Just finished a B2B - my thoughts

[JF - retired RRT]

Keep in mind these are MY thoughts/opinions...YMMV. We were on the Sapphire (Hawaii B2B for 30 days).

1) We are Elite and mostly don't drink (DH has an occasional Dirty Banana, I don't drink at all), so we trade our mini-bar for coffee pkgs.

We shouldn't have bothered. DH generally drinks plain, old coffee (no specialty coffee drinks). He'll drink the stuff in the buffet, but really prefers the fresh brewed from the IC. I drink tea. I was looking forward to the specialty teas from IC - they weren't available. The only tea in the IC was the same tea that's in the buffet. So, the only benefit was the extra hot water in a larger cup than the cups in the buffet.

2) I was surprised at the start of the cruise by the fluffy towels. Really nice. Unfortunately, those poor towels don't stay fluffy and soft for very long. By the second leg, the towels were getting stiff and distinctly not fluffy.

3) No Princess blue bags. I don't really need them after all this time, but I still enjoy getting them.

4) I always have a robe in the cabin (first or second day they magically appear)...not this time. So I used the TV to request a robe and some masks (you can't have enough, right?). The steward knocked on the door and delivered a robe and a washcloth (?). That was the first inkling that our steward was not up to par.

5) Our steward was from Thailand and I think this must have been his first contract. It took the first 15 days for him to figure out that we spent a lot of time in our cabin (I know, I know - I'm partially at fault, I should have explained). We'd go to breakfast or dinner and come back to an untouched cabin. Always used the "room service" sign, but that didn't appear to mean anything to our steward. When he did finally finish our room, he usually didn't turn off the "service" sign. The only way to get the water glasses in our bathroom changed was to put them on the desk with residue from a drink. There were other issues, but I don't want to turn this into a total rant (too late?). Hopefully, he was learning and will do better as time goes on.

5) DH ordered a drink when we were out by a pool. It came quickly. He finished it and we returned to our cabin. Knock, knock. "Here's the drink you ordered". Explained he'd already received it, but took it anyway. Others have reported that when this happened, they weren't charged for the 2nd drink. Nope! The charge showed up on our folio.

6) Elite bathroom amenities - hoping they are just having supply chain issues. Asked our steward for them and first got a "I don't know" look, then "I'll check". He delivered a shower cap and a nail file. I didn't bother asking on the second leg.

7) Shuttle in Kona was the most disorganized I've ever been on. Went to the table next to Crooner's to get tickets. The person handing out tickes took no notice that we are Elite. Just gave us tickets and told us to go to deck 4. We got to deck 4 and were told to go back up to 7. We stood around for a few minutes trying to decide what to do and they announced "get on the shuttle". If we'd gone back up to 7, we'd have done it for no reason.

8. Never had so many erroneous charges on our folio. Remember, we had the coffee pkg - we were charged for coffee 3 times. Drinks that DH didn't order were added every couple of days. One day there were 3 charges at 2 different bars. One of the bars, the closest he came to it was to walk by.

The good stuff:

1) MDR staff were all excellent. Best waiters and asst. waiters we've ever had.

2) One night DH didn't like the taste of his entree and didn't want another, so decided to have dessert to fill his tummy (we don't usually order dessert). Our waiter (Alma), made him a version of the Volcano. Banana on the bottom, next ice cream, then a HUGE pile of whipped cream, followed by little dishes with nuts, pineapple chunks, sprinkles, chocolate sauce. Oh my!!

3) With a few exceptions, all of the crew were smiling and happy to be of service.

4) The cruise fell on DH's birthday and our anniversary. We've done this many times (usually to HI). On our anniversary, when we went to our cabin after dinner, there was a lovely flower arrangement on the desk. First time EVER. We didn't even get flowers when we were in a suite.

 

A final thought: Princess shouldn't have stopped testing for Covid. There were around 100 cases on the first leg and more than that on the second leg. Almost no one was wearing masks (we did). People were coughing everywhere we went. It could have been colds/flu, but who knows? If you THINK you have it, you're supposed to volunteer to get tested. How many didn't volunteer?

[voljeep]

how was the actual B2B transition handled?

[JF - retired RRT]

5 minutes ago, voljeep said:

how was the actual B2B transition handled?

Same as always. Walked off and went through passport check. We didn't go straight back to the ship, tho'. Our car was parked at DoubleTree (the last time we did a long B2B, we came back to a dead battery). We took the "cookie mobile" over to the hotel, started the car to make sure all was OK, then went back to the ship after boarding had started.

[that]

The blue bags and The upgraded bathroom amenities have been discontinued after each ship’s supplies run out

 

only available for suites

[Cruise Raider]

Sorry to hear about the disorganization onboard but sounds like you made the best of it.  

I did hear that the Sapphire has had several cases on CoVid onboard in the last month or so.  It only takes one passenger to bring it on and refuse to go get tested to spread it all over the ship. 

