SiliconCruiser

Princess cruises to Hawaii have the lowest per person per day cost (around $50-60 per day). I don't understand his "wisdom"

But the 60+ (way plus) is the demographic that identified with the "Love Boat". Perhaps someone in Hollywood needs to create a new idea based upon one of the party lines (like Carnival) rather than trying restore an antiquated story line from a half a century ago. What's next? A remake of Ozzie and Harriet? Or maybe a new version of "Your Show of Shows"?

Looks like a crew cabin.

It has become common knowledge that Princess is less than responsive to inquires, and once they've got all your money, they no longer have a need to be responsive to you. Perhaps this situation may change if they are able to get out of their economic straits, but there is the possibility that this may be their new business model. Experienced Princess customers may remember that Princess was not terribly responsive (or truthful) to consumer inquiries even back in the pre-pandemic days, but that was no reflection on the service level of the exploited crew-staff.

I used to take a tux on every cruise and wore it on every formal night. At some point, I realized that I was in the minority and sticking out like the proverbial sore thumb. After a business suit, blazer and slacks, I'm going with the majority with "business casual". Also, I heard that Aloha shirt and slacks (even khakis) were considered appropriate business wear in Hawaii.

Yes. But I wear black walking shoes on formal nights. 😉

If you don't have mobility issues, the blue bus is the most convenient and least costly. If you need wheelchair accessible transportation, they you'll either the Princess Excursion that is ADA accessible or a cab (be aware of cab drivers that may tell you that the only way to guarantee a ride back is if you have them wait during your visit; these drivers tend to be college kids running whatever hustle they can to take the most money back to school.) You can also take the city bus (they're all wheelchair accessible) but it is about 1.1 miles from the bus stop to the glacier.

I'd probably hang onto it until one of those years when I needed to find every tax deduction I could find or when the company goes Chap 7-BU.

I used to always wear a tuxedo, but then I realized that standing out in the crowd. I started wearing a dark business suit (with tie.) Still stood out like the proverbial sore thumb. I went to the traditional blue blazer, dress shirt, tie, with gray slacks ... still a little out of place. I then went to a blazer, dress shirt, tie, and khaki slacks ... a little better but still stood out. On my last cruise, I brought a blazer, dress shirt, tie, slacks, fancy polo shirt, but just wore the blazer, and polo shirt with slacks. The next formal night I just wore the dress shirt with slacks. Thank goodness the tie didn't take up too much space.

It sez you can bring two bottles up to 750ml. That being said to satisfy 'the rules quoters', they are pretty lax after the embarkation port. The x-ray machines and mag operators are all Princess security and they only seem to be looking for weapons. I've seen many passengers taking 750 ml bottles of liquor, beer, wine, in various quantities in their carry-ons (backpacks) or other packaging. As I recall the only ones stopped were those bringing alcohol openly in fancy bags, and those who declared them. On our last cruise I didn't even see the alcohol table when we returned to the ship on port calls (but alcohol is pretty expensive in Alaska.)

DRO was previously known as the Maitre D. High ranking officer on the ship in charge of all restaurant operations. As I recall, it is not customary to tip any officer who is pictured on the officer's board. It would be like offering to tip the captain, or the highest paid officer on the ship, the director of hotel operations.

Credit card surcharges may not be assessed in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma and Texas, regardless of what Google says.

It's not listed as a prohibited item on their web site. But it appears that they have other lists of prohibited items that includes irons and clothes steamers. Just part of the inconsistencies with Princess. I took one on many cruises, but then on one of the cruises to took it and gave it back to me when we were leaving the ship.

Yes, you being presumptuous. The fact of the matter is that you'll find the menus to be the same across all of the Princess ships. It has nothing to do with the national origin of the line cooks that prepare the dishes, which are done under the direction of the executive chef (you'll find his/her picture on the board with the other staff officers) and the Food and Beverage Director (formerly Maitre d). After a few cruises, you can even determine the number of the cruise day depending on the offerings on the menu.

They're mom&pop businesses that don't even speak English for the most part. By the time you are able to get your class organized, they'll have shuttered the business and opened up under a different fictitious name and maybe have different names as registered owners.

