Panama Canal on Island Princess 10/17-11/1 Photo Review

[RRFPresident]

After trivia we returned to the cabin for some downtime before dinner. Stepped out onto the balcony to enjoy the sunset and our lovely young neighbors were blasting music on their balcony. I semi involuntarily remarked “Oh come on!” as I stepped out and I must have been heard because the music was turned off for the moment. I tried to peek through the little slat between the partition to see if they were even on their balcony and I was met with the evil glare from the young man sitting on his balcony. I backed up to return to watching the much more appealing sunset and he started the music up again out of spite.

 

We headed down to dinner and ended up passing Anna, our waitress from Sabatinnis breakfast as she was rushing away from the restaurant. She had since dressed up in a cute full costume outfit that mixed Halloween and some sort of Minnie Mouse theme so I complimented her outfit when she stopped to let us go through the doorway first. I'm not sure if it was because she seemed in a rush but her sole response to my compliment was “Well, they make us” and she rushed off in the opposite direction.

 

It was fun to see all of the dining room staff dressed up in costume. The head waiter was dressed as, in his words, “a Rastafarian Johnny Depp from Pirates of the Caribbean.” Most of the waiters simply donned plastic masks and ended up letting them hang around their necks or tilted to sit on the back of their heads instead as it was easier to do their work that way. One such clever waiter borrowed a “Loreal” hair cutting cape from the salon and wore that as a regular superhero style cape as his costume.

[RRFPresident]

Of course today is the day I get the chance to grab a picture with our waiter Berin! Apparently he's in the waiter protection program:

 

Berin and Pedro:

 

One of the female crew members wandering the dining room was helping some of the wait staff add more fake blood to their outfits (several went with the easy fake blood on a white tshirt look) and she took to cozying up to passengers as well teasing and sometimes even adding the fake blood to their faces and arms.

 

I was glad to see spaghetti and meatball listed as a pasta choice and ordered that as my appetizer.

 

When it arrived, I cut into the one meatball and it was still pink inside.

 

When Berin came by to check on us, I showed him the meatball and asked if it looked uncooked to him. He looked panicked and rushed away with the meatball to ask. It made me feel weird to continue eating the pasta in the meantime so I was stuck sitting there waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Finally, Berin comes back with the meatball and the head waiter and the head waiter explains that it's actually a veal meatball and thus it's supposed to look that way when fully cooked. I pointed out how there was no such explanation of the meatball being made of veal instead of beef and would not have ordered it if it had. It was a little off putting seeing two costumed guys literally lean in close from across the table while they explained this and then reacted like I was going to blow up and flip the table in protest. Having gotten no such reaction, the head waiter walked away and Berin cleared the meatball before coming back over and offering to get a fresh dish of the same. I told him again how I would have never ordered it had I known it was veal and he just laughed. I decided in a pinch to just ask for the same prosciutto and melon appetizer Dad had gotten. Dad happily kept his order of the spaghetti and meatball for his pasta course and his even came with two meatballs. As a result, our dining cadence had been thrown off and it took another 40 minutes to get our actual entrees.

 

Some more food porn in the form of the Love Boat Dream:

[RRFPresident]

We had gotten mixed up on the time that the Halloween party started on the Lido deck and thought our dinner mix up had left us running late for the party. We rushed up to Lido only to find that one single guy was there participating in Karaoke Under the Stars and Neesa explained that we were super early for the party.

 

 

Dad decided to head back to the cabin and I killed time wandering around checking out the cabin door decorations.

 

 

This was added to the decorations outside the Explorer's Lounge bar and was taken down by the next morning:

[RRFPresident]

Still with loads of time to kill, I snagged two front row pool loungers off to the side of the “dance floor” area so that Dad could have a spot if he decided to return. Eventually the crowds moved in and I had a nice comfortable place to check out everyone's costumes. They had a photographer off to the side taking pictures of everyone in their costumes.

 

Armando also channeling Johnny Depp tonight:

 

Lorrie (BOTS scribe) and her husband:

 

I tried to wave over several of our new friends offering them the extra lounger but the only people to take advantage was our neighboring town couple who chose to move up to the ones next to my two after those people left. It was super windy and spit rain every so often and at one point when they got up to dance, their towels being used to mark the loungers flew up and smacked me in the face. Glad it was their towel and not their flip flops! Wonder if this is starting to be a cruise ship holiday tradition of things smacking me in the face as they go flying?

