Torfamm

I see it scheduled on the first formal night in Australia and am pretty sure that’s when it was on the Greenland cruise from NY last month. We don’t normally go so I can’t remember any others.

You might see which nights are scheduled as formal nights in the Journey View activities timeline in the app. Every evening will show either “casual” or “formal” portraits. I’ve seen it populate as much as a couple of months before a cruise.

The strawberries are not good but I don’t mind the chocolates 😎

I've had a host offer me a drink while I was waiting for them to complete the information for my W-2 G and reset the machine after a jackpot. I think it takes a LOT of points to get a drink package.

While smoking is still the leading preventable cause of mortality in Europe, rates of tobacco use are declining with some countries seeing much more progress than others. The rate of smoking varies a lot from 6.4 % in Sweden (about half of the US rate) to 28.7 % in Bulgaria.

It's usually in the Vista Lounge on the Enchanted but you will get an invitation that tells you where and when the party is being held.

It's been in the Vista Lounge the last three times I sailed.

It depends on the ship. Skywalkers can be a really nice spot for the views and some cruises have very good snacks. We had one in the spring that had sushi most nights. On the other end, boring cheese and veggie sticks in the Vista Lounge on Enchanted wasn’t worth it for me.

If you order using the Ocean Now feature in the app, it is covered by the $14.99 activation fee. If you order from room service by phone, that would be a separate charge. That charge is not $5 per item, it is per delivery.

The time and the location can vary and it is available on every evening except the nights of Captains Circle parties. On the Caribbean Princess in the spring it was from 5-7 pm and in Skywalkers. The food was really good - sushi, stilton wheels, some things you don't see elsewhere. Last month on the Caribbean Princess it was from 4:30 to 6:30 and in Club Fushion. The food was okay, but nothing too unique. I understand the location was due to the large number of P & E onboard. They had four Captains Circle parties as almost half the passengers were eligible on that sailing.

Glacier Bay would be the deciding factor for me.

If it’s not possible to add a land tour to your cruise and you decide you don’t want to rebook you could consider a separate tour. I did a Princess Lodges rail tour that was completely separate from my cruise and loved it. There was no bus travel nor were there lots of organized group excursions or planned meals. We could pick the excursions we wanted at each lodge or book something on our own. To me it was the best of all worlds - hotels, train tickets and transfers arranged, leave luggage outside your door each departure morning and find it in your room at the next destination but spend each day as you wish. To me, traveling every leg by train was way better than doing half by bus on a land tour. https://www.princesslodges.com/alaska-rail-tours/learn/

Charges in error are, and always have been, something that can happen. Before packages, before that app etc. It's usually very easy to resolve by using the Crew Chat function in the app rather than standing in line at guest services.

If you buy a bottle of wine at dinner, the server might pour for them or look the other way if you do. They won't be able to order wine themselves for sure.

I remember hearing in the past that you couldn't order pizzas to go or even get leftover pizza boxed. The only way to get it was eating at a table or room service. I never tried it myself though.

You can call and ask to be moved to another cabin in the same category but it’s of course based on availability. If you’re sure that any cabin in the new category would be worth it, it makes sense to bid. For example, a lot of people would bid $50 a person to move to a deluxe balcony from an inside even if it’s a bad location. Sometimes you can also predict location because that category is so limited.

I recently got one and ended up in a really terrific cabin. Got the upgrade, had a look at what other cabins were still available in the new category, phoned and grabbed it. That said, I would never bid unless I was sure that any cabin in the upgraded category would work for me. However, there can be a lot of shuffling around of cabins as the sail date gets close, especially if many people are moved as bids are accepted. We’ve had good luck with it.

If it is on a ship where it’s open to the piazza I’d pick a back corner near the windows at the end of the space closer to the elevators than Bellini’s

I believe they can see that information if they were to check. I don’t think it matters to them in which order you do those two things though.

That is only true if you add alcohol in my experience. I’ve never heard anyone else say they’ve had all coffees counted as one of their 15 alcoholic drinks allotted per day.

You are correct, but we were a table full of people who already had drinks and were eating the complimentary starters. It would have been pretty disruptive at that point. I just ordered two starters and made the best of it. If that sort of thing had happened at a typical restaurant with a la carte pricing, it wouldn't have bothered me the way it does when the meal is prix fixe.

I thought it was a beautiful space on the Enchanted and the service was fantastic. The food was okay. If I’d known ahead of time that my first two choices for a main course were unavailable, I’d at least have had an opportunity to cancel. I was very frustrated at paying that premium for a meal I didn’t want. Hopefully my experience was a rare exception

In an interesting twist, I tried to look at the web version of the app out of curiosity yesterday. I couldn’t open it.

I’ve seen it outside of formal nights but it’s usually on the second formal night

My first cruise on Carnival 40 years ago cost over $1000 per passenger for a tiny room with a 12 inch porthole. The same 7 day Caribbean itinerary today can easily be booked in a balcony for less than that on Princess. For that amount in today’s dollars, about $3200, I could choose an experience similar to what cruising was in the past but I choose Princess and don’t expect it to provide that for 1/3 of what it used to cost.