KruzPrincess

Sapphire and Coral. I used to say Island, but I really like the updates to the Coral. I like the MDR options on the Sapphire. Also, the staff is great and I've had really nice cruises on her. Coral is a nice size and very comfortable, uncrowded cruising.

I've been on some cruises with groups and I've been on cruises where I've been part of a group. Last year, I went on an oldies music theme cruise. Each participant had to pay an extra $500+ for the entertainment. This year, I think it's an extra $600 per person. People who were on the cruise already could have bought the entertainment package once on the ship, but I'm sure that very few did once they heard how much it cost. There were a lot of events, but they were all scheduled for times when there weren't ship activities in that room. All the concerts were in the Princess theater, but the shows were at 3PM and 5PM. They never interfered with Princess shows. Yes, the group filled up the Princess Theater together, but if they chose to go to a production show they have a right to do that...they also paid for the cruise. They had some private get-togethers, but Princess planned their activities in other rooms. There was still trivia, fruit carving, etc. I never heard anyone complaining about this group.

A couple times I was awarded cruises from the company I worked for. We all went and had fun. The only room we took over was a room that wasn't already in use. I can't imagine we affected anyone else.

I've been on cruises that have other groups and they have never affected my cruise. If the aft pool is crowded I go somewhere else. If I don't like the feel of the crowd at the Wheelhouse, I go somewhere else. I never think or wonder if all these people could be the same group and are using up my space. They all paid for their cruise.

I've never been on a cruise with a group of people that I considered offensive. I guess that could happen, but time will tell.

Congrats.

You get a footstool to go with the uncomfortable balcony furniture.

Emerald sailing now.

Schedule showed 4:45 for Emerald and 5:00 for Crown. I've heard the chatter, too. Seems like everyone is held up.

Ahhhhh! All those lucky cruisers!:)

Indeed. I'm always wishing it was me!

Should be sailing soon....

http://portevergladeswebcam.com/

Guarantees are usually the full price for the category picked. If, for example, you pick a IB guarantee, it will be the same price as if you had booked a specific IB cabin.

You are correct. I don't book guarantees anymore, so I may be out of loop on that. Maybe I'm wrong, but I seem to recall that you used to be able to book the lowest possible category for an inside, for example, and there weren't any actual cabins in that category. They would assign you a cabin later. Maybe that was a long time back. Sorry for any confusion there.

I tend to book aft cabins on these ships. I've sailed twice on the Crown and once on the Ruby. The only time I had any issues was when I had an aft facing cabin on the Crown. There was substantial jerking in rough seas, but no vibration that I recall. When I was closer to the aft elevators I had no issues at all. I never noticed any vibration mid-ship. Of course, as others have said, there will be some when docking, but nothing much.

Hi! Not sure what the general rules are on Princess.

 

We booked Alaska through the 3 for free promotion. The way I understood the upgrade portion of the promotion was that I could book and pay for the lowest category of the stateroom type, but be upgraded to a better cabin in that category (so for the price of a lower, forward inside cabin, I chose to be in an inside cabin on deck 10 in the middle of the ship). I wasn't assigned a cabin at the time of booking, but assumed I would get a cabin midship, deck 10.

I received an email today that we had been upgraded to an obstructed oceanview, E330. I actually prefer an inside over an oceanview, especially one that is obstructed. Also, it appears that the Wheelhouse Bar stage is right over that cabin.

 

My naïve questions are as follows:

Will this cabin really be that noisy from the Wheelhouse?

Would there be any chance of a better upgrade, or should I expect this to be my final assignment?

Can I call and request to be moved back to my original category?

 

Thank you!

Since you didn't have a cabin assignment you were probably booked into a certain category as a guarantee. That means that the category you booked into would be the lowest category you would get and they can move you to a higher one. Generally, guarantees are lower priced and the cruise line does that so they have the freedom to move people around as needed. If you have a specific cabin assigned you can ask to have it marked "no upgrade". If you don't do that you can be moved within your category or upgraded. At this point, you can call your TA (if you booked with one) or call Princess (if you booked directly). You can ask them if you can go back to an inside, assign you a cabin and ask to be marked "no upgrade". Yes, it's possible to be upgraded again. As for your location, I have never heard of anyone complaining about noise from the Wheelhouse. The entertainment there is not that loud. Music probably won't be playing past midnight and it would be pretty quiet over night. I personally wouldn't worry about that location, but I've never actually had a cabin there. I'd much prefer the OOV to an inside.

Added: I just read the other post from RDSQRL and agree. E330 is really a very convenient location. I was actually looking at a cabin there myself this week. And, yes, the Wheelhouse would be below your cabin. I'd keep that location and have it marked no upgrade or only that I'd accept a meta upgrade to a balcony.

