cadien

FTR, on the Sapphire it's just in one of the main dining rooms.

Yep. We had one cabin with Plus and one cabin without and it paid off in both cases.

We also just did this cruise (without Antarctica). You can embark anytime on the 18th until Customs (which Princess doesn't control) closes for the evening. Which our travel agent said is 5pm but we didn't verify that at the terminal. Or you can embark on the 19th. If you do board on the 18th, you can leave the ship.

Yes. No. 11pm I think. Many people leave the ship on that first evening. We went to a tango show. If you show them your medallion when you get back to the terminal, there's just a metal detector and scanner.

There was a table in front of Crooners with menus (and prices) for all the different meals. Then you call the dining line to get on the wait list. And they call you back on the in-room phone if you get selected, not a message via the app. (Was also on Sapphire.)

I was just on the Sapphire, which only has the one venue, and was surprised how empty it always was. Most of the ship probably had Plus but I was regularly nearby and never saw more than two tables occupied even at regular meal times. Our travel companions had Plus and one only used one of their free meals and the other never got around to it at all.

I am not a wine person, but I just cruised with one who had the Plus package and they ended up ordering the Premier wines at least half the time. By the glass.

We did enjoy it. And since you were also asking about the wine dinner, I'd say the Chef's Table was a better deal (being about $50 less) if you're more interested in the food. I'm not qualified to compare the value of the wines served. It was our first Princess cruise, so we didn't expect to get into either one, so you never know. Both dinners were 12 people, although that probably depends on the ship, and being able to chat with a neighbor can be nerve-racking, but the food was tasty and creative. A sommelier gave extended descriptions of the wines at both dinners and they refilled every glass until you asked them to stop.

It was canceled. We had dinner with a couple who had booked it.

I boarded Feb 5 as well. Do you mean you’re checking in at 4pm on the 5th or on the 6th? We looked into boarding as late as possible on the 5th and the warning was that Customs was only open until I think 5. Princess runs the shuttle to the ship until quite late but getting through Customs was the tricky part. Especially with two other ships boarding at the same time.

We just got back. One of the mocktails is just a smoothie in a rocks glass and our 12-year old had several each day. I don’t think he repeated any of the soda-based mocktails.

We did the Chef’s Table on the Sapphire last week and it was $118 including wine. I don’t know the price without. That includes surcharges. There was also a Super Tuscan wine lunch but I don’t know the price.

We did it on Feb 10 and the total charge was $165.20.

We're doing the Bluff Cove excursion on Feb 11 so it's great to see a preview.

We're boarding on the 5th as well.