cruisinmama!

On 9/2/2023 at 2:55 AM, travelin.sisters said:

we did the Crown to Hawai'i in March & I did a live from the cruise with copies of menus, patters, photos & lots of stuff...it's long, but if you look on page 19 post 436 there is an index of which posts have what (this might take you there or just to the live (I am never sure when I copy the link, sometimes it goes to the exact post & others to the thread): 

 If you have other questions I will try to answer but it should give you an idea when the formal nights would be, what to expect in the MDR, etc...

Wow! This is exactly what I need - thank you!

 

On 9/2/2023 at 7:41 AM, skynight said:

First, I would like to provide you with some additional information that was not in your query. ELUA, Tiki Dave and Leialoha, are scheduled to be on your cruise. They are Hawaiian ambassadors, providing ukulele lessons for beginners, hula sessions, Hawaiian crafts (small fee), entertainment. They are very good. If you have a uke bring it along. If not there are a limited number of instruments on board. Arrive very early for the first session to be assigned a uke. Participants perform a uke & hula theater show at the end of the cruise.

The weather crossing to Hawaii is not tropical. The first two to three days can be cool and you could encounter choppy seas. Be prepared with layered clothing and motion sickness meds. It normally isn't sit around the pool weather like the Caribbean until you cross the Tropic of Cancer into the tropics on the 3rd day. It is not quite as cool on the return as the ship takes a more southern route to Ensenada. 

Formal is anything from long pants/slacks with an Hawaiian shirt to jacket with or without a tie to suits. Very few in true formal wear.

The buffet is open from around 6am until 11pm. Never closes during that time. Some of the selections are quite good. It's a good option when you wish to plan your evening dining around your evening shows & activities rather than the reverse. Menus in the specialty restaurants never change. There are a few selections in each one. The MDR has a different menu each evening which for your cruise will be on a 16 night rotation. Some selections will repeat on different menus, and there are a few always available items. You mention that you have 2 specialty dinners which sounds like the premier fare. You probably also have access to casual dinning locations. The Crown has the Salty Dog Gastropub and I believe it will have a casual dining selection at Vines. These can be a nice dinner or maybe lunch if open alternative. There will be pizza by the slice as well as selections at the grill in the Lido Pool area. These are no charge. The International Cafe also offers continental selections for breakfast and paninis, salads, desserts from late morning into the evening hours. It is always open and there is no charge for food items. A specialty coffee location is also adjacent to the International Cafe.   

Thank you so much for all of these tips.  I really appreciate it!

On 9/1/2023 at 10:09 PM, mtnesterz said:

You mention, "...the other 14 nights." There are 3 formal nights on a 16 night sailing. 

We just got back from Hawaii, The first "formal" night was the second full sea day. The second was the first sea day out from Hawaii and the last was the night before Ensenada, but as you are returning to San Francisco instead of LA, the last may differ.

As far as making a reservation. Sabatini's and Crown Grill, (and Salty Dog on our ship) had just a couple tables taken each time we looked. I'd just make reservations the day you want to go. Few are buying at the increased prices. If you've got included dining, good for you.

Formal nights, eat in the MDR. Food is better. What you describe wearing is acceptable. But you'll still see some older Princess loyals in jackets and ties. Please avoid wearing shorts, t-shirts and ball caps in the MDR.

Thanks for the heads up on the 3 rd formal night.  I hadn't caught that. ANd my husband will be thrileld to not ahve to be in a suit

On 9/1/2023 at 8:28 PM, NavyVeteran said:

Welcome to Princess.

You cannot pick what night to go to the Chef's Table. The ship will schedule it. If you want to go to the Chef's Table, you need to request it first thing after you get on the ship.

In my opinion, format nights are not the best ones to go to specialty restaurants. Princess usually has their fancier meals (lobstar, surf & turf, etc.) on formal nights.

I would recommend looking at the MDR menus before deciding. I don't know when they will be available on the app, but they will certainly all be available when you're onboard. If they're not all on the app, ask a head waiter in the MDR, and he can show them to you.

The MDR has more variety than the specialty restaurants, since it has a different menu each night. The specialty restaurants. I recommend you try the MDR and both specialty restaurants and then decide what you want to do for the rest of the cruse.

Since you said you have two specialty restaurant dinners, I suspect you have booked the Premier Fare, including alcoholic beverages up to $20 each. If you drink wine with dinner, I recommend you go to Vines Wine Bar on Deck 5 before dinner. They have a better selection of wine than the MDR or the specialty restaurants. Have a glass of wine before dinner, and then take another one to go to and carry it in to dinner with you. They will pour it into a different glass to carry out, since they have special glasses in Vines that you can't take elsewhere. If you are eating in the Michelangelo Dining Room on Deck 5, then it's a short walk from Vines to the dining room.

