MrMan

If's all subjective what you like. For example I really don't care Front Center or Aft the room is located as long as its in the class or better that I paid for. I do however enjoy the Starboard side as I find they tend to dock Starboard facing dock. I enjoy watching the port activity, loading the eggs, watching the last minute runners (especially after a day at Sr Frogs), watching the dock workers etc. Others would rather have the "ocean side.

Tie a lanyard around your waist and use it as a loin cloth. You'll have the hot tub to yourself, guaranteed!

 

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Only works for men if the water is really cold:)

I definitely vote for comfortable chairs and a nice' date=' quiet table for two.

 

I dislike restaurants that have loud, raucous, large tables filled with rabble rousers.

 

I am so sorry to hear of the plans to replace Sabatini's.[/quote']

 

I missed in the description where they were catering to loud raucous rabble rousers. Seems a little hyperbole

A snipit from a travel agent publication I receieved:

That seems to be the case with everyone I talk to about this. The specialty restaurants are "special" and used for romantic twosomes. Since it's already possible to have dinner with a crowd in the MDR, this seems redundant. I guess the difference is that you get to share your food with others at the table. Perhaps the celebrity aspect of it is designed to appeal to foodies, but there is the Chef's Table for them already. The whole thing just seems unnecessary to me, but I will wait to find out, I guess.

I suspect Princess is going for a different demographic to fill the restaurant. While I like Sabatini's I suspect they will draw more people to the new concept, and possibly a younger 30-60 demographic. If so then it will be a success. I think your right in that there is a larger 'foodie' group than older "quiet" place group as the new generation ages.

Personally, I like the concept, give you a choice of sitting with a group or couple, and until I saw this board never saw anyone pick a restaurant for the soft vs hard chair. Again a different (not right or wrong) demagraphic.

Lack of change makes any organization die. Quite frankly I was getting bored with the same two choices of specialty restaurants on the smaller ships.

To me it sounds more like the Chinese meal concept where you order various meals and share them. You can be a party of two or six or ten.

 

I am amazed at so much negativity before anyone even understands the concept!

I had the same thoughts. I welcome change and differences especially around the Princess fleet to try something new. Not just the same cookie cutter "steak place" or "Italian" place on every ship. From some of the belly aching for something that has not even been tried or open seems to me like maybe it's time to check into Holland America. This concept I'm sure is to keep up with new concept restaurants and attract a younger demographic which Princess has to do to survive. I say bring on change and variety between ships!

And we try to avoid other's germs on the ships - now this encourages sharing and passing from hand to hand. I'm not so sure about this.

As opposed to the most touched item on a ship, the buffet serving spoon.

Seems a little germ phobic to me

I got same notice booking last night and had same thought

My favorite is a B Mary made with Jagermiester. Adds a Basil twist. Definately will make your babies come out crooked:eek:

I suspect that this is where the majority of the noro is spread. I posted in another thread a while back seeing a woman washing her mouth out in the sink. She was using the cup of her hand for the water then spitting out into her hand. She was also hacking up phlegm in the cup of her hand then rinsing under the sink. I did say something to her (see something say something). She got a paper towel and proceeded with her routine into the paper towel. She didn't throw the paper towel away, she left the restroom and wiped the railing outside the door down with it! I was absolutely horrified! I should have been compensated for watching that disgusting act. :eek:

 

P.S. This all took place on the Lido deck restroom by the elevators--Star Princess.

Nope, your junk is cleaner than wait for it.........buffet tongs. Just about every passenger touched it. IMHO avoid buffet, avoid Noro

Printing to PDF doesn't solve anything unless you scale the print at some point.

Don't print it. Store it on your smart phone

PDF or print double sided. Glad the crisis is over

It's a long explanation but here goes:

 

I was just expressing potential reasoning behind the AI offer. It very well may not be accurate as many point out due to people drinking more on a cruise than at home.

 

NCL's big offer is all inclusive and sold as one stop shopping for my cruise. That idea appeals to me. I've been researching cost of my excursions, what I'll spend on ship, transportation in venice etc and it sounded like an exciting opportunity to just pay once and be done with it. Then go on vacation and not worry about most of the extras, dollar, euro, kuna conversions etc. I know I'll pay more for excursions thru the ship but with AI the hassle factor is removed.

