Knickearth

8 hours ago, dog said:

were hotels, air booked through Princess?

No they were not.  It was due to delay of flight and cancellation of connecting flight.  The cruise portion was done.

After 6 hour flight delay and cancellation of our connecting flight - told by airlines since it was weather delay they take no responsibility for Two nights in a hotel, meals etc. because weather is an Act of God.  So I went on line to read what the platinum insurance package covered and it covers hotel, meals, transportation due to delays.  So today I sent in all the paperwork and fingers crossed that one day the reimbursement will arrive.  lol

Just now, Knickearth said:

 

Sorry, the cruise port is at the bottom of Las Ramblas which is a main road.  We have always had to grab a cab to get there.  Years ago if you walked to bottom of las Ramblas the ship was right there.  Now Princess built a docking area approx. 2 miles from las Ramblas at the dock.

1 hour ago, MudderBear said:

It's my understanding that there are two terminal locations in Barcelona?  Which one does Princess use?  And can anyone suggest the easiest way to get from Plaza Cataluyna to the terminal?  Thank you.

7 hours ago, memoak said:

I personally like it when they know my regular drinks. They have always done this by memory well before the medallion

Interesting because our friends on cruise we finished last Sat. Had the drink package and decided to never order same drink twice.  

On 4/21/2024 at 5:51 PM, dawcruiser said:

Sailed Princess before but never had Medallions.  What are they and what is the benefit of them if any?

Another thing is that after approx. 12 days onboard the battery seems to be dying.  You have to walk up to the cabin door and put medallion up to screen to unlock.  Learnt the hard way.

On 4/21/2024 at 6:27 PM, Outerdog said:

A nifty little coin-sized device which replaces the cruise card. The system is able to locate people (medallions) around the ship, crew use it to see who's who. 

 

https://www.princess.com/en-us/ships-and-experience/princess-medallionclass

 

https://www.princess.com/en-us/ships-and-experience/princess-medallionclass/medallion-accessories-customization

 

Some will tell you it's a curse upon humanity. They think Princess is tracking them all over the place and the Medallions are the gateway to a privacy violating dystopia. Psst, you're already a customer, you're already on the ship having spent hundreds or thousands of dollars to get there, and they were collecting data long before the Medallions.

 

But do they really need to know when or if we go to the bathroom?  lol. It is literally Big Brother at its best.  Found it annoying that if I went to a bar two days in a row the greeting was, oh would you like another martini,

On 4/21/2024 at 11:17 AM, karatemom2 said:

I love the Grand Class ships in general, although I would agree the CB is probably my least favorite. 
 

The Emerald is a wonderful ship. We really enjoyed our British Isles cruise aboard her a couple years ago. If it is an itinerary you want, I would encourage you to give it a go. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed - I like the Royal Class ships, but the Grand Class really have a special charm and design that gives more of an old school cruising vibe that I actually really love, especially with the full promenade deck. 

We were on it 3 times in the past. Just ok.  This past Sat. Got off it after 15 days in Panama Canal.  The buffet area since its refurbishment looks wonderful.  Certain areas were ignored and therefore very noticeable on the ship.

On 4/22/2024 at 4:41 AM, Knickearth said:

Congrats.  It is 6:40 am Monday and we are at the gate in Dallas awaiting an 8:14 flight.  Can’t wait to get home.

Have to add that we all boarded the early flight but after an hour an announcement was made about something wrong with plane. We were told the whole plane had to exit.  We got sent  to the other end of Dallas airport and another plane was sent in.  Finally landed in sac. Only to learn two of our 3 bags went to San Diego?  Last night after midnight the luggage was delivered.  Will think long and hard about American Airlines.  Their customer service sucks.  They don’t control the weather so I don’t hold them responsible for the delays.

6 hours ago, DUCHESSRN said:

We made it home ... American came through for us after the most helpful lady worked hard to get us on a standby flight . I hugged her as I boarded our flight .

I have to say the not having to pay for flight until final payment is a huge plus for us .

Our friends on SW Saturday connected in Dallas Love Field maybe less rain there .

We survived , we made it have our bags and all is well . 

Congrats.  It is 6:40 am Monday and we are at the gate in Dallas awaiting an 8:14 flight.  Can’t wait to get home.