THank you so much for all of the tips, especially the Vines info. I will defintiely be doing that 🙂

On 9/1/2023 at 7:39 PM, DUCHESSRN said:

Our Hawaii cruise last December was very casual ,slacks and shirt totally OK.

Thermal suite on Crown I suspect is just heated beds and steam rooms ,no pool . The Royal Class have the Thermal suites with pool.

Sanctuary was not busy on our cruise as weather was chilly .

Sorry no clue on specialty restaurants , as long as I am not cooking or washing up I am pretty content.

Thanks for the info!

Hi All,

This will be our very first cruise on Princess. We have done several on RCCL over the past 10 years (and a couple on Carnival many eons ago) but those are the only lines we have been on so far.  We decided to try Princess out and are on the 16 day Hawaii itinerary in November and I have tried every search I can think of to figure these out on my own but I don't seem to be finding the answers, so forgive me if these have been asked before and I just haven't found it.

 

- Do any of you know what nights will be the formal nights? We want to set up our Speciality dining ahead of time and pick what night to go to Chef's Table but I can't figure out when to expect the formal nights.

 

- How formal is formal? My husband is allergic to suits LOL and on RCCL he can get away with a nice pair of slacks and a nice Hawaiian shirt. Wil that cut it on Princess or should he plan on a tie ensemble? Can I get away with a nice blouse and slacks or does it need to be a dress every night? We would like to go as relaxed as possible but don't want to feel out of place or underdressed

 

- WIth respect to the Crown Princess specifically, is the Thermal spa worth the price? Or are we better off springing for more days in the Sanctuary?

 

- Lastly, hopefully this doesn't sound snooty at all or anything as that is totally not how we are at all, but on RCCL we tend to avoid the buffet and most nights we go to the specialty restaurants in lieu of the MDR mostly because of the multiple options and the quality of the food vs the MDR.  However, the Crown only has 2 speciality options and we are there for 16 nights. We have 2 specialtiy dinners regardless, but for those of you who've been on the Crown, is the MDR good for the other 14 nights? Or should we plan on repeating the specialty options (Crown Grill & Sabatinis) more than once? And which would you recommend for the formal nights?

 

Thank you all SO much and I am again sorry if these are old questions but I promise I did try to fnd the answers on my own before asking.

 

On 8/15/2022 at 8:48 AM, chill6x6 said:

Enjoying your post and following along! We will be in a 2BR ATS aboard Harmony in November!

Enjoy your cruise!

 

Hi! What sailing are you on? We are in an ATS on the 11/26 8 day one

Stevekc you make a good point - forgot to mention we are a family of 4.  Myself, DH, DS1 (8) and DS2 (6).  So 2 bathrooms would be nice and the more space the better LOL

Hi All!

 

We have been on several cruises, including a couple of Sky class Grand suites, but this will be our first experience in Star Class and we want to make it as wonderful as possible.  Right now we are booked in the 2 bedroom ATS on Harmony which looks really neat.  My only concern is privacy/noise from the shows below.  We tend to be folks that enjoy whiling away the hours sitting and enjoying staring out into the ocean from our balcony.  Though the ATS balcony looks huge, is most of that space overlooking the theater area?  Or is there still plenty of oceanside space? And can people sit and stare at you relaxing on your balcony all the time? Not that we are doing anything nefarious out there but it seems weird if we will be "on display" all week.  For those of you that have sailed in this type of cabin what were your thoughts about it and pros and cons?

 

Also, we have the option of upgrading to the Grand Panoramic Suite which has a little hot tub for another $1,456.  This doesn't on the surface seem to be worth it to me given the jump in price, although the hot tub is quite intriguing.  Any thoughts or suggestions on whether this would, in fact, be an upgrade that is worth it or are we better off where we are?

 

Lastly, we would be very interested in any Star Class tips/tricks or ideas of things to ask for that you may want to share as we are new to this whole Star thing.

 

Thank you all SO much!!

 

 

We will be traveling on RCCL Harmony with two kids ages 6 and 8:  They are both obsessed with wildlife and they are also all about the beach.  We are considering doing the Maya Key Excursion but also know the boys’ minds would be blown at actually getting to touch a sloth and monkeys, which seems like more of a once in a lifetime sort of adventure.  So we are having a very tough time deciding. We also considered doing one of the private tours but there are 2 other ships in port that day evidently so we are worried it will be super crowded at the beaches we could get to that way.

