muchofamuchness

For our upcoming cruise on Sky Princess (27th April) the Princess app seems to have lots populated in the journey schedule but what really appears to be lacking is live music other than the big theatre or piazza events. There's nothing at all other than auctions/sales listed in Take Five, no 'melodies' or similar in the Piazza, no indication of piano or guitarist in any bars at all, and the Vista Lounge appears to be mostly comedians and the DJ. Indeed the DJ appears to be a very busy person judging by the cruise schedule.

Have Princess dropped house bands, Take Five and individual musicians since we last cruised in 2022 (when there was loads of music around the ship)? Or are they just not always good at populating these things before the cruise?

7 hours ago, MudderBear said:

Will be bringing Euros with me.  But, I was only able to get big bills.  I'm thinking of bringing US single dollars with me.   Can we tip in Europe with US Dollars?  Like if I wanted to tip say $22 dollars, can I do it in Euros and two singles?   

 

Also, I am under the assumption that only US citizens tip over in Europe.  So, my other question is, why do Americans tip if other nationalities don't?  

Don't tip in dollars off the ship in Europe. Whilst it's widely accepted in the more touristy Caribbean islands it's not appropriate there. Nobody else will be doing it, so it'll just mean whoever you tip will need to bother to get it changed into Euros.

If you're in a place where tipping is accepted, restaurants etc will sometimes add a 'service charge' or allow you to add it to the card payment and then they'll split it. Or sometimes rounding up the bill is fine. Alternatively, if you don't want to get change at a bank, go buy a cheap ice cream or something from a convenience store when you arrive in a port to break into a note. The US standard practice of passing every person you encounter in a service environment a couple of dollar bills is just not replicated here - probably one of the reasons why they don't make €1/£1 banknotes.

On 4/1/2024 at 12:52 AM, SkippersCruisersMN said:

Has anyone used uber to get from London to the cruiseport in Southampton? Debating on using Uber vs. taking the train?

I wouldn't recommend Uber. 

It's 100 miles from London to Southampton, and once you factor in getting out of London we are probably talking about a 5 hour round trip for the driver with no paying fare on the return leg. It's not a given that one will accept the ride and you don't want to be stuck in London waiting for a driver. Too stressful and you can't really predict how much it'd cost.

If you want to be driven there I highly recommend pre-booking car service as then you'll have a quoted fare and a guaranteed journey.

Do you already have a hotel booked? If so which area are you staying in, how much luggage will you bring and how comfortable are you with walking/stairs? This might change what is the best option for you.

Hi all

Sorry if this has already been mentioned...

On the Princess website there are two deck plans for Sky Princess, one before April 8th 2024 and one after. I can't work out what the difference is. Anyone have any idea what changes are coming?

Thanks.

Hi all,

Interesting dilemma here.

We're in quarantine on Sky Princess at the moment. My partner started feeling ill on Monday night. By Tuesday morning he was feeling dreadful - new, continuous cough, blocked nose, etc., so we each did a COVID test (we'd brought some Flowflex tests with us): his came back positive, mine negative. So we stayed in our cabin and called the medical centre. They organised tests for the both of us, which both came back negative, but said we would be put into isolation for 24 hours and tested again the following day - if we then tested positive then we would have to quarantine for the remainder of the cruise.

So we got escorted to quarantine. My partner's condition got worse (fever etc) during the night. I have also developed a cough.

He was tested this morning (they didn't want to test me) and their test came back negative. Considering his symptoms, he did another Flowflex test and it came back clearly positive again. 

However, as the medical centre's test came up negative, we are free to go back to our cabin and continue the cruise. If we continue to isolate it would apparently be on a totally voluntary basis (with, presumably, no further FCC and no enhanced in-room dining). 

