LIVE: Royal Princess, Dec. 10-20, 2017, 10-Day Caribbean

[geoherb]

Vickie.... and geoherb..... has anyone politely (and privately) said anything to the people who conduct the trivia that this is happening? It is definitely not fair to everyone (and I would think boring for the people winning all the time). I want to lose fair and square! I'm going on this ship Dec 30. If these people take long cruises it looks like they will probably be on our cruise too :mad:

I haven't said anything. It should be obvious to the cruise director's staff members. During our 10-day cruise, several of them learned our names. I'm sure they learn the people who are on back-to-back cruises and can see that they're winning all the time.

[geoherb]

The Royal is back in Fort Lauderdale. It’s a little before 6 in the morning. DH got up to watch us sail into the port. I found him sleeping on the balcony around 4. He said he was just resting his eyes. I went back to bed. We’re docking at Pier 2, so the folks who drove down for the cruise will need to catch a shuttle to the parking deck near Pier 19 if they parked over there. We talked to someone else who did the back-to-back cruise with the previous one who parked at one of the offsite parking vendors for less than half the price. The only time we drove down was for a New Year’s cruise. At that time, the offsite parking vendors were charging premiums due to high demand and weren’t a lot less than parking in the deck right beside the pier.

 

We ended up not spending a lot on board this cruise. Having to cut back on alcoholic drinks for health reasons has helped. DH bought one bottle of wine and finished it on the ninth night. He had two more bottles in the cabin that he used to have one glass of wine before dinner most afternoons. We went to the Platinum, Elite, and Suite event just twice and he had a drink there each time. I did not enjoy having it in a place without a view. We did not buy anything from the shops. He was tempted to buy a jacket from the Majestic Princess but did not want to wait in line to get it. If he had remembered the additional 10 percent discount, he might have waited. I prepaid for our excursion in Bonaire and the Ultimate Balcony Dinner, so that’s a little bit more of our money that Princess got, just ahead of time instead of on board.

 

The email for the cruise survey was in my inbox this morning. I’m going to wait until after we get home to fill it out. I’ve written down several names of people who provided us great service. While I enjoyed many of the meals we had in the Club Class dining, it’s not something I’m eager to do again. I’m glad we met folks with whom we could dine several times at breakfast and dinner. It was also nice to be able to participate in some of the nighttime events that we miss out on when we have second seating traditional dining.

[Juliayn]

Great review thanks! We are getting ready to board today 12/20 and I have several coffee cards including a brand new one. I have never heard they are no longer honoring them at gelato place so hope they will! Kind of a bummer to institute that and not communicate it...

 

 

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[geoherb]

Room service breakfast came right on time, just a few minutes after 7. I had checked the 7 to 7:30 timeframe. We had bran muffins, fruit, cheese omelets, hashbrowns, bacon, and toast. We had one little bottle of champagne left to make mimosas with the orange juice. I had a jug of hot water to make tea. I had my own decaffeinated green tea bags, but I checked the “herbal tea” box on the order form and received some chamomile tea bags. The problem with room service hot water is that they serve it in carafes that they’ve used for coffee. It tastes like coffee to me. Overall, though, it was great to be able to eat a full breakfast in our suite rather than having to go to one of the dining rooms.

 

We vacated our cabin around 5 minutes late. They asked everyone to clear the cabins by 8. We are now waiting in the Concierge Lounge for our luggage group to be called. We’re one of the last groups off the ship, scheduled for around 9:30. I like that we no longer have to fill out the Customs form since we did not exceed our allotment. We purchased under $50 in souvenirs, including a small bottle of green rum. We also have our mini bottles of liquor that we’re taking home with us.

 

On signing on to post this, I had 129 minutes left out of my 250 minutes. I’ll use some of them up checking email and Facebook before we leave. I packed all the Patters if anyone has questions in the next couple of weeks. The amount of separate advertising for the shops, spa, and art auctions was down, I think, compared to previous cruises. I counted three art auction invitations (corresponding to our three days at sea), seven advertisements for the shops, and seven for the spa and fitness center. Of course there were still ads for “specials” in the Patters and some center handouts in them as well that I did not count in my totals.

