GoHuskies!

On our recent RT to Hawaii out of Los Angeles, I was expecting the great food onboard the Sapphire Princess that we have always experienced in the past. I was sadly mistaken. I'm not sure why it is, but across the board nearly all the dishes were flavored in a way that was disappointing. My theory is that the crew and the officers were all non-Americans who brought foreign tastes aboard. I'm not talking about foreign dishes--I love cuisines from around the world. But it seemed that normally American dishes were seasoned in unusual ways, and not to the good.

The distinguishing feature of monkey bread is that it is baked like rolls--many pieces tightly next to each other with the sugar/cinnamon all over each, and you reach in (like a monkey?) and pull one roll out at a time.

Yes, but they did nothing.

Just a comment about the Los Angeles World Cruise Center, which is the one in San Pedro: Both berth 93 and 92, which Princess uses, are accessible to all drivers without limitation. There is no issue about entering the cruise ship port here. The route is a bit circuitous, but any driver (even me, from out of town) can easily drive up to either one and drop off/pick up luggage and passengers. When arriving there in your own car, drop off and then it is easy to drive into the parking lot where you leave the car. By the way, if you do drop off someone with luggage and have a handicapped plate/sticker, before you leave berth 93, look over to the left where you can see the first row of cars parked in the lot. Those are in handicapped parking spots. You may see some openings, to which you can head when you go around to get into the lot. I did that, saw a couple of openings right close to the walking entrance. When I drove around and into the lot, I stayed over to the right side to head to that row of spots instead of following the general traffic flow into the lot, which would take you mostly to the left center. Drove right up to a still-open spot one car away from the walking entrance. Piece of cake. I might suggest using Google Earth to look at this lot and see what I'm talking about: look for "Los Angeles World Cruise Center".

On our fifteen-day cruise to Hawaii out of San Pedro, my pedometer told me I averaged almost 7,000 steps per day using my rollator. This included not only just plain navigating around the ship, but also promenade deck strolls. Most of the time there was little if any ship movement (other than forward!), but when there was some, the rollator was so stable I ignored it.

I can't speak for using the rollator on excursions but I must say, use a rollator for sure! It is way more stable than a standard walker. It will support you when a walker fails; it has wonderful brakes that will give you confidence in any situation. It has a greater wheelbase than any walker that I have seen. My rollator allows me to walk the same speed as my wife, who is not disabled; before I got the rollator I could only walk about half her speed. Those brakes can be used for steering too, especially when walking on an inclined sideways slant, and of course when descending an incline. And when you need to go up a step, you can go up to it, grab the brakes and tilt the rollator back, get the front wheels on and you are home free. And if you choose one which collapses side to side like this one, you can navigate narrow spots without problems.

The writer on Facebook was right. In October we took a cruise to Hawaii and back from LA on Princess, and each and every day I had some difficulty getting past the cleaning carts in the passageways. I have a rollator which folds in the center, making it narrower, but if it had not had that capability I would have had to call the room steward three to four times each trip. They usually leave the carts in the most accessible places, where the cabin doors adjoin, but a motorized wheelchair could never have got by. Plus there was one person who left their power scooter in the hallway all the time--which was supposed to be a no-no but it happened, for fifteen days.

I would add that in a regular cabin, the bathroom may have a grab bar or two, but I have found another one would be very helpful. If you take along a suction-cup grab bar you can place it in whatever position is best for you. I took a pair of these-- AmeriLuck 16.5inch 2 Pack Suction Balance Assist Bathroom Shower Handle,Bath Grab Bar with Indicators(White/Grey) which I bought from Amazon, for $31.98, and they were very, very secure. I could put them anywhere I needed them to be.

Yes they can. As an update, I used my rollator with the tray very successfully in the buffet with no problems. It was stable and wide enough to accommodate the dish plus a cup and/or a bowl. More than once service staff offered to help and that was fine, but the tray did the trick. My only issue was that in order to get down the hallway there was always a person who left their scooter out in the way, against the rule but never stopped from doing this. I had to fold my rollator to get past it every day on this 15-day cruise on Princess.

Since we will be entering San Pedro from Ensenada, does that mean we will have to go through immigration?

No sloshing--but that depends on how smoothly you walk, of course. Also normally we would take food plates to the table and then pick up drinks.

Wow--we're on the next cruise too. I hope the ship's engineers are working feverishly to fix all these problems. Any word yet on fixes?

