XBGuy

Interesting onboard reports from various people. I don't think a Princess person has ever addressed me by my first (or second, which would be preferred) name. It has always been "Mr. Guy." On our future cruises, I will try to pay more attention. To be honest, I prefer "Mr. Guy." but I doubt that I would correct anyone who addressed me as "Xavier" or "Benvolio."

I once asked a headwaiter (I'm pretty sure it was in a Sabatini's.) if he had ever sold any of the Ch. Petrus. He told me that there was a group (interestingly, men only) that ordered two bottles from him once. Yes, we have often run into the diminished supply problem. On one cruise Mrs. XBGuy ordered a white Loire Valley wine in Sabatini's. (Yes, a French wine in an Italian restaurant.) No luck, Then, they were out of her second choice. Finally, success on her third choice. Two days later we were in Crown Grill. Mrs. XBGuy's first entree choice at Crown Grill is always the Mussel Pot, and she ordered a Chardonnay. Sorry, Mrs. XBGuy, no luck. We noticed that the Crown Grill wine list had the same Loire Valley wine (I really do not remember if it was a Pouilly Fume or a Sancerre, but either one would go well with shellfish.) that was not available at Sabatini's two days prior. I told her to go ahead and ask for it. Off the server when to check. Not surprisingly, he returned empty handed. However, he had a story. "I'm sorry, there is only one bottle of that wine left on the ship. So, if it is alright with you, it will take me a few minutes to go to the Botticelli Dining Room and bring it back." Thar was very OK with us. That server did receive an enhanced tip for going a step farther than the Sabatini's server in providing customer satisfaction.

??? If I bring my own, how can I get my free cruise? Because of domestic situation, I have not been able to cruise since 2020. That situation will eventually resolve itself. I have been regularly been monitoring this board, and it seems to me that the wine offerings on Princess have seriously declined, I used to bring, maybe, six or seven bottles of my own wine on board, but would freely buy bottles at the various shipboard venues--i.e., specialty restaurants and Vines. On a cruise on the Royal Princess in 2019 Sabatini's had an absolutely outstanding selection of (Surprise!) Italian wines. Does anybody know if the specialty restaurants currently have individual wine lists? I am thinking that when we do resume cruising, I am going to have to upgrade my wine carrying capacity. Retuning to the thread topic. One of our embarkation day traditions is to sip sparkling wine on our balcony as the ship leaves port. Usually, it was a wine that I brought on board. On one occasion, though, I pre-ordered a bottle of Dom Perignon, and had it delivered after we settled into our cabin. Mrs. XBGuy was very pleased and impressed.

If I buy two bottles, then I'll save $2600. Hmm. If I buy a few more, that would cover the price of my cabin. I'd be cruising for free. Shhh. Don't tell Princess. I don't want them to realize that I have outsmarted them. 🤣🤣🤣

Yes, that's right. As a person who buys wine by the bottle, I could not justify the extra expense of the Plus/Premier packages. It might be fun, though, to go ahead and splurge and then order Dom with every meal. Maybe, even, have room service deliver a bottle in the afternoon a few days. Do they still have that $5200 Petrus? 😉

We have taken six AK cruises—starboard side on three of them, port for two, and a front corner for one. Our worst experience was wonderful. Don’t overthink it.

Hmm. I make that to be 91%. I hope the undisclosed 9% is not MOG (Materials Other than Grapes). Actually, I am being facetious. It is surprising that the above report seems incomplete. I choose to blame poor editing. And, as an aside, some amount of MOG finds its way into every batch of wine.

+1

Thanks for the clarification, @NavyVeteran. I guess I never read the Sabatini's breakfast menu that closely, and I guess my recollection is faulty.

Is there a bit of a disconnect between @Gracie115 and @Guindalf? In reading the above posts, it sounds like @Gracie115 cruised in a Full Suite and was able to have breakfast in one of the specialty restaurants (Sabatini's, perhaps?), and it is in this venue that she could "get you anything you want if it's on the ship." It sounds like @Guindalf was in a Reserve Class Mini Suite, which gave him access to the Reserve Dining Room--not the specialty restaurant breakfast. If I am mistaken, the breakfast menu that is handed to guests in the "standard" dining room, the reserve class dining room and the specialty restaurant is the same, and, yes, it looks pretty minimal. In the specialty restaurant, however, guests can feel free to make off-menu requests, and the staff will do their best to honor them. This is not the case in the other venues.

