Z0nker

3 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

If on a Royal class ship and are given a pager at the aft dining room on Deck 6, don't stray too far.  The signal is limited and sometimes won't buzz when prompted.  We went to Wheelhouse Bar (Crown Grill Bar on some Royal Class ships) on the Regal Princess, a deck above and little forward, and the buzzer didn't vibrate for an hour.  When we went to check we were being paged a half hour ago.

Makes sense. There’s a lot of metal between the aft dining room and the rest of the ship. Our one and only pager experience involved the DR right off the piazza and a trip to Vines. 

11 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

They might suggest a different DR.  You might be seated quickly if willing to share.  Otherwise, could be a wait, but tables turnover all the time once the first diners start finishing.  Depends on the ship and guest mix.  

All true 

4 minutes ago, leck57 said:

 

Oh you can but it's nothing like a smooth process that it once was.

Do they still send you away with a pager if you show up at the MDR without a reservation? 

On 9/10/2023 at 3:58 AM, SargassoPirate said:

The Medallion and the wonky app seem to have only complicated booking and taking a cruise with Princess.  I've tried to work with the app, but I have little patience for having to enter information multiple times because it disappears the next time I open it.  And I do not like trying to decide what time and where I want to eat weeks, even months ahead.

 

For my next Princess cruise, I'm going old school.  I'll print my booking information and show up at the pier.  If I want a drink, I'll flag down a server. If I want something to eat, I'll check my watch and the Patter and see what's available.   Just weeks before that cruise, I have a cruise on Viking and there is no comparison to the pre-cruise rigmarole.  No wonky app and I just show up with my booking information.  They even mailed me sturdy tags for my luggage.  It'll be an interesting comparison.

 

My idea of a cruise is to relax and enjoy being at sea.  Don't complicate it.

If you want a printed Princess Patter every day, let someone know. I believe the default is no patter. 

On 9/10/2023 at 3:58 AM, SargassoPirate said:

The Medallion and the wonky app seem to have only complicated booking and taking a cruise with Princess.  I've tried to work with the app, but I have little patience for having to enter information multiple times because it disappears the next time I open it.  And I do not like trying to decide what time and where I want to eat weeks, even months ahead.

 

For my next Princess cruise, I'm going old school.  I'll print my booking information and show up at the pier.  If I want a drink, I'll flag down a server. If I want something to eat, I'll check my watch and the Patter and see what's available.   Just weeks before that cruise, I have a cruise on Viking and there is no comparison to the pre-cruise rigmarole.  No wonky app and I just show up with my booking information.  They even mailed me sturdy tags for my luggage.  It'll be an interesting comparison.

 

My idea of a cruise is to relax and enjoy being at sea.  Don't complicate it.

The first time I cruised with the medallion app it was wonky, too. Then I updated the app to the latest version. Been fine ever since. But it is slow sync when you open it  so please be patient. 

On 9/10/2023 at 10:29 AM, StarAFire said:

This is my first time on Princess.  We normally do NCL and RCL and they also have apps.  Compared to them, this has been the worse one.  When the app doesn't work, we try and go to the website.  The website basically says, sorry, that feature is in the app, you need to use that. 

 

At the moment, I have checked in myself, and my 70+ year old parents via the app... I think?  It looks like everything has a blue check, and we are in blue lane because I choose to pick up medallions at the port.  However, if we log onto the Princess website, it says our check in status, is incomplete?.  I tried calling Princess, and they told me they weren't sure what might be missing.  Any ideas?  Thanks!

 

 

If it says you’re in the blue lane and everything is checked off, you should be fine. Bring your passport, print and attach your luggage tags to your bags. The medallion is your boarding pass and room key. You are allowed to bring aboard at no charge one bottle of wine per adult. Make sure those are in your carry on bag, NOT the checked bags you give to the porter. 
 

if you don’t drink wine, that’s ok, just drop it off in my stateroom after you board. 😀

On 9/4/2023 at 5:03 PM, Coral said:

I booked a last minute cruise. I am stuck in Blue Lane. I think the problem is with the medallion order. I selected a generic medallion and generic lanyard and said that I would pick it up at the pier (no charge). I don't have Plus on this trip (not yet, still undecided but if I get it, it will be on the ship). I will be doing a land trip for a week before the cruise so I don't want it shipped to my house.

 

I can't get out of Blue Lane. Any tips?

If you are picking up your medallion at the terminal, that's why you're in Blue lane. If you've done already everything else, should still be a quick boarding.