 

It appears the next cruise will get Colors of the World as a show in addition to Encore. I guess with the premier of Encore on our cruise, they cut out a performance of Colors for us to give the cast more practice time to get the new show ready.

[geoherb]

Great review thanks! We are getting ready to board today 12/20 and I have several coffee cards including a brand new one. I have never heard they are no longer honoring them at gelato place so hope they will! Kind of a bummer to institute that and not communicate it...

I hope you have a great cruise. Inconsistency and miscommunication, unfortunately, are normal on Princess ships. It's like the BOGO happy hours--we had them twice a day on this cruise but did not have them in August on the Caribbean Princess.

[geoherb]

One suggestion for future Princess cruise ship designers would be to put the clothesline in suites above the tub instead of in the shower. We never used the tub. Having our swimsuits hanging up in the shower got in our way. As someone mentioned about another comment here, I realize that's a First World problem. But it's something that would be easy to design right to start with--or even better, put one in the shower and one in the tub so that people could use the one they wanted to.

[floridalover5623]

Great review thanks! We are getting ready to board today 12/20 and I have several coffee cards including a brand new one. I have never heard they are no longer honoring them at gelato place so hope they will! Kind of a bummer to institute that and not communicate it...

 

 

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If you could, please post your findings about using the coffee card for the gelato. If not from the ship at least when you arrive home.

Thanks

[Juliayn]

If you could, please post your findings about using the coffee card for the gelato. If not from the ship at least when you arrive home.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Will do!!!

 

 

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[geoherb]

Disembarkation was a breeze. The concierge made a note of our color group. After waiting a few minutes, there was an announcement that things were going so smoothly that they were fifty minutes ahead of schedule. The concierge told us our group was ready. Going through Customs took about five minutes after finding our big bags.

 

The taxi dispatcher directed us to the left, where the big cabs were. I'm not sure why. The cab driver loaded our bags and another couple's bags into the back. Then he found out we weren't traveling together. We let the other couple know we did not mind sharing the cab. When we got to the terminal, the fare was at $12.90. I thought $10 was enough to pay for our share but the driver was indignant, saying there wasn't much tip. I have him a couple more bucks. I wish now that I hadn't. If the other couple tipped him the same amount, the $10 from each of us would work out to be a $7 tip.

 

There weren't any lines at the Southwest counter to print our boarding passes and check our big bags. We both received TSA Pre clearance and did not have to take off our shoes or remove our computers from our carry-on bags. That was nice. But even if we had not gotten so lucky, the regular lines were very light.

 

We have another hour until they start boarding our flight. We are in the new section of the terminal. I read about it in the Southwest magazine on our flight down. It's very nice, not as crowded feeling as the other concourse.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Safe trip back. It’s a rainy day in NC. Enjoyed your blog very much.

 

 

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[vickie_bernie]

i am not surprised about the gelato bar wanting you to pay for the ice cream. However you are allowed to use the coffee card for ice cream. I have been told by some staff that often the staff want to charge as they have incentives or goals to meet. So I guess if they can say "sorry we don't take coffee card" and they charge you they will.

 

 

Thanks for the great review. I really enjoyed your insights and details about the trip.

 

Safe travels

[floridalover5623]

i am not surprised about the gelato bar wanting you to pay for the ice cream. However you are allowed to use the coffee card for ice cream. I have been told by some staff that often the staff want to charge as they have incentives or goals to meet. So I guess if they can say "sorry we don't take coffee card" and they charge you they will.

 

 

Thanks for the great review. I really enjoyed your insights and details about the trip.

 

Safe travels

It's possible that the rules might have just changed & not all of the crew members are on board with it right now.

[weedpindle]

Had great fun playing trivia with both of you.

Lee

[Cruz4Sun]

After a losing effort in the afternoon trivia (12 out of 20—where the winning team (consisting of people doing back-to-back cruises) scored 20), we had a taste of gelato. There was a little bit of confusion as to whether they honored the coffee card, according to a woman ahead of us in line. She was told it wasn’t initially and paid for some scoops, only to be told later that it could be done for a punch. We got ours for a punch. .

