Bogie Man

4 minutes ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

 

On a recent cruise I had 2 dinners and one lunch at the Pinnacle Grill.  I didn't notice any difference between the HIA dinner and the full pay dinner.  Interestingly while I was content with all three meals, in each case my best bite was the starter.  I got the hanging bacon and while the presentation was kind of hokey the bacon was delicious.  My other 2 starters were the steak tartare and the beef carpaccio, both favorite dishes of mine and both of which were thoroughly enjoyable.

 

That pattern continued.  I was early for my Tamarind reservation so as I sat in the bar area waiting I ordered tuna sashimi and panko asparagus from Namu and they were both excellent.  Then for my starter at Tamarind I got the Thai beef salad and while I am neither a big Thai food eater nor salad eater I ate every bit of it.  The thinly sliced medium rare beef was very tender and the salad part was fresh, crisp, and very nicely dressed.

Given the choice for a “free” dinner, would you choose the Tamarid or Pinnacle?

47 minutes ago, Roz said:

I've never been to a restaurant on land or at sea where I had to ask for extra mashed potatoes 🥔.  Ridiculous.  One of the cheapest things on the menu. 

My thought at the time was it must be because this was part of our Have it All specialty dining credit, and therefore “free” as far as the PG staff was concerned.

37 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

If it wasn't something resembling 15 ounces, did you say anything at the time?

No I didn’t say anything, we were 3 couples dining together and didn’t want to dampen the experience for everyone. However we were on a 27 day cruise and had planned on dining at the PG a few times. Needless to say we never went back.

11 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

I have not seen small sude portions, especially a tablespoon.

As recently as Oct Nov Dec on NS and Dec Jan on K'dam the side mash potatoes were served in a bowl for sharing, as they always have been, even if only 1 of us ordered them.

Ok that’s good to know. We’ll be on the K Dam in 4 weeks. Hopefully our experience on the Noordam was just a freak occurrence. 

Just received an upgrade offer for our upcoming cruise on the Noordam. We currently have an aft facing veranda cabin and got an email with an upgrade offer at a reasonable price to a Signature Suite. 
 

Looking at the HAL website it would seem the Signature suite really has no perks other than the larger size. No priority anything, no expanded room service menu etc… really nothing at all. Curious if this has always been the case on HAL for that category suite?

How difficult is getting your wine glass refilled in the MDR when you have the signature beverage package? 

Thank you for all the replies !! That explains it, I did think I was too early but didn't want to assume.

I am sailing on the Eurodam next April. Tried to book / purchase some specialty dining on the web site, but the message comes back as being "unavailable" to book at this time.

Anyone know how far in advance one can purchase specialty dining before the departure date? I know my cruise leaves in 300 plus days, but I'm just being proactive.

How does the comparable cruise on HAL price versus X? I suspect HAL will be lower now.

The HAL price is comparable with X. But if you add the their upgrade package with X for $800.00 more pp you get unlimited internet, premium beverage package, prepaid gratuities and 150 OBC pp, the X offer would seem a better deal. We just happen to like it that the HAL cruise ends up in our home port of Vancouver, as opposed to the X which ends up in San Diego.

We certainly don't drink a lot, but do enjoy wine with our meals and a cocktail or two. Ending the cruise without a surprise bar bill makes it enticing.

Thinking of booking a HAL Panama Canal cruise in 2017.

On occasion Celebrity Cruises will offer a complimentary beverage package (wine by the glass, spirits, beer, specialty coffee's etc...) included in their package at no additional charge. Has HAL every had an offer / sale that included a free beverage package?? If so, how often will they do this?

Thanks

Haven't been on Celebrity in a number of years. Is Celebrity still offering an expanded room service breakfast menu if you're booked in a Concierge class room? Last time we sailed we had a good choice of hot breakfast items for room service, but we had a Concierge room.

I know Celebrity has made some changes over the last few years, and wondering if this perk still exists??

Thanks

I've never sailed on Princess, but I bet Celebrity Cruises would give them a run for the money when it comes to "worst coffee on the seas". We love sailing with Celebrity, but their coffee can best be described as horrendous. Kind of like drinking coffee made with compost and then filtered through wood chips.