Much as I'd love to go out and enjoy our last three sea days, a) my partner is not well and b) with the combination of very clear symptoms and two positive tests using a recognised brand of antigen test, it feels morally wrong to go out into the ship almost certainly spreading COVID as we go. I spoke to Guest Services and they say they can't help because it's a medical matter. We have considered booking a doctor's appointment so they can tell us what it is if their COVID tests are saying it's negative, but since they discharged us we can't ring the medical centre - when we try and call them now it just says 'Access Denied' on the phone.

Is there anyone you would recommend we speak to on this on board who can address our concerns or at least give us some reassurance?

13 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Or they are not being offered the entertainment that is advertised and that they paid for,  surely?

Maybe, though out of personal preference I think I'd choose the single entertainer shows over the big revues any day. The cast and staging of the latter are invariably very good but to me the format feels a bit like something from a previous age.

I'm on Sky Princess right now and there don't appear to have been any big revue shows.

This comes as no surprise, but it's still disappointing if they're focusing on elevating drinks prices beyond the Plus price cap rather than offering new, more premium choices for Premier customers.

My cruise will be one of the first to start under the new pricing regime. I can't help thinking some kind of phased introduction would have been better. I think there will be a lot of disgruntled passengers if they step on board and find that very little is covered by their Plus package, particularly if a whole load of wines and cocktails are showing at just above the price cap. Yes, I know you can just pay the extra, but that's kind of not the point... I'd also feel cheated if I'd forked out the significant extra cost for Premier only still to be offered the wines that were previously included on Plus.

I suppose we'll see on Saturday.

I have really enjoyed following this report - it's been a joy to check back every so often and read the next 'episode'.

It's always interesting to see the view that someone coming from another country gets of places you think you know so well. Seems that you really 'did things properly' and I'm glad you had such a nice time.

12 hours ago, wowzz said:

Interestingly a kettle and tea bags, coffee sachets etc were provided in our cabin on Regal in tge Mediterranean last week. 

Not sure if all cabins had them, or just those occupied by Brits.

I do wonder if a higher proportion of the passengers are from the UK than would have been normal on these itineraries pre-pandemic (trying to make up for lower bookings from the USA due to concerns over long haul travel, maybe?)...

Does that mean that there's now technically no way of getting to the forward staircase on this deck that doesn't take you through the casino? 

Nice way to hide a considerable increase in the Princess Plus fare (probably enough of an increase to make it not worth it for us, to be honest). Who can foresee a lot of drinks magically drifting above the $12 threshold?

23 minutes ago, seba1 said:

My husband is a HUGE car guy. If you have anything to recommend related to that I am all ears. He loves British cars and, while our current one is Italian, longs to have an old Triumph one day. 

Might be worth having a look at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu - it's pretty close to Southampton. I haven't been for years so maybe someone else can tell you more about it, but the collection looks pretty varied and interesting!

7 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

AskOceanMedallion@carnival.net. Or call in and select MC App help option.  If emailing, send full booking information and that DMW not working for you.

Thanks. If it helps others, I actually managed to resolve it by uninstalling the app and reinstalling it - maybe there was something in the cache that was stopping it...

How soon after final payment should we expect to be able to start looking at dining reservations through Dine My Way? Currently in the app, when you go to the Dine My Way option on the main screen, it says "Dine My Way is not available right now. Please check back later," which is what it's said when I've looked at it before. We paid the balance last week so I sort of assumed it would become available now...

Depends on the time of year but a Pimm's (No.1 Cup + sparkling lemonade, with *all* the extras) is a suitably "British summer" kind of drink, if the cruise line offers it. 

21 minutes ago, Cruise Puss said:

This virus is now a cold and most people have been vaccinated so why on earth we aren't getting back to normal is quite unbelievable.

 

 

I suppose the challenge for them is that because the medical advice doesn't reflect that point of view, they as a business are going to have to make a decision as to operations (what if half of the crew are off sick with symptoms?) and duty of care (what if everyone who goes on a cruise gets COVID?). It's a question of balance I suppose, between offering an experience that's as close to on land whilst avoiding liability. They have obligations that you or I as individuals don't have to think about. Probably why they haven't completely ruled out masks in certain places on board - they can at least use their discretion...

