cruiseypop

14 minutes ago, bethfelk said:

Just seeing this but great report, thanks!

I do have a question if you don't mind answering this, is ~$100/day enough play that you get casino comp offers? I get carnival offers but have yet to get a princess offer so I am not sure if they have a higher threshold or what. I am planning to budget $100/day as well for my upcoming princess cruise tho so I am curious if that's likely to get me anything

Well, realistically probably not enough.  Its based on points earned.  That will make sense when you are playing and will see your points in the screen.  I earned a little over 3000 points for the entire week and I got an offer for a free interior with $250 free play at the end for nex time.  You earn 1 point for ever $1 played.  So in my case I was extremely lucky this cruise and I won alot so I was able to also play all my winning too.   Another way to look at it if you were to play and you lost every time with no wins you would have to play about $428 per day to get the free offer.  I think the general logic is that you will "pay" for the cruise one way or the other either in cash to them as usual or through the casino.  They aint giving away "free" cruises for thebfun of it.  So in my case this time it was good deal for me, but i am not always so lucky.  You should budget and play what you can afford and MAYBE in the end you might get an offer.  Dont go into with a plan to gamble to get a free cruise.  In the long run you wont make out better.  I enjoy gambling as entertainment, so for me its a win win.

9 minutes ago, mennisdiller said:

Thank you so much for letting us all tag along with you.  When, where and how do you sign up for the galley tour?

Its on the last day in the morning.  The presentation is in the main theater around 10am (listed on events).  The galley tour is at the end, you follow the leader.  The galley tour happens fast at the end, be ready.  The presenter will tell you who to follow.  they usually are at the back of the lower level if the theater.

7 minutes ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

What dock # does Discovery Princess use in San Pedro. 

 

#92  

This concludes my presentation.   If there are any questions I am happy to answer!

Bye bye Discovery....  until we meet again

43 minutes ago, snoozecrooze said:

Cruisey, you're leaving us hangin here. Did you happen to get a picture of said new screen before disembark? Safe travels back home and many thanks for the fun live blog of your cruise! 

They upgraded the medallion screen at the door overnight.  It now only displays last name initial and has a new fresh look.

Gone are the privacy issues of showing last name!

They upgraded the medallion door screen this morning.  New fresh look and they no longer display last name, just initial.  I previously saw a lot of complaints on this privacy issue, so Princess listens!!  

1 hour ago, KLM3164 said:

I’m sorry you have to get off the ship tomorrow. We are in San Pedro now and can’t wait to take your place. We are hoping we wake up very early so we can see the ship sail into the channel. We watched RC and X sail out this afternoon. Our room faces the harbor so if I get any photos I’ll post them for you.

 

Thank you so much for your Live this week. It’s been so helpful and entertaining! Wishing you safe travels home,

we filled the slot machines back up, if you play those.  thanks enjoy your trip!!

5 hours ago, Z0nker said:

Fun game for sure. Did anyone take an offer from the banker? 

yes, the first guy did for i think $338, something about that anyway

Perhaps one more schnecken. When the schnecken beckons...

My new favorite drink is the Beverly Hills Iced Tea.  Like a Long Island Ice Tea but instead of a spash of coke it is a splash of Prosecco.  Light refreshing and just bougie enough.

The Crown Grill steak was good tonight.  I have had gristly steaks on other ships, but the steaks here were excellent.  And they serve the sides on the dinner plater rather all kinds of side dishes... which I prefer.

This entire cruise I only ate in the dining room twice for dinner. The buffet for only 2 lunches.  And the rest specialty dining.  All breakfasts in the dining room.  I hardly ate pizza and I found the hamburger at the pool salty dog to be just ok.  This is not my usual as I have in the past have many slices of pizza.

Friendly crew are everywhere including the kitchen!  A really great culinary presentation today and galley tour of the kitchen areas.  The largest kitchen at sea!!  So much stainless steel.

Had to detox and visited the spa today.  You can really tell the difference on a newer ship.  They really have thought things through, easy to access, super friendly crew.  Excellent, high quality services.

