Dan M.

We are considering a cruise, summer of 2025, and would like to take our entire family. This would be three older adults, two middle-aged adults and three children, ages 10, 8 & 6. 

From your experience, what is a family-friendly cruise line other than Disney?

Thank you!

7 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

What port?

It was when we first arrived in Alaska via air at Fairbanks.

I didn't see anything about masks. On our recent Alaska cruisetour, there was a mask "mandate" that many, many people didn't follow. Why have one if it's not going to be enforced?

Our experience was a joke. After dropping nearly $400 for the three of us to get pre-cruise tested, NO ONE asked about the results or even asked about getting them. 😞

I thought that the Dine My Way was pretty useless. The app locked up and crashed constantly when trying to schedule dinner reservations. We ended up eating at four different tables in five nights... not hardly what I was expecting.

Princess should reserve one dining room for DMW and let others schedule their meals before cruising in the traditional dining way.

On 10/3/2019 at 9:30 PM, SantaFeFan said:

 

A 3rd reason is probably just as relevant - they don't want to, or cannot, spend so much money. Not everyone has enough extra money laying around to take expensive vacations. They may want to, but can't justify the cost at the time. 

Have you ever heard, " The boat goes too slow??!?"  I have...  sheesh!

dlm

12 hours ago, The Mikado said:

Are you on the Grand?

No, the Star out of LA...

dlm

Someone posted Patters from the Star Hawaiian cruise on here recently.  I doubt if formal nights would change all that much unless there was a special reason to do so.  We'll be at sea on Thanksgiving Day and I'm just about sure that will be a formal night as well.

dlm

It will be interesting to see whether or not this is continued.  For the record, we BOTH enjoy the balloon drops and appreciate the festive atmosphere.  I'll concede that it isn't for everyone (neither is spending time in the casino or spa) but will be no doubt missed by those who do enjoy that event.  We sail on the Star in mid-November so will know for sure if it being discontinued or not.

dlm

I am a bit envious of many people here who are cruising with a small group of family or friends. My wife & I have asked NUMEROUS people to consider going with us and have yet to find anyone who wants to give it a try.  I'm just curious if others have had similar experiences.  I don't know if people think it will be too upper class, too expensive, too boring or what but we are O-fer- in asking people to go with us.  Oh yeah, we BOTH take showers daily AND use deodorant so that's not the reason! :)

dlm

Like so many things, it depends.  We ate at the Bayou and thoroughly enjoyed it.  We are not big fans of Sabatini's but others prefer it over other options. 

The Crab Shack on the Regal was good but... I think the food had MSG in it.  MSG and I don't get along well at all.

dlm

On 1/30/2019 at 7:55 PM, NavyVeteran said:

However, if the 15-day cruise is also sold as two shorter cruises, you could receive the new status at the beginning of the second cruise. You may need to talk with the Captain's Circle host to receive your new cruise card and benefits.

 

If the 15-day cruise is only available as a single cruise, then the Princess rules are very clear - status changes at the beginning of your next cruise.

That's what happened to us.  We booked a Caribbean East/West B2B as one unit.  On the second leg of the cruise, we were upgraded to Platinum.  The surprise to us was that we didn't realize that it was considered to be two cruises.

dlm

I just learned that my wife & I will be in a balcony cabin with Pullman beds (Regal Princess, A242).  This will be our first time in a balcony cabin; we decided to try it once to save a few dollars.  According to cruisedeckplans.com, there are 3rd & 4th Pullman beds located in our cabin.  

Does anyone know where these beds are located?  I'm guessing that they fold up on the wall somewhere but where is the question.  Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

dlm

3 hours ago, floridalover5623 said:

About a dozen. 

While we didn't sign up for our cruise "just because" Princess Cays was on the itinerary, nonetheless, we WERE looking forward to stopping there as it is the best opportunity for a beach day.

I called Princess yesterday and as of that time, I was told that the itinerary had not changed... that things were on a "wait and see" and "day to day" basis.  They also said that if there was a change in the schedule, we would be emailed reference to it.  So far, I've not received anything from them regarding such a change.  I guess we'll find out Monday.

dlm

This really is sad news.  We are doing a B2B East/West cruise soon and will probably miss it on BOTH halves of the trip.  I'd be curious to learn if they have an alternative other than another sea day.

dlm

16 hours ago, antmaril said:

 

The shows were “Born to Dance” and “Bravo”.  Both excellent.  Around the ship were Ella Ryan, Romantica Strings, Funch and the Steel Drum Player, Trevor (can’t think of his last name).  

I'm a bit surprised that they haven't changed. I think we saw them last winter on the Regal. "Born to Dance" was also on the Island Princess this past October when we went to Panama.

The Romantic Strings sounds like an interesting group.  Will most certainly check them out.

Thanks!

dlm

We're on the Regal in a few weeks as well.  What was the entertainment for the cruise you were on?  I doubt if it will change much before we arrive.

Thanks.

dlm

We were on an east/west Caribbean cruise last February on the Regal.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and had no complaints about the food or the service.  I don't remember anything particularly good or bad about check-in & embarkation so I guess that was pretty normal & routine,.

One word about MSG... I'm pretty sensitive to it and think that the Crab Shack boil I had was loaded with it.  That messed me up for a few hours but in all fairness, not everyone is as sensitive to it as I am so I can understand how one's reaction to it is affected by their tolerance of it.

We are once again taking the Regal Princess in February and are looking forward to a trip as nice as the one we had last time.

dlm

40 minutes ago, Ltonjn said:

Hi DLM it looks like there are actually 3.  One of them is on the 16th.  

Hmmm... I must be missing something as the Patters I see end on the 14th.  Is there a second part to the original post?

dlm

1 hour ago, skynight said:

You may receive an e-mail from Princess indicating who the CD and Captain will be... 

This will be cruise number eight with Princess and I don't recall ever receiving anything that has that kind of info in it.  I have received pre-cruise offers, etc., but nothing that I ever remember with anything about the scheduled entertainment.

But I did call Princess after I made that post and the gentleman I spoke with mentioned that they get quarterly updates on entertainment for the various ships.  The update for February is due within the next few days so I'm planning on calling back in a week or so to see what they might have.

Thanks to ALL of you who have replied.

dlm

In several posts about various Princess cruises, I see where people are discussing entertainers who will be onboard for a particular cruise.  I've also seen/heard others discuss other activities way ahead of time.  Where is this information available?  We will be on the Regal Princess on Feb. 3- Feb. 17 with a first time cruiser friend of ours and it would be nice to have a bit of a "heads up" for activities if that information is available.  Nothing like getting a first timer even more excited than they already are. :)

Thanks!

dlm

I've not seen anything lately about this most unfortunate incident.  Perhaps it was a suicide which is indeed very sad.  If there was foul play involved, one would think that action would have been taken at the time.  Perhaps any further news about this has been minimized out of respect for the family.

Where there just two formal nights on this cruise?  I thought for 15 days, there may very well be three... or even four.

Thanks!

dlm

Can you tell me if you had two formal nights? If you went to any is a tie and button down shirt okay for men with no jacket?

Number of formal nights usually depends on the length of the cruise. We took California Costal on the Ruby for seven days and had two of them.

Dress on formal nights is up to the matre-de and while I suppose a shirt & tie would pass, one needs to be mindful of the other passengers as well. One of our table-mates wore a tux and I felt just a bit undereressed with a suit! :)

dlm