We booked this short 5 day cruise in May, 2021 with CRUCON for two reasons:
- At the time we booked this cruise, we were also booked for a world cruise starting in May, 2022. Before doing the world cruise, we needed 4 more days to get our Princess loyalty to the next benefit level, which would give us free laundry – a great benefit for a 107 day world cruise!
- We had cancelled a cruise during COVID before the cruise line cancelled it, and CRUCON charges a $50 per person cancellation fee, which can be applied to a future cruise and used as onboard credit.
Our world cruise was canceled in November, 2021, and we booked a 2021-2022 New Years cruise at the last minute giving us more than enough days to reach the top Princess loyalty level. So we really didn’t need this 5 day cruise. But we found our Ray & Celeste happened to have booked the same cruise, and it would an opportunity to try out our new Princess “elite” benefits, one of which is a stocked mini-fridge. When we booked the cruise, we went cheap, which was a mistake. We booked an obstructed balcony cabin, category “BW” #E424, which is the lowest category of balconies. Our view may have been obstructed by the lifeboats (aka tenders). Princess moved us to a “BD” stateroom, B628, because Princess is using the Obstructed Balcony cabins for isolating passengers that test positive for COVID while onboard. But we did also did not book the all inclusive package (Princess Plus). Trying to reach CRUCON to upgrade and correct the mistake has been a disaster. They have NO customer service. We will never book with them again. We may be able to upgrade once onboard.
Our itinerary is:
1/22/2022 11:30 AM Board Regal Princess in Fort Lauderdale
1/23/2022 At Sea
1/24/2022 Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos 8:00AM – 5:00PM
1/25/2022 Amber Cove, Dominican Republic 8:00AM – 5:00PM
1/26/2022 At Sea
1/27/2022 Disembark Ft. Lauderdale
1/20/2022: This morning, we decided to call Princess and see if there is any way we can upgrade. Princess is generally not able to talk to you if you’ve booked through a travel agent. Fortunately, there were notes on our file that we had been trying to upgrade, actually back to November. After long holds and explaining our problem more than once, we finally got to a reservation person. Again she told us Princess was unable to change our reservation, but she would try to help by contacting our travel agent. She was unable to reach the travel agent, also! So she got special permission to process our upgrade, and said she would notify the travel agent. She said she could see we were trying to do this for a long time. We were on the phone with Princess for 2.5 hours! After we got that straightened out, we did our COVID tests and they were negative! In the afternoon, Ray and Celeste came by to do their COVID-19 tests. Ray has a large phone and it would not fit in my tripod, so he used my phone to do the proctored test. In the middle of his test, my phone rang and it was CRUCON, the travel agent. Apparently they got the upgrade notice from Princess and finally decided to call me! I answered the call on my iPad since Ray was in the middle of his test. Basically I asked CRUCON what was going on with them. They said they thought things were getting better! I told them we were going to cruise, we were now happy with our stateroom and we were just going to enjoy the cruise. I was concerned with how much I was messing up Ray’s test and did not feel I had time to tell CRUCON what I really thought about them. We checked Rays test that he is suppose to be waiting 15 minutes for the results without touching the test. We noticed we’d lost the little video that we thought was monitoring the test, so we thought for sure the test proctor was going to tell us his test was invalid. But, nope! The proctor came on after 15 minutes, looked at the test via the web cam and said it was negative! Whew! Celeste took her test with no issue and she was negative also.
1/22/2022: We are driving to the port separately, because Ray and Celeste are planning to stay on board and do a back to back cruise. We had no issues driving, dropped our luggage and parked on level 4, orange. When we were boarding, our medallions were not working, apparently because we changed staterooms. They just asked for our passports, and then sent us to another desk where our new medallions were waiting for us. We turn around, and there’s Celeste! She tells us they won’t let her board because her passport is expired. They tried all different things including having someone go to their house, open their safe and dig out her birth certificate. Princess thought that might be acceptable. After about 3 hours of haggling and waiting, Princess tells them that the birth certificate is not acceptable for travel to the Dominican Republic, which is one of our 2 ports the ship will visit. Unfortunately, Ray and Celeste were not able to board. Dave and I are sick because we were looking forward to cruising with them. On the other hand, Princess took care of us, and upgraded us to club class. All this really means is we have a special dining room. The stateroom we are in is not normally club class, but I think Princess did this to make amends for the trouble we had with our travel agent. The stateroom we upgraded to is on the front of the ship. This is our view:
We have metal under the railing, where in regular balconies it would be glass. But our stateroom and balcony is bigger than a regular balcony. We wanted to be on the front on the ship as we had never cruised in a stateroom on the front before.
