Dena

This is all good news

They have two (I saw them) and I was told that one was reserved for gluten free crepes. I will be on the Solstice for the third time in a couple of weeks' date=' and I will ask again to be certain. I have have eaten there several times. I am VERY sensitive to gluten. I did not get sick. The food was great![/quote']

 

Thank you, Wolfpacker, please report back whatever you learn.

I'm comfortable witht the crepes but would not touch the pasta or toast in the buffet. I've had them "warm" the bread in the samovar in the Lido kitchen but it wasn't toasted. You also have to request that they change gloves.

 

Heating the pasta in the same water used for wheat pasta is awful.

They have two (I saw them) and I was told that one was reserved for gluten free crepes. I will be on the Solstice for the third time in a couple of weeks' date=' and I will ask again to be certain. I have have eaten there several times. I am VERY sensitive to gluten. I did not get sick. The food was great![/quote']

 

Thank you, Wolfpacker, please report back whatever you learn.

I have eaten there several times on the Solstice. They have two large crepe makers. I haven never had problems with cross contamination there and I am very sensitive to gluten. The food has been wonderful!

 

Thank you for this feedback, Wolfpacker. DH is also very sensitive. We have never had an incident on Princess either in the MDR or Sabatini's. We have never felt very confident ordering room on Princess as sometimes the people answering the phone did not speak English very well.

I ate there twice on our Jan/Feb cruise and they were wonderful. I'm not sure how they keep away from cross contamination but I didn't have any issues. You can't see where they are making the crepes but you could ask them how they do it.

 

Hi KeyOfSea, thank you for this feedback. I am pretty sure we are within a year of our first Celebrity cruise ( I have Princess credits to use up, or it would be sooner). I am trying to learn as much as I can about the gluten-free experience for DH. I will ask them how they do it.

Gluten free batter is easy to make, but do they really have a dedicated crepe maker. Celebrity uses authentic crepe makers that cost around $800 each. I know this because I have wanted DH to have the experience of authentic crepes and priced the equipment which, for us, is prohibitive.

 

So if he could have this experience at Bisto on 5, that would be great. But how can they clean the crepe makers so that there is no cross contamination? Please let me know if anyone has experience with this.

I think that is the name of the new pastry shop added after dry dock. It is on Plaza deck in the atrium. Can casino smoke be smelled here? Reports are that the library is now smokey, but given its new location, this is no surprise.

Dolphin

After the 1st time I smelled smoke on the starboard Promenade deck, I noticed the ash trays were there & not on the portside. Unfortunately that's not going to help you plan your next cabin selection.

 

I forgot to ask, whic itinerary were you on. For us it was Hawaii. Maybe it varies by itinerary.

After the 1st time I smelled smoke on the starboard Promenade deck, I noticed the ash trays were there & not on the portside. Unfortunately that's not going to help you plan your next cabin selection.

 

No. Booking all the way forward may help.. Also if enough people report back on current conditions maybe we can discern a pattern.

We sailed on the Sapphire in November and the starboard side was smoke free. So it varies from sailing to sailing. It sounds like I cannot plan with confidence. Celebrity also allows smoking on its portside promenade, I will check to see if this varies.

Will recent cruisers please report back on this. I just read in the sticky that it is not always the starboard side but it is varies according to the captain's whim. If this is true (I hope it is an error) how can I know which side of the ship to book my balcony on. For those who think to smoke does not waft upward, I know from firsthand experience that it does.

The smoke certainly does rise up from the promenad and can be detected from the balconies. I had planned to book a starboard balcony and mark it no-upgrade. Now I can't take that risk especially since the promenad will have more smokers since they can't smoke in their cabins.

I agree. This is what I saw from my balcony on my cruise last January. During the day and evening, there were 2-4 people chain-smoking on each of the balconies with ash trays. My balcony was essentially unusable due to my getting sick from smoke, and yes, it definitely carried to my balcony and wasn't "blown away" by the wind. I had a covered balcony on Baja and the smoke got under the cover (Aloha balcony) and stayed on mine. If I opened my balcony door, it got inside. I can live with a few smoking areas on the ship because I can avoid them.

 

Pam is right. This is exactly what we experienced on our last two Princess cruises. In both cases we followed advice from these boards to get the furthest forward cabin possible and in both cases we did, a Dolphin deck mini. In both cases we had chain smokers in the next cabin, a cabin further aft. This didn't matter. Smoke still invaded our balcony and came into the cabin, in the first case through the vents as well as when we opened the balcony door. So why did we do this twice? Well, considering there wouldn't be anyone forward of us the second time (that cabin is family suite and they lock the balcony on sea days) and considering that only 20% of the people smoke and most are not chain smokers, we thought the odds were in our favor. We are cruising again in a few days and if our balcony is not usable due to lack of enforcement, this will probably be our last Princess cruise for a while.

Thank you for posting all those food pictures.

Thank you for posting this. Very simple and respectful. I think there are many others who will be interested in doing this.

We had a code alpha on our last cruise. The next day I overheard someone say that if she were going to die of a heart attack, she hoped it would be doing something she loved like cruising. So, I guess our code alpha person died, but I don't know.

 

A few nights later at 2 pm, I heard a "code 0" and a call for security to go to Skywalkers - it was 2:30 am. This was odd because Skywalkers was always empty by 11 pm. The next day, I believe 2 of the entertainers were put off the ship in Ensenada.

 

Perhaps you could form a "Table for Two" Group Sail. I suspect you might do well and cover the cost of your own cabin and get the table of choice.

