warthog2608

A couple years ago on a Panama Canal cruise I bought a bottle of Dictador 20 year old rum in Cartagena. As I boarded the Ruby it was taken for "safe keeping". Turns out it wasn't too safe. On the last night when my bottle of expensive rum should have been returned, I got this note instead. They offered me a bottle of some Australian rum which I reluctantly accepted. Big mistake. That rum had an odor of an indoor swimming pool about it, can you say "rot gut." What should I have done?

The only canned cocktails we've seen onboard were on the Discovery in October '23 at the Good Spirits bar. We were back on the Discovery in Dec '23 and nobody knew anything about canned cocktails. The bartenders at Good Spirits denied all knowledge of such. The attached photo shows the canned cocktails we saw, brand is Post Meridiem and there were a few varieties. Are these the canned cocktails you saw?

We really struck out on a T-giving cruise on the Royal in Nov '22. I was imagining nice fresh carved turkey but instead got some kind of a processed turkey meat like sandwich meat. Bleh... But the decorations around the ship were nice!

Ha, great minds (or stomachs) think alike. That is the MDR we prefer for the reasons you stated.

Sums up our opinions exactly, great post.

Haha, that's what we do when we have an inside cabin. We leave it on all night.

Exactly! 'Nuff said!

That's ok. We call it back bacon.

Hello! Maybe there isn't much action on the Cruise Critic boards yet but in the meantime, I say enjoy the anticipation. You’ve got nearly two years to plan, dream, and maybe even pick up a few Spanish phrases for your "Grand" return to San Juan. ¡Olé!

Hey Cruise Critic Community, I thought I'd share a little humor from my recent adventure in the wonderful world of passport renewals. You see, I'm the proud holder of not one, not two, but THREE passports: Canada, the UK, and the USA. And boy, does that make for a few good laughs (and a couple of headaches)! First off, let me say, juggling three nationalities is usually pretty cool. It’s great for travel, opens up lots of options, and makes for interesting small talk at parties. But when all three passports decide to expire around the same time? That’s when things get comically chaotic. At least Walgreens has a machine already programmed to take a passport photo that meets the requirements for a lot of countries. Of course the employee always asks, "Wait, you want 3 different passport photos?"

Just what skynight said! We've sailed out of SF on the: Grand, Royal, & Ruby. The Ruby is our favorite ship.

Here's what we had in our minibar in Dec '23 on the Discovery. I traded all the gin and vodka for more scotch. (Would have preferred rum but not available)

We find that PCL really makes you jump through hoops to use these casino offers. DW gets offers between 250-450 after every cruise, but using them has been difficult. Our TA has had trouble getting Princess to credit the offers, they tell her it will be "credited soon". One time we never could get a $350 offer credited but when were on the cruise we brought the paper offer to the cashier and they credited it onboard.

I have to put myself in the fun category. We did a Christmas cruise on the Grand in Dec '15. Then we did a New Years cruise just before Covid hit on the Royal in Dec '19. Both were great, the ship was decorated to the hilt and the whole theme was magical. We've also done a couple Canada Day cruises (which just happened to overlap with the holiday for you Yanks) as well as Thanksgiving and Halloween. I really enjoy all the decorations. Have fun on your cruise.

Yes, I'm thinking of a rather tall fellow... BTW, what is the rule about not naming TA's? Is that a CC rule?

Yup, not confused about that!

This is really one of my major pet peeves! I hold my tray in my left hand, use the right to handle the tongs and don't touch the tray. Then on the way to sit down I go by the sanitizer station and get a big dollop of sani and re-sani my hands when I sit down. It seems so many people have no concept of what they are doing and subconsciously lick their fingers. I like they way Don the Youtuber describes this situation. I'd like to see someone lick their fingers with Don in line behind them, lol.

We are brand new elites, just sailed our first cruise as elite. We enjoyed the included wine tasting, the wines weren't that great but the pairings and presentations were nicely done. I was looking forward to the tea in the stateroom benefit. But when I called room service I was told I had to order it a day in advance. I apologized that I was a new baby elite and didn't know all the rules yet. She laughed and said, "I'll see what I can do" and lo and behold, a nice tea service arrived! Haven't experienced the priority tendering yet, really looking forward to that! We'll be on a 16 day Iceland Greenland cruise soon, laundry will come in handy! Enjoy your elite benefits.

Hah, I think Viking cruises didn't get that memo! I can't believe how many catalogs I get from them. We took one Viking cruise last year and they continually mail a never ending supply of paper materials.

My wife, who is Mexican, regularly brings packaged food items onboard from Mexican ports. As you mentioned, chips as well as candies and cookies and it has never been a problem.

We were last on the Ruby July '23. We had very good meals in all the different restaurants. Right now the Ruby is our favorite ship, hoping to sail on her again soon.

I'm looking forward to this redeployment. (sorry Aussies). Sailed on the Grand several times pre-covid, thought she had the best crew in the fleet. Due to scheduling conflicts we've gone on 2 Western Caribbean cruises, but have yet to visit east and south. Looks like dong a B2B on the Grand will cover a lot of new ports for us.

Thanks for the review. I'm interested in the Caribbean Princess as we will be sailing on her July 28 out of Southampton. We did one cruise on her back in June 2018 on a Western Caribbean. I really liked the ship, as I do all the Grand class ships.

Love your live review with great pictures! We are boarding the Caribbean Princess in Southampton July 28 for an Iceland Greenland cruise. I really like the Grand class ships with the walkaround promenade.

Yup, ditto!