love2relax

Congratulations! I would have jumped on that myself! I sure hope the WS are on the 2nd leg of your cruise because I think you will have a hard time going back to the regular cabins after that. Have a great cruise and enjoy the benefits that the WS have to offer!

We had one on the Dolphin Deck towards the aft in Alaska and it was covered. Also, we could walk further aft down the hall and go out on a small deck that very few people knew about. I think we were in D706, but it has been quite a while since we sailed on her.

Glacier Bay is a great place for the first time Alaska cruiser, but I would pick College Fjord over Hubbard Glacier any day, although I'm sure there are others who would disagree with me.

What bothered me about the whole situation the last time I was on the Golden was the inconsistency.

When I first boarded I got the coffee directly from the baristas like I have always done. Then when I returned for a 3rd cup, I waited behind several people standing in line who were getting their coffee. When they were all gone, I tried to give my order, and was told I had to go stand in another line. He pointed at a sign by a line that was by the art gallery. Okay, so I stood in that line to place my order. Total wait was about 20 minutes, which was made longer because I didn't know about the new, "more efficient" system. (I have a hard time standing due to circulation in one of my legs.)

Once I thought I knew the new system, I stood in long lines several times while others got sandwiches, pastries, etc. Then some days I would go down and stand in line, and when I got ready to order, they told me to go directly to the coffee bar! Yikes! I was so frustrated!

I had nothing negative to say about the rest of the cruise, but the IC was frustrating!

We had the same concerns last year for our Thanksgiving cruise. We opted for the 7 day instead of the 4 day with the hopes that there would be fewer children. The 7 day turned out to be packed with large family groups, but because it was a family holiday, it turned out to be a lovely vacation instead of what we feared it would be. So yes, there were LOTS of kids, but for the most part they stayed with their families instead of running around unsupervised. We ended up enjoying ourselves immensely.

I was once invited to the most travelled passenger event and I was sure there had been some kind of mistake. I went, because I felt that I would probably never be invited again. I have to say that it was really nice to attend. I don't remember which cruise it was, but I think it may have been an Alaskan cruise. I don't even think I had 50 days at that point in time.

I loved, Loved, LOVED our Lido inside cabin on the Grand to Alaska. It was so convenient and quiet. I think we had L237. We liked it so much that we have only cruised on Lido Deck forward on any Grand Class ship since. The only time we heard noise was on our return to San Francisco. It was foggy, and we could hear the fog horn ALL night long. After a while, we tuned it out; but it definitely took some getting used to. You won't be sailing out of San Francisco, so you probably won't have the fog issue. (We did have fog one time returning to Los Angeles on another ship, but the fog horn only went off for about an hour.)

We didn't feel like we missed anything by having that inside cabin. You will love it! (unless it's foggy)

It's been a while since I was in a suite on an RCI ship, but even at the lower end; although the Grand Suite on RCCL was bigger, the perks were better on NCL, even in an SG. We weren't offered breakfast or lunch in any special restaurant on RCI. Maybe they have added that recently, or on newer ships like someone else already suggested.

A port stop is a whole lot different than embarking or disembarking. The huge parking lot isn't available to passengers - otherwise we would park there and take the Red Line to 92/93 for our embarkation so our car would be where we need it to be when we leave. I predict a cluster****.

I'm having nightmares about it already. I doubt we could find a cab to take us to 93 on debarkation morning, but I sure would rather do that than take the shuttle, and fight my way back along with everyone else to pick up my luggage and the rest of my party.

If I plan to sail in a suite, I will pick NCL over Princess, due to all of the added amenities that are not available in Princess suites (butler, fancy coffee machine in cabin, and concierge.)

I also like all of the specialty restaurant options that NCL has to offer.

If I go to Alaska, I will pick Princess over NCL. Although the Sun also does my favorite one way itinerary like some of the Princess ships; it is an older ship. I liked the Sun because I had a suite, but in a regular cabin; I would go for Princess.

If I plan to spend time relaxing in the cabin and watching Movies Under the Stars, Princess has more television channels available, and usually a few movies in the evening that will interest me (no cookies, only popcorn served on my cruises...and they charged for hot chocolate).

I actually prefer the production shows on Princess, with the exception of the Epic. I loved all of the entertainment on that ship.

The coffee bar at the International Café on Princess is awesome. I LOVE my vanilla lattes.

If you are a gambler, it seems to me that overall, NCL has bigger casinos.

Give Princess a try. I think you will like it.

I've been on both, but not since the refit.