Itinerary? TL:DR?

When this post popped up, yesterday, I went to work on an epistle espousing various views. Obviously, I did not post it. I decided to let a few others post and see what ideas I could steal from them. All the twenty-something above posts make good sense to me. Of course, you know I am going to add my $.02 worth, I agree with the posters that feel that the definition of "value" varies from person to person. I also agree with the OP's comment that value should not be confused with cost. To define value I like to use the well-known comment that contrasts cost and value: Cost is what I pay somebody to obtain something from them. Value is what somebody will pay me to obtain something for me. You can see how I can attach value to things like stock investments or the disposition of a car when I want to trade it in for a new one. However, since I do not engage in the trading of pleasure cruises, the concept of a cruise having value fails me. In my high school economics class (the last one I took) I learned that an important factor in making decisions (and this is more than just buying decisions) is the anticipation that the return will be commensurate with the investment. The investment can consist of multiple components such as monetary, emotional, time, effort. Similarly, the return can consist of multiple components such as monetary, emotional, personal satisfaction. Of course, the good news is that everybody gets to construct his/her own weighting scale to rationalize why the return is or is not commensurate with the investment for any decision. One more piece of theory. I understand the difference between needs and wants. I need to eat and drink. I want to drink wine. I am not only able to afford to drink wine with my dinner, I can afford to drink some pretty nice wine with dinner Sadly, I can't afford to drink Screagle, or DRC, or Petrus. That is just the economic reality, and I know that I live under that constraint, Unlike having the need to eat and drink, I don't need to cruise. I want to cruise. So, this is how the XBGuys make a cruising decision. We identify a cruise we want to take. I am not going to describe how we came to that conclusion, but you can reasonably conclude that it is based on personal wants and expectations, If we can monetarily afford it, we book it.

We usually cruise out of the local port. We are both pretty pumped on embarkation day, and, so, we skip breakfast. We leave the house for the port about mid-morning. Once we board, we are looking for food, and go for a bite at our regular embarkation venue--the grill on the Lido deck. My usual order is a cheeseburger and fries. We grab a nearby table, order a couple of ice teas (if a server is handy, if not I walk over to the buffet and grab two at the drinks station), and watch the excited cruisers bustle around while we nurse out ice teas. For sailaway, we are always on our balcony, We pre-order a nosh--cheese platter or vegie platter--and enjoy that as we sip sparkling wine while the ship motors out to sea. I usually carry on the sparkler in my wine tote, but on one cruise I wanted to impress Mrs. XBGuy and pre-ordered a bottle of Dom.

As you can see, @kasowell2, the vote is, pretty much, split. Unless you have some knowledge of one or more of the above poster and find their recommendations to be reliable, there is no “Wisdom of the Crowd,” here to make the decision for you. The obvious solution is to dine at both venues and decide which one you prefer. Then, revisit the better one to confirm your decision. 😁 Bon voyage. I am extremely envious.

We dine in the specialty restaurants quite regularly. We prefer the menu at Sabatini's, but we visit both on every cruise. My observation is that there is no consistency in them, and, so, my conclusion is that it depends on the room's management--both front of the house and back of the house. There have been cruises where we thought Crown Grill was excellent, but the on the next cruise, Crown Grill is disappointing. We have had the same experience with Sabatini's. My observation is if you do not see the headwaiter hustling in the dining room--chatting with diners, directing the servers, helping out when needed clearing tables or helping with service--the staff figures out pretty quickly that if he doesn't care, then they don't have to care. I have had this experience in both Sabatini's and Crown Grill. Similarly, if the head chef in the galley doesn't care, the line cooks don't care, either. This is most notable in Crown Grill where most people make a specific request as to how they want their red meat prepared. I always try to emphasize to the server that I would like me steak prepared "blood rare." Sometimes I get it, and sometimes I don't. There was one occasion in which the server asked me to check my steak after he set it in front of me. Normally, I slice it and declare it fine regardless of what I see. However, on this occasion, the chef was standing right behind the server. I sliced my steak and did not say anything, but, obviously, the chef saw my face. He elbowed the server aside, and swept away my plate. My wife ordered the Mussel Pot, her Crown Grill favorite, and I asked her to go ahead and start. Take two came out a few minutes later and that one was truly fine. Here is the thing. The management changes regularly on cruise ships. So, you can't just generalize and say that the Crown Grill on the Royal Princess is outstanding or that Sabatini's on the Crown Princess is inferior. One team can move off at the end of any given cruise, and another team replaces it for the next cruise. There is only one way for the diner to find out. I have to say, that we always had an excellent experience at SHARE, which, of course, is long gone. SHARE was not terribly popular with the Princess demographic. I don't think I ever saw the room more than half full. We always found that the service was attentive and professional. The headwaiter was consistently working in the room making sure the diners' expectations were exceeded. I have not had the opportunity to try The Catch by Rudi, but I am excited by the initial reports that I have read.

