palolake

20 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

 

 

After breakfast we went to the Princess Theater to watch the traditional Culinary Show where the head chef and Maitre d' amuse and educate the crowd with some cooking and banter.

It's a Princess Tradition-but then so was the International Crew Talent show which used to showcase the talents of those behind the scenes, some of them amazing singers....long gone and missed by us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had the International Crew Talent show on the cruise before you.  Maybe because ours was a 20 day cruise?  Our cabin steward Julius was amazing!

No more French night, Italian night, etc. if that's what you're wondering.

32 minutes ago, san diego sue said:

We were also on the same cruise as you and had a aft facing suite on Caribe (starboard side). Never

had  hot water issue. Our next door neighbor had flushing issue. Guess we were extremely lucky.

Loved the cruise and the very empty ship.We are so spoiled with the suite life and the aft facing experience. Will be hard to go back to a balcony cabin or even a mini suite.The crew was amazing

, great service.

We were on the port side opposite of yours.  It was our 3rd time in an aft facing cabin.  Didn't you love the huge balcony?  Our sink was plugged and full for two days.  Then our steward noticed it was leaking.  We also had the flushing issue.  I told the steward that I would warn him with a post it note on the toilet :). Our water started hot but got cooler as the cruise went on.  We were compensated but we would have rather had a working cabin.  Like I said, it was still an amazing cruise!  

22 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

 

 

When booking our balcony cabin I had put us on a waitlist for an aft (wake view) balcony as we have been living on the stern  since 2012 which was in fact the year we last sailed on the Diamond. We were 3rd on the waitlist but in hindsight we got a gift in that mini suite free upgrade.

 

 

I think you really did get a gift :).  On the cruise before yours, we had an aft facing cabin on Caribe.  We had multiple plumbing problems including no hot water the last week of our 20 day cruise.  (The final day we showered in an empty room)

Even with the plumbing problems, we had one of our best cruises ever!  The crew was amazing.  Our room steward was the best ever!  We sailed only one third full and it was a wonderful experience.  I shuttered when I heard how many people and children (over 300 kids?) were going to be on the next cruise.  What a different experience you must have had!

Our cruise is in 20 days and we just got the email this morning that it will be shipping.

22 hours ago, vm6514 said:

Thank you , do you know where on the app we find boarding times selections

we are 57 days from our cruise and I would like select the time to board

 

Travel Checklist, Personal information & documents, then scroll down and it's right under Suggested.  We are 20 days away and it's still not available.

The only thing I don't like now is it's harder to find where to pick your arrival group.  I know where it is now but it sure took me a while to find it.

It's to celebrate the new Love Boat series.  It's held on the second formal night on West coast sailings. (At least I think it's only those sailings.)  You're supposed to wear white and gold.  You'll get an email if you're on one of those sailings.

Just how does a "self administered antigen" test work?  That's BS

On 9/8/2022 at 2:26 PM, LawDog61 said:

 

 

 

 

My main activity in the evening is listening to the music.  The wheelhouse group 2 Wire is excellent,  Funch in Crooners is great-but the party band Golden Moon……oh my…., well, let’s just say, not to my liking -and I almost always enjoy the party band on Princess.  Additionally, it Looks like they have a pianist, a violinist and a Guitarist/Singer which I will checkout later.

 

 

 

 

Funny how people's opinions are so different.  We were on a few weeks ago and sought out Golden Moon.  My husband especially loved the group.  We discovered them when they had the whole piazza full and upper decks full listening to them.  Maybe give them another chance?

The excuse given to us last month by our room steward was that they had to bring in the deck furniture from all outside cabins because of the wind.  But other reasons make more sense.

On 8/30/2022 at 7:08 PM, Cruise Raider said:

 

 

We were greeted by one of the best restaurant managers in the DaVinci for our embarkation lunch.  Oh wow, this one was amazing!  Great food, great service, great table!  Because we’ve cruised on the Ruby very recently, we knew some of the amazing people onboard.  I don’t know how they all remember us but they did!  
 

into. 

If you're talking about Kieron, he is fabulous!!  We had him a couple weeks ago and he set up the same table for breakfast, lunch and then, in a different dining room for dinner also.  Tell him the masked couple from table 433 say hi!

