fishywood

I guess I am in the minority. I was planning on dining at Sabatini's Trattoria at least three times on my 13 night cruise on CB coming up. But several items that I really enjoyed on Golden Princess last year (the Veal Vallet, the Calamari with fried vegges and falafel app) are gone now, replaced by items with names similar to the menu in Italian chain restaurants.

And isn't Princess Favorites just a code for "food with the same preparation and ingredients as what is served in the MDR" 🤔

The omission of one crucial fact is coloring many of the responses:

Where are you staying on the 25th and 26th? A Ft Lauderdale hotel? A different hotel other than the Intercontinental near PortMiami? I had to read and reread the entire thread several times before realizing you are not actually staying at the IC, just returning the rental there. Which leaves a huge gap in what we know about your plans.

4 hours ago, dcruisers said:

This is the Florida Departure forum

The suggestion to repost your question on this forum was made prior to our host moving this thread here from the Princess board where it was started by the OP. Oh wait--that was you. 

2 hours ago, BNBR said:

I would disregard the idea that there are closer hotels. Plantation is just off the highway that runs right to the port.  This hotel is barely 15 minutes and $5/pp shuttle to the port. It's an excellent cruise hotel.  

I was merely trying to suggest that there are much better alternatives that starting your cruise riding a hot crowded shared shuttle on which it is all but guaranteed that your ship will not be its first stop. I have personally sworn off them since taking one from the airport to a pre-cruise hotel way back in 2000. The driver pulled up to the service entrance not the lobby entrance, flung our bags into the gutter and demanded a 100% tip (this was a very premium hotel where the shuttle was not free). And this was in a US city with a far better reputation for customer service than South Florida--so I can only imagine what the war stories are from down here.

38 minutes ago, BarbinMich said:

 Bottom line:  they replaced cabins on 1/2 of a deck with different facilities and forced their loyal pax who booked those cabins to book a balcony or an inside in a less convenient location.

My preferred location on all Princess ships is Emerald Deck near the aft elevators/stairs.

On the different iterations of the Grand-class I take an Obstructed Balcony.

When I was on Royal Princess in November 2017 I booked an Obstructed Oceanview in the same location.

Nobody is being forced to choose a cabin location they do not want (subject to what has already been booked up of course). To argue that simply replacing the Deck 8 Obstructed OVs with Obstructed Balconies does so is irrational. 

The Deck 8 Obstructed Oceanview cabins on previous Princess builds have been replaced by Obstructed-view Balcony cabins.

That is simply the new norm in shipbuilding. And not some "conspiracy" to replace OV cabins with higher priced ones--I have seen Caribbean sailings on the Royal-class ships where the fare difference between Inside and Obstructed Balcony was little more than $5/pp/pd. So more or less the same cost as the OV cabins in the same location on the older ships.

answer easily found on the property-specific web page

https://hamptoninn3.hilton.com/en/hotels/florida/hampton-inn-ft-lauderdale-plantation-FLLPTHX/index.html

 If you’re traveling to and from the airport, our free airport shuttle runs daily from 8:00am to 10:00pm. Port Everglades Cruise Port is found just 20 minutes away by car. Our cruising guests will appreciate our one-way shuttle to Port Everglades running every hour starting at 8:00am ($5 per person fee applies).

There are three other Hampton Inns much closer to Port Everglades (don't know which of the three was referenced in post #3) so why stay in the suburbs and have to worry about shared transport unless the savings is truly significant--though without knowing what time of year you are cruising we can't fully answer that question either.

Are you asking about the hotels along Federal Highway in Dania Beach?

Or the hotels at the interchange of I-95 and either Griffin or Stirling Roads (at the latter those on the north side of Stirling have Dania Beach addresses, the south side Hollywood addresses)?

Big difference in amenities and safety of neighborhood.

14 minutes ago, fishywood said:

 

deleted--is cruise critic ever going to fix the problem of the 'edit' and 'quote' buttons being literally millimeters apart in the same tiny print

According to the US Princess website there are exactly three cabins available (oceanview, not inside) for the 46 night round-trip Freemante sailing that starts a few days later & ends a few earlier than the 55 nighter.

The 55 night version that sails round-trip Adelaide is showing completely sold out.

I'm guessing you are searching TA websites? (Please note it is against cruise critic rules to mention those sites by name).

Any cruise with so little availability three months before final payment/six months before sailing is almost certainly not going to be discounted. Likely there is a waiting list for balcony cabins and suites.

Long cruises such as this one designed to cater to the Australia market (Sun Princess is based Down Under year round, the onboard currency is AU$ and activities and entertainment more than a bit different than the rest of the Princess fleet) tend to book up very fast as soon as the itineraries are released. You may want to start researching cruises in the region for 2021 now; the late 2021/early 2022 Princess Australia deployments will be out in 4 or 5 months as well.

