west coast cruiser

Have they been having ukulele lessons on this cruise?

I think the new web site is very user un-friendly.

20 years ago there was no such thing as a private balcony except perhaps in a suite. Paid as much for a ov then as i regularly pay for a balcony now. Other undisputedly great improvements have been in entertainment (though on some lines it peaked 5 years or so ago - but still better than it was). There are more ports of departure and more ports of call and fewer tender ports. Bigger ships have more venues but there are still plenty of small ships for those who would prefer that. And, generally speaking, the free casual eating venues have more variety and open hours.

 

I do get nostalgic for the days when every one ate at one of two times, went to one of two shows, and conformed to the same dress codes. It was more of a shared adventure then. I miss skeet shooting and golfing off the stern, horse racing, the captains party and the midnight buffet.

 

So i find myself wishing that some of the big lines would pick a modern ship and designate it as a ship that offers a "classic" experience.

 

like!!

I just will miss not to have a place inside with a panoramic view of the sea.

Thanks for your replies.

It all comes down to the marketing. Ever since Princess was folded in to Carnival Corp., many regular cruisers fretted about the ability of Carnival to distinctively differentiate their holdings. How would Carnival differentiate Princess from HAL other than by personal preferences and loyalty - each of which change over time according to the demographic.

While that observation may be "Product" focused, the "Price" category apparently could not support the differentiation. Thus, the fares became intensely competitive and the quality of the product followed the decrease the revenue per passenger. More ships, more berths, more discounting to fill them. As I type this I see 14 Princess ships listed above - that's a lot of staterooms to fill.

Interestingly, Royal Caribbean went a different way by focusing on product and tailoring the price around that instead of the opposite. RC ships are now the really different ones and they are attracting a demographic segment to match. While this segment is decidedly different than the Princess/HAL demo, it works for RC. Can Princess say the same for their demo? Doubtful. Their long-time client is (no offense here) dying off. Newbies are not noticing an appreciable compelling reason to stay loyal. Prices keep dropping to attract new folks and the product follows.

The new Royal class ships on Princess are telling. Many of the familiar amenities to long-timers have either been eliminated or reduced. Notably, there is no longer a wrap-around promenade deck. There is a water show on the pool deck. While I enjoyed my last cruise on the Royal overall, I can't help but wonder what the line is trying to do - what direction they are going. They seem to be almost desperately trying new things for the sake of new things. Who are they selling to now? Who are they focusing on?

Differentiation, IMO, has to be driving force in marketing with a plethora of similar products all vying for cruisers. Princess, sadly, seems lost in that objective right now.

I think we'll see more smaller lines entering the breach - like Viking for example. We'll probably see a Viking Ocean in the Caribbean soon. I think a line like that will take a chunk out of the Princess demographic.

Do the Royal Class ships have sky walkers?

I have been sailing on Princess pretty much the last few years. I am getting very bored with the ships all being the same. Is it this way now on other lines?

[quote name='pjrockman']I was avoiding comment on this thread because everyone can choose to cruise on any line of their choice. However, after seeing the above list, I must say that we would not want the crew to touch any of our personal items. I don't cruise to have the cabin steward pick up after us. We have not had a bad steward on any of our Princess cruises since we started cruising Princess. We've been on cheaper lines and more expensive lines and Princess is the comfortable level for us.

Also, we believe that cruising in general is still a good vacation bargain for everything you get.

This is my opinion and everyone is entitled to one, so good luck finding what you seek.

Safe Journeys, Paul[/QUOTE]
I agree. I don't want anyone putting my things away. Years ago on another line, the Steward had gone through my drawer found a night gown and placed it on my bed. I had a fit. To me it was scary and a violation of my privacy in my opinion. I have never had that experience on Princess.

Your Posts will be missed, but I understand. I am Elite on Princess and that is the "hook", but I am getting restless and ready to try some of the lines I have been on before and some that I have not been on such as Celebrity. I am also looking into a River Cruise.

Please check in here and let us hear of your new adventures.

WCC

Do 'elites' need to get tender tickets?

 

No. They just get in line and show their cruise card.

I always use the internet cafe for emails. It isn't as crowded as it used to be as so many people are using i pads and lap tops.

But they are removing the skywalkers off of princess ships

 

Only off the Grand.

Just a slight bit more motion this morning. Not much, just noticeable. Still beautiful weather.

 

So the highlight yesterday was the Crossing the Line ceremony. And I had the privilege of being one of the Accused. There were four passenger accused, the Naughty Couple – accused of wanton acts of lust around the ship; the Trickster – accused of various acts of pranking; and me, the Glutton – accused of eating everything in the ship. Along with us were various members of Neptune’s court, his wife Aphrodite, the men in black, his surgeon and nurse, and others. The group was made up of a lot of cruise staff and the dance troupe. There were also two new officers crossing the line for the first time and several cruise staff and spa personnel who were on their first contract AND crossing the line for the first time.

