cali-croozer

We were on the Discovery a few weeks ago. Steak was not on the favorites menu but was offered several times on our 15 day cruise. My husband ordered it just once, it was not good. If beef tenderloin is offered, it is much better (it is sliced). 

1 hour ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

Aren't they only available in kids size?

I think mine were "kid sized" but not really as they fit my husband as well. Look for ones that have a sizing guide. I paid about $10 for 4. They work fine, used them on 2 cruises so far.  

Was on the Discovery a few weeks ago, no beekman products. I forget the brand name but I think it was the name of the spa on board. 

The unlimited premium desserts "value" 🤣

Hi there. We're in a similar room on our next cruise. Regarding outlets,  are there just the 2 at the desk. We are trying to figure out where we will plug in my husband's cpap.  Thanks, in advance. Enjoying the post. 

A 5 day cruise I looked up this morning  already went up $50. Guess you have to book quickly if you see something 

If you are in shape going into surgery and then do your physical therapy, home exercises and walking routine afterwards, you should be fine, although everyone heals differently. Did you buy insurance just in case? Walking right after surgery is encouraged now. By 11 weeks, my husband was walking 2+ miles daily and would have been fine traveling. Good luck and start your daily walking now,  if you currently don't walk regularly.  

I believe it's because they push the plus package and many buy it. So to keep profits up while serving so many drinks, quality suffers.

Yes, although I loved our cruise on the Royal, I was looking forward to quiet time in the piazza and there was little of that, except for early mornings. I was surprised they don't have most of the activities in another area. I enjoyed line dancing and zumba but felt we were the entertainment with everyone watching. Surely, there's an unused lounge that could be used for such activities. 

6 minutes ago, spunks said:

Princess had a wonderful free restaurant that made very good stone oven cooked pizza and very good ministroni soup....now it is $15.00 to get in....they even charge $15.00 to log into the App which you use to order anything. RCCL has a loooong way to match Princess for penny pinchedness...

 

However, if you get their $60.00 a day drink package you can go to Alfredo's twice per cruise. If you get the $80.00 per day package you can eat there every day...

 

Doug

I'm not happy with all the princess charges and am certainly not a princess apologist, but, the $60 and $80 per day packages (which I don't buy) are not only drink packages. They also include daily tips and other items. 

On 8/10/2023 at 8:52 AM, The Fun Researcher said:

Pretty sure Princess just started charging for their pizza location onboard, so Royal is probably feeling out charging as well.  In my opinion Royal’s pizza is nowhere good enough to start charging for.  I’ll eat it if I’m hungry and there aren’t other good options available but I don’t crave it or anything that’s for sure.

Princess recently started charging for their sit down pizza restaurant (which also serves a small menu including salad, soup, pasta and dessert), unless you have one of their packages, then it's included once or twice per cruise. They still have included pizza on the lido deck. 

8 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Less included food options on Carnival?   Guy's burgers, Shaq's Big Chicken, Blue Iguana Cantina, the Deli, Pizza Pirate, Guy's Pig n Anchor BBQ, Chibang, Street Eats, Captains Pasta Bar at Cucina del Capitano, Java Blue Cafe take away.   There's a list of 10 free included food options, all available for lunch and 3 available for breakfast.   Carnival has more included food options than any other cruise line sailing.

I guess I was thinking of the pay per item room service and late night options, although they are bringing back a small buffet for late night. Also,  I don't think they offer mdr breakfast and lunch daily, like princess.  O know they have lots of food stations/venues besides the buffet. 

1 hour ago, ldtr said:

On the other hand it has worked quite well when we have used it.  The orders have been delivered fairly promptly.  For example about 20 minutes for a burger and fried to be delivered to Holly would pool area on Majestic.

 

Have noticed that it works better on some ships than others.  For example if using it to order coffee (blended mocha) while setting in the Piazza, have noticed on some ships the order goes to the IC and delivered pretty quickly from the normal IC waitstaff.  On other ships the order seems to have be sent to room service and the order is delivered by room service staff.

We were on a short trip on the Royal. Just to see how it worked, I ordered a drink on the lido, pretty close to one of the bars. It never came. I went up to the bar to inquire and they said it goes to room service! An officer overheard and told the bartender to make up my drink. I tried several more times during the cruise, even on port day when few were on the ship. Never did get any of the orders, in fact, most were mysteriously canceled. 