 

Our Ellicott City neighbors:

 

A couple cute Minnie Mouses:

 

Also a good rule of thumb – if it's super windy and your costume includes a short skirt, invest in some small shorts to wear underneath. Lorrie and her husband proudly showed off their steam-punk themed costumes and were having a grand time dancing when a gust of wind blew up her skirt revealing all her secrets. I tried yelling to her to get her attention but the music was too loud. Thankfully, one of the nearby ladies dressed as Minnie Mouse rushed over and whispered in her ear.

[RRFPresident]

Some really went all out for their costumes:

 

Loved the card shark costume theme - although with the wind I kept watching cards go flying off his shirt. By the end of the night, he certainly wasn't playing with a full deck:

 

A couple of the ship photographers were wandering around getting passengers to pose with their heads through a lifesaver ring prop. One of the photographers and I exchanged a shocked glance when one of the ladies she approached asking for a picture threw a fit at being asked and stormed off. A couple passengers decided to set up a tripod for their camera and film video of the party right in front of my lounger blocking everyone else's view for a while. They started dancing around with a couple other ladies and took the camera off the tripod to take pictures as a group. After a while I saw her up by the railing on the deck above trying to use the tripod to film the dancers.

 

Emma and Neesa:

 

One of our frequent bar waiters, Roman (many other bar waiters tried to copy his trick of flicking the napkin and getting it to land on the back of his hand), broke out of jail to attend the party tonight. Several of the crew were given the evening off to attend.

[RRFPresident]

Rhonda and Tony getting their groove on:

 

We couldn't figure out what these two crew members were supposed to be dressed up as:

 

Chad channeled his inner werewolf/punk rocker?

 

Emma was wandering around offering passengers the chance to pick out of the Halloween themed plastic trinket box and insisted on picking for me when I turned her down. She handed me a plastic black bracelet and sweetly blew me a kiss before hurrying off. I stayed on the lounger until there was a large crowd dancing and the Princess dancers had performed up on the deck above. By then it was getting tough to see anything other than everyone's waists so I gave up the loungers and stood to the back to watch the costume parade and judging contest which was done by audience applause.

 

Hmm, I think Matt could use a different toupee:

 

Unfortunately none of my new friends won the contest. A couple dressed as playing cards complete with plastic wigs and court jester style shoes won first place and a couple who went with the theme of Dorothy and the Wicked Witch got second place winning little gift bags.

 

By 11PM, I was tired of standing around so I returned to the cabin for the night.

[bettty45]

Rhonda and Tony getting their groove on:

 

 

 

 

 

We couldn't figure out what these two crew members were supposed to be dressed up as:

 

 

 

 

Chad channeled his inner werewolf/punk rocker?

 

 

 

 

Emma was wandering around offering passengers the chance to pick out of the Halloween themed plastic trinket box and insisted on picking for me when I turned her down. She handed me a plastic black bracelet and sweetly blew me a kiss before hurrying off. I stayed on the lounger until there was a large crowd dancing and the Princess dancers had performed up on the deck above. By then it was getting tough to see anything other than everyone's waists so I gave up the loungers and stood to the back to watch the costume parade and judging contest which was done by audience applause.

 

 

 

Hmm, I think Matt could use a different toupee:

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately none of my new friends won the contest. A couple dressed as playing cards complete with plastic wigs and court jester style shoes won first place and a couple who went with the theme of Dorothy and the Wicked Witch got second place winning little gift bags.

 

 

 

 

By 11PM, I was tired of standing around so I returned to the cabin for the night.

 

 

 

What was TV like on the cruise? We just got off a Carnival and had all three network channels. Just wondering. And thanks again for your excellent blog and photos!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[shredie]

Wouldn't it be nice if people learned to edit their posts and not quote the ENTIRE collection of pictures ALL OVER AGAIN? :mad:

[RRFPresident]

What was TV like on the cruise? We just got off a Carnival and had all three network channels. Just wondering. And thanks again for your excellent blog and photos!!

 

It depends on what Princess ship you're on as far as how your TV watching selection will be. I think we were definitely spoiled on the Regal with their on demand library of shows and movies. This cruise the variety of things to watch were all from a set list that frequently repeated itself. Unfortunately, there were some episodes of shows aired I even remembered from previous cruises. There's usually a channel showing a regular movie (and occasionally the one featured recently on MUTS), a channel showing a kids or family movie, a channel devoted to Love Boat reruns of course, the bridge cam channel, a channel showing whatever activities they filmed earlier in the voyage, the channel showing the running list of shore excursions, one devoted to random promos for things on board, and a channel that showed Discovery channel programming. Since this was a Panama Canal cruise, they had a channel showing canal themed documentaries too. I think there might have been at least one all news cable channel in the mix.

