Honolulu Blue

Removing the service charge? You can try. Good luck with that. Beverage servers and room service do delivery personnel are NOT part of the gratuity pool that's covered by the per day "mandatory" gratuities the cruise line charges.

I've gotten refunds as OBC several times on my Carnival sailings as I embarked. The amounts were usually small and odd (like $7.42). This was pre-pandemic, so I'm not sure if they still do this. I don't recall any other cruise lines doing this for me. The one time I did have a port skipped without replacement was on Royal last year (Nassau). I got a $30 refund as OBC for that

Today is a sea day as we make our way to Ensenada. Yesterday we were in Cabo San Lucas and it's time to tell you how that day went. This is, of course, a tender port. We had to take them to the port and back. On the way there, I saw something that I hadn't seen before. While we were sailing along, there was a crew member walking around with a tip jar. While I appreciate service personnel and the opportunity to make as much as possible, I thought this was too aggressive for my tastes and was turned off by it. I had an excursion to see the sights in and on the way to San Jose del Cabo, about a 40 minute drive away. We stayed in the bus the whole way there. We stopped in the central plaza and we were on our own for roughly an hour and a half. There were several places to shop and eat, and of course much to see: I bought a few souvenirs here and eventually we left and headed back to the tender boats.BTW, this is a much more common, subtle, and all around better way to ask for what you want: In the evening I went to one of the side arenas to see 80s tribute band Jessie's Girl. The crowd was roughly the same as watched Autograph in the same arena last night, which is to say not too many. They did get more people on the dance floor. No surprise, since they played many of the big hits of the 80s and played them well. The only act they played two songs from was Journey. I'll see a dedicated Journey tribute band on the Ruby Princess in a month. Anyway, good job guys and gals! That ended the exciting events from yesterday. Before I go, I want to talk about something that sometimes happens on these cruises. Here's a sliver of today's newsletter: I originally had the interview session with Autograph on my personal calendar. But they snuck in the autograph session with Lou Gramm and the auction at the very last minute. I'm interested in those too and now I'm torn. There's less than an hour to go, so I have to choose something soon. I should note that most of the rest of the time onboard doesn't stack events like this. Time to go. I'll report later on today's events.

While I have some extra time and space, let me discuss what has happened so far this morning. We're at our anchor point for Cabo San Lucas. They just started calling tender numbers. My excursion is later. I went to the ECP Q and A session way up on deck 14 in the Cosmopolitan Lounge. This was very interesting, very informative, and better than I expected. JT the cruise director hosted and passed around the Mike so they could ask the senior available staff some questions. From left to right we had Brett (hotel director), Chris (executive director), and Joey (production director). They had very interesting stories. All, including JT, had backgrounds in the cruise and/or charter business, and have been with ECP for a while. Yes, JT does work for the charter. Keep that in the back of your mind; I'll come back to it later. Two questions were asked by JT first as they had been asked multiple times over the cruise. First was how they pick the ship and the itinerary. No surprise here - everything counts and it gets worked on quite a bit in advance. The second question was what they do the rest of the year. They mentioned decompression immediately after this cruise, then on to work on other cruises - either planning or operating them. Then came my questions, two of them. I started with the Mariner moving to Galveston next year. Chris said the 2025 cruise would probably stay in the Caribbean, but didn't commit to anything beyond that. Everything is in the cards and I was asked to stay tuned. My second question was about solo pricing. They offered only a 50% single tax when I booked. It's also available for those who booked here, but there's an overall limit on how many cabins they will sell to single travelers. Interesting. We had about 50 people in the lounge, and a good portion of them asked other questions on various subjects or gave the ECP staffers compliments. * They're probably not going to do outside excursions with artists again. Too much can go wrong with outside vendors, and they're happy with the on ship opportunities provided. * There are more cruisers here from the east coast as compared to the west coast. The shift between last year and this year didn't change things much. * This cruise didn't sell out, but last year's did. That surprised me, because it seems more crowded this year. * The survey from ECP is very important to them and was mentioned multiple times. One of the acts on next year's cruise, Air Supply, was mentioned many times and they finally got them. * They tried multiple times in the past to get Devo and they finally got them this year. They're performing tonight. No, I'm not going. * I found a fellow passenger in a Weird Al shirt. He was nice enough for me to take a photo of him. I'm not sharing it, sorry. Ok, now back to the UDC, Jason, and StarVista Live. Jason is not employed by StarVista; he is one of their contractors. StarVista didn't have a Q and A like this on the UDC. I think the executives and Jason would probably have been SHREDDED for reasons I've already covered. It would have been fun to see. It's nearing time for my excursion, so I ll just leave you with a picture from the Cosmopolitan Lounge:

