Cruise Raider

You can even order it on your app from a seat in the piazza, if a bar steward doesn’t first come by to get your order.

As a side note, there is a place on the app to request for room service dishes be picked up. While I’ve seen my share of dirty dishes being left in the hallway and someone that is in/on a mobility device not able to get around them or someone tripping over them, I think it might be acceptable in the case of CoVid where the staff may not want to enter your room.

They are really small unless you get one midship in the bump out section .. but not sure if there any full suites like that on the sides of the ship.

There is more motion in the aft vs the middle but the large balconies make it well worth it. You can’t go wrong with any of the suites, though. You will be able to use that concierge lounge and it is really something very special. I’d go for any one of them but just make note that the balconies are quite shallow on the side cabins .. longer but shallow.

You pegged it! TB ward .. 😂

There are honestly too many variables that can happen to give you an clear answer. But, you’d probably be relatively safe with a guess to get there around 10:30 - 11:00. Once, we got there around 8:00 AM and another time, it’s was well after noon. You can absolutely let Princess know you want to be off in the early group. The ability to do self walk off would be your best bet but if you plan on taking the Princess shuttle, they will wait until it’s full before they move on out towards the airport. If you want to get there much earlier, just plan on taking an Uber instead. You might be able to get there by 9 AM

Just of note, I think the challenges in the piazza are a blast .. especially when it’s the guests vs the officers. I laughed so hard last time I saw that one. The paper airplane contest is sort of fun but the egg drop is also quite hilarious! It tends to draw a huge crowd! you’d be surprised what contraptions some people come up with for their egg. Also, if you have not seen the enrichment series by Leo Rossi, I would urge you to go. We’ve seen his lectures numerous times and we never are bored. He switches his show up enough we always learn of something new. Plus, he’s just a great guy! If you meet him, tell him Kenny and Lisa say hi. He will know who we are. Anyway, we’ve told many people about his lectures and they’ve all appreciated the recommendation. Oh, almost forgot to mention .. the arts and crafts sessions are also so much fun! There was an equal number of men and women that attended. I still have some of the crafts that I created! I did the paper flowers, the napkin folding, origami (that one wasn’t my favorite), a mask making, etc. I wish they would have a towel folding one so I could surprise my room steward for a change. 😆 I would be hard pressed to find enough time for all the things I like to do .. and to make time for lunch on the first sea day … yummm! That’s chicken Korma day in the MDR. Oh .. and would have to make a little time for the casino, too.

I had one bad cruise on Princess where it seemed like everything went wrong! I was also just about to give up on Princess. Then, they offered us some pretty generous compensation, not so much because I complained but because they knew the compilation of events were of their doing .. I guess that’s all it took. We ended up going back on the same ship and had a great time. Of course, I can always find some little things that haven’t gone my way on each and every cruise but, I try to always look for the outstanding experiences and let those outshadow the negatives. We were recently on the Diamond and the service, with the exception of a few outstanding staff members, the service was dreadful. Thankfully, the entertainment and the great food pretty much saved the day. I didn’t care for the ship itself so, would never plan on returning to her. but, I’ve cruised several times since then on the Royal and Discovery … ahhh .. the world was perfect again in my cruising world.

Good to know .. thanks!

Off topic a bit but I cruised on the old Regal Princess back in the early 2000’s. To me, the current Regal is brand spanking new.

Nor have I! I just love the 3 day sale

We’ve only been in a full suite a few times and the best perk for us is the morning breakfast. However, there are many other perks to take advantage of: We loved being able to take advantage of ordering from the dining room menu in our cabin. We also loved that we could order nearly anything we wanted for breakfast. The restaurant manager even suggested we could get steak and eggs. I just wanted turkey sausage and they made it happen. I also loved the potatoes with poached eggs and hollandaise in the little glass bowl. The few times we’ve been in a suite, there was a card in our cabin letting us know the details of our reservation in the specialty restaurant. If they are still doing that, just know you can change the time and restaurant if you wish. The reserve class dining is so wonderful. There are no waits and they’ve always had one extra special dish added to the menu each night. The dining experience is just more elegant with Reidel wine glasses, nicer linens and very awesome service. I never use the laundry services but some people love it. I believe you can also get your shoes shined. Suite guests are usually allowed to board first and we were even offered an escort onto the ship. it wasn’t necessary but a nice offer. There should be seats saved for you in the theater on the evenings that have production shows. They have a cloth covering over the seat backs indicting they are for suite passengers. I saw this on the Discovery recently .. I imagine it should also be on the Island. I believe the room steward will bring you sparkling wine after your arrival. I understand they may give you the bottle if you request it. We’ve usually had the beverage package so not sure about that now. You will receive a stocked mini bar .. not refillable but you can swap out those items for others that you prefer. You will also have priority disembarkation available to you at your desired time. You can even order room service in your cabin that last morning. There will also be a priority disembarkation lounge for you. bon voyage .. enjoy the sweet suite life!