 

We were on this cruise with you and were definitely told at Gelato's that they were no longer accepting the coffee card there. I checked the Gelato's menu and sure enough it no longer listed how many punches for a treat, only the price. We went away disappointed and noted on my survey that I would no longer be buying a card unless it was also good at Gelato's.

[geoherb]

Had great fun playing trivia with both of you.

Lee

Thanks. We had fun with you on our team even without a win.

[JRMOTHERHUBBARD]

Loved your trip report. I am looking forward to sailing my first time with Princess on December 30th

[Todd320]

We were on this cruise with you and were definitely told at Gelato's that they were no longer accepting the coffee card there. I checked the Gelato's menu and sure enough it no longer listed how many punches for a treat, only the price. We went away disappointed and noted on my survey that I would no longer be buying a card unless it was also good at Gelato's.

 

We were told by the bar manager that the only reason the AIBP used to include gelato is because the coffee card included it. He said the coffee card now doesn't include it and thats why the new beverage package does not include it. We have never boughten the coffee card, only beverage packages. I did miss the once a cruise trip to the gelato shop.

[busterfla]

To answer the question about the lift at St. Thomas, it is not running and it looks like a few of the towers up the hill are missing. No cables are strung. Downtown shopping was different, as some of the shops were not fully opened (Cardow & AH Riise Mall), but business was brisk in some shops none the less.

 

As we left St Thomas we could see the damage to the Marriott Hotel and a few surrounding small hotels. But the real sad sight was after we got s few miles offshore and the sun set. The island was dark, very very little lighting in the hills or shore line. Only the airport had a "glow" from lighting. More than one resident made a comment on how Puerto Rico was getting all the attention for aid.

[richsea]

Thanks again geoherb for letting us tag along with you. Your just whetting our whistle for our Royal b2b in January. I promise that we will let the moderators know that they have to switch up the trivia questions on our 2nd leg! They are usually very accommodating.

 

And thanks for the information regarding the buy one, get one; much appreciated!

[Micahs Grandad]

We stayed on the ship in Martinique. We played morning trivia, watching the back-to-backers win again, followed by the bean bag toss. I did great the first round, sinking all four bags to take the lead. Around two dozen passengers participated. I did not get any bags in the second round after the cruise staff member made the distance greater. We ate a light lunch at the International Café. Then we enjoyed a game of Scrabble in the Concierge Lounge. The unexpected happened at afternoon trivia. The back-to-backers lost to another team. We were just a point shy of winning. So now we know there is a chance.

 

The Ultimate Balcony Dinner was great. They set up a small card table on our balcony and covered it with a white tablecloth. We used the chairs that are there, which was comfortable enough. The meal started with canapes like we had had the first afternoon. A crab cake in a pastry crust came next. It was accompanied by a salad made with tiny ribbons of zucchini and carrot with fresh basil. A salad of greens with goat cheese, candied walnuts, pears, and tomatoes followed. They got our orders right, leaving the pears off my salad and the walnuts off DH’s. We chose a mojito and a banana daiquiri for our drinks. Our waiters delivered them with the salad, except they subbed a dirty banana for the daiquiri. DH enjoyed it nevertheless. That’s also when the photographer showed up to take a few photos. The lead waiter also took a few photos with my camera. They look good on the little screen. I haven’t transferred them to my computer to see if they actually are.

 

We had the surf and turf for our main courses. For those they listened and served us broccoli instead of the asparagus that normally accompanies them. We had wanted flourless chocolate cake, but the woman who took our order said she did not know if it was possible. Before we received the main course, the lead waiter let us see the dessert menu from the dining rooms to pick one of them instead of the chocolate mousse trio that usually comes with the UBD. (I find the trio too sweet and heavy to follow such a big meal.) We ordered soufflés. They served them with the custard sauce. As we were eating them, the waiters brought in an individual cake for my birthday and a piece of flourless chocolate cake. It was delicious. They sang Happy Birthday to me. I saved the birthday cake for today.

 

The view from our balcony overlooking the industrial area of the port wasn’t great for the beginning of dinner. Midway through the dinner, though, the Royal set sail We had a nice view of the lights of the island. There was a large sailing ship, probably one of the Windstar ships, docked away from the city. The breeze on the balcony after sailaway was not bad, but it did create a wind tunnel whenever they opened our cabin door. The water pitcher on the table inside our cabin got blown over. The lead waiter cleaned up the pieces of ice and tried to dab away the water with a napkin. Our cabin steward was delivering our laundry and helped by putting down a towel to blot the water better.