On 4/20/2024 at 11:51 AM, buckeye7 said:

Anxious to follow along, as we’ll be on the Emerald in July. We sailed her many years ago and I like the larger cabin / balcony size compared to the new ships.

 

If you eat in any of the “casual” restaurants (Planks and whatever else) we’d love to hear if they are worth it. 

4 hours ago, MissiCruzs said:

Thanks for the info on slots and bummer on the canceled flight issues. 

Two things to know.  Get to theatre early as seats get taken every show.  If you enjoy trivia, that too you need to get to early.  Many days people had no where to sit.

2 hours ago, DUCHESSRN said:

We do have Insurance thank goodness , our bags went to Portland early this morning

on standby for 2 afternoon flights .Hopefully not another night in Dallas.

EZ Air not so easy , will think hard before using it again.

coughers and sneezers everywhere.

 

I looked up the plat. Insurance coverage we purchased from princess.  Looks like we might get monies we spent because of delay of flight.  I will send in info to see what happens tomorrow.

15 minutes ago, DUCHESSRN said:

We were told flight cancelled as no pilot . Stood in help line in airport until 2.30 am hoping for a hotel … no go . Flight had been coded as weather cancellation so no compensation .

 

15 minutes ago, DUCHESSRN said:

We were told flight cancelled as no pilot . Stood in help line in airport until 2.30 am hoping for a hotel … no go . Flight had been coded as weather cancellation so no compensation .

 

So sorry.  We were starving when we got to Dallas so ate dinner in airport.  Lady next to us recommended the Hilton homewood suites which is only ten mins from airport and provides free shuttle service.  Today shuttle will take us to pharmacy to purchase basics.  Wearing same clothes for 3 days is disagreeable.  We finally got that 8 am flight tomorrow.  The homewood suites is reasonable and included breakfast.

We did ezair to return home.  I believe ezair would cover getting you to ship as well as home.

we got a very delayed flight from ft. L yesterday and American Airlines cancelled our connecting flight home.  All this due to poor weather in Dallas.  There were no flights available Sunday, we we are scheduled for Monday.  Two nights in a hotel in Dallas.  Our luggage is in sac.

does ez air help?

thanks.

18 hours ago, MissiCruzs said:

What were you playing? 

On emerald princess on non smoking side to towards front end of casino on left hand wall there are six machines with leprauchan.  I played 80 cents and won 1189.  Cashed out. 1000..  Yesterday cwhile flying out of ft. L to Dallas the plane got delayed.  We left 6 hours later and they cancelled conn3cting flight.  We are stuck in Dallas with no suitcases, no clothes no toothbrush etc and no flights today - Sunday with seats available so we have to spend 2 nites here.  

20 hours ago, buckeye7 said:

Anxious to follow along, as we’ll be on the Emerald in July. We sailed her many years ago and I like the larger cabin / balcony size compared to the new ships.

 

If you eat in any of the “casual” restaurants (Planks and whatever else) we’d love to hear if they are worth it. 

Cabin size on caribe not bigger than normal but our balcony was covered and bigger than other decks.

20 hours ago, buckeye7 said:

Anxious to follow along, as we’ll be on the Emerald in July. We sailed her many years ago and I like the larger cabin / balcony size compared to the new ships.

 

If you eat in any of the “casual” restaurants (Planks and whatever else) we’d love to hear if they are worth it. 

We didn’t eat at planks from our friends did and they loved it.  From what I gather there are a lot of meat choices.  We ate at sabbatinis and in the past loved it, but not this time.  Don’t enjoy latest menu.  Could not get a single reservation entire trip at crown grill except for last night of cruise, so we did not eat there.  I really miss my 5 pm wine at vines with tapas.  I enjoyed that more than the plat. Elite lounge.  My husband and I were not enjoying the wines onboard as in the past.

Just now, Knickearth said:

Just got off emerald.  So many changes.  Due to medallion and having a cellphone - no little foldout of ship when you pick up medallion.  No maps given as you get to a port..  future cruise area has no more catalogues.  This annoyed me as on the ships we read thru the cruises and make our decisions for future cruises.  if I remember more I will write.

