cruisehappy001

Thanks for posting the video!

Happy Cruising! :D

Mark

I would imagine if the trays are washed with hot enough water' date=' they would no longer be dirty.[/quote']

 

I think that Loonbeam was saying that a guest makes their first trip to the buffet, goes back to the table and eats and dirties the tray with used utensils, etc., and then they go up for seconds using the same dirty tray. No cleaning in between in this scenario. For trays to work they would have to stop folks from returning to the buffet with their original tray, and instead have them get a new tray each visit to the buffet. It is hard enough for them to get people to use a little hand sanitizer, I would hate to see what would happen with tray police! LOL! Not too mention the extra load on the dishwasher crew.

 

Just offering my take on what I think Loonbeam was pointing out.

 

Happy Cruising!

 

Mark

Mark - I see the ladder you're speaking of, but I'm guessing it's going to be a 'Crew Only' access to that space outside of your window.

 

As for the bed location, there's no telling. Sometimes these one-off cabins have the beds against the walls, other times under the window.

 

:D

LOL, knew it is for the crew... That way they can go and wash the window! HA HA!

Mark

Looking at the third picture of that group, I'd be inclined to answer 'Yes'.

 

:D

That is what I was thinking & hoping... Another thing that I am thinking is that the fact that it is set back some will help open the field of view a little bit?

In this area it also looks like there may be an access ladder that goes down to the deck below if I am correct???

(I was in E705 on the Emerald Princess for a TA and if you looked straight out you saw a white box, but if you looked forward you had an excellent view. :D It was nice in that cabin as the beds were on the sidewall of the cabin as opposed to on the window bullhead wall so you could sit at the desk chair or tub chair and look out. I wonder where the beds will be in this cabin now that I mention this? I am not sure where the beds are usually on Island Princess Ocean View rooms?)

Thanks for keeping on looking for Island pictures!

Mark

Mark - looks like a full-height bulkhead all the way flush to the end of the ship. View straight out would be obstructed....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=46772251&postcount=705

 

:D

Dave,

Thanks, I had seen the newer pictures that you posted which gave a better view. It now indeed looks like the view straight out would be obstructed. I am wondering if you may get some view looking out backwards at an angle? At least you would get some daylight... :rolleyes:

Maybe some other hires photos will surface that can give a better idea of some of the angles of the deck going to the back. At first I was thinking that particular area had a wrap around that angled back as opposed to being parallel to the back of the stern. Maybe just hopeful thinking?

Only time will tell, maybe eventually someone in that cabin will post some photos looking out?

Thanks again!

Regards,

Mark

Thanks for the new pictures! :)

Happy Cruising!

Mark

I guess that this thread is quickly becoming the "what have you heard about the new cabins on the Island Princess" thread, so I may as well jump in too so that we can all learn in this thread.

D727 and D728 are listed as Fully Obstructed Oceanviews... Has anyone heard exactly what they consider the obstruction to be? Certainly not staring into a lifeboat, thats for sure! LOL! ;) I am guessing part of it is because they are inset into the structure some, and maybe a metal railing judging from some so so pictures I have seen. Might not be too bad in an obstruction sense for looking directly out or back also?

Any thoughts are appreciated! Maybe someone sailing in one of these rooms can post some good pictures and they can be added to Theo's site? Also if anyone gets any better shots of the new areas on the back of the ship we could learn more from them as well.

Happy Cruising!

Mark

The Island/Coral Princess are the only ones that have theses types of minis with no balcony.

I loved that, as I called it, Window Mini-suite near your cabin. I am informed that they are now Deluxe oceanview and are no longer Mini-suites.

I think whoever told you that was a little confused and were referring to the "Premium Oceanview" Cabins on the very front of the Dolphin and Emerald decks. It is the same ideas as the Minis no balcony, but it is Balcony Cabins without balcony. We almost were in one of these for a Panama Canal Full Transit, but ""Unfortunately"" we were upgraded to a balcony and had to "suffer!" :D

Looks like they had the right idea, but wrong deck!

Happy Cruising!

Mark

Thanks to the returning cruisers for sharing your information! Welcome Back!

Sorry for any problems you had on your cruise, but it sounds like you had a good time regardless!

I think we all know the sad answer to the following question and are 97% sure given non-confirmed reports from other sites, but I thought that it would be good to ask again to get a 100% confirmation from our fellow CC'ers, no matter how sad the answer is going to be...

Did Princess put in an International Cafe on the Island Princess???

Happy Cruising!

Mark

This may be a silly question....

I was wondering if anyone has ever ordered the tea service, but have had it served in a different cabin? Not trying to give the benefit to someone else, we would be partaking and taking advantage of a friends Balcony cabin! Just asking as we will be in an inside cabin, and may want to do the tea service with friends taking advantage of their balcony, it's view, and their better seating options especially as compared to our Inside cabin.

