AKman2495

Frankly, I would much rather be on a ship at sea in an earthquake and any other place. Not only for the obvious reasons (being on a ship is nice in itself), but the most that happens is you get shaken a little (or maybe a lot).

Unless you are very close to shore or in port, tsunamis would not affect you. Nor do you have to contend with buildings falling down around you.

All in all a great place to experience an earthquake!

would rather have a smaller bag that would hold up longer than the larger blue bags.

Maybe so, but my DW loves to cram as much as she can in them (we have gotten a number of them over the years) so, even though they are cheaper, they still hold up quite well.

I do (as you can see). And I know many others do too. While a small group here resists the idea, others do not. Also, most cruisers never post here.

It's been my experience that most men dress well-suits mostly, tuxes less so, but they are there.

I say go for it!

I guess I don't understand.

I don't see what you feel that they did wrong.

Well, it's obvious what they did wrong. They didn't react like this:

OMG!!!!!!!! YOU HAVE TO CANCEL!!!!!! WE ARE SO SORRRY!!!!! PLEASE TAKE BACK YOUR DEPOSIT IN FULL!!!!! AND PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DON'T POST A NEGATIVE COMMENT ABOUT US ON CRUISE CRITIC!!!!!!!!!!

Princess didn't lose anything cause they never had it in the first place.

Exactly. Just like when he told them I was planning on spending $100k on a cruise....Big deal. If he had paid of the cruise in full and then threatened to cancel-that might get their attention otherwise...blah...blah...blah...

Well, if it ever happens to me..:rolleyes:.it is good to know.....

As far as I know, there is no room service on turn around days-even if you are in transit and will be staying on board.

I've had what they called the Shave to end all shaves...it was great-but they did not use a straight razor. Lots of hot towels and a double shave out of it.

Very relaxing and very nice.

I wouldn't mind it being optional. On our last cruise, I had no problem prepaying because the excursions were pricy (it was Europe) and that way I could clear that off without having to worry about it.

Obviously, there has to be a mechanism for canceling and refunds.

But I am not adamantly opposed to this policy.

Why do you think Diamonds International only exists in cruise ports? Because it's a rip-off and they target cruise passengers who don't know any better, that's why.

So, you're saying that most cruise passengers are suckers? Or idiots? or worse?

They are there because they have a steady supply of customers. The fact that they hype deals in the Caribbean is just that-hype. Sphere in Alaska, they talk about Copper River salmon as being somehow magically superior to all other salmon....That's why they charge a lot more per pound....And people snap it up.

As for Diamonds, this threads all over the place from being horribly ripped off to getting an unbelievable bargain. As usual, the truth lies between these two extremes. I'm sure someone did get a good deal. Others may have not.

As for me, I would buy the ring locally because it is a lot easier to get it serviced,

I did go there in Curacao to buy a watch. I found a watch I likes at a good price. Peter I found the same watch on line for a little more that I paid. I have had it for almost 2 years and it is doing fine.

FWIW.

If I were sailing on an Alaskan cruise, I would go for an inside. Not only do I save some money that can be spent of excursions, but also keep in mind that in the summer, you have lots of daylight. If you like to sleep, the inside room will give you some shelter from the almost non-stop light.

Of course, on an Alaskan cruise, you should only be sleeping and dressing in your room. The rest of the time you should moving around the ship seeing all of the scenery from as many angles as possible.

I totally agree with you! We don't think the MDR is anything special....food is 'ok' and it's way too loud for me.

Our DD is into fine dining..We have eaten in a number of such restaurants in major cities and everyone of them was so loud you literally could not hear yourself think.

The MDRs on Princess are quiet and peaceful compared to them.

As for the food, food is subjective. What one conducers fine dining is another's garbage.

We find the MDRs serve a good quality meal with a variety of interesting offerings.

We have always found things to eat there and, while I try to control myself, my DW is not above ordering more of her favorites.

If you don't like the MDR, fine. But we think it is a great place to eat.

FWIW.

We saw it on the Royal back in September. They did the Sound of Music Anniversary special!

If that were the case, as an Anytime diner, I should be able to show up at the Traditional Dining Room and say "There is a long wait at Anytime Dining. Please seat me here instead." I don't think that would work.

Actually, I've had something like that happen twice! We got to the ATD room and they asked who wanted to share. They quickly gathered up 8 people and led us upstairs to the TD dining room, where several tables were empty. We sat down there and had dinner.

That sort of messed up the waiters because they had to start over with us from the beginning, which they did just fine. But you know it had to be a disruption.....

I find that the island of Euthanasia to be the least exciting of all the Caribbean islands. T

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I can see why you might think the island of Euthanasia would be death warmed over. However the Island of Eleutheria is an interesting place.

There are some beautiful views of the sea and of coves on the tour we took, along with a stop for some refreshments. True, some of the tour was a little hokey...but what do you want.

We also learned some interesting facts about the island, such as it was a big hangout for celebrities in the 1960's-people like the rat pack liked to go there.

Overall I thought it was interesting. Besides, on the day we took the tour, the Princess beach was clouded over. Where we were was sunny and beautiful!