I have been trying to sign up for the Chef’s Table special dinner or the Winemakers Dinner. I tried on our New Years cruise, but it was already full. I signed up again as soon as we got onboard. They are not having a Chef’s table, but they are having the Winemakers Dinner. We’ll see if we get to attend.
I thought the club class upgrade was a mistake, but we went to lunch, they seated us in a special section, and we had upgraded napkins and tablecloth. They welcomed us to club class! So, I guess it’s for real!
We went to the Elite and Platinum happy hour, and had a couple nibbles and adult beverages. Then we went to the Wheelhouse Bar for a pre-dinner drink. We found out our favorite waitress, Junell (?), is now in the Vista Lounge, where we intend to go after dinner anyway. We have reservations for the Crown Grill, which was suppose to be Celeste’s birthday dinner. Dave had Sea Bass and I had Lamb Chops. Afterwards we went to the Vista Lounge to listen to a band, Project 5. We enjoyed their music, but it was a light crowd…maybe 20 people? When they finished, we went to the pool deck to watch San Francisco 49’s and Green Bay play. It was really nice to watch them on the big screen. I got cold before the end of the game, so we went back to our stateroom to finish watching there.
1/23/2022: Ray is still trying to work out the issues with Princess and hopes to make his next cruise 1/27/2022. We’ve been emailing, I’ve tried to help from the ship, but really not a lot I can do. Dave and I slept late. I have not been sleeping well the last month, and I think I made up for lost sleep!
Tonight is a dress up night. We had a light breakfast in the buffet and decided to walk on the walking track. We did 2 miles, which is 14 laps – a short track! Then we checked out the big screen in the daylight as the Tampa Bay Bucs are playing the LA Rams this afternoon. We went to a presentation on shore excursions, which was a waste of time. Several of the excursions they recommended were already full! We did find one we’re going to try in Amber Cove. We are planning to take a taxi into Cocktown at Grand Turk. We’ll see…We went to lunch in club class. After lunch, we went to customer service to ask our questions and hopefully resolve some of Ray’s issues. They gave me a business card, so at least I think I got a good list of contact info for him. Then we decided to check out to see if we can use our balcony while moving. We are on the front of the ship and we’re told we could not use the balcony when the ship was moving….but we could. It was really nice to sit out there. The balcony is oversized, and the metal front blocks some of the wind. We really enjoyed being able to use the balcony and chill for awhile. When the Bucs game came on, Dave decided he’d rather watch it in the room instead of the big screen by the pool. We tried to open one of our freebie Club Class wine bottles, but did not have a bottle opener! Had to call room service! The game was not going good, so I went down to happy hour and left Dave to his misery. The game was on in the happy hour lounge, but I didn’t think Dave would want to watch it in the happy hour lounge because there was no sound. Dave did come down, just as Tampa Bay was trying to turn it around, but it was too little, too late. The Bucs lost. ☹️
After happy hour, we went to our Club Class dining room. In club class we get extra menu items that are not on the menu – so I got escargot, but it was not the usual preparation – they were on little bread rounds. I also got lobster thermidore. Dave ordered off the menu and had a crab quiche for his appetizer and a beef dish for his entree. We caved in and not had bananas foster for dessert. After dinner, we went to hear the Project 5 band, but they weren’t as good as the previous night. We left a little before they finished and Dan Austin was playing the guitar in the Wheelhouse bar so we went to listen to him awhile. Only one show in the big theater tonight at 9:00PM,, and it’s a production show, “Bravo”. We saw the same show on the transatlantic cruise, but it is good. Basically just singing, but done by several different performers. After the theater we went to Crooners, the piano/martini bar. The piano player is Kevin Brando, and he is entertaining.
