Hlitner

We would just echo Ine's comment. Over the years, we have tried lobster in a few PV restaurants, but you are talking about the local/regional stuff (some call it spiny lobster) it is not worth the price. If we really want lobster, we can go to Costco and see if they have some frozen tails :). PV does have some terrific seafood, so you might want to consider finding red snapper or shrimp. The most common seafood is usually mahi-mahi which is decent but kind of ordinary. Hank

And where would those cruises, from the California ports, go? Not many options for shorter 1 week itineraries. Hank

As I posted above, you can just walk outside the airport terminal and grab a taxi from the queue. Hank

We cruise on many different lines and they all have problems with some smokers ignoring the rules and smoking on balconies. Enforcement is always an issue because the staff do not want to act like police. Many times it can be difficult to even determine which balcony has the smokers. If they happen to be in the next cabin, and you are sure that they are smoking, you can call down to Guest Services and see if you get any satisfaction. Otherwise, it is just one of life's unfortunate situations. Hank

Not sure its simpler for some folks (especially those technically challenged) but it is certainly easier for the cruise lines. They no longer need to have a small department dealing with shareholder credits. They simply use a 3rd party contractor who handles the process. I agree with another poster that the old process where I had to print out a long statement from my brokerage account, and then sit down with a Sharpie and line out account numbers, other investments, etc. was a royal pain. Now, a few taps on the phone and its done. Hank

We always book our cruises through a decent online cruise agency. About once or twice a week, we will simply go to their online cruise booking engine and price-out each of our booked cruises to see if there has been any major changes. Over the years we have heard of a few cruise agencies and agents who claim to keep track of changes, but have never found any as reliable than simply doing our own checking. These days it might not only be about price, but various promotions that given extra perks like OBCs, pre-paid gratuities, special air deals, etc. Even though we might have 5-8 booked cruises, at any given time, checking all the prices only take me a few minutes a week. Hank

Not surprised at the issue with the waiters. The galleys on HAL (and many other lines) are like a buffet assembly line. The waiters move through the various stations picking up the pre-plated items. If they need to make a special request, it creates some delay (for the waiter) and many do not want to go through that hassle. On some other lines they do have a different system. For example, on Seabourn the table waiter inputs each order through a tablet. So, putting in a special request is not a problem other than needing to type it in on the tablet. The order than goes, electronically, to the galley. When the food is ready, a runner brings the items out to the table or to the waiter's station. Hank

Am currently aboard the Silver Shadow. WiFi is still one device per person and there is no problem adding multiple devices to a person's account, but can only use one at a time. If anyone is interested, we are also using Proton VPN, so there is no VPN blocking. Hank

On the Silver Shadow now, where we did receive our shareholder credit. When we used the online form (a few weeks ago) we received no indication that the credit had been approved. We used the form, a 2nd time, and still received no acknowledgement. We then contacted our cruise agent (we book through cruise agencies) and she quickly confirmed that the credit had been granted.

Explora already has a history of hiring the best cruise director's, who leave EJ within a year. EJ had originally hired Heike Berdos, who almost has legendary status with Azamara fans. Heike stayed at EJ about a year before quitting and moving over to Silversea. Rumor (and I emphasize rumor) is that Heike left EJ because she was unhappy with the micro-management from above and the inability to do her job the way she knows best. When we cruised on EJ, we heard (from some of the crew) that their micro-management (from Geneva) was annoying and also constraining. We had the opportunity to meet some of those Geneva "suits" (many were aboard for the Naming Ceremony) and they were very nice folks who did seem to have this idea that they would run the ships from the Geneva home office. When a pizza cook refused to put some pepperoni on our pizza because he said, "that combination is not approved by Geneva" one could understand there would be some future issues. We do think that Explora will eventually morph into the best luxury line, but there are going to be quite a few growing pains. Hank

I get that. But if you had booked with the TA, instead of with HAL, you would have had more leverage and might have been able to get more OBC from the TA :). I see no reason to deal with a multi-step process (1. book with HAL and 2. transfer to a TA after talking with that TA). There are times when we have booked with HAL, but that is only when we do it aboard (with the future cruise consultants) if there are extra perks. But, when done aboard, one can simply specify that it be directly transferred to one's chosen TA. Hank

