SiliconCruiser

Before going on our cruise on the Ruby, I purchased Medallion Net for 4 devices. While the web site indicated that I would pay the full amount and be credited with 50% as OBC, it actually only charged me $100 for the 10 day cruise.

It looks like all of the Ruby stops in Vancouver/Victoria have been or are being changed to Prince Rupert. We were on the Ruby a few weeks ago, but our itinerary already had Prince Rupert on it. I don't know the veracity of what I was told, as it came from a Princess employee, but the change was related to Canada invoking limitations to ship traffic due to potential impacts on the marine life in those waters. There hasn't been any changes to those ships that are embarking or disembarking in Vancouver.

We were told by a Princess sales rep. that the Ruby was going to Galveston and that the Royal would be taking it's place in SF. Given the current listings for voyages in 2023 for both ships, it would appear that the information may have been incorrect.

February 2019. We were on two cruises on the Regal later that year before Covid shut the industry down.

Yes

Most passengers routinely disregarded masking recommendations. They're the same ones that were coughing and sneezing all over the place. But not to worry, Princess will not enforce any of their recommendations.

The Ruby will still be home ported in the City. The Royal is going to be in either Seattle or Vancouver for the Alaska season next year.

We has Haines as a scheduled stop it was quite welcoming as it was a lot less touristy. We took a local excursion and were reasonably pleased with what it had to offer. We were also able to visit the Bald Eagle Foundation for the price of admission, after a short walk from the pier (as opposed to the far higher priced excursion from Princess.) After our third party excursion, the operator was able to drop us off at the Sheldon Museum in Haines rather than taking us back to the ship. We were able to visit there as part of our NARM membership, and it was only a short walk back to the ship. Nice folks, nice friendly town. And if you want to go to Skagway for the White Pass train, it was also an option via a high speed ferry.

This is a very moot posting since the stock is up and down, but not by any significant amount if you're looking at the 8.50 to 10.50 range. Can't see any reason for melodramatic postings. Quite honestly if you bought at this low price just for FCCs, you can't really lose. Get your FCC's and then take your short term capital loss when the company goes belly up.

The Island was our very worse cruising experience, however it was one of the only two Panamax class ships in Princess' fleet. The sewage that was leaking on multiple floors was bad, but even worse were the lies and misinformation from the staff that misled us from the Promenade deck while in the Old Locks, and the rude treatment from the steward and the restaurant staff. Thank goodness we ran into the Chief Engineer who was able to provide us with the correct information about the use of the Promenade deck during the time in the locks. Similarly, we are thankful for a Guest Services manager (or supervisor) who elected to be truthful with us about our rights and how she was constrained in how much FCC she could offer on-board (it didn't take too much hinting to figure out that she was telling us to escalate the issue to the corporate level.) That being said, the hotel manager was friendly but it was clear that he also valued his position and was protective of it. We almost stopped cruising with Princess back then, until an experience later that year in a Baltic cruise when one of the ship's officers popped up in numerous locales on the ship and remembered that I had celebrated my birthday on the ship during that cruise. He just initially introduced himself with "Hi, I'm Tim. Happy Birthday!" I didn't even know his last name. But later I saw that under his name on his name tag was the title of "Captain" (!). I now believe him to be Tim Stringer.

It just occurred to be that I was a heartless effin' idiot for not expressing my compassion for the people of the Ukraine.

Just for grins on a Hawaiian cruise, I wore my normal tux for dinner and for the show, but went and changed my shirt, to an Aloha shirt, tucked it in, put the bow tie back on and went to take formal portraits (when they still had the unlimited photo package.) I swear that the photographer didn't even blink an eye, and I was quite familiar with most of the photographers since we were talking "shop" half the time during the cruise.