4 hours ago, Jeter02 said:

Interesting for standard that if you don't do the $14.99 activation of the ocean now on the app, You cannot access housekeeping for such as like a bathrobe, laundry pickup, nor were room service or housekeeping to come pick up your dirty dishes from room service. That sounds silly.

That is silly. So, on a positive note, I don't have to be on my phone as much. I'll just talk to my room steward, as usual, for additional needs and I won't have any dishes from room service since I won't be paying them $5 to sit in my room and wait for food that may or may not come. That is, if I sail princess again. 

3 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

And down to Royal, Carnival, and NCL.  If Viking, Oceania, and Silver Sea are outside my budget, why would I pay Princess prices for a Carnival experience with even fewer complimentary food options than Carnival?

 

Not sure how Princess considers itself a premium line after this change.

Carnival, Royal and NCL have tons of extra charges and, at least I know for Carnival,  less included food options.  That's why I liked that princess resisted this trend, until now. I'll be comparing more cruiselines now, for my upcoming trips and not just looking at Princess. 

20 minutes ago, Mr Sea Gull said:

This doesn't only affect standard fare folk, some of us bought plus and premier late last year and we don't get any of the new stuff despite buying the package. 

Yeah, that's not right since the price has not increased. 

20 minutes ago, 4cats4me said:

Anybody else remember when they tried to Charge $10 pp to eat at Alfredo’s back when the Royal was brand new? It included one glass of wine, but everybody was so upset with the surcharge that Princess had to rescind the fee  within a week or two,  and go back to the old way of complementary dining. 
my interpretation is they will try to charge $14.99 to dine at Alfredo’s and if that’s the case we’re done with Princess. 
we’re not big drinkers and would not be inclined to pay for the plus package, whittled   away our hard earned benefits,

, yes, i get that they lost tons of money during the shut down and that they need to look at other ways of creating revenue but having to pay for specialty desserts,  and now what was formerly free , it’s just not going over well with me. And now I’m hearing that it cost five dollars for room service, too? I prefer they just jack up the price of the fare  for everyone and pretend like everything’s included for free. 
I realize that it is a business and they need to make money, but we customers also have our personal limits. 
Lately, the princess press releases are all starting to read like some thing from The Onion. 

I don't think they care. It's not about getting our $14.99. It's about getting us to buy a package.  Many do so, again, they don't care about us standard fare folk.

7 minutes ago, Bedruthen said:

So are there no waiters wandering around to take orders at the venues any more?. Sorry if I sound ignorant but haven’t cruised with Princess for over 10 years.

There were, especially in the first day, at the smaller inside bar areas. We never received any orders on the medallion, by the way. They would either suddenly be canceled or never show up. We started ordering for ourselves at less crowded bars.

5 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

Hope so.  Kinda tired waiting over an hour with a pager to be seated at Gigis.

Just wait until all the plus/premiere people want to go there to "get their money's worth", like they do for those ice cream desserts (because they're included 😏)

On our Thanksgiving cruise, the sign to the entrance had been removed.

I heard about white and gold night here on the boards. I wasn't going to stress, went to Ross and actually found a nice gold and black top I would wear again and a pair of new with tags lined off white slacks at the thrift store. But, if I hadn't found these quickly, I wasn't going to go from store to store. Fast forward to the cruise.....I saw just a few more people wearing  white and gold, it was a full ship with maybe 10 people in those colors. Just wear your purple dress, you won't be out of place. 

8 hours ago, BamaVol said:

And did passengers recognize them as separate lines?

We were on the Royal for Thanksgiving.  Yes, 2 separate lines which also meant you had to wait twice if you wanted coffee and a pastry. 

On 5/25/2023 at 2:51 PM, suzyed said:

I thought it was 5 buck chuck now?

Not where I live in CA

On 4/5/2023 at 6:53 AM, SargassoPirate said:

Two buck Chuck?

It's three buck chuck now

On 5/4/2023 at 9:38 AM, cruisequeen4ever said:

That’s outstanding service! I’m sorry you had to go through a medical experience, though.

Actually, it was a good reason. After 5+ years, I got "the call" and received a kidney transplant! It will be awhile, but I will be back to cruising, and with a lot less luggage!