k9hndler

Discovery Princess. Inside passage Sept 24-Oct 1st. You would have to work VERY hard to have a Bad Cruise, and I’m never willing to work THAT hard. We had a great cruise on Discovery Princess. My wife and I and our 18 year old daughter shared Cabin E-614, an obstructed balcony with a little extra room. We spent one day pre-cruise in Seattle, and one day post cruise in Vancouver, even though that wasn’t the original plan. I am well aware that every cruise is different for every person, and some of the things that I’ve listed as “needing improvement”, other cruisers on the exact same cruise could have a completely different opinion. These are MINE! The Good (lots and lots)The Bad (needs improvement) and the Ugly (a few). Once again, these comments are my own personal experiences and opinions and they may not be yours. Let’s get to the good stuff first!! The Pluses on Discovery north to Alaska! The ship itself. Discovery princess is an amazing royal class ship with all of the bells and whistles that this class of ship offers. It’s a technological marvel and very service focused ship that does not disappoint. The quality of the food was excellent and much improved over our last cruise on Enchanted. From the steaks in the dining room, to the seafood on the Lido Buffet, to the return of consistent Indian foods offered nightly, we were thrilled with the quality, quantity and care of the food all over this ship. It was so encouraging to see Princess returning to its earlier exceptional culinary form. Bravo. A nightly steak option, as well as Alfredo is now again part of the Princess nightly offerings. Two outlets in cabins instead of the usual one. They even provided an extension cord when they found out I have a CPAP machine and they provided distilled water. We liked that all accounts could be viewed on the app and the TV. You cannot see your bill on the TV but the app has become quite useful. It’s excellent and the best at sea in our opinion. The app has come a long way. Skagway became our main dining room for dinner at 5:20 pm. Rolando and John J from the Philippines were superb. We didn’t have a bad meal in the place and service was very very good. They have new Water stations in Buffett on Ledo, with very good tasting water and a filling station for bottles. Very nice touch. We used it liberally when going on excursions to fill up our bottles. Embarkation came early. Smooth, and we were on by 10:30 am (Elite). There WAS a problem with bags I will discuss under “not so good” Lido staff was once again, a highlight of the cruise. Rarely a plate left on the table, glass left unfilled, or a word of encouragement not spoken. International station in Buffet was exceptional with Italian, German, British, Japanese and other cuisines rotating through on a nightly basis. The kids station on the Buffet was excellent, and my wife was super happy to find that her beloved princess Indian food has returned to its permanent stations on the nightly rotation. The Magician and comedian shows were very good, well worth getting to a little early and getting a good seat. The Salad Bar, fruit station and cheese stations on Lido were fresh, well attended, with an excellent variety. The horizon bistro offered a variety of sandwiches, salads, tacos, chips, salsa, and guacamole, soups, and lots of other finger foods that were always fresh and tasty. The desserts on the cruise were exceptional, and the bakery was putting out products that were fresh and tempting, every single hour it seemed. We loved the Free laundry at the laundromat on the decks. No need for coins, and even soap and dryer sheets were provided. I wished this had been conveyed to us prior to our embarkation, and we would’ve packed a lot less clothes. Many others on the cruise expressed the same sentiment. Service on the Lido deck again. Excellent during all meals. A great crew with good supervision. Rolando Simonte and Johnny J in the Skagway dining room. Ask for them by name you will not be disappointment. They anticipated needs, and were never happy or satisfied till they knew that we were as well. The cultural Talks about Alaska from some Alaska local dude brought on for that task were great. He even narrated the Endicott arm and the Dawes Glacier as the ship maneuvered through the channel, pointing out wildlife and local features with a taste of history that really made it very special. I forgot dudes name, but he was money. Whales. And even more Whales. The captain or bridge crew would point out when whales were spotted near the ship, and the sightings were plentiful, exciting and invigorating. We saw orcas we saw humpbacks we saw other wildlife. Marvelous. The Not so good or needs improvement. We arrived at the pier at 10 o’clock, and there was nobody to meet us and take our bags. It was completely disorganized, with us receiving multiple instructions to go to multiple locations, none of which were ready for the bags. We were finally told that we could wait for the bags to open up sometime around 1030, or simply carry them on ourselves (hint hint nudge nudge). The lack of communication or clear instruction from anyone was a very frustrating way to start the day. We ended up just carrying all of our bags up to our room during embarkation. You now have to PAY for room service (though the hanging card is still free). This is also an effort to steer you towards the premium packages. It’s stupid, it’s crass, but we saw a lot of that during this cruise. I get that the cruise lines are trying to make up for lost revenue during Covid, but honestly, the nickel and diming that we are seeing more and more on Princess is an absolute turn off. No coffee package again!! This one is especially infuriating to us who don’t drink alcohol or sodas or mock tails. In order to enjoy a coffee package you are forced to purchase the more expensive beverage packages. Very annoying. Crepes. I’ve had this complaint for several cruises now, and I always get an argument from trolls on the boards. Crepes are designed to be made fresh for the person with the ingredients inside, which helps it to melt on the wheel. In the name of expediency, princess, pre-cooks the crepes and lays them on a plate. The consumer can then pick up a crêpe and place whatever ingredients you want on it. They finally brought out Nutella and bananas on the last night. Having a crêpe without bananas, and Nutella is kind of like having a hotdog without mustard. What is the point? And the fact that the crepes are fairly cold and the ingredients are even colder, which are piled on top of the crêpe, makes the whole thing a disappointing mess, and A Clear miss