stepmor99

I'm going on the Oasis out of Bayonne on Sunday. We are scheduled to go south towards Coco Cay and the Bahamas. No itinerary changes yet.

On 6/25/2023 at 4:07 PM, Another_Critic said:

I thought cruise lines covered med visits for onboard injuries.

FYI...DH fell going up the stairs to the WC and cut his knee open (no stitches needed). The staff on board and Medical were over accommodating to us. He went there daily to have it cleaned and rebandaged. There was no charge and we did not have RCCL insurance.

Just wondering....by opening this non-smoking room, does that mean the entire main casino allows smoking through-out? Or are there still non-smoking areas in there? Thx

FWIW.....I have not cruised on Princess since the pandemic but on some of the newer Princess ships there was a nice smoking area at the back of the ship. They had both coffee and bar service there, too.

On RCCL, there is a smoking area outside somewhere, usually up on the pool deck and you can catch a smoke in the casino.

Its not so easy anymore.......

I was on the Enchantment of the Seas for an 8 day cruise last week. After reading all the griping about the new menu here on this board, I did not know what to expect.

We were a family of 11 and our MDR experience exceeded our expectations, which is an accomplishment since we had older teenagers and two younger kids (6 and 8 😎 ) in our group). Food is subjective but we had no complaints about taste or quality of ingredients. The Indian selections, although many of us were unfamiliar with this cuisine, were delish and I'm glad we ventured outside our food comfort zone to try them. Even though the menu was not as extensive as in the dining room last May on the Oasis (old menu), everyone found something to their liking. There was only one night where the vegetarian in our group had little choice but it was because of her extreme dislike of mushrooms...plenty of selections in the WJC for her otherwise. We found the precooked cheeseburgers in the WJ very good, as was the roast beef sandwich in the Solarium.  The options in the WJC for both breakfast and lunch were more than adequate. And no one at our table was served the wrong order and food temp was consistently warmer than I expected after reading the complaints on this board.

I guess I consider myself blessed that our experience wasn't marred by any dining room problems. The loudest complaint I heard was that they ran out of soft serve ice cream one afternoon!

But to reiterate, food and expected service is subjective. Maybe my bar was set lower than others but none of us ever left a meal unsatisfied and for our group, choices were plentiful.

I'll definitely cruise with RCCL again. The changes to the MDR menu will not deter me.

Thank you for your review! I'm taking my family on an 8 day cruise on EOS on 3/3. Your review shed some light on "cruising in cold weather". My grandkids haven't realized yet that 4 of their 8 days may not represent beach weather. It should be fun for all of us, none the less.

Enjoy your future cruises!

You are allowed to bring soda on RCCL? I was not aware that they allowed it......

We were on the Oasis in May (3 adults). Ate at around 7:30-8:00 and never had to wait for a MTD table. But be advised....not too many large family units or children on board for this cruise. You can avoid the lines in the MTD queue if you are flexible. If you have a larger group and want to eat when everybody else does, you wait with everyone else or book "traditional dining ".

We were on Oasis out of NJ in May. One of my travel mates wanted a White Zinfindel to drink and the waiter told us that this type of wine was currently unavailable across the fleet. Must be supply chain problems...... Too bad for those who buy "the package", if they drink this type normally. Many other wine types available, but not all the wine brands that may be shown on their " liquor menus".

On a positive note for me....Truly Spiked Seltzer are now available, but not all flavors/types. Yay!

We were on Oasis in May. Chardonnay and White Zinfindel were non-existent.

We were on Regal Princess from 10/31 to 11/10 of this year. Not at all impressed with MedalionNet experience. I could not connect to the internet with my device (Kindle) as I had been able to do on my previous 4 cruises on this ship before this upgrade was installed....used over 100 minutes of my free included internet minutes trying to do so. Unfortunately, the Princess computer room rep (expert?) offered no assistance. He finally told me that MedallionNet performance is a "unknown" with the Kindle device I had (new Fire model purchased in 2019) but he could help me if I had an Apple product.......