Coat with shorts ... don't tempt me 😄 Besides with all that weight on top, I might topple over 😄

Big box is staffed up now. They answer the phone promptly. They're also easier to get a refund online if you can't reach them. Yes, they stopped offering refundable OBC because many people were not getting the refunds since the cruise company is upside down financially. The store gift cards are not a big deal, at least you'll get a fair price for the merchandise that you purchase (compare that to anything that you would use OBC for.) Besides you're gonna spend that money at big box anyway, you may as well get something worthy rather than getting scammed on an overpriced excursion that you could get onshore for less. Even before Covid, I was glad that 'big box' had switched over to Shop Cards.

Only from Guest Services, but it was also that way pre-Covid. It's as if they are trained to spew out a set number of lies. Stewards and restaurant staff work their butts off. Tip appropriately.

Shorts are acceptable in the MDRs on the first and last nights of the cruise. But I don't remember if I ever wore shorts into the MDRs on Mexico or Hawaiian cruises.

Wait, are you referring to Alina from the Ukraine, whose role is a Buffet Steward? I don't remember seeing her in the buffet, but she remembered us, but we always saw her in Da Vinci for lunch and Michelangelo for dinner and she took exceptional care of us, having made her own designation for a table for us (a table for 4 that she had converted to a table for two.) She would regularly divert the directions of other staffers to take special care of us. I just don't think we tipped her enough. She was one of the people that I made a special note of in our post-trip comments.

That was not my experience. Even in Europe, I was definitely in the minority wearing actual formal wear. That being said, I did get thrown out of the MDR when I absentmindedly wore shorts (I'm old, I remember exactly how I got to the kitchen, I just can't remember why I went there.) When I ran into the same young lady on the same ship later in the year in the Caribbean, she remembered me and I teased her about throwing me out of the MDR. She became very apologetic, before I stopped her and told her that I was just teasing her.

I once had a call answered in 45 minutes. Generally I hung up at the 2 hour mark. Found that the Chat option was more responsive (it's almost hidden at the bottom of the web page,) and I was more likely to get an accurate answer rather than one that the phone agent was making up on the fly (I can usually tell by the manner of their speech that they're just making up an answer.)

The dress code in Europe is the same as it is on any Princess cruise anywhere in the world. We were on a Baltic cruise in the summer of 2019. I brought and wore my tux, but I was very much in the minority. I think I saw more formal wear on a Hawaiian cruise at the end of the previous year.

I think we did several times. She was handing out plates and utensils. Every time my wife approached in her wheelchair, she would drop everything to help my wife and call out for a replacement for her station. I did have a problem with her though ... she would get my wife seated and was off getting something for my wife and I had no clue as to where either one of them were. Then would get back to the buffet and saw me standing there, so she told me where she had seated my wife ... (she was kinda quick.)

I found none of the complaints about the food or food portions on the FB groups to be valid. There was little difference from the pre-Covid days, except that the desserts were inconsistent. As a matter of fact, the cycle has even changed much, some of the menus were predictable and correlated to the number of the cruise day; the Formal night menus seem unchanged from pre-Covid days. They used to have a set group of desserts as "Princess Favorites" and then a group that changed each day. This time most of the dessert items were consistent.

Didn't see it on the 7/9-19 trip. As a matter of fact, never saw Caribe opened for food service, though people were in the seating area as overflow from Horizon.

I've noticed that many of the TAs, including 'big box' now only post fares based on the Princess Plus price. At no point do they even suggest that you can book at the Princess Standard price. I called 'big box' yesterday to book a couple of additional cruise to create a b2b2b2b cruise and inquired if I could book at the Princess Standard price. They did not hesitate. The same was the case for a TA that is often found onboard West Coast Princess cruises, and they too stated that booking at Princess Standard was no problem (they even suggested it.)

Just got off an Alaskan cruise on the Ruby a few days ago. I think I counted a total of about 4 tuxedos (one may have just been a dark suit with a bow tie.) Granted the Alaskan Inner Passage tends to be the least formal of any of the venues. But the definition of "formal" may also be relative to the local demographic as well. On my last three cruises, two Caribbean and one Alaskan, I left my tux at home. On the Alaskan cruise, I brought a tie, but never used it.