sandyoftheseas

We were on our Australian cruise in 2012 so it was a while ago.  I am glad they offer anytime dinning in Australia at least on some ships. Anytime dining is our preference but, traditional dining can be interesting depending on your tablemates.

There was no any time dining on our Australian cruise either.

If you do a private tour you could PROBABLY do both this is what happened to us.  We had a private tour scheduled for the Giants Causeway and our plan was to have the tour drop us off at the Titanic museum at the end  but, our ship was supposed to arrive in Belfast at 8am but arrived at 10am instead.  After the Giants Causeway they dropped us off at the Titanic museum we took pictures outside and went inside at 5:05pm  only to find out the last time you could get tickets was 5pm. Next to the Titanic museum was the SS Nomadic which was the tender boat that took John Astor and the unsinkable Molly Brown  onto the Titanic.  We toured that instead.  I would have enjoyed the Titanic museum but the SS Nomadic was also very cool. 

I agree with the above post.  Try that number it is the Princess casino phone number.

You can return to the ship anytime.  When we overnighted in Dublin we stayed in a castle that night and just informed our cabin steward we would be gone all night.

Rocklinmon-  I took a closer look at the Patters and I seen Snowball Jackpot Bingo on both sea days at 4:15pm. 

I looked at the post just below this one about the Princess Patters on the British Isles cruise and it looks like there is bingo.  I don't play so I didn't know for sure until I read that post ( I don't like giving info that I am not 100% sure about.) 

 The post is Patters for British Isles June 6th 2018. 

RMMariner-  I would recommend to keep a copy of that e-mail just in case it doesn't show on your Personalizer. We always keep a copy of all of our OBC just in case.

Years ago we did the same cruise Vancouver to Seattle.  My husband bought a nice jacket that he still wears. The ship was moving from Alaska to the Caribbean so the jacket was on sale. On another 1 day cruise I bought some jewelry that I would normally not purchase on a ship.

I agree with most posters. Go to your hotel have them keep your luggage and explore the city.  I have never been to Auckland so I can't comment on what to see.   To get acclimated to the time change it is best not to go to sleep when you get there.   We had the same issue when we went to Australia.  We arrived at 6am we dropped our bags at our hotel and went sight seeing all day.  We tried to stay up until 10pm but we both fell asleep around 8pm slept the entire night and was ready to get on our ship in the morning.

  If there is any emergency on board that you will need to take action to you will hear the emergency alarm (I think it's 7 long blasts followed by 2 short blasts of the ship's horn) and you will go to your muster station.   While on our Baltic cruise at about 3am  the fire alarm and flashing light sounded in our room.  The captain came on the loud speaker and stated there was a fire in the incinerator room  (isn't that what an incinerator room is for)   after just a few minutes the captain came back on the loud speaker and stated the fire was extinguished.  If this had been an emergency the loud blasts would have sounded and we would need to go to our muster station.

If you are using a non Princess tour company let them know when all-aboard is and they will have you back in time. 

An option might be to go on your roll call and ask an American if they can add a water package for you and you will pay them when you get on board.  When we went on our Baltic cruise some people wanted more that one bottle of wine so other cruisers on our roll call picked up wine for them.

If you get a balcony cabin you can order a ultimate balcony dinner and propose there.

I can not give you any specifics on the Royal but, on our May 12-day British Isles cruise in the Patter they had a book club.  They had several books in the library (first come, first serve) and later near the end of the cruise they had a book club meeting to discuss the book.

I agree passes for The Enclave is for the entire cruise.  I have not had a massage in the cabanas because you need to go to from the spa to the sanctuary in your robe and I would feel uncomfortable doing that.  I prefer to go to the spa undress in the locker room put on a robe and then go to the massage room and I think you can use The Enclave before or after your massage.

 We went to Antarctica with Quark they provided walking poles with every landing.  You might want to check with your tour company before bringing them to save luggage space and weight.

We did the escape room on our November cruise.  In the Patter there will be a place and time to sign up. It  was at the Outriggers Bar I think around 7:30pm.  I don't remember which night.   They had up to 4 times timeslots that you could sign up for (there was only enough people signed for 3 timeslots) Two days after the sign up was the escape room.  We met our group of ten at the assigned time and place, got a scenario of what we were trying to find and then "locked" in the chapel.  When we got in the room we had to turn on a video to start the escape.  You had 30 minutes.  Later in the week we asked  the person who ran the escape room how many people escaped.  He stated one them did not get out in the 30min.  Our team got out in 22min. and a 3rd team got out sooner (I don't remember how long)  BUT,  one of their team members design escape rooms.   We enjoyed our 1st escape room experience and will do it on another cruise if available.   I know I gave you more info than you requested.  Enjoy

I forgot to add that the currency is US dollars.

In may we were on a British Isles cruise with an overnight in Dublin.  The casino was open every evening at sea and all day on the two sea days.  I had read in a past post that the casino was not open most days but, this was not the case on our cruise.

Pompeii- The phone number for casino rates is 888-772-6697.  

Thanks for all the replies.  I will tell them to gamble as frequently and as much as they feel comfortable and hope for the best!

My DB and SIL will be on their first cruise to Alaska next year.   What is the minimum amount they need to gamble to get the casino offers.  I know they won't gamble enough to get a free cruise but they may gamble enough to get the casino % off offer.  My husband and I gamble about $100 each most nights and receive the % off offer.   Can they gamble a lesser amount and receive the discounted rate?  I have searched the board can't find this answer.  If they enjoy this cruise (which I believe they will) they are planning on going on a Caribbean cruise in the winter.

I agree they are all bad.  I wish they would bring back the chocolate covered strawberries even if the changed it to fewer strawberries.  They are WAY better than any of the canapés available now.

We were there end of June/early July and there was snow on the glacier in Skagway.