We now actually take tests with us to test every few days, just to be on the safe side.  

Thanks for your honest review.  

 

[antsp]

1 hour ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Keep in mind these are MY thoughts/opinions...YMMV. We were on the Sapphire (Hawaii B2B for 30 days).

1) We are Elite and mostly don't drink (DH has an occasional Dirty Banana, I don't drink at all), so we trade our mini-bar for coffee pkgs.

We shouldn't have bothered. DH generally drinks plain, old coffee (no specialty coffee drinks). He'll drink the stuff in the buffet, but really prefers the fresh brewed from the IC. I drink tea. I was looking forward to the specialty teas from IC - they weren't available. The only tea in the IC was the same tea that's in the buffet. So, the only benefit was the extra hot water in a larger cup than the cups in the buffet.

2) I was surprised at the start of the cruise by the fluffy towels. Really nice. Unfortunately, those poor towels don't stay fluffy and soft for very long. By the second leg, the towels were getting stiff and distinctly not fluffy.

3) No Princess blue bags. I don't really need them after all this time, but I still enjoy getting them.

4) I always have a robe in the cabin (first or second day they magically appear)...not this time. So I used the TV to request a robe and some masks (you can't have enough, right?). The steward knocked on the door and delivered a robe and a washcloth (?). That was the first inkling that our steward was not up to par.

5) Our steward was from Thailand and I think this must have been his first contract. It took the first 15 days for him to figure out that we spent a lot of time in our cabin (I know, I know - I'm partially at fault, I should have explained). We'd go to breakfast or dinner and come back to an untouched cabin. Always used the "room service" sign, but that didn't appear to mean anything to our steward. When he did finally finish our room, he usually didn't turn off the "service" sign. The only way to get the water glasses in our bathroom changed was to put them on the desk with residue from a drink. There were other issues, but I don't want to turn this into a total rant (too late?). Hopefully, he was learning and will do better as time goes on.

5) DH ordered a drink when we were out by a pool. It came quickly. He finished it and we returned to our cabin. Knock, knock. "Here's the drink you ordered". Explained he'd already received it, but took it anyway. Others have reported that when this happened, they weren't charged for the 2nd drink. Nope! The charge showed up on our folio.

6) Elite bathroom amenities - hoping they are just having supply chain issues. Asked our steward for them and first got a "I don't know" look, then "I'll check". He delivered a shower cap and a nail file. I didn't bother asking on the second leg.

7) Shuttle in Kona was the most disorganized I've ever been on. Went to the table next to Crooner's to get tickets. The person handing out tickes took no notice that we are Elite. Just gave us tickets and told us to go to deck 4. We got to deck 4 and were told to go back up to 7. We stood around for a few minutes trying to decide what to do and they announced "get on the shuttle". If we'd gone back up to 7, we'd have done it for no reason.

8. Never had so many erroneous charges on our folio. Remember, we had the coffee pkg - we were charged for coffee 3 times. Drinks that DH didn't order were added every couple of days. One day there were 3 charges at 2 different bars. One of the bars, the closest he came to it was to walk by.

The good stuff:

1) MDR staff were all excellent. Best waiters and asst. waiters we've ever had.

2) One night DH didn't like the taste of his entree and didn't want another, so decided to have dessert to fill his tummy (we don't usually order dessert). Our waiter (Alma), made him a version of the Volcano. Banana on the bottom, next ice cream, then a HUGE pile of whipped cream, followed by little dishes with nuts, pineapple chunks, sprinkles, chocolate sauce. Oh my!!

3) With a few exceptions, all of the crew were smiling and happy to be of service.

4) The cruise fell on DH's birthday and our anniversary. We've done this many times (usually to HI). On our anniversary, when we went to our cabin after dinner, there was a lovely flower arrangement on the desk. First time EVER. We didn't even get flowers when we were in a suite.

 

A final thought: Princess shouldn't have stopped testing for Covid. There were around 100 cases on the first leg and more than that on the second leg. Almost no one was wearing masks (we did). People were coughing everywhere we went. It could have been colds/flu, but who knows? If you THINK you have it, you're supposed to volunteer to get tested. How many didn't volunteer?

Not a chance I'd volunteer 

[JF - retired RRT]

3 hours ago, that said:

The blue bags and The upgraded bathroom amenities have been discontinued after each ship’s supplies run out

 

only available for suites

Yeah, right. We were in a suite on our last cruise and got bupkus. No bag. Bathroom amenities when I asked for them...

[that]

Tight times

[cr8tiv1]

3 hours ago, that said:

The blue bags and The upgraded bathroom amenities have been discontinued after each ship’s supplies run out

 

only available for suites

 

Not "only available for suites".  No blue bags.  Very sparse elite/suite amenities (first day/emory board and shower cap).  But my "GREAT" steward "found" a few extra things.