Kay S

Question since I have not been keeping up. The Sun casino has no smoke-free sections?

It might be as it was before. When the Anytime dining room fills up, they will direct the overflow to the traditional dining room. That always seemed to work before. As traditional diners ourselves, we would see new people come in and sit near us at what had been an empty table.

Post-covid cruising has been a mixed bag for us. Depending on the ship, HAL has been the least disappointing. Princess the worst, on each ship we tried (three, in total, had lots of FCC to use up.) Two domestic river cruises were pretty much awful. In my opinion, the lines are making a mistake by running off the older, more traditional cruisers in order to attract the young money. Yes, I know they need to make up the shortfall, but isn't there a happy medium in there? We're trying Oceania ourselves to see if it's any better. Covid really caused problems.

Thanks. Yes, that does seem a bad design.

The one Azamara bought from Princess (maybe there were two?) The name has left my brain. 🙂

Discovery, Majestic and Regal.

I don't see restrooms for Horizons on the Nautica deck plans. The last R class ship I was on had restrooms just inside the entrances on both sides. What is the story?

So Rick Steves...🙂

I have watched that muster video I don't know how many times. It's a great improvement over the old method of gathering in one area with life jackets and trying to hear the crew official over the room noise. Of course, you miss out on the fun of watching people get the jackets on wrong or--my favorite part--"hold your nose and walk, don't jump" overboard. 🙂

If it works, great. We never got the staff to agree to this. It depends on who is in charge in which dining room on which ship. If Princess is serious in restoring traditional fixed dining, it will be less of an issue. It's possible in fixed dining to get a table for two if that's important.

But it could be two birds, one stone! 🤣

That's the point--each line is different. Good on you for finding that out.

You can make a nice little meal from the IC. Sandwiches, soup, salads, quiche, desserts.

Main seating for me every time. I hate that long line downstairs, waiting for a table.

I have been to Paris many times. (We have family in France.) A short drive around the city won't be very fun. If it takes you over an hour to get there and back, you won't have time for anything but maybe a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus. Notre Dame was still not open when I was there last June, but when it does open, you can count on long queues. There is no way to see the Louvre in such a short time. Even if just to see Mona Lisa, it would take over an hour to clear security, find your way to the painting and then join the queue. France is famous for its strikes, and museums as well as transportation can shut down with little notice. I would advise against trying to do Paris on your short schedule.

Which ship? For what it's worth, I never smelled smoke in any Princess dining room (over 30 cruises.)

I love a good ruin! Thanks for the photos.

My question, too. Wouldn't that cause some security concerns?

That would be me. I'm waiting to see if they are serious about TD before I book Princess again.

I'm encouraged that they are doing some classical music on some ships, but I wish it were a more consistent thing.

Okay. Been gone awhile. Do Elite benefits still include priority dining reservations? I don't want to book and then find out I can't do TD since that is the only reason I would consider another Princess cruise.

Your photos are great. So enjoying following your journey. Have you had many tendering ports?

Nope. Not small ships. Not small pancakes. 🙂 I'm not much of a pastry/cakes person.

Good luck with either of those things. Policing people (done by passengers and not cruise officials) is a thankless job and not likely to change anyone's behavior. Non-washers will continue to not wash, and chair hogs will continue to hog. Maybe it makes you feel better to publicly correct them, but still...good luck.

Hmm..traditional dining. I might come back. Or not.