On 9/6/2023 at 6:57 AM, Charles4515 said:

Writing a good sounding menu does not mean the food is good. You can make crap sound good on a menu. That said I thought the food was good when I sailed Carnival. The same quality as Celebrity. But the dining experience was fun and games in the MDR which I don’t want at dinner. Do they still do that? And the general cruise ambience was not to my taste either.

The MDR staff is still lively, including a nightly singalong with a waiter on a tabletop sporting a sparkly red fedora. You know, it kind of grows on you. And yes, the food was good. 

On 9/6/2023 at 6:31 AM, wanderlust58 said:

OMG! Please tell me I don't have to go back to Carnival for a good meal.  Our first cruise, about 15 years ago, was with Carnival.  I swore it off when I saw guys on the pool deck with a bucket of beers half finished before 10 am, followed by the pool waiter offering my 12 year old a drink!  We compromised and I got him a non-alcoholic version.  He was happy, I was happy.

If you want good food but are put off by some of your fellow Carnival passengers, Princess might be worth a try. That said, we had a great time on the Carnival Miracle recently. We just went into it knowing we might see some things. 

On 9/6/2023 at 6:01 AM, Cruisegoer said:

I just can't believe what I'm reading!

https://profcruise.com/carnivals-new-dinner-menus/

Just read the fine print. “$5 surcharge for a *third* entree.”  You could gain some wait on these ships, ha ha. 

On 9/6/2023 at 6:01 AM, Cruisegoer said:

I just can't believe what I'm reading!

https://profcruise.com/carnivals-new-dinner-menus/

Say what you will about Carnival, but we've always enjoyed the food and MDR service.  Steakhouse was truly exceptional. How does it compare to Celebrity?  We sailed the Celebrity Solstice to Alaska in 2019 and it was the best food we’ve had at sea. If they’ve gone downhill that’s a shame. 

On 9/3/2023 at 8:26 PM, memoak said:

I waited almost 2 hours to get a table same with sushi on Discovery 

We waited an hour to get into Alfredo's on the Royal last spring. Something had to be done.

On 9/3/2023 at 12:35 PM, Oxo said:

Not free food! They paid for the Plus or Premium.

It was free B4, LOL

By that logic it was never free. People pay to go on cruises.

34 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

Indeed there are but I think you will find most have beef, mushrooms, onions paprika and sour cream. When something is missing most of those things, it's something else.

Indeed. And mustard. 

57 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

 

I have been ordering them on HAL for years now, just to see their evolution. 

 

First one was a stuffed  large green bell pepper that had been tempura battered to look like a giant baseball. Others never quite got the cheese melted. Or kept using the"wrong " chile. Last on on the Konigsdam was getting better, but still way off the real deal when it is well executed Mexican cuisine.  

 

But it was a reasonably tasty, battered fried cheese stuffed pepper.  Kind of. Just need to change expectations, when ordering to what it says it is: a cheese stuffed pepper..

 

Providing full vegetarian options has been a challenge though the "crew food" puts this out everyday. HAL's attempts for the MDR  often are a nice change of pace, even for non-vegetarians.  

 

Providing full vegan an even greater challenge I am sure. I remember when "vegetarian" meant only a plate of steamed vegetables, by special order ...... way back when on HAL ships.

Bell pepper in chili rellenos? No bueno. 🇲🇽

7 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

So we are under way from Halifax, unfortunately the weather gods were not kind to us it was a rainy blustery day. We did the long walk (over a kilometer) on the boardwalk to get to HMCS Sackville, the last of the WW2 Corvettes. It was worth the walk for me, I'm not sure Lynn would agree. Those interested in Naval history should have a look, admission by donation. The ship is very close to the Martime Museum which was quite interesting and the admission was quite inexpensive. There are several very nice "Builder's Models" of some famous ships, the most impressive is the Mauritania. There is also a small Titanic exhibit.

We didn't get up to the Citadel perhaps someone else on the cruise can post about that. One of our table mates at dinner enjoyed her visit to the immigration museum.

Thanks. We’ll be in Halifax next month

On 8/24/2023 at 9:12 AM, Ken the cruiser said:

I got curious as to where your cruise was taking you. Nice itinerary!

  

 
https://www.cruisemapper.com/?imo=9156527

 

Outstanding itinerary 

On 8/20/2023 at 9:11 AM, memoak said:

I can understand when we were on the Discovery in June you could not get a seat for pizza without a one hour wait. Tons of families ordering multiple pizzas and leaving half uneaten 

Same thing happened to us on the Royal. Completely lost our enthusiasm for Alfredo’s. This needed to be done. 

