SargassoPirate

2 hours ago, chamima said:

 

 

 

@SargassoPirate - Notice how the last three items on your screenshot say "NEW".

That flyer must have been printed up before Princess decided to charge for casual dining, Ocean Now Delivery and Room Service for most passengers but make them part of the plus package.

We noticed the same thing on our last cruise in December .

They must have printed up thousands of flyers and just decided to use them, even though they're outdated.

In the end - you DO have the plus package - right?

Yes, I went ahead a purchased the Plus after the supervisor assured me that the "per cruise" benefits were per segment and that the casual dining was included and also per segment regardless of what their little poster showed.

I'll find out for sure on the next segment.

And this was my screenshot the night before boarding.

On embarkation day, this was the poster on the sales table that showed the benefits of both packages.  Since I'm on for five segments that I booked as one cruise, I wanted to be assured that the casual dining benefit would be two per segment and not simply two for 111 days.  Notice the poster lists fitness classes at two per cruise.  Casual dining was not listed for the Plus, and yet a screen shot from Princess.com the night before listed casual dining two per cruise.

The staff on board didn't know what they were selling and I wasn't going to buy a pig in a poke.

Our best land tour in Australia was a fully independent rail adventure that I booked myself with a stay in each city:

Sydney to Brisbane by train

Brisbane to Cairnes by train

Cairnes  to Darwin by air

Darwin to Alice Springs by train

Alice Springs to Adelaide by train

Adelaide to Melbourne by train

Melbourne to Sydney by train

Sydney to Seattle by cruise ship

All told, we were on land in OZ for six weeks if memory serves, and that included a week in Alice Springs since the train only ran once a week from Darwin to Adelaide.

The internet makes independent travel much easier than in the olden days.

1 hour ago, phabric said:

People leave their used towels on the chairs and walk away so people think the chair is occupied.  If people took their used towels with them, there would be loungers for others.

If they don't bother to use the time-honored Chair Hog method of an old paperback and a flip flop, a lounger with only a towel is waiting for an occupant.

Why would they want to know where you are if you have direct deposit?  It makes no difference.

13 hours ago, Goldenrosebags said:

On one of the cruises we were on, one couple had a set of loungers saved in the sun by the pool, a set saved in the shade, a set saved in the smoking area and a set with a table by the window at the pool and they bounced between them all day.

And I always wonder how they rationalize that such behavior is acceptable.

Laundry rooms on the Island Princess are locked between 10:00 pm and 8:00 am. 

The only constant with Princess is inconsistency.

I have sometimes ridden a Harley to the port.  Obviously limited space for luggage.  Rather than look like a biker for the cruise, I packed a sport coat and a couple of colored T-shirts with matching pocket squares.  Those over my black jeans THAT I was wearing anyway, and I looked better than a lot of the men in the evenings, and I was dressing for myself since SWMBO wasn't on the cruise with me.

Clothes make the man.  I wouldn't wear the sport coat ensemble into a biker bar anymore than I would show up in the MDR looking like I just stepped off the set of Sons of Anarchy.

JMHO.

I was eating an MDR dinner a couple of nights ago and was seated near the entrance.  I was amazed at how many men think "smart casual" is shorts and a T shirt.  Not just a smattering, but so many it was noticable.  

One of my tablemates opined "Just imagine how things would be if the crew dressed as slovenly as some of the passengers do".

49 minutes ago, Goldenrosebags said:

Can you come back and let us know what they did? We cruise in March and we really like casual dining as a lunch option to the MDR.

Yes.  It may be a week or so before I test the new segment casual dining benefit.

BTW, I was a real skeptic about making the Plus package work for my style of cruising but I am enjoying the coffee menu in the morning and the drink menus in the evenings.  

I'm on a world cruise that I booked as one cruise, but that is also sold in five segments.

Prior to boarding I couldn't get a straight answer about what benefits were "per cruise" and which were "per segment".

Once I boarded, not even the staff selling the Plus and Premier packaged could tell me definitively.  I asked to see a supervisor who assured me that the casual dining benefit would be per segment.  I have her name and see her every other day or so.

