beg3yrs

With those balconies, it's either put the table out there and stand inside or leave the table at the door and squeeze onto your balcony. Just not enough room! 😣

But, Hapag Lloyd does not allow the passengers to choose itineraries that are illegal or impossible to achieve.

Might help to brush up on Italian curse words ... even though the language on the bridge is supposed to be English (I think) I suspect in a situation like that, one's native language prevails for cursing.

Even to my untrained eye it's very interesting how the two approaches differ. I noticed the aft tug was on the port side in a push mode on the first approach and had to skedaddle when it became clear an allission was imminent. On the second approach it looks like the aft tug, now on the starboard side, has a line attached and is in no danger of being crushed. Hmm ... Still, my eye is untrained and with only a couple of views I see differences but don't understand why ...

I for one (and I'm certain there are others) very much appreciate both NavArch64's and chengkp75's knowledgeable contributions to this thread and to Cruise Critic in general. How much fun would it be to have the both of them together in a bar? I bet neither would have to pay for their drinks.

Seems you paid for the gift cards so IMHO that paragraph doesn't apply. That said, I do think they'd only cover the amount you actually paid for the gift card, not the extra 10%.

I watched the presentation as well. What I've missed is any mention of how the build is doing with regards to schedule. I ask this for a couple of reasons. We've booked the June 1st sailing out of Barcelona and I just read an article about the latest Behemoth of the Seas (the Oasis) going out on her first sea trials. She's scheduled to start sailing with passengers in January. The Sun Princess is scheduled to start sailing in February and she doesn't look anywhere near ready for sea trials, even in a month or so. Of course I'm not a ship project manager but one would think build schedules for these large ships would be similar to some extent. That is a concern to me especially as Princess has been mum on this topic. Any of you insiders have better info?

A friend who used to work in customer service gave me this tip (although I haven't tried it personally); if you're asked to press some number for Spanish, do it. All those folks speak English too and ... they're based in the States.

The winds were forecast to be high at time of departure and the captain's announcement was very clear that yes, the weather was nice now but the forecast was dire for departure time. We've previously experienced problems at ports with high winds. At Ushuaia we couldn't dock because another ship couldn't leave. There are no tugs at Ushuaia. We anchored that evening until the next morning when the winds died down and the other ship left. Then that evening we too were stuck! In Stavanger we were stuck at the dock for almost 24 hours due to winds. Finally the next day the captain announced that another ship with handling characteristics similar to ours was going to give it a go with two tugs. If they made it, we would attempt it as well. There were lots of passengers watching and the other ship made it so we finally left. Of course the next port was canceled.

As of our last cruise on the CB which we disembarked June 24, you can't check your bill on the TV. While the TV still has an option to check your bill, when you select it you're sent to a screen telling you to use the app.

We were on board June 10th through the 24th. Confirming txmanufan's account. On first leg she did make 21 knots going to Grand Cayman. It was on the overnight run from GC to Roatan that we developed the "technical problem" causing us to arrive very late. We did make all ports on the first leg, just pretty late for some. It was the oddest feeling when pushing off the dock (I think the port was Cozumel) we lost ALL power. We were sitting at an aft window in the Palm Dining Room when it happened. Thrusters were running, vibrating us quite a bit and suddenly everything was quiet and dark. Within a minute lights came on (emergency power I believe) but we were clearly drifting. Captain Lubrano made an announcement within five minutes saying there was a problem in the engine room and it would be fixed within 15 minutes. We continued to drift with the wind and/or current pushing us away from the dock for another 20 or so minutes. It started heating up in the dining room as the AC was off. The staff though took it in stride and finished serving our meals. I understand it was the galley that took it the worst with residual heat from the stoves not being removed by the AC system. Running through my mind was what would happen if she started drifting into a dangerous area. Not sure the port had tugs but I realized the anchors could be dropped in an emergency using good old gravity. I also realized that in the morning there was an emergency drill simulating a complete power failure so they could test the power backup systems. Good thing! Anyway, power was restored and all was well for the rest of the trip.

If you read the passenger contract you're basically getting the agreed number of nights on the ship. Ports are not guaranteed.

We got off a B2B on the CB yesterday. Early in the first leg she developed a "technical issue" which limited the speed to a little more than 17 knots. Remaining port calls for that and the next leg were modified for later arrivals and sometimes shorter stays. Looks like the issue is not corrected even now.

Am currently on the Caribbean Princess. Was playing pickle ball yesterday afternoon and observed a security officer with a Starlink contractor. The officer opened a locked access panel and allowed the contractor to go on top of Skywalker's to take signal strength measurements. Had a chance to chat with them. Starlink will be soon installed on the CB, just don't know how soon.

Seems fine now. Just made a mock booking for my cruise next April.

I have been told that "breakage" for gift cards in general is like 25%. I suspect it's lower for these big ticket cards but it's my opinion that you are spot on and this is why Princess, through AARP, can sell 10% discounted gift cards and still make money. If they weren't making money, they would stop.

While names are printed on the medallions, what the medallion transmits is a code that's unique to each medallion. Think of it as a number with lots of digits, so many that Princess will never have to repeat a medallion code, ever. The ship's computer system associates your name, photo, folio, cabin number and probably other items with the medallion code. The crew gets their information on their tablets and devices from the ship's computer. If you lost your medallion, the only thing that could be gleaned from it is the code number. That's it. So, your concern about your printed name being used by the crew should now be relieved.

We bring a Hot Wheels Datsun 240Z painted to match the one I restored when I retired.

Padgett remains head of Princess and now reports directly to Carnival Corp CEO Weinstein. Swartz remains a direct report to the CEO with a completely new portfolio. Her new title, Executive Vice President I believe puts her a step above the other vice presidents. Not sure if this means she's the chosen one for CEO sometime in the future.

In our experience we've not seen a limit on applying GCs to the cruise fare. However the maximum we've applied to a fare is just under $10K. Also, applying GCs to your account folio while on board doesn't seem to have a limit. We did have an experience where a guest services supervisor stopped by during the process and warned me not to apply GCs in large amounts over what we expected to spend. Took one look at our current folio amount and said, "Oh, in your case that's not going to be a problem". 😱 The $1,500 limit before embarkation can hamper your use of the OBC to book excursions ahead of time though.

Not in Alaska yet but the new Sun and Star Princess Sphere class ships have aft-facing accessible balconies.

Definitely offshore IT. It's Sunday on a three-day weekend in the States and someone corrected it within hours?

I wonder if this is an editorial comment from IT or just a lack of prewfreading ...

So booking two 7 day voyages B2B gets you a total of $200 OBC but if you book as a single 14 day voyage you get $250 OBC. Seems it's better to book the single longer voyage. Also by this reasoning, Elite passenger cabins would only receive one mini-bar setup if booked as a single 14-day voyage and many of know this not to be the case.

This seems a bit odd as if one takes a look at my Onboard Services page for our 21-day trip on the Sun Princess in June of 2024, there's a list of services already selected. Note this trip is bookable as a B2B2B while we've booked it as a single booking. I'll use the Specialty Dining example: It's clear that under Item Type, it's for two nights. But ... if you look at the Price, $176.40 that would be $88.20 per dinner, kind of outrageous if you ask me. However if you figure this is for two specialty dinners per leg, it comes to $29.40 per dinner which is right in line as to what a specialty dinner costs these days (yes, I know some are more now). IHMO, this is an indication that yes, you could expect to receive two dinners per leg rather than two for the whole booking. After all, Elite Mini-Bars are provided at each leg rather than on a per booking basis! Of course all this is speculation. Really need someone who has experienced this first hand to chime in here.