 

Carnival's TV system is different in that they operate based on picking up the closest satellite. Don't count on Princess' cabin TV to entertain for too long.

[bettty45]

It depends on what Princess ship you're on as far as how your TV watching selection will be. I think we were definitely spoiled on the Regal with their on demand library of shows and movies. This cruise the variety of things to watch were all from a set list that frequently repeated itself. Unfortunately, there were some episodes of shows aired I even remembered from previous cruises. There's usually a channel showing a regular movie (and occasionally the one featured recently on MUTS), a channel showing a kids or family movie, a channel devoted to Love Boat reruns of course, the bridge cam channel, a channel showing whatever activities they filmed earlier in the voyage, the channel showing the running list of shore excursions, one devoted to random promos for things on board, and a channel that showed Discovery channel programming. Since this was a Panama Canal cruise, they had a channel showing canal themed documentaries too. I think there might have been at least one all news cable channel in the mix.

 

 

 

Carnival's TV system is different in that they operate based on picking up the closest satellite. Don't count on Princess' cabin TV to entertain for too long.

 

 

 

Thanks. We cruised Princess last summer to the Baltic so I bet we see some repeats even from then!! Ha ha. We have downloaded some movies on our pad too. We just wondered about news etc :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Enjoyed your review of the full panama transit which we have booked :D

going to enjoy relaxing on the ship while it goes thru the locks as we have been to panama before and done the tour of the locks.

Thanks for the detailed info on your excursions too.

[RRFPresident]

Enjoyed your review of the full panama transit which we have booked :D

going to enjoy relaxing on the ship while it goes thru the locks as we have been to panama before and done the tour of the locks.

Thanks for the detailed info on your excursions too.

 

Thanks for the kind words. Enjoy your trip!

[RRFPresident]

Learned today via the morning show on our cabin TVs that Matt would be leaving the Island Princess on 12/5 to head to the Emerald Princess and our new Cruise Director Richard Joseph had plans to move on to being the Entertainment Director on the Sun Princess.

 

After breakfast, we headed down to now just “Morning Trivia” where a lady argued with us about whether it was another Progressive session because I dared sit with my new cruise friends who were part of her team.

 

Having seen the humorous “Culinary Demonstration and Galley Tour” show before, we knew it would be a fun time. For those who haven't seen this show before, it features the Executive Chef trying to give a cooking demonstration on the theater stage while the Maitre d “helped” and routinely messed up. We had seats a couple rows from the stage and the seafood pasta they were cooking smelled heavenly. We decided to skip the galley tour afterward having been on that tour a couple different times in other aspects.

 

CD Richard Joseph and Executive Chef Dirk:

 

Maitre d' Neville joins the fun:

 

Neville insists that Chef Dirk needs an apron:

 

Neville suggests that the best way to cook pasta is to throw it at the wall:

 

Perils of that being a half sized wall:

 

Wouldn't be a cruise without working in an offer to buy something extra - in this case Chef Dirk's new cookbook:

[RRFPresident]

Chef Dirk walks around the counter to show that he's "flipped the shrimp from the other side."

 

Neville dons hazmat style gloves to help make dessert:

 

Chef Dirk demonstrates a light sprinkle of chocolate shavings to decorate the top:

 

But Neville felt that it needed the whole bowl's worth dumped on top and even some greenery from the nearby plant:

 

We were treated to a song from a waiter:

 

As the kitchen staff came down to the stage:

[RRFPresident]

 

As we left the theater, we happened upon the Egg Drop Challenge's big moment of dropping the contraptions they built from the upper level around the atrium while Chad and Emma collected them at the bottom to check whether the egg cracked. They spent several minutes trying to undo one such contraption that could have rivaled the space capsule it was so tightly packed and bound together.

 

Spotted Gary and Tina watching the Egg Drop too:

 

The most creative design for their egg drop contraption - once dropped this man told Emma and Chad that the egg is "in her cleavage."