for us. Lunch and afternoon tea in Skagway dining room were brutally, slow, with lunch taking approximately two hours. The tea only offered on sea days, seemed understaffed, with entire sections of the dining room being ignored or under served. Our entire section never received scones, which they ran out of at the first Tea. We gave it a shot the second time, and although we did get scones, the cream and jam was a long time coming as well. The whole process seemed disorganized, and not worth the time or effort. It was a real shame, because we really enjoy the tea. Many fellow cruisers left the afternoon tea as disappointed as I was. NFL football was terrible on this cruise. The reception for the Sunday games was so poor, it felt like you were trying to watch channels on cable TV that have been blocked out. Squiggly lines and indistinct voices, I finally just shut it off, even though it was offered on both channels. They were both equally bad. Thursday night football wasn’t even played. Face cloths were missing in the room for the first two days, the room Stewart said they were in high demand. We finally started getting them on day three. Rude passengers. I will say this about the passengers as a whole. I met lots of good people who had great stories to tell and were a real joy. I think part of the problem on this cruise was the fact that there was lots of different cultures and ethnicities all trying to live, eat and enjoy a cruise in a confined space. Line cutting, line butting, barging in front of, getting bumped, all were continuous events all over the ship, but especially bad in the Buffet line. Respecting Personal space was a concept many never seemed to grasp. Uncivil behavior. Not to be confused with cultural differences, many passengers on the cruise were just simply rude. From filling their plates with limited items with people waiting behind, to talking loudly on phones, shouting across crowded rooms, to walking crowded corridors and decks glued to the phones. It was prevalent and bad. Elevators. The elevators were not ever working in a fashion that made any sense. They were often out of sinc, with a long wait times, especially in the central lifts. Because of the long wait times, people would jam on fairly pushing people to the back, blocked other people from entering, or pushed the close button from inside, practically cutting peoples arms off. Thank God our cabin was near the rear elevators, which seem to be a lot more practical. Word of caution if you are on Discovery, bring your walking shoes and use the stairs. Lights in Cabin. For some reason these cabins are designed so that the main cabin light needs to be on in order to illuminate the closet next to the bathroom. This is quite problematic when you have people sleeping and you’re trying to get dressed, which was often the case in my particular bedroom. An independent light for the closet area would seem to be logical. You cannot view or reconcile your account charges on the TV must do it on your app. Swell in the deck on emerald deck was just plain weird. It wasn’t marked, and I can’t imagine that people with walking disabilities Found it much fun. It was right next to E522 and it was a significant swell in the deck hidden by carpet. I did not check the other decks, but it was on both sides of Emerald (. You must Pay for Gigi’s pizza now UNLESS you have one of the premium packages. Just ridiculous attempt to up charge folks. Tea again. 2nd time slightly better but not worth your time. Our biggest complaint of all came from the fact that we used princess air for the first time. We were notified on Friday night VIA a LETTER slipped under our door that, although the ship would be docking in Vancouver at 5 AM Sunday, Customs would not come on to the ship until seven to begin the clearing process. This COULD result in many of the earliest flights, having to be rescheduled, due to insufficient time to make the flights. That was all the information the letter contained and when we inquired at Guest services Saturday morning, it resulted in blank stares and the answer that they’re waiting to hear from headquarters on which flights will be effected and how and IF we would be helped. It wasn’t until late Saturday afternoon that we finally received confirmation that in fact, our flight, which was scheduled for 845 on Sunday morning, was now scheduled for the following day. Not later in the same day, but a completely different day requiring hotel rooms and transportation, etc.. This lack of communication and information resulted in us double booking a hotel, as well as not knowing to the last minute when to make arraignments for a full missed day at home. Again, this is our first time booking with Princess air, so we fully expected Princess would have done the homework to know whether we can make this flight on time, regardless of what Canadian customs would do. In the end, Princess did book us an excellent hotel room, and stated that we could file for any expenses that we occurred as a result of the change, which may or may not be approved on a case by case basis. Very frustrating to have to arrange for another day of pet care, house care, parking expenses, vacation time from work, etc. etc. on less than 30 hours notice. I get it the things happen and we roll with the punches and will enjoy another day in Vancouver, but it would’ve been really nice to have better and more accurate information to go on from the get-go. Excursions. In an unusual move for us, we booked every excursion we took on this cruise through the ship. And it was great. We did the salmon catch in Ketchikan, and my wife and I and our daughter caught salmon. We shipped them home for an additional cost. Our captain, Celeste, and her husband, Mike were excellent In Juneau, we did the whale watch, which was excellent. We saw several humpback whales, as well as sea lions and Eagles. In Skagway, we did the white pass mountain railroad in the morning, and the mushers camp and sled dogs in the afternoon. Both were amazing, the views on the railroad are to die for, and the mushers camp was fun. Make sure you do the full Monte and get pulled around by the dogs. There was another excursion that offered a puppy encounter in town, but you don’t get the actual dogs. Pay the full price and go to the camp. Half the fun was being pulled up the mountain in a German SUV 2 1/2 ton truck that went up a 30 percent grade with 15 people in the back without any issues. So in summation, we had a great cruise on Discovery, and would absolutely do it again. She is a great ship with an excellent crew, and the itineraries was one of the best we’ve done.

