heatherb1958

I seriously don't understand why Princess continues with the Champagne waterfall, should have gone long ago like like the Midnight Gala buffet and chocolate buffet on other lines . 

We renewed our Silver anniversary vows on Golden Princess, been married 45 years now, at least on that cruise crew were walking around with free glasses of bubbles, not any more , it is all just a waste for a photo opportunity sadly.

23 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

 

 @heatherb1958 You are welcome . We are at home currently so the link that I showed yesterday is the current cruise . Cruisemapper currently shows them in Nanotalk today until 1800 GMT , before returning to Southampton on the 13th . We are glad that they made it as we did have to miss a port on our cruise . Their current position is here .

https://www.cruisemapper.com/?imo=9215490

Oops,  my mistake 😆.  Didn’t look at the date , saw 16 days and thought you were onboard now . 

Still enjoying your post cruise pics 😆 🤣.  

@scubacruiserx2 - thank you for your kind  offer re the patters. We have been to all the ports before except the Greenland calls so are familiar with Isafjordur . Good to hear you docked in Nanortalik,  I have the RIB tour booked for that day  . We have UK friends onboard with you so have been getting some updates through them when they have WIFI 😆 🤣.  

We join on 13th August doing your itinerary but in reverse,  we have Greenland then Iceland.  I have prebooked the Ultimate balcony dinner as we have a true aft on Baja deck  which will be sheltered from wind,  we are from the UK so cool temperatures are not an issue . Looking forward to your full review of the experience . 

1 hour ago, warthog2608 said:

Currently on the July 28 sailing of the Caribbean Princess. When we boarded the hours were 4:30 to 6:30 in Skywalkers. Then after a couple days we got a notice delivered to our cabin saying the hours were extended to 4 to 7. Three full hours, that’s nice!

We have friends on the current sailing and we join on the 13th August. Thanks for the info. 

21 minutes ago, TRLD said:

Not talking about the illness itself only how the cruise lines are treating it. No forced testing, no mandatory visit to medical, no cruiseline coverage of isolation time. All that has gone away. As far as they are concerned the policy is no different then if you have a cold, the flu, or any number of other URIs.

Exactly this and I'd like to add no government legislation to adhere too either .  It is a virus we now live with and act accordingly like the old days , if you woke up feeling rubbish you stayed away from work , school, family etc. etc. and tucked yourself up in bed with fluids and meds. Of course there are always going to be those with underlying health issues, myself included ,  who suffer more than others but that was the case with the flu before Covid.

We experienced the Platinum/ Elite lounge on Sky last September, held in the Vista lounge , It was our first time as Platinum.   I can confirm no  complimentary cocktails were provided but they did have a list of special cocktails at half price , $8. We had the Plus package so didn’t enquire about any other drinks . The hours for us was 5pm til 7pm . The nibbles were very nice .

But is gratuity added on top of that when purchasing onboard ? 

We always pre purchase , never have enough OBC to cover the cost for the whole cruise .

On 7/22/2024 at 11:29 AM, cockneyjock said:

What's Boarding, Disembarking Virtuosa at Southampton like now. Last year was a nightmare.

Alan.

I find the only time it is a nightmare are the short,   closed loop Southampton trips, all the others where people get on and  off at the  different ports are a breeze. 

If everyone stuck to their embarkation times the closed loop cruises wouldn't be such a problem.  

We have done several MSC cruises out of Southampton , the 5 day trip we did in May last year  was like queuing for a Disney ride , Euribia in March this year was a delight , on the ship from arrival to a bar  was as fast as I could walk , 😆 

Great wrap up review photo dump 😎.  

What is the chandelier show? I am guessing something to do with the lights behind the bar ? . Will find out 7th September  😆.  

We have done the Arctic circle trip on Brilliance in 2012, visited all your ports plus the Lofoten islands. Our Blue nose ceremony was out on deck at 11.30pm !  Thank you for rekindling the memories . 

You can have a  miniature shot of Baileys and other liquors in those desserts , makes them more palatable 😆.  We did meet a lady on Sky Princess last year , 24 nights , she WAS having at least one a day . Every time we were going in to early dinner there she was having one , we became friends , lovely lady , she is the size of Princess Catherine so can get away with having those desserts 😆. 

Thank you all so much for the replies , so so glad I booked it now. Our itinerary is a cold one but we are from Northern England so will just put on an extra jumper 😆.  

One more question re the cocktail... we are on Princess plus anyways but can you literally order what you want or is it from a set list, quite fancy sitting there with a Vodka martini and our 'butler' serving it 😆.  

Hi all , we are on Caribbean princess soon in a true aft balcony and after seeing some videos on YouTube about the Ultimate balcony dinner for 2 thought it would be a great opportunity to experience it at sailaway which is scheduled for 6pm on the day I have chosen. 

What have folks experiences been like? .

First off , you do only purchase in one person's name and it is for 2 people right ? 

