Morgsmom

You will not be able to order a martini from the Martini Bar but the other bars have a small martini which should fit into the $8 limit.

 

However, for just $11.80 per day, why not upgrade to premium? You don't have to think what is or is not covered. Spending a few thousand on your cruise - another hundred or two isn't going to make a difference. The cruise is not a time to cheap out.

 

Enjoy life!

The more I read the more I think I'm going to upgrade Hubby to the Premium and I'll stay on Classic. That way we can "take turns" if we want something higher end.

So this will be our first "X" cruise and we do have the Classic Bev package. From what I can see of recent posts the wine selections are almost non-existant (from one post I see only one Pinot Noir under the price ceiling in the reds.) So here are my questions:

1. how many drinks can one guest get at one time? meaning, can I send Hubby with my card, too, and he can get 2? or can he order 2 with just his card?

2. which goes to the 2nd question, can only ONE person upgrade to the premium package? (see also, question 1 :rolleyes:)

3. and lastly, if we each order the same glass of wine at dinner will they just bring the bottle? or do we have to play the "where is our server" dance?

thank you in advance

yay for you! thanks for all you do

:eek::eek:This is why I plan every inch of every vacation we take! If my hubby booked us a room with bunk beds, he better be able to buy them and take them to his future home, because he certainly wouldn't be coming home with me!!! :D:)

rolling on the floor laughing....

I've only done one solo cruise and did have a challenge with the dining situation. I would up booking the specialty steak restaurant for 3 nights on the cruise because they took such good care of me. for the other nights I joined the traditional dining table that had been assigned to me with 5 other solo cruisers but it was TERRIBLY uncomfortable. We had very little to talk about and they thought that the incredibly delicious Indian Vegetarian entrée I selected was "smelly." To each his own :)

And, yes, it is open for lunch on Embarkation Day!

My sister's was the same. We both freaked out and complained to Godfrey. After that, we ate in the buffet and we're much happier. The Royal's buffet is awesome.

could not agree more -- the Royal's buffet is AWESOME! My husband is a Chef and after two nights in the MDR we spent the cruise of the cruise in the buffet because it was THAT GOOD. (the cheese displays are amazing up there. Even if you do eat in the MBR I encourage you to make a plate of great cheese to enjoy in your stateroom)

From Lisbon to Colon, 13 days, $299 for Oceanview...

I'm actually a fan of prepaying - in this case buying myself some OBC. My husband tends to be very frugal but if I put money in the imaginary on board bank then it gives us 'permission' to spend a little. Otherwise being thrifty becomes almost a game to him to the point where we've had a tiff about "loosening up" a bit.. sort of, let me see if I can get off this cruise w/out spending a dime kind of thing. So for some of it is definitely helps! (And on the latest cruise I easily picked up the refund = there was a credit to both of our accounts for port taxes that amounted to just under $50 that I had not planned into my spending allowance. It was super easy to get back the extra OBC that I had put in)

You can use it to get an espresso drink on the morning of departure at the International Cafe.

But beware that the lines in the IC are usually VERY long due to the compression of folks all around the same time and those trying to use up last punches on coffee cards! I sent DH down and it took him almost 1/2 hour for 2 cappuccinos!

We were on the same sailing. Had the 6:10 walk off; they started to let us go at 6:20. Unfortunately, Customs only had one line open for a while so there was a little backup. But we were heading OUT of Park n' Go in our Car by 6:50 am. AMAZING.

We were on this cruise, too. It was QUITE a process. Whatever the situation was it was deemed grave enough to go through this midday on Saturday and not risk waiting until we got back into Port Everglades the next morning.

Yes, there will be spring breakers, you can be assured of that. How many, one cannot say. I was on a spring break cruise one year (on another line) with almost 1000 18-22 year olds.. it was a mess!!! There was a lot of damage done (I physically saw a kid throw a CHAIR over the balcony from his stateroom). The captain was beside himself.

Yes! I believe that waiters at dinner had more tables in their station then I ever remembered. We actually did not go to the MDR for 3 nights in a row because of the poor service. Our less-than-stellar server had the following tables at the 5:45 fixed seating: a 2 top, 4, top, 6 top, 2 (at a 6 top; the other 4 never showed), then us at a 2 top. That's a LOT of tables. I discussed with Headwaiter who asked us after night 2 why we were leaving so early w/out dessert and we said that our server was over-whelmed and oversat. He truly didn't seem to bat an eye.

I went from being miffed to feeling sorry for the server.

Thanks for your review. Can I ask if there were any shops, restaurants near Crown Bay, or did you need to take a taxi. We are going on the Regal in March and St. Thomas is the one port where we haven't decided what we want to do.