This is my review of the Regal Princess sailing from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, on March 18-26, 2023, with stops at Princess Cay (canceled due to swells), St. Thomas, and St. Kitts. My wife and I originally booked an inside cabin for a quick getaway, but we were (unsolicited) seriously upgraded to a deluxe balcony on deck 8, albeit with an obstructed view. We have never been upgraded before; this was a delightful surprise. Our cabin, E521, was perfectly located; it was very roomy, with a nice bathroom, sitting area, and a clear and decent view above the lifeboats. Again, having been upgraded from a basic inside cabin was amazing! Overall, we had a very enjoyable cruise, with many good people on board, and the staff did a wonderful job. My wife reached Elite status (Black Medallion) at the beginning of this cruise, which made it even more enjoyable. Thanks to a girl's cruise years ago, my beloved MIL brought her on; I’m only one cruise behind her, so it's all good. There were a few hiccups and some things Princess could do a little better, but that does not detract from the fact that we had a wonderful time. Below are only my observations; others on the same cruise may have different impressions and experiences. My thoughts are simply on the Pros and Cons we experienced sailing on the Regal during this cruise. Pro’s 1. Service on Lido/Horizon was very good. The crew members were quick to pick up a plate and bring you a drink, and they always offered smiles and pleasant demeanors. 2. English Pub lunch in Horizon was one of my highlights on the cruise, and it was offered in the Lido on the specialty side of the Buffet during one lunch early on in the cruise. They had fish and chips, mushy peas, and even Scotch eggs. The Pub lunch was offered in the dining room on Enchanted and at the Crown Grill on other ships. 3. Kids Corner. This was an additional station on the main line side of Horizon and had multiple items for kids that rarely varied. Fish fingers, chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, and hotdogs. I saw many adults eating the fish fingers and the chicken nuggets. They were very good. 4. The deserts on this cruise were an upgrade from prior Princess cruises. Some highlights included the oatmeal raisin cookies, the “puddings,” more like bread pudding, and even the sugar-free desserts. 5. Cabin coffee service in the morning was great, on time, with hot coffee and danishes; a wonderful way to start the day. Overall, Room Service was excellent; sometimes, we got our food within 10 minutes of placing an order! 6. Our Room Steward, from Ukraine, was amazing, but I don't recall ever having a bad Steward on a Princess cruise. The twice-daily service is a cruise highlight for us. 7. Although we selected “anytime” dining, we settled into The Allegro dining room in the rear of the ship on the 6th floor. The Dining Room is closed off, meaning guests must take the elevator or stairs down from the rear-most elevator bank; the Allegro cannot be accessed via walking over while elsewhere on the 6th floor. Our Dining room crew was amazing, especially Crispin Oanes from the Philippines, and we requested him every night. We were never disappointed; he anticipated his needs and was extremely attentive. 8. Fresh Popcorn was available at the ice cream stand (Swirls) on the Lido deck for every movie and nighttime event and was good. It comes now in tinfoil bags which helps retain the heat and allows you to add salt as needed, and it does need it. 9. Crepes station is located on the Lido Horizon specialty side and was available most nights. They had multiple ingredients, and you could build them as you like. 10. Also available on the Lido deck was soft butter at the waffle station for breakfast rather than those hard little blocks of butter that tear the bread. Lido also had large dispensers of ketchup and mayonnaise to pump your own. Big upgrade. 11. Embarkation was smooth, and we were on the ship by 10:30. My wife hit Elite status on this cruise, and we waited in the Elite lounge and were put on the ship first. Good stuff. 12. The Grand Atrium and Piazza is a great place to grab a coffee and watch the ships complement walk by. It’s spacious and beautiful and has lots of seating. Many events are held at this location, including line dancing, special events, and nightly music. Great place to read a book and people watch. 13. Waffle station every morning. Big Belgian-style waffles with all the fixings, including whipped butter. Delicious as they are made to order. 14. The hamburger/Hotdog grill stations begin giving out pagers/buzzers for lunch. At first, I didn’t particularly appreciate having to wait, but then I realized the beauty of the system as you can go back to enjoying the sun and the movie in the pool and get your food when it’s ready. The french fries at the station are particularly good; hot, fresh, and salty with as much ketchup, mayonnaise, or other condiments, as you can wish. 15. The music played during sea days, including some life, at the main pool deck was excellent, with many hits from the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. There were a lot of kids on the cruise; they enjoyed the music as much as the “mature” folks like me. That’s hard to do on any ship, but they did well on Regal. 16. The Retreat pool on deck 17 forward is amazing. It’s adults-only with bungalows you can rent from the Sanctuary, but all of the chaise lounges around this pool are free for the taking; they do go quickly on sea days. 17. I am very fond of soups and chowders, and Regal had some really good ones. The New England clam chowder and the Chesapeake crab soup were particularly good. 18. The last day afternoon cake and pastry bar in the main Buffet was a madhouse. Guests repeatedly broke the line to get a piece of the many cakes offered. Still, the cakes were top-notch and worth the wait. 19. As always happens during a cruise, we had some incorrect charges to our account, but the guest service desk crew on five quickly took them off without any argument or issues. 20. You can download your photos now through the Princess App, making it easy and painless. Since we usually take the hard copies and scan them in digital format anyway, this saves us a step, and we don’t have to carry hard photos off the ship. 21. We love the ship's Laundromat and use it at least twice on a seven-day cruise. Although free laundry is an Elite perk, we did not want to wait two days for its return and opted for self-service at $6/load. This allows us to pack lightly and only bring a carry-on, which makes things so much easier at embarkation, de-embarkation and even at the airport. Not all cruise lines have this option, and we appreciate that Princess still offers it. 22. Regal still has a Library, a quiet place to exchange a book or get a game or the daily Suduko puzzle. 23. Many kids were on the cruise, including a large high school marching band from Minnesota. For the most part, they were all very well-behaved and well-chaperoned. The marching band even performed once or twice during the cruise in the Piazza. 24. The Cruise Director did a good job of keeping us informed, via the PA system, of daily changes, updates, and highlights. Not too many, not obnoxious, and just right to keep us informed. She was excellent. 25. I loved that the Horizon Bistro, next to the bakery section, had tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, and taco fixings daily. A day with a taco in it is a good day. It also featured sandwich fixings, barbecue, and other daily goodies. Don’t sleep on the Bistro. 