I assume that the way we do it is tantamount to changing to traditional dining. He can ask for a time that coincides with traditional, and after he gets his table, just make the request for the same time each evening. Not sure why it matters if it is anytime or traditional, the end result is the same.:)

The reason I am considering traditional over anytime is based on reviews I've seen regarding service. Apparently in traditional the service is more consistent and runs smoother, versus anytime where you have different wait staff every night, and service can be brutally slow between courses.

Having never sailed on Princess, I wouldnt know if this is true or not.

You will need to approach the Maitre d on embarkation day to see if this is possible.

 

Mike:)

Thanks Mike. I've never sailed with Princess, so where would I find the Maitre D for traditional dining when we board? Would he/she be at the traditional dining room at that time? I'll be sailing on the Grand, and I understand there are 3 MDR's.

I have a full suite booked for an upcoming 15 day cruise. Right now we are confirmed for anytime dining. Seeing as we do have a full suite, would it be possible to change this to traditional dining and get a guarantied table for 2 ? I know this cant be done if you're not in a suite, but wondering if it can be for suite passengers??

We spent 27 days on the Diamond last spring on 3 9 day B2B cruises but booked as one cruise. Princess HQ rep assured wine packages would be available since we were on for 27 days........not so, of course.

 

So, we did without wine with our dinners, very uncommon for us!!

Couldn't you've just ordered a bottle or glass of wine as needed with dinner? Apparently wine packages weren't available, but wine by the glass or bottle without a package should not have been a problem.

You didn't happen to purchase the All-Inclusive Bar Package by any chance?

I've only heard of the wine package being available on 10+ day cruises which we've enjoyed twice on long cruises & for us it worked well & were able to try some new wines.

 

Note: A 15% gratuity is added to all package prices (like any other bar purchase).

 

Silver Package (wines up to $29 per bottle list price)

7 bottles -- $161 (average of $23 per bottle)

10 bottles -- $210 (average of $21 per bottle)

12 bottles -- $240 (average of $20 per bottle)

 

Gold Package (wines up to $45 per bottle list price)

7 bottles -- $217 (average of $31 per bottle)

10 bottles -- $290 (average of $29 per bottle)

12 bottles -- $336 (average of $28 per bottle)

 

You get a punch card which can be used at any of the dining locations.

 

You may choose any wine on on the regular wine menu. If you want to buy a wine that costs more than what the package covers, you just pay the difference. For example, if you have a Gold package and buy a wine that costs $46, the charge for $46 will appear on your stateroom account, followed by a $45 credit.

Curious as to where you got this info on the wine packages, I cant find this anywhere on the Princess web site??

There is info on the beverage package, which I am not interested in, however I would be interested in the bottled wine packages. Can you purchase this ahead of time, or only on the ship?

We pretty much always go for the owner’s suite and enjoy it.

The first night we have dinner at the Crowne Grille.

 

The next morning we call the dine line and make reservations for a two-top @ 7:00 PM in the Michelangelo Dining Room. We always get it.

 

 

If we like the table and the servers, we stop at the desk and tell the Captain or Head Waiter, that we enjoyed the table and the service and would like to have the same table every night. I have never been turned down. If we are not going to be there for dinner one night I always tell them the night before.

 

 

I do not understand why people complain about a long wait for ATD. All you need to do is call the dine line and make a reservation.

 

 

Works for us.

Awesome, thanks for the info Slomo, appreciate it !!

Slomotion, noticed that you stayed in an aft Suite on the Grand. We are also staying in an aft Suite for the Hawaii sailing in April on the Grand. We are staying in a Vista Suite aft facing on deck 9. Did you happen to be in a Vista suite and did you like it a lot? Also was it difficult for you to secure a 2 top in anytime dining?? Any suggestions on how we can do the same with getting a reserved 2 top in anytime?

Like most cities, all the restaurants, bars, cafe's and many boutique's, stores etc... would actually be open. Why would you think that Victoria would "close" at 7:00 pm?

Weather is actually quite rough in the NW presently. If you click on the Ocean Weather link below, and then click on the sector grid that the Grand is in right now, along the pacific coast, it's showing wave heights approaching 30 feet.

http://www.oceanweather.com/data/

Fair enough, so the lesson here to me is when in doubt, go USD

The USD is pretty much accepted world wide I would go with the USD. Putterdude I know you're a dude and all, but the CDN $ would be more accepted than the AUD. Australia isn't part of the G8 but CDN is. Anyways a lot of the crew send their money back home, so the safest bet for me would be the USD.