 

Any thoughts, suggestions or experiences on which would be better would be very much appreciated.  Is there any way to do both in one day?

 

Thanks!

 

 

Thank you!

 

We are booked in 2 side by side balcony cabins, one for us and one for our sons.  If we purchased it for us in the one cabin would the boys still be able to do the priority boarding and departure with us if they don't also have it since they are both too young to be expected to do those things without us?  Or would we have to purchase it for all 4 of us?

 

Thanks!!

 

 

I know that the UDP offer lunches on sea days, but does anyone know if you can use it to get sushi at Izumi to go?  Sushi is my absolute favorite food but everyone in my family hates it so there is no way I could get them to sit through a lunch there and I really want to try it.

 

 

We cruise in few weeks and keep getting emails from RCCL with these limited time "sales" on the beverage package, dining package, etc.. Each time they claim that the beverage package and Ultimate Dining Package are both is discounted and on sale, but when I go into cruise planner the beverage package still comes up as the regular $55 per day price and the dining one as $168. And the latest one I got this morning even lists my specific reservation and sailing, so it doesn't seem like just a blanket advertisement. Am I missing something? Is the beverage package regularly more than $55 per day now? Is the dining package ever more than $168? Because these are the prices that have been listed on my cruise planner page since I booked months ago.

 

Thanks

Hi All,

 

We are a group of 5 (two adults & two kids) that are traveling in one of the Royal Family Suites on Oasis in a few weeks. Every other time we have been to Labadee we have always gotten an OTW cabana on Nellie's, but this is our first time in a suite and with access to the Barefoot Beach suite area.

 

We were able to reserve one of the OTW cabanas on Nellie's Beach online awhile ago and locked that in with the original thought that we would try to exchange it for one of the Barefoot ones if there were any available. However, from what I am reading here on CC, between RCCL giving first dibs for all of the Barefoot OTW cabanas to the Star class passengers and the fact that a few of the Barefoot OTW cabanas were damaged in the hurricanes so there are fewer available at all we are assuming that our chances of grabbing one of the Barefoot ones are pretty much slim to none.

 

So, my question to all of you is would you keep the OTW cabana on Nellie's or give it up and just hang out on Barefoot without a cabana? Since we haven't ever been on Barefoot before we don't really know how the two beach areas compare other than that Barefoot isn't as crowded and there is an upgraded buffet. Are there other advantages to Barefoot that make it a better option than Nellie's despite the lack of cabana? Or would we be better off having the cabana and the cabana attendant despite the bigger crowd on Nellie's?

 

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated :-)

 

Thanks!

Hi All,

 

We are going on a B2B cruise in October/November 2016. We will be flying into MCO pre-cruise on 10/29, boarding the RCCL Freedom on 10/30, then debarking 11/4 and getting back on Oasis on 11/5. We are a family of 4 and our kids will be 3 and 5 at the time of sailing.

 

We are trying to figure out what to do pre-cruise and between cruises. Right now I am thinking it probably makes the most sense pre-cruise to just get a transfer from MCO down to Cocoa Beach or the Port area and stay overnight at one of those hotels and explore the port or beach area. Would you agree?

 

As far as that day between the 2 cruises though we are having some trouble. We thought about taking the kids for a day at Magic Kingdom, but not sure if the cost would be worth it or not given their ages and the distance for just one day. Same kind of goes for the other Orlando theme parks as well such as Sea World or Universal. Do you think it would? Or would we be better off just heading back to the beach area and exploring some more? Any other suggestions?

 

Thoughts? Opinions?

 

We have never sailed out of Port Canveral or been to Orlando so we are really flying blind here and could really use any help anyone is wiling to give :-)

 

Thanks!~

What port are you sailing from? Makes a big difference. So does you cabin if its a suite or not. Suites will be ready early. Otherwise, 1 or after. Luggage could get to your cabin between 4-6.

 

 

Hi Tom,

 

We will be cruising out of Port of Miami

We are totally new to NCL and the Freestyle Cruising concept. We normally sail RCCL and try to get on board as early as possible, usually arriving at the port around 10:30 or so and are typically on board by 11 or 11:30. Given that this cruise will be directly after a music charter for KISS, is there anything we should be aware of or do any of you have recommendations on when we should plan on arriving to the port?

 

We also have only used the traditional dining on our cruises rather than the My Time style. So what do we need to know about the Freestyle Dining? And what specialty restaurants do you recommend we try on the Pearl?

 

Any other tips or things you think we should know about the Pearl or about NCL in general?

