aftforward

I love the scalp massage! I'm not seeing it as a standalone offering on the website anymore, but I asked here on the boards, and I've been told that they still do it!

On 7/4/2022 at 7:59 AM, jk04 said:

It was offered on the Crown last month. Love the frangipani oil but I requested without this time.  My hair is thin but soaks up the oil. Takes a bit to wash out so just got the scalp massage part.  My massage therapist was very good at it, would have been happy with 90 minutes of that! 😁

I’m excited to hear that it might still be available! I too would love a 90 minute scalp massage, and as much as I love the scent of the oil, I may have to try it without the oil as well. It really is hard to remove. Thank you so much for replying!

Hello! I’m very excited for our upcoming cruise sailing out of Galveston next February onboard one of our favorite ships, The Ruby Princess! 
I am wondering though, if the powers that be got rid of my favorite spa service- the scalp massage. It was lovely, about 20 minutes having your head rubbed with the Elemis Frangipani oil. It smelled as great as it felt and was pretty cheap all things considered.

Have any of y’all seen this still offered on the ship? I’m not seeing it listed online and it’s a heartbreaker! I really hope I can still get one, even if it’s “off the menu.” Fingers crossed!

53 minutes ago, Lovincruisin1321 said:

Very true but the threads were becoming dull and I wanted to drum up some discussion.  It also was therapeutic to type out my "worry" which is more of a concern and a deflated emotion about future cruising if we head in this direction.  Guess I am not a big fan of change, but that is life.....change.  I just have to pull up my "Big Girl Cruising Pants"!

I just want to echo what you're saying here. I am mostly a lurker on these forums, but I have a little more time on my hands now than normal and just wanted to come somewhere online that I would find people that enjoy the same thing I do. I sort of just wanted to escape. Shocking, right? Obviously in the big scheme of things cruising is a big fat nothing burger. My level of "worry" about anything related to cruising is zero on a scale of 1-10 if you want to put it vs. anything that really does matter. On behalf of everyone who has posted anything about worry, minor grievances, hopes for future cruising, etc. etc., it should really go without saying that none of us really think that anything cruise related is more important than just about anything! I didn't take your post as a first world complaint, but exactly what it is: just a post about cruising on a cruising forum. Thank you for posting! It was actually interesting to hear other people's perspectives on what they think future cruising might look like. When I shut my browser down I can be bombarded with all the real worries of the day, but I enjoyed the brief departure I got while reading your post.

4 hours ago, skynight said:

Our view is no cruises until at least 2022, assuming that this timing will be post vaccines, post pandemic. If the cruise experience at that time isn't one we would enjoy then we'll just pass and find other recreational experiences. 

That's what we're doing, but luckily for us that was planned before the pandemic... I'm super glad that we bought a camper last year! Talk about the ultimate way to social distance while seeing some beautiful countryside, plus we can take our dogs and know whose been sleeping the bed!

I miss cruising so much that I bought an Elemis hair mask so I could smell that amazing Frangipani oil they use for scalp massages in the spa! The mask smells just like it, and when I use it I close my eyes, take a deep breath and try to imagine cruising again! I WILL cruise again. I'll be the big 4-0 in 2022, and I WILL be on a Princess ship celebrating it too! I just have to believe it!

How badly do you miss cruising? Have you done anything to help you remember your sea days? 🙂

DH and I are the rare couple that prefers a table for 2, but I share your fears as well. I have hope that we will get the experience the cruises we all know and love again, but it may be awhile before we do. I think once there is a legitimate way to treat those that catch it, prevent it with a safe vaccine and have a simple, quick result test, then we will see things get back to a more normal way of cruising, but I do think somethings may change for good. When we went on our last cruise back in November, Princess really pushed the touch screen experience... even games for the kids to play... it was just lovely with all those little germy hands all over the screen. Yuck! If they insist on getting rid of paper maps, I see the need to update their app so that you can do the same thing on your own phone vs. touching those nasty screens next to the elevators. Speaking of elevators, I think we'll see more of them vs. getting rid of them to squeeze in more rooms! And the promenade deck, we need those back for fresh air instead of forcing people inside in hopes of us spending more money!