Did the sun rise in the west, today? Normally, for Labor Day weekend in this area the temperature is in the hundred and teens on the Fahrenheit scale, and the relative humidity is in single digits. It's raining, today !!!!! Completely weird. @marshhawk, will you folks be able to see the Monza race? Apparently, Disney and our cable company are having a spat. As a result, I don't have access to ESPN. So, no Formula 1 for us.

Re: Crew Socialization with Passengers Our first cruise was on NCL's MS Southward was in 1976. I have a strong memory of white uniformed young officers sitting at tables with ladies whom I assumed to be passengers. This seemed to be a normal occurrence. Am I imagining this?

Yes, Red Wine Day. Bedrock is a terrific California maker. Almost all of their wines are field blends--including their varietal bottlings. As you can see, this one is described as "Red Wine." It was made from multiple grape varieties grown at the historic Dolinsek Ranch vineyard, that were harvested together and cofermented.

I am aware of one couple who had booked a standard balcony with a casino offer who received an invitation to the 360 dining event prior to embarkation. They declined because of some pretty serious dietary restrictions. I agree with the sentiment that once the suite passengers are accommodated, then invitations are extended to other passengers. I don't know that we on Cruise Critic will ever be privy to that decision making process. However, the various ideas I have read in the above posts all seem reasonable.

@sparks1093 gave some very good advice about familiarizing yourself with the cruise line's policies. Personally, I would prefer not to try to squeeze "a few" bottles into my luggage. If we are talking about two or three bottles, I would just carry them on using whatever bag the store might provide. If we are talking about more than that, then I think you are going to need something a little more substantial. You might be able to find some sort of tote in the store.

Congratulations. You picked the right ship. Did your wife help you out with that? We celebrated our 40th anniversary a few years ago. A few months prior I thought I'd better start some planning. So, I asked Mrs. XBGuy and she was enthusiastic about doing something special. I couple months prior she had mentioned something about a road trip to the wine country. So, I asked, "Do you want to take a wine country trip?" She responded, "That sounds nice." OK, after almost 40 years of marriage, I know "That sounds nice" is not a ringing endorsement. So, I try again. "Would you like to take a cruise?" "YES!" Now we're talking. The next step is to pick a cruise. Our anniversary is towards the end of October, and we found two itineraries on Princess ships that we thought would work for our anniversary. One was on the Star Princess and the other one was on the Ruby Princess. I really don't recall the itinerary of the Star Princess, but the decision was made when Mrs. XBGuy told me that the gemstone for the 40th anniversary was the Ruby, Done. We had a terrific California Coastal Cruise. We indulged in the Ultimate Balcony Dinner on our anniversary day, Great call on going for the suite.

We have. This was about 10 years ago, We did not have CFAR, but it was still one of the easiest decisions I have ever made,

Well, Diamond Bar hurricane recovery is, pretty much, complete. As you might be able to discern the weather has reverted to the typical of August sunny and warm. The downed Bougainvillea was stuffed into the green barrel (except for one big piece that did not fit but will go out next week), which is now on the curb waiting for the Waste Management truck to pick it up and take it to a composting facility. 🙂

Thanks @Quartzsite Cruiser, @marshhawk and @USN59-79. All good ideas. We may never know. 🤔

Wow. That sounds great. I look forward to trying it some day.