Paula_MacFan

I'm not aware of any mask requirements, and we didn't see any signage or announcements regarding that while onboard or at any port. Where is this coming from? Is the information current or is it something that is outdated?

We did the math and found we spent about the same as if we'd done it on our own. Hawaii is just expensive in general for everything. Plus you're getting the entire time in the islands, no transit time from the west coast. That is worth something, or at least it was to us. I have no interest in a 2 week cruise with only 3 or 4 short port days. We spent 11 long days on 4 islands and had a great time. Different strokes for different folks 🙂

We just flew to Europe on United using EZ Air booking. We flew first class and saved $$$ over what we would have paid on our own. I was able to immediately book our seats at the time of booking, and I managed our flights from the time of booking until the time of flight on the United app. Never did I need to contact anyone at EZ Air for anything. I also received all pertinent notices directly from United regarding our flights, such as pre-ordering meals, pre-checking bags, and gate information. And of course all the other obvious benefits already mentioned by others -- the ability to price lock and refare up to 45 days under flexible fares (which I've done many times using the website, very easy), Princess insurance covers your flights, etc.

We did NCL's Pride of America to Hawaii in January and added their 4 day land package for a total 11 days. We had a fabulous time, trip of a lifetime. We love Princess but I would never sail them to Hawaii -- way too many sea days. We enjoyed our 11 port intensive days instead. That was our first NCL cruise. We have another booked out of Galveston in January, as well as the Regal. We're trying to decide which one to stick with. Been on Regal several times and the NCL ship is brand new. In our opinion both lines have strengths and weaknesses.

We also had a mini suite and it was wonderful on a longer cruise. Having that extra space with the full sized couch and extra TV was nice just to relax. We had a mini on the Caribe deck which has the larger fully covered balconies too, which we used quite a bit. Sorry I can't help with trivia and game shows -- we didn't participate in those. We primarily like the live music events, of which there were many each night and we really enjoyed these! I can say that most events are scheduled in 45 minute blocks, whether it's production shows, comedians, live music, etc. So every 45 minutes the venues turn over and we didn't have any problems finding seating. Even in Crooners which is pretty small, we always found a spot to sit. For evening music that was scheduled for more than 45 minutes, the entertainers still took breaks about those same times, so people tended to turn over then too.

Agree with this advice 100% for both luggage tags and the Travel Summary. Print or at least download your Travel Summary. This is the primary doc that has all the info on your cruise -- itinerary, OBC, purchases, packages, excursions, etc.

Did you try the Princess website? Google search: https://www.princess.com/cruise-tips-vacation-ideas/cruise-destinations/cruise-tips-advice-and-information/what-is-medallion-class.html

We just disembarked from the Island 10/4. We had no problems finding seating in any lounge during our 12 night cruise. We attended a comedian/magician and live music several evenings in Crooners, the Wheelhouse, and Explorers.

I'm sorry -- we don't drink coffee so I can't speak from personal experience, but I'd probably recommend the Good Spirits bar on deck 5 just based on what we observed. Yes, we would love to return to Paris based on our initial visit! The day we spent there was fabulous and we're so glad we took the excursion.