 

So the offer is revealed and it does not include children, and has a mandatory UBP for all over 21. Ok so now I see if there is any benefit for me. I have a 23 year old who I hope would not benefit from the UBP but certainly would not want to give her the opportunity to try. My 19 year old is excluded. Now we are at two other adults, one non drinker and one picky wine drinker. Of course the math is going to exclude my group. Bummer but perhaps I'm just the minority?

 

I can't help but analyzing so I start to look at who this ai is targeted to. Seems odd that the offer is AI but not if you have kids, not if you don't drink, not if you don't drink enough to benefit from UBP. That's a lot of nots for a first attempt at an AI for a company who I assume has an excellent marketing dept. How does the TA selling this pkg to a family of 4 (2 adults/2kids) as AI except not AI for half of you? Just explain that AI is a great deal because most of your stuff is pd for but well not really because you pay for DSC, speciality dining for kids, soda pkg for kids, your kids are not included in your shore excursions and no you can't use your credit for them etc...

 

And then I did a little research. AI ncl pkg is a good deal for the big drinker, the big spender on this ship and really a terrible deal for everyone else. In fact the bigger spender you are the more youll save with the 10%. That alone is probably the simple answer. It's just when I was trying to fig out what percentage of people benefit from the UBP I learned that only five percent of Americans are heavy drinkers. That seems low to me but pretty universally the standard answer. I'll bet it's higher on cruises and at land based ai's.

 

So the smoker theory: fact are there are less and less places a smoker can smoke. I think smokers may tend to gravitate to cruises for vacation because its one of the last places they can still do so on vacation. Smokers are only 20% of the population and so not the majority. The group as a whole does not probably constitute a big spender group especially If they sit on the balcony most of the vacation. But 80-95% of heavy drinkers smoke. So smokers who are big drinkers are big spenders on the ship. Big spenders in the casinos, big spenders on alcohol etc... And on the smoking boards you can read about many of these big spenders who are not happy about the upcoming balcony change. They are switching to land based AI's supposedly. Why not offer an AI pkg that they will perhaps save a bundle on and stay on the ship vs jump to land based AI with all their big spender $? I guess that's an explanation that made sense to me. A lot are specifically talking land based AI. If you were a smoker who didn't drink and didn't spend big you wouldn't switch to land based AI because you would be paying for AI options that didn't benefit you. But a big spender who goes to land based AI can still smoke, drink, gamble, shop etc as long as they pick the right AI. Offer that person a great deal and he may realize he can still have fun on the ship despite the fact he can no longer light up on the balcony. heck if he books a grand villa he can still light up on the balcony too and his AI pkg is most likely free. Let him walk away now and you might not get him back.

Your not getting it, and overanalzing this. They are doing this to compete with the all inclusive resorts in Carribean and Mexico all of which offer drinks and meals. You are looking at this at the cost side and not the revenue side. They are trying to poach customers who say cruise or Mexico, well if I go to Mexico I won't have a huge tab at the end of the trip, if I go on a cruise I will. This has nothing to do with smokers and such.

Not sure why the angst with another option, doesn't work for you don't take it. For me this is a dream.

I am a consultant. I book time off between gigs so mostly last minute, tend to be higher fares. Ususally fly in on same day as cruise from client site. I am on the ship to stop thinking and making decisions. I can't imagine bringing a case of cokes or water, not that there is anything wrong with it, but I am there to relax and destress, not shopping at Walmart for water on vacation. Play bingo, go on many exersions ususally booked day before, because quite frankly 3 days before the cruise I did not know I would be on it or where I was going. I travel every week, so much this is time for my Partner and I. We eat most nights a specialty restaurants, never the buffett. Have breakfast cappachino, drinks by pool, happy hour, sunset, dinner, piano bar, casino, post show nightcap. Would give away internet time as I don't want to be connected to the world I am escaping. On exersions most days unless the Bahammas, and then the drinks by the ships pool will end up more than an exersion costs. Being able to not worry about getting a beer or well vs preimum and enjoying a vacation, and not being slapped by the bill at the end of the cruise would be awsome.