Roll call of gifts I've received so far from The 80s Cruise: Fanny pack Sun visor Sunglasses T shirt Latest speed test

Maybe not so obvious... I've heard from NCL cruisers where the bed was set up on arrival and not moved for the entire cruise. They might try this on Royal.

The big event of yesterday evening was the concert by Autograph. First, some background (mostly for me). Autograph was part of the Los Angeles hard rock/metal scene that emerged in the 1980s. Some I'm a big fan of (RATT and Quiet Riot), some I can't stand (Poison and Motley Crue). Autograph was one of the good ones, IMHO. I have their first album, "Sign In Please" and enjoyed it. Their one big hit on the pop charts was from this album. I'll talk about it more later. They played three other songs from this album. Random notes: 1) They didn't get much of a reaction from the crowd - no bigger than the songs from their later albums 2) It took them 5 songs to get to their first one from this album. I was starting to wonder if I was in the right place. 3) I practiced recording video with these songs. This was not prohibited; only in the main theater is filming not allowed. Don't expect it to appear on social media now or ever. As a videographer, I'm very glad I have a day job. 😁 4) On one, "Send Her To Me", the lead singer straight out asked who had heard of it. I screamed as loud as I could (it's a good song). There were maybe two others who did the same. Sometimes I wonder who comes to these concerts and why. 5) Which leads me to two other points. First, attendance was lower than I expected - only about 150 people in an arena that fit about 500. A considerable number were by the stage (no seats out front this time; I sat in the bleachers) 6) The lead singer also asked how many were born in each decade by voice vote. As you'd expect, the 60s and 70s were near even. But I'd say about 10% we're from the 80s and 5% from the 90s. 😮 I assume they're children of the true fans and were dragged kicking and screaming. A couple of people confessed to being born in the 50s - like Sting confessed in one of his more obscure songs. Let's see... What else... The singer did his best to try to engage us by singing along, swaying our hands, etc. Sometimes the results seemed weak, but that's partly because there were so few people around. And they were introduced by former MTV VJ "Downtown" Julie Brown. My favorite song from them is their big hit from 1985, "Turn Up the Radio". They closed the show with it. Overall I thought the newer songs they played were pretty good. I'll have to research them more. The band was good and they played well. This was a good concert and I'm glad I went. Here are some random photos: Today we'll be in Cabo San Lucas. It's a surprisingly busy day for me. I plan to chronicle it tomorrow.

I was in an M-class ship (Summit) last week. Cabin service was twice daily. This week I'm on Royal's Navigator OTS and there is also twice daily service. It's either the policy is being phased in or because this is a charter.

During the morning hours, the piano bar is quiet. You'll have to dodge the occasional cleaner and the tables aren't great for game playing. Between 3 and 6 PM and after 7 PM, the buffet will be relatively quiet. It's even quieter on the second level (I can't remember if the Ho has a second level; I think it does).

I've never seen a casino on a cruise ship with closed and locked doors. They tend to be built in places where they're critical thoroughfares to other high traffic parts of the ship.