Final thoughts and random misc: As stated in my prior comments we found the ship to be in good overall condition. Is it an older ship? Yes Is she ready for the scrap heap? No We saw ongoing maintenance every day around the ship as well as furniture replacement. Sure there are some dings and bumps, but nothing that impacted our trip or enjoyment. We loved the bed! Slept great and no complaints there. Also loved the app for onboard features. So nice to monitor the account and look at photos without schlepping down to the purser desk or searching through hundreds of printed photos in person. Also like the ease of ordering room service and the crew chat function. I only used crew chat once but the response was professional and prompt. We saw one example of the dreaded table in the hall outside a cabin door. Not sure if it was a quarantine situation but we didn't observe any enhanced protocols during the 13 day cruise. All our excursions matched the description exactly for locales visited, time at each location, activity level, and meals. Yet we heard some complaints from others and also some bewilderment about where we were going or what meals were provided. It's not Princess' fault if people can't bother to read the descriptions or know what they are buying. This was just a SMH observation. Every bus we were on, from the initial transfer with International Friends, to every ship-sponsored excursion, was on modern buses with restroom facilities. All buses had 2 entry doors, with one door at the mid-entry point by the restroom. I mention this because during our planning process I read some comments from people who said excursion buses never had restroom facilities. I also read some negative comments about bus group sizes and the loading/unloading process. Having 2 doors greatly improves this process. Also every Princess excursion we took was 'sold out' yet our buses were never full to capacity. Foreign currency -- we took about $200 each in GBP and Euros. I read some conflicting advice on this prior to the cruise but wanted to be prepared so I ordered the currency in advance. We used our credit card with no problem in all countries visited, but we also had no problem spending all the currency we brought. I was glad to have it for tips and other incidentals. I also like having some currency just in case the credit card wouldn't work for any reason. I work in the financial/banking industry and know how often this happens 🙂 Public restrooms -- this dovetails with the foreign currency point above, but public washrooms in Europe often charge a fee so it's a good idea to have some coins at least. For most of our ship-sponsored excursions we had stops at free facilities, but not all. It was common to see .50 charges and we observed both a turnstile operation where you insert coins and also manned doors with a person collecting the fee. We didn't see any children on the cruise. That doesn't mean there weren't any, but we didn't see them 🙂 The youngest people we encountered were a few 20-somethings who were on multi-generational family trips. This cruise is port-intensive. It's 12 nights, with 8 ports in 7 countries. All the port days were long. We had a wonderful trip and used our time to the fullest. Now we are glad to be home and a bit worn out 🙂 If anyone has any questions I'm happy to try and answer.

We ordered every port day. We used the breakfast card by hanging it out the night before and didn't ask for any extras. Everyday it came 10 minutes prior to the earliest time selected, like clockwork. So when we selected the 7 - 7:30 window it came at 6:50, etc. We just used that time as a guide and selected accordingly.

I just disembarked yesterday and agree with you. The only thing that seemed odd to us was the buffet in the front (which we knew prior to boarding). Other than that, everything seemed pretty much in the same places we experienced before on other ships.

I just left the Island yesterday and can confirm the 10:30 pm closing time. We struggled with late evening food a few times as we were in port very late. We ordered room service 3X (not counting breakfast card every day for port days) and there was very little that was free. I remember the days of lots of free options, but now it's pretty much a chicken sandwich, burger, turkey club, FF, cheesecake, chocolate cake, chef salads, and 4 choices from the kid's menu. The options mentioned above now cost $$ -- chips, dip, quac, veggie plate, etc. One nice thing was the ability to order on the app - we really liked that and the orders came promptly with the appropriate condiments.

We are in transit now in between flights -- the worst part of the trip is the long day++ getting home and losing those 7 hours. I will have some wrap up thoughts on the whole cruise after we get home.

I'm not sure where the Reserve Dining was off the top of my head but I posted all the daily patters so you could probably find it there 😊 I'm glad you asked about internet connection! I was going to comment on this as it was superb all over the ship. In fact that's the reason I decided to start posting here daily as the connection was so good I didn't mind doing it. In the past we've had to use our free Platinum minutes and now with the package of unlimited access and the improved speeds, it wasn't a hassle. Most days when we returned to the ship my phone was reconnected to the ship's wifi before we even boarded.

Correction: the tower was The Befry of Bruges. We went too many places & I got them confused. It was too late to edit my post. Apologies 😊

Today we visited our last port of Bruges. We took the Princess excursion Best of Bruges with canal cruise & time on your own. We left the ship around 8am and returned around 4:30 for 5pm sail away. We had a nice gentleman guide who walked us through the old city center and explained the area and history. We had a nice canal cruise around the medieval buildings, followed by 4 hours on our own. The guide provided maps & an emergency contact number just in case. We spent our free time having a nice lunch, touring the torture museum, and climbing the 366 spiral steps at The Church of Our Lady. What a view from the top of the tower. Also did some shopping -- Belgium is known for beer, lace, chocolate, & waffles. All plenty to be found. It was a nice end to the cruise. We've had good weather overall and calm seas. I'll have some final thoughts on the cruise later.