26. Besides coffee, my wife and I enjoy a nightly cup of hot tea, and the ship is well equipped with lots of different flavors and brews of tea. On the Horizon deck, you can get unlimited coffee and tea, make your own, or have the staff bring it. 27. I am an admitted foodie, so please indulge me in all the Horizon comments, but here are a few of my favorite things about this amazing piece of the Princess team (the Horizon Buffet). Several times had a baked potato bar with all the fixings. They had a Ramen soup night twice with all the fixings. They had German night with my favorite schnitzel. They had an amazing fruit and salad bar open almost all the time; with every salad option, they had a cheeseboard open continuously with good quality hard and soft cheeses from around the world, served with crackers or hard freshly baked rolls. They had a chocolate fountain with all the fixings multiple times when crêpes were unavailable, and they had a pasta station almost every night; choose your pasta and sauce made for you as you waited. They had carving stations every day, and every night, with juicy turkey, tender roast, leg of lamb, and rack of beef. I can’t even list all of the things available. Just an excellent experience. 28. Some rude, oblivious, and inconsiderate cruisers were detected from our great overall experience. This included ignoring pleasantries, crowding others in elevators or lines, shoving onto elevators before others had a chance to get out, gleefully not allowing others into elevators, brushing past others for better seats, and leaving bulky personal items (walkers, strollers, etc.) smack dab in the middle of walkways. While many of these behaviors are unfortunately normal on cruises, they haven't, for us, been common on PRINCESS Cruises. 29. Movies Under the Stars (MUTS) was great, with the first run of movies including the new Top Gun movie. They also played a part of March Madness (American college basketball tournament) on the big jumbo MUTS screen with free popcorn and blankets. Princess cares for sports fans during hockey, basketball, and especially (American) football seasons. And now the things Princess could do a little better on. Disclaimer, All “FIRST world” problems. 1. No more Daily East Indian food options on Lido Buffet. This entire station has been removed and is now only an occasional specialty item. This was especially disappointing to my DW, who loves Indian food and enjoys Princess for this very reason. For those unfamiliar, Princess always offered Indian food as its sub-section of the Buffet. It was tasty and tempting and always fresh. I spoke with a chef who commiserated the crew was similarly disappointed, as it was a very popular feature, and started the decision came from Corporate to discontinue Indian in lieu of other items, except as a stand-alone entrée on occasion. 2. Omelet station. Only offered on the specialty side of the Buffet and was always busy with long lines and long (15-20 min) waits. Many ordered 3-4 omelets which slowed it down further. 3. Princess no longer offers a coffee card option. Other than upgrading to the non-alcoholic beverage package. Previously you could purchase 15 Specialty coffee drinks for approximately $30, which also came with unlimited brewed American-style coffee. My wife and I often purchased this card, as we do not drink sodas or alcoholic beverages. The non-alcoholic drink package for one person for the entire cruise was $300 and ridiculous. Princess needs to bring back the coffee card option. Very disappointing. 4. No PRINCESS CAY. Due to weather concerns, Princess Cay was canceled the morning of, so many people were already suited up and ready to go when they made the announcement. This is a con for me for two reasons; since my wife and I had planned to enjoy the nearly empty ship, we had instead to deal with many people on the ship complaining, fussing, and moaning all day about missing a beach day. Brutal. 5. Upcharges on food and beverages. The dining room experience has become quite bland, with many of the regular Princess fare being an upcharge now. Lobster, good Steak, and Prime rib (only offered on the last night as a regular item) all cost extra in the regular dining room, and meat options are limited and medium/low quality when they are offered. Our lamb was extremely fatty, and the Beef Wellington and veal scallopini were tough and chewy. The old everyday options of shrimp cocktail, steak, and salad were noticeably absent. My wife asked if they were dumbing down the menu to force us to pay more for better food or specialty dining. That is a fair question. 6. Food, beverage, and specialty package-up charges around every corner. Has Princess morphed into their parent company, Carnival? I hope not, but its clear profits are driving the machine more and more. 7. The Crepes station often had no bananas and never had Nutella. Instead of stuffing the crepes, they laid ingredients on a flat pre-cooked crêpe, taken out of a warmer. This is the second cruise in a row where this technique has been used. I’m sure it saves time and the wheel cleaning, but it’s far from the original crepe, which is usually stuffed and served hot. 8. The production Shows were not as good as Enchanted and very average as a whole. 9. Once again, a mad rush to book the Sanctuary when first allowed on, and even with my wife being the 2nd person on the ship, we were fortunate to get a spot during sea days (port days were still open). The back-to-back cruisers book most of the spots before regular boarding even begins. If you enjoy and love the Sanctuary, you better get on quickly and then beeline to it to get the few spots left. 10. The Sanctuary still offers free teatime at 3 PM. Initially, the staff seemed distracted and inattentive. The manager mentioned one staff member was on their 1st cruise. Assigning a new team member to a Premier experience indicates staffing must be short-handed. After bringing it to their attention, the service improved 100%. 11. Alternate sugar options, for us, Splenda (yellow) and Equal (blue), are difficult to find and are now strictly rationed. They are no longer left out, must be specifically requested, and are dolled out sparingly. The line had 75% foreign and 25% brand-name sugar subs. Sugar caddies were nonexistent on the tables, but each table did have a white sugar dispenser in a glass ball. Had I known this ahead of time, I honestly would have brought my own with me. 12. Chair hogs. No surprise; it happens on every cruise, unfortunately. On every sea day (and there was four plus), multiple families were observed saving chairs to which they never returned, used for bags and gear, or gaming back hours later to use. One family saved chairs in the sun AND the shade nearby, which they would occasionally switch between. As every chair on every deck was taken, and people were looking for one, this highlighted the behavior as rude or ignorant. 13. Formal night on this cruise was not very formal. Most men wore shirts and ties, with the occasional suit coat and a rare tuxedo. Ladies wore simple dresses and shoes. On last night's formal, one couple turned away while trying to get into the main dining room wearing shorts. So, to sum up, Regal is still a great ship and a wonderful experience with an excellent crew. My wife and I had a refreshing and delightful cruise and met some nice people worldwide. Princess continues to be an attentive service-focused line and makes every effort to make cruisers feel special and Loved! The Love Boat, indeed. My wife and I booked Enchanted on a repositioning cruise in November, and I will certainly post a review when we get off.