The next segment starts in a few days, so we'll see what's actually true.

I know we are staying off topic, but over the years I have learned to appreciate those little moments where you have what others may consider lesser food and drink on the quality scale, but the location and the experience more than makes up for it.

At those moments, Two Buck Chuck or a fifty dollar bottle doesn't matter.

3 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Don’t they have Lavazza coffee?

 

All the others we've been on, have Lavazza now.

The containers say Lavazza, but I don't know if it's brewed from grounds or syrup. It's not bad.  The MDR coffee is pretty good also.

Coffee, like so many things, is subjective.  Some of the best coffee I ever tasted was boiled coffee on a frosty morning after a day canoeing on a river the day before.

Likewise, a cheap bottle of wine with some fresh bread and stinky cheese on a park bench overlooking the grand canal in Venice is priceless.

On the Island now and I take my 12 oz travel mug with two teaspoons of International Foods Cafe Mocha instant to the HC every morning and fill it up with hot water.  No problem.  I also get a large tumbler and help myself to a glass of cold milk from the white pitchers next to the coffee syrup dispensers.

During the restart the crew sometimes made me hand them my travel mug, they would fill it with hot water, and hand it back to me.

These upsell events must work or they would disappear.

Also read your description details carefully to make sure part of the tour doesn't include a local craft "demonstration".  Some of them are worse than a Florida timeshare salesman.

Followup.  The table is still unoccupied at 12:00 noon and other passengers have started piling old magazines, paperbacks, used coffee cups, etc on it.  I wish I could see the Table Hog's reaction when they return.

Too funny.

Here's a photo that you Rhapsody of the Seas cruisers won't get, unless you are cruising with the world cruisers on the Island Princess.  Cartagena, January 7, 2024. Just thought you might enjoy this free photo of your ship.

Passed by the Table Hog location again and lest anyone think they had just stepped away, 4 hours later and still nobody sitting there.

11 minutes ago, chrysalis said:

The more that the tour guide reminds us to tip, the less I do....on one recent one, she must  have mentioned it at least 10 times during the relatively short bus ride to and from the destination. Small tip.

 

One guide in St Vincent handed out comment cards, and when we he collected them, proceeded to read each one....not very polite.

I would've let the ship staff know about the multiple reminders to tip.  That's a shakedown.

Answer me this:  How many trains and airplanes wait for that last ticketed passenger to show up?

We are all familiar with the early rising Chair Hog that uses pool towel, a flip flop, and an old paperback to reserve a pool lounger at 6:00 AM for occupancy in the late morning or afternoon even.

Here's a new one on me.  Library table hogs.  This was taken around 5:15 AM.

Maybe it was a late night party and they just broke for coffee.😜

1 hour ago, coo359a2 said:

or those horribly loud concerts

Do you or have you complained about it?

1 hour ago, SaltyDoggg said:

The problem is having that ridiculous show force fed to you on the Jumbotron when you’re sitting on the pool deck. You’re literally trying to relax while listening to a nonstop infomercial. 

Do you or have you complained about it?

7 hours ago, Thrak said:

We just did 63 days on Grand Princess. There were a few issues but The Wake Show wasn't one of them. We got info about each port - where the supermarket was located, how to get to the botanical gardens, good places to go that weren't a gigantic walk and info on how to get to the places that were farther away. Yes, they mentioned the art auction and Effy but not excessively and not nearly as intrusively as the paperwork they used to bury us under.

 

We haven't sailed on Emerald Princess since 2017 but, at that time, we did 28 days and it was a wonderful cruise. I wouldn't hesitate to book that ship again. We've only sailed on one of the newer ships and it was Royal Princess which is the oldest of the newer ships. We didn't care for the Piazza design and all the loud music that intruded on the upper decks of the atrium area. Our next cruise will be on Discovery Princess and we're hoping to like the layout of Princess Live much better and also hoping for good things from Take Five. We will, however, miss Vines.

Regarding the Piazza, it's described as "inviting" on the Princess website, but when the din from the Piazza is so loud that one cannot converse in Crooners, it to d**m loud.