OR_Cowboy_1952

The way the ship is designed, there are more decks at the front and rear of the ship.  The center of the ship is open to the pools.  Therefore the central staircase and elevators only go to the Lido (deck 14).  The bow staircase goes to the Sun (deck 15) and the aft staircase to the Sport (deck 16) with the starboard portion extending to the Sky (deck 17).  Look at your deck plans.  

13 minutes ago, Gr8scotty said:

Sorry if already answered but my searching didn't result in anything conclusive and when I go to the Princess website I can't figure out how to book online. All I see is a link to a travel agent locator. With my last experience with a travel agent being less than great and I am considering just doing it myself this go around. Thanks for any additional information.

1st question, where are you?  This is an international site.  What works in one country will not work in another.  At least add some information to your profile so we have some idea where you are.

Just now, Kingofcool1947 said:

Interesting comment.  I didn’t know that re:  all seafood is frozen these days.

I always thought the Pikes Place Market in Seattle sells fresh fish and shellfish.   Is that not true?  

King

You ignored rage word at the beginning of the phrase you quoted, “almost”.  You are very lucky to have a place like Pike Place, but very few people live where they can access a Pike Place easily.  Some of the seafood at Pike Place is fresh but not all.  Almost all King Crab legs are frozen, it’s rare to get fresh.  And Pike PLace can get fresh seafood daily.  

We had a long talk about food with our wait staff on the Ruby in October.  Health and safety rules have dictated that, increasingly food must be refrigerated preserved or frozen.  Milk is now ultra pasteurized and boxed so that it can be stored without refrigeration.  I’ll also say that Carnival Corp in order to keep cruising low cost purchases in quality and well in advance.  

Crab shack is scheduled at the whim of the staff and typically only a sea days.  You cannot buy it in advance.  You will have to wait until you board your ship and ask what night(s) it will be.  If you can be more specific about your cruise itinerary you may be able to ask recent cruiser on that itinerary what nights the Crab Shack was open.  

And almost all seafood is frozen these days, even here in the northwest, we seldom get truly fresh seafood.  The issue is the quality of seafood and the freezing and storage method.  

12 hours ago, culvercitycruiser said:

Thanks. This is the exact one I bought for this cruise. I told them that it was not a surge suppressor but they did not care. Either way they got the $2 one. Hopefully they stop doing this

Can you be more specific, what cruise, ship, month/year, who took it when?

16 hours ago, Kingofcool1947 said:

Crown Grill.  

My favorite is a  2.5 pound Tomahawk Ribeye Steak.   Prepared Pittsburg Black and Blue.

King

 

 

Where did you find the Tomahawk?  I’ve never seen it on the menu.  The largest steak I’m aware off is the 22 oz (1 lb 6 oz) porterhouse.  

4 hours ago, culvercitycruiser said:

 

Yes, but in July, they were confiscating all of these types of items.

Just make sure that you have a cheapy decoy just in case you are pulled aside.

 I have heard stories of power bars being confiscated by over zealous staff.  That’s why we always carry a copy of Princess Policy on power strips.  We also show our power bar to our cabin steward so he/she knows it does not have surge protection.  We also only leave it plugged in while we are in the cabin.  We unplug it and put it away when out of the cabin.  

We purchased this product, https://www.amazon.com/Travel-Power-Strip-NTONPOWER-Nightstand/dp/B073ZDH43X/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1542835570&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=cruise+power+strip&psc=1  It is compact, the cord stows in it and it powers all our devices.   

We had Club Class dining on the Ruby in October on a Pacific Coastal.  It was great, we made friends with our MDR CC staff.  They learned our likes and dislikes and we prepared when we came in.  the special pasta dishes made each night were always wonderful and you could choose them as a small or main course.  We never had to wait.  You are seated at your own private table.  Some people dislike not being seated with others to converse.

I have heard that arriving about 6:30 to 7:30 you may have a wait.  It depends on your cruise’s CC diners, if they linger at dinner, and if they are eating or not eating elsewhere (buffet, specialty dining, or in-cabin).  

Your S4 Penthouse has 1 British style 220V and 1 North American 110V receptacles at the desk next to the sofa in the sitting area.  It has 2 North American 110V receptacles on yeh bathroom side of the bed.  There are also North American 110V receptacles behind the TVs but you have to unplug the TV.

Also if you bring a power / USB strip be sure it does not have a surge protector, they are prohibited.  Read your Passage Contract.  

6 hours ago, USC Adventurer said:

thank you all for the sky train information.  i'm going to save these replies and keep them with me and refer to them on the ship.  you're all so helpful.  it still seems so far away from now, and it is, but i like planning early and thank you all again.  i have much more confidence that i will make this alaska flight at 11:45am.