Yes, look at the review. The offer a pub lunch On sea days in Capri. Not everyone.

Cheers. Make sure you hit the Capri for lunch on occasion, ESPECIALLY for the pub lunch.

Agreed, Steak was in short supply, but when it WAS on the menu, it was good. Long ways from the Strip being on the Princess Favorites.

Email was no problem as was texting and even surfing the web. I kept in touch with work in real time.

Its a great location. No noise from above or below, a few steps from the aft and middle elevator banks come close to the laundromat facility, and you get plenty of steps in to work off those extra desserts.

I hear you but I also saw him have 18 cabins to take care of, pre COVID they were more like 15 per person.

Yes, even though he had 18 cabins our steward would make up the pull down bead and freshen the cabins. I think because they have a large amount of cabins Princess is trying to lighten their workload, but the reality is that everybody wants them to come in twice a day so they do anyway. In other words they just work harder which is why I tip more buried

PA? What are we in Juinor High School? You have NO idea how I handled this situation nor what kind of person I am in Gerneral. But we ALL know what kind of person YOU are now. Just change your name to KAREN and be done with it. By the way, the boards has a wonderful feature where you can see every thought a person has posted on these boards. Do your research next time on me, I did on YOU KAREN.

It was fair, but movies and streaming was very slow. DOWNLOAD everything you can before you board.

Agreed, we like to cruise when the kids are in school as well. As I said, I don't mind kids, it's the lack of PARENTING that gets to me

Yes, I paid for them in Paris, and I paid for them on ENCHANTED, to the tune of a pretty hefty price tag for my family of four. What's your point? If they are prepared improperly or missing key ingredients. should I just suck it up and show them how "Excited" I am (that they did not meet my expectations?)because they are part of the basic fare?. My review notes Good and NOT so good, Things that I personally think should be improved. Cold crepes as STANDARD with cold ingredients is how they are serving the product does not meet my expectations for fresh crepes. I shouldn't have to ask them to be prepared correctly, but I DID, and got the attitude I described in my review. By the way, since you enjoyed Nutella on every night of your cruise, I really can't relate to that because they ran out on day 2 of my ten day cruise, also noted in my review. Maybe if I had acted "excited" they would have sent a life boat out the nearest island and returned with some Caribbean Nutella. Funny, ever review I have ever posted on CC has at least ONE person that wants to argue why my opinions and experiences are "Wrong". What Gall. Thats why the call them opinions Itchy.

