RSS from SF

--- Agreed; we enjoyed the same E410 cabin on Discovery Princess in April: ---

--- Please note that Diamond Princess does not have a 24-hour-a-day eatery outside of room service. All other Princess ships currently sailing Hawaii round-trip from the West Coast (Los Angeles/San Francisco/Vancouver) do. I know this would not matter to most people, but I consider this because I am an extreme night owl*. When cruising -- especially when the itinerary includes many sea days -- I prefer a ship with at least one eatery available 24 hours a day outside of room service. Pre-COVID, one thing NCL/RCL/Carnival/Princess had in common was: 24 hour a day eateries available outside of room service, on most of their ships in their fleet. Pre-COVID, the exceptions I am aware of were: RCL's four Radiance-class and four Vision-class ships; Princess' Diamond Princess and Island Princess (of the ships still in the fleet). -- In these early post-COVID times, I know some Princess' International Cafes closed late night (some still not 24 hours yet), and Carnival has started closing all pizza eateries from 3am to 8am (hopefully just temporarily). --- * When not cruising I usually don't sleep until after 4 or 5 AM. On a ship I don't necessarily eat at 3 or 4 AM, but I enjoy having a place outside of my cabin [especially if my spouse is sleeping] where I can hang out at a table near others and drink coffee and read/plan/etc. ---

--- We have a taken aboard a minimum of 5 large fresh whole limes* each cruise on our last 3 cruises out of San Pedro, carried at top of everything else in our carry-on backpacks -- on Majestic (December), Grand (December), and Discovery (April). *To squeeze into and garnish Courvoisier and Ginger Ale 🙂. ---

--- Grand Princess appears to be one of the happy exceptions where Traditional Dining can be achieved. On Grand we had the same waitpersons and tables on our 2021 October-November B2B2B and December-January (with New Year's Eve) cruises, with 7:00 PM reservations. Apparently, the Grand Princess MDR staff has found a way to work around the ugly Dine My Way system constraints, to give the passenger the Traditional Dining experience. On most other ships [especially talking about you, Majestic Princess!], it appears that the staff usually has been unable to find a way to give passengers Traditional Dining every night. ---

--- Absolutely. Post-COVID we have sailed 8 times on Princess since October 2021 and always have continued to bring our large insulated mugs as well as our 40-ounce Hydro Flask thermos for our coffee. Early in the mornings before the buffet is open we bring both our mugs and thermos to the beverage stations to fill up. Both pre- and post-COVID we always use a clean cup from the station and fill that cup with the coffee, and pour that into our mugs and thermos. In the mornings seated at the buffet we give our mugs to the waitpersons to fill and refill. ---

--- We have been on Grand 4 times (b2b2b in October-November 2021 and another in December 2021-January 2022); she was in FANTASTIC shape -- a real gem in the Princess fleet. Grand gleamed with polish inside and out, and with newer upholstery. To us, Grand shined as well as Majestic (November and December 2021) and Discovery (April 2022). In comparison to Grand, we felt that Ruby Princess (November 2021) was the ship that felt a little worn around the edges. Additionally for us, Grand's crew and service has continued to be better than any other Princess ship we have ever sailed. ---

--- Alfredo's Pizzeria: Pizza Tarantina with double Mussels and extra Roasted Garlic (and a side of crushed red pepper flakes to sprinkle on as I go through each slice). ---