 

no more chocolates on bed at night.  No mixed salads in intl. cafe.  But on personal note the one thing that annoyed me the most was I had several questions and neither the steward nor front desk could answer.  They kept having to call others and could not reach anyone.

 

we ate in MDR when the menu looked good to us.  Otherwise we ate in buffet.  Many nights, no green veggies.  The salad no longer has black olives or bacon bits.   
 

want to end with good news.  Lots of trivia, lots of music

and best of all I won in the casino.
 

 

Just got off emerald.  So many changes.  Due to medallion and having a cellphone - no little foldout of ship when you pick up medallion.  No maps given as you get to a port..  future cruise area has no more catalogues.  This annoyed me as on the ships we read thru the cruises and make our decisions for future cruises.  if I remember more I will write.

no more chocolates on bed at night.  No mixed salads in intl. cafe.  But on personal note the one thing that annoyed me the most was I had several questions and neither the steward nor front desk could answer.  They kept having to call others and could not reach anyone.

we ate in MDR when the menu looked good to us.  Otherwise we ate in buffet.  Many nights, no green veggies.  The salad no longer has black olives or bacon bits.   
 

On 4/11/2024 at 1:19 PM, Wishing on a star said:

Glad to hear that the Buffet looks great!   Might have to do with the Executive Chef and staff onboard.

I think that there are a lot of new staff on some of the older ships, with the SUN Princess sailing now.  Sounds like a common complaint with a staff shortage of bartenders and servers.  If this is true, then I wish Princess would make some headway with bringing in and keeping employees!

 

I don't know why,  but why do I always seem to notice poor reviews of the Emerald???

I believe it was due to the refurbishing a couple of years ago.  As for the ships staff, it is the first time ever I have been on a ship where everyone seems to be new to princess.  I have gone 3 times to the front desk and asked questions I had.  They have yet to know any answers.  We asked the cabin steward a question and he too did not know a thing.

Presently on emerald princess and my observations

a.  I don’t have plus or premier, but feel ignored in certain areas.

b.  Our friends with package have ordered drinks and sometimes it has taken over 40 mins to arrive

c.  Certain areas during events, some bars aren’t even open.

d.  The 16. Gratuity per person does add up.

e.  We are not denying ourselves but we like other things - thermal suite, excursion and they do add up.

f. Since ships to lavazza coffee we gave up the specialty stuff.  
g. We are finding they don’t have the really good wines anymore, so we are not drinking.  I miss the vines with a glass of wine nightly and a small plate of food.  No more so we go to the elite and platinum lounge.

h.  Treated ourselves to Sabbatinis last night.  Not too thrilled.

on the other hand, we were not on the emerald since it was refurbished.  The lido buffet is fabulous looking.  The staff on board all seem brand new and are unable to answer questions.

Thanks for info.  It helps.  We are maybe one coffee a day and maybe one glass of wine a day.  We don’t do the casual dining nor specialty desserts.  We try to eat meals like we do at home.

On 3/30/2024 at 7:00 PM, beltsbear said:

The desserts are a bit much.  This varies ship by ship but on the royal princess they would not just give me the gelato I wanted which was cheaper and easier.  So first time I ordered the big Sundae which is free for me with the gelato flavor I wanted.  The second time I ordered the big sundae without two of its features, no brownies and no coating the glass in chocolate.  They made it as asked. The third time i deleted everything but the gelato but they still put brownies and whipped cream in.  I was on princess premier.  The next time (in two months) , I will further experiment with the Jack Nickelson method of just getting gelato. 

I get a kick explaining that if I was 8 years old they would look irresistible.  Otherwise as an adult they do nothing for me.

We are leaving soon and received so much obc that we did not gat a package.  My husband would like to know if there is a coffee only  package.  Further, what items can we trade the mini fridge for?

thanks for the responses.

16 minutes ago, pompeii said:

I'm glad it's on the Royal now.  We were on her from September - November last fall (2023) and they still had the old coffee and coffee machines in the buffet.  And they were broken most of the time.  We went through a lot of Starbucks Via!

Interesting.  We were on the Ruby last August and literally while having breakfast watched them change the coffee in the lido to lavazza.  You can imagine how thrilled we were.  For years the coffee was awful in my opinion and that’s why I always paid for a coffee card.