Kay S

Just the usual stereotyping of Carnival passengers. I suspect the author of this quote had never set foot on a Carnival ship.

Over on the Carnival board the thread like this one is Carnival "may" crack down on chair hogs. They aren't convinced it will happen either. 🙂

Is the turkey dinner better on Thanksgiving than the regular one on any other cruise?

Like a unicorn! 🙂 I second the choice of Crown Grill. I recommend the lamb chops.

Dining has changed with the Medallion and Dine My Way.

Heartbreaking news. Blessings to the medical staff who treated you so well.

That is one of the best excursions I ever took.

Traditional Dining as you knew it is gone, and you can't pre-book a shared table in the same way you did before. You will have to follow some of the suggestions here in this thread to approximate Traditional Dining. There is no longer any way to book early or late seating traditional dining as we used to do before the pandemic. This change has some people (including me) looking at other cruise lines for future bookings.

Or Princess is buying a cheaper product and blaming it on "supply chain."

Is the avocado/seafood appetizer still there? Loved it.

This would be my fear. If they need to be told what it is, they won't make it right. 🙂 Of course, I don't see anything wrong with asking ahead of time for a special dish, and I don't agree it makes you selfish for doing so. Most people have traditional holiday dishes they like. (They do make my traditional turkey on Thanksgiving, but it's inedible!)

It depends on the ship, I guess. Some people have managed to cobble together a sort of TD by making plans with folks from the roll call, but it's still iffy getting the same servers in the same location every night. Every report back has been different, and the ship staff is the variable. We are trying the Club Class "fix" this time. We will at least have some control over what wait staff we get, and we plan on making friends with the other couples around us. It's not TD, but this is the option Princess is giving us now (at a not insignificant cost.) Burning through the covid FCC.

Scary.

I have to giggle at the idea the Ruby is an "old ship." I did a cruise on her on her first year out. I guess that makes me old because I had been on the previous Regal (1991-2007) years before that and several of the Grand ships long before I set foot on the Ruby. 🙂

Wilmington and San Pedro share a border. 100 Swinford St. is in San Pedro. It's the only cruise terminal there, and you can't mistake it. Walk across the street and find yourself in Wilmington. Any Uber or taxi driver will know where to go. What you don't want to do is go the Long Beach terminal (which is over the bridge) and find yourself at the Carnival dock. You might want to consult Google maps.

My grandsons liked the Teen club. They met new friends there, and they would often leave the club to go elsewhere, mostly the ice cream place. 🙂 Every time I saw my grandson, he had an ice cream cone in his hand. This works better for the older teens, I guess. Mine are experienced cruisers and know how to behave themselves.

Avoid the hamburger at the deck grill. Get the hot dog instead. 🙂

That would make me a nervous wreck!

The menus are basically the same across the fleet, with a few regional differences.

DH has a collection he uses in the garage for holding stuff. If they stop with the bags, it will be one more indication of how cheap they can get. We got a nice plastic one (more sturdy) on our last HAL trip.

My first post-pause cruise was a zoo and a half in the MDR. Lost reservations, long lines to be seated, understandably frustrated serving staff. The next cruise is my first with CC, and if I can convince DH it is worth it, the next (and final) Princess cruise will be CC, too.

This show has been around for awhile and is very popular.

Out of Los Angeles, round trip?

There is never a formal night on a 4 night cruise.

Has anyone done the breakfast yet? It's Oct. 15...