Another possibility... has anyone ever had it delivered to a table out by the pools, or another location by chance???

Just curious if anyone has done something like this in the past? Not sure if it is even possible, so I thought I would ask other peoples past experiences on this?

Happy Cruising!

Mark

From the Princess Cruise Gifts & Services page:

 

New! Alaska Cruise Companion Book and Map Set

A naturalist's guide to Alaska's wildlife and scenic highlights.

Item #5122 - $18.99

Thank you very much for the information. I did not think to look at the gifts page! Interestingly it seems to be much cheaper than what is on Amazon! Best to just get it onboard with OBC & Elite discount I guess.

Happy Cruising!

Mark

Does anyone recall how much it sells for on the ship? Might make a good birthday gift for my Mother?

Happy Cruising!

Mark

Check out the "Berth Codes", "Port Codes" and "Ship Codes" links on the top right side for the "secret agent decoder" info. :cool:

Thanks for the help... I had looked on that area of the page and totally missed the most important link for the BERTH CODES as it was just a little above and to the right of the other two I looked at! :o I found the ship and port codes and felt something was missing, and as usual my pals at CC helped me out finding the obvious!

My decoder ring was obviously missing the precious gem that makes it work! Thanks for making me take another look at the hidden location!

Thanks also to others that were trying to help me out!

Happy Cruising! :D

Mark

P.S. No tendering for us! WooHoo! Much easier for my Mom this way!

We use our Princess tote bags in the grocery store as we can no longer get the plastic grocery bags and the stores charge a dime for a paper bag. They work great except for our 50th anniversary bag which tore apart the first time we used it for groceries. So much for a "special" bag.

Thrak,

Three cruises earlier this year on the 50th Anniversary Year and no special 50th Anniversary Tote Bags for me! :eek: I feel left out!!! Or maybe not (?) after reading your account! :D

We have the Plastic Bag Ban down here too! I am going to put some of my Princess bags in the car as backups for when I forget to put my reusable grocery bags back into the car thanks to your posting!

Happy Cruising!

Mark

Just talked to the Captain’s Circle lady. There are 2759 passengers on board. 185 elites, 348 platinum, 208 ruby, 563 gold and 1455 blue cards. The cutoff for the most traveled party was 320 days.

Thanks for taking the time to find out post this interesting info. I am always curious, it is definitely backwards from the Transatlantic I took last year! :)

Glad that you have had a great cruise!

Happy Cruising!

Mark

For anyone who is interested, there is a a calendar of Alaska cruises that will tell you which ship is in port and where it is scheduled to be docked or at anchor. You can see the whole summer season here http://claalaska.com/?page_id=318

Thank you for posting this. I must be missing something :confused: as I cannot figure out how to decipher the codes after the ship name. I tried looking at the port codes and ship codes from that website and it did not follow??? I was looking at the Golden Pricess for August as an example and could not figure out how to tell Tendering from Anchor vs. Docking, etc..

What can I use as a secret agent decoder ring? Anyone know how to figure this out? Or is there another site that has the port load info including dock assignment or tendering?

Happy Cruising!

Mark

Wow! Scary! Fire at sea is so dangerous. I am glad to hear that all is well now and that no one was hurt!

Mark

Charles,

Thanks for your entertaining Live thread!

If you happen to catch the numbers, can you let us know the breakdown of passengers from the different Captain's Circle Levels? I always find that interesting. Also do you know what the cutoff for the MTP Luncheon is? One last thing, could you possibly ask who is supposed to be the Cruise Director in August?

Have a great time with your Grand Daughter... It is so much fun to see a new cruiser take in everything!

Happy Cruising! :D

Mark

How was the boarding with the delay? Are they still cleaning the ship? Can you serve yourself in the buffet?

 

Looking forward to photos of the work done during the dry dock.

 

Thanks for all of your answers.

 

Tom:)

Tom,

Sorry that your BVE plans were messed up! Total Bummer as I know you were looking forward to it!

Mark

So just curious where will Princess make more money? At the casino bar or if the casino now had a IC. Wonder if Princess felt they made a mistake with the IC on the Coral.

At a discussion session with Richard Joseph on the Island back in October 2013 on our full transit this was discussed as was other things about the proposed changes to the Island. I had posted the information that I got from this discussion, but things have changed quite a bit from back then for sure!!! :eek: (I should look back at that post and see just how different things ended up being??? Plus I may have videoed some of that talk?) The main thing that I add here is that they felt that the IC in the casino area on the Coral was a mistake, and that they were going to do it in the area of the patisserie when they redid the Island. Back then they were planning for an IC, so I certainly hope that they did not 86 it in the final iterations of the redesign as I fell that would be a HUGE mistake. Like everyone else I am hoping that it will be there! We definitely missed the IC when we were on the Island for the 15 day Full Transit.

