west coast cruiser

I haven't gone to the Elite/Platinum lounge on my last 3 cruises. Just not that special as far as I am concerned. I prefer the other lounges.

I needed a Visa for Brazil in 2015. U.S. dollars worked fine.

It was a great cruise.

I just got off the Grand and my cruise card had a hole punched in it when they gave it to me. . I don't use the lanyards so I didn't need it but it was there.

I got off the Grand Monday.The third time I have sailed on her. I was expecting plumbing problems after all the comments. There was no problem at all. I thought the food was the best on Princess in awhile and this was my 20th cruise on Princess. I miss sky walkers on this ship. The Grand was the first to have it but because of some structural issues it was removed. All the other ships of this series have it as the problem was corrected.

The Crew is great tool

I wish they would put a newer Ship in San Francisco too but I really enjoyed this cruise..

WCC:o:o:o.

Got off the Grand yesterday after 10 days in Mexico.

We felt totally safe. Went on an excursion in Manzanillo and went on our own in the other ports. We did not go off the beaten path though. Felt totally safe in Mazatlan.

WCC

We absolutely love “The Office” on Medano Beach. The food is excellent, moderately priced and good sized portions! Nice atmosphere right on the beach.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I love the Office too. Good food great location.

(y)(y)

Totally agree - we are elite on Princess - have cruised other lines and find that Princess is the very BEST - this person should not cruise on Princess ...more room for those of us that love it!!!

Please don't bring it to fly around landmarks. We were on a cruise this summer at the historic fort on St. Kitts. A couple had a drone flying above the the whole time, which really distracted from the visit for as it was loud and flying all around between people. In addition, there was a very clear sign when we entered the fort area that drones were not permitted. Just my opinion.

Good point. I can see

how it would be totally distracting to have drones flying around .

I have traded the whole mini bar for bottles of water a few times.

I had a handle come off of one of my bags. Our room steward took it and it came back repaired.

If a Princess ship that sails from California to HI lists a stop only at Hilo and NOT Kona, does that mean it will not sail by any active lava flows at night? I noticed another line that particularly mentions doing that, but the itineraries we are considering do not. Do all itineraries that visit Kona usually pass the lava flows?

 

If anyone has done a cruise that visited only Hilo and not Kona that DID cruise past the volcanic flows, please comment!

 

Thanks for any info.

When I took my first Round trip to Hawaii the ship stopped at Hilo and Kona. The captain slowed the ship down as we passed the lava flow and it was quite a sight Then they stopped going to Kona. I would much rather stop at Kona than Hilo. But, sadly, no more lava flow.

Sailed on her a few years and loved it. I really like the smaller ships. We got to know so many people.

I don't send anything to be dry cleaned. I have had a couple of bad experiences. And I don't send out laundry very often. Same thing.

WCC

We were sailing out of the beautiful Glacier Bay on Thurs....when SOMEONE put a nasty nasty note in our stateroom mailbox....with a HORRIBLE word at the top...

 

I almost hesitate to share the contents of this note here - for fear it will conger up the same awful feelings in others as it did in us....

 

......but........ the word was Disembarkation"!!!

 

I did all I could to continue to enjoy my cruise in spite of this horrible paper and the way it made me feel......but these people were relentless. The next day yet another nasty note appeared in our mailbox... This one had luggage tags on it...and get this!!! It had complete instructions on how we were expected to respond to their nasty notes/papers..

 

By Friday afternoon, I was absolutely beside myself!!!! How could Princess do this to us? We had been wonderful passengers...always used the antibacterial at the buffet line...always smiled and said 'hello' to crew members....We were even very careful to make sure our cabin door didn't slam shut when we went in and out. ...and THIS is how they repay us? UNBELEIVABLE!!!!

 

But....what could we do? This force for evil was stronger than us all. We could do nothing to halt it's relentless march forward. These awful people were going to get by with this. They were going to succeed in kicking us off the ship and there was absolutely nothing we could do to stop them. .

 

As I suspected, this morning they began to implement their evil, evil plan... They kicked us off the ship - no explanations...no apologies...no empathy or understanding for how they made us feel....

They just kicked us off and smiled while doing it!!!!!

 

We're so upset that we have decided we will NOT be cruising with Princess again in 2017!!! That'll show 'em!!! :D:D;p

I love your message.It is so depressing to get that notice. Thanks for lightening things up.

WCC

I would not have expected anything. They were taking care of the problem as it came up. Hope you still had a great cruise.

(y)(y)

Let me start by saying that I will be on the Island Princess in January around South America. I DO have my Brazilian visa!

 

The Princess site says that passengers must have the visa even if they opt to stay onboard in Brazil.

 

My question: Do folks show up at the beginning of the cruise (in this case Fort Lauderdale) without the visa and do they get turned away? Anyone have any first hand knowledge of this?

 

Just curious. It seems that some inexperienced travelers could be caught off guard on this one.

I was on this cruise a couple of years ago and about 6 people were turned away. Brazil doe not care if you are just staying on the ship . You MUST have a Visa.

It is too bad there are no longer Priests on the ships. I really miss Mass, especially on the longer cruses. It is nice when a Priest is traveling on the ship.

WCC

I don't debark or disembark.....I just get off! :D

That's what I do.

Agree with Coral.

I do too.

You will love the cruise. I did it in 2015 and it is one of my favorites. I may do it again.

Have had several items ruined over the years. We have now learned to only send all whites together in one bag or all dark clothes together in one bag. Only send one bag at a time or they will dump them all in together, we found this out the hard way. Also we found laundry quality is poor near the end of the cruise because more people are trying to get their laundry done before they get off the ship.

And that is one of the ways that this perk is abused. It wasn't intended to send us home with clean clothes.

This has been the case on all of my cruises for the last 2-3 years. On longer cruises, the delay has been as much as 7-8 days to get laundry back. Part is due to the number of Elite onboard, part due to more and more Elite abusing the system. On several cruises, some Elite were sending out 5-7 bags a day in a variety of sizes, from children's to extra large. Princess is not paying attention or monitoring this so we all lose. :(

I agree. I think the laundry perk is abused often. I have been on a 28 day and a 32 day cruise and there is always a wait for laundry. I think some people like to send laundry out everyday. I have heard of some passengers boarding with clothes that need to be laundered.

 

Princess could do a much better job of managing the laundry from Elite. IMHO, on cruises with a lot of Elite, they could limit the number of bags per cabin to perhaps one per day. I know that the vast majority of Elite wouldn't have a problem with this.

I agree, the Elite laundry perk is abused often.

My thoughts exactly. The shortest cruise I would ever do is 3 nights .. and while that is way too short, a one or two night cruise is really a waste of time.

Agree. I don't want anything less than 10 days.

:d:d:d

cue all the "that's not fair" posts in three...two...one....

(y):D:D

This is great.