1/24/2022: We are in Grand Turk today. In the morning, we took a taxi to Cockburn town.
On the way to town we saw some of the wild donkeys and horses that roam free on Grand Turk. This is a small island with about 3000 residents. We went to the Turks and Caicos National Museum, for $5 per person, which is located in a two story house. There were several rooms with exhibits. A lot of space was dedicated to the Molasses Reef shipwreck, which some believe to be Christopher Columbus’ Pinta. However that claim is disputed. One room is dedicated to John Glenn who landed near Grand Turk in his space capsule. Another room was about salt production on the island, but ended in the 1960’s. We enjoyed walking through and seeing all the exhibits. When we finished we had a nice chat with the lady at the front desk. We asked about a lunch place and she indicated a place on the beach. We walked there, but it was closed. We decided to head towards the ship, and see if a taxi would come by to take us back. We didn’t see any taxis, so we walked all the way back to the ship which is suppose to be 3 miles, but we think it was a little longer. We saw several dogs laying in the shade, sleeping. Also saw another donkey and several horses.
We got back on the ship and had lunch. After lunch, we put on our bathing suits, got off the ship, and went to the beach that’s just in front of our ship. The water was “refreshing”…pretty cool getting in, but we got used to it after awhile. I was glad we broke down and finally got in the water! After the beach, we showered and went to happy hour and dinner. We plan to make it an early evening because we lose an hour tonight and we have an early excursion tomorrow. So we stopped at the Wheelhouse for a nightcap. While there, I got a FaceTime call from Lily and Mia! Because of the background noise on the ship – lots of things going on, I could not hear her very well, but it was nice to talk to her for a few minutes.
Got a call from dining, and we did not make the cut for the Winemakers Dinner, and they had 2! I asked what was I suppose to do in order to be able to attend and of course there was no real answer. I think they felt sorry for me as they sent Dave and I a big bottle of wine with a note of apology! Dave said it’s a good wine!
1/25/2022: We lost an hour of sleep last night as our port today is Amber Cove, Dominican Republic and they are an hour ahead of us. We have scheduled a ships tour and we meet onshore about 8:20AM. We are going to Puerto Plata which means silver city.
The bus drops us off in the main square and our guide tells us about a woman from Italy, named Bianca but they called her Blanco because she was white. She and her family operated one of the most famous hotels and was the best hotel in the country in the early 1900’s. She is remembered by the walkway and bench.
Then we walk to a storefront where there is a cigar rolling demonstration. Dave and I are a little bummed, because we are not interested in cigars, and picked this excursion because cigar rolling was not mentioned in the description, but was mentioned in other excursions. Anyway, we’re were told about the different tobaccos and they passed around tobacco leaves so we could feel them. An older gentleman demonstrated cigar rolling.
We were able to try rolling a cigar if we wanted, but Dave and I weren’t interested. We went outside and watched the neighborhood cats.
After the cigars, we walked to the San Felipe Cathedral. It was built in 1956 over the ashes of an earlier 14th Century structure, burned down during the restoration war of 1863. After the first structure burned down, the works on the new church were started in 1870, then reconstructed in 1929 and completed in 1956.
The Cathedral is on one side of Independence Square. So we were able to walk around the square to see the building that houses the Mayors office.
The office building is on one side of Independence Square. On the mountain is a Christ statue, but it is very hard to pick out from the above photo. Our guide spoke of the hero’s and their statues. Interesting that one statue of General George Luperon still has his nameplate, but the other statue, which looks like a white European guy, the nameplate is gone. So apparently some Dominicans must not think of him as a hero.
We reboarded the bus and drove to Del Oro Chocolate Factory. We were given a demonstration on cocoa and making chocolate. Then we got to taste some chocolate butter spread, some cashew spread, and various piece of chocolate, ie milk chocolate, 55% chocolate, 60% chocolate, white chocolate, chocolate with rum, etc. Of course we were given the opportunity to buy some chocolate, which we did.