Whether the US states the ship cruises from or near have legal recreational marijuana, use or not is really immaterial. Marijuana is not allowed to be smoked in cabin, state rooms, balconies, or anywhere else where can affect other people. As far as I know, marijuana is illegal to have on the cruise ship at all. I’m not debating legal or non-legal use of marijuana, I’m simply stating that smoking of any product, cigarettes, cigars, or marijuana, in or around your cabin that permeates the walkways is rude, uncivil, and immature. The poor people that have to occupy that state room next! As far as the laws, i.e. rules of the ship go, you can be thrown off at the next stop if you’re caught with drugs or smoking in your cabin, can result in a very serious fine. for the record, the smell of cigarette smoke was just as strong as the marijuana smoke.

Good morning to you. I’m not sure what the wine makers dinner is but it was an offered to us but then again, I don’t drink alcohol. The crêpe station is open most of the evening during dinner and closes down around 10 PM each night. It’s on a specialty side of the main Buffay close to the salad station and the cheeses.

We just returned from our 10 day, southern Caribbean adventure on the Enchanted princess. Rather than provide a laborious and verbose review, I will put my review in bullet points for everybody to digest. For background we are a family of four with two teenagers, and we had a mini suite located on deck 11 midship. The Good Service on Ledo. Top notch. Never had to wait for water, ice, tea or a plate to be removed. This is the biggest improvement we’ve seen since Covid. Wait staff in dining room Amalfi. Jeff and Gladys from PI were great. The Amalfi dining room is hard to get to so many people didn’t find it till near the end of the cruise. We often had four or five staff to ourselves. We booked the 520 slot, and it was impressively underused. Cabin Steward was amazing. Princess is still not offering to turn down service, but he did come twice a day to the cabin. Football on lots of places. All the NFL games are played either on the cabin TV, MUTS or various bar throughout the ship. Sanctuary and Enclave. MY WIFE LOVES BOTH AND THEY BOTH IMPRESSED AND DID WELL. Passenger help desk. Unlike on previous cruises we have taken during COVID , the main help desk always had at least four people working it and the lines were never very bad . Dance shows were impressive and Aretha HOMAGE was great. Singer CiCi killed it. The cruise had the Most elaborate stage shows I have seen on board. Don’t miss the show called the spotlight bar. It’s as good as any I’ve seen a float. Food quality all over the ship was good with a few exceptions (noted below). Pizza was good and still free for now on deck 6. Cabin steward. Ours was Manuel from the Philippines, and he was impressive. Especially since he has 18 cabins to take care of. We have course tipped him generously. Service was good everywhere on ship. Again, a serious improvement since we cruised during the Covid era. Kids club is good. My daughter enjoyed it. However, there was a lot of teen drama in the 10 days. Typical. Coffee Bar. The crew that runs the coffee bar are sometimes overwhelmed by crowds, and few people find the one on the Lido deck until later in the cruise. Still, they did a great job and produce a great product. We were happy to find that the lunches (only on sea days) and the breakfast in the dining room, which was the Capri, where exceptional. One of the sea days had lunch as a Pub lunch in dining room. Bangers and mash, fish and chips, pea, soup, and my favorite scotch egg done perfectly. Dessert was the bread-and-butter pudding with raisins and vanilla sauce, Unreal. We were happy to see they continued pub lunch tradition, even if it is in the dining room. Every night as part of late night eats, they have the crêpe station and it is extensive. With one caveat mentioned below. Not so good. AC was spotty. All over the ship people were complaining is either too cold or too hot. Our cabin was so stifling we had to open the slider numerous times to get some air, which was untenable for long periods of time and unadvisable as well. 2. The princess favorites available every day in the dining room, has been shortened. No nightly steak option, No Alfredo options and other cost cutting measures noted. It seems a subtle but deliberate push towards the specialty dining. Our staff was able to produce Alfredo on occasion and it was on the menu at least once. Steak was an option on the main menu multiple times throughout the week, but the nightly option to get a New York strip is gone. 3. Smoke from casino. This is still an issue and I cannot believe it still is. The casino is on deck six and it butts up to the atrium. The smoke is sometimes so bad that it permeates the atrium, plaza and deck seven the shops if you don’t like cigarette smoke it makes the atrium completely unlivable, which is a shame because the atrium is a huge hit being used from multiple venues and shows. 4. No maps or excursion people on dock. This has been an ongoing issue during Covid, and even now. No one on the dock was from shore excursions, nor could anyone give us advice on taxis, beaches, or anything else. 5. MJ smell. Maybe this was a sign of the times, but often times we would walk through the smell of cigarette smoke or marijuana smoke as we made our way to our cabin. It is clear that people are smoking on their balconies, or in their cabins, which, of course puts the room Stewart’s in a very awkward position. 6. Oddly, the ship often ran out of things and items that you would think were vital, or at least popular. After the second night, there was no Nutella for the crêpes for the rest of the cruise. When I pointed out to the head chef that I really enjoyed the Buffet, but it was troubling that they ran out of Nutella so quickly, he stated that it was a very popular item and that’s why they ran out. Cruise ships aren’t supposed to run out of popular items I pointed out. On the line, they would often produce some delicious nuggets, such as coconut fried shrimp, Samosa’s, and other tidbits, but they were often in limited quantity, and people would load up their plates, in an effort to get some for their family’s, which is often the response when people see things running out. Not to sound spoiled here, but we’re not used to cruise ships running out of the best items they have. Ordering and planning seem to be lacking especially on the Lido deck. This is a shame because it’s the best Ledo we’ve seen afloat in many years. 7. Screaming children. Listen here, I am a dad of three kids and I understand and can relate to people who have the occasional problem or children having an issue (tired cranky etc). That is not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the permissive parents that allow their children to run around in public areas screaming yelling, knocking things over and bothering everybody around them without a hint of any discipline or self-control being administered. Being that this was a Christmas cruise. We expected a lot of children, and there were, and some of them were delightfully well behaved, but the ratio of Bratz to good children on this cruise was exceptional. Again, is this our permissive parenting society, or cruising in general? The jury is still out. 8. Crowding/stopping/standing Elevators. It was not a full cruise, but it was pretty close. The elevators often were packed, and many people had no idea how to operate an elevator with etiquette. People would crowd on before you had a chance to get off, push multiple buttons to get the fastest elevator to their location, overly crowd the elevators with little regard for personal space, or in a few cases, demanded that people get off because it was too crowded and COVID don’t you know. (don’t even get me started on the mask wearers on this cruise). People would often pull up and stop in lanes of traffic, converse with each other, in the middle of aisles, and crowd around and in front of you in the small lines all over the ship. In many cases, this seem to be a cultural issue, and not deliver it rudeness. Either way it was notable. 9. Again with the crepe station The crêpe station would make the pancake portion ahead of time and then put them in a warming tray. They would then assemble them as you asked for the ingredients. The lukewarm crêpe was never put back on the wheel to melt the ingredients, which resulted in cold ingredients in a lukewarm shell. When I pointed this out to the Chef I also noted that I had never seen crepes made this way, he looked at me and asked rather sarcastically where I had eaten them before. I told him Paris, France, and they didn’t put them together the way he does. He just looked at me. 10. The only time they had lunches and high tea in the dining room we’re on sea days. It would be nice to see these return to win every day offering. To sum up the enchanted, princess is amazing ship with lots of incredible features, clean, new and beautiful. The Medallion app worked GREAT, with ship mate locator and daily activities a big hit. The staff has improved greatly since the scourge of Covid wreaked havoc on the industry. The itineraries, for the southern Caribbean was great, and overall, we had a fantastic cruise. Princess is well on her way back to being the Line we all know and love!

