nukesubsailor

8 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

But dont you think that if Princess did that then there would still some people who think they are bucking the trend and try to be clever and enter MDR in gym wear etc.

Yes.  Sadly there will always be those of low character who get off on defying the standards.😠

A fellow cruiser told me that Royal Caribbean, at least on one ship, has done away with formal nights.  Maybe if Princess did away with formal nights and just required a minimum standard such as no swim wear or gym wear, then we could peruse this forum without always having these threads about dress codes.

2 hours ago, windsurferfirst said:

I was on the Emerald in August and a crew member told me that Enchanted Princess was going to be known as the ladies ship. It will have a female captain and the majority of officers and crew will be women. Has anyone else heard about this?

I'm all about girl power! 😀

 

 

I read somewhere that sometimes crew members like to start a rumor among the passengers just to see how it is embellished as it spreads.

Years ago I booked a 20 day Caribbean cruise that was also being sold as two 10 day cruises.  During the second segment I went to the Captains' Circle representative and asked if I would get a second cruise credit.  She got on her computer and changed my cruise history to show that I would get a credit for each segment since the segments were being sold separately.

For that last few years my cruise history, for both completed and future bookings,  shows that I get a cruise credit for each segment when I book a long cruise that is also sold in shorter segments.

Once you get aboard the ship, go visit the Captains' Circle representative and ask that your cruise history be adjusted to show a credit for each segment.

7 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Cruise Critic is a great platform to expose all kinds of cheating on Princess not just trivia.

It is the selfish life many live these days.

So true.  No better place for Princess to learn how people were smuggling liquor onboard or how they would share the unlimited drinks and canned soda from the former All Inclusive Beverage Package and take steps to end such thievery. 

9 minutes ago, ram1977 said:

Hello, I'm new to this website and quite new to cruising in gerenal. My husband and I have done 3 Carnival cruises over the last 2 years and did our first on Princess earlier this year. While we thoroughly enjoyed the Princess cruise we did come across one thing that we never saw on our Carnival cruises.  Let me start by saying that we are not Trivia experts and do not take it seriously, but we do really enjoy meeting people, having a drink and having a good time while answering the questions. We didn't ever win any of the quizzes on Carnival but had a great time meeting people. There were usually only a couple of quizzes a day on Carnival but we were happy to see days when there were 4 or 5 trivia contests on Princess.

 

Now comes the problem! We teamed up with new people virtually everytime we did the trivia, and we usually got about 15 out of 20 answers correct. However the winning team always got all 20 correct. And it was always the same team (An older couple). This went on for a few days - no big deal we thought as the prizes were pretty awful! There's only so many plastic coasters you can want...right? Anyway, on about day 5 we teamed up with a couple who said they knew the people that won all of the time and they're long time Princess cruisers who keep all of their previous quiz answer sheets in a book and look at them while the quiz is going on! I actually thought they were joking but as we were sitting closer to the 'winners' for this quiz I did look over and sure enough, out came the little book filled with old answer sheets! Now I have no problem with people remembering answers from previous quizzes but this seemed like some pretty strange behavior to win a naff prize! the 'cheats' were an older couple too, probably in their early 70's - definitely old enough to know better. As the cruise went on we talked to more and more people who knew of them and what they did! A lot of people in the trivia contests were getting quite angry by their always perfect scores and it did make the atmosphere a little uncomfortable sometimes. I really don't want to sound like a bad loser but it is nice to go to a trivia contest and know you have a small chance of winning!

 

Now this cruise was out of San Pedro and we are thinking of doing a Mexican riviera cruise on the Royal later this year, also out of San Pedro. The trivia contests aren't something that will make us decide not to take a cruise but I just wondered if anyone else has encountered something like this on board?

 

Thanks in advance for any feedback

Unfortunately there will always be some scumbags who get more pleasure out ot screwing someone out of a nickel than earning a dollar honestly.

