wowzz

Speculation on the Princess forum is that the third ship will be one of the following: 1996: Carnival Sunshine - 3,002 pax 1997: POAU Explorer - 1998 pax 1998: Carnival Elation - 2190 pax 1998: Carnival Paradise - 2,124 pax 1998: Grand Princess - 2,590 lower berth pax / 3,100 max 1999: HAL MS Volendam - 1,432 pax 2000: HAL MS Zaandam - 1432 pax 2000: PO Aurora - 1,878 pax / 1,950 max The "favourite" to go is Explorer, with the two HAL ships also being mentioned.

Thank you for posting this - saved me a job this morning ! Hopefully that is enough "real information" to show that my post was based on a fact, and was not a "claim".

The other point worth noting, is that on some lines, Princess for example, the autotips are pooled fleet wide. The impact on an individual crew member if a passenger does not pay the autotips is therefore less than 1c per day !

There are so many rumours about this subject, and no one has ever posted a definitive response. Plus, of course, some passengers will wait until the last day before removing the autotips, so the crew will have no way of knowing in advance if the tips will be removed. Fortunately, more and more lines are introducing packages that include autotips, which cannot be removed, or removing autotips altogether (P&O) which is obviously the ideal solution.

Individual choice, and individual risk assessment. JB and I have similar views. You have yours. Do whatever you are happy with.

Exactly. Many full day tours ( and I mean real full days - think 8am to 5pm) in Europe.

From what the OP said, it appears that food quality has gone down due to the switch to US vendors.

Princess policy. Nothing to do with the UK government for once !

I agree to a certain extent. But as you say, you still need a decent amp and speakers, which most people do not have. Cheap systems give a "thin" sound, with far too much treble, and no bass due to the small size of the speakers. Using bluetooth degenerates the sound quality even further.

SOP is for the security staff to open your cabin safe and take your passports out (everyone uses the safe for passports don't they ?) and give them to the port agent, should you not get back to the ship. No need to carry your passport with you.

But you will pay much more with Celebrity. We were on Regal in June, and felt the MDR food was more than acceptable.

I agree. Even expensive TV speaker systems cannot compete with large free standing floor speakers, with multiple woofers, tweeters etc. Coupled with a decent amp (Denon in my case), you would get a depth of sound with proper stereo separation that is far superior to any tv speaker system

We don't often, but having the odd drink delivered, or a snack with chips when we can't face the buffet, is a nice option to have.

So they cannot buy chocolates or chips in the staff store, or when ashore ? And would prefer chips to a $5 tip ? Cash is always king.

Too old, surely !

With a seperate entrance, and with designated staff.

Unless the lifeboats are being launched, no issue. If the lifeboats are all being used, any noise is the least of of your worries !

That looks remarkably similar to the Princess Marketing Director.

No tip. And certainly no chocolates - your servers are adults, not children looking for a reward ! Plus, I don't carry cash around with me on a cruise, when I have already pre-paid all my tips.

Who on earth at Princess decided that offering two of these artery blockers a day was a good idea ? And, more importantly, who signed off on the concept?

Exactly what we said in 2008. Perhaps next year !

As a Brit, if you refare, you get the obc offer on the new, lower fare, assuming there is one. So you lose any previous obc. Therefore, you really need to do the maths before going for the refare option, especially as you can only do it once. For our forthcoming April cruise, we refared to a minisuite. Lost the obc on our standard balcony cabin, but got a better cabin for the same price even taking the £100 "penalty" into account. And our shareholder obc compensates for the lost obc, which we probably would only have spent because we had it.

MB on Britannia in the Caribbean says the prices have gone up £5 a bottle. How much is the house plonk now?

One of my regrets in life is giving away my LP collection back in the 1980s. How could I have given "Darkness on the Edge of Town" away ? Obviously I still have it on cd and on iPod, but it is not the same !

It appears that there is a shortage of antibiotics throughout Europe. https://www.politico.eu/article/drugs-regulator-probes-eu-wide-antibiotics-shortage/