hughesthedaddy

My husband an I have just come off the Diamond 2 days ago. During refurbishment mostly carpets were changed. Just to make you aware International cafe was not put in during this dry dock. They updated screens in club fusion. 

During this cruise the captain also announced that they were putting level 3 protocol measures in place as there were a lots of reports of gastrointestinal problems. I found out since that the cruise prior to dry dock had the same problems. 

Does anyone who has recently travelled to Laem Chabang cruise port know if Princess run a shuttle bus to Pattaya? If so what is the cost? Its proving difficult to find a tour or transfer from laem chabang to pattaya. Has anyone got any tour recommendations? We would have liked to has visited the floating markets. Thanks in advance. 

1 hour ago, PacnGoNow said:

These are a general UG list OB.  Not always offered, but gives you an idea.

This was from a  Dec 6th post.  Not sure if it’s followed from the UK sailings.

 

 

Thank you so much. That's the info I was after.

16 minutes ago, john watson said:

The best bet is to phone Carnival House and ask them this question.  It depends a lot on which grade to which other grade. It also varies as to when the booking was made as quite often the prices are the same as when you historically booked, not current day offers.

 

Regards John

Thanks for your response. I know the ships have a pricing matrix onboard as have seen them previously. I just wondered if there was an up to date one.

Does anyone have an up to date pricing to upgrade your cabin onboard?

On 12/26/2022 at 8:26 AM, abbydancer said:

CrownDecember Day 2

 

The clocks went back last night (first of two, but we have to give them back after Hawaii.

 

So after a good night sleep, I woke up around 9:20, but wait, the clocks went back so it was 8:20.  We decided not to bother to try to get to breakfast, so Glen took a shower and I did this mornings Wordle.    Eventually we decided to go to the IC for coffee and a pastry.  To our surprise, we found a table immediately, and a server came over soon after.  We ordered some coffee, and pastries.  

 

The very nice server came back with the coffee, but said the pastries have to be self services (ie we have to get them).  Glen wanted a bran muffin and I thought I wanted a cherry danish, that is until I saw they had cinnamon rolls and monkey bread behind the counter, not on display.  So I got his muffin and I switched to monkey bread.  We enjoyed our coffee and pastry, but Glen thought the coffee should have not be in to-go cups.  Turns out that was OK, because when he was finished we decided to go to Skywalkers, and read, and I wasn’t done with my coffee.  So I took it.

 

I stopped at the room to pick up my laptop and my kindle and met Glen there.  We stayed until the Cruise critic meetup started. Glen took my stuff back and then came back up for part of the meetup.

 

That was very nice, and well run.  A few of the officers showed up, and said a few words, although the beverage manager, did recite all the packages that were available.  Other than that, it was nice, and I hung around until noon and met Glen back in the room.

 

We hung out there for a bit and then decided to go to lunch in the dining room.  There was a fairly long line, but we decided to wait, because we were afraid that the buffet would be a zoo.  We waited about a half hour, but during the wait we got into a nice conversation with the people behind us, so when we got to the front we agreed to share a table.  We joined 3 other people at a large table, but it was very nice.  Turns out of the 3, one was solo and the other two were a mother and daughter who are both active on Cruse Critic.  

 

I had the tomato and mozzarella appetizer (without the anchovies that it comes with), followed by the cheesesteak.  Glen ordered the chicken korma,  which features a visit from the assistant waiter with a tray of condiments.  With them, it’s quite good,  Today, they delivered the korma, but the condiment tray didn’t follow.  We asked the waiter, and he said they were looking for it (huh?).  He then brings a plate with raisins, almonds and onions.  Apparently the raisins and almonds are left from oatmeal. The headwaiter shows up with some jalapeño, but that’s it.  Very odd, since we know they had it in September.  

 

Other than the korma, the lunch was nice and the conversation good.

 

After lunch we headed back upstairs.  We noticed a banging noise pretty constantly since morning, so I headed out to investigate.  I went down to the promenade deck, and walked forward to where it went to the emerald deck.  From there, I could see a couple of people working on a lifeboat. I tried to get their attention, to see when they’d be done, but I couldn’t.  So I went to guest services, which seemed a little less chaotic than yesterday.  I asked how long it would go on, and the guy had no clue, but did say to call if it continued.

 

On my way back to the room, I ran in to Carol on her way to the gym.  She said they’d gone to the buffet and it wasn’t bad, so we’ll do that from now on I think.  I miss club class lunch.  We worked out tonight’s schedule, 

 

Today is Friday, so I planned to go to Friday night services.  It’s usually at 5, but today it was at 4 for Hanukah.  At 4 I headed to the chapel.  Usually at these things there are between 5-20 people.  Today there were over 50.  It was very nice, and I was back in the room by about 4:40.

 

We watched a bit of news, and then around 5:30 decided to go the elite lounge.  Our plan was to go there for a bit, and then meet Carol and Eric at the Wheelhouse where the duo was supposed to play.

 

We sat down next to one of the cruise critic folk and chatted with them for a bit.  At about 5:50 we took our drinks over to the wheelhouse.  At 6, it didn’t look like anyone was going to start playing anytime soon.  Carol and Eric arrived soon after 6, and we talked about going to the Champagne waterfall, but it didn’t particularly interest any of us.  I mentioned that the lounge was still open so went there.  It was about 6:10, and I thought maybe they closed at 6:30, even though the patter said 7.  