 

Competitive people, especially trivia players, can have a hard time waiting to start so we had quite the peaceful mob hanging out outside the Hearts & Minds wedding chapel for today's “Cruise Long Awards Ceremony” while a lecture about toy train collecting ran super long. This was the first time we'd seen them do a full ceremonial style presentation for the cruise long events rather than just announce the winners and hand out prizes at the last session on that last day. Armando and Chad ran the ceremony and started everyone off with their choice of a glass of champagne, a mimosa, or just straight orange juice. Of course no shortage of free booze crowd in attendance as some people were requesting seconds before they'd even finished passing out firsts. Progressive trivia's final standings were announced and our team, Team Green #4, earned 3rd place. I'm amazed we even fared that well! I can't recall which was which but the top two teams were Gary's team and one dubbed The Internationals. The top team won water bottles. I was happy with our team's placement (we already have a Princess water bottle) but riding up in the elevator later with Chuck he griped that “we couldn't even have gotten top two?” Some people really like to test my response limits of “if you can't say something nice...” The guy who won Mini-Olympics also won the Ryder Cup challenge. Not surprised considering how many golf themed events were held. The men (aka The Bulls team) were officially named the winners of the Battle of the Sexes competition and each given a certificate and voucher for the casino cash key game.

 

Once the ceremony was over, Rich took the opportunity to ask Armando for a second chance at the Yes/No game, this time being the one asking Armando the questions. Armando obliged and used his watch to time the three minutes. He held on for a while until Rich thought to ask what Si means in Spanish. Armando was stuck answering yes and thus losing but was so impressed that he told Rich that he'd start using that question in future games.

 

We headed off to the buffet in search of lunch but didn't find much that we liked. I snagged a table on the pool deck while Dad went upstairs to the grill to get food for both of us. While I waited, a bar waitress offered to get a drink and I had no trouble requesting two sodas even though I was the only one physically there and thus only had my card. A short while after Dad had returned though and we asked for refills, that second bar waiter made a point of checking to be sure we both had the package. After we ate, I noticed several people coming out of the buffet with plates of chocolate dipped treats. I went back inside and found a very popular chocolate fountain in operation and grabbed a plate of chocolate dipped banana halves and marshmallows on sticks.

 

Dad skipped the final bridge session today and we used the time to start packing. Our last afternoon trivia session came around and we came in 2nd to 3 teams who'd tied for 1st place. Emma used a “whoever is closest” version of a tie breaker question calling out one member from each team to submit an answer and Gary ended up winning for his team.

 

Our final sunset:

[bettty45]

 

 

 

As we left the theater, we happened upon the Egg Drop Challenge's big moment of dropping the contraptions they built from the upper level around the atrium while Chad and Emma collected them at the bottom to check whether the egg cracked. They spent several minutes trying to undo one such contraption that could have rivaled the space capsule it was so tightly packed and bound together.

 

 

 

Spotted Gary and Tina watching the Egg Drop too:

 

 

 

 

The most creative design for their egg drop contraption - once dropped this man told Emma and Chad that the egg is "in her cleavage."

 

 

 

 

Competitive people, especially trivia players, can have a hard time waiting to start so we had quite the peaceful mob hanging out outside the Hearts & Minds wedding chapel for today's “Cruise Long Awards Ceremony” while a lecture about toy train collecting ran super long. This was the first time we'd seen them do a full ceremonial style presentation for the cruise long events rather than just announce the winners and hand out prizes at the last session on that last day. Armando and Chad ran the ceremony and started everyone off with their choice of a glass of champagne, a mimosa, or just straight orange juice. Of course no shortage of free booze crowd in attendance as some people were requesting seconds before they'd even finished passing out firsts. Progressive trivia's final standings were announced and our team, Team Green #4, earned 3rd place. I'm amazed we even fared that well! I can't recall which was which but the top two teams were Gary's team and one dubbed The Internationals. The top team won water bottles. I was happy with our team's placement (we already have a Princess water bottle) but riding up in the elevator later with Chuck he griped that “we couldn't even have gotten top two?” Some people really like to test my response limits of “if you can't say something nice...” The guy who won Mini-Olympics also won the Ryder Cup challenge. Not surprised considering how many golf themed events were held. The men (aka The Bulls team) were officially named the winners of the Battle of the Sexes competition and each given a certificate and voucher for the casino cash key game.

 

 

 

 

Once the ceremony was over, Rich took the opportunity to ask Armando for a second chance at the Yes/No game, this time being the one asking Armando the questions. Armando obliged and used his watch to time the three minutes. He held on for a while until Rich thought to ask what Si means in Spanish. Armando was stuck answering yes and thus losing but was so impressed that he told Rich that he'd start using that question in future games.