(welcome to Cruise Critic by the way)

Have you ever sailed a Transatlantic before? I wouldn't think it the best way to try a new cruise line for the first time (other than the Queen Mary 2, the exception to most all rules...but I digress).

Oceania is a premium line, though not a luxury/all inclusive. But several of their touts love to pepper the boards with posts that any Travel Agent worth the time it takes to call them should get your gratuities paid and a beverage package (though not necessarily the top one) included. Making Oceania on a par with Princess, net cost-wise. However if you weren't planning on purchasing a lot of extras on Sky Princess I would choose the cruise and line (and fare) I was more familiar with. Try Oceania on a shorter cruise more balanced between port and sea days.

The SS Dolphin IV in 1989, the first cruise I paid for out of my own meager post-college wages rather than with my family. A 13,000 ton ship built in 1956. It seems every online source gives a different total passenger capacity in her final form; the most reliable (based on sales materials when she moved to Port Canaveral from Miami in the 90s) was 558 lower berth pax, 692 if all berths sold.

I remember at the first night's show the CD called up all singles to the dance floor and had us all introduce ourselves to each other. For the rest of the cruise it seemed like half the people I passed in the hallway called out my name. Honestly I didn't know whether to be amused or creeped out by it--I know today it would be the latter. I guess I take more comfort in the anonymity of larger ships these days.

I must say that Dolphin Cruise Line had a lot of fans in Florida in the 1980 and early 90s. Despite very mixed (at best) reviews I thought both the food and the helpful crew were at least as good as what you get from the opening-price-point cruise lines today. 

The differences in the public rooms both surrounding the Piazza and on the highest decks (above Lido) are considerably more than a smidge. Though admittedly 50-ish more cabins on a ship that large is a mere drop in the bucket. Honesty I don't know why the architects didn't find a way to add balconies on those eight Sun-deck cabins. (Guess they just wanted to be just distinct enough from Royal & Regal to add some confusion)

Sky has a lower berth capacity that is 100 persons higher than Royal and Regal. Thus approximately 50 more cabins. Which includes six forward facing OV cabins, plus two window suites. All on Deck 17. I assume when you surveyed the deck plans to find the answer you may not have gone all the way to the top of the ship.

Thus the reason Oceanview is a selectable cabin class on Sky. For those eight cabins alone. 

1 hour ago, steamboats said:

There are no detectors in the cabin. There is still a card operated master switch next to the door with a white card provided to operate it.

To my knowledge the only ships with the card-operated switch inside the cabin are Royal and Regal Princess. Subsequent builds that will have the Medallion online from launch will not need them. And retrofitted ships have the little white disk in the ceiling (in both the cabin and the bathroom) to detect the presence of the Medallion--how else would the find-your-mate function (or most others) work?

My post didn't mean to imply that the internal detectors also functioned to open and close the door. I am assuming that because when the last occupant leaves the cabin the door detector  locks itself it would also turn off the lights as well. So there must additionally be a "sleep" function for Medallions that remain motionless for a certain amount of time, else what would be the point (a question I continue to struggle with and don't at all expect to learn the answer to when I board CB in two weeks).

10 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

All aft facing cabins/suites were added.

The two aft facing Oceanview cabins on Emerald deck were original, not added.

There were two identical cabins on Baja deck but their windows were obliterated when the stern-facing balcony cabins were added.

In early summer 2020 Golden Princess will sail the round/trip Los Angeles to Alaska. After which she is leaving the fleet.

Island Princess will spend Summer 2020 in Europe rather than Alaska. Where she will be Summer 2021 is very much up in the air.

As others have suggested a pre- or post-cruise land tour the four ships doing the open-jaw Vancouver-Whitter in 2020 are Royal, Grand, Coral and Pacific Princess. My personal choice will be to start with Grand Princess and base your decision on how pricing and dates work out (several other threads on this topic seemed to have found better pricing on Grand than Royal or even Island).

For 2021 the assumption is a second Royal-class ship (Regal Princess) will be moving to Alaska. We won't know her exact 2021 deployment until much later this year.

So even for just the Vancouver-Whittier (or reverse) sailings you have the choice of the most modern Princess ship(s) (Royal and Regal) or the most intimate (700-passenger Pacific Princess). But the intermediate ships (Grand or Coral) will have the best on deck viewing areas and be far lest crowded than Royal or Regal.

6 hours ago, steamboats said:

Be aware that the OM even opens the door from the inside when you come too close to the door! So use the security lock when you´re in the cabin or place your OM close to the window.

 

steamboats

But don't you have to keep the Medallion on your person at all times, especially if you are alone in the cabin--even in the bathroom as detectors have been installed there? If a Medallion lays motionless for a certain amount of time doesn't the system assume you have either fallen asleep or left it behind in your cabin and turn off the lights and AC? If not then the power-saving feature is pretty much wasted.

