57eric

My hopes were raised...for a moment.

On 3/27/2024 at 1:39 PM, KKB said:

Most ships do not have public trash cans except in restrooms & cabins...I find it an oddity but I suppose it forces them to clean things up that are left. The ship we had been cruising on the past few years has plenty.

 

I suspect an illusionist is not a regular crew member; often then come in for one show (or 2 in a night), get off at the next port & head to another ship.  I would have though so too, but he was referred to on more than one occasion as "resident".

 

I suspect the enrichment speaker got ill.

 

Did you go to Sabatinis? I often find they have openings if we ask personally.  We did go, but you missed the point.  I am baffled that they apparently were never booked, in total contrast to the Crown Grill.

 

Paper napkins are FAR more wasteful than cloth--they add to the landfill! Saves them a lot of money as well. You aren't really "wasting" a cutlery set--it simply needs to be washed again.  My guess is that the energy to transport a paper napkin to a landfill pales in comparison to what's required to launder a cloth napkin and wash a set of cutlery, but this isn't my expertise.

 

I have never seen a start time on when people should put their luggage out...I have often done it before dinner the last day as I know we won't be back in the room before it has to be out, which might seem early to some.

 

 

 

 

I figured it was obvious, so I avoided directly admitting I couldn't figure it out.  🙂

1 hour ago, Se1lad said:

My last experience of boarding at Southampton was in January on QV - they opened the doors to the terminal at 11.30am and let anyone with priority boarding (QG/PQ/Diamond/Platinum/BC) check in.  Everyone else had to wait outside the terminal.  
 

Once through check in we were organised into zones based on  cabin grade / status.  At 12.20 they called QG  and we were through security and onboard by 12.30.  Some friends I was travelling with were in Britannia - they were let into the terminal about 12.45, and were called forward for boarding at 1.15, onboard by 1.30.

I searched the forum for another instance of "BC" and couldn't find one, other than category BC. I'm sure that's not what was meant here.

Total agreement with posts 13 and 17.  Don't try this.

23 hours ago, Tattycoram said:

If you're a lowly Britannia person, what's available to you?

Sir Samuel's has some surprisingly good, albeit limited lunch choices.  My daily program archive confirms they are open at embarkation.  However, it is never listed as a dining option and I can't say whether they were serving food the first day or not.

Princess emailed me about an upcoming cruise, encouraging me to explore dining reservations.  There are no available time slots.  This is not surprising as the cruise isn't until 2026.  Thanks for the spam, I guess.

15 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 They were in a YC Cabin. 

 

Thanks.

I'm late to the game on the whole Ben and David thing.  The last time I was on MSC the Yacht Club was a private area, open only to passenger who had booked Yacht Club cabins.  Nowhere in all the coverage and discussion of the "incident" did I see an explanation of what basis the gentlemen in question had for being in the Yacht Club.  Did they have a YC cabin, or is the YC no longer a private area?  I assume they didn't just sneak in.  Otherwise, MSC would have had no basis for the apology they issued.

I used to be able to get a list of qualifying sale voyages in tabluar format.  Does anyone have this for The Americas Sale?

I had transferred some deposits and started to lose track of what was what.  I had a record of one more deposit that I knew I had paid for.  All of them showed up as valid bookings in My Cunard.

I appealed to my CVP for help.  She replied that two of my booking numbers were not (or no longer) valid.  After doing some digging I agreed with her accounting.  Additional digging turned up one more valid one, which brought me to the total I was looking for.

Observations:

•    It's curious my CVP didn't point out the booking number that was missing from my original list.
•    As mentioned, I had previously validated the two "bad" numbers in My Cunard.  I checked again and they STILL show as current, paid voyages.
•    Of course, as has been observed many times before, other cruise lines allow you to log in and see all your bookings concurrently.  If Cunard had this     basic functionality, none of this research would have been necessary.

Sigh.

Great, thank you.

Thanks for the responses.  I'm not hearing that anyone has booked on Day 0 through a TA.

Thanks for the responses.  My cruises in the last few years on other lines have always had paper napkins (in addition to cloth) in the buffet and plentiful trash containers.  On Ruby I never saw paper napkins in the IC; maybe cocktail napkins by the coffee.

I know I should know this, but I'm having a brain freeze.  CWC members can book new voyages a day ahead of the public.  You can do this through a Cunard CVP or by phoning the call center.  Can you do it on line?   Can you do it though a TA? 

