jsn55

WOW! There might be hope for this dreadful medallion idea yet.

The abbreviations can sometimes be annoying. I generally read a few posts and figure it out. MDR is main dining room, DMW is 'dine my way'. Unfortunately, you need to use the app for most things and it doesn't work much of the time. Out of four dinner reservations we made, only one 'worked', the others got screwed up. A crew member came by when we were poking at the big display in the elevator bank one day. He checked the res we were interested in; it was wrong and he attempted to correct it, but he couldn't get the medallion to work either. It's really annoying. Princess is well aware of this issue which has gone on for several years, they just don't care.

Much better booking air yourself if you're an experienced traveller. The 'free transfer' means very little. The issue is that booking one-way tix can sometimes be a difficult mess. International O/W fares can be all over the place, I've often seen them double the price of a R/T. So I'd advise that you start looking and keep track of what you find. When the price gets to a point you think is fair, pounce on it. It's worth a call to the TA (unless it's just an online booking service) who booked your cruise, just to see what they might offer you for air. If you cruise often, they might extend themselves a little to attract your future biz.

Oh Rostock! We spent several days there. Hotel Neptune. A skinny skyscraper right on the water ... beach, channel for ferries, a gazillion sailboats (who like to play chicken with the ferries). Nice ladies are on the beach to rent you a strandkorb, kind of a mini-shelter with chairs and protection from the sun and wind. We loved the place. Hotel has not a smidgen of atmosphere, but the room was comfy and the views were killer. The terrific breakfast is served on the top floor in a huge room, complete with people trying to run you down every 5'.

Yup, no chance for an upgrade on a flight these days, for sure. As they say, "them days are long gone". The whole loyalty plan game has made the life of a gate agent a teeny bit better ... it's all laid out per status level. Until some joker who hasn't flown in ten years finally leaves the bar and shows up to insist on an upgraded seat, of course. $20 bills still sometimes work for hotel upgrades ... but the loyalty people mostly snatch those up quickly, so you have to arrive soon after lunch to have a chance.

Gotta admit that I feel pity for people this desperate for attention.

I think your chances of a seamless switch are 95%. Someone can probably come up with exact numbers of ships/situations of delayed arrival at home port. Travel insurance is a good idea, just read the policy very carefully. What's the first port for the Carnival ship? How would you get there if it's even allowed?

"Lowest common denominator"

I don't travel with jeans anywhere. I rarely wear them at all. Once 'everyone' started wearing jeans, I stopped. I don't think they're ever appropriate for evening wear ... but that term needs a definition. In a ship dining room, never. For a casual meal, dark jeans would be fine.

You just slip in into a plastic bag before you close your suitcase.

"Just go to Guest Services ... " A statement made by someone who has never seen the length of the line at Guest Services during the first two days of sailing. Your TA should fix this now, unless using credits is something that can only be handled by the pax. Either way, if it's not fixed now, you can look forward to a lot of people-watching as you stand in line instead of exploring the ship.

WELL DONE!! I don't wear those kinds of earrings, so I couldn't imagine how the thing worked. This is a super idea! Thanks for posting this photo.

Non-wrinkle fabrics with pockets ... pull-on slim-legged pants, short-sleeved shirt over a tank top, scarf, heaviest slip-on shoes. Light-weight cardigan just in case, but I'm usually too warm anywhere. My plain gold 'lucky bracelet', watch and earrings which I put into a pouch and stow in the outside pocket of my rollaboard while on the plane. I want to look 'upgradeable' when arriving at the hotel.