 

 

 

 

We headed off to the buffet in search of lunch but didn't find much that we liked. I snagged a table on the pool deck while Dad went upstairs to the grill to get food for both of us. While I waited, a bar waitress offered to get a drink and I had no trouble requesting two sodas even though I was the only one physically there and thus only had my card. A short while after Dad had returned though and we asked for refills, that second bar waiter made a point of checking to be sure we both had the package. After we ate, I noticed several people coming out of the buffet with plates of chocolate dipped treats. I went back inside and found a very popular chocolate fountain in operation and grabbed a plate of chocolate dipped banana halves and marshmallows on sticks.

 

 

 

Dad skipped the final bridge session today and we used the time to start packing. Our last afternoon trivia session came around and we came in 2nd to 3 teams who'd tied for 1st place. Emma used a “whoever is closest” version of a tie breaker question calling out one member from each team to submit an answer and Gary ended up winning for his team.

 

 

 

Our final sunset:

 

 

 

 

We are onboard now and feel like we know the ship because of your most detailed review!! It's cool here in LA. The lights are on and we are preparing to pull out. Thanks again for all you wrote and shared.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RRFPresident]

We are onboard now and feel like we know the ship because of your most detailed review!! It's cool here in LA. The lights are on and we are preparing to pull out. Thanks again for all you wrote and shared.

 

If DJ Delite is still around, feel free to give him a smack on the bum for Amanda, Sue, and I! :) Bon voyage!

[CRLess]

 

By 11PM, I was tired of standing around so I returned to the cabin for the night.

 

Does this mean that you missed the Flash Mob the crew put on? I had lunch with Neville the day you arrived in Ft. Lauderdale and he showed me the pictures and video of their performance. I guess they put a lot of time into practicing the routine. This may explain why you saw so many staff members on deck "with the night off"....they were part of the Flash Mob.

[RRFPresident]

Does this mean that you missed the Flash Mob the crew put on? I had lunch with Neville the day you arrived in Ft. Lauderdale and he showed me the pictures and video of their performance. I guess they put a lot of time into practicing the routine. This may explain why you saw so many staff members on deck "with the night off"....they were part of the Flash Mob.

 

Yes, it sounds like I missed out on a fun activity. Would have been fun to see but at that time I'd had my fill of the crowd and noise. Maybe someone who got pics and video can share for everyone?

[RRFPresident]

We headed to the dining room for our last dinner but table 69 was busy so we were seated elsewhere. Even though there was only a couple tables in use in this new waiter's section, the service was really slow. Since we weren't at our usual table, we didn't have the little luxuries of sodas already being requested for us and a basket of softer bread. I settled once again for the fettuccine alfredo not finding much on the menu and we both had the meatloaf for an entree. It wasn't very tasty and it crumbled at the touch of my fork like the kitchen staff had decided to just mash 15 days worth of leftovers into loaf form. We didn't bother to finish our dishes and elected to skip dessert when even being offered was taking forever. Always baffles me whenever we'd had slow service and abnormally long waits in between courses that the wait staff is always right there the second we decide to get up and leave. Ann and Richard passed by our table on the way out and it was nice to be able to say goodbye.

 

I wanted to make sure we got to the theater so we could see The Voice of the Ocean Finale as we'd not sailed since this show was added. Several times during the cruise, cruise staff would make a comment about needing more people to sign up. We got to the theater shortly before it started and the place was soon packed. The show was hosted by Richard Joseph and judged by Duncan Tuck, Andrew Kennedy, and one of the Princess singers/dancers. As passengers entered the theater, DJ Delite took their cruise cards if they wanted to use one of the voting devices. I decided it wasn't worth the bother. Six contestants, including one who was actually in her 20s, came out and performed their song choice and the judges chose whether or not to turn their rotating chairs around, just like the TV show.

 

It did seem a little pre-arranged as the contestants picked their judges from those who turned their chairs in a way to get 2 contestants on each judge's team. At one point, Duncan was the only one who didn't have a second contestant on his team and “coincidentally” he was the only judge to turn his chair.

 

Unlike the TV show where there's weeks of help and advice from the coaches in between performances, choosing a coach here was simply just a formality. Finalists were announced and called back to perform again and then the audience got to vote between the top 2. The winner was this sweet lady named Dee who had a voice above and beyond the rest of the contestants. They brought her out a trophy like the one they use on TV.

[RRFPresident]

There was a huge backup trying to get out of the theater because everyone had to stop and return their voting devices to DJ so they could get their cruise cards back.