Also...a suggestion. Go to the computer area and get the pamphlet there that gives you the full info on how to connect while on board. The info in the stateroom "manual" was confusing and incomplete. (I don't understand why Princess could not include this pamphlet in the room at arrival. This info could have eliminated the 45 wait for assistance in the computer area after embarkation....)

Just set your expectations accordingly. Also, I did not experience any noticeable improvement in the internet response speed when using the ship's provided computers. 

I'm with you...I don't want a medallion. My cruise card is fine for what I enjoy to do on a cruise but I understand the excitement for those who use their cell-phone differently than I. However, I will be diligent about checking my daily charges. Seems like this could be a "glitch" in the touted "Medallion Experience" that Princess is promoting....and I wonder how many erroneous charges are not caught by unsuspecting passengers.....Good to know about the internet speed. As an Elite......the combined 500 minutes for our room will be fine for us without a needed "up-sell" in the technology.

Everyone needs to assess their own needs when deciding if Ocean Medallion is right for them. Don't let the cruise line make that decision for them.

I really understand copter's frustration with being given something that he could not redeem ...DH and I are casino players and usually cruise with Princess. We have spent thousands of $$ in their casino over the past decade and have never been offered a "free" cruise. Yes, we get a casino discount on cruises and are offered a nominal free play amount here and there throughout the year but our cruise choices are limited and we still have to pay for the cruise. We went on Harmony of the Seas in November, spent our usual amount in the casino and ended up with two free cruises (and counting). I guess it is the "luck of the draw", so to speak. For our last redemption (4/6 on Anthem), we were given a balcony stateroom via an email request on the last day of the offer.. This would have been unheard of with Princess (run by Carnival Corp.). Maybe try to redeem using the "on-line" request option on the Casino Royale page could result in a more satisfactory experience? I'll admit...I never dealt with the "Jamaican office" of customer service.

We have done the UBD on both the Regal and Royal a few times. The balcony was small but certainly doable. It is more a problem for the servers than it is for the participants. We will not hesitate to do it again.

We use this service as much as possible....very convenient. However, the last time we used it (May 2018 out of Ft. Lauderdale to CT), we were not assigned seats anywhere near each other. It did not make a difference to us because we were on a direct flight, but for a family with young children, this may pose a problem. If we had checked in ourselves early in the 24 hour lead time, this probably would not have been the case because the traveler checks in with certain personal criteria in mind for them. Princess does not.....to them this is just another upsell oportunity. Just something to consider when using this service.

We were on the May cruise and I cannot agree with you more. The sewer smell was everywhere for the first four days and was a real buzz kill in the Piazza. The food was mediocre. This was a casino VIP cruise and was oversold......600+ VIPs vying for 120 slot machines on most nights. Smoking areas are a joke throughout the ship.

The ship staff was good, though, but we're full of lip service if you had a complaint.

I've done 15 cruises with Princess over the past 10 years. I used to love the feeling when I board a ship and everything is familiar. I want to keep loving Princess but I've seen too many changes over the past two years that negate our cruise experience. Our most recent trip may be our last for a while. It's time to try something new.

We were on a VIP cruise on the Caribbean Princess (5/1/18). We took this cruise so that we could qualify for the Ultimate VIP cruise. But after our experience on the CB - 650+ VIP cruisers.......125 slot machines, and the bedlam that prevailed, not sure we will bother with the Ultimate VIP cruise unless they give it to us and it's on a larger ship with an adequately sized casino. It was a bedlam atmosphere and getting a machine to play was extremely difficult. This might be the same on the Ruby...the casino is small. Princess (really Carnival) oversold this cruise, IMHO. A lot of people were not happy, especially when there were a lot of "high rollers" that parked at machines for the entire cruise. In 15 cruises, this is the first time we experienced this. Just my observations....for what they are worth.

