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I just got the $50 Casino offer too.  I was able to look at availability…balconies started at $100 but only for forward & aft.  The 16 day TA that included Morocco would be great…if only we were retired!  

I like the variety of entertainment.  There are comedians, production shows, contemporary singers, classical musicians, usually an entertainer that reflects the itinerary ie, we had a steel drum player on our Caribbean cruise, & a first for me at least, a very corny juggler!  The jazz bar, Take 5, always has top notch musicians & an excellent bar menu.  Also another first for me,  we had a deck party with the party band two nights when we were at sea!  The live entertainment is just outstanding!

We cruised on the Sky Princess in early December in 2021 & they had stuff to make an ugly Christmas “sweater” using what ever article of clothing you wanted to fix up…some interesting entries to say the least.

They found my Captain’s Circle number from 1985…

We had only been on one cruise, at the height of the TV show Love Boat, hated everything about that cruise & swore we would never do that again…

Fast forward to 2018…decided on a whim to go on an Alaskan cruise.  Had no idea about planning such a trip, the local TA, asked if we had ever cruised before & when we said yes she proceeded to call Princess & acquired our loyalty number.  
We enjoyed that cruise on the Coral Princess so much that we have been on 6 more Princess cruises since.  Heading out tomorrow on Sky Princess…

I booked our upcoming cruise onboard our previous cruise last year.  I was pleasantly surprised when booking excursions for this years cruise that I had excursion credits that I knew nothing about…ended up spending only $49 for all of our excursions!  

27 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

Was checking on the status of the EZAir ticketing status of my parent's reservation through the Cruise Personalizer and browsed other details of their booking.  It seems that the Princess package amenities descriptions have finally caught up with the recent changes under the Onboard Services tab.  

I had the Princess Plus as part of a package booked last fall.  My page now has a section on the bottom in red that states, “all benefits might not be available with your package.”  

On 6/9/2023 at 5:10 PM, LuvlyLibrarian said:

So I splurged and booked a keratin treatment during our cruise but I don’t know what to expect. Has anyone else done this on ship? Did it turn out alright? I haven’t had anything done with my hair in over a decade and it’s starting to get wiry and flyaway. 

I did a keratin treatment on the Sky Princess last winter & I was happy with the results.  I have “virgin” hair (never been colored or permed) that is thick & fine.  The treatment is put on somewhat like color, with a brush, in small sections & then it sets for a while, it’s rinsed out & you are done.  They recommend that you do not wash it or go swimming for 48 hours.  It takes about 2 hours.  The results lasted for 8-10 weeks.  It was less expensive on the ship than what my stylist would have charged me.  It wasn’t as effective as I had hoped & I opted not to have my stylist do a repeat treatment.

Take 5 Bar

It is rarely crowded and has some interesting cocktails.

They had it on the Encore last summer.  I like amaretto old fashions and the bartender had two amarettos to choose from.  There was also Kailua and other flavored liquors behind the bar.  

Personally I like the first one better. We did a 14 day cruise last summer that was almost identical to these two cruises and the ports the first week were so much more interesting.  The excursion to Ephesus was incredible.  Istanbul was unlike any city I had ever been to.  

Yes, there is a place to enter your AAdvantage number.

We were on the Enchanted in mid-October.  I asked for a blue Princess bag & was told that there were none available but that they were hoping to have them for the Caribbean cruises.  
 

On the Encore in May, Greece/Turkey, with lots of tender ports.  The elevator took you to the exit area but there were probably 5-6 metal steps to go up/down to the tender platform.

I wish we would have taken our kids to Alaska when they were pre-teens.  I thought the promo video hit the spot.  It would depend on the family dynamics as to whether they were bored or underwhelmed.  We never did amusement parks so I feel like as long as the family had an off ship experience everyday and access to a pool we would have been fine.  Dining looks to be Princess biggest weakness when it comes to families; MDR is too fussy but buffets are not ideal either.

13 hours ago, EDVM96 said:

You must be talking about the tour to Mendenhall Glacier then. That's a whole other place, and it's not a tidewater glacier.

Hubbard Glacier is more than 200 miles northwest of Juneau in Yakutat Bay / Disenchantment Bay.
 