 

We stayed in our seats until the crowd had at least cleared the steps to the top before moving up to a higher seat row. We planned to stick around for Andrew Kennedy's final comedy show at 9:45PM. Ironically, the same time as his “late night comedy” show earlier in the cruise but this time he addressed the complaints and kept things cleaner.

 

After the show, we stopped off for snacks and made our way back to the cabin to finish packing and set out our last suitcase. They didn't bother to retrieve our last suitcase before we'd gone to bed after midnight but thankfully they had done so by 6AM when I got up the next morning to double check.

[RRFPresident]

It was a beautiful morning when we arrived in Fort Lauderdale to end our voyage. I got up early enough to take some final pictures of the port:

 

Since we had a 1PM flight, we chose 9:30AM as our time to disembark on the forms we'd received 1/3 of the way into our cruise. Once we were fully ready to leave our cabin, we headed down to the Platinum/Elite/Suite disembarkation lounge which was in Explorer's this time. We've been assigned everywhere from the theater to a dining room on past cruises, all depends on what space is listed on the letter in your cabin. They offered a small assortment of pastries, coffee, water, and juice. The Captain's Circle Rep was monitoring the lounge and checked our cards when we walked up to enter. The place was pretty packed but we found 2 seats to sit and wait. Soon it was announced that customs was delaying disembarkation and our 9:30AM time became closer to 10AM. It got to a point where the rep was adding extra groups if they were small enough to the group she'd been given permission to call and telling them to “just don't be obvious about it.” We were considering just saying we were part of the next group called once 10AM rolled around but it turned out that our group was really the next group called and we were personally escorted to the gangway by another crew member.

 

Our luggage ended up being in two opposite ends of the color group section since we'd set them out separately for the first time but we each grabbed one and made our way to the customs line. I can see part of what added to the delay as we watched a handful of people waiting in one line suddenly realize once they'd reached the front that they should have been in a different line. So far, RCL had the best customs service of all our cruises since our suite status got us past the lines and to the next available agent. It took a bit of winding through the building to find where to get a cab but soon we were on our way to the airport. Thankfully not much of a line greeted us at the check in counter and we settled in at our gate. As we sat waiting, Rhonda and Tony came by having booked the same first half of a connecting flight so we got to sit and chat for a bit until the plane was ready to board. Plane ride to North Carolina was uneventful and thankfully shorter than our first plane ride to LA. It worked out well once we deplaned that our gate for the next flight was only about 20 feet away and we only had 45 minutes to kill until that flight boarded. Our second flight back to Maryland was only a little over an hour but by the time we were in a cab home it was already dark. We finally arrived home around 7:30PM.

 

Thank you all for sticking with me till the end. Looking forward to staving off the countdown to our next cruise by sailing along with everyone else's reviews!

[alwalaska]

We are onboard now and feel like we know the ship because of your most detailed review!! It's cool here in LA. The lights are on and we are preparing to pull out. Thanks again for all you wrote and shared.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Oh how exciting. I have less than two months now to wait. If you are able to get any pictures of dining room menus (If you even check here while out having fun), I would love to see them. Even if you just want to email them rather than posting them.

 

Have a awesome trip!

[alwalaska]

It was a beautiful morning when we arrived in Fort Lauderdale to end our voyage.

...

 

Thank you all for sticking with me till the end. Looking forward to staving off the countdown to our next cruise by sailing along with everyone else's reviews!

 

Thank you again for your amazing review and photos. I will try really hard to put some sort of review together after our Feb cruise. I always say I will, but it is always so hard.

 

I'm surprised Princess makes priority people wait for a specific time. On NCL, the Suite passengers get a special luggage tag that is the first offloaded in the morning. They can then show up at the concierge lounge (or designated spot) and wait for a short time until a group forms (or if no one else comes, they will escort just you) and they take you off. I haven't sailed in a suite, but have been given the privileges a couple of times for different things. Once they took us all the way to the customs lines and helped leap frog us in, but the other time, they simply merged us in with everyone else on the gangway and we did a fend for self from that point on.

 

On NCL, top level rewards people only gets the option of taking the very first color group after self-carry people. They don't get escorted off to avoid lines unless they pick that first group. Since it is pretty easy to hit the top level on NCL, this is usually a really big group and we prefer waiting until the end. It is really easy to find your luggage at the end.

[chet the jet]

We will be taking the same 15 days in Oct 2017. This gave me a great insite of just what will be going on and also the pictures of the ship. You did a great job and thanks for taking time to do this.

;)