13 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

 

 

Good idea on the TSA pre-check.  I just got a new credit card that will give me $100 credit to offset the TSA pre check fee so it's effectively free.  Only drawback is we travel as a family and it's gonna to be politically incorrect if I am in the "fast lane" while the family is in the slow lane.  If I upgrade, it'll be a whole family thing and then it becomes expensive for us infrequent flyers.

 

Something to think about but it's definitely tempting. 

 

Here's something to consider.  Because of a snafu (that I corrected immediately after getting home) I didn't have TSA Precheck 2 weeks ago when I should have.  I had the husband go through precheck with the laptop, Kindles, liquids bag, etc.  It made it much easier for me to go through the regular line.

15 hours ago, suekel said:

Day 2. It's been lovely. 

Got an email from Princess pushing back embarkation by an hour.  Got to Pier 27 about 11:00... line moved fast.  Had to wait in the PES lounge about 10 minutes and we were on board a little after 12. 

Food has been excellent,  have had many lovely conversations while sharing tables in the MDR.  Went out first round in the slot tournament and the casino has been packed. Going to hit up the PES happy hour tonight for the first time in many a cruise and then formal night.  Tomorrow..whale watching in Juneau. 

We were on the week before.  There was a medical evacuation and we were late getting into port.

Be sure to go to the talks that Tess Juliana does.  We learned so much.  We did Harv and Marv's whale watching in Juneau and were lucky enough to see whales bubble net feeding.

We had a fantastic time onboard.  Hope you will too!

1 hour ago, Ombud said:

In my case, I received an email today (14 days before boarding) that spelled it out in clear concise wording. Printed off the email and stick it in my carryon

What does it mean?

1 hour ago, SiliconCruiser said:

We were on the Ruby back in July and also had the Pub Lunch on one of the sea days in Da Vinci, which was the regular dining room for lunch.  Odd part about the whole thing was that there was no lunch menu listed that day either on the TV or in the Medallion app.  We only stumbled upon it, when we went to check to see if Da Vinci was open for lunch that day.  They did have the Pub Lunch menu posted on the wall.

We saw it listed on the tv so decided not to eat there. We aren’t crazy about it. 

What does it mean to be contacted directly by an Ocean Navigator?

We just got off the Ruby.  We were offered Pub lunch in the dining room one day at lunch.

22 hours ago, chamima said:

We've sailed Princess a lot but have never sailed on either the Sapphire or the Diamond. I'm aware that these ships are different than all of the other Princess ships but am not familiar with exactly how. We are looking at the 32 day LA- Tahiti cruise for 2023 and so want to clarify what exactly will be available and what won't. When I look at the deck plans it looks like Alfredos, Vines and the IC are on the Sapphire (but not on the Diamond?) and there seem to be 5 dining rooms.

How does the dining room situation work if we request same table, same time every night (and yes, I'm aware that DMW may not work for that)?

Thanks in advance.

We are sailing on the Diamond end of November if you have any more questions. We looked at that cruise for about five minutes but I think the kids would kill us missing a second Thanksgiving in a row! We are flying out the day after Thanksgiving this year for the diamond cruise.We are flying out the day after Thanksgiving this year for the diamond cruise.

We’ll be on the Ruby next month. Can anyone tell me what form of transportation you used from the airport to your hotel/ port?  Thanks in advance. 

I just found out that Walgreens won't do free testing anymore.  Unless you are sick, that is.  The change happened July 1st because of changes in what the government will reimburse them.  I've always used the Binax Now tests but have heard about a couple cheaper options.  You use your own OTC tests and just pay for the proctor part.  I'm wondering if anyone has used them.  One is Rapid COVID-19 Tests Online at Home. Observed Tests for Cruises and Travel (rapidtestandtrace.com) and the other is Certified Teleservice COVID Testing - OnPoint Testing (onpoint-testing.com).  It makes me really nervous to use something new that I'm not sure will be accepted by Princess.

Wow, thanks for all the info!

Chill people!  As soon as I saw the new look of the app and noticed that I went from green to yellow, I figured it was because they were updating the app.  Give it time.

We also forgot about taking our money out. (First time!)  We got a check about a month later.  I did read that if it's $25 or less that they donate it.

You could take a ferry over to Moorea.