I forgot. I have an ATM card from my credit union that does not charge an exchange fee, and in most cases do not charge a transaction fee. If I'm in one of the Asian countries, I just go to an ATM and draw out whatever currency I might need. But even in Asia, there are many businesses that will accept credit cards.

I used to bring and wear my tux on every cruise. Then at some point (I believe it was on a European cruise,) I realized that I was in the minority and felt strangely out of place. On my next cruise I brought my black funeral suit (only suit I still own,) and wore it with a white shirt and colorful tie (not the black one.) That lasted one cruise. I then graduated to a blazer with a couple of dress pants (I brought a tie but didn't always wear it.) I'm now going to vary between dress shirts and polo shirts (I have one or two that costs more than a tuxedo) with the blazer or maybe just a dress shirt and slacks (depending upon the weather, I may skip the blazer.

At a horrible exchange rate. Usually you can also do this at the dock ... also at a miserable exchange rate. We usually just bring it home, because we know we'll use it again at some point, and we use credit cards whenever possible. A lot of European countries are on a path towards a cashless economy, with a preference towards plastic. When we were in Denmark and Sweden, there were many businesses that clearly noted that they were cashless (even a 7-11.) My most shameful example was when we were in Tallinn, Estonia when I handed a pharmacy clerk two €20 notes for a purchase. Poor lady had to scramble to every cash register to find enough for the change. However in Asia (also Asian businesses in the U.S) currency is the preferred method of payment. I've even seen Asian businesses in the U.S. charging outrageous surcharges for credit cards. Yes, I know that surcharges for credit cards are not legal, but they feel that they do not have to obey U.S. laws.

Human factors has been an element in software design since the 80's in the U.S. Applications that do not take this into account are generally a dead giveaway. I had to deal with type of software design (yes it was off-shore) on one of my jobs and the developers never took into account a human factor. A lot of lost time because of this; cheaper is seldom better, you get what you pay for, and sometimes you pay a lot more because you're trying to skimp on costs.

I think that may have been the menu for Day 1 of their second leg. The menus tend to repeat themselves. We had the same Day 1 menu on the Ruby going to Alaska in July. Matter of fact I'm starting to be able to know the day of the cruise by what is on the dinner menu.

I have a feeling that their software development is contracted off-shore, and possibly with little supervision.

Roberts Tours is the largest tour operator on the islands. They also contract with Princess for many of their excursions, which are often abbreviated versions of tours that Roberts offer. They're also the company that is contracted to provide local transit services for many of the Hawaiian municipalities. If you can walk a couple of blocks from the pier, you can take the local bus (Da Bus) to Pearl. Get a day pass so that you can also stop off at Iolani Palace on the way back (Steve and Dano aren't there. 😉) You can also go the other direction to Waikiki if you want (on the same day pass.) Be sure to check out the National Park Service site about making reservations for the Arizona Memorial (no charge other than a dollar for the processing. I have a friend who lives in the Waikiki area and has never owned a car in the 10 or so years that he has been there. People even go to Costco and then get on Da Bus with their box of purchases (you'll see that coming back from Pearl.)

Your cruise history and status will have this credited as two separate cruises. Cabin availability for your 14 day b2b would have to be a single cabin that is available on both legs of the cruise. Your first embarkation would be like any other cruise. The disembarkation/embarkation would be with all the other passengers that are also on the b2b. You'll probably be the last group off (before the walk off the Covid cases) and you'll be walked off the ship as a group and go to a holding area at the terminal and walked back on the ship (no security, just get off the ship so that they can say the ship is empty.) If you choose to leave the ship during that day, you'll be given a transit card so that you don't have to go through all the other stuff, and you'll just go back on the ship when you return, but you will have to go through security. This was our last cruise in December 2019 before the world came to a halt.

We have only had TD once, years ago on our first Princess cruise. Even with Anytime Dining we often ended up with the same table and same wait staff. The same thing happened in July with DMW, we eventually ended up with the same table and wait staff including one night when we arrived an hour later than normal. There was a greeter that just diverted us to that table regardless of where the host/hostesses had told to seat us.

Why? I'm only posting based upon real life experiences. Sorry if your web based beliefs are different.