Kay S

Loyalty programs attract older cruisers. Princes wants the young crowd. They are slowly chipping away at loyalty benefits. The handwriting is on the wall.

They have bought old Princess ships.

The best whale watching I ever did was in Icy Strait Point.

Highly rated, was it? Link? We will be doing the Sky this summer out of Southampton. I'm interested to see if the regional things you mention here will turn up. I'm also hoping for a full English in the morning. (I had a British grandparent. I like the food.)

Formal night menus have been declining for years, long before Covid and later supply issues. I stopped ordering lobster on Princess a long time ago because it's dinky and dry. Don't get me started on the recent risotto and tail. There is always something else to order on the formal night menu. Going to Crown Grill is a great idea, but that's going to get pretty expensive with a large party. Food pictures seldom show the dish as it is IRL. Most things I see in these photos I have eaten, and they looked much more appetizing on the plate.

I guess Princess likes you more. 😶

Once you enter your booking number into the app, the web version won't accept it. It's one or the other. No switching back and forth. Princess IT at its most helpful again.

I don't think so.

I think that's fair, considering the Catch menu is much better than the limited (and weird) Sur La Mer menu.

🤣🤣 Grand class ship buffets are MUCH smaller than the ones on the Royal class ships.

Scary signs all over the place threatening your life and also sniffing dogs. 😶 I am usually asked if I want my latte to go or in a mug to use there.

My teen grandson goes directly to Swirls for an ice cream cone. Then he has one in his hand every time I see him on the ship.

Buffet food is designed to be served at all hours. A pan of something sitting out in a steam tray will tend to get dry. MDR serves you the food as it is plated in the galley, so it will probably be fresher looking. That said, there is no telling what will turn up at the buffet. The soup from the MDR one night might repeat at the buffet the next, and so forth. I did once see lobster tails on the buffet, but that was years ago and they were dinky, dried up things. The only thing you can't wear in the buffet is a swimsuit.

Some people are just weird that way. They are paying for something and they want to get the thing they paid for. 🙄🙄🙄

TMI 😶

Probably no hope for the Used Datsun Club of America...🙂

The "new" Princess is very adept at wringing every last cent out of you.

This thread requires the reader to have a sense of humor, which you obviously do and "someone else" doesn't.

Somewhere on this forum someone posted the menu a few days ago. I can't find it now. I know. I'm no help.🙂

You could bring your friends aboard to say goodbye and then there were those lovely streamers everyone threw at the sailaway.

My grandkids will be doing their last Teen Club cruise this year since they will be 17. They are veterans of the kids' clubs, and according to them, the Royal Class ships have better facilities that the Grand Class ships. They don't spend all their time at the club. I keep seeing them on board here and there with their new friends and always with an ice cream cone in hand.

I guess you haven't been to my part of southern California. 😁 When it's 110 degrees F outside, kids are wearing swimwear or basketball shorts or the like. Parents (if they care) slather sunscreen on the kids and let them play in comfortable clothes (not long, hot, jeans.) As to the subject of this thread, I have seen many little boys in the MDR in short pants. (I have also seen little guys in tuxes on formal night, and they are so cute!)

You can't get CC dining after you board. It's not available for purchase. It is a perk for Club Class mini-suites and full suites only. You need to book one of those cabins before you board.

As noted, menus are the same on all ships (with occasional minor differences.)

CC is a huge improvement over the new DMW circus. It's pretty much traditional dining of old. You walk up, you sit, you eat. The service is stellar (like TD of old used to be.) There is usually a special each evening that they don't get in the MDR, so you get a little taste of specialty dining. It's more expensive, obviously, but this is how Princess does it now. Pay for the food and service you used to get "free" in the MDR. For a short cruise, I would definitely go for it.