TNTLAMB

We have cruised Christmas every year for the last 22. However this year will be the first out of Florida. Previous have been out of Galveston or LA.  FYI.. We cruise with kids. We are in our early  70's Wife is a retired teacher. All of our kiddos (14) are permanently placed older kids Usually about  10 when we get them. For most of these Kids Christmas is not a good time. I won't go into details why....

Princess does an amazing job Enough Christmas to be Christmas but not overboard.  It has gotten better over the years as cruising has become a very inexpensive way to travel. We see more families which is great. The youth programs are great.  (This litter was so enthralled they didn't want to get off the ship) I've never noticed much in the way of crowding lines etc.

Formal nights are a kick as many participate. Photo lines are a bit overwhelmed. The biggest issues have been those older cruisers who still think it's 1980 or the newer cruisers with "Expectations" though that is a problem other times too.  Lines are inevitable with 4000 folks....

I'd give it a try.

On 12/11/2023 at 3:50 PM, SargassoPirate said:

I quit trying a rag around my neck when I retired.  I wear my tux to lodge meetings and that

 

Funny thing is that the big excuse we hear for slovenly dress in the MDR is airline baggage fees, but my jacket weighs around 19 ounces, I wear my black jeans on the plane, my stack of four T shirts and pocket squares weigh very little, and I can wear the same combo with rotating colors every night of the cruise.  Saves on packing the "smart casual" wear.  (I'm not allowed to use washing machine or Dishwasher....)

 

 

 

 

Not so sure that's correct.  Speaking of numbers We do a 14 day cruise with carry on. That's a $320.00 savings from what we used to do. Due to an accident we are raising 2 granddaughters. That's little more difficult as they are entering teen years but they do understand what $640.00 can do when the 4 of us cruise.

I do wear my sport coat when boarding, and the girls have to suffer with shipboard shampoos etc. and we do consider where the laundry room is when selecting a cabin... BUT I love getting home and not having wife staring at 8 suitcases of dirty laundry.

On 12/28/2022 at 7:46 AM, texswamper said:

Wish Princess had the money, manpower or resources to have painted that hull during the shutdown.  That makes Princess look bad IMHO but we will enjoy the cruise regardless.  Thanks again for all of your posting great photos and information for those looking forward to boarding in Galveston soon!  I hope your journey home will be easy!

That hull is painted on a rotating/continual basis. It was perfect at least twice during the cruise......

On 12/26/2022 at 7:05 PM, ceilidh1 said:

Stuffed husky for kids 12 and under on Ruby. Nothing for 13 and up…

The teen gifts were in the teen center.

I would not pay much attention to the button color est. Princess us still trying to figure it out after a major glitch with the "app" that set up new captain circle numbers for many. I am thinking boarding tomorrow will be quite the event....

1 hour ago, egregious cruiser said:

Cruise leaving tomorrow is “FULL”. 
There are about 25 empty cabins, but many cabins sold with more than 2 people, due to pull down bunks, sleeper sofas, etc.  

Preliminary figures………

1625 blue button cruisers. (Never cruised on Princess.)
Only 225 Elite black button cruisers.  
Cutoff for MTG party is 350 days on Princess cruises. 
Do not repeat these estimates. 

I'm curious as to what personal data the medallion will give them that they can't extract from your folio and of what use it would be???

Well I'll be darned had no idea they were color coded. I thought the insert was the issue. Guess I never gave it any though as I have never worn the card or the medallion.  Was thrilled with the medallion as it was easier to stow on my person and didn't have fumble to get it out. I have been shoved out of the way by a demanding elite a time or two though.  Yeah the staff does know who prepaid their gratuities and are held responsible if they are removed.  as well they remember who slips them a cash tip. They are not required to report that if the prepaid are in place.

1 hour ago, 1965 said:

Oh my stars! This may be the rudest post I've read on cc.

Sorry if you missed the humor/sarcasm apparently you haven't come across one of those folks. It's actually quite entertaining when one really gets on a roll....

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

They are good to go, but there used to be a clear plastic rectangular holder which had a paper insert of the Princess Sea Witch logo.  I had read something which seemed to indicate they are no longer including those?  I still have two or three (or four?) and I have made custom paper insert.  

 Good question, apparently the status symbol folk (the one who always hung their colored cruise card around their neck, though nobody in the "blue Card" realm knew your were to step aside and hold your breath when a black card bearer walked by, felt the logo cards should come in the status colors for the plastic holders. I remember on who colored hers all black. I always thought it was nice just to slip the medallion in my pocket and forget about it. I do remeber once one of the corporate execs making the Comment in the old days "black Card" makes book, "Blue card" makes profit... 

Quick question. We have been on 3 medallion cruises and never had a colored medallion. When did that start? am I missing something?

Is the medallion working the way intended? Absolutely. Better than expected. Bording was a snap cashless cruising extraordinaire not having to dig for the old cruise card for every drink, soda, etc worth it. As a door key exceptional. The new Dining program that came with it great. Being able to find family and friends easily on board wonderful. (one thing to meet in the atrium another to find everyone in the atrium) Certainly could have done more if I wanted.

