bdjam

Good to see that there are other family members on board. My name is Brian and I'm a SF Bay Area native, so joining the ship is very convenient and I can't wait to sail to Alaska again.

Wait...do I know you?

There's an aversion to Princess transfers, but I use them all the time and never have an issue.

My thoughts...

Well, more than a couple:

 

When we board the ship, are the rooms ready, like on HAL? Or do we have to wait for them, like on DCL?

Rooms are ready - boarding time may be delayed a bit so that they can be ready, but you will be able to go directly to your cabin.

 

I know there is MUTS, is there an inside movie venue?

Yes - usually the Princess Theater or Vista Lounge (depending on which ship you're sailing).

 

Do we wear life jackets to the muster drill? Along that line - can we just, sort of, be in our muster area before the drill is actually called?You don't wear them to the drill but you do bring them to try on during the drill. You can go to your muster station before the drill is actually called.

 

And my personal question - what's the number one dessert to be sure to have?

Tiramisu

Not my solution. :). I'm content with the status quo.

Until Princess redeploys Royal or Regal.

Princess isn't abandoning the US market by any stretch. Not sure where you get that idea from.

I'm not sure where you get the idea that I posted that...please re-read it.

There is a dock where cruise ships can come alongside on the other side of the island...not sure of which town, but it's used mainly by NCL. Princess tenders into Lahaina.

We are getting the Golden next year for four months and then at the end of 2016, we are getting the Emerald. That is as far as the planning has gone and if you cannot let us have one ship for four months, then you are acting like spoilt children. Surely, there are enough ships cruising from U.S. shores to let us have just one over our summer months.

I'm getting a little tired of being called a spoiled child. This is not a matter of one ship for four months. It is the trend of desirable Princess ships being moved from the North American market to where they are unreachable for some of us. Not all of us can fly all over the world to cruise on favorable ships. Whether or not they remain for four months or for perpetuity is yet to be seen. I would guess from a business standpoint, the four months is a trial and if they are successful the ships will be relocated. And as more ships built for the North American market relocate the choices for us will become more limited.

If Princess feels they should abandon the North American market for areas where profits are greater, then that's up to them. But that doesn't mean we have to be comfortable with it. And by the way, being spoiled goes both ways.

I cannot believe that you are all upset that we are at last getting a decent ship down here from Princess that isn't beyond the use by date. For too long we have had the cast offs and now that we are finally being recognised as a country that is taking to cruising in a big way, you are all being so unsporting and acting like spoilt children. Princess has a lot of ships and yet you begrudge us one of them! After all, we are only getting her for our summer months from November to April and then not until 2016!

I'm not sure why those "down under" feel that they deserve to have the newer and more popular ships. It's not a matter of having the rights to a certain ship. What ever business model Princess is using is pointing them to send these ships there. Believe me it's got nothing to do with Australia deserving anything.

That being said, I would be very happy to have Diamond, Sapphire, a couple of the Sun Class ships and Regal Princess 1 back in exchange for Emerald. Bigger isn't always better and while Emerald Princess is a fine ship, compared to other ships in the fleet, she ain't all that.

Did you go in the Thermal Suite at all? Trying to figure out exactly what's in there in the Star and how it compares to the TS on the Ruby and Emerald.

I've done the Thermal Suite on all three ships. The amenities are much the same, with Star's Suite a little smaller and on the same deck as the rest of the spa.

Absolutely nothing new. Anytime has been like this since it was first implemented on the Grand Princess years ago. Princess allows Traditional diners to go to Anytime and as long as they allow this, Anytime will be poorly managed when compared to other cruise lines.

I think the problem is that to many, 'Anytime Dining' means anytime around 6:00...meaning the dining rooms are slammed at that time. I've done Anytime Dining my last two cruises and made it a practice to arrive at the dining room that had been used for early Traditional just at the time it switched over to anytime...about 7:30-7:45. Never had a wait.