5 hours ago, amajaa said:

Actually, perhaps it’s just me but it’s the huge washing machine that will stop me sending my underwear. Not sure if I want it washed with everyone else’s underwear. Do you say underwear in the states?  I put that rather than knickers as didn’t know if you used that word across the pond lol

Yes, we use the term underwear rather than knickers in the U.S.A.  Those of us who served in the Navy use the term "skivvies" sometimes.  My wife will not send her undies to the ships laundry but has no problem sending mine.  She claims hers are too delicate but mine are tough enough to handle the hot washing temperature.  

We always use the ship's laundry and so far have never had anything lost or damaged.

Allow for 3 days to get your laundry back.

3 minutes ago, joepeka said:

We've booked Royal for early 2021 and are eligible for the military OBC. While I don't necessarily second guess our TA, the TA is telling us that Princess will not accept my proof of military service and grant the OBC (i.e. apply it to our booking) until we are within one year of the sailing. I don't have an issue waiting but I'm curious: have others found this to be the case (military OBC won't be applied until you're within 12 months of sailing)?

That may be the case for your original application.  When I first applied, my cruise was only a few months in the future.

The great thing about the military benefit, unlike the shareholder benefit,  is that you only have to apply once.  After that Princess will automatically add the military benefit to every booking you make with them.  Once a veteran, always a veteran.

4 minutes ago, waltocruiser said:

Hi,

 

We have a small group of 6 sailing on the Royal out of Los Angeles on Sept. 17th. to Alaska.

We were notified less than a month before leaving that we would only be in Victoria for 2 hours, our stop was changed to a Service Call only. (jones act). No one is allowed off the ship. Originally, we were scheduled to be in Victoria for several hours with tours and were free to get off the ship.

Does anyone know why this was changed.

Our second question is we have received a few notices (emails) informing us that our boarding time keeps moving to the right - now 2pm and we are in the first group to board. 

My wife is concerned that there may be a virus on board, or there could be an maintenance issue, anyone with information that could be shared would be appreciated.

We are going on the cruise -but will take extra precautions if this is an illness issue -  just always interested in knowing the facts.

 

Thanks, W&M

So far this season, there have been scheduled port time changes that have been reported as due to the timing of tides at a bridge that ships must pass under to enter Vancouver.  The height of the Royal Princess, even after shortening her stacks, is so great that she must pass under the bridge when the tide is at it's lowest level.  Low tide times are not the same every day.

While is may be true that the tide levels can be calculated years in advance, it is also not yet practical for a cruise line to publish a different set of port times for every sailing of a ship on a specific itinerary.  

8 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

Emerald deck sides and aft, then up the steps to Dolphin for around the bow.  EM

You are one deck too high.  Promenade deck, (deck 7), all around both sides and stern then up to Emerald deck, (deck 8), for around the bow.

I had hoped to have received the hard copy of the Destination Collection, (formerly known as the Cruise Atlas), by now.

I received the April 2019 - May 2020 edition in early August of 2018.

5 minutes ago, chapultepec said:

We have R731 on the Regal for our upcoming cruise out of New York. Looking forward to that big balcony and the concierge lounge. We've had a suite before, but this is our first aft with a wrap around balcony. Was it as wonderful as I envision? How was the concierge lounge? Anything worth getting excited about? 

The balcony is enormous!!! . . . almost too big for 2 people but a perfect spot for a balcony dinner. there is a balcony entrance from both the bedroom & living room.

The Concierge (Elite and full suite) lounge is available 24/7 but only staffed at certain times in the day. There are beverages and snacks which change according to the time of day and the hostess can make dining & shore reservations for you. There are copies of same day menus and one of the perks to a full suite is that you can have any item off the menus served in your suite if you don't wish to dine with 4000 of your closet friends.

 

This will be our 4th time in a full suite and will be very hard downgrading to a smaller cabin . . . unless I win the lottery. 🙂

The Concierge lounge on Riviera deck on Royal class ships is only for those who pay to book a full suite.  Your membership level in the Princess Captains' Circle loyalty club has nothing to do access to the Concierge lounge.  Only those in a full suite will have a cruise card that will unlock the door to the Concierge lounge.

I would not have a problem with non-refundable deposits being required for those travel agencies that reserve whole blocks of cabins as soon as a cruise is scheduled or those individuals who book several cruises that appeal to them knowing they will later pick the one they want most and cancel the rest.  

