Sea Hag

Some of the minis on Emerald are connecting cabins. You'll probably want to avoid those.

I haven't been on that cruise, but I'd always go for a balcony with some cover rather than one completely without. Being able to be on the balcony if it's raining or too hot and sunny is what I like.

When we don't have club class, I like traditional, so I wish that option would come back for us and all those who want it.

I hear you on that! I battled with this for years, and it never got any easier.

Yes, they are.

Since I'm a diehard promenade deck walker, I was sure I was going to hate the Royal Class. Sailed first on the Royal, and I thought the walking track on Sun deck wasn't all that bad. Sailed next on the Majestic and still liked it. Sailed last on the Discovery, and I thought the walking track on Sun deck had a lot of merit over the old-style promenade deck. I'd have to say that the Royal Class has won me over. I like them as much as the Grand or Crown Classes. Lots of differences on the Sun, but I'm keeping an open mind.

It's hard isn't it, that quest for a good piece of pie? I'm really picky about pie, and I'm also a pie person. Don't really care about cake. But a good piece of pie is really something.

I seem to recall being on the ship by 11:15 on a recent cruise. That was with an early arrival time and elite status. Not sure which one of those got us on early.

I haven't always had a perfect steak on Princess, but what I do say is that the steaks have mostly been very good to good, while the knives have nearly always been really bad. I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this.

An upcharge for decent, sharp knives in the dining room might actually get me to shell out for it. Their knives suck.

I'm sure you're correct about it being likely, but we were lucky enough to have seen them twice during cruising season. Once, was on a ship either in May or September. The other time was in August when we were on a DIY trip and did an excursion up the Dalton Highway. We saw the northern lights in the middle of the night at Coldfoot.

Nice!

Very nice!

Don't know about how early you can show up, but I can tell you what our experience has been since the restart when it comes to cabin access on embarkation. Each time, we boarded as soon as they were allowing people to board, and cabins weren't ready yet. Each time, cabins were ready shortly thereafter. I think you should plan your carry-ons based on needing to schlep them around with you for a bit.

It's not labeled as such, but it looks to me like there might be one midship on decks 7, 8 and 9.

I go back to our first cruise, on the Carnival Jubilee for the total eclipse. The eclipse may or may not have impacted prices. Since it was our first cruise, we just paid what we were asked. We paid $1500 pp for a midship, main deck ocean view cabin on a 7 day Mexican Riviera sailing. Our next cruise is on the Discovery Princess, Western Caribbean 7 day sailing. We paid $1480 pp for a club class mini. Even our booking for the April 2024 solar eclipse sailing is still a fantastic value, all things considered.

That was what I thought about the cc lamb chops! I love lamb chops, so I had them both in Crown Grill and mdr. Very good in both.

On the Sky, there are four M6 minis that are club class. They're the front corners of the ship on Lido and Marina. Extra large balconies and really nice cabin layout. Solid metal balcony rails instead of glass.

No, I think you're correct on this.

I was looking at the new sailings just to look. Prices didn't look so bad to me, but I wasn't looking at high-end cabins. I also was looking at standard pricing since we don't do packages. And the website was erroring out for me in reckless abandon.

I'd be astonished if they don't have a team whose main mandate is following social media. As far as any of that team reading through and specifically following any one thread on any one social media site, that's something that may or may not be.

Does this mean that the sky suites have "gone to the dogs" on this sailing? 😂

You and me too! Hasn't come across my radar.

That's what I'm seeing - forward on Sun deck only.

I'll be sticking with my current "package" choice which is no package. The math tells me that neither plus nor premier pay off for us.