Last few cruises that I've been on, the 'LGBT Get Together' has been held in the Wheelhouse at 5:00 nightly. It is not hosted, however the last couple I've been to have had at least a dozen people and the stewards in the Wheelhouse had an area set up for us each night with snacks to go with our drinks.

Shepp is right - it really depends on what you want to do and what you're interested in. San Francisco has an excellent tourist website - I would Google that up and read up on what's available. You will find that the diversity of things to do is huge.

That being said, if you're looking for an overview of the city, a tour is the best way to go. I would stay away from the public transit - unless you want to do a good deal of planning - as you might miss something that you wanted to see that way...and if you do a shorter tour and see something that you want to come back for, you can always do that.

If you do decide to use public transit (including Cable Cars) look for the one day pass that gets you on any Muni transit. Easy on and off without having to buy lots of tickets.

Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 are very touristy and while you can get a good bowl of chowder or crab, the price is set for tourists. The less traveled places will get you the same or better quality at a more reasonable price. Of course, you can't get the bay view everywhere...so that may be the trade off.

But again, I think in a city like San Francisco where there's a plethora of things to do, research before you arrive is the best thing.

I think the only way that Princess would be responsible for any compensation would be if it was the cruise line's fault that the passenger contracted norovirus. Given that it's brought on by passengers and simply pushing an elevator button can spread it, I hardly see how anyone could expect compensation.

I caught a cold on my last cruise that lasted a week after I got home. Maybe I should call and ask for a refund?

Just curious, what other lines have they taken over in the past?

 

Thanks,

The last one that I recall - and only because I had cruised the line and enjoyed it - was Royal Cruise Line. While NCL indicated that they were going to continue to operate Royal as a subsidy, they eventually sold off all of the ships except one which was smaller than the rest of the fleet and was never the right fit. That ship eventually went off to someone else too. But the point is although they indicated that the cruise line would be independent, it was destined to be discontinued from the time the ink dried on the agreement.

Because I'm not interested in the product, I really don't pay much attention to NCL. But all this happened before NCL was purchased by Star Cruises, so maybe Oceania is actually owned by Star...

Given that the large number of plates come out all the same way, special requests require extra handling...having said that, the wait staff should attend to special requests.

If you're unable to get a table for two in Traditional Dining, you can always go to Anytime and get a standing reservation. That's what my friend and I did on our last cruise. The table was always ready for us and we had the same waitstaff throughout the cruise.

As far as taking food from the dining room, this is the first I've heard of there being an issue with that...I've seen people leaving with food often.

I wonder how much of the already limited bandwidth will be hogged up by this new service? I realize it's not passing data to the satellite, but it's using the available wi-fi on board.

Wait...NCL now owns Oceania? That's unfortunate. Although it's been years since NCL took over another line, every time they did in the past, the product was eventually phased out.

Next thing you know, people will complain that the two for one drinks are watered down :rolleyes:

For instance ships like NORWEGIAN EPIC and the Oasis Class have lifeboats that are suspended outside the hull of the ship. These boats can be boarded in their stationary position and no positioning is necessary.

 

All this goes back to my belief which I stated earlier, that the current trend we see with lifeboat placement sitting on the deck is primarily revenue driven.

Thanks Ernie...and while I hate to concede that RCI might have something on Princess, it would seem that suspending the boats outside the Promenade Deck would be that 'creative' idea that would take care of this issue and provide both the desired egress to the boats and a full promenade. And my reading of SOLAS left me with the same impression - that keeping the ship afloat and returning to port was the best method of survival. I also noticed that much of the requirements in response to Concordia were in the timing of the muster drills.

Revenue drive seems to me to be the founding principal of the Royal design, so it would not surprise me if this design decision was made totally for that reason.

Yeah, sorry to hijack. Some are public (SOLAS) others, insurance and some legal are internal. You won't see them.

Then as I say...it's all just conjecture...

The changes in regs do not mandate life boats being on a promenade deck per se. But the requirements in access and muster stations, exits, etc, make the Promenade type deck the by far most practical place to put them. Also, not all the changes are directly related to SOLAS, etc, after the Concordia incident, insurance required changes as well. And it would be overly optimistic to say that cost/revenue items were not a factor, as I am sure they were.

