Miss Pat

We were in a full suite & are elite on our last cruise on the Golden last April, 10 days never saw any truffles. I seemed to remember that was what they gave us on formal nights.

 

On many of the Princess ships I used to write in, white chocolate covered strawberries & I used to get it. I guess it sounds like that is over. On that last April cruise, when I wrote that in, I got reg chocolate covered strawberries or nothing.

I called them truffles but their the chocolate things on a stick they hand out at the champagne event in the piazza- They weren't an item that you could order in place of the strawberries. Sorry about the confusion.

I did as suggested. I posted the question about the Chocolate Covered Strawberries on Princess' Facebook page. This is the reply post:

 

Princess Cruises Deluxe canapes on formal night remains a Captain's Circle benefit, but occasionally the selections may change. We hope you enjoy one of the other options!

 

With an exclamation point at that. I replied to their post...to at least offer a chocolate replacement (truffles, Godiva, chocolate lollipops).

 

HUH ????

 

HUFF !!!!

Well since they've eliminated the strawberries we take 1/2 dozen of the truffles on a plate to make up for it. They're better anyway. :D

I wonder how long they will last? ;)

Thank you for the quick replies, just wondering if I am understanding you correctly, Smart casual will even work in the MDR for formal nights? I normally dress up for formal nights but this being an Alaska cruise, packing is really tight.

Actually smart casual will work in the dining rooms on formal evenings as long as you don't get to slopy about it. My DH always wears just dress pants and long sleeve dress shirt without a jacket and has never had any problems. In the specialty restaurants as everyone has said- it's always casual. :)

We've never had a mildew problem but did have a cabin on the Royal which had a severe problem with the AC. Just like yourself they tried to fix it numerous times & couldn't find the problem. We asked for another cabin but there were none available. I located the problem & reported it to them & they fixed it but the problem reoccurred again & they fixed it again. When the ship sails full there's not much else they can do except try to solve the problem. It was actually cooler in the hallway then in our room. :p

When we got off the ship the problem was still there and I suspect other cabins have the same balcony door design which was the cause of the problem. :(

I did not find the serving of just gelato to be large.

 

Look at the size of the scoops in relation to the size of the spoon.

 

That's a shame because most of the unsold gelato get thrown out at the end of the night & there's plenty left over every day. :( The guy serving it could have been a little more generous with his scoop. I think I would have said something to the server about being shorted.

pay attention to making the desserts taste good rather than Just "look" good.

 

 

What a waste!

They're very adapt at using the whipped cream to make every dessert look different when in reality they're pretty much the same thing.

The exception are the new desserts introduced this year.

I feel the same way & it's not like gelato in Italy but instead as it's describe on the menu as "hand-crafted ice-cream".

As is all the ice cream on the ships.

While the concept of making reservations sounds OK, like it would at any land based restaurant, I've found that there are so many people with standing reservations that there are literally a few dozen of them streaming into the DR each night to their "reserved table". This means that all the window seats are preassigned for your whole cruise. Add to that the daily reservations that are held each night & it causes the backup that many of us have to contend with.

It's turned the AT DR into a mess at times with long waits at peak times.

Simply let everyone to show up at the door when their ready to eat & the flow would much better for all, assigning them to whatever tables are open at the time.

Yes, I realize that I can call for reservations each morning but have you ever tried to call at 8AM & be put on hold, especially if it's a port day & you're getting ready to leave on a tour?

Whether small or not it still doesn't compare to any gelato I had elsewhere. Although it is better than the free soft serve, it's little more than the just plain ice cream they serve in the dining room.

It is exactly like a land based restaurant except that you can share your table with others if you wish. I can't understand why people have so many difficulties understanding ATD.

 

DON

It might have a lot to do with all the posts about making reservations each evening and others making them for the entire cruise, neither which is necessary & makes some people think it is.

They should do away with any & all reservations and special tables in AT and seat the people when they show up at the door.

If you can avoid eating during peak hour between 6:30 - 8PM you'll find it's much easier to get seated no matter what size table you want. If you show up at 7 PM and HAVE TO HAVE a table for 2 they'll probably be a long wait.

Fortunately there are multiple channels and multiple cruise lines. ;)

Thank God for that. :D

You obviously meant to add IMHO to the end of your post but forgot to as it certainly isn't the opinion of many on here including myself. We like to listen to the wake show in the morning and I admit some are better than others. Kelvin still stands out as the best that I have encountered.

 

Some CD's don't solicit any passenger input which in my mind is a mistake. We like to frequently take a guess at the answer and always include some observation of a fine job done by some crew member or department along with our guess. Some CD's make a point of doing the show from a different part of the ship each day, frequently from behind the scenes which we enjoy.

