nukesubsailor

5 minutes ago, Clampram said:

Don't bash me! I love Princess and I love my safety and that of my hubby. The lifeboat drill is very important, of course

For the last bunch of cruises, the life boat drill has been making me crazy. We like to be on the Lido forward for a cabin, so our assigned area for the drill seems to always be the art gallery. Since we are prompt and we do what we are told, we always get there early. There is no where to sit and everyone ends up standing in this crowded space for over an hour. The presentation is usually about 15 minutes and then it's a mad stampede for the elevators/stairs.The presentation is so "dumbed down" I find myself gritting my teeth.

What can I do to get through this drill and come out smiling? Drink more???

Book a cabin that has a muster station with plenty of seats.  Get there early to get a comfortable seats.  Take a device with something to read or a game to play.

The current Premium Beverage Package is, probably more expensive and more restrictive than its predecessor the All Inclusive Beverage Package for two reasons.  Many passengers abused the package by sharing drinks.  Some of the abusers were so proud of their low ethics that they bragged about it on Cruise Critic which Princess monitors.

The in-transit passengers on the Regal Princess doing the Canada/New England cruise out of New York had to go through a procedure similar to what the original poster described.  It was a real mess and the Princess people working in the terminal were clueless.

No matter which side of the ship your cabin in on, what you miss seeing while going north, you will see when going south.

It is my speculation that the event that was for Elite level members only was a Captains' Circle reception and not the Platinum, Elite, & Suite cocktail party.  I know that the receptions have been split up due to the large number of Captains' Circle members onboard being too many to accommodate in the available venue.

9 minutes ago, Pension3X said:

I am currently booked on a 7 day out of San Pedro on 12/21. I now  have the opportunity to take the same ship out of LA on 12/14. I cannot get the same room on both cruises. Would I have to treat this as two separate cruises (i.e. pack my bags, go thru customs, wait for boarding etc.) or would they allow me to transfer my belongings from one room to another? I am a Platinum if that helps at all.

 

The reason I ask is that I just had back surgery and will be in recuperation phase and want to make the trip as stressless as possible.

 

Any information would be helpful and thanks. I am grateful to be taking just the one cruise but since the opportunity exists.... 

Upon meeting your cabin steward on the first cruise tell him that you will be staying aboard for the following cruise but will be changing cabins.  The steward will co-ordinate with the steward of the cabin you are moving to and get your stuff moved.

Leave anything you have on hangers on the hangers but pack all your other stuff in your luggage for ease of movement.

Don't forget to empty the safe before you move.

2 minutes ago, PRINCESS Sweet Pea said:

I have a question.  We will be on the Regal.  Is the Elite Lounge the same thing as the Platinum/Elite happy hour thing.  The Captain's Circle reception.  This is something set up in one of the bars?  

If this is true, I have heard that Platinum have gotten the invite cards in their cabins.

 

The Captains' Circle reception is for all members of the Captains' Circle loyalty club.  If there are a large number of members on a cruise, the ship may hold separate receptions such as one for Elite members and another for the other members.  In my experience every member will receive an invitation in their cabin which you present at the entrance to the reception and it goes into the pot for a door prize drawing.

The evening cocktail party in my experience has always been for Platinum and Elite members of the Captains' Circle loyalty club as well as any passengers booked into full suites---not mini-suites.  We have always received a card in our cabin showing the details about each nights event for the entire cruise.  It is not held on evenings when the Captains' Circle reception is held.

Does anyone know for certain if the Chef's Table is offered on 4 or 5 day cruises?

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

I'd have to guess that just about anything Princess changes results in a savings to them. 

Savings to Princess-----less costly product; can buy in bulk containers reducing the packaging disposal costs and landfill space; possible time savings for cabin stewards.  

I prefer that Princess makes minor changes like changing soap to save money rather than raising my cruise fare.  If the cost cutting becomes too much for me to bear, I know I am free to try other cruise lines.  Maybe Unicorn Cruise Lines will provide everything I desire at a nearly free cruise fare.

31 minutes ago, mizLORInj said:

What is in the concierge lounge besides a person to help with reservations?   

There are seats and two TV sets.  There is a selection of books and games.  There is a coffee machine that makes a variety of coffee drinks.  There are snacks that vary with the time of day such as pastries and fruit juices in the morning, to small sandwiches, cheeses, crackers later in the day.

Club Class dining is in the area to your right as you enter the port side of the dining room on deck 6.

20 hours ago, cruisintoddler said:

 

But as Princess keeps repeating - Sky is the first ship built for Medallion from the beginning.  So why would they install card slots at all given the ship was designed and built to NOT use cards ??!!   That is what I'm wondering about.  

The purpose of the device is to reduce the amount of electricity wasted when passengers left their cabins without turning off lights.  Using a cruise card in the slot to turn on power to the lights was a way to force the passengers to make use of the device to reduce electrical power consumption.  After forgetting to pull you card before leaving the cabin once or twice, passengers soon learned to bring an old card of some type to put in the device instead of using their cruise card.

Keeping the devices on the Sky Princess and providing a card for the device was probably in the desperate hope that some passengers would pull the device card as they left the cabin and let the device save some power.