These people make if difficult for the rest of us, who can make a decision on what we want, to book it early on.

My new favorite dessert is the Key Lime Pie dessert found on the dessert menu for both the Planks and the Steamers specialty restaurants on the Caribbean Princess.  We are always too full to eat it right after the dinner but they will allow us to take it back to our cabin.  We keep it in our cabin's refrigerator and eat it later for a bed-time snack.

This item, in my opinion, is the only dessert that is as good as the wild berry cobbler they used to have on the Crown Grill dessert menu.

On 8/24/2019 at 12:15 PM, jwattle said:

Is there anything that people on CC won't argue about?😋

The answer to your question is "that's arguable".🤔

Yesterday, in anticipation of today's 3 For Free promotion, I checked the Princess website fares for some cruises I have booked.  Today I checked the same cruises as they were eligible for the new promotion.  The fares for my cruises was the same as it was yesterday.  The promo code listed on the Princess website for my cruises was K9A/K9T

The fares were $50 p/p higher than they were months ago when I booked them.  After doing the math comparison, it is obvious to me that for my specific cruises, I am better off keeping my bookings as they are.  In addition, a non-refundable deposit is a deal breaker for me.

Individual lounge entertainers like comics, magicians, musicians, and singers have changed at some of the port stops during the cruise.  Some that entertain on the LA to Hawaii part of the cruise might leave and be replaced in Hawaii.  The same thing will probably happen at other ports as well.  At least that is the way it was when we did this cruise in 2012 and 2017.

3 hours ago, XBGuy said:

 

Do you really think that many cruises make port stops to Los Angeles/Long Beach?

 

Most of my cruises begin/end in Los Angeles.  I have seen ships that are making port stops, but not really that often.  I've seen a couple Silver Sea and a couple NCL ships in Los Angeles and I've seen a Princess ship in Long Beach once.  Sometimes Royal Caribbean or Celebrity will run a few round trip coastal cruises out of Los Angeles in the fall as they are moving ships out of Alaska.  Again, though, those are not port stops.  A couple years ago there was a Saturday when two Princess ships were turning around between cruises, a Royal Caribbean ship was turning around and one NCL was making a port stop.  That was a bad day to be at the port.  San Pedro does not normally get that kind of traffic.  Granted the local hotels and restaurants do a pretty good business from passengers flying in a day early to embark, but I don't see that changing.

Read post #2 and you see the lowering of cruise speed in this area has an effect on other ports as well as LA.

Unforeseen Consequences:

Lower cruise ship speed limit = less time in port = less income for shore businesses = less sales and income tax to the state = state raises sales and income tax rate.

I can't help but wonder if this speed limits applies to all vessels or just commercial ships.  I would think small boats running at full throttle could do more damage to marine life than a big ship cruising at 18 knots.

Also the days spent on the land tour are not added to the days aboard ship in the count towards moving up in the Captain's Circle loyalty club.

The only time we were offered an upgrade was on our 3rd Princess cruise.  We were in a mini-suite next to family and did not want to move so we declined.  Haven't been offered an upgrade or upsell since but that may be due to having our travel agent mark us as "no upgrade wanted."

From what I have read on Cruise Critic posts, the upgrades are offered mostly to those who have had few or no previous cruises with Princess.

20 minutes ago, 1965 said:

Can I order Absolut & tonic at the past guest party? Will there be a charge? I've always just chosen a drink from the tray being taken around. Thanks.

I have and was not charged for it.

4 minutes ago, AskOceanMedallion said:

@nukesubsailor - thank you for your post. We appreciate your concern and rest assured data security is a top priority for our company. The OceanMedallion itself contains no personal information or data. Think of it like a license plate that communicates a non-meaningful encrypted number once you're on board a ship. 

Thank you for that info.  I am now more comfortable about the security of my personal information.

I still am against doing any business with China due to their government's disregard for ethics and human rights.

What concerns me most about the medallion is that it is assembled in China.  China either requires companies that want to do business there to share technology or they just steal it.  I would rather not have China possess the information about me that is in the medallion.