Ronanc

6 hours ago, loge23 said:

We recently tried the MSC's Yacht Club. We ran into several former Celebrity Retreat fans who bailed for the same reason you mentioned. Btw, the Yacht Club is every bit as good as the Retreat as we recall and similar in service, dining, and perks to the small ship lines we have experienced (Viking Ocean and Oceania). A few other cruisers we met at the YC liked NCL's Haven class but we have never cruised on that line.  

On topic, Princess seems to be trying that "ship within a ship" approach with their new Sun Princess ship.

The biggest difference we experienced between Celebrity and Princess was the wine service - dedicated wine servers on Celebrity with a robust wine-by-the-glass selection in proper glassware while Princess is phasing out their Vines venues and serving generic wines (Cabernet, Pinot Noir, etc - no labels) in juice glasses. 

The wine situation is something that really irks me on Princess. 

7 minutes ago, cltnccruisers said:

If courtesy had anything to do with lounger possession there would be no need for the whole process.  We usually just use the pools when we're back early on a port day and they aren't crowded.  I just raised the question out of curiosity, in case anyone had experienced it.

It’s a good question. It is frustrating to me when others claim loungers for hours but are nowhere to be seen. I hope this keeps this practice to a minimum. 

43 minutes ago, cltnccruisers said:

I wouldn't, but I can't speak for anyone else.

I think if you are spending extended periods of time away from the sun lounger, then it is courteous to give it up for other people to use, especially if they are in short demand.  

5 hours ago, LidoLiz said:

The Lotus pool has been lovely and quiet in the morning and a respite from the louder pool areas. 
We have also really been enjoying Sabatini’s during the afternoons for peaceful book reading.

 

 

I didn’t realize you could go there during the day. Great tip!  

14 minutes ago, aring75 said:

 

Dessert was the lemon posset. It was a creamy lemon custard. It was nice and light after such a heavy meal. 
 

 

 

We had a little bit of a wait at the beginning but agreed that we would like to eat here again. Maybe this cruise, maybe not. But we definitely enjoyed the food and listening to the music from Wheelhouse Bar while we ate.

This looks great!  We have princess plus. Can under 21 year olds go here?  Our son will be 16. 

1 hour ago, aring75 said:

I think we are going to skip the MDR tonight and try the Salty Dog Gastropub. 
 

Tonight’s MDR menu according to the app. 
 

 

 

 

I’m interested to hear about your dinner and if it is worth skipping the MDR. Do you need to make a reservation?

14 minutes ago, aring75 said:

Day 8 - Grenada

 

 

Are the listed fitness classes for a fee or complimentary?   Thanks!  I’m enjoying these posts. 

2 hours ago, aring75 said:

 

Mark tried the banana dessert. I don’t think the word “crusty” sound like an appetizing descriptor. 
 

He said it was good though. 
 

 

 

I decided to try one of the after-dinner coffees. 
 

 

 

This is a “Nutty Irishman.” Very yummy. 
 

I see there are no prices. Are the drinks covered with Princess Plus?  

On 11/9/2023 at 6:09 PM, LAS!!1414 said:

After you are seated , a server will provide you with coffee/juice

What happens if you are just getting food and drink to take elsewhere like your balcony room and not sitting?  

On 11/9/2023 at 6:53 PM, aring75 said:

We had a great (!) dining room experience tonight. Our nightly reservation is at 7 pm but before tonight we’ve waited 20-30 minutes to be seated. 
 

We arrived at 6:50 pm and waited less than two minutes. We really liked our table and our service team so I spoke to the restaurant manager and requested that table for the rest of the cruise. We said we’d be willing to change times if that would help, but he said 7 pm would work fine. 

Which dining room?  

On 11/7/2023 at 7:26 AM, LidoLiz said:

We are also aboard this cruise and so far, I’m really enjoying the vegan menu.
Last night was French potato salad with dijon, eggless tomato pasta (not sure who Norma is), and a curried cabbage that didn’t look that attractive but was outstanding!

 

 

Can anyone ask for this menu?  

On 11/6/2023 at 7:35 PM, aring75 said:

We had 7:00 pm dinner reservations. Waited about five minutes to be seated. Service was slow though. I’m chalking that up to first night issues. We’ll see how things go as the cruise progresses. 
 

 

 

 

Some wine options. 
 

 

I thought that the current wine list for plus just listed the varietal and price. Good to see some more details. 

On 11/10/2023 at 3:45 PM, memoak said:

We have been told that before as well. Just comes down to poor training and lazy bartender. We spoke to the bar manager and it was straightened out in 5 minutes

How do you get in touch with the bar manager?

On 9/22/2023 at 1:59 PM, Thrak said:

 

Don't try to log into the app using your Booking Number. It won't work. Log in with user name and password. Any time you try to "link your booking" whether in the app or the online version it doesn't work. It's just one more example of absolutely horrible programming.

