wine bag.

 

Thankfully one bag was delivered to our cabin & the other we claimed at the naughty room.

 

I agree it'd be good for Princess to more clearly state how to carry on wine to eliminate any confusion. Most passengers will only read the procedure on the luggage tags & boarding passes and do not read the fine print in the cruise contract.

I would never take the chance of flying in the departure day. Best of luck.

Barbara

Aloha and Baja balconies are smaller and fully covered. Caribe balconies are larger and are half covered and half uncovered. To me, there's no real difference between port and starboard. However, my friend always likes to see as many sunsets as possible. When she books a cabin she will look at the itinerary to see how many days are going south versus going north. She picks the side with the most days facing west. Does that make sense?

Thot only E Deck minisuites were fully covered on Crown Princess. I wish I had known this for Alaska Cruise.

Barbara

are you saying NOT to go in May? When is the best time to take a chance on Glacier Bay? Have been to Alaska in Aug with sun daily & Tracey Arm but have not seen GB.

Thanks for feedback.

Barbara

Do I want covered or uncovered balcony port side?

Thanks for advise.

Barbara

You can also google those ports to get weather information. For example try

Roatan, Honduras weather december. You'll get lots of information, day and night temperatures, rain fall, etc.

We are scheduled to go end of Feb 2016. Article in Travel Section today advises to stay away from Honduras....

Barbara

My wife and I would disagree with the term "Escape Completely" in our case. Perhaps that's why we enjoy music and activities by the pool.

 

Our lives are great, good jobs, no drama at home, etc.

 

So when we cruise, it's to experience new things, and to be entertained. Either by the cruise staff or from meeting people or visiting new places.

 

We are not "Escaping" anything, in fact, just the phrase itself seems to promote the idea that someone's normal day-to-day life is so bad that you need to escape from it.

 

Perhaps that's why so many have posted about needing a quiet pool atmosphere so they can read and put their normal lives away for awhile.

 

Luckily, we don't have a need for that, and look to participate as much as possible while onboard.

Wondered with your Elite status if you were trying to get & give info to Princess

to fulfill desires of their consumers. Something does not ring true about the tenacity of your posts. Just sayin'

After 30-some years of teaching college, I have formed some ideas about the anti-reading crowd. I encountered plenty of them over the years. "You want me to read this WHOLE book?" Sometimes it was a lack of reading skills. (Yes, you can get to college without being able to read very well. Sad but true.) Sometimes it was the chore of having to do something other than party all night. For whatever reason, the best way, it seemed, to avoid reading was to dismiss reading as anything important. It is obvious when reading what someone writes whether or not he or she is a reader. This attitude toward reading is something "of which by" reinforces the idea that someone who wrote a book must be famous, indeed "the most famous."

I don't think it is always about reading. Some people need stimulation outside of themselves to feel "vitality." The culture is making it worse with the cell/ipad/constant attention to something moving...I see people walking their dogs with their nose in their phone/texting or talking......really?

All replies have been really in favor of a quiet and boring pool atmosphere with little or no entertainment.

 

I can definitely tell you that's not how it used to be on the Princess Caribbean cruises we had taken in the past.

 

They had steel drum bands, fun pool games where the winners received gold medallions, and smart DJ's that played good 70's and 80's music to keep people drinking and in a upbeat and social mood.

 

We hope all Princess cruises have not turned into a poolside book reading club. As we love the upscale feel and service, but don't want to be bored out of our minds either.

 

There's needs to be some compromise for those who want a little more activity and social atmosphere around the Neptune Pool, otherwise Princess will lose younger (35 -50) upscale cruisers to other, more proactive lines.

 

Besides, this will drive more revenue two ways - the selling of more drinks and additional Sanctuary revenue for those looking to read books in a quiet place

this line might suit you best or NCL

We were on this cruise also. We arrived at the pier at about 11:00. Walked right up and checked in. We are elite and were give boarding group A. At about 11:45 people started standing up and going to board the ship. One gentlemen said not yet. Then he disappeared. We assumed the in transits and BVE folks were boarding. When we realized everyone was just going we got up. There was a woman at the doorway and I showed her our boarding ticket she rudely said "We are not doing that. This is crowd control." I realize these people are not Princess employees but her attitude was terrible. We were on the ship by 12:15 and had a nice lunch in the MDR. We even met a couple from our hometown. We had E726. Our cabin was spotless and in good condition. We asked our Steward for a top sheet and it was on the bed that night. We were very happy with our steward. He cleaned the room promptly each morning. It was always done by the time we had finished breakfast. The first morning we went to the MDR for breakfast and had a pretty disappointing experience. The coffee was barely hot and took forever to get. Our hot food didn't come and didn't come. When we questioned the waiter he said there are a lot people here. Yes it is a large ship and it was a sea day. He acted as if this was a total surprise to him. We could barely understand him. The rest of the breakfasts we had in the MDR were fine. We had anytime dining and when we went down at about 5:15 on the first night there was a huge line going all the way out to the atrium. We decided to go the buffet. It was very good. First time I have ever seen shrimp cocktails at the buffet. We had a great dinner at the Crown Grill on the first formal night. We found the beverage service in the buffet to be very good. We ordered room service one day for lunch and our order was totally screwed up. Second time for room service lunch it was fine. We had a great time. This was a last minute cruise for us and we really need a break from all the craziness at home. The weather was great and we actually loved the rough seas. I sleep like a baby when the ship is moving. I think the MDR food was a little better than some of the cruises we have been on. I guess that explains the 6 pounds I gained!! The one thing that I didn't understand was all the Mariachi playing in the atrium. We definitely were not doing the Mexico cruise. Getting off the ship was easy. We did walk off and actually got off a little earlier than our scheduled time. Thankfully, we had no toilet issues. A couple of times we thought that it wasn't going to flush but it finally did. This was our first time on the Ruby and we found the ship to be in good shape and clean. I was happy that they had the sanitizing stations at all the food venues and that the buffet was requiring folks to use them. We were a little worried that there would be a huge number of kids on this cruise due to spring break but there were not too many. I think in a previous thread someone said there were 300. We only saw a few badly behaved kids. We came back rested and relaxed ready to face the world again.