I grew up in Seabrook on Galveston bay. Galveston sans the ship channel is shallow. We used to joke if our sailboat capsized we would not drown, we would die of a concussion. The Bayport channel is a branch off the Houston Ship channel even narrower. Because of national security interests the channel especially after you pass Bayport is highly regulated. A misshap on the channel could cause havoc to fuel and heating costs in the Northeast and California as the not in my backyard folks are preventing new refineries being built. Port of Galveston is on the backside (bayside) of the Island. Different rules for the port of Galveston than Ports of Texas City, Bayport, then Houston.

Must be new. There was no C&W band in December. "Passion" played the C&W Theme Night, bless their hearts.

 

What was the name of the C&W band?

 

 

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This would be equivalent of complaining of calypso bands in the Carribean, mariachi in Mexico, and hulu dancers in Hawaii

But, but, but, but that's a Princess camera! What if they switched the camera with a tape that showed fog. Then they could cut the cruise by a day and save costs on fuel. The evil menions are at it again. I am sure they have fog insurance that will cover all the lost revenue.

You make a good point, but since I am from the midwest, my preferred ports are in Florida. I've never gone out of CA. Houston has fog, LA has traffic. I don't prefer either. I'm really surprised more ships don't go out of San Diego. The airport is very close to the port. Public transportation is great. Its a great city.

 

The point I was trying to make was in response to a previous poster that Hobby airport was close to Bayport terminal in Houston, even mentioning being able to watch the ships, which is incorrect information. I'm not sure if he was saying that tongue in cheek, its hard to tell with posts.

Watching the ships and ship traffic while leaving the port not watching ships from Hobby.

People we're complaining that the ships were too close to each other in the Houston ship channel. One of the busiest ports in the world.

Hobby is about same ride from airport to port as New Orleans, LAX, New York ports, and a lot close than Cape Canaveral and Anchorage, and one does not hear the wining one does with Houston

I do not doubt that there was a warning. There is always a weather warning in Texas over something. Heat, cold, fog. You name it. It's Texas. I believe that the real reason that Princess returned is for the Norovirus and to allow them an extra 24 hours to clean the ship. Better to end an infected cruise early fro decontamination than send the next cruise out late. Without the Norovirus on board, I believe that would have looked at the weather warning and maybe booked it faster from Belize to Houston to try and get into to the port Friday night. IIRC, they have done that before and made it, so it is possible. But with the Norovirus, they used the warning of potential fog as an excuse to return early.

 

This is also a reaction to the poorly handled cruise from a couple weeks ago that did have fog and they were delayed. But, even that cruise managed to arrive in on Saturday despite being told they would not. I would like to know how many times the port has been closed for 48 hours due to fog. I'm sure it has happened, but surely it can't be that often.

 

This move cost Princess loads of money. Loads more than having to help with people missing their flights on Saturday. So if this was weather related, wouldn't they have rather taken the financial hit of rearranging flights as opposed to putting up everyone in a hotel and reimbursing everyone for the one day? I do not believe they would have paid this price for a potential fog warning.

 

The comment on "saving money" is pure speculation. I would imagine (although I do not know for sure) that Cruise Lines have some sort of insurance against weather related issues -- sort of like a workers comp or home owner's insurance. They may get payment assistance if they have to delay or return early for a weather related issue or to cover damage to the ship. Who knows? I could be wrong. And while IF there was an insurance in place to handle this, it wouldn't have covered as much as they had to pay out, it might have at least helped to mitigate the costs. Again, speculation on my part.

 

And, I would much rather leave late due to fog than to miss a port and come in early due to fog. At least if you leave late, you know there is fog. Coming in early for a "chance of fog" and then not to have any (no surprise here) is very frustrating.

You are not looking at it from the Revenue side only the cost side. The ship does not make the big profits from your fare. They make it from the revenue at sea, casino, shore excursions, directing one to Diamonds Intl. These lost revenues "cost" the line more than your hotel room. The Line has little benefit of getting you off the ship early and missing a Port stop that makes them money.