We did not enjoy the Diamond nearly as much as the Sapphire, even though they are "sister" ships. We had many problems with food and bad tasting mixed drinks on the Diamond. There were several service issues came up as well. It was our first cruise on Princess, and I really thought of never cruising with them again, since it was nothing like some of the other cruiselines we had been on.

But we kept an open mind, and have never had a bad cruise on Princess since. With the exception of the Grand, the Sapphire is our second favorite ship, even though we only took a 4-day cruise on her.

I just came off of a cruise on the Crown Princess, and they were showing The Love Boat on Channel 22 all day for the entire cruise. (Usually there are only a few sporadic episodes being broadcast.) I think it may be because of the 50th Anniversary for Princess, and the DVDs for Season 1 they are promoting that is available in the gift shop.

I didn't receive a reply to my email either. I will take a wait and see attitude. If it has to be handled onboard, then I`ll apologize and show them the email I sent. (We are staying in one of the few suites that has beds that can be separated. On our last cruise in a suite, the cabin steward had a fit and insisted it couldn't be done until I showed him photos from the internet and the description from the ncl website. I was trying to avoid starting this cruise off on a negative note. I am hoping all will be well.

Moderno and Blue Lagoon were both still there last week.

Thank goodness! I was already getting depressed about no Moderno's for my NYE cruise. It is one of my favorite places to eat.

I love, Love, LOVE the porthole cabins on the Paradise and all of the Fantasy class ships. We always try to stay in the Emerald Deck porthole cabins though. They are the same price as the Riviera cabins, but the Emerald Deck is so convenient to everything. That's just our preference though. The are a great value for the money.

Only 7 days to go!

I always get cabins that are by the elevators!

I agree. We had the same situation last year (2 Princess ships embarking passengers the same day), and it made no difference once we were inside the terminal that there was another ship out there.

Thanks for the live from. The CD is a surpirze. I really was expecting Lisa. I was on the Golden last year. I think that Neil was just leaving that ship to get married. I could be wrong about but when I look at the cd list I noticed that he was not assigned is just coming back.

We were on the Crown for the Nov. 22 sailing, & Lisa was our cruise director. I guess you just missed her. I really liked her low-key style.

We prefer ATD at a table for 2 so that we don't have to wait for table mates that order multiple courses. We only order one course, & an occasional dessert. Even at a table for 2 in TD we had to wait while they served multiple courses to the tables around us. We would rather spend our time doing other things on the ship in the evening instead of spending so much time in the DR. Sometimes we go to the buffet, but it doesn't have the options that the DR has. Even with the long lines, we would never go back to TD.

Ours has gone WAY up since we booked ages ago. People are paying now for a lower category balcony what we are paying for an SG suite. I wish the prices had dropped, but with them so much higher; at least I feel like it was worth it.

I'm sure others are like us, we don't mind talking to folks but we don't do the different courses. We only eat the entree, not even dessert. If we are sitting at a table with others waiting for them to go through the various courses, we end up eating too much of those bread offerings. We rarely take up table space for more than 30 minutes. We visit with folks at other times.

 

Cruisin Oldies

That is our reasoning for anytime dining for 2 as well. We eat the entree and leave to do other stuff on the ship. On rare occasions, we might have soup or pasta before the entree. We don't want to wait while everyone else gets multiple courses. We enjoy what the dining room has to offer, but don't want to waste 2 or 3 hours to get it. If another table talks to us, we are polite & respond, but we don't initiate conversations.

So it seems to pay off to wait to book. I booked the Crown on 1/6/15 ages ago. Then the price dropped to $199 pp for an interior just before final payment. I had to give up my $100 OBC to rebook under that pricing, but it was actually cheaper than the original pricing in the long run. I was happy with the pricing until you guys started telling me about the last minute deals.

I have a few other cruises that I booked well in advance. I don't think I will book anything until a few weeks before sailing next year to see if I can snag some last minute deals. For those kind of prices, I wouldn't care what cabin I was in: as long as I was on the ship. :)

I have done a back-to-back on Carnival and Royal Caribbean and received nothing. Maybe you got something because you are special.:)

I don 't know if they will move you, but it couldn't hurt to ask for a cabin in the same category.

Just to put your mind at ease, I have been in a connecting cabin on two cruises, and I only heard a little bit of noise one time for about 5 minutes. It wasn't any noisier than being in a cabin that wasn't connecting. Maybe we just got lucky and had quiet neighbors.

On my last NCL cruise, we didn't have a connecting cabin, but the person next door snored so LOUDLY during the night that I could hear it through the wall!