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9 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I would love to have a caffeine free diet beverage like Coke or root beer. What’s the odds of that one? Good luck!

Sprite Zero is a caffeine free diet beverage that has been available on all of the Princess cruises I've taken over the past year. I just wish they would add it as a choice in the OceanNow delivery menu.

On Enchanted where they also swapped Sabatini's and The Catch by Rudy, suite breakfast was held in Crown Grill.

We stayed in E728 and could hear/feel bass sounds from the music in Club Fusion below most nights until the music ended anywhere between 10PM and 12:30AM.

6 hours ago, memoak said:

This was the first time we were seated given a menu and been asked for our order all within 3 minutes. I will guarantee you we pushed back and will continue to do so. 

I wish they would observe and act upon the "Dining Pace" preference you can set in the app preferences so each table could have their preferred pacing. Three minutes from seating to order taken sounds great to me!

We were in E728 on the Crown last year and could hear bass sounds from Club Fusion below until the entertainment there ended, anywhere from 10pm to around Midnight. We were able to finally sleep through it but it was noticeable. The fourth berth in the ceiling, however, was a non-issue. You wouldn't notice it was there unless you were looking for it. Other than that, we liked the location, not far from the aft elevators to hop up to Adagio or Skywalkers or down to Botticelli for dinner. A great private, covered balcony with plenty of space. 

On my last two cruises (Hawaii and Caribbean), there has been a supply of Sprite Zero available (in addition to the choices in post #3 above). It doesn't show up in the app for ordering, but bars and restaurants had it available. 

Any idea where the breakfast for suites is served on Discovery after the changes? I know on many ships it's in Sabatini's but am wondering if it would be in The Catch on Discovery in the space formerly occupied by Sabatini's. 

Across many lines, including specialty restaurants, I've never had a steak at sea that rivaled the quality I regularly get on land. The closest was at the now-defunct The Grill by Thomas Keller. I think part of the problem is that ships can't use open flame to cook due to fire and safety regulations. And if they're using induction or radiant heated flat grill/griddle, I guess they can't get as hot as in a land-based commercial kitchen. So you can't really get a steak cooked in the same manner as you would at a steakhouse, either grilled above an open flame or cooked or finished in a salamander or intensely hot broiler.

13 hours ago, MissiCruzs said:

We went to Gigi's for lunch yesterday. We ordered a pizza ($8.50) and split it then we went up to Lido and I got a hamburger. I wasn't impressed. We'll give it another try in November when we have the premier package. 

Where is Gigi's on Emerald? I don't see it on the deck plan and thought only Enchanted/Discovery had a Gigi's.

Of the ships I've sailed so far, I like the casino on the Regal the best. They converted some of what is Club 6 or Take Five on other ships to a decently sized non-smoking area with no bleed-over of smoky smell from the rest of the casino. That area also has newer machines and a poker table. 

On my last three cruises with a plus or premier package, I have always received canned soda when requesting one and wasn't charged any extra. When ordering through OceanNow, you are given a choice between the two and cans are not charged, same as if you'd ordered fountain. From my experience, cans are now part of the package.

It's worked reliably for me, but it's not instantaneous. Just budget for a 30 minute delivery time and be pleasantly surprised if things arrive earlier.

I've found that the beer menu in the Wheelhouse Bar is more varied than at other bars (Chimay, Ballast Point, Pirate, etc.). Since Enchanted doesn't have a Wheelhouse Bar, check out the Crown Grill bar or Salty Dog Gastropub bar menu. They may have a few selections that aren't on the menu at other bars. 

For us, the plus vs. premier comes to three things:

Length of the cruise. Anything one week or shorter, Premier has more value for us due to the two included specialty dinings. We usually do two per week. Longer cruises, same price difference for still only two SD for entire cruise holds less value.

Wine. If you mostly drink soft drinks, liquor, and cocktails, almost everything is covered by Plus. If you enjoy drinking wine, however, the included wines on Premier are far, far better than the wines included in Plus.

Internet. If you want to frequently use more than one device without the hassle of switching between devices, and aren't platinum/elite with discounts in internet, Premier has more value.

I know the calculations will be different based on what each person values, but that's what it comes down to for us.

Recently returned from a cruise on Crown Princess in E728. Great cabin, nice sheltered balcony of standard mini suite size, but also a lot of thumping bass noise from Club Fusion until it shuts down, around Midnight or 12:30AM.

I don't really see what the maintenance person did wrong – I think they are trained to knock/announce twice, and if no response and no deadbolt or do not disturb sign/indicator, they assume the room is empty so they entered. Once they realized you were in the room, they apologized and attempted to come back later. 