On the Caribbean in May the burgers were cooked to order on the Lido Deck at the new Salty Dog Grille (the new burger option). You took a pager and it vibrated when it was ready. We had a couple times our burgers were definitely not well done, so I bet they'll cook to temp for you. The Ernesto burger is a great deal at $5, and if you like beer you can get an Ernesto and a bottle of your choosing for only $8. I never got an Ernesto but I did get the Triple Smoked. It had hickory smoked bacon jam, smoked Gouda and bbq sauce. It was very tasty and did not cost extra! The fries were perfect- always crispy hot and cooked fresh. I think any burger lover would be pleased with the offerings there.

The regular soda package has been gone for some time now. The Soda and More package is only $8.05 per day including tip. If you want the Choco Banana drink just ask. The mocktail menu doesn't mean a lot and they will fix any drink without alcohol. You can have them make a virgin strawberry/mango/passion fruit margarita if you like.

 

Pub lunch is variable. Sometimes there are more and sometimes fewer.

 

I have heard about the sexy legs thing but never seen it on a Princess ship. It's much more of a Carnival type thing. Perhaps I just never noticed.

 

CD visibility varies with the CD and the cruise. On CB last March the CD was new and not all that visible. (He also had the loudest announcements I have ever heard!) On Emerald last October the CD was great.

 

I heard that there were many complaints regarding the Love Boat episodes. It didn't bother us at all but many seem to love them.

That is all good info to have! Am I crazy about the missing breakfast and lunches in at least a couple MDR's? We've only been on 4 cruises, all on Princess and all within the last 4 years. Didn't they use to offer lunch in the dining room? I didn't see that as an option on this last cruise, but I might have overlooked it... Even though I really looked for it! It could be a Caribbean Princess thing too... But from what they said on the last episide of The Wake Show, they are doing things on the Caribbean that they might eventually do fleet wide and they really want us to fill out the survey emailed to us for our feedback...not sure if that will really matter or not!

At Planks on Caribbean there was a line specifically for adding a tip, similar to how they do it in the spa.

Just came off of the Caribbean Princess yesterday and noticed a few changes since the last time we sailed that particular ship a few years ago:

- There is only the coke plus drink package (my dh bought just the coke package before, as he did not drink the mocktails) and this package does not come with milkshakes now. I also noticed that the banana chocolate smoothie mocktail was missing from the list... And it tasted just like a millshake, so there you go!

- No tumbler with your drink package anymore (a bummer, we loved getting those as simple souvenirs of the trip!)

- I could have swore they did the British Pub lunch on more than one day of the cruise before, and this time it was only on the last sea day of the trip. (Am I mistaken?)

- I did not notice breakfast or lunch in the formal dining rooms, which again, I might be crazy, perhaps I missed it, but I know I've had lunch in the dining room before and either completely overlooked it or it wasn't an option.

- Pagers given for burgers on the lido deck, which can be handy during busy times

- Better breakfast options on the buffet line

- Scaled back on-ship shopping, with not nearly as many necessities you might have forgotten, i.e. I didn't even see anything ginger available for sea sickness!

- Sabatini's has gotten a makeover, I never ate at the original, but this one seems very fresh pasta centered.

- Handwashing stations installed in the buffets- not just hand sanitzer towers!

- Captain's Circle Welcome Event was an actual cocktail party with multiple free drinks available throughout the event, but no certificate for one free drink given at the end. The drinks appeared to be standards like beer, cosmo on the rocks, etc.

- Less visibilty of the cruise director, but that could be because our cruise was pretty much rained out!

- I didn't see as many classic silly events like Mister Sexy Legs contest and events like that, it could have been because of the rain though (never in the patter though either)

- WONDERFUL BEDS! Emerald got them first and we sailed on it shortly after. Caribbean just did during dry dock and they are fabulous! My Dad says he's buying one he loved it so much!

- Nice, large flat screen TV's installed with a neat on demand offering. Two personal bummers: no rat pack music playing in the background of the ship info channel anymore and only ONE episode of The Love Boat available! I missed the station that played nothing but episodes of it! :-)

I'd love to know from those who have done this before-will they meet you at a different time other than right after the ship ports? I.e. We're scheduled to arrive there at 7 am, but we'd like to meet them at 9:30 instead of 7:30.

Thanks for any help!