I haven't been in Sabatini's since the menu changed. I did really enjoy the Bayou Café on the Coral Princess in July. We had fillet with lobster. The fillet was very good and the lobster was not the same as the MDR serving. It was good. We liked it so much that we went back the last night of the cruise. Service was fabulous. Shrimp appetizer was huge. I can't remember the other appetizers, but we enjoyed them. We had way more food than we could eat.

Since everyone is guessing.... My guess is the drug sniffing dogs picked out someone's luggage and she was nabbed.

Sounds to me like the OP gave his honest opinion. I agree that a snazzier line might well be in order.

 

I guess my wife and I are lucky that we're noobs with only 2 cruises under our belts. We have no "good old days" to look back upon so we have totally loved both of our cruises so far. I'd guess we will probably continue on in our clueless fashion and love every cruise we go on without realizing how good things "used to be".

 

Did we find every single thing about our cruises to be "wonderful"? Nope. The HC food is on the bland side for us but, if it was fixed the way we want it, the majority of passengers would likely complain that it was too spicy. Is the pizza on Lido deck as fabulous as everybody else seems to think? No way. I was very disappointed in it. (The pizza at Cafe Corniche on Sea Princess was great!) I'm hoping Alfredo's is as good as advertised.

 

We didn't have a real problem with anything - including slightly bland food or mediocre pizza - on our cruises. We were sooooooooooooooo happy to be cruising and having such a great time being on the ship and in the ports that it would have to be something pretty major to cause us to complain or have issues with the cruise.

I'm not sure which cruise lines your two cruises have been on, but Princess has better pizza than other cruise lines. Of course, that's subjective and you may disagree, but in my experience, other cruise lines have really disappointing pizza. So, when we talk about how great the Princess pizza is....we're comparing it to other cruise ship pizza. At least I am. It's definitely not as good as the good pizza shops I have at home. For me, I was really disappointed in Alfredo's, but I love the Lido deck pizza....as far as cruise ship pizza goes, that is. I don't expect 5 star food on a cruise ship. Maybe that's why I'm not that disappointed. I cruise for other reasons. I never go hungry, though!

Thanks for your thoughts. It's clear that each person can have their own thoughts and it's good to see different opinions. I had one single cruise on HAL and so many things went wrong that my friends and I have never sailed that cruise line again. My friends still won't consider a HAL cruise, but I may try it again someday. I'm positive that other people had a great time on that HAL cruise. We all look for different things. You are right when you say you get what you pay for. It's really not fair to compare a Princess cruise that was probably a bargain to a cruise on a luxury cruise line. I wish I could cruise on some of the luxury cruise lines, but I just choose not to spend my money there. I feel like I get a really good experience with Princess and get what I'm paying for. Is it perfect? No, but it's pretty darn good. Food is so subjective. I may not like everything, but I've rarely gone hungry. I do have to say that I'm not a fan of the ships that have the extra Riviera deck, but I've still had nice times on the Crown and Ruby. I'm glad you had a good time overall, but, as Coral said, it sounds like you've outgrown Princess. Also, you can't be too thin skinned in Cruise Critic world. Take it with a grain of salt.

Sorry, I just don't see HAL as being a class above Princess. Celebrity considers themselves a premium cruise line, but the cruise experience there is not that different. All these mid-range cruise lines are more alike than different. The news report is just a corporate shuffle that won't affect any of us.

Is Ft. Lauderdale next or does she have another port before? We go on her Saturday.:D

I was just going to say she sails into Port Everglades on Saturday. I don't know if there are any other ports in between.

My friends are on the Island today and one of them went to see Red 2 today.

Looks like she's sailing!

KP, you are as bad as me! I am trying to get my work done so that I can board this lovely ship on Saturday, but I can't pry myself away from the webcam!! :D

I retired recently, but when I still worked I had these webcams up all day. I can't tell you how much it helped me get through the days. Today I'm home waiting for a UPS delivery that I don't want left outside for too long. LOL.

Have a great cruise!! Bon Voyage.

Lines are dropping.

Looks like they'll be closing the doors soon.

Some are more obstructed than others. Here is a thread I started a while back and there are pictures and links to other sites with good info.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1808632&highlight=obstructed+view+royal

Look at that line to get back on the ship!

Well, I had to go and see if I'd have trouble printing documents for my upcoming cruise.....and you are all correct. This time it says I have to enter the credit card information to print my documents. I don't know why it didn't make me do it last time. ?????? So, forgive me. I hate passing on incorrect information. Last time I was sailing with a friend and she likely entered her credit card info which gave me a pass. I'm traveling solo on my next cruise, so I'll have to enter my info.