After you board just open the browser on your device and activate Princess@Sea. (You do not have to download any app).

You are connected through the ship's intranet network and do not have to buy any minutes unless you wish to visit the World Wide Web.

https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/onboard-experience/activities/princess-at-sea/

*one caveat: if you are sailing Island Princess on or after December 20, 2020 the ship will then be MedallionClass so you will have to download the appropriate apps from that point on*

Unlike Royal Caribbean or sister line Celebrity there is tons of helpful information on the Princess website that will answer any and all similar questions. Welcome aboard 😎

What the boarding pass says is:

At cruise check-in, you will be required to present your boarding pass and passport or, where applicable, proof of citizenship and a valid government issued photo ID, plus any required visas and original vaccination certificates.

There are no required vaccinations for travel from the US to Canada. 

...and I'm getting antsy about the Medallion as well. Order Details on the app have stated 'on the way' for more than a week now but I've received no e-mail confirmation or tracking number (where most people who do report that the Medallion was delivered within a day of receiving the shipping info).

https://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/travel.jsp

The Princess flight guidelines for Ft Lauderdale are:

Disembarking Passengers
Earliest International Flight Departure for Ft. Lauderdale: 5 hours after ship's arrival.
Earliest Domestic Flight Departure for Ft. Lauderdale: 4 hours and 30 minutes after ship's arrival.

...so any flight after 10:30 is fine.

When I first saw the thread title I figured it was the usual question about making a flight at 8:30 (or even earlier) that plenty of people claim to do all the time. Obviously you have the right idea. Not only is an early disembarkation not necessary but even if you are one of the last ones off the ship (at 10-ish--and remember you have to be out of your cabin by 8:00) you will have a couple long hours to kill at FLL, and most airlines do not accept bags earlier than three hours before flight time. Meaning if you can switch to a flight 90-120 minutes earlier you should.

12 hours ago, kywildcatfanone said:

They currently give only two options, a bottle of wine or two coffee packages.  Those are the only options currently.  Hoping they might update to include more soon. 

 

I also wish they would allow you to select this in the personalizer so that you don't have to do it onboard.

https://book.princess.com/captaincircle/membershipFAQ.page

I’m an Elite member, is there a way to customize my mini-bar?

Yes, you can make changes onboard by dialing room service. Mini bottles of liquor can be exchanged; liquor can also be exchanged for beer. You can also exchange the entire setup for: a bottle of wine, coffee cards, sodas only or waters only.

It appears Princess is replacing the bedside lamps on a rolling/as-needed basis. Grand Princess and a couple other ships have reported such. So it is simply luck of the draw whether you will have a new lamp with USB ports or not.

(When I was on Grand much earlier this decade the two lamps in my cabin were obviously cobbled together from spare parts. So if you are in Baja 321 you hopefully will have new ones 🤔)

This is the thread I was referring to:

...which was still on page one of the Princess board when this thread was started concurrently. I honestly assumed at the time you had seen that thread and wanted to ask a more general question about using OBC, thus starting your own.

28 minutes ago, ONT-CA said:

We are booked for the Quebec-New York and return in October.  We are taking the train to Quebec. Do you know if there is some sort of transit service from the station to the ship?  Plus we will be arriving at the dock near 9:00 pm but have never boarded a ship so late.  Any thoughts as to how one does that.  And finally we wish to disembark upon arrival in Quebec.  Any problems?

• I believe a taxi will be the best method from train station to pier
• As long as the gangway is open you can board. Check-in procedures would be done at the purser's desk. Only issue arriving that late is not having someone to help with your luggage
• If you are saying you wish to disembark as soon as the ship docks in Quebec and not spend the final night onboard, this is usually something you need advance permission from the corporate office to do. In this case it should be no issue getting the OK as this is not the first Canadian port thus no immigration formalities will be necessary. But again there likely will be no one to assist with your bags.

Coffee, hot tea and iced tea are available from dispensers in the buffet and from your servers in the main dining rooms.

Milk and juices are also served at breakfast.

Lemonade is available from the bar servers in the buffet and pool deck during the daytime. Though on some ships I have seen pitchers of lemonade at the beverage stations in the buffet in the evening. (Do not ask for lemonade in the dining rooms, you will be rebuffed)

Sodas are not included. You can purchase them for $2.00 per can or get the unlimited fountain soda, virgin cocktails, and coffee plan for $10.00/per person/per day (price not including 18% gratuity; must be bought for length of cruise).

There is also a separate Coffee package which includes 15 specialty coffees (from any bar or dining venue) plus unlimited fresh brewed coffee and specialty teas from the International Cafe. Flat price of $31 (plus 18%).

So why is there a separate coffee package to purchase when ordinary coffee is included at all dining venues? Because the coffee and iced tea served there are made from reconstituted syrup. Any resemblance to coffee grounds or tea leaves is strictly coincidental.