On 8/16/2023 at 10:36 AM, Islander500 said:

Hello fellow cruisers,

As a loyal and long-term Celebrity cruiser, I am starting to do some due diligence for other cruise lines.  Of course, I have a lot of research to do but thought I'd ask you experts who have also been Celebrity cruisers. Some info about us. We are in our 60s/70s, typically travel with friends of similar age, looking for interesting itineraries, excellent meals (we like the size and ambiance of BLU), lounge spaces with live music of various kinds, nice seating spaces to relax, chat, have a cocktail or coffee, somewhat reasonable pricing (whatever that means for you) for balcony cabins (don't need suites.)

 

Would love to hear your thoughts with some details, and thank you in advance.  💗

 

 

 

 

 

It’s always good to shop around. We’ve tried four cruise lines so far, including Celebrity, which was fabulous. Wish they did more on the West Coast. 
 

Princess comes in second of the four for me, but we sail with them the most because they homeport in SF. They also offer an enormous selection of itineraries. 
 

Hope we get to try some others, like HAL or Oceana. 

2 hours ago, New2cruise2022 said:

How would you compare entertainment between Carnival and Princess?

Production show was surprising good on carnival so I’d say that’s on par. Musicians in bars, lounges and piazza/atrium much better on Princess. Trivia and other games are fun on both lines. Carnival may have an edge on poolside games but Princess will keep you entertained. 

3 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

The casual dining, with the exception of Alfredo’s, has never been a free amenity.  
Now, the pricing of these places is actually cheaper than before.  

This might improve Alfredo’s. When we were on the Royal this spring, the wait was close to an hour. They’re crazy not to charge for it. As a habitual Plus Package cruiser, Alfredos will still be free to me and hopefully with shorter lines. 

Do we know if the Salty Dog Grill will still include two entrees?
 

4 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 However, the way I see it, they just made them more appealing to those that don’t drink alcohol by adding the complimentary casual dining.  Plus, you can still get specialty coffees, mocktails, waters and sodas.  
lufe is better when you view the glass as half full!  
 

 

 

The changes do make the Plus package more appealing for non drinkers, but is there $60/day of value here?  

On 8/3/2023 at 8:49 AM, drwbrt said:

We are booked on our first Princess cruise on Discovery early next year (traveling with my brother: @New2cruise2022).  We were originally booked on a Plus fare.  We couldn't see the value in photos, prizes, specialty dining and the small upgrade in inclusive drink costs to upgrade from Plus to Premier.  The changes at casual dining, made the switch to Premier much more compelling.  I know, it's weird to be excited to spend more money, but for us it is about value.

 

While we were still Plus we weren't over the moon about Gigi's because we think Slice will deliver good pizza without the wait.  We had little interest in paying the cover for the Salty Dog Gastropub or for paying for Ocean Terrace.  We felt like we could rely on the buffet and the pool-side offerings for anything outside MDR.  We got Plus for the drinks, WiFi, and gratuity.  Once the changes were announced for casual dining, moving to Premier was a no-brainer for us.

 

We anticipate a MUCH LESS CROWDED Gigi's.  We can enjoy Ocean Terrace and the Salty Dog without any concerns about it not being worth the cover charge.  We are crossing our fingers that OceanNow will provide included access to Ocean Terrace and Salty Dog menus.

 

Overall, we feel that upgrading to Premier will provide two things: 1) more dining options to avoid waits, crowds, and improve quality of service; and 2) an true shot at an all-inclusive feeling.  This is where we see the value.

 

We know this isn't for everyone.  A reminder/tip to others though: Premier is perhaps THE WAY to travel with teens.  The parents, passengers 1 and 2 are premier, providing WiFi options for the rest of their traveling party.  This only requires a cheaper soda package and gratuities to put a minor at "Plus" level.  They can eat at the buffet while you get away for casual dining elsewhere.

On 8/3/2023 at 10:09 AM, drwbrt said:

This has been us for almost 8 weeks now. We paid our deposits and looked at everything else. We’ve been on DCL, RCL, and NCL. We really tried hard to make NCL work, we tried to see if Carnival would work, but once the drinks and gratuities are added in, Princess Premier was similar value for equal money (Carnival) or better value for less money (NCL). 
 

We honestly probably would have done Carnival were it not for room availability and minor passenger policies conflicting. We couldn’t get the rooms close enough to one another. The price on Carnival was within $200 and did not include specialty dining for the five of us. 

We recently did 5 day cruises on Carnival and Princess out of SF since they both homeport there now. Relatively cheap way to try out the ships (Miracle and Ruby), service, and gauge the real price. Both ships were nice with good service, good food and good drinks. Entertainment was also fine. Princess was the better deal overall because the Plus package comped drinks and gratuities.  Even though the upfront price was more. 
 

side note: if you’re a wine connoisseur, Princess is the winner.  If you prefer craft beer, Carnival is better. Cocktails: they’ll both take great care of you. 