I think the beds pushed together are super roomy, definitely larger than the queen bed we have at home.

We aren’t big foodies and oftentimes don’t bother going to the MDR .. but I must say, the lobster is so improved over the last year, we make an exception and go on lobster night. And one is definitely enough for me.

Oh my goodness .. you two are wonderful kids! Nobody knows your parents like you two but the upgrade to an ocean view from an inside cabin would be my first and foremost recommendation. I cannot recall what ship you mentioned or if you did mention it but the Grand/Crown class ships has some really wonderful obstructed ocean view cabins on deck 8. The midship ones are the best! Same with the obstructed balcony cabins on deck 8 for the Royal class ships .. midship! But also booking them a celebration package or something onboard or excursion is also so very thoughtful. Booking them a nice ride to the pier or a nice hotel in Ft Lauderdale would also be a great surprise. I love the idea of getting them a little cruise package they can take with them, including magnetic hooks, hand sanitizer, sunscreen, an outlet (non surge protected) to use for plugging in all their devices (we use a SuperDanny we found on Amazon), etc. is a nice way to present it to them. Onboard credit I also nice and they can use it for any drinks, coffees, specialty dinners, casino, specialty dinners, Bingo, excursions, etc they choose to take … what an amazing and thoughtful gift!

All coffee and tea ordered recently seems to be delivered in to go cups now. While we can and do order our coffee extra hot (there’s an option for that one the app), it really is just never nearly as good as when ordering it at the IC in a porcelain cup. I liken it to drink a fine wine out of a plastic solo cup vs a Riedel wine glass. Even if we get the hot water from the buffet in those plastic mugs, the tea has lost some of its pizzaz. Sad they sent you the wrong tea. We’ve been pretty lucky with our room service orders on Princess, but I did order a vegetarian pizza and did get a pepperoni pizza. To me, it’s not that big of a deal because I just picked the pepperoni off and it was delish. But, I wonder how the other folks that got the vegetarian pizza felt about it?

Early I. The post pandemic return, the lobster tails weren’t very good and this, they were trying to always bring you more of them. Now, they have seemed to greatly improved their supplier and I don’t begrudge them one bit for charging extra for this delicacy.

@Ken the cruiser … I completely agree with you! we were recently on a Hawaii cruise and by the end of the cruise, people were coughing and sneezing everywhere. While I didn’t contact CoVid, I got a nasty respiratory infection that hung on until the doctor prescribed a Z-PAC for me. It must have had a bacterial component to it as that did the trick. But, it has made me think twice about longer cruises as you are so right, by day 11, it seems like everyone was coughing while hanging out in the public venues. I can’t believe people would want to leave their cabin while sick, knowing they might compromise the health of others. It irks me to no end but, I always try to take the stairs whenever possible, don’t share tables with others in the dining room, wash wash wash my hands constantly, etc. It doesn’t always keep me healthy but I try everything possible to avoid those infections.

It may just not be the cruise line for you. We’ve cruised across many different lines and extensively on Princess. For us, it just suits everything we want from a cruise experience. We recently went on another line and we were just kind of bored. I’m sure there are those that would also disagree with our assessment on that other line but when we went onto Princess right after that, we felt the arrival of all the things we enjoy about cruising. Everybody likes different things .. the world would be boring if they didn’t. And one cruise line would certainly be very busy and crowded. Bon voyage with wherever you decide to go next!

Bidding up has nothing to do with having that box checked or not.

I read somewhere that the future cruise consultants were taking over some of the duties for the loyalty and events director. Maybe that’s true …

You can always just go to the dining room without a reservation. Sometimes, that line moves faster than the line for those with reservations.

We have also noticed this on the Royal recently … we know them all so they really haven’t been checking us. And we even know the Future cruise consultant and she was there every night, too.

I’ve ever only seen 2 different production shows on any cruise, a couple of which were over 2 weeks. Like you, I’m finding it hard to believe any ship would actually have 4 .. unless you count each performance, two each of the two nights for a total of 4. During the low capacity cruises, sometimes they reduced the two shows to one per night and had it at 8:30 PM instead of one at 7:30 and 9:30. And, a couple of times, the production team was in quarantine after exposure to CoVid. I suppose if enough are sick, ethyl have to replace the production shows with other entertainment. We’ve seen that happen in the past. But, back to the point, like you, I’ve still never seen 4 unique production shows on any single cruise.

I believe the naming issue for the Salty Dog will be solved soon .. the Slaty Dog Gastropubs will all be turned into O’Malleys