Caribbean princess 2.0 - it’s still a good value cruise ship

 I am on a 12 day southern Caribbean cruise on the old but still sailing Caribbean Princess ship. It was refurbished in the last 2 years so the hull appears freshly painted, lots of furnishings and carpets replaced. It still caters to an older demographic and mostly Americans and some Canadians. 

I sailed on her 4 years ago and the things that were good still are and the bad stuff still not fixed.

The food is very good all around the ship.

Service of the cabins and in the dining room good. 

The ship and public places clean. 

My outside cabin is clean, comfortable and the plumbing and air conditioning works

The tv still has movies with newer releases for free

Now for the stuff that hasn’t gotten better

- the internet is slow to download emails 

- I still had to get help to log on  to the internet as it’s not intuitive and instructions useless

- staff are polite but only the room steward is customer focused. Most act as though it is not a place they want to be

- entertainment is still the worst at sea of all the cruise lines. The acts are re hashes meaning a magician, production shows that are repeated on all their ships and has been vocalists 

- game shows have not been updated since I last cruised with Princess 4 years ago

- to get thru dinner is at minimum 1.5 hours 

So why did I come… excellent ports, cheap price for a solo

Just lower your expectations and you can have a good time.

Hope this helps 

Marcia

Go port is still my go shuttle to cruise port when flying into Orlando airport

 While I was disappointed when they contacted me that they no longer pick up at the airport hotels. Note you have to take the hotel shuttle back to the airport gate A 3/4. They are still the best value high volume shuttle to the Cape Canaveral cruise port. They start the shuttles at 10 am to 2 pm and it takes about 45 to a hour to get parked at your cruise terminal and off load your bags. It depends on how many cruise ships are in port as they stop at all ships for each bus.

They have a well tuned approach at the airport. You check in at the desk, they give you a number and you board the buses in batches of numbers. The only put 26 numbers per bus because of all of the luggage.

It costs 29.99 usd per person one way.

Tip 

Get there between 9am and 9:15 if you want a 10 am bus. Because the ships came in late due to weather their first bus was delayed and I left at 10:25 am

I will always use them in Orlando as they are half the price of the cruise shuttle (Princess) and much more timely.

Hope this helps 

Marcia

Comfort suites Orlando international airport- pre cruise hotel was good

 I am constantly searching for a good pre cruise hotel in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale at a reasonable price with breakfast and free airport shuttle. Comfort suites Orlando airport fits the criteria. I called for the shuttle at 11:30 am and they were at the designated gate within 10 minutes. When I got to the hotel Carmen gave me my room right away even though check in is 4 pm. She also recommended the Latin restaurant across the street for lunch. It was excellent. It was crowded with mostly latinos. The staff was helpful in helping me make choices. The food is served cafeteria style. The portions are huge. I had enough for lunch and dinner it cost me 10 dollars with a pop.  Down the street within a10 minutes walk are several fast food places and 7 eleven. There are lights, crosswalks so don’t let the busy street discourage you.

At the hotel the room is huge, with a king size bed and sofa area, mini fridge and microwave. It was very clean and the bed comfortable. My only issue was how loud the air conditioner is when it starts up. If you keep it at 72 f, it is quiet.

The breakfast was ok but the eggs are inedible. The pastries, waffles and fruit and yogurt were fine as was the juice. 

They offer a shuttle to the cruise port for $35 pp, but it is $30 for Go port back at the airport.  Go port no longer picks up at hotels.

Tips

Pre book the shuttle for the next day to the airport and make sure you give yourselves plenty of time as they pick up at another hotel

I would stay at this hotel again

Hope this helps 

Marcia

Air Canada phone help is 2.5 hours wait, but the reps are great

In the past two days I have had to call Air Canada customer service to get a seat reinstated when Royal Caribbean had to change my flights.  Royal Caribbean is to blame for the second call both to them and to Air Canada as they did not issue the flight tickets even though I paid in full.   Always request they issue the ticket when you have fully paid. They do not do this automatically.

I checked on line and AI said the average wait time to speak to an Air Canada rep would be between 2 and 3 hours. Air Canada touts it has a call back feature but on both calls this call back was not offered to me.  So expect at least 2 hours to speak to a rep.  The only way I could get me seat reinstated was to speak to an agent.