 

This excursion doesn't show up for the April 29 Alaska cruise on the Sapphire. Maybe it's too early in the season for that, as a local vessel is used for this tour.
 

My bad…

We have had both the forward mini’s & aft balconies.  It is so noisy forward…wind howling, rain pelting,  ship noises…I would never book a forward facing cabin again. It’s the aft always for us!

We did a canoe excursion that went up to Hubbard Glacier when the ship was docked in Juneau.  It also included a stop to taste beer at Alaska Brewing.  I believe it was a Discovery Channel excursion called Paddle & Pours.

We were recently on the Enchanted (there is no Vines) and only had wine with our dinner.  In a departure from previous cruises we had to ask for the wine list.  We had no problem with the “generic” selection (decent everyday wine) but wanted a nicer pour one night;  the list of wine by the glass is neatly presented in a separate section;  every glass was above the plus level of $12;  you are only charged for the amount over $12 (+18%) our OBC covered the difference which was $5.40 a glass.

In my opinion it’s not so much that the generic wine offered is “bad” but that you have no say so in the choice.  Take Chardonnay;  the taste can be all over the place because of maker, region or style…also Pinot Noir; it really depends on the region grown & year.  By going the mass market generic route you take the enjoyment of discovering a new wine or region out of play & and thus reduces the enjoyment for true wine lovers.

16 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

Does anyone really are what name is on the bag?

 

DON

LOL…only to the people carrying the bag.  
Seabourn is a “special treat” for us (maybe every 5th cruise) so forgive a recent Princess antidote.  On recent Princess cruise there were a number of passengers toting their “luxury branded cruise” tote bags around on excursions; one particular group was acting particularly entitled to the point that the guide called them out…”Did our XXX cruisers make it back on the bus on time?”  The group was always the last to be accounted for and made our Halifax excursion run so late we had no free time in port!

I’m going to put a nugget of information out & see where it lands…

We recently were on the Enchanted Princess with a Princess Plus drink package; 

I ordered a specialty cocktail in Take 5 that was above the limit and was informed that I would be charged an extra $6 + 18% gratuity; no problem with that…drink arrives, absolutely worth the extra price…we go back to this bar several nights & I had the same cocktail…looking at my final statement I was only charged the up charge on the first night…was that just luck?  Being nice to the waitstaff?  Did I cheat the cruise line?

We asked for a cheese plate and fruit, along with lime wedges for our G & Ts, to be delivered to our room every afternoon.  And there it was waiting for us when we returned from our explorations.  The room steward took our initial order on the first day of a 14 day cruise.

I agree with you about snacks…a handful of pretzels, nuts or popcorn…that’s all I really want around 4PM.

We once went to Las Vegas with some friends who were high rollers & while they gambled we went bar hopping…  Talk about some amazing bar snacks…each bar seemed to have its own signature snack…I think we were at one of the MGM properties…bars were tucked all over the place…I think that is where we learned to chat up the bartender & see what bar snack magically appeared.  It started with my husband asking for some nuts to snack on…

We were on Enchanted two weeks ago & prime rib was on second formal night.  It was quite good this time around ( as compared to a Dec. 2021 cruise on Sky).

On 10/25/2022 at 9:55 AM, CenTexan said:

Thanks for info! We leave this Saturday.

 

What are the times for the main shows in the Theater? If we eat in MD at 7:20pm, will we be able to make the late show?

We went to dinner at 7:15 on this same cruise & had plenty of time to make the late show.

I didn’t see it last week on Enchanted Princess.

We ate one night in the buffet, something we rarely do, it was a pretty miserable meal.

After looking at our choices, which all looked pretty much the same despite their various names & ethnicity, we decided on Tex-Mex.  Bad choice, being from Texas we should have known better, it was colorful but flavorless, soggy when it should have been crisp, none of the traditional sides.  
 

MDR food has increased in quality since last December when we sailed. I think the menus remain fairly true to Princess of the past.  There is always something new to try but it is guessing game on timing…Prime Rib night was on the second formal night this cruise…

The International Cafe is our go-to for lunch,  they have really improved the sandwich offerings.