No more balloon drop?

[h-sar]

Just read on another thread that Princess is doing away with the piazza balloon drops due to environmental reasons almost immediately. Can anyone else confirm this?  Didn’t want to start this line of questioning on that other thread as it has little to do with the original poster’s question. We’ve been on a Princess ship every Christmas or New Yrs for the past dozen yrs and it was one of my favourite things. Don’t want to turn this into an environmental debate...just looking to see if anyone else has heard this or if it’s a rumour at this point. Thanks! 

[skynight]

Sounds reasonable. You will see a number of changes since the agreement regarding environmental practices was reached with the courts earlier this year. 

[waltd]

For what it's worth we had one on the Star a few weeks ago in Alaska.   Maybe they are just using up the balloons.    

[Duffysmom]

I think it’s a great idea to do away with the balloon drop.  Balloons are deadly to wildlife, especially birds.👍

[shanecindy21403]

Well we won't miss it at all. We went to one of them years ago and it was total chaos and mass confusion. The people act like they are dropping free cruise and OBC credit certificates. If anything we'll watch the pandemonium from afar seeing other people get drinks spilled on them and feet stepped on. Actually saw people get in a shoving match over an empty balloon.

[pms4104]

Maybe they're planning to replace it with an Edible Confetti Drop ... festivities plus a late-evening snack in the piazza. 

[Potstech]

11 minutes ago, Duffysmom said:

I think it’s a great idea to do away with the balloon drop.  Balloons are deadly to wildlife, especially birds.👍

How many birds on a cruise ship?  Wildlife?

[JF - retired RRT]

31 minutes ago, shanecindy21403 said:

Well we won't miss it at all. We went to one of them years ago and it was total chaos and mass confusion. The people act like they are dropping free cruise and OBC credit certificates. If anything we'll watch the pandemonium from afar seeing other people get drinks spilled on them and feet stepped on. Actually saw people get in a shoving match over an empty balloon.

👍

We've never gone down in the crowd. Watched one from above and thought, "is this all there is?". Now we don't bother.

[JF - retired RRT]

22 minutes ago, Potstech said:

How many birds on a cruise ship?  Wildlife?

Might be thinking about the ones that are in the ocean. Plus sea turtles, whales, etc. Balloon trash has been found the in the stomachs of all of the above.

[voljeep]

6 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

👍

We've never gone down in the crowd. Watched one from above and thought, "is this all there is?". Now we don't bother.

same for us - is/was there ever anything in the balloons that was worth anything ... free cruise, OBC, drinks ?

[Jeter02]

2 hours ago, h-sar said:

Just read on another thread that Princess is doing away with the piazza balloon drops due to environmental reasons almost immediately. Can anyone else confirm this?  Didn’t want to start this line of questioning on that other thread as it has little to do with the original poster’s question. We’ve been on a Princess ship every Christmas or New Yrs for the past dozen yrs and it was one of my favourite things. Don’t want to turn this into an environmental debate...just looking to see if anyone else has heard this or if it’s a rumour at this point. Thanks! 

Sadly it's true. It's also one of favorite things on board both weekly and for New year's!

[satxdiver]

The balloon drop is in the piazza and not anywhere near the ocean so I am rather perplexed as to the effect on the environment unless the ship gathers the spent balloons and tosses them overboard.  We were on the Sapphire in June and they had the balloon drop on both cruises (b2b).  I do watch it most of the time from the upper decks overlooking the piazza and enjoy it but have not seen any of the things mentioned above.  Sorry to hear they are eliminating it but it has run its course and needs to be replaced by something else.  

[Ombud]

No balloon drop on the CB July 27, 2019 cruise and no balloons on my door. 

[norcalcruzr]

There was a balloon drop on the Grand Princess Sept 3, 2019 r/t San Francisco to Alaska cruise.  Last sea day of the 10 day cruise, in the Piazza, waiters served trays of Champagne on decks 5 and 6.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, shanecindy21403 said:

Well we won't miss it at all. We went to one of them years ago and it was total chaos and mass confusion. The people act like they are dropping free cruise and OBC credit certificates. If anything we'll watch the pandemonium from afar seeing other people get drinks spilled on them and feet stepped on. Actually saw people get in a shoving match over an empty balloon.

I thought "years ago" that one balloon contained a free cruise certificate.  Maybe I misheard.

[MishelleMcc]

We will be on Princess for the first time in December. (Grand Princess to Hawaii)  I'm sorry to see this tradition go away because it was unique to Princess and we looked forward the experience.  But I am sure there other things unique to Princess that we will also love experiencing.  The thing is, times are changing.  We all (human race) need to become more environmentally aware/responsible.  These things - billions of rubber pieces - end up in landfills (at best) and in the waterways.  I know we will still enjoy our cruise...  I am lucky to even be on the ship!  Peace to all!  Happy cruising!🥳

[24639]

I just got off the Royal this morning and last night was the last balloon drop on Princess per the announcements on board. The reason cited was a commitment to eliminate single use plastics. 

 

[CineGraphic]

29 minutes ago, satxdiver said:

The balloon drop is in the piazza and not anywhere near the ocean so I am rather perplexed as to the effect on the environment unless the ship gathers the spent balloons and tosses them overboard.

 

Well, if they all stayed inside, we wouldn't be finding them inside of whales, turtles and birds, would we? But we are.

People take them, they blow away, etc....

Glad to see them go.

[geoherb]

I'm currently on the Crown's transatlantic cruise. There was a balloon drop last week on the first or second night of the cruise. We did not go.

[Pstcrik]

1 hour ago, Potstech said:

How many birds on a cruise ship?  Wildlife?

They all come out after mid night.

[Steelers36]

I can live without a balloon drop.  Most of the time, just skip it anyway.  

[mek]

I skipped it last week on Grand Princess, but had I know it was going away I would have attended.

[Thrak]

Did any of the balloons actually contain anything? Anything at all? We've seen the folks popping balloons but have never taken part in the scrum.

[rkacruiser]

Balloon drop on  Coral Princes in August.

 

Doing away with such seems so petty, if that happens, in my opinion.

 

I believe in global warming and I don't want to see our oceans warming and polluted, but properly disposing of the plastic from the balloons diminishes the cruise experience, particularly if it does not occur on New Year's Eve.

[neverbeenhere]

We were never into the balloon drop, it was barely a real event. Participated a few times and never have seen the rumored prizes. But some enjoyed it.

 

if the elimination of it has anything to do with pollution, I believe you can thank Princess and their problem for it being removed. 

 

Next, the Midnight Bacon Drop!!!