But when I finally go through to the reps on both days they were great. The first one told me RCL had not issued the ticket and call RCL back. The second rep acknowledged I paid for the seat for my flight and wondered why RCL had changed the booking number. (It appears they didn't have to????). Anyway the cost of my seat had gone up so they couldn't give it back to me at the same price. When there was an issue with the system accepting my credit card (for 9$ - so it must be their system). The rep told me to hold and then did something so I didn't have to pay the extra.  She was awesome in her help to me. 

I also want to acknowledge the Air Canada  rep at the Newwark airport. I advised the RCL had changed my flight to a later one and she got me on the earlier flight (my original) and refunded what I paid for my seat. Again awesome.

Some tips:

- don't use RCL air to sea if you can help it... they are mixed in helpfulness if you have an issue with your flight on a same day cruise (read my other post) . 3x they didn't help me and once they did. Use with caution.  I used them as it was for a transatlantic and could not find flights that leave from Florida and return from Barcelona for RCL's price. 

- Book direct with the airline ... they are more likely to help you if in need. Also they offer more flexible re-booking options if you purchase the flex flight option that includes seat selection and 1 checked baggage. Note this is always the cheaper option if you need to pick your seat and have a checked bag.

- Go in a day earlier than the cruise departure... yes you have to pay for a hotel but its really worth the no hassle. 

Hope this helps 

Marcia

Why you have to go in a day early for a cruise - Especially RCL

 Well I have just re-booked my flights thru Flights thru Royal for my cruise next spring in order to go a day early. 

As mentioned in other posts, I have had many issues with flying in the same day for an RCL cruise.

My flight in March to Houston was significantly delayed due to high winds and I barely made the last RCL shuttle on the day of the cruise and missed out on the first day The Key benefits.

My flight in September was cancelled by Air Canada (they said in the email due to weather - but the weather in Toronto and Newark was great. (I think the plane was not available due to bad weather the day before).  I was in luck that RCL could get me on an early flight because I live close to the airport. I only made it with 15 minutes to spare. 

Now I am rebooking my flight for the RCL cruise next April to the day before as I cannot have another panic attack when the flight is cancelled of delayed the day of the cruise.

I am having to pay a 117 CDN penalty for changing the flight and now I realized that they changed who they booked thru for the same return Air Canada flight. It is code shared with Lufthansa so they used Luftansa instead of Air Canada and the booking was cancelled. I had paid $88 for a seat selection and am currently on hold with Air Canada to see if they will honour the seat selection. 

I have been waiting for  over 1.5 hours to speak to someone from Air Canada customer service. 

So don't go day of and have a panic attack... go in  a day before 

Hope this helps

Marcia

Marcia

Fortress of Louisburg New Brunswick - don't go on a rainy and windy day

 I booked the shore excursion to the Fortress of Louisburg in New Brunswick. The day was rainy with 50 mph winds. But they did not cancel the shore excursion.  It turns out that Louisbug is often windy and rainy. This makes for a yucky shore excursion, even though I was dressed for the weather in a rubber long raincoat and warm clothing underneath.  

Louisberg fortress is mostly an outdoor tour as it has many outer buildings. Walking in the rain/wind is tricky.  While the buildings are dry inside they are NOT heated so you will not get warm.  A lot of passengers went back to the bus to get warm.

There is a lot of history in each of the buildings and I would recommend seeing this fortress but only in good weather due to the amount of walking involved outdoors.

Tips

- wear a heavy duty rain coat.  You will not be able to use an umbrella with the winds.

- wear several layers of clothing under the raincoat and gloves... I was there in early September and it was really cold. 

-  There is only one coffee shop and the coffees start at 4.50 can ...expensive. So bring water or a drink with you

Did I enjoy this shore excursion - not really as the weather made it impossible to enjoy.  

Hope this helps 

Marcia

Portland Maine is walkable but distances farther than you think

 I walked from the cruise terminal to the Portland art museum. Google said it was a 15 minute walk. At a quick pace it took 30 minutes. The town is hilly and has lots of cobble stones. Shopping is all over, but go a couple of streets up from the harbour for better prices. I paid 8 usd for a t shirt that was 25 usd near the harbour.

The art museum is a gem. The Winslow Homer exhibit was the best I have experienced. It’s 4 floors and $18usd for seniors.  Well worth the fee.

The harbour was busy, but fun with lots of restaurants and shops.  The marina is very pretty.

Warning there are a lot of homeless people. They won’t hurt you but constantly ask for change.

Hope this helps

Marcia