 

We got there around 6:15, and had a second round of snacks.  At about 6:30 I noticed that they were shutting down half the buffet (there are two sides).  The worker explained they pack up one half at 6:30 but the other half at 7.  (They are duplicate).   That was good to know.

 

Our next activity was Motown trivia.  We headed to explorers for it.  The staff member explained that he’d play 20 seconds of a song, and we had to provide the title and artist.  Eric knows this stuff very well, and the biggest issue was  the size of the answer sheet.  I suggested next time we have one of those, we use two score sheets.  Midway through, between questions, I said something about Tears of a Clown.  That was the next one they did.  Total coincidence.  We got all 20 artists, but missed one title due to a similar sounding song.  However it was good enough to win.  We won 4 princess bags (now Glen and I have 3) and a water bottle that Eric wanted.

 

From there we went to dinner.  It was around 8 at this time, and there was a short line.  It only took a few minutes and we were seated at a corner table by a window.  

 

I did get pictures of tonights menu:

 

 

I started with the pineapple slice (very good) and had the shredded port with boo chow and rice.

 

For dessert, I had a banana toffee semi frozen bar.  It was quite good.

 

We wanted to be out in time for the 9:30 show.  It was a singer named Peter Cutler.  He does a bit of humor, singing and a bit of tap as well.  It was pretty good, although Jayne Curry, who was on the X Silhouette with us, does do a better job of that sort of show.  But we did enjoy it.

 

Following that, we headed to the Wheelhouse where the duo, Cel and Tito, were playing.  They do a pretty decent mix of songs that were danceable and a few that weren’t.  We stayed for about 30 minutes and then headed up to the room.

 

I tried to check email, but apparently my web mail needs a better connection than I have.  Oh well.  We watched a bit of our binge show and went to bed.  We decided we would set the alarm for 8 to go to breakfast.  Another nice day in the books.

 

 

 

 

I hope your enjoying your cruise. Thank you for the little blog of your time so far. I find it very interesting. I was wondering if you knew what the current pricing system is to upgrade your cabin onboard ? Say from an Oceanview to a balcony. Thank you for your info, it's very much appreciated. 

44 minutes ago, Lizabu said:

You can plug in your last name and booking number to see if bidding is available 

https://upg.plusgrade.com/marketing/partner/RNo2BO4VPCL

Thank you 

57 minutes ago, Mara4166 said:

You may to ask in your roll call in anyone has received an invitation

Thank you 

I just wanted to know if anyone has received invitations to bid for a higher grade cabin for the Baja  peninsula. 

The coffees in the concierge lounge are really nice.

11 hours ago, Alcairns said:

This is only for US sailings - the current arrangement of testing at the terminal prior to embarkation has not changed.

Yes I am aware of that. I know the current protocol. Things are due to be changed, so I have been told by Princess. I am awaiting the new changes.

Just wish we knew what the plan was here in the UK from October onwards. We have a Europe cruise from Southampton and don't know yet what the protocol is in place or if our cruise will be cancelled. 

It will depend on when the ship gets cleared and all the luggage is off loaded.

 

Your itinerary will say when the ship is to arrive- usually 6 am. Debarkation times are usually 7:30 to 10:00 but there are always exceptions no matter what ship or itinerary. You will get a paper several days before asking when you want to get off. If having your luggage taken off they will then give you luggage tags and a schedule of debarkation times. If they give you a time you have not requested go to the PSD and ask for the correct tags.

 

Hope this is the information you were seeking.

Thank you very much for your information. I appreciate it.

You can sign up for any time you want and walk off the ship at 10:00. Keep in mind that you will need to leave your cabin by 8 AM. Breakfast in the MDR closes earlier too. Don't know about the buffet. You can hang around the International Cafe with coffee and a continental breakfast. Most public spaces are very crowded.

Thank you, that's great.

You could sign up for the Princess tour that shows some of the sights in LA, then drops you off at the airport later in the day.

Thank you very much for your information, that's really helpful, I will look into that.

Generally speaking the ships arrive in San Pedro around 6 AM and the earliest I have ever gotten off was at 0730 as a walk off with my own luggage. The luggage assisted groups begin around 8:30 after the first walk offs. These are just what I have experienced and there can be delays due to customs..

Thank you for your reply. I appreciated it.

Debarkation begins at 7:00 AM and runs until approximately 10:00 to 10:15 AM. For independent arrangements you can request a certain time frame and will probably get it. If you don't get the time you want, you can usually change to the time you do want. You will get a questionaire in your cabin once you leave Hawaii on the way back and that's when you say what time you want to debark.

Thank you very much for your info, its greatly appreciated.

You will be very lucky I’d you are able to remain on board as late as 10:00 am.

I simply wanted to know debarkation times as we have never sailed with Princess and not done this itinerary before. Thank you for your unhelpful comment.

Please could anyone tell me what time debarkation is at San Pedro? We are going on the 15 night Hawaii trip 2nd Feb. I wondered what the latest time you can get off as I'm trying to organise a shuttle to the airport. Our flight is late afternoon.

Also, does anyone have any recent patters I could have a look at. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards

Laura

Hi timtrek

Thank you for taking the time to add pictures and info. It's really helpful. I was wondering if I could please see your patters, thank you.

Thank you for the pics runnerodb83. Very helpful. We are on in a few weeks time in Cabin C743 Caribe deck. Its our first cruise with Princess, so any tips or pics would be greatly appreciated.

Please could anyone upload some recent Freestyle dailies. It would be very greatly appreciated as we cruise soon. Thank you in advance