tanyaewa

I think I’m nearly that you are concerned with the clubs reaching capacity I would be surprised if there was any kids club that was full and had no spots for your grandkids.  Sign them up online and get over there to introduce the kids when you get a chance. 

They may or may not enjoy the programming - so much stuff to do with you! My kids have cruised every major line and never actually spent a moment at the clubs.  Even though I registered them every time.  They love the action of the ship and hanging out in the public spaces with us.  

I would do anything to skip LAX 

We have sailed Disney,carnival, princess, royal and Norwegian.  I liked them all for their own reasons but I loved the NCL Getaway ship the most. It was very modern style.

i liked all the food venues, especially the Cuban one up top, and the buffet was our favourite of any we have ever had. 

My kids loved the water slide and the ropes course and climbing wall.

We have done it and It is absolutely possible as long as folks keep their stuff tidy.  Princess is by far the best closet space at sea - lol. Plus the area can be used as a dressing room when there are others in the room.  

Is is it a sunny destination? That makes it easier with less to bring

The difference in price $59 and $74 may be the CDN / US exchange 

We do an annual cruise with 3 generations - grandmas, moms, and grandsons.  We love the MDR breakfast because the older ladies enjoy the civility and the grandsons will sit and have a leisurely meal all together.  The Moms could care less what we get served as long as we all get to sit together and enjoy the time

You know who does a great Sea Day brunch..... Carnival

I also see that you are posting from Canada. Don’t forget that in order to do a comparison you need a universal currency to compare to.

but to answer your question in a completely ballpark way with no comparisons of cruise lines, itinerary, time of year, category of stateroom etc....  

i like to see between $100-200 CDN per day per person

Thanks for the review! Glad you are enjoying yourself so far.  Also glad you can be more present in your amazing vacation without doing it “live” for us. Looking forward to the “rest of the story......”

“I add Princess Flexible EZ Air to every cruise booking we make.  We can decide at final payment (or even later) whether to keep the flights.”

absolutely.  And I go back frequently to check for better pricing and have usually found it.  We love using it from YVR

We are based in Vancouver so try and do one of these every spring as a 3 generations cruise with the whole family and a few other friend groups.

no formal nights, mostly older crowd, 

13 hours ago, barriedavis said:

Bringing wine on board in port calls is not allowed, only embarkation.  In my experience, (28 Princess cruises) you have a much better chance of bringing wine on board at port calls where the baggage x-rays on return are carried out by non-ship staff on the quayside rather than security staff at the top of the gangway. 

Respectfully, where were your cruises, primarily? Our Med cruise had no such rules when bringing wine on in port.  In fact, In Corfu there was a huge duty free shop after port security  and no one was checking onboard.  You could bring absolutely anything onboard 

Just FYI when you pre order it you get a coupon.  The coupon needs to be redeemed by calling room service to deliver.  It’s reasonably quick - but unless you are preordering for a particular reason.  It’s just as easy to pop to a bar and grab the bucket. Same price.  Includes gratuity.  All bottles don’t have to be opened so that how we bought all our beer on the Crown in October 

We used Expedia to book the hotels and Viator for tours and transfers.

we stayed at the Hotel Quirinale in Rome and it was stunning.  Location, breakfast, gorgeous garden courtyard walkable to everywhere.

Barcelona was El Avenida Hotel.  Stunning rooftop pool and bar and walkable to everywhere.  I went by location and found best pricing.

I’ve never had dinner in a buffet on any ships I’ve been on... so my faves are breakfast or lunch items

but... my absolute favourite on NCL - is the oatmeal, topped with blueberries and whipped cream. It’s fantastic and no other ship I’ve been on has the same options.  I also loved the salamis and cheeses options in the afternoon.  My boys would go down and get me a lovely plate of cheese, meats and crackers and bring it up to my lounge chair in the afternoon.  Again - no other cruise lines offer this same quality 

We did a similar cruise last September.  We did EZAir from Vancouver to Rome and Barcelona to Vancouver.  We did all transfers and hotels on our own and it was very easy and we got to choose the budget we wanted to.  We used a hotel booking site for hotels and absolutely loved our choices.

Transfers were super easy.  Lots of info in the Europe boards

I’m a lurker and I read it all! You just time-sucked an entire morning for me.  Thanks. I  enjoyed it.  On the Bliss in Mexico in October.  Looking forward to it

Imo it’s inconsiderate to be tipping in a currency other than your own.  If you were a tour guide in Alabama what would you do with a handful of Rubles  from a Russian tourist?

On 11/13/2018 at 4:37 PM, BirdTravels said:

Probably won't be better than Take All 5 (Veteran's Day special). 

That was awesome.  Upgraded to all 5 and am very stoked, 

In your post you say there are 4 of you.  Costa Maya has an amazing water park that we booked as an excursion with our tean boys last December on the Freedom of the Seas.

https://maya-park.com/

When we book excursions I try to find something in the $50 price range and book it for our family. We did dune buggy rides in Cozumel. We did the waterpark in Costa Maya. And we did stingray swim in Grand Cayman. Except for the stingray swim I booked them all through the cruise line.

We have also taken local buses to beaches when there was nothing that interested us as an excursion.   Trip advisor is a very good resource as is the port forums here in cruise critic 

12 hours ago, MissP22 said:

I can only wonder how many people just leave them at the beach. 

Hopefully none. That would be lame 

Hopefully none.  That would  be lame 

We brought meats and cheeses onboard in Barcelona and also a bouquet of flowers for our assistant waiter.

Sometimes going with whatever’s easiest is the best route. Ie the exchange on the ship

Unless you are changing 1000s of dollars, the cost is relatively nominal. Even a few percent is only a few dollars 

“The Horizon Court buffet is absolutely tiny compared to really any other ship we’ve been on.  The selection in the buffet is very weak compared to any other line we’ve been on,”

Completely agree.  The first 3 days I kept going In circles looking for the “real buffet” lol

Fortunately we were a Mediterranean itinerary with seven of the 10 days in Port. We didn’t actually have lunch on board very often and when we did, the Trident Grill and the pizza place were more than adequate. Along with additional salad from the horizon court.  

I must admit though, I really did enjoy the quiet luxury of the giant yacht type atmosphere while we were in the Mediterranean.  

I would be frustrated in your place - but I am always nervous to use a 3rd party booker ( like ez air) if I have specific requests or ungrades I need.

 In that case I would always book the flights myself so that I could be aware and react to changes such as those that occurred.

I hope you find a solution that works