And it kind of ticks me off that they are not releasing any information about this November cruise until September. How many working people can plan for a vacation on such short notice?

A few years ago we did a Transatlantic on Carnival during October (Rome to NYC). We spent seven days at sea before we got to NY. We were not really bored but it was too cool to use the pool and other outside amenities. It is a relaxed vibe, if you like that kind of atmosphere. We did a lot of reading.....and if my memory serves me correctly, internet and live TV were unavailable for a couple of days while we were in the middle of the Atlantic. The cruise ship (Dream) also ran out of lettuce and tomatoes, but that is a slight inconvenience. We ran into a tropical storm during our last three days, which is not uncommon during hurricane season..seas were rough..quite a few passengers got sick. We were prohibited from using our balconies until we got to NY, but I would guess this is an example of "worse case scenario". We would do it again on Princess if the opportunity presented itself.

My DH and I were also on this cruise and felt the same way. Service was great, food was mediocre to just ok, but there was nothing exciting about this cruise for us. We felt that because of the added upsell options, Planks and Steamers, food offerings in the buffet were limited. The complimentary breakfast and lunch offerings in these venues were the same every day (Omelet and Ramen stations). I have NEVER seen PB&J offered as a sandwich option at every lunch on a Princess ship before. We had a good time, but cutbacks were very evident. Also, beware of booking a VIP casino cruise if you do not have a VIP designation.........650 VIPs with only 150 slot machines is frustration waiting to happen. Especially when "complimentary drinks while occupying a slot machine" is a benefit of the VIP designation.

We rented a car, also and drove to Emerald Lake. It was the best day we had in Alaska. Like the previous poster said, the is something to be said for having the day to take your time and do as you please.

We did the UBD on a regular balcony on the Regal last year. Even with the smaller balconies on the royal class ships, we were fine (space wise) and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Enjoy!

I've never had a problem with boxed wine. I take it in my carry on luggage. I've taken all sizes...no problem.

We seldom use the balcony; the only reason we always get balcony cabin is just so we can see the outside and not feel confined (as in an interior cabin). We are more concern of the noise.

 

Questions:

1. Did you experience much noise caused by the Seawalk?

2. Did the cabin seems kind of dark due to the blockage of light from the Seawalk?

 

Thank you.

1) Noise the first day on the sea walk was greater than the rest of the cruise. Maybe because no one was using it after the "been there, done that" experience.

2). IMHO, yes, the room was darker. And, if I remember correctly, the sea walk was lit at night by some weird colored lighting that permeated the balcony. It was very annoying to me. Not sure if the same held true on the sea view bar side of the ship.

I plan to book the Royal Princess for the April 2017 Transatlantic.

 

The best price for the mini suite cabins are the cabins below the Seawalk (for example: M423 on the starboard side) or below the Seaview bar (for example M424 on the port side).

 

Anyone have comments/suggestions if it is better to be below the Seawalk or the Seaview bar?

 

Thank you.

We were "upgraded" to one of these mini-suites from a balcony on the Regal a few years ago. It was directly under the seawalk. I enjoyed the extra space in the mini suite and the privacy concern of the sea walk above us did not affect us. However, we enjoy our balcony space when we cruise and the balcony view was confined..looking out to the sea for a sunrise or sunset was impossible due to the sea walk above us. No direct sun, either. So, if you like the extra space but can do without the full balcony experience, go for it.

Recently was on the Royal, balcony cabin on the caribe deck and IMHO the balcony is too small to have dinner on.

We were on the Regal in October 2016 on the Rivera Deck in a balcony cabin. We purchased the Ultimate Balcony Dinner and even though the balconies on the Royal class ships are smaller than other Princess ships we have sailed on, the meal and attention to detail exceeded our expectations! Did we miss the larger balconies? Sure. Did the size of the balcony detract from our UBD experience? Absolutely not! Would we do it again? Definitely!