 

 

That is just too much work. If I sail Princess, I don't need to worry about a group taking away my Anytime Dining. Although what ReVNeal wrote about few groups being on longer cruises gives me some hope that I may be able to try HAL in the future - DH and I do prefer longer cruises. Still it is a gamble - although I saw another thread here listing known group sailings so that might help. Anyway my next cruise is 15 days on Princess, we'll see after that.

 

Here are some things I like about Princess, that some of you may also like: 1) very, very few announcements; 2) nice steamer chairs on the promenade deck (but only on some ships - be careful if this is important to you); 3) fresh water heated pools open late (some even 24 hours) - I like to swim at night because I burn so easily.

 

Here are a few things I wanted to try on HAL: 1) a much more extensive room service (for example, only full suites on Princess can get a hot breakfast), and 2) better beds and bedding (I'm tired of taking my viscoelastic foam mattress topper with me on Princess, but their beds are really bad).

 

Here is a Princess feature I haven't tried, so I'm not sure if it is a plus: Movies Under the Sun/Stars (MUTS). I'd stay away during the day as it is apparently used to pacify kids with cartoons, etc. However, at night, it might be a nice way to watch a good movie. (DH and I don't go the shows anymore - maybe we'll go to the piano bar, or just stroll on the promendae deck.)

Where to start......

 

 

I am sorry that you chose to not cruise for on any cruise line for 18 years due to uncertainties of securing a table for two. Given that so many ohers feel as you do and received what they requested, I am not sure why you did not.

 

DH and I returned to cruising a few years ago - only because Princess was offering Anytime Dining - I believe they were the only ones doing so. Our first cruise must have been around 20 years ago - at that time Anytime Dining didn't exist. Don't feel bad for us, we enjoyed land-based vacations during those non-crusing years.

 

Once implemented, will AYWD always be available?

 

Generally speaking, AYWD will be available, upon implementation. However, from time to time, Holland America may need to revert to the former traditional four seating dining to accommodate some voyages that have very large groups.

 

 

 

"From time to time".......Well, that's a deal-breaker for us. Period. Unless we can cancel without penalty when this becomes known to HAL and HAL will pay the price difference (if any) for us to book a comprable Princess sailing. However, I understand that HAL refuses to reveal when large groups have booked. So we won't know until after boarding. We didn't cruise for almost 18 years because a table for two (with table service - not the buffet) is an absolute requirement and something we will not gamble on.

 

I though I read a post saying that on a recent sailing Anytime was not available because of a large group, but I was hoping it was a fluke, not policy.

 

So, let's see if I understand the current HAL policy.

For those who want traditional, HAL refuses to confirm it - NO MATTER HOW FAR IN ADVANCE THEY BOOK.

 

For those who want Anytime, HAL will confirm it, but they aren't really promising anything.

 

Nice policy. :confused: It will work well for those who don't really care much one way or the other. :rolleyes:

 

 

Why is HAL so dependent of groups? Princess has Anytime dining and I have never heard of being suspended because of a large group. Certainly, it is not the written policy of Princess.

[quote name='HeatherInFlorida']For the sake of brevity I haven't copied all your posts on the subject, but the indication was clear that anyone coming from my time (which I had defined clearly in my post) could not possibly have enjoyed a financially rewarding profession such as you have experienced.
.[/quote]

Now Heather, I thought I wrote this very carefully. If women did find financially rewarding and intellectually stimulating careers in the "good old days" it was generally within a fairly narrow range of professions. Women with a strong interest in science and mathematics may have been able to work in such fields in some capacity, but not with the level of recognition, educational attainment, and finacial reward as men with similar interests and abilities. Were there exceptions? Sure. And I, for one, appreciate those trailblazers.

If you were able to match your interests and abilities with a financially rewarding and intellectually stimulating career, you were lucky. And while the "good old days" may have represented the best time in your personal history - it did not represent the best time in history for women in general. To suggest otherwise is absurd. And personally offensive. Nearly as offensive as saying we should be made to wear heels to work.

[quote name='terrydtx']Just the fact that you are opposed to the changes in AYWD as announced by HAL proves that you do not want the choice to those of us who are in favor of the change.[/quote]

Terry, this is my interpretation as well.

Earlier I posted an easy and fair solution and I think the solos should strongly encourage HAL to implement it. It is my understanding that solo travelers pay a "single supplement." Anyone paying a single supplement should be given the dining option of his choice. Period. HAL could make this happen.

For years Princess has operated both Anytime and fixed seating, so HAL should be able to do so as well. It is unlikely that HAL will get rid of fixed seating before Princess does. So, since fixed seating does exist, why not
confirm it for the solo travelers? This waitlist stuff is nonsense so far in advance of the cruise.

Have you been to the mall this decade? Seriously? :D :rolleyes: I feel a bra burning festival coming to this thread in the near future. Except now women don't burn bras do they? They wear them as formal wear. :D

 

jc

 

I visit the mall maybe once or twice a year, seriously - "recreational shopping" has never interested me. The young adults that I interact with on a more regular basis are bright, dedicated, and studious young men and women - and the women do NOT dress like Britney. The young women who have nothing better to do than hang at the mall are not typical (I hope):eek: and yes their dress-code is vulgar at best:( .

 

Of course many thought the "flappers" were vulgar in their time, but again these "flappers" did not represent the average young woman of the time. Nor did the hippie women in their time. There will always be a fringe.

But had you been born when I was (in the days of manual typewriters) you most assuredly could have received your Ph.D in engineering or anything else.

 

Yes I "could" have. But I would be shocked if greater than 1% of the doctorates in engineering were earned by women in the days of the manual typewriter. (Even today the percent is low.) Would I have beat those odds when so many bright and talented women did not?