 

Terry

I'd venture to say the audience is probably less than 10% of the people on the ship with most of them being newbies with the latest thing is blasting the show on MUTS in the early morning. LOL. :D

Some CD's are just less boring. ;) Obviously the show isn't meant for everyone.

"The Helpful Hints" on ports are offered by a professional Port lecturer and are repeated daily on a specific TV station.

I wouldn't want or expect that on The Wake Show.

You certainly won't get anything that helpful on the wake show unless you consider a bartender describing some drinks,having someone read me the Patter or the spa people pitching their massage treatments. :rolleyes:

The format of the show could actually be helpful if they wanted it to be but like I said it's turned in one big commercial as has the repeaters party.

Oh and btw the Port lecturer hardly gives much of any helpful hints about ports unless it benefits their selling of the tours.

The wake show program is a complete waste of time and nothing more than an advertizement to buy, buy, buy. Most people have better things to do with their time than watch it.

If they really wanted people to make an interesting show they could incorporate some useful information about the ports you're going to visit with helpful hints and they could actually give away 1 decent prize each day instead of a pen, key chain or a few dollars for the rip off casino cash vault machine.

If it is booked as 2 separate cruises then you will get a 2nd set of internet minutes however there is no carry over of any unused minutes

A year ago on Royal we had a cruise of 18 days, which turned out to be a B2B of 15 followed by 3. I wound up with quite a few unused internet minutes that did roll over to the second leg, and then minutes added for the 3 days. Never did use them all.

We were also surprised by a second lineup of mini-bar bottles.

Steve

Same thing happened to us but since then I've heard they fixed that glitch & the counter resets to zero each segment. :(

We will be monitoring this. Last year we did a 5 day our of Port Everglades that was almost free after the discounting.

I doubt you'll ever see that deal again. It was a mistake on their part & they were only trying to keep the ship filled.

They had the chocolate strawberries on the order form earlier this year on the CB but when we checked the box they would constantly send a substitute. When we called them about it we never did get a straight answer.

They can keep all the other items- they're not worth the trouble.

They put your name on your mailbox? Not sure I like that. That cannot be safe esp. for women travelling alone.....

I've seen a few people posting this comment but I never understood the fear of someone knowing your name? :confused:

Hard to win a customer back after they're gone.

I believe this statement is especially true in the cruise business since most people stay dedicated to 1 or 2 cruise lines & hate to give up their built up benefits. Lose a customer to another cruise line & you'll probably never get them back.

It's a good thing for NCL that someone had the common sense to reverse this bad decision before it cost them big time.

Not that I don't check out the Princess sales but lately there seem to be coming faster & faster. Almost everyday I seem them in my in-box. After a while I don't even bother unless I see someone on CC get excited about a special deal.

the Getaway charged $10 per movie, even for Haven guests.!:eek:

Was that an in room movie?

Yes, they are part of the auto tips. I guess I should have worded it differently.

Many of the waiters in the MDR receive extra tips from the people that are at their tables every night of the cruise but the way it is designed, the waiters in anytime dining would have different people at the tables every night and many of them will not tip waiters for just one or two nights.

 

We have become good friends with many of the crew over the years and the waiters hate being assigned anytime mainly because of not receiving as many tips.

 

And there are more and more cruisers that are taking the tips off the last evening.

What you say is very true but at the same time the waiters & assistants don't remain in the AT DT cruise after cruise. They're shifted to traditional & then back again to give them all an equal chance at gratuities.

Same is true to those assigned closer to the galley door. They're also shifted around the DR to give them all a chance for a better work location. Most work locations on the ships follow this rotation rule.

On the NCL web site:

 

Guests are not permitted to bring and use their own irons or steamers onboard for safety reasons. NCL carries a limited number of irons and ironing boards which can be loaned to guests for a few hours at a time. They can be requested through housekeeping or Guest Services Desk.

I'm surprised that they can use those irons in the cabins. What makes them safer than any other irons?

I haven't had tender tickets for years. As Elite, unless there's a notice in the Patter, you can just go down to the tender area and get onto the back of the line. The perk doesn't include jumping the line. Not that you'd do it but some Elite do.

It's sometimes difficult not to cut in line especially when you arrive on deck 4 & the line is never ending back up the stairs. They should have all the Elites report to the meeting place & then have them follow the last group leaving so there's no conflicts.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=6382

 

(5:15 p.m. EDT) -- Norwegian Cruise Line has reversed a policy prohibiting passengers from taking food from restaurants to their cabins, effective immediately, President and Chief Operating Officer Andy Stuart told Cruise Critic.

 

It all sounds like this decision was made by someone who has no concept of what people do on a vacation and didn't realize the rebellion that it would cause. How people like that rise into those positions really puzzles me.