Winding down now, almost all packed and ready to put the suitcases outside the door.  Sad 😞

But, I guess every vacation must come to an end sometime.

The last daily events listing for Friday November 17.

The casino give it and the casino take it away

Oh my.  Last night was abysmal in the casino.  I couldn't win anything.  Nothing worked, all my strategies failed every time.  The casino was packed too.  I know the machines run hot and cold, but this was a cold streak like none other!  I stopped by this morning and there are still some people from last night!  I quickly walked through!!

Oh and I learned something.  The casino does "close" every night late.  By "close" I mean the table games stop, staff go home, but the slots stay open.  So, the casino slots are really open 24/7 when not in port.  On Sea days it opens back up in the morning around 10AM.  If you were to play say at 5AM and win a handpay or a slot machine malfunctions then you have to wait until staff arrive at 10AM to either pay you or fix it.  

BUT, this morning I learned there is a process to handle this.  At the cashier there is a form you can fill out with your name, cabin number, machine, amount and issue.  Then you drop it in the box and when staff arrive you come back down and they'll pay you out.  I'm not too worried there are cameras everywhere in here, I'd trust my win is safe to be paid out later.

I'm not sure if this is new or not, but I don't recall seeing it on other ships.  It was always a risk I worried a little bit about.

Last night Sabatinis was wonderful.  I had a light salad to start.  Then the spaghetti with meatball.  I have had this dish before, the meatball is very tender.  The sauce flavorfull without being too salty.  Next I choose the steak.  I was in the mood for simple tonight.  The design of the restaurant on this ship was very class.  Everyone working was perfect, fast and efficient, friendly.  I couldn't ask for more.

Spotlight Bar

All week Princess has been trying their hardest to entertain me.  Whether I liked it or not, they have consistently raised the bar every new day of the cruise.  And Spotlight bar did not disappoint.

A while back I cruised a rival line and couldn’t wait until the final production show of the week.  I arrived early, cocktail in hand and was excited to find out that the performance existed of 3 dancers, a singer, a projector screen in the back showing old photos and recorded music and I was so devastated I never sailed them again.  An elementary school performance of Jingle bell rock would be severely underrated.

But, NOT Spotlight lounge.  You can tell Princess spends the money to hire the best and create broadway musical quality choreography and set design.  And then hire real entertainers that can dance well together and sing.  I overheard someone in the elevator say “Yeah Princess does really have the best shows”.  And I concur.

The lead male singers performance of “7 years” by Lukas Graham was so “Spot” on I thought I was really here with him.  When I got back to the cabin to listen to the song again, I was convinced the YouTube video by the actual Lukas Graham was a cover!!!

Singing mostly hits from the past decade, older folks in the audience might wonder what the hell is this as men dance with men and women dance with women, but this is what today is.

Fresh, new, modern.  Even with my unsophisticated view of a modern Broadway musical, I could tell that the dancing was fresh, new, and something different.  A lot of people have put a lot of time and their heart and soul into making this.

I may not understand everything, I may not get what ever dance means nor see the many detail or nuance that has been added, But I will say this…  I loved it. 

Move over “Rent” -- I felt like I was on Broadway in NYC tonight!!

I would like to file a complaint about the laundry service.  I sent a shirt out to be laundered and pressed.  And it came back smaller.  My travel companion reminds me that this is due to the 3 square meals a day plus snacks, pizza at 3pm, cocktails and the 2 sandwiches every late night at the international cafe.

Back me up on this.  I fault the laundry.

Deal or no deal

This was really fun and I didnt even play -- just watched.  Our cruise director was awesome at this, he was better than Howie.  And they finally have a good part for Fortuna Luck.  The whole show was well produced and worked very well.  If they were taping this I think the whole thing could have been done in one take --- DuVaul and Fortuna Luck were that polished.

Afterwards, I popped into a presentation on the navigation of the ship.  Wow the 3rd class officer was only 23 and sharp as a tack.  I definately felt safe knowing he was working up there driving things!  Im not sure I could run a lemonaid stand at 23 let alone an almost one billion dollar ship!!  Good presentation and honest straightforward Q&A.  

