BamaVol

I printed the page off of Amazon where I purchased mine. It clearly states that it is not surge protected and is safe on cruise ships. I taped that to the front of the box.

I lied about our anniversary. We got a special dessert in the MDR and a group of servers sang “happy anniversary”. The surrounding tables applauded.

I knew I didn’t want to walk. My phone said 1.8 miles and there were sections missing sidewalk. But I did see a couple of intrepid walkers. I knew in advance of sailing that we’d be arriving somewhere other than where we left. But I expected a better solution to moving thousand of passengers a couple miles. I shouldn’t have been surprised at the mob behavior. These were the same folks that jumped in front of others and crammed elevators to the bursting point on the ship.

I think that’s typical. I eliminate a lot of that with an ad blocker. I also think Alexa listens to conversations and sends me content based on them.

I was frustrated over all the changes between booking and boarding. The menus were not an issue since I was so well cared for by the head waiter due to dietary restrictions. Drink prices were also not an issue since the price increases didn’t take me over the $15 Plus drink limit. I went over the limit three times and it cost me a total of $7.08. That allowed me to sample a better 12 year scotch and have a Manhattan made with Woodford Rye.

If you haven’t seen them, I took photos of each Patter and have added them in a separate post.

Did anyone catch the goof? The welcome to Princess event invitation appears to have been left over from the previous sailing. The correct date and time were noted in the Patter for that day.

I saw them on the app while aboard the ship. I did not print them, by I did look them over.

Given the sizes of entrees in the MDR, I’d say they were all healthy. I’m not complaining. I dislike waste of any sort and you can order as much as you like, but we were satisfied with what we were served and left the table every night feeling satisfied. If you make a special dietary request in advance of sailing, you are given a card to take to the MDR the first night. I was hooked up with a head waiter who took charge of my meals. I reviewed the menu the night before and he helped me pick an appetizer and entree. In most cases, he made them a little different so that they didn’t include dairy, which I cannot eat. I’m sure you could request healthy meals using this method.

$3 a wash. $3 a dry. They run 25-40 minutes. One dry left us with damp socks so it might be best to plan on running 2 cycles in the dryer. It really was a small load. You get tokens from a machine in the laundromat using your medallion. Soap and softener were under $2 each.

Mrs BV took several yoga classes. She is a rank amateur and said she could have led a better class. All were sparsely attended.

I may have asked for that to be excluded as I had no interest. I’m sure some is common to all ships and sailings. Some, like the norovirus info, hopefully not. The most useful to me was the dietary card. I was hooked up with an extraordinary head waiter in the Palm MDR who prepared all my meals. I just reviewed the next days menus with him and he either prepared my selection without dairy or shook his head at my selection and told me what he was making for me instead. And it was wonderful. The disembarkation info was useful to a point. We felt pretty abandoned as soon as we left the ship in Ft Lauderdale. And the shuttles back to pier 2 were inadequate and a mob scene. Still, an excellent first cruise with Princess. We have some great memories.

Oh yeah. With waters and coffees and 2-3 drinks, we’d have been in the black on Plus. My best/worst count was 6 adult beverages. The 6th was due to a bartender mistake. I ordered a Manhattan. He made me an old fashioned instead. He owned up to the mistake as soon as I took the first sip, and made me a Manhattan. Since he didn’t take the old fashioned away, I drank it. I survived.

Different paperwork that appeared in my cabin March 2-12 on the Caribbean.

I agree with your chicken critique. I only had it once, on a Caesar salad. It was thin, dry and unseasoned. The only fail in 10 nights.

One advantage I hadn’t thought about that was mentioned above - I did receive an absolutely awful gin and tonic. I’m certain that the order was miscommunicated and not the gin I specified. Also left out the lime. I had no problem leaving it on the table and ordering something different. I imagine I’m in the majority when I say 15 drinks is way more than I can handle.

Having booked an excursion in Costa Rica with an independent provider, I appreciated the time change to match local time for that day. One less detail to be concerned about. I handle time changes just fine. I’m retired and I go to bed when I’m tired and get up when I’m refreshed and most things in my calendar are flexible. I let my phone tell me what time it is and it’s usually correct. We did run into three time flubs last week. 1. The fitness center had a schedule that didn’t match the one in the patter. Mrs BV missed the first yoga session as a result. 2. The clocks on the walking/jogging track were all different …. And wrong. 3. I manually set my phone to Halifax (Atlantic?) to handle the early daylight saving time change. When we got to port and I exited airplane mode, it corrected for DST and I was an hour ahead of Ft Lauderdale EDT. I figured it out somewhere on Floridas Turnpike and fixed it.

Our experience in E307 was similar. I did hear some noise from the casino below. There was amplified music and a voice but it was rarely heard and all was quiet from below after midnight. As pointed out by the next post, the crew door across the hall slammed frequently through the night and morning. Lots of crew chatter in the vicinity one particular morning. Privacy: while there was window washing and painting outside the window, workers eye level was well below the window. We brought a multi outlet extension and it served us well. I agree they could have added another chair. Ample storage space for clothes and baggage. We were pleasantly surprised.

We were on the sailing right after yours. We had never sailed with Princess so my expectations were different. I had no problem with the age of the ship. Yes, our bathroom needed regrouting. Other than that, I didn’t see a problem. It’s not a new ship and hasn’t been to dry dock in years. So? I stay in Hampton Inns on land. This was nicer. We are happy to dine in the MDR. The longest line I saw was maybe 30-40 people and it cleared in 10 minutes or less. I did see a short line for no reservations but I don’t know where those folks were seated. We got a two top by a window every night. Service each night was exceptional. Servers hustled. I expected no less. Meals were incredible. I have a dietary restriction. Princess handled it with class. I had a head waiter preparing my food personally. He even made me salmon with his grandmothers recipe one night. I couldn’t have asked for more from the MDR. Entertainment each night was at Crooners or Wheelhouse. Good enough for me. I thought Tommie McPhee was incredibly entertaining. We may not cruise again for a while, but Princess left a good impression. Enjoy Celebrity. I hope you find it to your liking.