We were on the same cruise this week. I agree with all of what the OP said.

In Crown Bay there are a very few of the "normal" cruiseship stores - a Diamonds International, maybe a Cariloha, and a small convenience store. Otherwise you are 1.5 miles away from downtown Charlotte Amelie. We chose to walk to Emerald Beach which only took 10 minutes (or is a $4 pp cab ride)

Which bars and what are the hours ?

Crooners from 3-4pm; then another bar from 11-12 (which was way past our bedtime). Crooners was PACKED for the afternoon HH.

Bon Voyage! We just got off the Regal this morning. There are so many wonderful options in the buffet - tons of salads, crudités in bowls (YUM), and more fresh fruit than you could eat in a week (though some folks seemingly tried!!) I think the key is to really watch the desserts; we split one gelato sundae over the course of the week (and had an obligatory bite of a b'day cake they brought me). Otherwise, it was all "on limits." I haven't weighed myself yet (since I was not going to do mid-day when I got home :p, but hopefully the damage is minimal)

what did you think of your cabin, in regards to cleanliness and service from your Stewart

Our Cabin was FANTASTIC. Really. Love the new TV's especially with the "on demand" movies. Our "stewart" Victor was everything you'd want -- unobtrusive, but thorough. thoughtful. timely. Just fantastic. Now, granted, we are VERY good guests; I 'tidy up' before the steward comes in, but he still had to deal with a laden room service tray every morning and a small mountain of towels at night.

Enjoyed the comfy bed. DH was convinced it was ONE queen/king sized bed and not two twins pushed together! There was none of that canal" between the beds.

I also found the ship to be fantastically QUIET. I'm sure it was more due to the demographic of the ship this week than the architecture, but we were snug as bugs in bed early and never heard a peep in the hallways. On other lines we've had that "kids running down the halls" thing in the middle of the night.

It's unfortunate that you had problems with people leering down on your balcony. Some people report back that they've never hear of such a thing which I really doubt since they're always walking by at all times of day and night.

Did you get that cabin with a guarantee or just book it on your own?

I imagine that you kept your curtains closed at night.

hahahahaah... It was only one gent, who may have spent too much time at the bar over there (where the bartender flair show was -- and it was fun!) And to be fair my bikini was very string'ish... (though I was celebrating my 50th on the cruise so I thought it was funny, DH not so) It really wasn't a big deal and the curtains were drawn at night... since it was also our anniversary :rolleyes:

Hahahahaha. Agree. We ALWAYS tip for room service. Someone is walking to my cabin because I am too lazy (or not yet presentable!) to go get my own cup of coffee.. you're darned right that they are going to get a CASH tip. Just got off Princess and while there was the opportunity to write in a tip that would be charged to my account, I much prefer that the person who brings me my coffee gets the cash directly (as I assume that the other goes into the big pool of funds for disbursement.)

Just got off the Regal Princess this morning after a week with DH.

Embarkation: the “preferred” line at 11:00 to board the ship was at least 2x longer than the “regular” check in… Once the line started it proceeded quickly. Yes, the wine detail was out in full force and DH dutifully checked in his 2 bottles.

Demographics: there could not have been more than 2 dozen folks under 18 on this cruise due to the timing of it. At the past pax events it was indicated that a majority of passengers were platinum or elite on the cruise with only a small percentage being first time Princess cruisers. Plenty of folks on B2Bs.

Ship: she looks great with everything still having that “new ship smell.” In the “beaten to death category” of ship opportunities: 1. Lack of Mid Ship Stairs – oh my heavens, yes this really is a big design flaw as is the non-existent Promenade deck. 2. The sky walk protrusion – also a challenge if you are in a stateroom below. We were in a port side balcony on Baja deck and while sunbathing (in bikini) one afternoon a gent above on the sky walk decided to make a somewhat obscene gesture to me below. DH wasn’t amused. 3. Lack of seating for shows. It was standing room only for every show (except the “Art history seminar”) all week. Be prepared to arrive 30 minutes early or forgo the show. We chose the latter.

Chair hogs – were alive and well. Quite possibly the worst I’ve ever seen. I even noted that there were NOT any signs about not saving chairs, or signs about personal items being removed, etc. There were literally chairs ‘hogged’ at 08:00am that were not visited until noon (or later). It’s hard to try to enforce a “rule” if there is no emphasis on the rule or signage around it. It’s as if Princess has given up on this sad fact.