We also sail with other lines (about 100 days a year) and would agree that some aspects of Princess are not the same as a few years ago. But other aspects have improved. We do cruise on quite a few crusie lines that are much better than Princess (will be on Silversea this week) but we think that Princess still offers a terrific value. In fact, just today we were comparing a 14 day Explora 2 cruise vs the future 14 day cruise we have booked on the Enchanted Princess. The EJ cruise costs almost exactly double, the price of our Princess mini-suite with the Plus Package. While Explora is a far superior product than Princess, there is the issue of the price. MSC's Yacht Club is better than Princess, but it also costs at least 50% more! At one time we thought Celebrity was a better value than Princess, but that ended with the reign of Lisa-Lutoff Perlo and what I called her campaign of a thousand cut-backs. Habk

Just because they do not put vegemite on pizza, no need to get testy 🙂

We cruised 18 days on Explora 1, back in Sept 2023. In fact, we were on the cruise that ended in NYC for the ship's naming ceremony. During, and after that cruise we did post here on CC and still contribute to the Explora board. There are a few reasons we have not returned to that line, but would happily cruise them in the future. I have also been quoted as saying the EJ has the best food at sea :). The food on Oceania Vista was very good, but EJ is in a league of their own...at least for now. Hank

DW and I are fond of Porto, Never stayed overnight, but we have been there 3 times on cruises. There is a lot of charm, to be found, and just visiting several of the "Port houses" is a lot of fun. I should also mention that we do like Lisbon (have stayed there a few times) and other parts of Portugal, It is a wonderful country if you have a rental car, use the trains, or decide to book a river cruise. Consider that if you stay in Lisbon, places like Sintra, Esteril, Cascais, and more are within daytrip range. Hank

Just a note about "repricing." It is quite easy if you use a decent cruise/travel agent. Not only does our cruise agent give us a generous amount of OBC (beyond what you get from the cruise line) but repricing is just a matter of sending a short e-mail to my agent and she does all the work. Just last week, we asked her to reprice a future Princess booking and our price dropped by more than $700. It took me less than 1 minute to write and sent that e-mail (for repricing) and I teased DW that I was getting paid $42,000 per hour ($700 x 60 min). Hank

I bring a slightly different perspective to this thread. Although we have more then 30 cruises on Princess (some were several weeks long), we cruise many different lines. Just in the past 18 months we have been on Princess, HAL, Seabourn, Oceania, Explora Journeys and MSC. On all of those lines, you will hear folks complaining about cut-backs, reduction in overall quality, etc. To be quite honest, on our last two Princess cruises (Enchanted and Sky) we thought that Princess was doing a pretty good job maintaining quality when compared to several other lines. Princess seems to be operating most of their current cruises close to 100% of occupancy. The ugly truth about mass market lines (i.e. Princess) is when ships are near-full, there is some degradation in quality. On Princess, full ships mean problems with dining reservations, problems finding seats in the theater, packed bars, etc. There is a reason they are called "mass" market. My only complaint about Princess is the elimination of Take 5. When entertainment suffers because the cruise line wants to cram-in more slots, I am not a happy guy My other concern is how much impact the revised Premiere Package will impact the ability to get reservations in the alternative restaurants. Hank

That is a great question You can certainly try, and write all your desires. But, Princess is about having folks pay for extra benefits. If you want a full service in cabin breakfast menu, you only need to book one of the larger suites because that benefit is a suite amenity. Getting a hot room service breakfast is not very common on mass market lines...except for the most expensive suites. When you want that kind of benefit, it is wise to be on a small ship luxury line. When we are are lines like Explora Journeys or Seabourn, we expect a decent hot breakfast. On Princess, we leave the cabin/suite for breakfast :). Speaking of small ship luxury lines, when we order room service breakfast on Seabourn, not only do they bring a nice hot breakfast, but the server sets up the table (including a tablecloth). Hank