 

The naughty couple got smeared with jello, eggs, whipped cream and chocolate syrup. It was a real mess. Then they had to kiss the fish – a raw salmon. The trickster had to kiss the belly button of the recycled virgin, one of the dance troupe – a real beauty – but after the trickster got blindfolded the virgin was replaced by the male member of the naughty couple with his belly covered in whipped cream. And then he had to kiss the fish. Then it was my turn. I was led to a surgical table and the dance troupe lifted bed sheets around the table as Matais stood on top of the table and began to “remove” the following from me: several pounds of pasta, a watermelon, sausages, a pineapple, liver, heart and more pasta. At the end of the surgery I was pronounced dead. Then came the good part. The nurse jumped up on top of me, straddled me actually, and pounded on my chest until I came back to life. So basically, of the accused I did get the best deal as I was constantly reminded for the rest of the day by all the Cruise Critic guys who came by. And Judy got some excellent video and still of my ‘encounter’ with the nurse!

 

It was great to be able to be involved in such an interesting ceremony. But it was an awful lot of fun.

 

That was the highlight of the day, no doubt. When I got back to the room for a shower, I was still picking spaghetti out of my hair.

 

We did do a Horizon Court dinner that was pretty good actually. The CoCoVan was really good as was the pork loin and the mushroom pasta. The food everywhere has been really good. We’ve only had dinner once with Paul and Elizabeth in the dining room for Italian night. The rest has been catch as catch can.

 

Café Caribe has an interesting twist for lunch. Its called lite bites. Its basically a salad bar, a sandwich bar and one main course with fruits for desserts. Nothing really heavy like in the main HC buffet. The salad bar is stocked with lots of goodies and the sandwiches are made to order on the spot.

 

So let’s look at the patter today. Sasha is still recovering so no Zumba today. Line dancing is at 0900. There is a couple of trivias, a lecture on Samoa and what to see and do, Hula class, a screening of the reflections video to date, a journaling class, Joe giving a lecture on War in Pacific, another art auction (oh boy), the bingo jackpot is up to $2055, dicey horse racing, a lecture on women air pioneers, ukulele class, rum tasting, a lecture on Usual Suspects, and the choir presentation.

 

Tonight has two headline shows – Colleen (one of the vocalists) and Glenn Smith is doing a variety show in the theater and Randy Cabral is doing a new juggling show in Explorer’s. There is a Movie Poster trivia game tonight, and they are going to try Star Gazing tonight – which means its going to rain again like the previous two attempts.

 

Later!

Thanks for the update. It looks like you have some good lectures available.

I remember during the 8 days coming back to Los Angeles the internet was very sporadic.

WCC

Gorgeous full moon last night, perfect weather. So romantic. So peaceful, relaxing and just downright enjoyable. How’s everyone doing at home?

 

BTW, the age group on this cruise is relatively younger than I thought it would be. Roundtrip from LA and all that. A lot of active retired. Zumba is packed to the gills in Fusion. I think there are 5 children on this cruise. Now that’s a good number!

 

Yesterday was great. I did Zumba. Judy babied her knees and walked the promenade. Sasha apparently hurt himself yesterday so there will be no Zumba today. So I will run up to the gym later and do a couple of miles on the elliptical.

 

At 1000, the captain made an interesting announcement. Apparently we have several cases of Noro on board. It seems the Crown has been snake bit by Noro over the past couple of years. I seem to recall a lot of Crown/Noro threads on these boards – more so than other ships. Time to step up vigilance.

 

We went to MUTS last night and saw TomorrowLand. Not bad. Much better than I expected. Held my attention and I did not fall asleep. After the movie we did the late showing of Motor City in the theater. We’ve never seen Motor City in the theater before. A little different set of choreography for this venue. Interesting, but I prefer the intimacy of a Vista lounge for that show.

 

After the show we hit skywalker’s to see Paul and Elizabeth. Jamie was doing an ABBA hour and the place was actually pretty busy. Judy still didn’t want to strain her knees, so we headed for bed instead of dancing. Too bad we couldn’t sleep out under the stars. The moon was just absolutely gorgeous off the balcony. It was like one of those Love Boat scenes on the deck with the moon sparkling off the water.

 

With 800+ elites on this cruise it is taking about 3 days for laundry to come back. I should have packed a couple of extra t-shirts and an extra pair of slacks.

 

A couple of interesting notes on French Polynesia. They will be collecting our passports today for our visit into French Polynesia and will be getting them back on November 7. There is also a health questionnaire we have to fill out for our visit to Apia.