I was not able to log in to the app with my username and password and had to login using my booking number. I also could not book my cruise from my computer ( error after submitting payment). My sister had the same issue from her own computer. Tried multiple times over two days before needing to phone princess. Their website and app seem terrible with many glitches. 

We are also booked on the Ruby to Alaska next summer, leaving out of Vancouver. I too have some buyer’s remorse after reading reviews-yikes!  We are not new to cruising but are new to Princess. Our last cruise in March 2020 was cancelled so we haven’t cruised since 2018. I wonder if part of why people are so disgruntled is from the fallout from covid.  We purchased Princess Plus which I hope is the best choice. It’s difficult figuring out the casual dining options, or other things like if there is a juice bar served at one of the bars. We don’t have massive expectations and are not too difficult to please but many of the reviews are pretty terrible . It’s good to see the reassurances from other cruisers who have sailed on the Ruby. She certainly looks beautiful!  

We were sailing on the Panorama this Saturday but cancelled a couple of days ago.  I am a huge planner and have been looking forward to this trip for a year, so it really pained me to cancel.  Canada has issued a level 4 travel advisory for all cruise ships so we are looking into the possibility of insurance covering our out of pocket expenses.  We have an 11 year old and did not want to risk getting quarantined.  We still have a southern California trip planned with a flight leaving in 3 days unless a travel advisory is made for southern California.  My sister and her husband are in Rome right now on a 3 month trip, with one month left to go.  They are at the airport,  trying to get a flight out today.  Very stressful!  

9 hours ago, tonit964 said:

We are due to sail on the the Royal Princess 4/11 however, with the Carnival Panorama, debark/embark issue today and the last minute cancellation of the Royal cruise today, we are cancelling our cruise and will rebook when all of this blows over.

 

I just don't want to get quarantined. 

 

I feel bad for everyone going through this.

There are three of us including my 11 year old son and husband.  We are due to sail on the Panorama on March 14th and have been looking forward to this for months.  However, with yesterday's situation on the Panorama and all of the issues on other ships, we don't want to risk the stress of a possible quarantine and plan to phone today to cancel.  We have a house booked in Palm Springs the week after so we will have to figure out where to stay and what to do for the first week.  Our first night is at the Residence inn in Long Beach which is non refundable.  If anyone has suggestions of what to do in Southern California for a week (besides Disneyland) please pass on the suggestions (Catalina? One of the local beaches?).  So happy to hear yesterday's test came back negative!

Same.  When I made a reservation using my phone a few days ago I did not have to pay. 

Lobster was served on the first elegant night on the Splendor

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Woohoo! Wish I was still in the Splendor!

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Hi there,

I know some of you were looking for a Splendor FTTF review. We just got off the ship today and are now on the second leg of our journey (San Diego and Palm Springs for the next 9 nights) so I'll write a brief review. I signed 7 of us up for anytime dinning a few months ago but a week before our trip, I got cold feet about the prospect of a group of us finding a table each night. I emailed the maitre d and he switched us to early dining, which I think was a good move. I'm not sure if FTTF helped but I know that priority reservations are one of the perks. We stayed the night at the Queen Mary and headed to the newly renovated terminal, at around 10:45 last Saturday. Things went very smoothly and after being seated in a clearly marked FTTF area, we were on the ship by about 11:20. We went straight to our rooms, which were ready, to drop off our luggage. We had a couple of issues with our account during the week and were served immediately at guest services, despite long lines at the other counters. Tendering was also quick and easy in Cabo. Today the ship was delayed by about an hour due to weather, but once docked, we were off the ship pretty quickly. So, I would give our FTTF experience at Long Beach an A+! Now off to explore San Diego!

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Just got off the Splendor today after 7 nights. It's an older ship so we did not expect an updated boat. This was our third cruise with carnival (2013 and 2015). I thought the entertainment was good. The cruise director was everywhere and very entertaining. We enjoyed the shows and activities. The food was similar to our last two cruises, with the exception of a better breakfast menu (Avocado toast-yum!). Our room was serviced twice a day, which mirrored what happened on our last two cruises. The change we noticed the most was slower service In the dinning room. The wait staff are run off their feet. The two things that drive me crazy on Carnival relate to some of the passengers. I can't stand noisy drunks waking up the family at 2 or 3 in the morning and selfish smokers, chain smoking on the balcony.

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2! Flying tomorrow to Long Beach.

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Hello there,

We are going this Saturday on a 7 day cruise on the Splendor and we are thinking of purchasing the cruise the vineyards wine package. Does anyone have recent experience purchasing this package or have an updated list of wines/prices for the different tiers offered? The carnival site only lists two tiers with no prices but older lists show three levels available. I phoned carnival but the person I spoke to had no idea. Thanks!

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Thanks so much. There are 7 of us flying in so I'm trying to figure out the best way to get to long beach.

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