I agree that the aft/outside area of the Colonnade is nicer than being inside. DW and I have tried breakfast and lunch in the Restaurant, but always found it strange to be in such a large venue with only 2 or 3 others. I will also confess to liking the OJ machine, in the Colonnade, and being able to stop at the buffet to add some extra bacon :). Another way that DW and I are weird is that we do enjoy socializing with other cruisers. The Colonnade has proven to be a fun social place as we often meet others from nearby tables. Hank

We recall being on a HAL (about 15 years ago) where we met a fellow passenger who brought a folding bike aboard. We also knowa guy who will sometimes bring one of his Harley Davidson Motorcycles aboard. But he just happens to be the Master of the vessel (Captain) :). Hank

Yes, because the ship becomes a more important destination with so many sea days (we love sea days). There is a big difference between a sea day on Carnival vs a sea day on Seabourn. At this point in our lives we do prefer the more classy atmosphere found on Seabourn. If we want to book a large ship, we tend to favor MSCs Yacht Club, NCLs Haven, etc. Celebrity would also be fine (have done a few TAs with X) but we would be looking for a Retreat cabin. We do have 3 TAs and 1 Transpacific cruise booked for 2024 :). Guess that says how much we love those lazy sea days. Hank

My issue with the "R" ships is not about their age (we like some older ships) but the design of the cabin bathrooms. Those ships would be find on a lower cost cruise line, but at O prices I am not a fan. As to the Marina, we would have no problem booking that vessel. Although we have cruised on many lines (Silversea will be our 19th cruise line) we had never gone on O until our recent Vista cruise. Over the years there were various reasons that kept us from O, but the stars finally aligned for our 35 day Vista cruise. We found a lot to like about O and have looked at some future cruises. But "value" (as opposed to price) is an issue and we have trouble keeping up with the O changes (no SM, SM, no SM, no tips, now tips, etc). We also have concerns with the entire NCLH management philosophy where they seem to play fast and loose with itineraries (one can look at the latest 39 NCL cancellations as an example). We will, no doubt, be back on O in the future, but at the moment do not see anything of interest at the price point we find reasonable. Just as an example, a few weeks ago we booked a 20 day MSC Cruise (in the Yacht Club) for less than $300 per person day. That is essentially an all-inclusive booking and the YC is an upscale way to cruise. We also have a Seabourn, HAL and Princess cruise booked in 2025. 2026 is still an open book and we are taking a good look at Oceania options, although there is reason to wonder if the published schedules are real or simply another feint similar to what NCL did with 39 cancellations that screwed over 130,000 cruisers who had already booked those voyages. I also have some concerns about recent postings, here on CC, about cut-backs at O. Time will tell if some of these O cut-backs are real or just talk. Hank

We have often posted about "shopping around" among decent high volume cruise agencies in order to find good deals. Our upcoming SS deal (which is a terrific deal for SS cruises) happened, just that way. I think on your side of the "pond" shopping around is somewhat more difficult and many cruise lines have different pricing for North America than for the UK/Europe. On the other hand, when we booked an 18 day Explora Journey cruise, there were better prices in the UK/Europe than what I could get in North America. I actually called the Explora Journey folks and asked if I could book at the European price (even paying in Euros) but they refused! Over the years we have met a few Australians and Europeans who have told us they sometimes book cruises (and air) via American cruise/travel agencies. While some cruise lines prohibit this practice, others have a more liberal attitude. We know one Aussie who cruises about 200 days a year on HAL. He books all his cruises through a Canadian cruise agency (and uses a Canadian address that belongs to a friend) in order to save lots of money. Hank

Absolutely true. We have an upcoming SS cruise for which we are paying less than $350 per person day! And that price gets us a suite, drinks, tips, and just about everything else. Try to do that on the Vista or Allura! As much as we enjoyed our cruise on the Vista, looking forward we think that O has mostly priced itself out of the market! We can do better with several of the small ship luxury lines or in MSC's Yacht Club. Hank

We also do like Crooners although I would note that there is no crooners on the Sky Princess! Eliminating that venue made room for more revenue venues. Hank