Pre loading the app?  not so great until I learned to wipe out anything princess, app, old apps, old versions, etc  etc and wiping all my cookies and Voila loaded instantly. Had to get help for one of the kids when we got on board two minutes and we were all up.

App worked perfectly on ship. Medallion Cruising and Medallion app are two different things. Frankly other than tracking hardly used the app. everything else could be accomplished without or in the KIOSKs  (though many things were easier with the app)

The vaccine requirements have nothing to do with vendor requirements.  However it may NOT be required on Alaska Cruises as they were bypassing Canadian ports. What the situation will be next Alaska Season is anyways guess. The Canadian Border is open to vaccinated folk. Children are not exempt.  There are very stringent testing rules.

being as the approval will likely be here in a few weeks i'd say there will be no border exceptions. But then we aren't booking anything with the grands until they can be vaccinated anyway.

1 hour ago, Mike45LC said:

I don't need the Medallion or app to order a drink and have it delivered.  This is what cocktail waitresses are for.  As for the rest of your itemized features, no thanks.  I'll eat at a dining venue, and I will gamble in the casino.

And yet one of the major parts of the Medallion program is "Dine My Way " that accomplishes just that

So you all think the "App" is medallion Class Cruising?

On 9/24/2021 at 4:44 PM, cjpj said:

I don't want to be on two devices at once. I'm Elite and we get free wifi for each person. I thought you could only register one device per person. So if I wanted to use my phone most of the time, that is what I'd register.  But if I needed to do work (yes, I know it's a vacation), I didn't realize I could log off my phone and onto my laptop. If I have that right.

When did Elite starting getting Free Wi-fi again?

Sorta lost interest when they started using fake baked Alaska

With the new dining program the traditional Maitre d'hotel is really a moot position.

On 7/23/2021 at 11:13 PM, CarelessAndConfused said:

 

Perhaps it's just industry musical chairs or something.  And maybe Princess has managed to poach highly regarded talent from other cruise lines.  This sort of things happens regularly in all industries.

You are correct "The Grass is Greener Syndrome" effects all industries. The interesting thing is that the ones who move the most frequently have strong outgoing personalities and are "upfront" sorts. People respond to that thinking they are better than they really are and the person begins to believe it himself, and overtime becomes dissatisfied leading to parallel moves.  I'll disagree with some. The Cruise director makes a huge difference in a cruise. But what we see publicly has very little to do with how good they are. The best managers are great at delegating duties, building up and supporting their staffs, promoting their brand through their efforts. They are seldom seen as they are busy doing their jobs. When you have a strong personality seen everywhere  doing everything, that is a strong clue they aren't often a good manager. I suspect Matt was "coached" to do do the managerial stuff over the up front stuff and didn't take it well. That in part (I know this first hand) is why they have added an ED who has assumed the non public roles. He is the person between the CD and Assistant hotel manager.

10 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

In my 40+ cruises on Princess the cruise director has never had an impact on my cruise. What am I missing?

nothing nor do most cruisers care either...... Entertainment decisions are way above their pay grade

It appears he had a physical brain condition that was feeding into his problems and that condition was contributor to his death. I would think there would be more empathy for all involved than revenge/blocking out the cabin. I guess I expect too much.

we buy ours at the dollar tree....

3 minutes ago, voljeep said:

so when the position of ED was created prior to the 'rona - was Matt passed over for that position ?

 

I read a lot of bitterness toward Princess in his farewell address

Not sure he was passed over but rather he wasn't and didn't realize what he had gotten into.....

Part of the problem is long time cruisers think the new ships are just bigger "Love Boats" as opposed to the floating Mega Resorts with a larger management Staff on Board.  What we used to consider the "Cruise Director" is now a departmentalized staff of Associate Cruise directors each with a different Area of responsibility. This is Staff area is where the "personalities" exist above that area is something entirely different.  The biggest problem IMO is PCs attempt to try and keep up appearances of the old days while going a different and necessary direction. There will be sadly more than likely more turnover with existing staff/titles as the changes morph.

20 minutes ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

The ED is a position created a few years ago that is above the CD and stands for Entertainment Director. 
 

I know of Assistant Cruise Directors and Deputy Cruise Directors, but I’ve never figured out who’s above who in that hierarchy. I just know they’re the Cruise Staffers under the CD.

The whole area is changed and a bit cloudy . As ships have gotten larger,, there are likely to be several assistant or deputy cruise directors, each with their own staff to assist and specific areas of concern. The term cruise director/entertainment director is almost interchangeable. The Entertainment Director is an outgrowth of the Medallion Program. While he has many of responsibilities of the CD he has a much larger responsibility in terms of being the onboard Brand/Marketing manager. In fact in a recent job posting the terms were used interchangeably: https://www.allcruisejobs.com/i34314/entertainment-director/ But the job sure isn't..... Like I said Matt O was the victim of the Peter Principle.