mike&elena

Cruise Raider, We met you guys on a cruise last year. Remember the great book-onboard sail we stumbled upon? We are going to be on the Total Solar Eclipse cruise in April and we have taken your advice by booking the Premiere package to enjoy the better wine selection and casual dining options. We hope you will share some tips regarding the best venues and wines to enjoy during the cruise. You can email us directly at michaelpaules at gmail dot com if you like. Looking forward to reconnecting onboard! --Mike&Elena 🌴👫🌴

Has anyone cruising this month had any luck getting eggnog (with or without booze) while onboard? It really wouldn't be Christmas without a good 'nog.' 🎅🤶

This is Day 4 for us on the Enchanted. We've walked Gigi's by Alfredo every day at lunch and dinner (on sea and port days) and never seen more than six tables occupied. There is some good news: the ridiculous Premium Dessert benefit included in the Plus package includes all the offerings at the gelato bar! Going for some cones today!!

We've never had trouble using our Kindle Fire tablets onboard any Princess ship. Maybe the problem is with the stand-alone Kindle readers.

We haven't been to Iceland or Tahiti. Our most recent 'long' cruise was 20 days on the Diamond last year to Central America. More recently, we've taken the Emerald to Alaska and along the California Coast. You'll probably recognize Mike because he's 6'3". See you soon! Mike & Elena

We like your style! We'll be on the 22-day Enchanted cruise this month too and we look forward to joining you in Take Five. It appears that the daily Elite and Platinum reception will be held there. Mike & Elena

HaveDog--- Glad you're on the case to stop this no-sharing nonsense! The next task will be to get an equitable number of casual meals based on cruise length. We have 2 upcoming cruises booked with Princess for 22 days and 4 days, respectively. It is ridiculous that we will receive 2 casual dining credits with the Plus package for each cruise. Last week, Carmen Roig, VP of Sales, commented on her webinar that Princess has received so many complaints about the 2 credit per cruise policy that they are reviewing it and will be making adjustments. We can only hope that they do this soon. Enjoy your cruises! Mike and Elena 🌴👨👩🌴

HaveDog-- Loved your post! As you know, we were on this cruise and observed the same thing. Someone remarked, "It looked like a clown threw up." The premium desserts were completely different than the food onboard which was really good. Message to Princess: Skip the sprinkles, the mush and the stale cake. How about a nice hot fudge sunday? Mike&Elena 🌴👨👩🌴

The bottom line is that Inclusive Cruising will soon go the way of the dodo bird. If you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out, but if you put the frog into a pot of normal water and then slowly boils the water, the frog will eventually be heated to death due to its unconsciousness of the gradual temperature change.

The complexity of this new system boggles the mind! Guests are often being mischarged now for things. For example, we have the Plus package on our next cruise and still had to enter a credit card for the $10 shipping fee which was supposed to be complimentary. Can you imaging how things will be with all these new charges. There are so many unanswered questions. Will 2 comped Plus "casual dining" meals be provided for each segment of a multi-part cruise (2 cruises sold as 1)? Will Standard package passengers have to pay "activation fees" for every segment? Think about what this will mean for World cruises! One of the greatest benefits of cruising is not being nickled-and-dimed. One can see enormous confusion for the guests and the staff and l-o-n-g lines at the Purser's desk. Hang on for a bumpy ride!

fpsphil- We will be on the Enchanted in October and would love to get invited to the 360 Experience. How do we locate the 360 manager?

We've seen how busy the waiters are at dinner fetching drinks for the guests. With the Plus package, can you order 2 drinks per person when you sit down to make it easier for the waiters and improve delivery speed?

If anyone on the Emerald right now can confirm that there are foot rests on the Caribe deck balconies, please let us know. Thank you!

We've heard a rumor that foot rests are not part of the new balcony furniture being rolled-out on most Princess ships. Since we have booked a Caribe deck balcony on the Emerald next month, can anyone tell us if we can expect to find foot rests? (If not, we plan to bring our own.) Thanks, Mike & Elena 🌴👨👩🌴

Is there a good, affordable place for a 60-minute message near the dock in Ensenada?

