krisp

Hmmm, I'd guess the balcony is bigger, but the entire room might be a little bigger. If your travel agent doesn't know, try calling the cruise line's customer service, they should be able to tell you. Kris

Bon Voyage! Hope you have a blast! :cool: Kris

More experienced cruisers might have more... but before my first cruise we wondered the same thing... What we learned is that alcohol is extra. Probably as pricy as cocktails at a bar. While iced-tea was free, soda was extra. $1.50 per glass I think. Our ship had a Ben-n-Jerry's bar... I think that was subsidized... only about $2 for a nice sized scoop. There was a juice bar that sold slushy fruit drinks for about $4 each. All food, including room service is included. But there are some extra frilly meals/desserts you can order that will cost extra. There is also the gratuity paid to about half a dozen people who take care of you on the ship. I like that Princess pools the money at a price of $10 per passenger per day (which you can raise or lower at your descression). Then automatically adds it to your room tab. That's easier than having to hand in 6 envelopes of cash on the last day. There are also some activities on board that may cost a little. We spent $10 per person to attend a photography class. (In a case like this you're really paying for the materials, we got a little hand book.) There might be a pottery class or the like. There were digital photography services on our ship... you bring them your memory chip every day and they download them to disk.... then at the end of the cruise, you get a CD with your pictures on them. Oh and speaking of pictures, there are plenty of photo ops where the on board photographers will snap your picture. Your picture (along with hundreds of others) will be hung up on the hallway... if you want it, you can buy any of those pictures. (Along with professional photos of your cruise ship). I forget how much these pics are. Spa treatments might be equal or a little more than what you'd expect from a standard spa at home. For what's available, and maybe pricing, you can find your cruise line's web page. I know Princess has a place where I can log in and sign up for spa services ahead of time. I expect the price would be listed ... Keep in mind...I don't think you'll EVER be using cash money on board. Everything get's charged to your room credit tab. Hope that helps!!! Kris

Heh, heh :cheesy: OK, I'm guilty of over reacting. As much as I loath the idea of such an early flight I guess it does provide a nice cushion in the event of delays. Thanks for all the input! Kris

Caribbean Princess, Eastern Caribbean, March 12 2005 Our first, honeymoon cruise 2 years ago, was a Panama Canal cruise on the Island Princess .

Hi Gina, We'll be stopping at St. Thomas on our Eastern Caribbean cruise in March. If you took any excursions, I'd like to hear a recommendation. We're looking for low activity excursions since I'll be 6 months pregnant :) Glad to hear you had a good time! Sorry it had to end. Kris

I just got my flight info. We're flying from Phila to Miami on the Saturday the cruise ships out. Our flight leaves at 6am! We get into Miami before 9am. Boarding doesn't even start until 1pm. I am so furious. I swear, cruise lines charge you an arm and a leg to book air with them, and THEN they purposely give you horribly undesirable flight times hoping you'll pay the extra $50/pp to change the flight. Am I nuts, or is this a big conspiracy!? We don't want to book air separately because in early March the weather is unpredictable enough that god forbid there is a delay, we want to know the cruiseline is responsible for backing us up. My TA said the cruise transport (to Fort Lauderdale) may not even be available until a few hours after we arrive in Miami. So we get to sit around the airport for a few hours to start our trip off. I plan to call the cruise line and complain... see if I can get them to schedule a later flight for free... Anyone have similar frustrations? Am I over reacting? At the very least, I feel a little better having vented my frustration! :rolleyes: Kris

Our first cruise was on the Island Princess (Panama Canal Cruise). We loved it. Everything was first class all the way. With nothing to compare against, we decided to go back to them this time around. We sail on the Caribbean Princess in March. Good luck! Kris

We used a Travel Agent. When we booked our first, 2 years ago we had no idea what we were doing or looking for. This time, we knew exactly what we wanted but were just more comfortable with a local person to deal with directly. I buy lots of stuff on line, including hotel reservations and airline tickets. I expect maybe our next cruise I'll try one of the on-line options. I wonder, does booking with a TA increase likelyhood of an upgrade?

Hi Sparki, I can give you advice from the perspective of a recent first time cruiser. We decided not to plan anything in advance. The day before the port calls, we would look over what was still available. Since lots of stuff had sold out we usually opted to go it alone. In our case, that was a mistake. The ports on the Panama Canal cruise were not condusive with going it alone. But we didn't know that! I'd say review the ports of call in advance so you know what's available and what you might be able to do on your own. We still enjoyed our cruse, but we felt we missed out since we didn't get to see much at each port. We are cruising again in a few months. This time we plan to sign up in advance for one excursion on 2 of the 3 ports. Since we're doing it in advance we can review the excursion details and see what ones really look right for us. Duct Tape is the end all be all fix it tool. We drove cross country one summer and by the end of the month, the duct tape was holding the motor home together! I hope a shiny new cruise ship wouldn't suffer the same problems ;) Happy Cruising! Kris

Hi all, I'll be 22-23 weeks pregnant when we cruise in March. We've planned this as our last couple's getaway before the baby arrives! I was wondering if anyone has had any experience cruising while pregnant? On our honeymoon cruise 2 years ago, I took Bonine every day to avoid motion sickness. I don't know if I'd have had a problem without it, but we weren't taking any chances on getting sick so we took it as a precaution. I intend to double check with my doctor, but if anyone found any good motion sickness deterants that can be used while pregnant, I'd love to hear them. Any other advice for the pregnant cruiser is appreciated! Thanks, Kris

Thanks for responding! TA will get back to me today with the actual confirmation of what room it will be. I was mostly worried about *movement* of the ship at that location... Is there any reason to expect we'll feel more (undesirable) movement (swaying, bobbing etc) in that area of the ship? Thanks! Kris

My TA just put a hold on a room on Carribbean Princess, category BG. By looking at the floor plan, I think there are only FOUR rooms in this category. Looks to me like it is the LOWEST possible Balcony room category. Should we worry about it's location? Baja deck is one of the upper decks and these are the the four rooms closest to the front of the ship. http://www.princess.com/ships/cb/deck/cb_baja_index.html We've been on one cruise before, in the area of mid ship, but closer to the front. We weren't bothered by any unusual movement due to location. Anyone have any advice or experience in knowing what areas of the ship just aren't worth taking a chance on??? Or is the overall location not *that* big of a deal? We appreciate your input! Kris