We had a scenic drive along the Malecon, which is the waterfront. We saw the statue of the King of the Sea on a small island.
as our bus took us to the San Felipe Fortress which was built in 1564, to ward off pirates. The fortress which is on the waterfront is in a park like setting with lots of aggressive vendors and a lady with a donkey who would let you take your picture on the donkey…for a price, and a statue of the general on a horse.
After leaving the San Felipe Fortress, we drove to our lunch place. It was not the place described for our excursion. We thought we were going to a plantation with animals. This location had a garden with an art gallery and an 88 year old artist in residence. He had several drawings of the island, and a couple drawings of male nudes! Interesting! He said he was born here, so we assume on this property. There was a large garden with many plants, most of which we grow in Florida. Two interesting ones were a Cannonball Tree and Maraka Tree.
People use the gourds from the Maraka tree for bowls. There is a koi pond on the property with many large koi, but apparently no blue herons.
We had a buffet for lunch with rice, chicken, chips, Chile, green salad, pasta salad, fruit salad and soda or water to drink. After lunch, we were given a sample of Dominican coffee and an opportunity to buy souvenirs from their gift shop.
We reboarded our bus and drove to the Macorix House of Rum for a rum tasting. First we walked through their storage room where the rum is aged in barrels from US bourbon factories. We watched a short movie about the original rum maker and moved to the rum tasting room. We tasted different rums: aged 4 years, 8 years, 9 years, spiced, coconut, apple and coconut water with rum. They gave us the samples so quickly it was really hard to judge the taste of each one. I bought a bottle of the coconut water with rum. It is more like a mixed drink, with more coconut water than rum. But, I liked it. Dave bought a small bottle of spiced rum.
Our tour was done and we were driven back to the ship. Dave did not turn in our alcohol purchases when we boarded the ship. You are suppose to turn over any alcohol purchased and then the ship returns it to you the evening before you disembark. Kind of a crazy rule for those of us with an alcohol package because any drink you want is included in your cruise price.
We went to the Captains Club party and found out there are 890 passengers onboard, and 102 elite passengers. This is our first sailing as Elite.
We went to dinner and I asked our waiter if we were going to have escargot this cruise, and he said he would try to order it special for our last night. After dinner, we went to the piano bar to listen to Kevin Brando again, and Dave has found out he likes milky way martinis.
1/26/22: Sea Day! After breakfast, Dave packed. Then we walked 3 miles on the walking track. Grabbed some lunch from the International Cafe, and took it back to the room. We showered to get ready for our Elite wine tasting. Dave is generally not big on wine tastings because he knows which wines he likes. we had a brut, Meiomi Chardonnay, two red wines and a sweet dessert wine. There were two presenters, and one was very funny with lots of jokes thrown in. So we did enjoy the wine tasting, if not for the wines, then for the entertainment value. Went back to the room to finish packing, and went to the Captains Club happy hour. We have enjoyed just relaxing and having a pre-dinner drink. Unfortunately, my drink tonight, Chairman of the Board, had too much gin, so it wasn’t very good. We went to dinner and our waiter had special ordered escargot for both of us! It was a nice treat, especially for our last night onboard. After dinner we went back to the martini bar to hear Kevin Brando. We chatted with him a bit and found out he got COVID during our New Years cruise and thats why there was so much shuffling of the entertainers.
1/27/2022: Disembarkation Day. We had our last breakfast in the Club Class dining room and headed off the ship. This port was using facial recognition, so you do not speak to a customs agent. You just look into a camera and then it tells you to go. My only gripe with this is you have to take off your mask, and they rush you along and don’t let you put your mask back on, but you’re in a government facility, so you’re suppose to have your mask on. We had to take a shuttle to the parking deck where our car was parked because the ship docked in a different spot than where it was when we left. It was a bit of a wait for the shuttle. We left the ship about 8:30AM, and were in our car by about 9:30AM, and a lot of that time was waiting for the shuttle. In the meantime, I am getting texts from Ray that they are in the passport office in Miami, and Celeste should have her new passport by noon. Later, about 1:30PM, they are on the ship! Bummed that we didn’t get to cruise together, but glad they got everything worked out and they are on the ship.