I really like my Drive rollator, which folds easily by pulling up on the handle in the middle of the seat. However, the cushioned (and convex) seat does not allow for carrying anything small securely, and I'd like to use it in the ship's buffet to carry my plate. Here is my solution: Note that the seat, though comfortable, is somewhat convex and would not hold a dish securely: Here's the finished tray that sits on the seat: On the underside I contact-glued these foam pieces to stabilize the tray: And I took my daughter's advice to test it out around the house. It's very stable, even transitioning to carpet, tile, etc. Doesn't need a bungee cord or other attachment. The tray has to travel in our suitcase, since it doesn't fold (that's the whole idea).

travelin.sisters-- Thank you so much for your very informative information! We are going on the Sapphire to Hawaii on October 4, immediately after your cruise, and what you have posted (along with all the other posters on this thread) has been invaluable! An incredible source--I'll have to watch for further threads of cruises that you post. Thanks again. Jim and Norita, Green Valley, Arizona

You should be able to enlarge the print on your computer screen. If you have a touch screen or a touch pad, just put two fingers on it and separate them. That should enlarge it.

Funny how the odors of each different set of smokers irritate the others. I am certainly overwhelmed by concentrated cigar smoke and for that reason buy pipe tobacco online rather than in a smoke shop, where one can hardly breathe. Yet cigars don’t bother me nearly as much as cigarette smoke. The mere whiff of a distant cigarette is irritating to me and absolutely pervasive within great distances. It’s unfortunate that pipes and cigars are BOTH lumped together onboard ships—I don’t want to smoke anything in a cigar lounge, or even a cigarette lounge if one exists. Admittedly I am a very infrequent pipe smoker at all—always outdoors, never in, and sometimes weeks in between. But I would enjoy a pipe while on a cruise vacation if I could find a legitimate place outdoors.

Really? "The most annoying thing on board." “She should be thrown overboard at night like they do with all the other garbage.” “The biggest headache on board.” "Horrible." I call that vitriolic.

Actually mine is slightly different--I liked the champagne color that was available and bought this. Note that the seat comes UP when you pull the handle, in contrast with the red rollator shown above. Also, the brackets holding the front wheels are a substantial bracket instead of the wire-like support in the picture. All else is the same. BTW, I epoxied a name/address plate on the center handle support, visible when you pull it up. Love it. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZYD9JJG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I agree 100% with this suggested rollator. I have one like it, have had it for over a year and it is truly great--any time you need to get through a narrow passage, just pull up (very easy) on the between-seat handle (red in the picture) and it collapses sideways, still on all four wheels and easy to maneuver. Then you just pop it out afterward, with slight movement of the handles sideways.

Here are some handy grab bars. I know you asked about a safety rail, but this could be a stand-in for you, maybe. They are very strongly attached to a smooth wall with suction and very light, too. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B078JJ54RC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Very interesting, how vitriolic people can be about a cruise freebie. I haven't been on Princess for about five years and have never seen Fortuna Luck. But I'd like to. Is she on all the ships? I'm on Sapphire in October--hope to see her there and see what all the criticism is about.

As a really quick answer to allay your fears, there are people at all cruise centers who will willingly help you from the front of the terminal clear up and into your cabin. Some are people who will help you to the ship and others (could be the same person) clear into your room. So don't be afraid of this. I'm sure there are people on this thread who can explain this more fully and better than I, so please chime in to reassure TnTom, everyone.

About that Drive rollator--I really love it! Without it I would be reduced to using my cane, which with my balance issues slows me way down and shortens my distance abilities greatly. In fact, with my upcoming Princess cruise to Hawaii from LA, I doubt if I could walk the length of the ship without a breather unless I use the rollator. And of course its center-fold ability lets you get it into any spaces without taking up much space.

I put an address label on the pull-up handle in the middle of the seat. First I GLUED it on (don't rely on sticky back), then go over whole label with clear epoxy or other drying/hardening coating.

I would suggest using a rollator of the type that folds up side to side, becoming just a few inches wide when folded and can be pushed through narrow passages on all four wheels. I have one, which is a Drive Medical Nitro rollator, and it folds easily by pulling up on a handle in the center of the seat. My original rollator was given to me by the VA when I left the hospital. It was fine when I did not need to either fold it up or get through a narrow space. At those times it was useless; it folded front to back on unequal arms, meaning only two wheels hit the ground when folded. And of course you had to pick it up folded and carry it sideways through any narrow spot, which I found when visiting my daughter whose parking space only allowed a narrow space between house and car. But my Drive rollator is a wonderful tool in every way. By the way, the picture shows spindly wires holding the front wheels, but these have been replaced by substantial strong armatures.