kyrisong1

Wow you guys are awesome, thanks so much!

Just to provide you with a little more info than you asked for:

Free Dining:

MDR's, Open each day for breakfast and dinner and lunch on boarding day and sea days; Room Service, 24/7 except there is a $3 charge for a room delivered pizza; International Cafe, 24/7; Pub Lunch in the Wheelhouse on sea days; Cafe Caribe/Horizon Ct. Buffet, one section or another open 5am to midnight; Trident Grill, open 11am to 11pm; Pizza and soft ice cream, open 11am to 11pm.

Surcharge Dining:

Sabatini's & Crown Grill $25pp; Crab Shack, held some evenings in a closed off section of Cafe Caribe, $20/pp, Salty Dog Gastropub, evenings in the Wheelhouse bar, this is new, $19pp

Make all reservations on board by calling the DINE line or visiting the restaurant.

Chef's Table, Call the dine line right after boarding.

There is also the Ultimate balcony breakfast or dinner.

 

If you want to book The sanctuary go there right after boarding. You can book half days for $20, full days for $40 and if you book the entire 7 days it is $30/day.

 

One other thing I would like to mention, when you board you can go directly to your cabin, it will be ready. No first to the fun on Princess.

Thanks so much, this is all so helpful!

Thank you all so much for the suggestions! Can't wait to explore this pretty ship!

Hello all!

I am a seasoned cruiser who goes twice a year, mostly with Carnival. I am excited to be trying a beautiful Princess ship and have so many questions!

Hoping that some of you frequent Princess people could answer a few for me.

I will taking my sister on a 7 day on the Crown in February. I am reading all about the specialty restaraunts and the Chefs Table.

On Carnival I am able to sign up for all of these ahead of the cruise time, is there a way to do with with Princess or do we need to wait until we board? Also I'm reading about the Sanctuary, is it worth the extra money? And again is there a way to sign up for it ahead or do you do it once onboard?

Thanks so much for any help !

Carole

What's the best way to ensure warter and pop gets delivered to your room? :confused: Is writing your cabin number on the case adviseable or just printing and securing an additional luggage tags the best route? Thanks

I always bring my water in a carry on (you can check it through with the rest of your luggage so you don't have to lug it around) and then I have an extra case for things I buy so I don't have to worry about going overweight for our trip home!

I've never been to Mex Riv at this time of year and am worried doing beachy things because I'm worried the water will be too chilly.

What suggestions do you frequent West coast cruisers have.

We will be doing PV, Cabo and Maz

What do you guys think? My sister has a really bad back so nothing too exerting.

Thanks so much

no nightstands on the sunshine? wow - now that's a cutback! jeese.

 

When i was on the Victory I bought a bucket of beer and just tipped the the steward a little more to keep ice in it. I wrapped a towel around it as well. A collapsable cooler is a great idea, Id like to know the restrictions.

There are none, it folds right up on top of the clothes in your suitcase, I always make sure I have a large plastic cover to keep it in on the way home in case there is any moisture in it.

Bring a cheap collapsible cooler. The mini fridge is only a chiller anyway.

Right? I wouldn't cruise without one! I just leave the mini fridge locked because it's worthless unless you want a luke warm beverage, a collapsible cooler can be kept in the shower when your not in there to catch any drips and just ask the room steward to keep it iced for you (I always give them an extra tip to do this extra service for me) then I have icy cold water and drinks!

:D

This is why I always get Any Time Dining now. No problem in rushing back from port and you don't mess up anyone else. We usually find a server we like and then just request them. It's the only option in my opinion. If I were greater than 15 minutes late for a scheduled dining time I would use a different option, there is food all over the ship, no one will go hungry.

I hang what needs steamed in the bathroom, take a shower (or run hot shower) and just smooth the fabric, works great and no extras packed!

We have done ATD since it started, we find a wait staff we like and just request them nightly, no problems!

Agree! IMHO and as someone recently contemplating this it should remain a complimentary service. My mom passed suddenly in August 2011...2 months after I took her on her first cruise. She loved the ocean and was so looking forward to her next cruise, I always felt she would have wanted to have her ashes scattered at sea. For me, I couldn't bring myself to part with her ashes so soon (or go on another cruise) but now find myself emotionally stronger. I had no idea Carnival allowed this until stumbling across this thread. But I don't think it should be commercialized...or fee-based.

Please take the time you need my friend, my father passed in 1998 and we did this in 2006. It was time by then to complete his wishes, but you must heal first!! It was lovely and I am sure they will not try and capitalize on this. There are people that will see money making opportunity everywhere, and then there are those that have hearts, hopefully Carnival continues having a heart.