 

the other thing i'm puzzled about is why the star princess is leaving seattle at 4pm to go to vancouver.  it's a very short trip and i wish they would have given a later departure time but that's ok.  i guess they just go to vancouver and park the ship somewhere until they can dock around 7am.  i've never done anything this ridiculous before but i want to be elite for my next 10 day cruise from san francisco to mexico in feb, 2020.  since i used to live in seattle, i am going a day early to visit and stay with some friends and they will take me to the ship on sunday.

 

thanks again.  you're all wonderful!!!

You are welcome about help with Translink and the Canada Line.  Translink has a decent website and some maps.  https://www.translink.ca/Schedules-and-Maps/SkyTrain/SkyTrain-Schedules/Canada-Line.aspx.  As long as you have limited luggage, it’s an easy ride.  Also YVR handles ticketing, baggage, security, and immigaration very well, buy there may be a line.  Flights to the USA are considered “Transborder” and the airlines are grouped at the east end of the terminal,  It’s below the Fairmont Hotel.  

The reason we are leaving at 1630 (4:30OPM) is partially as described above by  Istone19 above.  But also Princess often used these cruises as promotional cruises.  They want to give 1st time cruisers the chance to try a short trip and experience at sea.  Speeds are lower in the Salish Sea because of all the wildlife and wakes.  We did Vancouver to Victoria leaving at 1630 and arriving at 0700.  The ship actually went up the Straits of Georgia made a big turn east of Comax and headed south.  The distance to Seattle is almost twice as far as Victoria.  

23 minutes ago, lstone19 said:

No need to walk that far outside or cross streets. You can enter via the Waterfront station (the one that looks like an old railroad station because it is an old railroad station) two block west of Canada Place (just past Granville Street) on the north (water) side of Cordova Street.

Your right, but I always felt it was longer to take the underground passages.  If the day is rainy the underground is fine, but it never rains in Vancouver, right?  🙂

You want the Canada Line, it’s about 4 blocks from Canada Place.  It depends on your luggage as to whether you can walk there.  If you are just doing the quick trip with one bag you should be fine.  The entrance is on Granville Street about 1/2 way between Hastings and Pender.  

The Canada Line goes direct to YVR, just be sure to get on the right train.  The train will be faster than a cab if you don’t have a lot of luggage.  It goes under Cambie Street and avoids the traffic.  

I would not try such a tight connection even if you are a suite platinum.  We are on the same cruise but staying on board and continuing on to Hawaii.  The Pacific NW is home and we know Vancouver and Seattle well.  You’ll never make a flight before 1100.  When you disembark you will have to do Canadian Immigration/Customs, yes you’ll be one of the 1st but...  then you have a 1 hour trip to the airport by taxi (no Uber) through city traffic, and it’s a Monday.  You must arrive at YVR at least 2 hours before your flight back to the USA, immigration and customs is done in Vancouver.  It’s pretty far in the future, but Delta, Air Canada, and Alaska all have flights to Seattle (SEA) with connections to Peonix.    

2 hours ago, namowal said:

On earlier (pre-2018) cruises, there was a prepaid drink package that offered nearly unlimited coffee, soda, juice, wine and cocktails.  Yet when I browsed through the packages for an upcoming Coral Princess trip, not only was this missing, but the soda/coffee /wine options were separate packages.  IIRC, the soda was further divided (one price for fountain drinks, a more expensive one for cans.)  Is this something new?  Or something specific to the Coral Princess?   Or something they offer on longer trips?

The Premium Beverage Package is there on all 3 of our cruises.  I think you just can’t see it yet.  Keep checking.  BTW the canned soda is not a daily charge it’s a per unit charge, 6 each 12 oz cans for $11.50 including gratuity.  You can buy one or more.  

11 hours ago, Coral said:

If this was true - it would be the same color through out. It is not.

 

Anyone who has had good prime rib would recognize this is the worst version of it.

 

Someone really needs to ask when they do a kitchen tour.

Please the question was, what is your FAVORITE food on Princess?  Let’s get back to the subject.

1 hour ago, theduffys said:

How does the Premier beverage package work?  Will we have a special card to use?  Must we still add a 15% gratuity for each drink ordered? Can we use it to order spirits from room service?  Got this a a promotion when we booked.

To answer your questions, the premium beverage package is added to your cruise card, there is no separate drink card.  15% is always added to your package but is part of the deal (it’s already in it).  You CANNOT use it to buy bottled spirits.  You will get a 25% discount on bottled wine but you still pay extra.  Wine by the glass is covered, just like spirits and mixed drinks are covered.  

9 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

We were told that keeping the same table was on a best effort basis.  On our spring cruise on the Emerald we had a favorite table.  Because most of club class ate early, and we usually showed up around 7:15 and it usually had just become available.