2 hours ago, nycruiser2006 said:

Only using the blue background paper that came with the lanyard.  I took everything out and it still doesn't click tight so must just be the clear holder.  This is only a 3-day Inagural cruise so we will get by.  next 2 cruises are on the Grand which is not medallion yet.  Bet we will be bummed going back to plain ole cruise cards

We just put transparent Scotch Tape over the edges to make sure it did not come apart.

We took the Princess excursion to Normandy in 2015 and it was excellent.  The tour guide was very good.  The coach made stops for rest room breaks.  The tour included lunch at a country club and the food was very good.

There are two things I say on this tour that I felt were very touching.  One was looking at a cross in the American Cemetery that instead of a name simply said "Known But To God".   The second was in the local town where in a second floor window above a shop was a sign that said "Thank You America"   Seeing that thank you sign over 70 years after American troops liberated the town was such a touching sight. It just reinforced the close bond between France and America that began during the American war of independence and continued through two world wars.

20 minutes ago, SempreMare said:

What is your best guess for when 2021 Alaska itineraries will become available for purchase? 

In just a week or two.

1 hour ago, lks1512 said:

Hi Everyone.  Thinking (way in advance) of booking a Princess Cruise/Tour to Alaska with Young Adults. we have previously traveled with Disney and an older Royal Caribbean ship.  Great itineraries, so we did not take advantage of the ship amenities for the kids.  Honestly, my kids were never interested in the bells and whistles, so I think they will be fine on a Princess Cruise and really enjoy it.  Never were big on the clubs or the activities. They will be 18 and 21 when we travel.  I am concerned that there will be very few in their age range on the ship, to the point that it could be awkward.  They don't need others to mingle with, I just don't want it to be weird.  It will be in June, so during school break.  Does anyone have an opinion. As a side note, the other cruise line we are considering is Holland America, so I don't think that would be much different. I appreciate candor.

Alaskan cruises probably have the highest number of young people onboard of any Princess itinerary.  I don't think it will feel weird to your kids.

Gee----based upon the crap I experience on a cruise,  I always assumed the food on board was infused with prune juice just to make things softer for the ship's sewage system.  🚽😁

Isn't it amazing---- the topics of discussion you can find on Cruise Critic?

It has been our experience at Club Class dining that they will greet you at the door and ask for your cabin number.  If that cabin is not on their list of Club Class mini-suites or full suites you will be directed to the regular anytime dining entrance.

We have seen only sugar coated peanuts or a trail-mix like snack.  Warning---the little round green things in the trail mix might be too spicy hot for some.

We did the 12 day British Isles cruise on the Royal Princess in 2015 and loved the ship and the itinerary.  It was tiring as there were excursions we took in every port and many more that we did not have time to do.  So, in 2017 we did back to back British Isles 12 day cruises aboard the Caribbean Princess and loved that ship also.  The itinerary of each segment was different by one port----Liverpool on one segment and Kirkwall on the other segment.

I would recommend doing back to back cruises as you can then take almost all the excursions you want and only have to suffer the cost and length of flights to London and back home once.

The details of the promotion state that you will receive two vouchers for a bottle of wine and each voucher has a value of $32.    If I want a bottle of wine with a Princess price of $34, can I use the voucher and pay only the $2 price difference or must I use the voucher only on wine priced $32 or below.

We have sailed on both Princess and Royal Caribbean.  We much prefer Princess for the reasons given in the above posts.

If you are traveling with children, they will have a better time on Royal Caribbean.

31 minutes ago, chamima said:

I have never seen onion rings at the grill near the pool on any Princess ship.

 

Neither have I. They show up sometimes in the buffet line.

 

FWIW - They had them every other day or so (at the Grill ) on the Emerald last year.

It was a 28 day round trip LA- Tahiti - same cruise as we're doing this February.

They were unbelievably good!

Onion rings were also offered at the Trident Grill every other day on the Emerald Princess during the fall of 2017 28 day round trip LA- Tahiti  cruise.

2 hours ago, knbcruisers said:

Is this the spa pool....or the aft adult only pool?  If it’s the aft pool, I might like it.... I thought the aft pool on the CB was too windy when we were on board back in March.  We are tentatively booked for the Med on the Enchanted June 2021.  

 

This is neither a spa pool or an aft pool.  It is located on the forward part of the ship.  It is for adults only.  Go to the Princess website and look at the deck plans.  They show where everything is located.

1 hour ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

We are traveling on the Western Caribbean Itinerary on the Sky Princess from 7-14 December.  We plan to snorkel in Roatan and we have a day at Maya Chan Beach Resort in Costa Maya.  So, we don't plan to do an excursion in Grand Cayman.

 

Question:  since it is a Tender Port, and since we are not doing an excursion, is it worth getting off and seeing the port?  Or should we try a "First time ever" day on the ship when in port?  Do they have shopping and restaurants where the tenders dock?  Or is it mostly just beach.  Never been to Grand Cayman.  Thanks for the words!!!

The only reason we have found for going ashore is to eat lunch.  We walk from the tender dock to Margaritaville, eat a cheeseburger from paradise, drink a grand margarita, and stagger back to the tender dock.