I know it disappointing, but there are not some evil minions out there gunning for you. This was not a win for anyone. Stuff happens, weather happens, people get sick and board ship, go to movies, hit the mall without consideration for others . I feel your searching for a nonexistent boggy man

I always thought cancelling three days in advance due to "fog" was a lie. I never doubted the possibility as it is Texas and the joke here is that if you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes because it will change. Of course, that reason is exactly why cutting a cruise short due to what the weather will be in three days is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

 

Now, knowing that there is no fog (as we expected), I have proof that our suspicious were justified. I feel the compensation we received if fair UNLESS the ship outright lied to us. I would have been much more satisfied with the compensation if they had simply told us that they had to return early to decontaminate the ship because of the large cases of Norovirus. Also, that might have helped people take the warnings about sanitation more seriously. We took the captain's first announcement seriously, but I know a lot of people didn't and continued to refuse to use the sanitizers.

 

Really. That is my biggest gripe. There might have been a warning about possible fog, but as any Texan will tell you, that isn't enough to justify returning soon. A three day advance decision for possible weather in Texas (excluding an existing hurricane in the gulf) is quite simply dumb.

 

Aside from being lied to and returning early, we enjoyed our cruise. It will not keep us from sailing again. I don't feel my cruise was absolutely ruined over this. It won't even keep me from sailing again from the Port of Houston because fog was only an excuse for returning early. I am sure they have insurance and such against returning early for weather but they probably have nothing for returning early for disease and illness on board. The decision to lie to us was tied to money and not weather out of the port. Although that has been an issue and may continue to be an issue, it is one I am aware of going in. It's the lying. I truly hate that we were lied to, but everybody lies, and there really isn't much you can do about it.

Who are you accusing of lying Princess or National Weather Service. See post above

Explain how the Line is doing this to "save money". Ships in home port don't make money, ships at sea do.

No not even if the price was right. Way too far to the airports and cab cost was outrageous. Nothing to do around there in the vicinity. Long haul in that channel with barges and ships so close to you. Port building was nice, staff friendly and welcoming, but no desire to go back.

Too far to airport? You are flying to wrong airport. Hobby is next to Bayport. Watching the ships "so close to you" is half the fun

I'm sorry, but am I the only one who finds this outrageous??? Cutting a cruise short after people have already paid their hard earned money because there MIGHT be fog on the day they are due to turnaround really hits me as grossly unfair.

The line is not doing this lightly. This turn back costs the line big dollars, lost revenue, lost sales, lost casino. Why is this "outrageous". It's not like they are being vengeful or customer unfriendly. Remember ships at port don't make money. Outrageous is a little hyperbol.

Thanks for your great advice

Partner and I will be in Grand Caymen a couple of days after Christmas arriving on Ruby Princess. We are both 50, get plenty of sun at home (Texas) and have very stressful jobs requiring worldwide travel. The last thing we need is a tour, stingrays ( plenty in TX) and get bored laying on beach after about an hour. We would like to sit, distress, have more than enough to drink in a great atmosphere. We like dives as well as high end. Thoughts on My Bar vs Calico Jacks?

is it possible as some one has stated maybe Princess did not build Royal to be an up scale ship of the line which would demand a premium price. But instead built her has just a bigger and more economical version of what they already offer?

If this is true then all we nay sayers are jumping the gun by expecting more from the ship and the prices currently being asked.

Yes Royal is pretty much the same old format with a few bells and whistles. If the Wow factor is derived from a Fountain show and catwalk and the rest of the build is cut backs smaller balconies, shower curtains instead of moving up to shower doors. A curtian cost them 25 cents a shower door maybe $5.00 but multiply by 2,000 showers and you see the cost savings in cutting or not enhancing. Especially if the intent is to fill her after the glow has worn off at the same price as current ships.

As others has noted Royal will not be attracking the Carnival, NCL and RCI family vacation crowd.

So maybe Princess is going for a more sedate and cost effective HA and X crowd?

"As others has noted Royal will not be attracking the Carnival, NCL and RCI family vacation crowd. "- I wouldn't be on that. I just booked Princess Alaska over NCL and RCI because it had a less costly price point