2013 Christmas Cruise on Royal Princess - A Photo Review!

[LittleMissMagic]

Yikes that is pretty pricey for the amount of food.

 

Glad you are back and doing the Disney portion!

 

I actually thought it was reasonable. If you added up the prices on the menu for all of the courses it included, it came to about $55-60 per person which means that the preferred seating for the Candlelight Processional was about $20 per person. Would we have ordered all of those courses if we weren't doing the Candlelight package? Definitely not. But it was a good meal and we enjoyed it.

[LittleMissMagic]

After dinner, we had FP+ reservations for Soarin'.

 

Walt Disney World is working on implementing a new system, FastPass+. Eventually, the old FastPass paper system will be completely replaced by the new FP+ which allows guests to make reservations for rides in advance using their smartphones, computers, or kiosks located throughout the parks. As of right now, this system is still in testing. If you're interested in learning more about FastPass+ and the new My Disney Experience system, check out my blog entries from this September and October - Disney Magic Bands: Review, How to Customize yoru Disney Magic Bands, and Disney Magic Bands: Linking Existing Reservations.

 

As of right now, the FP+ system and Disney Magic Bands are only available to guests staying at Disney resorts. However, because we are annual passholders, there was a loophole for us. We stayed at a Disney resort in October and activated our annual passes. Because we had stayed at a Disney resort, we received Magic Bands, and as annual passholders, we are able to make FP+ reservations online for up to 60 days in advance. While our Magic Bands did not work for charging purposes, we could use them to enter the park and use FP+.

 

12.29.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

The gingerbread structures in The Land Pavilion are amazing.

 

12.29.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.29.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.29.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.29.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

[Cruisin' Chick]

This is a fairly recent change. The Princess Platinum and Elite cruisers still get the cocktail party. The lame deal in the theater is for lowly Gold and Ruby members. I discovered this on my recent Caribbean Cruise (I was Ruby) and was somewhat miffed that although I'd been invited to a cocktail party on previous Princess cruises, suddenly I was demoted to a theater seat and no food/drink. Oh well, next cruise I'll get to attend the Platinum party. I suppose this is no different than Royal taking away perks from it's loyal cruisers. Stuff happens. I'll still cruise both lines.

 

It seems Princess has been trying this out for a year or two. I remember seeing people talk about separating the parties by loyalty level and just giving a drink voucher. So when I was on the Golden in December 2012/Jan 2013, I was hoping it would be like this. And it was for the Circle party. We were in the Princess Theater (some people have had it in the Grand Atrium:eek:), were shown the Royal promo video, an invite was drawn to get upgraded to Elite for this cruise only (which was fine that we didn't get it as Princess HQs had given us Elite amenties for this cruise because they learned I was helping a future hopeful ship designer). We used our drink voucher on New Years' Day, and it was nice to known we didn't have to order the cheapest drinks on the menu, either.

 

I don't see it as a bad thing at all.

 

This must have been on a Friday evening.

What you describe is a typical Sabbath meal for an observant family. (Google Shabbat )

We do this in our home every week but on a ship it strikes me as a little intrusive to do in the dining room.

I have a feeling this must have been a wealthy, entitled family.

Every Princess ship has a small room set aside with everything one would need for a Sabbath service every Friday evening without intruding on other peoples' meals.

And , yes, some people give the kids a sip of wine, it's part of the service (as is the hand washing) but grape juice for kids works , also. You said this family was Spanish speaking - I think other countries have very different feelings about small amounts of wine for children.

Hope this clarifies it for you.

 

I was trying to figure out if this was a Friday night because this is what I thought. When my in-laws were still alive, Shabbos dinner was always at their house (never at a restaurant as the Kosher restaurants would be closed and not at our house as we don't keep Kosher) and my FIL always had a whole ceremony, including the challah blessing and the drinking of wine and grape juice. My daughter and I would have the juice. But it's not unknown for kids to have Kosher wine.

 

I hadn't heard this on a ship. Just the chapel or other lounge reserved for a "passenger-led" Sabbath service. But maybe those who want this, will contact customer service and set this up ahead of time.