 

So the Patter for the day. There are four lectures today. A naturalist lecture on the Pacific, The Mysterious Death of Mickey Thompson, the Wright Brothers – the later years and Maritime Traditions, Customs and Courtesies. There is a paper airplane competition in the Piazza, another fresh flower lei making class, bingo, Ukulele music class, an embroidery class, line dance class, MLB playoffs on MUTS.

 

For tonight we have Glenn Smith, he apparently fell ill and postponed his show from a couple of days ago. The Best of Me is on MUTS. Steve Caouette is in Explorer’s with a new show. Liar’s Club is in Explorer’s, but there is stargazing at the same time. But we have to go to Liar’s Club. Kelvin is funnier than all get out when he Chubbles.

 

Got some more FCCs yesterday. That plus the CCL stock is such a great deal. Already paid for the CCL stock with OBCs. The OBCs from the FCCs are just pure gravy.

 

That’s it from near the South Pacific. Later.

 

I took this cruise on the Sapphire a few years ago and I am reliving that wonderful cruise through your postings. Thank you.

Got the same survey. And, I like the new proposed amenities. I'm not too keen on the L'Occitane and the bottled water, but the rest looked pretty good. I would be willing to pay more for those.

 

I suggested these additional amenities:

-Dedicated suites lounge and dining areas like Celebrity and RCI. Pointed out that RCI had converted Viking Crown Lounge to suites lounge and dining and suggested they consider doing the same with Sky Walkers. Complimentary drinks at select times in suites lounge.

-Butlers like Celebrity.

-Concierge escorted debarkation like RCI.

-Escorted access to suites on embarkation like NCL.

 

I also mentioned twice that they should preserve the suites breakfast perk.

 

I also mentioned that they screwed up with the miniscule suites penthouse suite balconies on Regal/Royal. Complimented them on the Owners suites on Regal/Royal and the aft suites on Grand Class ships.

 

Quite frankly, we had a great time on Regal but we were convinced by the enhanced amenities being offered on Celebrity and RCI to book our next three cruises with them. These enhancements could brink us back.

If they close skywalkers to suites only that would be the end of my Elite Princess cruising days. That is the only place on the ship with a view.

i agree. However somethings as a regular cruiser would tick me off. I don't like the reserved theater seats. What happened to the cruise that everyone was treated equally. So it;s back to whom ever has the most money can have what they want. If cruising changes that much then i will go back to land based vacations. The cruise will not be as good a value.

 

ditto!!

To me, the public areas are always chilly. I bring a sweater and wear things with long sleeves.

WCC

Let me start by saying I'm new to princess and certainly NOT challenging your opinion... I just wasn't clear on what you meant by the last line of your post.

I have been reading princess threads ALOT since this summer and I am intrigued by the loyalty program.

I would appreciate it if you could elaborate on what you meant by "service is taken advantage of" because ,as it stands now, it implies you believe people are doing something wrong ???[/quote

There have been stories of people sending things to the laundry as soon as they are on board. Also sending "non-elite" passengers' things along with theirs. The same thing with letting someone else use your internet minutes. I have seen that happen.

It was not my attempt to get into an argument or big discussion.

If I am on a cruise longer than 3 weeks, I figure that there will a lot of Elites on board and plan accordingly. We got the 72 hour notice on a 32 day South America Cruise in February.

I sometimes wonder if this service is sometimes taken advantage of.

WCC

I bought a pair of black sparkly TOM'S shoes and wore them.

It usually happens to me once or twice, depending on the length of the cruise. I think the magnetic clasp on my purse has been the main culprit.

WCC

Is there a way to not receive the very heavy cookbook other than to decline it?

 

I just gave mine away to someone else who wanted it. I know some people just leave it int their cabins when they disembark.

WCC

Looking forward to your postings. I have a friend on the cruise so I will be following you.

I hope your tests turn out OK and am glad you were able to make the cruise.

WCC

I have done the Chef's Table 3 times and probably will not do it again. The appetizers are mostly sea food and caviar. I don't drink wine and that is a big part of the dinner.

Having said all of that. The Risotto is very good and there is always plenty of beef and the desserts are very good.

I think your wife will enjoy it. It really is a lot of fun.

WCC

Battery operated votive candles, the ones that flicker like a real candle, for romantic mood lighting and/or night light.

 

These are the best for night lights.

I always have at least 2 future cruise credits. I only have one left now as I just used one to book a cruise. I will buy another one when I am on the ship.

 

We have booked cruises while on the ship and it has worked out fine. They will transfer the booking to your Travel Agent if you prefer or you can just keep dealing with Princess.

WCC