Dee_Jay

On a 7-day, RT Seattle, Alaska cruise on the Crown Princess when it was still having engine problems, we were pleasantly shocked to be invited to the Most Travelled Luncheon with only 139 cruise days.  I'm sure it will be years before we're invited to another.

We were on Caribbean Princess for a 14-day Canada-New England cruise last year over Halloween.  We did not see any decorations until the morning of the 31st, and they were gone the next day.  Most of the ship was decorated, and many crew members and passengers wore costumes.  Daytime activities on the ship were normal, but evening activities were Halloween themed (Halloween trivia, movies, party and costume contest)

8 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Yes. You do not need to leave your luggage out the night before. Seems like a big inconvenience to carry bangs down the gangway.

Our bags have wheels, so it would only be inconvenient if there are a lot of stairs.  I'd rather not have the stress of remembering to take out clothes to wear the night before.  Also, we'd still need some kind of bag to carry off our clothes from the previous day and toiletries.

To answer the OPs question:  pool deck food (grill, pizza, ice cream) - you can walk up and order in your bathing suit; buffet - put a cover-up over your bathing suit; casual restaurants (Alfredos, Salty Dog Gastropub, sushi) - wear clothing; specialty restaurants (Crown Grill, Sabatinis) - smart casual every night (nice jeans or slacks, nice shirt or top); MDR - formal nights - nice slacks and collared shirts for men, slacks and nice top or dress for women are usually OK. 

As others have said, you will rarely see people in full formal dress.

On Princess, we always take our luggage with us when we disembark.  Does Viking allow this?

On one of our recent cruises, they offered me $50 off a spa treatment.  Since most spa treatments are well over $100, that was a no-go for me.

I was really disappointed to not get my yummy chocolate cake!

You cannot view the menus before boarding, but once you are on the ship, you can use the app to view menus for any night of the cruise.  Select Dine My Way - View or book individual daily reservations - scroll across the top to select a date - select View Menu.  Note that this only works if you have a reservation for MDR.

8 minutes ago, cbfb said:

If you have the plus package can you buy a drink or glass of wine that is more expensive and just pay the difference? 

Yes.  You pay the difference plus 18% gratuity.

In my experience, if the ship is docked, the excursions usually meet on shore.  If the ship is using tenders, they usually meet in the theater so the whole group can be led to a tender boat together.  Notice I said 'usually'.  As damiross mentioned, your tickets will say where to meet.

I haven't tried this myself, but I seem to recall reading that if you log on to a device, it automatically logs you off of any other devices.  It you and your wife are using different devices, you would be constantly logging each other off.  Can someone confirm this?

This would apply to the regular 1 device package.

I just bought 5 this morning.  Got the emails with the GC links within a few minutes.

Thanks for the information.  It sounds like we won't have to stake out a spot at 6 am.

We're booked on the Emerald Princess for next year's total solar eclipse.  One of my friends asked a good question.  Is there enough room on the outside upper decks for all passengers (and probably many crew members) to watch the eclipse?  Any pictures of the crowds would be great!

17 hours ago, Sea Hag said:

It's that, and it's also the luncheon I'll never be invited to. Some people have so many days cruising on Princess! It's nice that they get this. 🙂

Never say never.

Last summer, we were on the Crown Princess 7-day to Alaska.  With only 137 cruise days, we were invited to the Most Travelled luncheon.  My husband wasn't sure he wanted to go, but I told him "Of course, we're going!  It could be years before we get invited to this again."

I haven't been on a cruise for St. Patrick's Day, but I've seen the ship decorated for Valentine's Day and Easter.  They start decorating for Christmas in the second week of December!

I disembarked Discovery on Feb. 4 and received my check on Feb. 13.  Only 9 days.  Does that mean I win?😉

For those of you worried about no food on the pool deck, the Sun Princess deck plans are now showing Lido Slice, Lido Tacos, Lido Grill, Lido Greens, Coffee & Cones, and The Mix on deck 17.

On Jan. 20, I booked a cruise leaving Jan. 28. 

On Jan. 21, I crossed my fingers and sent an e-mail with the cruise date and 'Please expedite' in the subject line.

On Jan. 24, I saw that my $100 credit had been applied.

I think the times are there just because this is how the excursions page is set up.

You should be able  to hop on and off as much as you want.

I just looked on the website and noticed that the description now shows the desserts are "available with or without alcohol".  It's starting to sound a little more interesting.

Comparing the picture to the deck plans, the picture appears to be from the aft of deck 7.  You can see the curved section where deck 6 is open above deck 7.  Deck 8 appears to be only open to the lower levels at the front of the dining room.

The bad: no dining room open for lunch on embarkation day.

The good: they're going to have the British Pub Lunch in Da Vinci dining room today.

We got an invitation to the Most Traveled Luncheon. We only have 139 days, so there must be a lot of new cruisers on this trip.

We were told 2100 passengers on the ship.

I'm currently on Crown Princess.  We were very disappointed that the dining room was NOT open for lunch on embarkation day.  We were looking forward to the avocado shrimp appetizer, and we didn't get it.

We're on the July 16 sailing.  We booked on June 13, after the change to Icy Strait Point had already been made.  We got notification of the time change in Juneau on June 17.

33 minutes ago, justafem said:

Yup.  Most hotel rooms have a great view of the roof, the building next door or a wall.  

And, just like on a cruise, if you want a better view, you're going to pay more.