Secondly , what is the earliest time you could start the evening off ? I am guessing it is from restaurant open hours maybe . 

I saw somewhere that a photo is included,  is that still the case ? 

Princesses' website doesn't show every minute detail of what is actually included so any responses from folks who have done it in the past 6 months would be appreciated.  I know there are cutbacks in all areas with all cruiselines so recent first hand experience replies would be truly appreciated. 

Great photos . 

On Anthem recently we had 75F and sunny skies in Olden when I did the hike up to Huaren. For an overweight 65 year old with slight asthma and arthritic hips who only hikes on holiday it was hard going but so so worth it. Did you notice the post box up  there ? Inside was a log for you to enter your details 😎.  Mine are there 😆.  

19 hours ago, Scottishclover said:

@heatherb1958 The charity shops here are amazing. I didn’t think anywhere could beat St Andrews for that but Lymington has the edge. 

I am half Scottish, father from Edinburgh , I lived in St. Andrews and Leuchars for a while as a kid.  Love St. Andrews but not been for a long long time. Lymington is just stunning too. 

, pronounced Limmington not Lime ington.  😁😁

Great start .. following along for the ride, we are on Apex in September . Absolutely love Norway and just got back from 2 weeks there on Anthem , did a lot of hiking myself . 

We visit  Brockenhurst and Lymington when staying in Southampton,  love seeing the 

ponies roaming around everywhere and especially when the foals are born.  Lymington I love for the charity shops , got some bargains there myself and sitting on the waterfront watching the yachting and activities in the sun is bliss.  Oh, and there is a Wetherspoons in Lymington too for cheap drinks 😆 

Happy cruise day for tomorrow. 

14 hours ago, dsa181920 said:

We docked. There was one ship that used the tenders.

Wow, 5 ships ? We visited here on  Enchanted princess July 22 and were the only ship in town but tendered , maybe we were too big .

1 hour ago, jelayne said:

That was the case for quite awhile.  Recently there have been reports from some passengers that had Fixed Dining that when they arrived in the cabin there was info on their assigned dining room and table.  I don’t know if this is on all 4 E class ships or not.

So this info contradicts everything in the other thread then ? 

Oh, well , we'll find out for ourselves in September what exact  dining situation we will be in , currently late , 8.30pm out of Southampton. 

17 hours ago, jwlane said:

Go where you want when you want and they will feed you.

That is good to hear . 😊 

Interested in more replies on this subject. 

We booked Apex for September , 6th cruise with Celebrity last one was Silhouette June 23.

We enjoyed the buffet on Silhouette,  the MDR not so much . I told hubby we would do buffet on Apex as we could only get  late fixed 8.30pm and that is too late for us until I started to watch YouTube videos 😆. 

From what I have seen it reminds me of Dynamic dining with Royal back in 2014/15, 4 restaurants with a different menu though theirs was the same menu everynight in each restaurant . 

How does the fixed dining work exactly , same table everynight or just the same time everynight ?

We like to eat very early , hoping we can just wing it and turn up. 

Following as we have Apex booked for September doing the same itinerary but swap Cork for Glasgow. None of the ports are new to us but the ship is and we love to cruise . 

Great start to your live report .

18 hours ago, 84k said:

 

Is this correct as I just saw a 2024 drinks menu in Euros 

If it is a closed loop sailing out of Southampton, i.e. everyone embarks and disembarks there , currency onboard is Sterling. If it is one of the itineraries where folk can join in Hamburg, Rotterdam etc the currency onboard is Euros.

8 hours ago, little britain said:

That question is still in the survey. Doesn’t seem to stop them! We are in AIG 

Well so far we have not been asked,  maybe because we eat early. 

Lovely peaceful location in dining room , no blaring music just entertaining wait team . We have the same table next cruise and requested same team.

I wonder if it is because the ship will soon be going around Africa without passengers to get to Dubai so they are trying to get their bonuses up in the time they have left here in the UK.

1 hour ago, little britain said:

It’s the second formal/ dress your best night. About 60% didn’t get the memo. 
 

For the 3rd time we get the blaring music and Begging for 🔟 at dinner…. Even when we say Stop 🛑 you aren’t meant to do this, they still continue with their speil…

we won’t get a day off if you don’t give us a 🔟,

I won’t get promotion if you don’t give me a 🔟… 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Which dining room are you in ? Remember when there was a question on the post cruise survey that asked " were you asked to give a 10 by any member of crew ?  " and " which department were they in and what name ? ". Sorry but if we are asked to give a 10 they'd get a big fat zero.

Our wait team are fab and don’t need to ask for a 10.

We haven’t cruised Royal in 18months.

We stayed onboard today.  Have been to Stavanger  countless times and in the month of April with clear blue skies and tshirt weather. Bbbbrrrrr today. Love Stavanger but not enough to freeze my bits off. There is a fab 'new to me'  clothes shop I can spend ages in looking at clothes you'll never find in the UK. Bought a scarf last time, they always fit ! 😂