I apologize for being a little late with this post. Busy day, tried to work everything in. I'll cover day 3 of the cruise - yesterday - and get to day 4 on the morrow. This was our second day at sea on our way to Puerto Vallarta. We traveled at around 19 knots the whole day. I didn't feel much of it. Breakfast in the Jammer was quite good. Later on I picked up my daily gift from ECP guest services. Here it is: I went through the rest of the day until the Morris Day concert. This was purple night and formal night. I would say most guests were either one or the other. Some combined both, which impressed me. Also impressive we're Morris Day and the Time. They got the crowd out of their seats early and kept them out with their music and showmanship. They did a great job. I expect this will be the best concert I see onboard this week. They didn't play "The Latest Fashion", my favorite song from me. I didn't expect them to. They also didn't play "Donald Trump (Black Version)". Tii siin for that one, but they did play several other songs from their back catalog that I didn't expect them to get to. It all worked very well. I had dinner and retreated to the cabin after the show. This morning, like magic, we were docked in Puerto Vallarta. Nice city, more impressive than I expected. I had an excursion here to see various sights in town. I was part of one of several groups that met in the main theater so we could get off the ship in an organized fashion. Sebastian was our tour guide. He was a young one. Javier was our driver who expertly guided our big yellow bus through some sometimes twisty, narrow, and cobblestoned streets. We made some stops in the downtown area. This was supposed to be a 4 hour excursion, but we were out well over 5 hours. I was surprisingly exhausted when I got back and immediately took a power nap. When I woke up, we were about ready to leave town. Goodbye PV. Maybe I'll be back. My next post will cover the rest of today, including my next concert experience.

True, but one of the major reasons why is that the ships from many of the mainstream cruise lines have gotten so big that it's impractical for them to run a tendering operation.

I'm sorry for the issues on your sailing. I was on the Summit for the sailing before yours. The dinner buffet in the OVC was well stocked and tasty. It was a charter, so maybe we paid extra for the extra spread??

Like a few others here have said, I think everything is important to me when enjoying a cruise - but some things are more important than others, and it's different things at different times. Lately music themed cruises have taken up an increasing share of my vacation time. This year it will be three of four cruises. For those, ENTERTAINMENT (mainly who's playing) is by far the most important thing, and I hope everything else is good enough. I like the way you travel. 🙂 I'm some years behind you in that I'd rather be on three music charters in interior cabins than one in a suite. In the funny coincidence department, one of the charter cruises I'm eyeing for next year goes to both Curacao and Aruba and they'll be using a Royal Caribbean ship (Mariner OTS).

No

I bought some slot cash for my trip on the Millie in November and, unlike @Jim_Iain's experience, mine was straightforward with just a couple of extra buttons to press and a trip to the cashier. But on my cruise on the Summit that I recently disembarked from, this was never offered. They seem to have discontinued it. ☹️

This looks like a partial charter, where a group controls some of the cabins and takes control of some of the cruise's rooms (like the dining rooms and/or theaters) for some of the time. I've heard that cruise lines (not just Princess) are very poor at disclosing these. I'm sympathetic to your point that they should. I find this point funny, because I think I could teach any 3-year-old how to play the slots. It's basically 1. Insert money, 2. Hit the big button on the right, 3. Repeat #2 above until out of money

The first Princess cruise I chose for the itinerary. I wanted to sail along the California coast and no one had a better choice than Princess. The second Princess cruise I chose for the theme. Yes, it was the 80s. The third one (sailing this month, I hope 🙏) I chose for the same theme. I think you see the pattern here. Unless it's an itinerary they do particularly well, or it's one of those 80s themed things, it's likely I'll chose someone other than Princess. Nothing wrong with them, but I think they're just OK, and there are other cruise lines that can give me better experiences in the things I value at the time.

On Saturday, day 2 of this cruise, we sailed along Baja California at around 19 knots. I visited the Behind the Music interview with Morris Day. It was revealed that he had some new music out now. I'll have to check it out. There were other tidbits revealed during the show. Mr. Day signed autographs for a few minutes after the interview, but I was too far back in line and didn't get anything. Oh well. ☹️ Later on I saw the special heavy metal show by tribute band Trial By Fire. I liked this more than I thought I would, considering most metal bands aren't of interest to me. They played RATT'S "Round and Round", among many others. In an executive decision, I skipped out on the Cutting Crew show that evening. I felt fine, just didn't want to go. Maybe I'll see them again on some other cruise. I didn't allow my cabin steward to turn down the cabin last night. He left more paperwork for me in the mail slot, along with a note to pick up my daily gift at ECP guest services. BTW, I did meet him the first day and saw him in the corridor one other time. I broke down this morning and bought Internet access for the rest of this cruise. It cost $120. The good news is we have Starlink access onboard. The bad news is speeds are erratic. These are two tests I took within a few minutes of each other: I also purchased two excursions - one each for Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas. This cost me $74 in total. I'll tell you about those as I do them. This concludes my early report. Eventually I'll cover the Morris Day and the Time concert.