You contact Guest Services, Carnival graciously allowed my sister and I to scatter our fathers ashes at sea on the Carnival Glory. They don't charge, but they don't do a service of course, we already had a memorial service years before, we simply wanted to allow my dads wishes to be buried at sea. I don't think we really need to dig into peoples pockets any deeper, leave this lovely service alone!!!

We do Nativeway Reef, Rays and Rum Point when we go to Grand Cayman, love the excursion but not sure I'd choose Rum Point if it were the only destination, I agree the beach is pebbly and I think there are better beaches in GC, but it's a nice topping off to a perfect all day excursion with Nativeway, you've been in the ocean most of the time by the time you hit Rum Point you want to eat and maybe buy a famous Rum Point Rum Runner!!!

The return to NY is a typo, the ship will go to Miami, it will leave NYC 2 days early because they can't do Cruise to nowhere anymore so they opted to change dates instead of leaving the cruise ship empty two days.

I'm not sure if it was just the ship or what but I was on the Inspiration for a short 4 night and I hated the Playlist productions. Music was kinda boring and they did a show over one night, so two nights with the same show. I was not impressed!!! However the Chefs Table was top notch, dining room amazing and comedy club great so it didn't ruin my cruise!!!

If you go the suite route, your butler will bring it straight to you (same with NCL) - and it's always been hot/fresh !

 

Yes, I know that it represents quite a premium just to insure a hot breakfast - but if you're going that route anyway, it's a nice perk. :)

 

Tom

Hi Tom, yup we figure if we do Celebrity again it'll be suite life for us!!! I haven't done NCL but there is always a possibility in the future!!!

Thanks for the info.

Carole

I'll just jump in and comment. We did sail on a Celebrity Cruise a few times and did the Concierge so we could have hot breakfasts on our balcony. It was great in theory however, by the time they get it to your room it's mostly just lukewarm. It's not the biggest deal in the world to get dressed and go to the dining room, I like my eggs hot!!!!

They are worlds different!!!! One is a Fantasy class.........older ship, less bells and whistles. Miracle is a Spirit class ship and my favorite so far!!! Love that ship.

Don't compare the cruise ships because they are apples and oranges, but you'll have an amazing time.

Go to the Carnival website, hit explore and you can look through the decks on Imagination to figure out what it has and where everything is!!! It's not the Miracle but it's still a cruise!!!

Enjoy!!!

Carole

Spring Break cruises, especially the short ones, are notorious as you found out. Been there,done that, now laugh about the 22yo peeing during muster.

This!!!! well said Sadie!!!

well I'm tickled that my 7th floor aft wrap became a Havana room. But don't worry I will only be in the shaded areas, which I'm sure will be hard to come by, it's all good, big ship and all!!!:D

Carole

So now I can have my privacy and belong to the Havana club too!!! So excited!!!

I'm very glad to know they have both, I really enjoy the seaday brunch too, much more than the plain breakfast or lunch menus!!!

To me it was a no brainer, where else would they home port a Cuban themed ship but Miami!!!!

Can't wait to sail with her into her new home!!!!:D

OP, you're not alone.

 

Most recent thread on this subject:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2024109

 

..and there have been others, some that got *POOFED* because, I guess, they got too heated. Those of us that have noticed Carnival has obviously traded out its fluffy, soft pillow-topped Comfort beds were flat-out being called liars by others who swore the beds have not changed.:( But we know better.

 

The bed on our first (2005) Carnival cruise inspired me to go on a mission of building a better bed at home, to make it more like that lovely bed on Inspiration. What Carnival offers now is pain-inducing in its firmness.

 

And now, what makes it worse is that they seem to be discontinuing even the less-than wonderful option of having the Room Steward place a foam egg-crate on your bed.:( At least with one of those on that hard bed, I could sleep. Not sleep well, but sleep without pain. This is a very real issue for some of us. Not sleeping for a week while on what should be a great vacation is miserable.

 

I have now been pushed by Carnival's cutbacks to the ridiculous point of seriously considering buying a king-size foam bed topper and bringing it along on my cruise next month.:mad: I'd have to leave it behind at the end of the cruise. I wouldn't want it in my house after it had been on a public bed.

I totally agree, the beds used to be pillowtops, now they are too hard to sleep. I bring 2 cheap eggcrates and leave them behind, it's like 40 bucks just blowing in the wind but I don't care, I am NOT going to be uncomfortable on vacation. Definitely thinking of trying HAL, they advertise those cushy beds. We did sail on Celebrity and the beds were also hard, but the room steward did produce a nice eggcrate.

I will say the room stewards mostly try their best to soften up the bed, adding a comforter under the sheets helps a little. But I'm a double pillowtop sorta gal at home and I hate the hard things they use now.

Carole