2 hours ago, Italy52 said:

@cruiseypop.  Congratulations on your wins.  Quick question for you:  did you make max bets on all your casino activity?  I use a daily limit and it seems if I bet max the  money goes real quick.  So, I am more conservative so I can play longer.

No, I try to keep my max bets at a minimum, but I do bet big now and then.  Here's my strategy in a nutshell (that my grandma taught me back in the day when Reno was a hot gambling spot).  And if this doesn't work for you don't blame me.  The casino is an entertainment expense not an investment.  I set a daily budget which is $100 - when that is gone, I do something else for the day. (I can afford $700 casino expense on a cruise, but that's about it) Rarely, I might put in another $100-$200 but that is rare.  I bet middle of the road about $2 per spin at first.  I play slow.  I do maybe 10 spins if the machine does nothing, I move on.  If nothing happens on the next machine, then I slow down and bet minimums about 50 cents to maybe a dollar.  Well, if that sucks all the money and no wins, well then poop I'm done and that happens.  And honestly much of the time this is the case.  But, when you're lucky you might get the bonus right away or get good line hit for $20-$100.  It's rare but it happens.  Then I add this money to my gambling pot for the day.  So, I try to turn $100 into $200 etc. The key is really to build your bank so then you've go their money to play with.  Then if I've been lucky and I have extra money I might bet a max bet or even do crazier things like yesterday where I was betting $15 a spin on the old double diamonds machine (but I hit the hand pay of $1800).  I had put about $200 all in on it.   All the money goes into daily play - which allows you to bet more, play more and win more (and also lose if you keep going).  When I do get a good jackpot I stop, cash out and leave for awhile, I don't keep playing.  The machines run hot and cold and it will take your money eventually.  I also try to leverage other people's losses, if someone played a lot and filled up all the coin pots or whatever the gimmick the machine has, I will play that machine.  Also, I try a variety, different denoms, different multipliers.  I can get a feel for a machine.  On this cruise there is currently a machine that is very "loose" at the 5 cent denom, minimum bet is $4.40 (all other denoms are tight).  Max bet on this is $20 a spin -- and I've never done that.  Using my winnings I've already accrued I might play $100-$200 on this machine.  I have won and lost, but also got a few hundred out of the machine during each sessions.  And one win was almost $800.  That keeps you going for awhile.  But, I do admit my wins this trip have mostly gone back in to play to have fun.

We have lots of Indian casinos where we live, so I have lots of experience with slots!  Ha ha.  Again, this is just a strategy.  Use it at your own risk.  Just set a daily budget, play as long as you can each day and call it quits when you've spent it.  My only goal is to get a few hours of play out of my $100 -- kind of like a music concert -- which by the way if you've seen the price of concerts today you could easily spend $250 to listen to some music.  If you can't afford the expense do something else.  I do lots of other stuff on the cruise and the free stuff is just as fun.

To each their own.  I don't judge.

1 hour ago, mnocket said:

Picture looks about right.  100% of lounges have towels to "reserve" them, but only about 10% actually have people in them. 

You mean to tell me the deck attendants dont lay the towels out for me?  I thoight those we vacant and I just laid right down.  And now I suppose you will tell me those towel clips werent complimentary and I have to return them?

1 hour ago, chubbypiggy said:

Which MDR dining room did you go to that you think they have great service?   Thank you.

Skagway for dinner. Those guys buzz around like crazy, pointing, sliding around each other, carrying big trays.  And graciously accomodating my requests for more booze, butter and rolls.  Pro tip:  go very early before they get too busy.  We go early so we have more time in the casino, ha ha.

Ok its almost noon.  Bloody Mary, Pistachio gelato and Toblerone.  Only the gelato and bloody mary at the same time....  what do you think Im crazy?

New Premium Desserts.  This is new to me... they now have cake in addition to those big fancy sundaes.  I will be trying these later.  They are in the gelateria on deck 5.