Please let there be an IC!!!!

Happy Cruising!

Mark

I'm not being flippant so excuse my ignorance but what are "Gem-class ships" out of LA? :confused:

 

I thought it might be a typo however I cannot figure out that class of ship. :o

I had read a long time ago that the Gem class designation had to do with the ships built in Japan, the Diamond and Sapphire...

Happy Cruising!

Mark

Edit found this great explanation on Wikipedia:

The Grand class is a class of cruise ships. Ships in the class are operated by the cruise lines Princess Cruises or P&O Cruises. The class consists of several series (subclasses) of sister ships, most of which were built by Fincantieri in Monfalcone and Trieste, northern Italy. The first vessel of the original Grand class, the Grand Princess, entered service in 1998.

Ships of the later subclasses are based on the Grand class, but have modifications such as additional decks and varied placement of major amenities such as the nightclub and restaurants. The 'Skywalkers' nightclub is a signature element of Princess Cruises' ships in the Grand class and derived classes. The nightclub either overhangs the stern of the ship (Grand and Caribbean classes) or is located just aft of the funnel (Gem and Crown classes).

The Gem class of ships is based primarily on the Grand class, but modifies the placement of the Skywalkers nightclub to be just aft of the funnel and also modifies the number of restaurants. The two Gem class ships were built by Mitsubishi in Nagasaki, Japan in 2004.

The Caribbean class is the third version of the design and has one additional deck. As in the original Grand class design, the Skywalkers nightclub is suspended on the stern. Caribbean class vessels also pioneered in the introduction of 'Movies Under the Stars', a cruise ship poolside theater, which was later added to other Princess ships.

The Crown class is the fourth Princess Cruises version of the Grand class. Crown class ships have returned the placement of the nightclub adjacent to the funnel. Crown class ships also feature 'Movies Under the Stars' like the Caribbean class.

The Ventura class has 19 decks like the Crown class. These ships all owned and operated by P&O Cruises and are marketed as Grand class, although they were given the Ventura class designation because they are not owned by Princess and are totally modified internally and externally. The first ship, MV Ventura, features the 'Cirque Ventura', the world's first circus school at sea. Ventura is also the largest ship in the Grand class. The second Ventura class ship is MS Azura, launched in March 2010. Azura has a modified stern and features amenities designed for the general public as compared to Ventura, which is more family oriented.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand-class_cruise_ship

Mark, sorry but I don't feel that it's appropriate to post his name. :o

 

I shared my feelings with Princess so it may no longer be an problem with him & hopefully he isn't continuing to embarrass any other passengers. :(

Not a problem at all, and I am glad that you shared your feelings with Princess as I feel that you were not treated properly. Just was going to be on the lookout in the future! LOL! A senior staff member should never embarrass a passenger.

On our TA on the Emerald last November our Captain's Circle Cocktail Party Invite listed a dress code of Smart Casual, but I think it was a smart casual night in the MDR, but regardless you even checked with the CC Hostess and it was her party to host!

Happy Cruising!

Mark

That's what I thought but the CD was at the entrance & later the CC hostess said that he has "his own set of rules". :rolleyes:

 

As I previously posted, if the CC hostess said my slacks, sweater & shirt were inappropriate then I wouldn't have attended. I won't go to the MDR on formal night if not following the suggested standards despite my waiter saying it was okay.

 

I didn't appreciate it & was embarrassed by how the CD treated me. :o

 

I still had a great cruise! :D

Wow, dare I ask which CD it was? Only if you don't mind sharing... just curious. To add to everyone's posts, We do not bring formal wear for cruises any more and never have been turned away! Also, I would say I am usually much more casually dressed than you described you were.

Happy Cruising!

Mark

Thanks again Dave for taking your time and posting the pictures!

At least the suspense is over and some pictures have surfaced!

I really wonder what they are doing with those big closed spaces at the back on Dolphin and Caribe... I sure would have expected Princess to put in even more of the expensive aft balcony rooms or suites there, plus it may have looked better that way? Maybe issues with current life boat capacities? Maybe they used that space to add more crew cabins, as I hope that they increased the crew given the increased passenger load? I would hope that they would not just cram more crew into the existing spaces that were small enough as it was I assume.

I also liked the suggestion above to paint the Logo on the back to breakup that big white patch!

Happy Cruising!

Mark

Are you kidding? They probably don't even know its been out of service. :eek:

Now that made me laugh out loud!!! SO sad, but SO true! :eek:

Happy Cruising!

Mark