 

As for football, one of my favorite sayings is that I root for the Bruins and whichever team is playing USC (and I'm not talking about the U of South Carolina). My graduate alma mater is Missouri (also Tigers) which won the Cotton Bowl last week, but unfortunately I had to watch while very sick. Massive hay fever attack which developed as I was helping out at a fundraiser at the Rose Bowl Game (not a good idea for someone with allergy to some flowers to be all day just a couple of miles away from one of the biggest floral parades on a windy day). Followed two days later by a bad food poisoning attack (probably that hot dog I ate during my one break). I was supposed to help do the same this Monday at the BCS game, but the only place I went to was to the doctor. (I was needed as we were required to have a minimum of 11 people who went through the alcohol training program, and my group may have had to switch to a non-beer-serving booth)

[LittleMissMagic]

One of the cast members at Soarin' was hilarious. He busted through the gate to our loading area and exclaims, "I'm FREEEEE!" He then mouthed along to the entire safety video. "Put the belt through the loop."

 

After Soarin', we headed to get in line for the 8:15 Candlelight Processional. They had us wear stickers for the dinner package. The line stretched all the way to the Japan Pavilion when we entered and grew towards Morocco. We had done a dinner package for a show in the American Garden Theater before... way back in 2001 when Blast! was at Epcot (great show), and the dinner package got us seated in the front section. Well, it turns out that the Candlelight dinner package is so huge that it just guarantees you entry into the show. If you want to sit in the front section, get there early. We could have sat in the front, but Dad griped that he couldn't see everything, so we relocated to the middle section. They didn't let people who weren't participating in the dinner package in the theater until right before showtime. The show was not packed out, so I think people who weren't on the package were fine getting in. I think we would have been okay just doing stand-by, but I'm glad that we did the dinner package just because otherwise, who knows if we would have ever even gone to the show? I think the dinner package would be a good idea for the more popular narrators, such as Neil Patrick Harris.

 

12.29.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.29.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.29.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

It's easy to just watch the Christmas tree choir the entire time, but the singers in the gold were younger and generally more animated.

 

12.29.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

Our narrator was Amy Grant, the Contemporary Christian singer. I thought that she did a fabulous job at narrating. She had a good voice for reading the script and great delivery. Also, while the choir was singing, she was very attentive and appeared truly interested in the lyrics (I read a blog several years ago about Abigail Breslin who wore a face which said, "I can't wait until this stupid show is over so I can go text my friends," the entire time). Sometimes, you would catch her singing along.

 

12.29.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.29.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

[LittleMissMagic]

12.29.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

Rachel thought Amy Grant's introduction was awkward. It had been raining earlier today, and apparently Amy didn't know that it had stopped. "Everyone look to the person on your right and tell them how wet you are." Except it had been two hours since it had rained, so no one was wet (and apparently Rachel has a dirty mind).

 

12.29.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.29.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

[cruisequeen10]

I just love your review. You two girls are cute. Could be models the way you pose. I went on the Disney Cruise to Alaska a couple of years ago and enjoyed it very much.

[riclop]

Is this still a Royal review???

[whataboutport]

She's already finished with the Royal portion of the review, but many of us asked her to continue with WDW.

[whataboutport]

I actually thought it was reasonable. If you added up the prices on the menu for all of the courses it included, it came to about $55-60 per person which means that the preferred seating for the Candlelight Processional was about $20 per person. Would we have ordered all of those courses if we weren't doing the Candlelight package? Definitely not. But it was a good meal and we enjoyed it.

 

Ahh, ok I didn't realize that the Candlelight thing was a show afterwords. I thought it was just what they called the dinner package! :o

[chamima]

Victoria

Still LOVING reading your review!

Just catching up and I don't want to quote the whole post but #330 made me almost lose the mouthful of coffee I had all over the keyboard!

Rachel just has a quick mind! ;) .. :p

 

 

(EDIT: Just re-read it and laughed again! Thanks!)

Edited January 10, 2014 by chamima

[jb008]

DW has a work conference at Coronado Springs Resort and I was thinking of tagging along, but I'll need to work remotely for some of the days. Since we'll both be working during the days, we didn't want to buy park passes during the conference itself but just for a day or two before/after. Thanks for clarifying the park admission & restaurant access situation for me!

 

Thanks again and looking forward to the rest of your review!