This is my only real complaint. We were in E724. Second day I called room steward # with question about top sheet. No answer from our steward: message said another of same crew category would respond. None did. I let it go as my face and mouth had already been around top of duvet.

Apparently these duvets are not washed every time? The whole thing is why people get sick from others. The most germs are on those blankets they put on top of bed in cabin. I really could not believe the duvet did not have clean sheets on top and bottom. Never have had it happen before.

Wow. So, if I sign up for traditional, I can't even go to the buffet???

 

Who knew.

This is a problem when you sign up for traditional and then decide, too often, to use other dining venues. There were many people who were on waitlist for early traditional. Perhaps you were assigned to late traditional, which is less desirable for many because of the time.

It is not about your choices being taken away. It is only that when you secure a traditional dining time, those seats are secured for your party and others have been bumped from those seats.

Our experience is:

o Some passengers attend only on formal evenings

o Some passengers attend only on smart casual evenings

o Some passengers attend every (or almost every) evening

o Some passengers never show up. (I think in some cases they are new to cruising and a TA did not explain options properly so they were assigned to TD without realizing what it was. (I remember one post on Cruise Critic about a couple that never went to the dining room because they thought it was an extra charge each night. They ate in the buffet every evening.)

Lines, lines, lines. Reservations only for 5:30 and 7:30. We are going back to traditional. People think they can go to ATD whenever they feel like it even if they are booked in traditional.

We too just got off the Ruby....great cruise but two of the cabins in our party had a terrible problem with the toilets,. The toilet in R706 did not work for 5 days...they fixed it every day and it would stop working again after one flush. And the toilet in C 706 had to be fixed about 5 times too. And no hot water one day. We thought it might be the 706 cabins but I was in C706 and no problems...but everything else was great.

E724 cabin/ great & good location/ no problems, could hear thrusters really well & some light base shook bed from band below until 12PM.. no big deal/ bed & PILLOWS comfy but did not see much of cabin steward. One duvet on bed with no top sheet/ hope they wash them every time/ rang for steward to ask/ no reply and no one else showed up, so let it go...figured it had already been near my mouth...

### talked to woman last day who had similar poo problems in BR on deck 12 with constant complaints and no real satisfactory results

best thing on ship: International Café; Pop Star nights; Deck 15 hot dogs!

2 tables open for blackjack, only one with hand shuffle/terrible odds.....not good for this many passengers. Black Jack tournament most fun all week!

Fab weather; so very grateful, even tho some rough beautiful sea in SB channel

thought Ruby would outdo Diamond, Sapphire, Coral...it was beautiful but prefer X

No disagreement here!! The Crown Grill is the best. We went to Sabatini's a couple of times and finally gave up.

No price break for sp rest ANY night, including the first. Crown Grill 1st night/ok filet and just ok side dishes/service very good/ ...not motivated to go back

Sabatini's Night #2....understaffed.....reservation at 7 had to wait about 10-15 for him to get table for 2 but a very nice table...

got spiced shrimp & she brought lobster trio...should have gotten these main dishes first as it took too long & we got too hungry...my risotto was best food all night.........

again, not motivated to go back as $50 charge + bottle of wine which seems the thing to do = 100

Adagio before dinner/waitress standing at next table for 5 min talking and "did not see us" until DH went to bar. I ordered call martini, dirty grey goose.....I would have gone back to bar tender & asked what she put in drink as I felt nothing....usually with little food, I can tell I am drinking a martini....

we did not go back there the rest of cruise. Again, not inspired!

Sounds like Princess. No party atmosphere. No rock climbing walls. No water slides. We've sailed Star Princess twice and even though she has a capacity of 2,600 passengers and a crew of 1,100 we never felt crowded.

my experience with them has been good: 12 day Baltic (the best on Constellation); 12 day Med on Equinox, 7 day Pacific Coastal on Century.....

for what it is worth, I never go an any cruise for less than 7 days...I believe the passenger composition is different as well as the organizational patterns of the crew....

You really don't need to pack anything all that special to protect a bottle of wine. That glass is very strong and it takes a large amount of force to break one. I've dropped one on cement and it simply cracked a bit and did not shatter. Whenever you see someone hit with a bottle on TV to great breaking effect, that is actually edible candy glass!

 

I've transported bottles around the world back to the US (from Portugal, Italy, Australia, etc.) in my checked luggage and never had one break and would not be nervous at all about having a bottle in my luggage as it heads onto the ship. I just pack it in the middle of my luggage where it isn't likely to take any direct hits.

I bought one of those wine holders from a travel co and had it sitting with a bottle of red wine inside. It fell 1 ft from the top of a box where I had it resting onto the wood floor and shattered. Nothing hit it. The red wine seeped out of this so called wonderkin of a wine holder and got onto the wool rug. Luckily, it was wool and was able to be cleaned by me & then the rug Dr.

Would NEVER put wine in suitcase!