Our table was always available and we dined between 5:30 and 6:30.  The CC area was never full, there were always tables.  We figured that only about 60 cabins (CC Mini-suites & full Suites) qualify for CC dining.  Not all of those cabins use the MDR on any one night (doing specialty, buffet, or in-room dining) and they also stagger dining times.  

Black and Blue Onion Soup in the CG!  It’s spectacular.

16 minutes ago, kenexx said:

Are there tables for 2 that aren’t close to other tables?

Yes there are, we were just on the Ruby and there were a few tables against the wall around the corner from the entrance.  Even the tables that were near each other were about 75 cm (30 inches) apart.  You can ask for a special table the first night and keep it the entire cruise.  

I can’t say this is true for all ships, but we were on the Ruby 3 weeks ago and used Club Class dining.  On the Ruby, Club Class is a cordoned off section of the DaVinci MDR (deck 6).  The area is not that large as only about 70 to 80 cabins are qualified for Club Class dining (CC Mini-suites & full Suites) and many of these passengers dine elsewhere.  There is a bench seat along the aft portion of the CC area with 6 tables for 2 arranged along it.  If you ask to be seated there you will may have dinners on either side of you.  It is certainly possible to say hello and see what happens, but understand many CC diners chose it to dine with their significant other and really don’t want to chat.  

The draw of CC is the individualized service and the menu extras.  You are seated immediately.  If you use the same table every meal (which you can do) your wait staff will learn your likes and dislikes and be better prepared for you.  On our cruise the CC section head prepared a special pasta dish every night in the dining room and would customize for you as an appetizer or main dish.  It was wonderful.

I sure hope that is is true, but where is that stated in writing by Princess?  The website does not state that, but we have never booked through on a combined cruise.  thanks in advance.

I have a fundamental question.  How much did you pay for the single cruise and how much would have the three separate cruises cost? 

To me it’s exceedingly clear that if you booked one cruise no matter how long, you get one set of benefits for that cruise.  If you book three cruises, no matter what dates or ship(s) you get the benefits for three cruises.  

We recently priced out a Trans-Pacific from Vancouver to Sydney.  You could also segments of the cruise, Vancouver to LA, Vancouver to New Zealand, LA to Sydney, LA to New Zealand, or New Zealand.  By far the cheapest price per day was the full trip.

For Captain Circle status, you get 1 cruise for the single 28 day, you would get 3 cruises for the 7, 7, & 14 day cruises.  I always thoughts it was interesting the way Princess counts cruises and days.  Here in the Pacific Northwest, we routinely have 1 day cruises from Vancouver to Seattle and visa versa.  Inside cabins often cost as little as $99.  You could do 15 of these cruise for less than $1,500 and become an Elite.  

40 minutes ago, memoak said:

We will be leaving on Saturday for 20 days on the Crown Princess - does anyone know which dining room is currently being used for club class dining ?

msmoger is correct.  Club Class is a separate section of the DaVinci Dining Room on the Starboard side (right facing the bow).  There is a sign just outside the single set of doors.  A host will ask for your stateroom number and to see your cruise card.  They will then take you to your personal table.  You may chose the same table every meal or ask to be moved around.   But be aware you will not be seated with other passengers, tables are typically for 2 or 4 persons.  There is a row of table along the ‘back wall’ where you sit adjacent to other dinners and can often say hello etc.  

2 hours ago, skynight said:

Not clearly stated. What is a cruise? Is it the duration of your booking number? The duration of multiple booking numbers when you stay on board as b2b's? I don't think Princess clearly has spelled this out, thus the uncertainly among passengers and crew as well. I don't remember ever seeing beverage packages anywhere in the Passenger Contract. It may not be unfair, but the rules are certainly unclear.

It’s clear you have never scanned your Passenger Contract, Section 1. Paragraph 4., “"Cruise" means the scheduled voyage as published in the travel summary and/or boarding pass issued in connection with this Passage Contract, as may be amended pursuant to this Passage Contract, from the port of embarkation to the port of disembarkation, and also includes any air, rail, road or sea transport and any land accommodation components of any land-sea package sold, taken with or included in the price of the Cruise, and any activities, shore excursions, tours, or shoreside facilities related to or offered during the Cruise.”

As for beverage packages, you are correct, however they are described in your Onboard Reservations - Beverage Packages.

I’d say that is very clear.  And if you don’t like it, you can take Princess to binding arbitration in the state of California (Section 15. (B) (ii)).  

We just celebrated my retirement (once in a lifetime) and we were given a small Norman Love flourless chocolate cake after dinner.  We actually asked they deliver it to our cabin.  It was very good.  Our wait staff just came over and wished me a happy retirement (no singing). 

Some people got a message and balloons on their cabin door for their birthday.