CruiseRaider-- We're on the April 2024 solar eclipse cruise with you and are looking forward to meeting you onboard! As to the need to "raise cain" over the restaurant debacle, of course, we will always be respectful. We actually feel bad for the crewmembers who must try to resolve the mess the new DMY system has created. In the past, head waiters and restaurant managers have pleaded with us to tell corporate leadership that they need to give the restaurant staff the tools and the authority to run their operations instead of locking them into an inflexible, computer-controlled system. The frustration on our part comes from all the wasted time and energy it now takes to get table for dinner. Glad you've been having better luck than we have. And thanks for sharing your thoughts and suggestions! Mike & Elena 🌴👨👩🌴

Here's an update: We called the Princess Dining Reservations phone number. Afrer 30 minutes, the representative said he could not restore our original reservations for a private table at 6:20 p.m. because there are no tables showing as available until after 8 p.m. He said he would send a request to Tech Support and they will look into the issue in 4-5 days. Our past experience says that nothing will happen. The regular response we receive from Princess personnel (including maitre d's and restaurant managers) is, "the computer controls the reservations process and we have very little ability to make changes". Feel the love...

We've had nothing but problems with DMW on our last 6 cruises. The latest twist is that the App has switched us from a private table to a shared table for all 13 nights of our upcoming B2B Alaska cruise. Two months ago, we made a 6:20 p.m. reservation for each night of the cruise, and the App showed us confirmed for a private table. Now, the App shows a shared table and it won't let us restore the original bookings unless we accept an 8:40 p.m. seating. We may have no choice but to raise cain with the Director of Restaurant Operations and Food & Beverage Manager (as we've had to do on each of our past voyages), because our dining experience has been hijacked by the flawed DMW system and its clunky technology. If anyone has a suggestion, please let us know. We're at wits end! Mike & Elena 🌴👨👩🌴

We're sailing from Vancouver on the Crown Princess that same day (May 5). Since this is a smaller ship, we hope that there will be no delay in our departure. We absolutely love the Inside Passage! Mike & Elena 🌴👨👩🌴

We've been looking at an Alaska cruise on the Crown Princess this Spring which was showing tons of unclaimed cabins as late as this morning, and now most of the available inventory has disappeared. Any ideas as to why Princess would have pulled so much inventory so fast? It's unlikely that these cabins have been sold since they have been pulled in rows across the ship. Very strange...

We had the same $0.00 shipping charge on our order today for an April cruise with the Standard fare. The Medallion App says that there is only a shipping charge if you order a custom Medallion or accessory.

We never had a problem with TD on our 21 cruises with Princess before DMW was introduced. Now tables are held by the DMW system based on the initial assignment even when the guests haven't requested same table/same time. Under TD, the staff could make changes...now HAL from the film 2001 is in charge.

We've completed 7 Princess cruises since the pause and have tried to replicate TD on each cruise by pre-reserving the same time and restaurant. It's been a struggle every cruise. We've regularly been placed at bench tables separated by only inches on each side from the adjoining tables. When we requested to be moved for some privacy, we were told that all tables in the dining room had been pre-assigned by the DMW system and that nothing was available since the tables must be held in case their "owners" show up. On our last cruise, we arrived for our 7:20 reservation only to be told that the guests who held the 5:00 reservation were still eating. We would then wait 20-40 minutes each night for them to finish before we could be seated at "our" table. This went on, despite our complaints to the restaurant manager and ROM, for six nights until we were finally moved to another restaurant. The prior system of TD and Anytime Dining worked well for everyone. This system needs to be brought back. Dinner should not have to be so hard!

We took the 20-day Central America cruise on the Diamond on November 27th. It was the BEST cruise ever! The ship was so comfortable and, while the staff is largely new, they were amazing in every respect. Best food, best service and best entertainment in our 28 cruises with Princess. It's too bad that the Diamond is returning to asia soon and won't be available for other itineraries. Our hats are off to Princess for returning the Diamond to service in such a spectacular way!

Tonight's Pistachio Dome on the Diamond. No chocolate. Just brown and green mush!