gr1634

Good Morning All,

We are scheduled for California Coastal in Oct this year and are wondering if anyone has any idea when Princess will finalize excursions. Right now there are excursions listed but the timing and the4 number of excursions appear way off - example: Monterey 17 Mile trip is listed to start at 0730 but ship is not scheduled to arrive there until 0800. I called Princess and ask my vacation planner and got no info. Any help??

Thanks Gr

Thanks so much

GR

I had a list of email addresses for the mare'ds but for some reason I can't find it. Anyone have the email for the Legend matre'd please?

GR

Wow - shock city - assume that timeline applies to he Princess shuttle as well

Anyone know how long it takes to get from cruise ship to airport?

GR

So if I am understanding this there is an elegant night and it is usually the second night out? I wasn't sure they even had an elegant night on 3 day cruises...

Gr

I should know the answer to this but...is here a formal night on the three day Liberty cruise to Nassau??

Gr

Thank you so much :)

Hi all! Anyone have current copy of Fun Times for Roatan/Belize cruise? What shows are hey doing in the show room?

GR

Thanks all. Just cking to see if we had missed something - would appear not :)

Last Saturday we returned from an Oasis cruise. We have been cruising for a number of years and have found "normally" it is a good idea to use porters to get through customs and the crowds a bit faster. At any rate when we attempted to do that at Ft Lauderdale cruise terminal last week the porter offered his services for $30 for 3 bags - when I bristled at that he immediately dropped the price to $25. Now we are not cheap people or at least didn't think we were. But it has been the norm over the years to tip $1 a bag to porters. We have consistently tipped $2 a bag - so question is where did the $30 come from?? Is that normal in Ft Lauderdale?? Needless to say we were shocked an did our own bags.

Gr

Thank you so much - just sent the email - hope it works :)

Gr

Anyone know the best way to request a table for 2 on the Oasis. Maybe an email for the matri'd??

GR

I assume Carnival has transportation to the ship from SEATAC - assuming that does anyone know how long it takes to get to the ship?

Gr

Thanks :)

Thank each of you for your responses. Looks like the wine trip may be the answer. A couple more quick questions: 1) Can't remember - is there a shopping area at the dock? 2) For anyone who has sailed from the new berth in San Fran - do you remember how far it is from Fisherman's Wharf?

Thanks Again

Gr

2nd Calif Coastal coming up in Oct. Last time we did the blow hole while in Ensenada. Wondering if anyone has another recommended excursion while in Ensenada??

Gr

Was on Magic this past week and heard two times (from passengers) Carnival is now allowing you to use your cruise days on Carnival for any cruise line they own. So if I have 135 days on Carnival cruises they count toward VIP status say on Princess. Has anyone seen or gotten confirmation of that?

Have not been on the Sensation in years. Presently set up for a 4 Dec 3 day to Nassau. Is there a formal nite on 3 day cruise? What shows are running now?

Gr

We just finish our 24th Carnival cruise. This time was on the Triumph. Our third on this ship. We have been cruising with Carnival since 2001. As a result we have had the "opportunity" to see and experience a lot of the what appears to be constant cuts.

I don't need to list all of them - frankly I probably couldn't. Some that just stood out a bit on this cruise were: Choices on the menu in main dining room have been severely cut. The food they did have was OK there was just far less choice. Wife insisted on hitting the buffet one night because there was nothing in the main dining room that excited either of us. Go ahead and flame away but the food on the buffet was no kidding in-eatable. It was cold and tasteless. This was not the first time we have experienced this on a Carnival buffet.

We are platinum so when we received our chocolate covered strawberries plate in the room - it was literally half of what they used to provide and they were stale!

Remember when they used to give you a copy of your receipt when you bought a beverage? Not on this trip. No that is not a big deal but a bunch of "not a big deal" issues add up after a while.

We have always enjoyed our Carnival cruises and I could very well have been called a Carnival cheer leader every once in a while so when I say we are disappointed in what's happening - that's exactly what I mean.

I truly hate to see what is happening here. New cruisers may not even notice a lot of these things because they don't know what used to be. They don't know we used to have live bands on deck, they don't know we used to have shows every nite in the theater, they don't know the platinum party used to provide free drinks and horse divers..for those of you who have been around a while you know this list could go on.

Add to that the fact that as of 1 Oct you can't smoke on your balcony and the fact that Carnival does not provide much in the way of accommodation for smokers - deck 10 starboard side outside in the rushing wind that apparently wasn't sufficient to keep smoke from bothering people on balconies (will never understand that). I know the non-smoker folks who pushed so hard for this change will not see this as an issue but so be it - this is not a thread for or against smoking.

No we did not go on the cruise looking for things to complain about - this is just an honest opinion of what we see as a steady decline in the quality of the product. We have been loyal Carnival cruisers for a long time and it is disheartening to see this.

I'll have to ck with DW to see if she kept them. If so will be glad to share :)

You are correct. The Dec cruise we are looking at is about $300 less than the same itinerary on Carnival and same date. Find that a little unusual but there it is. We too get the auto mil OBC so that actually cuts the cost as well.

We have been very "loyal" Carnival cruisers for a lot of years but the new smoking policy is just the last straw in a long line of continual cuts that Carnival has instituted that is forcing us to go elsewhere. I know the smoking policy on Princess is pretty much the same so as I said that is just the latest cut in bennies that Carnival has put in place that put us over the edge.

We did a Crown Princess Calif coastal cruise this past April and found the ship far more elegant than anything Carnival has and just frankly enjoyed the entire experience. We are locked in to a 5 day on Triumph in 3 weeks and presently have a 7 day scheduled for Dec on the Magic - will be cancelling the Dec cruise and scheduling the Emerald for the same week.

Hate giving up the Platinum status but we will get there on Princess.

GR

Well Carnival you have finally reached the point where we will go elsewhere. Not just the smoking change but all the other cuts you have slipped in over the past few years. I need not list them here - you and a large number of other folks know what we are talking about. We did a Princess cruise this past April and frankly Princess has a much better product (and they actually provide a nice area for smokers on the outside decks). Their ships are far more elegant as well. We have been very "loyal" over the years - you haven't.

GR

So you don't know - thanks :)

GR