As for knocking at an hour when many would be sleeping, I think maintenance would be one of the exceptions that would be acceptable to knock during those hours unless a request was specifically made to wait until the next day. Someone might want their issue fixed as soon as possible. 

I hope everyone will take this as another reminder to always secure the deadbolt when you are in the room.

On 12/4/2023 at 6:06 AM, Funroe208 said:

There are Police/Guides when you go into the 23rd Street entrance. They will direct you to the correct lane when you tell them you want Express Parking. There is also an attendant at the lot if you forget the QR code they sent you. Some signage but not a lot. I used Google maps satellite views to get an idea before we arrived.

 

We stayed at a hotel on the gulf side of the island. Left the hotel at 10:30am and were at the lot around 11:30am. Traffic was very heavy. Checked in and on the boat at 12:15pm.

 

Hope this helps.

Wow, one hour to make it across Galveston island from seawall side to port side? Seems like very bad traffic indeed. I'm wondering now if staying on the I-45 side/entrance to the island would be any better traffic-wise.

3 hours ago, TxTeach79 said:

Therrre’s my package #phrasing

 

May I ask what price it gives for the multi-device Wi-Fi upgrade? Wondering if it's the full $40 per day or just the difference ($25 or $20 per day depending on whether they consider the starting price of $15 or $20 per day).

Thanks for taking us along with you on the journey!

30 minutes ago, skynight said:

Specialty Dining is not covered by the premier package. Casual dining is covered. Specialty dining and casual dining are different. Therefore, no refunds.

Princess Premier includes two specialty dining meals per guest and unlimited casual dining. Princess Plus does not include any specialty dining and two casual dining. My question was in reference to the Princess Premier package.

If buying the Premier package onboard to pay for it with OBC, how does it work if you've already pre-paid for specialty dining reservations that are now covered by the package? Would you get a refund of/OBC for the pre-paid amounts?

30 minutes ago, sfaaa said:

If I read the terms correctly, the current offer is only good for bookings made directly with Princess. Any booking using an outside TA does not qualify. Is this correct? 

It has been my experience across multiple TAs that any payments for deposits or cruise fares are listed on credit card transactions/statements as the cruise line itself, not the TA. I would fully expect payments that got charged as Princess Cruises to apply for the purposes of the AmEx offers.

Lack of a sofa in the standard balcony cabin has always been the biggest negative for me when considering Princess versus other lines. At home, to read or watch TV, I don't sit on the bed. On almost every other ship on other lines (even the Carnival Corp's "entry level"/mass market/non-premium Carnival line), standard balcony cabins have sofas. And I do want to choose Princess, as they are the only line that sails from my home port year-round. But in comparison with other ships and lines, this is a big drawback.

On the Grand class ships that seem to most often sail on the itineraries I am interested in, I would have to go to a mini-suite to get a sofa. The last two trips we've taken were booked too late to even have availability in the mini-suite category – there are far fewer mini suites than balcony cabins. And most of the mini-suites on those ships have completely uncovered balconies which, to me, are less enjoyable than ones with some shade and privacy. 

I am encouraged that Princess has created a category of balcony cabins with sofas on the newer ships, and hope they consider making a sofa a standard inclusion in all balcony cabins on future builds.

I have a question that's on a related note. If someone cancels the second person in a cabin after final payment and sails as a solo (essentially paying double, or 100% solo supplement), does the remaining occupant of the cabin earn double captain's circle cruise credits as they would if they had initially booked it as a solo with 100% supplement?

22 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

I disagree. You will be ASKED to quarantine. Neither Regent nor Medcon has the authority to force you to do so. I am not convinced that the US government does either. 

33 minutes ago, CJANDH said:

If you test positive you will be escorted from the ship on arrival to a quarantine hotel where you will stay locked up until you test negative. If you don't take the test and are staying in the US, you can go home even if infected. Risk is yours.

And how will you get home? Will you get on a commercial airline flight and knowingly expose all the other people on the flight? 
 

At airline check in, even for domestic flights, you are asked to self attest or confirm that you do not have an active infection (for which you have not yet completed the required isolation or quarantine) and are not awaiting test results.

33 minutes ago, howiefrommd said:

I would not be surprised if cruise lines start skipping any port that requires testing.   

This is all speculation, but if that were the case, then perhaps Viking – where each guest is tested daily – will have the most successful “restart”. I’d certainly be more likely to go on a cruise where there was a higher probability of successfully making port calls even if it is less all-inclusive than Regent.