Orthotics properly sized and conformed are undoubtedly a great (if expensive) way to have comfy feet for hours and days and weeks. I've had many issues, but basically I had been 'walking funny' for years until I had my hip replaced, then my knees over a few years. Before the hip, one of my legs was 3/8" shorter than the other. Surgeon was a genius. So I went looking for 'good shoes'. My first set of orthotics cost $300 and everything was done by a woman working in a 'comfort shoe' specialty store. She was passionate about foot comfort (alas, she's since retired). The imported shoes that I bought also cost $300. They are a European size 44, and I wear fat Wigwam socks with them. I left the store thinking that I must be insane. But my big clunky 'orthos' have served me unbelievably well for twenty years; the first pair of shoes lasted ten years before I had to replace them. So the point of all this is so that you know what I'm saying has been learned personally. Orthotics and well-fitting shoes with good support are great ... but you must pay attention and be SURE that they're exactly right as time marches on. A 'tune-up' once a year is a good idea. Right now my second pair of shoes is 5-6 years old and not 'perfect', I can tell that my right foot is not 'square' when I walk. But the people in the store now are only interested in selling shoes, not custom-fitting them. I have to go find another source of expertise. But it is SO worth it. When my knee was 6 months old, I easily walked up to Marksburg Schloss on the Rhine, said to be the toughest place to visit on the whole river. I can walk all day with perfectly comfortable feet. You pay thousands to travel, a few hundred for comfort is well worth it.

These are very cute ... but I have many other uses for $75! I have been recycling little containers for years, just dump 'em all in a box. So I can always find the right size for anything. The wide openings on the Cadence for ease of refilling are great tho.

Me too! I'm trying to imagine how this would work ... 'organizing the jewels' is always a challenge. I figured out the pendant thing a couple of years ago ... put each one in a straw cut to length and stick them in a plastic glove, one to each finger. Roll it up and away you go. Look forward to seeing your gizmo.

Exactly! Might be important information, but not accurate until a couple of days before departure.

Some people don't care what they look like, others like to express themselves with their attire, and people like me enjoy looking presentable. We like to give the impression that we are engaged and interested in the current activity. Slopping around in flip-flops and ratty t-shirts is a choice people make, some psychological need that they're filling. Looking 'nice' is a choice others make. It's a matter of 'respect for the venue' in my eyes. Ship's officers are dressed in spotless white uniforms at 'their' cocktail party, so I like to respect them by dressing in neat, appealing clothing.

Let's stack up all our unfinished projects and see who's the worst. At least the last two times I've cruised through the fabric store I haven't bought anything. But I haven't finished an old project either. The benefits of having a 'studio' for painting, sewing and other hobbies are great, but being able to leave things FOREVER is not one of the benefits. It's just shameful. I think I'll march out there right now and SEW SOMETHING.

I went through the same thing with our first and last Princess cruise in December. There are so many good cruiselines out there that I'd rather cruise on a ship that's interested in giving us a good experience. Appears that Princess goes out of her way to annoy the customers, and it's been going on for years. Our cruise on Royal P was fine, but my opinion was skewed by the dislike I built up over the weeks and months trying to fulfill their insane requirements to board the durn ship! And then to find that the medallion was just useless ... it did open our door, but so did a keycard from days gone by!

Wow, if this works it's a wonderful service!

Just do some reading, make some notes, do some more reading and pretty soon a whole itinerary will start to gel for you. I love the ports info on CC, while I will always go out of my way to see something special, there's nothing better than just wandering off the ship whenever you please and amusing yourselves for several hours without spending much money.

Well, many of us cannot wear hiking boots or closed shoes at all. We go through lots of different footwear to find something that doesn't cause us pain. We have to deal with what works for us, no matter the support, cushioning or protection. I'm always gazing longingly at women in 'cute shoes', since I am never wearing cute shoes!

My feet and shoes are a huge problem. But I find that Clark's makes shoes that are comfy. Lots of styles and colors to choose.

I'll do almost anything to avoid Guest Services ... but on our Royal P cruise in December they had a huge number of techies the first couple of days, so the wait was never more than a few minutes. I probably made 5 trips up there the first 3 days, and the number of techies decreased every day. Obviously the ship was aware of all the pax with problems with medallion.