azbirdmom

So what's happening with the Crown? That ship is apparently being pulled from Australia cruises after December 2025, folks got notices yesterday about the "redeployment". Right now the Discovery is the only ship that is cruising Australia in January and February 2026 until the Crown reappears on the schedule in late March 2026. Will be interesting to see what Princess ultimately announces.

With a full suite you can get the alcohol drinks from 5 to 7 for free in the suite concierge lounge plus all of the water and soft drinks you can handle throughout the day. Ditto cappuccino and espresso - you can use that machine 24 X 7. And you'll get a full minibar set up too. You can add the packages on embarkation day if you change your mind, just remember you can't buy just one, you'd have to pay for both of you. It might be cheaper to buy your wife a WiFi package. ETA: Meant to clarify that your wife probably wouldn't need a soda package if you are in a full suite. You will get 6 sodas in the mini bar set up and as I mentioned you can get more from the suite concierge lounge for free so you can keep your fridge loaded. You don't have to consume the drinks you get in the lounge, you can take them back to your suite. And if you choose a "regular" penthouse suite that means walking across the hall with them.

I don't think so because United will be paid by a "consolidator" so they won't know what credit card was initially used. I'm not sure if they would waive it when you go to check in and use your credit card for the charges. If you have a Premier status that includes free baggage you won't be charged.

I'm guessing that the Alaska season will be fine and it will just head to San Juan instead of Sydney sometime in September 2025.

It's nice that they are rebooking at no change in fare especially since the replacement cruise will be on a newer ship.

Will have to do that next time. Will also remember your avocado idea. I usually leave the egg out and insert cheese lol.

I had a modified version of the "BELT" last week on the Enchanted too. Except it was a double decker with two quarters. Suffice to say that I used a knife and fork to eat my breakfast!

At least they are making this announcement before any flights or hotel arrangements would have been made. I honestly thought that with the new ships coming on line that they would announce that the Grand was being sold.

I've found that we have gotten sick when we've traveled out of the USA and taken longer cruises. In 2021 and 2022 our flights were to US ports and the cruises were 7 to 10 days in length. Many of those required masks. We came home healthy. Last year we flew to London and Sydney for cruises. Got Covid on the way home from the British Isles cruise (12 days) and a nasty upper respiratory cruise after our New Zealand cruise (13 days). On both there were many folks with barking coughs everywhere including on excursion busses where there was no where to escape them. So yeah, lots of illness out there but I do think the longer the cruise the greater the chances of exposing yourself to that illness.

We tried The Catch last week on the Enchanted and it was terrific. I really hope this concept moves to more ships.

Yes they were making omelets in the buffet every day last week on the Enchanted.

It's the new port day express MDR breakfast menu. We didn't eat down there but heard grumbling about it. We will see if this experiment lasts.

He could have either sat at a table nearby and taken his food with him when it arrived or told them what he was going to do and they would have worked it out. Hmmnm, are you sure they weren't fish fingers? They didn't have any chicken fingers last week in the kid's section even though they kind of looked like chicken. I asked one of the crew behind the buffet and he confirmed they were indeed fish. Kind of surprising. Yes, that's the way all but one of the tournaments I've participated in on Princess ships have worked. At least it was only one minute and not three or longer, those are really painful. The beating the heck out of the buttons strategy helps to get the most spins but basically if someone gets the high paying win on a single spin that's the winner regardless of the number of spins. In other words being lucky enough to sit at the right machine. The one time it wasn't like that was in Australia pre-Covid. I think they figured out that it was much easier physically to set a time limit and give people X number of spins in 3 minutes. My first round I was still attacking the buttons and was done in 2 minutes. I qualified for the finals and took my time (and won!). I think that's much better way to do it.

I was invited last week but the time they assigned me was during our dinner at the Catch. In the invitation they mentioned showing up by 8:50 if we couldn't make the assigned time but I would have had to leave dinner with friends to make that. I went to talk to the hosts just before 7 and they had some machines just to the left of the entrance set up for the tournament. Unfortunately they already had the earliest times booked so I couldn't play. But the way it typically works is that the ones with the highest scores from the preliminary rounds play in the finals which would be sometime after 9. Winner takes all.

We were just in R730 on the Enchanted last week and it was fabulous. It was a nice wide balcony (the ones on Aloha and Caribe are narrow but still nice). It was just down the hall from the suite concierge lounge which was convenient and the nightly happy hours there were a lot of fun. I wouldn't hesitate sailing in that cabin again, the aft cabins are fantastic.