Edited January 10, 2014 by jb008

[waverley7]

Victoria,

 

Thank You for sharing all your photos

We are sailing on 4/6 and hope to have a

wonderful vacation as you did.

We have never had a bad experience on a Princess Ship!

 

;);)

 

Joe/Jack

 

Your sailing on the same cruise as myself and friends, we have quite a roll call going for this sailing, c'mon in and check it out!! :p

[waverley7]

WOW!!! Awesome job Victoria!! Thanks for sharing, pics are amazing!! :)

[LittleMissMagic]

The Candlelight dinner package also gets you a reserved area for IllumiNations. The section is on the Future World side. It's actually not a great viewing location because there is a large stage-like area which is elevated and in front of you. If we wanted to stake out a fireworks spot after the Candlelight Processional, there was plenty of availability, and we would have had a much better viewing location than the Candlelight area. However, we decided to go shopping at Mouse Gear instead because Rachel saw a man wearing a Minnie Mouse backpack that she really wanted.

 

12.29.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.29.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

I didn't really care where we watched IllumiNations because I didn't bring my tripod and wasn't trying to get fireworks photos. It's hard to not photograph fireworks, though. I ended up taking a few cell phone photos and videos to send my friends.

 

12.29.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

[LittleMissMagic]

December 30, 2013 - Pool and Magic Kingdom

 

Rachel looked at the week's forecast and decided that this was the best day for her pool day. The sun didn't come out until the afternoon, though, so we spent the morning sleeping in and watching Disney Channel.

 

Also, something to note is that the Waldorf Astoria is kind of like a Vegas hotel in the way that you may be getting a five star resort room for a three star price, but the food is still the five star price. If you're wondering prices, it's like a bowl of cereal for $7 or a cup of coffee for $4 (though the room did have a Nespresso machine with free cartridges that the restocked throughout our stay). It's just obnoxious because I could buy a box of Frosted Flakes for $4 - I find it immoral to charge $7 for a bowl. My point is it's not higher quality food, it's just more expensive. Food at Walt Disney World hotels is much more reasonable.

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

The pool was heated and fabulous.

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

I was relaxing by the pool when I received a phone call from Florida. I answered because we were in Florida. It turns out that we left our pink duffle bag (full of our dirty clothes and shoes... mostly Rachel's shoes, as she packed first) at the port. How we forgot about it - I don't know! But we didn't even realize it was missing. I'm actually glad that they told us they had it before we realized we didn't. But I went into freakout mode and the lady was trying to FedEx it to me. When she found out we were still on vacation, she wanted to wait to FedEx it, but I didn't have a notepad or anything to write on. I asked her if they could just FedEx it to our resort, but she said that would cost a fortune. Her words, not mine. I'm wondering what a fortune is to her because I can't imagine it possibly costing over $100 to ship a small duffle three hours north, and I've spent much more than that on baggage mistakes. Anyway, she said that she would just call me back in a few days and I hung up the phone.

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

They rent surrey bikes. I've always wanted to ride a surrey bike around Disney's Boardwalk.

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

Edited January 10, 2014 by LittleMissMagic

[LittleMissMagic]

That evening, we went to the Magic Kingdom. Magic Kingdom's New Year's Eve fireworks are so popular that they do them two nights in a row (same with Fourth of July Fireworks). The Fantasy in the Sky Fireworks are shot over the Magic Kingdom, as an identical show is set off over the Seven Seas Lagoon. So the show can be viewed anywhere in the Magic Kingdom or around the Seven Seas Lagoon (such as the transportation and ticket center, Fort Wilderness resort, Polynesian resort, Grand Floridian resort, or Contemporary resort). I brought my tripod with the intention of shooting the New Year's Fantasy in the Sky Fireworks from inside the Magic Kingdom.

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

Well, we didn't arrive at a good time. The Main Street Electrical Parade had just begun. We wanted to eat at Casey's Corner which is on the left side of Main Street, but with the way that the parade runs, it is impossible to get on the left side of Main Street while it is running. My dad's instinct was to cut through the shops along the right side and wait for the parade to end so that we could cross.