 

Thank you SO much in advance :)

Hi Kendra,

 

We were on the same cruise as well, and were also at the Meet n Mingle with you. I did a short "summary" review but still haven't gotten around to doing the long detailed one I had planned but seeing yours is re-inspiring me to get back to it and relive the great cruise :)

 

Just wanted to say that I am so glad you guys had a great honeymoon and that your dress was Super Gorgeous!!

 

Congratulations!!

 

Steph

First off, the most important thing to know is that you will be perfectly fine and have a great time. Our little guys have been on several cruises, with my oldest son's first one when he was 7 months old. He actually has as many cruise points as my DH and he's only 3 LOL!! Cruising has become our go-to family vacation while they are this young simply because its so convenient and family friendly.

 

Oasis (or Allure) are by far the best possible options out there for cruising with little ones. Between the toy lending program, the playroom, the Baby Splash pool, the Boardwalk area and the nursery you couldn't ask for a better ship.

 

The big thing to be aware of is simply that you will pretty much double your number of suitcases just because of the amount of stuff you will need to bring for a baby (LOTS of diapers, wipes, bottles, swimmies, extra clothes, stroller, carseat, etc., etc., etc.) So if you are flying it is important to realize that going in as the bag fees can really set you back. For that reason we always try to fly Southwest simply because of the free baggage allowance.

 

There are several comprehensive packing lists and tips available on the Family Cruise forum, which is a fantastic resource for researching all things cruising with kids related. I am also more than happy to share my personal packing list as well if you want to PM me, but I am a serious overpacker and over planner so be forewarned. ;)

 

The 2 things that will come in more handy than anything for you are a baby carrier (Ergo, Bjorn, etc.) and an umbrella or small stroller. Think narrow and compact, but if it can lay relatively flat for naps on the go you will be much better off. There is so much to see just walking around the ship that your little one will be thrilled just to ride around in his carrier and observe everything.

 

As far as the pack n play - no worries about bringing one. Just tell RCCL that you will need one and they will set one up for you in the room. Carnival does the same but uses these compact metal cribs that I'm not too fond of. RCCL uses actual pack n plays. We like to bring our own PnP sheets but you don't have to...

 

At this point we have been on both Oasis and Allure and have done both of the different itineraries. So, I am happy to answer any specific questions you have if I can.

 

Steph

When we were there tons of kids had those water wing things on and some even had the little toddler swimming seats (the intertube floats with little seats in them).

 

I definitely second the last poster's comment though that you will want to be right there to keep a close eye on the little ones. There were lots of bigger kids on our sailing back in August that would just jump in right over the little kids heads and push right over them. So they definitely need a parent there to keep them safe.

Although not Oasis, we were on Allure in August/September and they had plenty of toys available for lending.

We were just on Allure in August with our 3 year old and 10 month old. They have the Royal Babies & Tots nursery that charges $6 during daytime hours and $8 during the evenings, I think it was from 5 or 6 pm on. We had our son with them a few times so we could have some couple time and they were great with him. We wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

They also have a Baby Splash Zone which is a little kids pool designed specifically for babies in swim diapers that is separate from the other pools and has its own water filtration system. Our son LOVED it there and we had a heck of a time tearing him away. They keep it warmed for the babies and it has a couple of little sprinkler areas as well and the little ones just love it.

They also have a toy lending program where you can check out little backpacks of toys for free to take back to your cabin and you can switch them out for new ones as often as you wish. We got him a couple of different packs and he was thrilled with simply playing with the toys on the balcony while we enjoyed our view.

They also have a well stocked playroom for playtime with other kids if you don't want to leave him in the nursery. Parents need to be present but there's lots for them to play with and it is absolutely free to use.

As for the other areas, all of the staff was fabulous with him. They fawned all over him and treated him like a little prince. He was openly welcomed in the MDR and had a great time. There are several parades which he will also probably love.

Long story not so short - our son loved his time on Allure. We took our eldest on Oasis as well when he was 18 months and he also had a great time. And we are booked again for Allure this February with them as well. So, definitely, don't let his age stop you from enjoying this beautiful ship. You will all have a great time and it is at least in my opinion one of the best choices out there for a vacation with kids that young!

Hope this helps!!

We booked ours for our sailing this Feb 2015 when we cancelled our Quantum sailing back in March 2014. This was our first time ever trying to book one, so not sure if it is common for them to be available a year out or not but that was our experience.

 

And we tried to book one for our September 2015 sailing back in October and they were all already sold out.

That was actually my first thought, but I read somewhere here on CC that the airlines won't accept bags for flights that far out. Something like past four hours from disembarkation I think....

 

Otherwise that would be our first choice.