VibeGuy

$53 for Panda Express of the Sea strains credulity. 

43 minutes ago, indexcards said:

How do you eat that yogurt and granola when they put it in your jammies?

Oats and lactic acid are both great for the skin!  Beauty while you sleep!

8 hours ago, 555 said:

The ice dispenser is mounted on the wrong side. 😄

It’s actually configurable when you order the machine - where the ice comes out and how many heads are installed.  I would have ordered it with the left ice since the glasses would be stored to the left.   Glasses, reader, ice, beverages.  An orderly flow.   
 

Alas. 

1 hour ago, Anastas617 said:

 The Veal Osso Buco was the highlight.

Once upon a time, Sapphire and Diamond had unique menus in each of the four midship dining rooms, and the specialty of  Vivaldi was the osso buco.  Eventually that changed to each dining room having one exclusive dish, and if you asked nicely (and knew to) you could get it in the other three.  Alas. 
 

Now the secret is that said osso buco makes an appearance on Discovery on Italian theme night in the World Fresh Marketplace.  Risotto and all. 

Ah.  Here we go.  I knew I took a photo. 
 

The one on Discovery is not Freestyle.  
 

It’s one of these plus a little black box to read the Medallion.  Standard 5:1 postmix heads

I have taken a look at the Vessel Sanitation Program reports and haven’t found any points against Freestyle machines.   I do remember when the Vitality juice machines were a huge source of defects. 

4 hours ago, luuuv2cruise said:

My travel companion HATED our 14 day HAL Alaska cruise last year, to the extent that she said she never wanted to cruise again.  A 4+ hour wait in the terminal squished in with passengers from multiple other ships.  
 

Yikes.  Multiple-ship day in Vancouver?

HAL has really degraded their onboard entertainment of late.    They’re gonna lose the demographic gains they’ve made since the average age of an entry in their past passenger database was “deceased”. 

I’ve never found the Princess hotel programme all that competitive and it’s always been priced PPDO.  

Vancouver hotel rates are high year round, going to “breathtaking” in cruise season.  My suggestion is to considering joining a hotel loyalty plan and buy the points you’d need for your stay - with periodic bonus points promos (buy 10,000 points, get 4,000-6,000 free), you can often come out way ahead if you’re happy with the rooms that plan makes available for award redemption. 

Ruby has two production shows in repertory and will have the usual complement of guest vocalists, comedians and magicians.  CDs and EDs vary in how soon they start populating the schedule - some as late as the day of embarkation. 

It’s hiding now. 
 

Select your venue for dinner.  Click to reserve and you’ll see your party.  Click the pencil next to the avatar photos and you’ll get this screen.   Click the icon in the upper right circled in purple.  Then you can link the bookings for dining. 
 

If you want to drink top shelf, ask them to make two daiquiris with Wray & Nephew as follows:

2 oz Wray & Nephew 

0.5 oz fresh lime juice

0.5 oz simple syrup

Shake with ice 

Serve up

 

Hemingway Daiquiri:

1 part Luxardo

2 parts grapefruit

3 parts lime

3 parts simple (or less)

6 parts Wray & Nephew

Shake with ice, serve up. 
 

These are delicious and go down very. Very easily. 

To be fair, the ILA has committed to not affecting military and passenger movements but when the ILWU (the west coast equivalent) engaged in labor actions, the other side (PMA, the west coast equivalent of U.S. Maritime Alliance/USMX) locked them out.  
 

I don’t think USMX is *quite* that stupid but it’s entirely possible they are that desperate to force a shitty contract, and I’m not sure the current administration is willing to exercise federal powers against either side to end any disruption, regardless of what side calls for it. 

16 minutes ago, talkorpi said:

Will never get over how much I love the Wheelhouse Bar. While I do prefer the more modern decor style of Sky Princess and newer ships, I will say that I miss having a decidedly nautical themed room with dark wood and brass like this one on those ships. Even the “Wheelhouse” / Crown Grill Bar on Royal and Regal just doesn’t hit the same. I could sit in here all day!

 

The lighter carpet and fabric really strike a nice balance.  I don’t want to say the original tones were sepulchral, but I’m pretty sure I heard creepy organ music a time or two.  

50 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

I went by the bank yesterday and got $50 in $1s for drink tips, which I was then seriously reconsidering because do you know how thick 50 bills are? But I think I’ll take them just to avoid the GS lines. 

Same thickness as singles or hundos.  *ducking*

11 minutes ago, sewgood said:

Is it the only Princess ship without the International Cafe ?

No.  Island hasn’t had one retrofit in either. 
 

Obstructed balconies on the Royal class come in two flavors:  the first are very far forward on decks other than Emerald and have steel balcony railing rather than glass.  
 

The more common flavor is on Emerald.  They have a glass railing, but if you look straight out with your eyes at the level of the balcony rail or higher, there is something between you and the horizon.   It’s usually the top or control cab of a life boat or water shuttle, or the structures that hold them, or walkways to service them.  
 

take a look at cruisedeckplans dot com for excellent photos of how much obstruction is involved.  Given that you’re not generally standing on the balcony for hours looking down towards the water within 100 yards of the ship, the savings for seeing some ship bits can be significant. 

4 minutes ago, di234 said:

Too bad they don’t have the Freestyle Coke machines that Royal Caribbean has. Very convenient.

They were anticipated and some made it onto HAL, but alas. 

The Royal class ones are slightly lower walled and have more flat area than the Grand-class ships - they also have less of a “dead space” under them compared to the Grand so the net step-in is pretty comparable to residential. 
 

I dislike the Grand class minis tubs enough to book away from them.  I like the ones on the Royal enough that it’s a non-issue. 

It’s so good you’re preventing scurvy with citrus consumption. 

45 minutes ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

Wait. So you're saying Discovery DOES have a soda dispenser?

I hadn't heard that. When did that happen?

about 18 months ago or so. 
 

Since launch there had been a fountain with like eight heads just doing chilled water, on the port side of the Wake View Bar seating area.   They configured the usual bar gun sodas and added a Medallion reader that turns on the soda heads for like 30 seconds of dispense and treats it as a fountain soda purchase, which also works with the various packages and bundles. 
 

When the bar is busy, it’s really convenient. 

Have any of the other Royal-class ships besides Discovery received the medallion-controlled soda dispenser by the Wake View bar?  Asking for a friend who enjoys a Diet Coke more than he should. 

With the old Bormioli Rocco glasses they were remarkably consistent.  
 

With the Riedel their sight pours are much less consistent.  They may average 5 but the standard deviation is higher.  
 

Unpopular Opinion:  I would prefer them to use Enomatic dispense and preserve systems, especially in the service bars for the MDR and the open decks, to serve at a better temperature, without oxidation, and with a consistent 5 oz pour with headroom to pour two tastes per bottle.   I was *certain* that they’d do a self-serve Enomatic wine bar with a Medallion integration on at least some vessels.   I believe HAL has done this with beer and wine on some - AIDA certainly has. 

In Vines they have discreetly placed reference pours and they’re consistent 5oz.  In the other bars / MDR, they’re free poured without a visual reference. 

Anyone who has dealt with an endless string of sopranos is applauding this move to protect the sanity of whoever manages said sopranos on board. 

This FAQ is now out of date due to the changes in submission method. 
 

The renewals in the past have been from August 1 to July 31.    There’s no way to tell if the current extension to Dec 31 is just an attempt to align to calendar years or if it’s a harbinger.  My hunch is it’s not really up for debate as non-GAAP measures look good and they made the change to how the benefit is processed as a cost-cutting measure - and they presumably wouldn’t have expended the effort to do it if the benefit was going away anyway.