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

Crossing the street after the parade proved to be impossible with the way that the Cast Members were controlling the crowds that night. We had to take the backstage exit to the beginning of Main Street and then walk all the way back up Main Street. And then there was a long line for corn dogs and no place to eat.

 

At 8:30, Magic Kingdom had the Holiday Wishes fireworks show (Christmas version of Wishes), and I wanted to do a test run with my equipment, so I went ahead of the family. I thought that in this situation, the best location to get fireworks shots was going to be behind a fence or some sort of barrier, and I immediately thought of the bridge from the Castle hub to Main Street. When I got there, all spots were taken except those which were obstructed by a tree. The tree didn't really obstruct the fireworks at all - just the view of the castle.

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

I shot Holiday Wishes with my Tamron 17-50mm lens, tripod, and wireless remote.

[LittleMissMagic]

The New Year's Fantasy in the Sky Fireworks weren't until 11:50, so we had time to use our FP+ for Space Mountain (we missed our FP+ for Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain just because we couldn't get there with the parade and the crowds).

 

I was getting really antsy because I knew exactly where I wanted to stand on the bridge for the fireworks, and I didn't want anyone taking my place. My family thought I was insane lining up two hours in advance for fireworks, but I really, really wanted that spot, and I would be devastated if I missed out on it. So I sent them to the Confectionary on Main Street to bring back treats (we had been eyeing the cute cupcakes earlier), and I staked out my spot.

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

[LittleMissMagic]

Disney's treats are so stinkin' cute!

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

Still working on that flash...

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

[LittleMissMagic]

Rachel wanted to kill me. She was so mad that we were sitting there for so long. "You better never do this to me again!" I told her that she was free to go do whatever she wanted and that she could come back before the show started. But she must have not cared that much because she just went back to snapchatting her friends.

 

For the New Year's Eve celebration (on Dec. 30 and Dec. 31), they have a DJ in front of the castle, and they play that music throughout all lands in the park, rather than the typical land-themed audio. It's really a fun experience. While crowd levels are extremely high, they backed off significantly after Holiday Wishes, and the experience is so different than your typical day or evening in the park that I think it's worth it.

 

I must say that the cast member were awesome that night. They were dealing with a lot of traffic, but were really happy and friendly. I loved the CM who was across from me on the bridge because she was dancing the entire time. And guests loved it! So many came up and danced with her - she just looked like she was having the best time.

 

About 20 minutes before the fireworks, they run a projection show on the castle. It's pretty cute and gives you something to watch while you wait, but not nearly as exciting as fireworks. There was a man who staked out a spot behind me and my tripod for over half an hour. It was a good spot, but his family was not in the mood. They watched the castle show and then convinced themselves that nothing was happening after and left before the fireworks (but they needed to... they seemed like they had spent too much time in the park that day).

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

I don't regret staking out a fireworks spot for two hours. But will I do it again soon? Absolutely not.

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

This time, because Fantasy in the Sky is the biggest, brightest fireworks show, I used an ND filter with my Tokina 11-16mm lens.

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

12.30.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

Edited January 10, 2014 by LittleMissMagic

[The Big Booper]

Truly great photos! I am always frustrated trying to get combo shots of a person in the foreground lit by flash and a lighted object in the rear.

[LBumb]

amazing job

[Cruzin-K]

How long did you keep the lens open for the fireworks shots? The exif data confuses my simple brain. For one of them, it says exposure =90. 90 what? It's not seconds. Centiseconds?

[mj]

Loving this review. Enjoyed hearing about Royal Princess and also enjoying the Disney World review. Great Pictures!!

[msweeble1]

I love your review!!!! Your pictures are beautiful!!!!!

 

Debbie

[LittleMissMagic]

How long did you keep the lens open for the fireworks shots? The exif data confuses my simple brain. For one of them, it says exposure =90. 90 what? It's not seconds. Centiseconds?

 

It is 90 seconds! The ND filter brought the exposure down three stops which allowed me to make longer exposures. I used an ND filter because I wanted to get as many firework explosions as possible in the shot. I set the shutter speed to bulb and used the remote to click along with the music. With the music, you can kind of tell when the fireworks are going to explode, so I just released the shutter where I felt it was musically appropriate. Towards the end of the show, you can't leave the shutter open as long because there are more fireworks happening and the sky is brighter.