Our family of four were blessed to have Cindy from RCR tours Take us on an amazing journey around the beautiful island of Barbados today. Cindy was smart funny, knowledgeable, kind, accommodating, and tailored the tour to our needs. We spent three hours with her but honestly it could’ve been six more, but we let her get back to her family on Christmas day. We were so grateful that she had left her family on Christmas day to spend a few hours with us and show us the amazing and incredible island country of Barbados. You cannot go wrong with Cindy. Highly recommend.

Say hello to your Hubby, and yes, I completely agree working with police canines is the best job I ever had. Mr. Lawrence was more than willing to take us any beach we want to go, but we decided to skip that part. He also had several locations picked out for lunch, and was very knowledgeable in that area as well. He basically catered the door to exactly what we wanted, we had three hours, and he jampacked with everything we wanted to do, we stopped often for Photo ops and local treats. You’re going to have a great time with Mr. Lawrence

I booked a tour for my family of four with Lawrence of Antigua. I communicated with Mr. Lawrence via telephone and email, he confirmed our price, tailored the itinerary to our needs and arranged the pick up location in advance. He met us at the pier brought us to his air condition, clean, well serviced van, and gave my family of four, and I am amazing, informative, funny, view of his Island Paradise/Country. Mr Lawrence provided cold drinks (beer,soda and water) an air-conditioned van and his charming take on Antigua and the world in general. I highly recommend Mr. Lawrence as your tour guide if you are looking to see the island the way it’s meant to be seen.

This is why we come with cash on board and pay the staff that helps us UP FRONT (day 2-3). Wait staff, sanctuary staff, cabin steward, all get some green on the front end. Improves everything.

You should be fine if you show up at 5:10. No line then at all.