One more question, Ray, and then you can have your thread back...

Where are the regulations documented?

No, it's actually because of the way they must now place the lifeboats, by law. I loved the small spaces on what was once the Promenade deck. Peaceful. I didn't really miss the promenade.

And they know they're wrong - having read Royal Princess debate threads for the last seventeen months - yet they still post such charges. The positioning of the lifeboats in this new class of ship, and all new builds based on a new platform, has been the topic of conversation on this forum for well over a year, and anyone paying attention knows such a comment is rediculous at best.

 

:D

:rolleyes: Sorry - I have been paying attention and my contention is not rediculous (sic). Just because this topic has been discussed on Royal Princess threads doesn't mean that the mention holds any merit. In fact it could be a very good example of following the popular opinion without any proof...which happens now and then on Cruise Critic.

First of all, my best friend Google can find nothing where law mandates the life boats must be placed on the promenade deck. Has anyone ever taken a look at ocean liners? Not only did they have promenade decks, they also had boat decks which were there to be used as an embarkation point should the life boats be needed. There is no reason the brilliant maritime architects that work for Princess at Fincantieri couldn't have come up with a way to incorporate both. The contention that this was all they could do points to a lack of creativity. Of course the fact that Princess was hoping to make money through the Emerald deck balconies - along with all the other 'new' features in this class of ship - made a good deal of difference in the final design. So the whole change is really more a matter of maximizing revenue rather than responding to safety issues, right?

Second, if you feel that this is not correct, then I would really love someone to point us to the legislation that mandates this new design with lifeboats superseding the promenade deck. I've searched the IMO site, looked at the SOLAS regulations (which by the way, in response to Costa Concordia's incident mention NOTHING about life boat placement) and can still find nothing. I don't doubt that the laws may have changed - and if my contention is wrong I would love someone to help me understand that by pointing me to the legislation. And I would really like to see the comparison of costs and revenues of the old design vs. the new.

Until some proof can be identified, my contentions are no more ridiculous than anyone else's...including those blinded by the love of this new class of ship.

....and yet.....Princess was able to implement somewhat of a "fix" with Regal. Not a true, full, wrap-around Promenade to be sure. But not a couple of "porches" like on Royal. So the notion that new builds and new safety concerns require that new ships be built along the lines of Royal are equally "rediculous".

 

Thank you...

:D

 

The main reason for the lack of Promenade is the life boats...

Funny - I think the main reason for the lack of an exterior Promenade is poor design.

I'm not begrudging you folks from taking a table for two -- you are entitled to any table in the dining room' date=' as am I. I just want to know why the heck you want one when you feel that you wish to engage others around you in conversation -- particularly when their actions should lead you to believe that are not interested in participating. Wouldn't the shared table be a better fit, thereby allowing us antisocial folks our privacy and you friendly folks the banter you seek?[/quote']

Believe me, if you were to demonstrate that you wanted to remain in your Cone of Silence, I wouldn't bother to talk to you. There's a difference between sitting at a table for two and incessantly chattering with the table next to you and an exchange of pleasantries. I guess I will in the future be prepared to have my head bit off if I say a word.

 

In case you haven't noticed, the tables for two are not private. As uncomfortable as some people feel when they are spoken to during their 'private' dinner, I would feel just as uncomfortable not acknowledging someone...especially when I have to squeeze by them to sit down. Really if you value your privacy that much, you shouldn't be eating in a restaurant unless you request a private dining room.

We often ask for a table for 2. When we are seated we acknowledge the diners on each side of us with a friendly hello...common courtesy in my book, considering we are seated so close to one another. We don't intrude further but if one of the other couples wants to engage us in conversation, we happily comply. My husband refers to the people we meet at dinner or on deck or seated next to in the theater, "5 minute friends". Some of those have blossomed into long term friendships, but ALL of them have contributed to the enjoyment of our cruising experience.

This may be the most perfect answer...