Food: the buffet is, as noted, EXTENSIVE. Definitely spend the extra few minutes walking around and taking in your options as there are many little nooks and crannies holding dishes that are not repeated elsewhere. (For example, there was spectacular Indian vegetarian dahls offered, but only in one section. At night there is a whole section devoted to just cheeses. Heaven.) Lots of healthy, as well as non healthy choices. Certainly you could take care of almost any dietary request or requirement easily at the buffet.

The Curtis Stone always available dishes in the MDR were a huge disappointment. We tried all three of them, which were repeated every single night. One might think since they are so polarizing (mahi with curried cauliflower and plantains, for example) that they would be switched up. Nope. The funniest thing was this menu copy about the black beans on the flank steak simmering for “hours” to bring flavor. Trust me, I know beans. These were straight out of a #10 can. (Ditto with the baked beans at breakfast.)

On the ‘give me a break’ side – getting a glass of juice in the morning is like pulling teeth. Yes, on a 4 ounce glass of OJ, but other than that juice is treated like gold. Do yourself a favor and order it from room service in the morning and keep in your stateroom cooler if you like a glass of juice at any other time in the day. (Speaking of juice, it appeared that if you had prepaid the Soda package you were given the “USM” ultimate soda and more sticker for this sailing as the soda only package is now defunct.)

DH enjoyed watching football on MUTS – and this one is a beautiful screen with good sound. Too bad they are still running some of the old concerts during the day. And given the fact that there were barely any kids onboard it was odd to have G rated movies (Peanuts/Minions/etc) for the 10am movie. But I understand why they do it – but someone could have reviewed the pax list and possibly been a little more nimble in changing it up.

We did have 2 medical emergencies – one pax left the ship via Ambulance in St Maarten (with luggage and family) and another was airlifted out by the US Coast Guard yesterday while at sea via a rather elaborate air mission. Let’s just say that the captain was not having a good day with that.

To note: I did adjust my House Charges/Gratuities back to the $11.50/night that they were when I booked the trip (from the $12.95 they raised them to since.) The passenger service agent actually had a pre-printed “why you want to adjust your tips” kind of form that had this option ALREADY listed so clearly this was not unexpected. While the difference was minimal it was more a matter of principal to me (and they made up for it with a couple of extra cocktails on my part.)

All in all, a refreshingly relaxing week. Happy to answer any questions.

Wow! 47 days OUT seems like it was really far out; I don't remember seeing an upsell to a full suite that far out. I'm frugal as the day is long but I'd jump on that in a HEARTBEAT

Interesting thread. I, too, have had the experience whereby we were told that if we wanted to go to ATD we'd have to switch for the balance of the cruise. (On Princess.) On Holland they CERTAINLY check your card and will politely send you on your way if you are not ATD.

One of the challenges, IMO, is the lack of a fixed 7pm dining time. If somehow they could double seat a dining room with a 5pm "express" dining, then flip it for a 7 or 7:15 I think they'd make a Lot of people happy. for us 5:30 is too early, and 8:30 is too late. But since I like getting to know our servers it is a no win situation.

We were platinum on our December cruise on the Royal. The luggage tags had no level id, but we did arrive to the port at 9:30 am, were numbers 8 and 9 in the Platinum / Elite line, were on the ship by 11:30, and had our luggage delivered to our rooms by the time we returned from lunch in the MDR at 1 pm. Our steward placed the luggage in our room - nice surprise. :)

9:30?? Wow! I'd be stir crazy sitting around for 2 hours. I wish you could check in, get your spot, and then go investigate something. But after going through security hoop-la I understand that's a no-go.

Ok, to answer the question as to WHY it is important -- I wanted to do the math to determine the value of buying to the bottle. At higher end restaurants (think Mortons, Ruth's Chris, Cap Grille) the pour is 6 ounces. At other restaurants (think Olive Garden) it is 5 ounces. In the case of the first I look for the bottle price to be 4x glass minus $1-$3 (occasionally a few dollars more).

If you review the glass vs bottle price on the Princess menus you will see the same variability in the discount given for the bottle, so I a looking for the best value for my money. They do not appear to apply a pricing formula equally down the wine list (in this case 5 x glass minus $3 for example).

I will not be buying the AIBP - if I were I wouldn't care as much except for the "tick me off factor" if someone short poured me and I had to wait the seemingly interminable wait at dinner for a 2nd glass of wine .... (you know what I'm saying... when they are HAPPY to sell you one glass of wine but then disappear for the 2nd so that you are high & dry by the same your entrée finally appears).

In Europe and most countries there is a "truth in menus" in that restaurants must list their pours on the menu. That way you get what you paid for.