Day 12 patter

Today we took the Princess excursion to Amsterdam with canal cruise & time on your own. We left around 9am and returned around 5:15. The drive from Rotterdam to Amsterdam is about 1.75 hours. We had a good guide who educated us on the water system and dykes on the way. The canal cruise was nice and lasted an hour, cruising by the Anne Frank house. We had about 3 hours on our own in the afternoon for lunch & shopping. The guide provided maps and contact info in case anyone got lost. The weather was very nice today with partly cloudy skies and low 70s. Many places we saw today still have lovely flowers blooming. Looking forward to our sail away later tonight down the long river way.

Last night was our final formal night. We had reservations at Sabatini's and enjoyed our meal there. We loved the arancini and cheesy bread in the basket. I had the calamari & shrimp appetizer and hubby had the meat & cheese plate. (You can look at the menu for the specific names 😊). We skipped soup & salad, and both had the lobster tortellini pasta followed by the lasagna. We regretted not getting one lasagna and one sea bass to share, but maybe next time. We thought it was all very good but the lasagna was a little too meaty for my taste. Hubby liked it and I ate about half of mine. We ate at an Italian restaurant in London prior to the cruise that we liked slightly better, but we don't regret doing Sabatini's and would do it again but maybe order some different dishes. Keep the arancini though! Those are delicious. The service was prompt and attentive. We had early reservations so we got a lovely window table. When we left they were about 1/3 full. After dinner we attended the comedy magician show in Explorers which was a hoot. We stayed for the house band Asian Soul next. They are great and we've really enjoyed them throughout the cruise. They said they have been on other Princess ships as well.

You are quite welcome & I encourage you to keep the reservations. We've seen many people your age on our tours who did just fine 🙂

You'd have to ask Princess. Time of year maybe? This itinerary is only offered 2x each fall. We did have Oktoberfest themed meal at a beer hall in Berlin.

We are 54 & 55. Glad you have enjoyed my posts! We've seen age groups from 20's on up, but no kids at all. All our excursions have followed the descriptions exactly so I'd recommend reading the activity levels if you aren't sure. Paris & Berlin didn't have a huge amount of walking, other than in Berlin at the train station. That was a zoo of people and you really had to keep up with the guide. I'm happy to answer any other questions you may have later too.

Day 11 patter. Note page 1 says they are replacing outside furniture.

We slept a little late today (sea day) and therefore had a late breakfast and didn't attend the pop up Alfredos lunch. We did walk by and it looked about 1/3 full not long after opening. This itinerary has been great but it's port intensive. We've had port days for the last 4 days in a row, so today it was nice to sleep in a little bit. Also we have a 7 hour time difference from home which we've adjusted to, but still 😊 I didn't mention at the beginning of my post but we flew to London 5 days in advance using EZ Air. We flew United first class which we booked way cheaper than we could have on our own. Our tickets got us lounge access which was a huge value for our 4 hour layover in Chicago. No problems with EZ Air and I've managed our flights on the United app, including seat selection at the time of booking months ago. We had a good time in London and had many pre-planned activities to make the most of our time. I'm happy to answer questions about that if anyone has any. We used the International Friends transfer to ship with Stonehenge stop. Picked us up right on time in a nice bus and everything went was promised. Another fail noted on the Destination Guides here on the ship tv. We've been watching them every night for our next port and as I noted prior there have been some inaccuracies. For our next port Rotterdam the program said 'we kindly ask that you not travel to Amsterdam given the distance from port, and Princess will not be offering any shore excursions there on this trip'. Obviously this was recorded for some other prior cruise because we have had a Princess excursion booked for months, and I see several offered on the app. Again, a small thing but sloppy on Princess' part IMO.