**MereyGnome**

I'm curious, why are these aft cabins so popular? We went with a midship CC mini-suite because my first time cruiser SIL gets motion sickness and we thought having rooms close to the BIL and SIL made sense. I'm not motion sensitive, but I decided not to risk the increased motion that I hear the bow and aft can experience if we have a bad sea day.

I am looking forward to the Buffet on the Regal.

On the Coral, May of last year, the food and service in the MDR was amazing.

The buffet was very very poor.

I'm sailing on the Coral in a few weeks. I wonder why the buffet quality varies so much between Princess ships. In any case, looks like we're aiming to do the MDR most nights except for a night or two at the specialty restaurants.

I haven't read a thing about this so I don't think this exists on Princess, but one the one cruise I've taken (Carnival in 1992) they had a special midnight buffet full of lobster, amazing ice sculptures, etc. Do any cruise lines do this anymore? At the time I got the impression that it was common tradition.

The TV can't play movies directly from a thumb drive. You'll have to have a tablet, phone or DVD player with a USB TV output in order to view them.

Ah, a bit more work. I guess just uploading some things to watch on the iPad is our best bet.

Does anyone know if the TVs on the Coral have USB media outlet that allows you to plug in a thumb drive loaded with TV shows/movies?

I live very close to LGA, but we still fly out of JFK. Mostly this is because we're big JetBlue fans and JB has its own terminal at JFK, so 90% of their flights are out of there vs LGA. In any case, I still try to avoid LGA. The construction can be a pain depending on what they're working on, but I just hate the airport because the security lines for most terminals (except for Delta's) are horrible and, at least the last few times I flew out of there, there's no separate line for TSA Pre-Check. But LGA is closer to the city, so a cab ride to midtown would be $20 - $30 cheaper.

If it's weight you are worried about for flying.... buy at a supermarket or convenient store before you board!?

That's not a bad idea. I suppose we'll be heading to the store for our 2 wine bottles anyway.

Thanks for all the responses, everyone! :-)

I always avoid packing those toiletries if possible, and especially for this cruise as we don't have much packing space. Does anyone know if the Club Class mini suites provide the "nicer" bottles of bath products or is the shampoo and conditioner provided the less fancier stuff that's in mounted dispensers?

I don't get motion sickness, but I'm anxious that I may if our upcoming end-of-the-season cruise has some rough seas, so being the anxious person I am, I'm going to buy the Relief Band.

We're going with my brother and sister in law and the SIL is very prone to motion sickness. I recommended the Relief Band to her a few months ago because a coworker recommended it. It's completely changed her travel experiences and now feels a lot better about the cruise.

We also are took other precautions like booking mini suite with balconies in mid ship (Coral Princess) and booking a round trip inside passage cruise.