The Extra Special Announcement I alluded to above was an announcement about the lineup for next year's cruise. Since I had a hold on this cruise already, you could say that I had a stake in this. I went to Promenade to witness what the hubbub was all about. Eventually they quit beating around the bush and Gabe us the news. To make a very long story short, here's what they announced: They first announced people I didn't care for and I worried about where things were going. Then came SHEENA EASTON and I thought they might be able to salvage things. Then I heard STEPHEN PEARCY and thought this might be a good lineup after all. And it did turn out good, IMHO. Besides the two I just mentioned, I'm looking forward to seeing 38 Special, Air Supply, Debbie Gibson, Ray Parker Jr., and Wang Chung. I guess ECP can keep my money. 🏧💰🤑💲 The next post will cover yesterday's events.

Sorry for disappearing for a couple of days. I've been busy and internet has been in and out. Let's start with the journey to LA in American. It was a nonstop 6-hour flight. This was my longest flight in a very long time. It went very well. My body held up better than I thought it would. I suppose it helped that I kept myself busy. I landed at LAX and took a free shuttle to the rideshare pickup site. It was only about 5 minutes to ride there, but loading, unloading, and filling the shuttle took twice that. My Lyft driver was exceptionally quiet, a man of very few words. I didn't mind. Traffic was bad on the 405 and he had to maneuver through that. Better him than me. It cost about $65 to get to the Crowne Plaza, including tip. The Crowne Plaza was a decent enough hotel, suitable for ordinary use. This was one of the home hotels for The 89s Cruise and they had some banners ready for us. I especially liked these two as it reminded me of where I had just been. I spent an eventless night here. I couldn't get on one of the hotel's shuttles to the cruise port (I think it was $5.50 per passenger), so I took another Lyft. The terminal was less than two miles away, but the journey was twisty and I was unfamiliar with the territory, so I didn't want to risk walking. In a life filled with decisions both good and bad, this was one of the better ones. The ride only cost about $11, including tip. Some nice cruisers gently guided me to where I needed to go. This would start a sequence of stops and starts. The terminal itself was the same as the one Princess used when I boarded the Majestic Princess last year. I didn't expect that. My opinion remains the same - it badly needs a redo or a flat out teardown and rebuild. I was on the ship and checked into the muster station by noon. Welcome to The 80s Cruise! One small problem with boarding so early is that the cabin wasn't ready until 1. And unlike some other cruise lines I've been on, they didn't allow access to drop off bags. But there was actually a solution to this... I happened to be one of the few cruise ships remaining with an honest to goodness library. It was conveniently located on deck 7, where I would be staying. I've hung around here a lot the past few days, and plan to do plenty more 1 PM came and I dropped off my stuff, unpacked, and went through the usual blizzard of paperwork. Then I went to lunch at El Loco Fresh near the pool. I had a pork and a chicken fajita. Pretty good, but I couldn't find any nearby seating. So I had to go into the Solarium to eat and rest. Nice place. Less noisy than the surrounding area I also took a few random photos of the pier area. We took off right at 4 and headed to Puerto Vallarta. That evening we were entertained by Howard Jones. He was very good. My favorite song from him is "No One Is To Blame"and he played it in the middle. I stayed up for a couple of extra hours after the show to witness the Super Special Announcement that they were having. I'll address this in the next post.

Two quick notes: 1) I was recently on the Summit and dined at the OVC every day for dinner. The selection was good (few closed stations) and the food was of high quality. In other words, it was more or less back to where it was last year. I approved of this development. 👍 2) They were definitely charging the RS fee on all deliveries that weren't in the classes mentioned. I didn't partake on my latest trip.

To bend the topic around a little, I NEVER had Valentine's Day off when I was in school (unless, of course, it was a weekend). It was a good day for conversation hearts, chocolate, and cards. 🙂 More about the 80s themed cruise please! Pretty please? With sugar on top?🍭

Thank you for your kind words. Music charters are a lot of fun. I did this one, and I did two last year. I'm actually on another one right now. Be sure to stop by the Theme Cruise board for more from me and people who have a lot more experience than I do.

Thanks everyone. One more note for now: 21. The good news is we had Starlink onboard. More good news- it was relatively stable and reliable. The bad news is that the basic access I had was heavily throttled. This is the best I could do with it: