beg3yrs

Of course different people have different experiences. Glad Level six had a much better time. Of course meeting up with friends makes a big difference too. I didn't mean to come across as being down on the PES Happy Hour, we usually enjoy it, especially when it's in Skywalkers with the magnificent views.

Just off the Island Princess for 38 days. Happy Hour was in the Explorer's Lounge as the Island has not Skywalkers or Vista Lounge. The snacks were in the dark and dreary back corner. We attended only a couple of times mostly on sea days as it was right after the afternoon Bingo session. Never saw a large number of people in there.

Sapphire also has Skywalkers - the best place for scenic viewing out of the elements!

Thanks for that. I see no mention of any Heart of the Rockies cruisetours. They are currently listed with the Alaska itineraries. Have you heard any word on them?

Cruise Critic uses a specialized forum area called a Roll Call. It's divided into specific cruises and allows those sailing to electronically meet each other, arrange private tours, get specific questions answered and much more. Here's the link to your cruise: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2790821-island-princess-may-26-2023-17-day-fire-ice-explorer-33-day-including-arctic-circle-grand-adventure/?do=findComment&comment=61460274

There is no "rental" or "purchase" of the tablets. They are included although you must return them. If you look at the cost per card, it's the lowest when you purchase the most expensive package. And, if you choose to use your own device, it's the same price to play. Early in our last cruise many players didn't understand odds and were purchasing only paper tickets. DW, I and another couple were the only players with tablets with 36 cards per game (plus a paper with three cards per game to give you something to do) and for a couple of sessions we all pretty much cleaned up with winnings until the paper ticket players caught on. It was fun while it lasted!

No, dementia hasn't set in yet (as far as I know ...), and YES, I am 100% sure this is on Princess. I just played with a tablet two days ago on the Island Princess. Prizes won on tablets are applied to the winner's casino account so there's no issue with locating them for the payout. Those who win on paper must be in the room for the traditional callout and subsequent card verification as well as to receive a cash payout.

Tablets are supplied by the Casino at no charge (of course you must return them). You can also choose to play on your own connected device if you download the OceanCasino app. If you have your own device you don't even have to be in the Bingo venue. We did this once when we had a conflicting event and even won when we weren't in the room. Talking to the Bingo staff afterwards they said it was a first for them and was terribly confusing until they realized it was a remote player.

Oh yeah, it seems to take forever for the hot water to reach the shower.

They have been running at 7:30 and 9:30.

We are in C726 right now. Maybe we should hide something for you! Yes, the wind whistles through the sliding door gaps, especially the forward door. Maintenance came and went without doing anything saying they'd be back on a port day to replace the fuzzy seals. Haven't seen that yet. Other than the light switch placement being very odd, it's a nice suite. The layout is quite different from non-HC suites but it's definitely spacious. Yes, there's vibration when running at higher speeds but nothing worse than we experienced in aft cabins on the Emerald Princess or the Ocean Princess, two different classes of ships.

Bordeaux is used for Club Class - deck 5. Do You Wanna Dance and Encore have been performed. There's another on the way but I don't remember which one it is. Don't know about the bar soap.

And here I am on the Island Princess and yesterday the captain (a different one from the previous cruise) announced the crew as no longer required to wear masks. My observation last night was there were maybe half the crew unmasked. It was nice to see faces again.

The CC party was last night. All that was recognized was a shout-out towards the end of the festivities. They do still recognize the three most traveled couples. In our cabin we received a certificate, some VERY NICE flowers (they've smelled nice for over a week now) and a bottle of nice sparkling wine. There was no mention of a breakfast in Sabatini's albeit we were upgraded to a full-suite some time ago so we got that perk anyway. The Loyalty and Events manager has repeatedly told us the suite upgrade was not because of the 500 day milestone. This is the first leg of a B2B2B. My actual day 500 is on disembarkation for leg 1. DW for some reason has one more day than I so her's is the last full day. I keep asking her who she went with and she's not sayin'. The free suite upgrade was only for the first leg, we have to change cabins to the one originally booked this coming Friday - we are quite sad - our first time in a full suite and boy are we spoiled. Club Class dining is often downplayed by folks here on the forum but getting it for free was pretty nice. Just walking in and having the staff recognize you and then seat you immediately was fun. The extra course isn't a cut-above but does present another option over menus that have become repetitive over the years. And of course the wait-staff are extra attentive as I don't think they're assigned as many tables as they would have in the regular dining areas. So, we plead our case to the front desk as we know there are still suites available for the next sailings (only six days away). We were told that yes, they do have a process to upgrade passengers AFTER sailing. We should move to the next cabin and we'd be considered for available upgrades at that time. Fingers are crossed and now we're wondering where to get some chocolates for Guest Services ...

It's possible coo359a2 needs to use it between now and 5 Dec...

Getting back to the original topic, we're embarking the Island Princess TODAY! Downloaded a fresh copy of the Travel summary and saw this was recently added to the list of Special Services: If they're going away, they're not gone yet ...

Well OK, maybe I overstated it a bit. Hey, it also lets you embark and disembark the ship! And, according to Princess (implied I know) it's also a wonderful piece of jewelry! YMMV.

It replaces your keycard, allows the staff to find you to bring you your drink and food orders wherever you are on the ship. You door unlocks automatically when you approach. And ... so much more. There are lots of discussions about this on the main Princess forum as well as on the Princess web-site.

Hoping for January 4 for us!

Right, how about adding some other tunes? "Here Comes the Sun" seems appropriate ...

Right! The medallion itself really doesn't "know" anything other than it's own unique ID code. It's the ship's computer (the ship really has lots of computers, I'm referring to the system that deals with the medallions) has a database that associates the unique code with you. The same database also contains information as to which cabin (or even cabins) you should have access to. The ship's system with then "talk" to one of those little Samsung tablets at your cabin door and let it know to open the door when it detects your medallion close by. Yes, if you look closely, all those cabin door displays are simply Samsung tablets (you can even see the camera) connected to the same kind of medallion sensor used by the staff. They're mounted in a nice case but they're still tablets just the same. Personally I think that's a pretty cool design! Oh yeah, with those cameras just think of all the surveillance opportunities - better behave in the hallways!

While I have seen Euro-style sockets with an "earth" (see I can speak more than one language) connection on the edge, I can't say whether the ship's sockets are grounded.

If you're looking for 220v, I do believe there are European-style 220v plugs available. Sometimes behind the bed. A Euro-to-UK adapter would do the trick there.

Multiple points-of-view here regarding new versus repeat customers. Probably none of them completely correct or completely wrong either. Would be interesting to know the real data Carnival Corp / Princess has on the revenue generation of customers categorized this way.

Thanks for the information. Your first sentence seems to be more of your interpretation of the third sentence rather than an overt statement by Carnival Corp. To grow they need to increase the attraction of new customers and then make sure they are retained. Personally I don't see increasing marketing to new customers is a statement that existing customers don't count anymore, rather that existing customers keep dying and have to be replaced! Preferably with the rate of replacement being higher that the rate of loss.