Thanks.

2 minutes ago, memoak said:

There have never been future menus on the app.  
If you want paper napkins bring your own they belong at McDonalds not a cruise ship. If you use a paper making it cannot be washed and reused. Talk about  real waste

Specialty restaurants are never booked fully on line. We always eat several meals in them and never make arrangements until on board

As far as putting bags out the tell you in writing when they need to be put out. There is no real starting time 

 

One paper napkin vs. having to wash a cloth napkin and a set of cutlery?  We have different concepts of waste.

I should clarify "fully booked on line".  I realize that fully booked on the app doesn't mean fully booked in reality.  What I meant was showing fully booked on the app.

Agreed, it wasn't a big deal.  In theory, we might have adjusted some plans based on a future menu, but that's probably overthinking.  The point was it was implied it would work, I was told it should work, and it didn't work.

I recently returned from the 14 Night Circle Caribbean voyage on Ruby Princess.  Hats off to Princess for the ship’s layout, décor, condition, crew and itinerary.

This was only my second Princess trip, and first since 2017, so I’m no expert and expecting to be corrected on some of the following observations.

I didn’t see:

• ·         Future MD dinner menus on the app.  I spoke to two dining room managers early in the cruise.  Both confirmed that this wasn’t right and both promised to address it.  Nothing ever happened.   Only the current day’s menu appeared, regardless of which date you were pulling up.

• ·         Trash receptacles in public areas.   If you had something to throw away, you could go to your cabin, go to a public restroom, or leave it for a crew member to pick up.

• ·         A drop box at guest services.  I had three forms to turn in.  Each time I had to hand it to someone at the desk.  A drop box seems like a no brainer.  Shore Excursions, Future Cruise Sales and the Wake Show each have one.

• ·         A repeat performance by mentalist/illusionist Julien Losa.  Mr. Losa was introduced as the resident on board magician.  He performed a spectacular act on day 5 and never appeared again.  The implication was that he is a regular crew member.  Recall that this was a 14 day cruise.

• ·         The principal enrichment speaker, after the third sea day.  Pat McCormack was lined up to speak on each of the five sea days but vanished after three lectures.

• ·         A filled time slot for Sabatini’s.  While the Crown Grill was essentially booked solid on the app prior to sailing, Sabatini’s never showed a single time slot unavailable.   This is a mystery to me as they seem to be equally popular and have roughly the same capacity.

• ·         Paper napkins.  I exclude cocktail napkins here, and I don’t expect to see any in the MDRs.  However, at the buffet and the deck eateries there were cloth napkins with cutlery or nothing.  Maybe it’s just me, but I like to be able to wipe my fingers when eating handheld foods and prefer not to do it on the napkin in my lap.  Using a second cloth napkin and cutlery set seems very wasteful.

• ·         Information about when to begin setting luggage out for disembarkation.  OK, a minor point.  People were setting bags out hours before the crew begin removing them.  How hard would it be to indicate a start time in the instructions?

You should be OK in the MDR with your first round.  Keep your delivery expectations low for any subsequent drink orders.

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

They are for Suite guests and work in the Suites lounge on Royal Class and higher.  There was talk (rumor?) of Princess adding one to the other ships for the Suite guests even though there is no Suite lounge.  Nothing to do with the MDRs.

Thanks.

Which Princess ships have a concierge?  And what connection does the concierge have with the dining room? 

32 minutes ago, latebuyer said:

Its a bit concerning that it is still happening today and i wondered if its a cyber attack.

Probably not.  Princess doesn't need outside help.

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

I did not mention who owns the cat.  I was just referring to the photo.

No, you referred to Oscar, which is the name of memoak's cat.  The photo was posted by someone else.

48 minutes ago, sabookkeeper said:

The Crown Grill is showing as $63.00/person on the new app.  I wonder if the 18% service charge is now included in this price or are they still charging it on top of it.  Either way, we won't be booking it at this price.

What sort of dollars are those?  Mine shows $39 US, plus 18%.

11 hours ago, guy01 said:

We just did the CT on Majestic Princess - it was fantastic. 5 Canapés served with Moët in the Crown Grill Bar before moving to the table for a  five course meal with matched wines. It was worth every cent and we'll do it again next time we are on Princess. 

Thanks for your report.  Was this the new, standardized menu?  How much was it?