Trixie21

Good to see this happening. Such a simple thing to have available and will make a big difference to lots of peoples dining experience. I think I saw a post a few days ago which had plain salmon available underneath the herb crusted salmon. Interesting to see if this starts to crop up on the menus across the fleet.

I think Royal is going to spend whatever it takes on Icon , and if that means other ships go without something so be it. Icon has been marketed and hyped like never before and bookings are very strong and at record pricing. What they cannot do is let all those guests leave their first Icon cruise thinking what was all the hype about? If they get the product right they probably have an extremely profitable class of ship on their hands. And a whole new generation of cruisers hooked. For sure there is no other ship on any line in the works anything remotely like Icon so this new generation of cruisers with young families will have to go back to Icon or its sister ships to get the same experience.

Yeah I'm thinking they are testing the water to find the limits of what they can achieve with pricing. I have an Iceland cruise for June 2023 which I can't go on due to my wife's health and I was going to move the deposit to a similar cruise in 2024 but its almost twice the price !! Not paying over £6000 for 2 people for a balcony. I'm attempting just to get a refund on my deposit instead, Generally Europe 2024 pricing is very high - I feel It will have to come down eventually to fill the ships.

I think 10 day itineraries on an oasis class ship in Europe for the summer would have great appeal - especially if it were on Utopia and they were adding in a couple of new ports not normally on the oasis class Europe runs.

A while back I read a post where someone at a captians corner on a ship asked this question. The reply was that they were currently working on a new class of smaller ship (i think they said somewhere between voyager and radiance class size) to replace the aging ships in the fleet of that size. I'm sure I remember them saying they were told it was codenamed destination class.

The shuttle bus takes you directly from outside the ship to old town in Chania and back again when you are ready. Runs very frequently from memory. Old Town Chania is fantastic for a leisurely stroll around - the Old harbour is beautiful .

Thats exactly what I was thinking. I wanted to move an Iceland cruise we have booked from Amsterdam this year to next because we need to stick to Southampton departures this year for various reasons. But the same cruise for next year is 50% more expensive and I have only one chance to modify this booking so I am hoping next years prices will drop soon as I need to swap to a new cruise within 6 weeks . I couldn't justify paying over £3000 pp for a 12 night cruise in a standard balcony.

I am just home for a short break from work before I go back in for another 8 hour shift which is why I am "not following" my post. Silhouette was a mistake - I have been also looking at celebrity Silhouette from Southampton but have decided on Regal Princess.

Thank you for the reply. It gives me all the information I need to decide which to go for.

Lol thanks for pointing that out. I've been debating between Celebrity and Princess and decided on Princess for a number of reasons .

Thanks , thats a very useful breakdown!

Hi Just working on finalising our first princess cruise booking , a 10 day British Isles on Silhouette. I have a couple of questions about just booking princess standard versus Premier (free upgrade from plus to premier on this cruise ). If we just booked princess standard what is the cost of the below add-ons? - WiFi package - we would want 1 device each - i assume we could book this pre cruise ? -Can you book an alcoholic drinks package for just one person? My wife is medically unable to drink either alcoholic or fizzy drinks so the package is of virtually no value to her. If its not possible to book for one person I would prob just pay as I go if we go for the princess standard option. I'm not a big drinker - 3 or 4 alcoholic drinks per day (glass of wine , maybe a cocktail or 2) and maybe a couple of soft drinks. Does the drinks package include speciality coffees as I like a couple of those during the day as well. -How much is a physical print of a photo taken on board ? -I can see the cost of gratuities when I go through the booking stages so I can factor them in. -The difference in booking princess standard and princess plus/premier is £1000 so I want to get some idea if this extra is worth it for us. Is there anything else I should be factoring in? We sometimes do a speciality restaurant but not always and usually just for one night so I wouldn't factor that in as a consideration. Thanks for your help!

Thanks - that's what we will go for i think.

Thanks for the replies.. All sounds good. We usually do traditional early seating with Royal because it means we have the same waitstaff each night and don't have to keep repeating the dietary thing. I assume the dining setup is similar on Celebrity?

I read that Celebrity are changing their menus in maybe a similar way to Royal Caribbean. It won't bother me - I can always find something to eat. My wife is celiac and has other dietary requirements due to medical conditions. Has anyone with dietary requirements of whatever type cruised on any of the Celebrity ships since the menus have changed and can you confirm that your requirements for a meal in the MDR or buffet were met without any issue? For information we have cruised quite a lot with Royal Caribbean and my wife never had an issue getting basically whatever she wanted (within reason) prepared. We are taking our first celebrity cruise from Southampton in August this year on Silhouette and I want to be confident my wife's needs will be accommodated. She is not asking for the complex dishes to be prepared- most often simple things like plain grilled salmon with some type of potato is what she orders.

Hi Yes there is going to be a lot of organisation. Regarding the shelf life of the TPN , when my wife was in hospital here in the UK the shelf life of the TPN bags was 7 days. But now that she is administering it at home herself they have a longer shelf life (I know it is at least 2 weeks). This makes organising supplies much easier - is a longer shelf life TPN not available in the US?

Thanks , thats pretty much how we've done it on RC so that's great. Can I ask how dining works on the new ships - the cruises we are looking at will be either on Regal or Sky princess . Is there set dining and anytime or how is it done ? Do you book a time in advance of the cruise or when onboard ? We always booked the same time on our RC cruises for exactly the reason you stated - so we would have the same wait staff every night and wouldn't have to keep repeating the dietary issues. We like to eat around 5.30pm.

Yes , Royal Caribbean is doing something similar with their menus also. My wife has dietary requirements due to Celiac disease and other things. I assume she would be able to order the night before and if desired could order something like plain grilled chicken or salmon? Myself I like trying lots of different dishes and would be perfectly happy with a menu like the above.

Thanks - thats quite a good rundown . Is there a classics or always available section which doesn't change each night? Dishes such as grilled chicken , salmon etc.

Would anyone be able to post current menus for the MDR? Haven't cruised princess before and trying to decide on regal princess cruise from Southampton. Thanks.

What did you make of MSC World Europe. Don't know much about it except that it looks like a version of Oasis class.

I agree Dubai was one of our favourite cruises. Now if they would just send Anthem there ......

Hi Thanks a lot for the reply. Its great to find someone who has actually completed a few cruises coping with TPN. My email is trevorlinton3@aol.com - any information you could send would be so useful. We are actually from Northern Ireland so will have to negotiate a flight to Southampton as well!

I know this is from several years ago and a lot has changed since then but can I ask if u managed to successfully complete a cruise while your fiancee was on TPN? I have just posted a similar post to yours regarding my wife.

Has anyone recently cruised while on TPN or similar? Specifically on Celebrity or Royal Caribbean, although your general experience on whatever cruise line would be welcomed. My wife is on HPN , although she is able to eat and drink small amounts of specific foods and drinks as well. She administers her own fluids at home overnight and is free to do what she is able during the day. I just wondered about the logistics of storing the fluid bags on the ship (they need to be chillled) - she requires one bag per day. There is also the issue of flights and getting the PN bags to the ship. We are from the UK and have cruised quite a lot on Royal but this medical issue is new to my wife and she doesn't want to give up her cruises lol. We are probably looking at departures ex Southampton to make things a bit easier so we would consider any cruise line really who could offer what we want and guarantee to provide chilled storage for the bags etc. Another point is how insurance reacted to such a condition? Any input at all is welcome.