On 8/3/2023 at 12:06 PM, drwbrt said:

Plus/Premier is the reason that we are trying Princess for the first time.  I use my drink package; not just on alcohol.  Pellegrino at meals, coffees in the morning and afternoon, occasionally a soda, etc.  The drink offer and gratuity inclusion makes it worth it for me.  Having this included is the reason we are on Princess and not Carnival, NCL, or RCL.

Same here. The Plus package, even at $60/day/pax is a great deal. $15 of that is for gratuities you have to pay anyway. And vacation is so much more enjoyable when you don’t have to worry about every monetary transaction. Looking forward to the Starlink internet. 

4 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I'm home!  With a lot less for wear.  I'm going to start with my travel day and work backwards when my brain will be much more functional...mañana.  

 

Covid Post Test taken this morning:  Negative

Slept:  12 hours

LAX:  A horrible mess at 11 PM.  Thank goodness I have a great driver who was waiting for me 2 miles away/30 minutes to get to me.

Weather report:  Hot, sunny, dry.

 

Travel Day.  Arrived via Princess Transfer at Quebec Airport by 10 AM.  I was able to check in and drop off my luggage.  Agent was great and placed me on a StandBy wait list.  YQB is a small regional airport with limited food venues and gates.  Short story, I did not make the standby at 3 PM.  Got on my 5:40 PM flight to Montreal.  If I were to do this again, I would definitely take the transfer bus to Montreal for 3 hours.  25 minutes in the air.

 

Air Canada:  Cattle cow shuttle like Southwest.  Not sure I would fly with them again.  Not that I would have much choice.  Return to YQB in October will be on Delta.  The plane/equipment is just okay.  The support staff/ground crew is wonderful.

 

Montreal Airport:  Thank you to those that gave me so much advice.  I had a wheelchair request.  I "purchased" a seat ticket (14C).  And I was out the door as soon as I could.  Didn't wait to be called for my wheelchair.  There was an agent who had my name on a piece of paper.  Told me to go out to the terminal and wait for him.  Less than 60 minutes to get from here to there (57 minutes to be exact).

 

Kosta arrived to usher me to Gate 83 from Gate 11.  I was reassured, all along the way, that I would make my flight.  I'm about to panic.  Whizzed through the airport.  Signed on to YUL wifi so I could upload my Customs Form.  Dumped water bottle enroute.  Global Entry card/passport/boarding pass in hand.  All the while Kosta calling out..."coming through, coming through, coming through."  Cut in line for TSA (precheck).  Had a minute for a bathroom stop (important ... but way too my information for all of you).  Final Boarding already called and repeated.  Get to the jet way and there are still a few passengers in front of me...and a few more boarded after me.  WHEW. 

 

Got settled in.  The middle seat remained empty.  Wonderful window seat passenger who I did let know that I tested for Covid 11 days ago.  She was okay with me.  She had also missed her connection but was told that this flight had about 27 empty seats.  The rest of the flight was uneventful, but I was hungry.  Missing all the meals on the ship.  

 

Moral of story:  Be as NICE as you can be.  It will only aid you in getting through the day.  There was a crotchety/curmudgeon old man who was not nice to anyone.  When he got to YUL, he walked himself off, took a waiting wheelchair, and sat himself down.  Then barked loudly that he wanted an "express" transfer to the Airline Lounge for a flight that was still hours away.  I got taken before him since I was at risk of missing my connection.

 

Once on the plane and the doors closed, I could feel the adrenaline and anxiety lower.  I knew that LAX would be my next obstacle, but I was on my way home. 

 

Overview:  With all that transpired on this voyage, I am happy to report that I had a great time.  Taking a few days to decompress before preparing for my next adventures.  There is still a lot of paper work I need to complete.  For now, I am comfortably at home and survived this experience.  Please stay tuned as I complete the rest of my comments and hopefully add some Patters.

 

Mahalo Nui Loa for all those that took up the slack and added to this thread.  Heartfelt appreciation to all that were routing for me from the side lines.  

 

 

Glad you survived. I agree, always be nice. In a world where you can be anything, be kind.  Thanks for keeping us informed. We’re booked for a September Canada New England, round trip Brooklyn. And we’re coming from the west coast so I feel your pain. Sorry you had a bad experience with Air Canada. They were my go to airline for many flights across the pacific and their business class is fantastic and relatively cheap.