 

After dinner, we went to the theater for the show. We were too late and could not find seats together. So we ended up at a trivia of determining which celebrity was in a childhood photo. We got slightly more than half right, 13 out of 24. The winning couple said they had 20. The second closest team had just 15. I joked with one of the back-to-back team members that the winning couple must have counted each correct answer as two points.

 

I went by the dining room to check out the menu for tonight for DH to make sure there wasn’t anything he’d want that had one of his restricted items. The head waiter has been much better on this cruise than our last one at accommodating his special diet. He’s only had to place a special order once. Most of the time DH can pick around offending items or order safe menu items since his restriction is avoiding things like tomato seeds and nuts. The one special order he received was a seafood stew without tomatoes.

 

We stayed in Princess Live for a game show called Hollywould You. I submitted my name and got picked to be a contestant. (The odds were very good since they were picking two men and two women to play the game and only one other guy signed up. Eight or nine women signed up, so they drew names for the ones to participate.) I was on Natalie’s team with a passenger named Joyce. We faced off against CD Matt’s team, composed of passengers named Stu (Micah’s Granddad on CC) and Bernadette. We were behind one point after the first round, which was identifying movies from their theme songs. We came alive the second round, identifying famous people from photos of just a portion of their faces. The third round consisted of posing for a movie poster and having the audience guess which movie we were trying to represent. We got to use props from a table full of them to help. The audience got all of the titles correct for that round for both team, so we held our lead. The final round was answering trivia questions. We increased our lead by getting five answers right compared to the other team’s three. All four of us passengers participating got Princess bags with water bottles, notepads, and bottle stoppers. It was fun.

 

The 10:15 show in the theater wasn’t crowded. We sat in the front row with a couple from Canada we met earlier on the cruise. The act was Dan Bennett, a comedy juggler. He was very good.

 

Been enjoying the thread and thought I would pop in here. Hollywood game was a lot of fun especially when we got to use the props and look like a poster from a movie that someone in the audience had to identify. Was a lot of fun being on Matt's team.

 

Thought John the first comedians was hilarious in the first two shows he did. Also the Burt Bacarach show was excellent, had seen it before but Royal did an excellent job.

[Micahs Grandad]

The back-to-backers won afternoon trivia with another perfect score. The closest team to them had 17. We had 15. One of our teammates had gone over to the second place team. He told us one of the b2b team members had a 2-inch thick notebook of trivia questions and answers from all the cruises she had been on. I guess it pays in fabulous ship prizes to go to extremes.

 

 

We did the morning trivia once. One team actually had 11 people playing. Happily they only came in third. Pointed this out to the cruise staff guy running the event and he didnt seem to care very much.

[Micahs Grandad]

I don’t think they’re using the book during the contest. She’s just keeping a running list of the questions and answers and studying them.

 

OK but still an unfair advantage. Like trivia but getting turned off when stuff like this happens.

[dickinson]

The back-to-backers won afternoon trivia with another perfect score. The closest team to them had 17. We had 15. One of our teammates had gone over to the second place team. He told us one of the b2b team members had a 2-inch thick notebook of trivia questions and answers from all the cruises she had been on. I guess it pays in fabulous ship prizes to go to extremes.

 

 

We did the morning trivia once. One team actually had 11 people playing. Happily they only came in third. Pointed this out to the cruise staff guy running the event and he didnt seem to care very much.

 

That cruise staff guy would be getting a negative rating from us on the cruise survey. Allowing 11 people is ridiculous.

[wlbox]

We played trivia during this cruise. Very disappointed with same team always winning. Now I know why. Also observed the team of 11 players. Not much of a challenge when you know all the questions.

 

 

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[Micahs Grandad]

We played trivia during this cruise. Very disappointed with same team always winning. Now I know why. Also observed the team of 11 players. Not much of a challenge when you know all the questions.

 

 

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After we saw this and told the cruise staff wonder if they did anything about this on the next trivia session? Would sure hope so.