We have NOT received the survey but we know about the change to "Evening Chic" on Celebrity and are not happy about it. It's not so much the name but the parameters that bother me.

Jeans are considered "Chic" in their current dress code.

My feeling is that people generally push the limits (plenty of men only wear long sleeved shirts with no jacket already on what is called "formal") and now I see absolutely no difference between "chic" and other nights.

Too bad to lose another little special part of cruising.

I totally agree. If they drop formal nights, cruising will be not much different than going to the mall....soon, as it deteriorates further, it will be like going to walk-mart at 3 am....

Not a happy picture....

I've read this entire thread with great delight!

 

Were the folks who were late complete jerks? Yes.

 

Has everyone, in the theater and here, overreacted? Yes.

 

Just use your brains for a second. Dija miss a flight? Were you just about to find the fountain of youth and it dried up 4 seconds before you made it there?

 

No.

 

Relax people, it was a turn around day.

 

What were you planning on doing? Making the beds and helping load luggage? :D

I don't think everyone in the theater or here has overreacted. You must not value your time very much. Others do, however. The people in the theater certainly might have had many other things they wanted to do and should not have been forced to wait for the inconsiderate people.

Now, I was returning to Houston on a cruise and we were stuck outside the port for 3 hours due to fog. There, people were missing flights. But, it was the weather. Under such circumstances, the only thing to do is relax and if necessary, try to rebook your flight. We had a late flight, so we were stuck and could only wait-with no big worries.

Waiting on a bunch of inconsiderate slobs, on the other hand, is not something we should just have to accept.

It is also quite possible that some of those people were up on the Lido deck in their bathing suits sunning themselves...they would have to be escorted back to their rooms to change, which would take some time.

A My point is that the crew does not go around asking anyone if they are the one who is missing in the theater and is a non complying passenger.

 

So where is the confusion?

I agree with rocket man. Just why wouldn't the crew be looking for stragglers? As for asking them, if they are not beeped off the ship and they are not in the theater, they are by definition, stragglers. They don't need to ask them anything. They need to escort them to the theater (or off the ship if they are really clueless).

OMG! Are you serious? Do you really think that the crew would walk around or ask people if they are the passengers that did not clear? I hope they do not take your assumption and try your method of determining who is on or off the ship. LOL

Well, first of all anyone standing around outside the theater by that point is a non complying passenger. All the departing passengers should be off the ship by then and the In-transit people should be either off the ship or in the theater.

And yes, they know exactly who has left the ship.

It is not rocket science....

Surprisingly in Europe your passport is almost always stamped. That is the one area where I have gotten dozens of stamps. May not be the case when traveling by land, but by sea you still get stamped.

Not any more. We were on a TA recently and got them stamped in London. They had Dutch customs officials on board in South Hampton and when we boarded, we got them stamped as entering Holland (our first stop). after that-nada. We were in France, Spain and Portugal and do not see a customs agent...

As far as the internet is concerned, I am afraid, it is the old "lead a horse to water..." problem. Some people can be led by the nose through all of the steps on internet access and still have it all screwed up. There is no way to write a simple manual that covers all the possibilities when it comes to computer users. I mean how many people have called IT support to have them explain where to find the "any" key...as in "to continue, press any key"...

Then there are the people who don't have to read anything because they know it all-until they screw it up. Then they complain "why was I not told"....

The first time I logged onto the princess computers I had read cruise critic and knew it was important to log off from your session. I asked the IT guy how to set up the account and how to log off and that was it....5 minutes and done.

When I made it to platinum, I asked about the free minutes, he told me and I moved on.

No big deal....

Now, I'm really glad on our last B2B in FLL we got off and went on a tour.

We got back, breezed back onto the ship and went from there...No muss, no fuss...

And why would anyone want to sleep with just a duvet & cover?

Spoken like a person who has always slept with a top sheet and blanket.

For people who sleep regularly with Duvets, they would ask why you would sleep with the extra sheet and blanket.

We don't lose sleep over not having a top sheet....FWIW.

We have been on Princess for 7 cruises-mostly longer ones-10 days to 15 days or so. We enjoy Princess. We a re simple people who like the food and are impressed with the service.

We eat breakfast in the MDR except on early port days. We usually eat lunch in the buffet and all dinners we eat in the MDR. So far, we have really likes the food-so much so that my DW has often asked for seconds.

One night she had ordered he appetizer and I had an appetizer portion of the pasta-a linguini in pesto sauce-she took a bite of my to try it and then ordered on for herself!

We enjoy the shows but you have to get there early to get a good seat. That's life.

The rooms have been all good-not splendidly luxurious, but comfortable and pleasant.

Our last cruise was on the Royal. We did not like the walking track as much as the promenade, by we walked on the sea days.

Overall the ships have been great. The itineraries have been great. and I cannot complain about much if anything.

On one cruise we were having a snack in the buffet. There were four or five other ships on port. We could see a Celebrity ship tied right across from us. There was a woman on the deck looking wistfully across at our ship. I said to my wife "She thinking 'I wish I were over there'"!

No Princess is not the height of luxury. But, for the money, it can't be beat IMHO.