Below are some of the highlights and not so highlights of our recent Caribbean cruise on the Caribbean Princess from Fort Lauderdale to Princess Cay, Saint Thomas, and Saint Kitt May 28-June 4 In this brave new world of cruising with Covid, depleted crews are the main story. I’m hoping we all don’t have to settle for this kind of mixed cruise experience, but I feel we might. Time will tell. Here is the GOOD. Check in for platinum and elite guests was fairly quick. Otherwise long LONG lines. Itinerary St Kitts and St Thomas were good. Princess Cay was Princess Cay. This Beach was VERY rocky and rough on feet probably from whatever storm came in recently and washed away the man-made sand. Meals, sides, and Deserts, especially in main dining room and Anchor Grill were great. Comedian and Trivia games great. Don Frieze who was our comedian did a very good job and did several shows. Assigned Dinning 5:20 pm and Staff great for avoiding the lines. (More on lines later) Scones and teatime good. They also offered tea and scones on Lido in afternoon. Cold Towels and drinks on pier when return. Nice touch. Cruise director Gary from NZ was good. Medallion service. Good (and bad see below). The variety, availability, and flavor of the hot food on Lido deck offerings are very good. Extended hours into the early evening and even late-night snacks. The staff on the Lido did a good job keeping the tables cleaned and getting drinks. We had two teenage girls on the trip and they loved kids club, the pools, the gym, the endless food on the Lido deck the international Café, and especially the dining room meals. My wife booked the sanctuary and enjoyed it thoroughly for the whole cruise. (Here’s the Bad) Unfortunately, the sanctuary is open to be booked for back to back cruisers first BEFORE general boarding, so it’s very hard to book any spots at all as a new cruiser. Frustrating. My wife had to “Tip” her way in as it was completely booked, and we were on the ship and at sanctuary by 1pm. Bad and very bad. Cigarette Smoke from casino permeates the atrium area and elevators especially on deck 7,6,5. (HOW is this even a thing in 2022?) Lines, Lines, lines, everywhere the lines. Elevators, Pizza, Hotdogs, coffee in the morning at the international Cafe was often brutal slow, and even getting a seating at any time dinning was out and up the stairs. I recommend you get assigned dinning and early as possible. Our 5:20 fixed dinning became a blessing. Many of the lines are due to poor or slow management and logistics, or untrained or slow staff. (Example, only one person working at International cafe, and rather than take from the well-stocked and pretty display case, every item is retrieved from the kitchen which he must walk back to every order). Overall Staff shortage and training. It seems obvious, returning from the Covid situation many of the more experienced and knowledgeable crewmembers did not come back to the Caribbean princess. Many of the staff were unknowledgeable, trained mediocre and some had a hard time communicating in English. Some didn’t understand the basic layout of the ship and could not direct folks to where they wanted to go. Slow dinners everywhere. Possibly again to staff shortages, the wait staff have too many responsibilities, too many tables, and are scrambling to keep up. Make sure you give yourself at least 2-3 hours for an average dinner in the main dining rooms. The staff are trying very hard, but they’re overwhelmed. Cabin service is once a day. I gave my guy another tip so we get two, and he was wonderful, But again he seemed to have an enormous number of cabins to take care of. Medallion was second rate compared to other ships with limited services and access. I could not check my charges on the cabin TV. Did not recognize us as we approached the door (especially with hands full), very limited access from cabin. Medallion Internet was painfully slow and required rebooting often to get basic services. Disembarkation at each port, there was no water available for purchase, no maps, no/few beach towels, and the shore excursion staff seemed to be oblivious and very little help. Ditto on coming back. Long lines, only one gang way open, people standing in the hot sun, and security undermanned and overworked. Brutal. Showers in our balcony cabin were old style fixed on wall instead of hand help, and stall was tiny. Very tough for bigger folks. General smell of sewage near rear stairwell on 12 and 11 for the entire cruise. Stifling hot and humid in the central elevator banks. Above deck five it just gets worse and worse. We were on 12 and it was like a sauna most of the time in this atrium waiting A long time for elevators. Mutts Movies. Dumpling? Sound of music? When Jungle Cruise becomes your premier movie for the week you are hurting folks. What happened to ALMOST first run movies ? Cabin Phones. Don’t pick it up and try to dial ANYWHERE. Desk, dinner reservation, excursions, just go down and wait in the long azz lines and don’t waste your time on a phone no one will answer, or answer and not understand you. Ledo Buffet had the center sections devoted to many small individual sized servings in glasses and small bowls. Cold cuts, vegetable, potato salad, olives, chips, cheese, fruit. They took up a lot of room, we’re never very cold, and not much were eaten. They often sat for a while and tasted like it. I guess it’s a COVID measure, but it wasn’t popular from what I saw. Overall either burnt out crew or a lack of professionalism being shown by staff. We an got a Few eye rolls ( one from a female matre de!) at tea time, lots of sighs from some in service spots, lots of angry frustrated moments seen between the crew. Unheard of in the past with Princess. Some other small cost cutting measures that really annoy us. They replaced half-and-half with regular milk, you have to actually ask for half-and-half for your coffee and it takes forever to come. The brewed coffee drinks are often 3/4 full at best, I guess they’re “leaving room for milk” in the latte?!? This captain was literally one of the most long-winded with his announcements of any captain in our 26 cruises. He made an announcement at the last dinner that my wife timed at 9 1/2 minutes. 9 1/2 minutes to tell us about a weather advisory. Often repeating the same information over and over again. He was a better Ship captain then he was a public speaker thank God. Overall, we enjoyed our cruise but we definitely look forward to princess becoming princess again.