If it means they have to say they'll have more stringent protocols for now (maybe relaxing them closer to the date), so be it - it's outside our control. But we need to know, so that as you say you can make a decision as to whether or not you postpone.

17 minutes ago, Aladdin22 said:

Definitely! We board Sky in UK on 28th and want to know

I cruise in June from Southampton and I got an email from Princess earlier this week that said it was going to give details of the testing and vaccination requirements for the cruise. However when I clicked on the link to the testing requirements it just had the US situation and said:

"Looking for another destination?

We’re working with government authorities on protocols and will share final details before you sail – stay tuned!"

Same situation for the onboard protocols e.g. masks.

In this and other respects it sometimes feels a little bit like Princess forget that they sail from other countries. That might be understandable if they were a line who occasionally sailed from the UK, but they will be basing a number of ships here over the summer as well as marketing sailings to UK customers, and at least a basic level of clarity is needed now, even if there's the understanding that anything can change these days. In any case they shouldn't send an email claiming to have the details when they don't...

I'm fine for now - it's a while until my cruise - but it's a matter of weeks until Sky Princess arrives at Southampton and I'm sure others with cruises booked sooner will be starting to worry.

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

On the Regal deck plan on the Princess website on Deck 7, there are 2 small “ocean viewing” sections outside Crooners (port side forward) and near the Shops of Princess (starboard side forward) and the Vista Lounge (near the aft both sides). There are also tenders noted between these two sections. Is there by chance a passenger accessible walkway next to the tenders, but not shown, that connects those small “ocean viewing” sections or are they pretty much isolated like they appear to be?

We were able to walk between the two sections when on Regal in 2019. The walkway was quite narrow (not like a promenade), with equipment in the way of a sea view, and you walk past quite a few vents, so it's not the sort of place you'd stay, but yes, you could get between the two. It looked like it *could* be closed off if needed. We found that not many people seemed to know about the aft promenade sections and even though it was a full ship there was always plenty of seating available.

Hi everyone! I wonder if you can help me 

All of my previous cruises have been in the Caribbean so even when the water in the pool has been cold, it's been refreshing rather than unpleasant.

This year, I'm (hopefully) doing a Norway and Iceland cruise on Sky Princess. Yes, it's in June/July, but we are going pretty far north so I don't imagine the swimming pools will get much chance to warm up (correct me if I'm wrong!). I would however like to take a swim on our sea days and would rather not freeze...

Does anyone know if any/all of the pools on Sky Princess (or other Royal-class ships) can be heated, and if so, if Princess actually *do* heat them on far northern itineraries?

4 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

I’m with ya once they have longer cruises. We did our first week long one in a number of years and never again… just too short. 

So based on the initial publicity I had largely written off Virgin Voyages (far too cool for me). However having watched Gary Bembridge's content, as well as the first video from the channel 'Visit With Us' (not LGBT) I am actually starting to come round to the idea. It looks like fun and I like the dining concept. I lost interest in the Ben & David video when it started being overly complimentary, but I enjoyed the section about the room amenities!!!

However, I think I'd prefer a shorter itinerary - I think that a different restaurant every night and the very lively atmosphere would probably be a bit wearing after much more than a week. I could totally imagine four or five days on this out of Miami, and hopefully the pricing should discourage the booze cruise crowd.

The looks of the ship haven't grown on me, mind...

16 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

If you use Princess Savers fare, then the "crew incentive" AKA tips is discretionary. It is added to your onboard account each day but can be lowered or eliminated by request. However (outside of where it is part of the fare as in Oz) most passengers willingly pay it.

 

If you book the Princess Plus fare, then the "crew incentive" no longer is discretionary and cannot be changed on board.

Being used to mostly taking vacations in places where the concept of tipping is very different, the concept of a practically mandatory gratuity on everything is a bit alien to most Brits - it's better for us to cover it in the fare and then if people want to add a discretionary tip on top at the end of the cruise then they can. It gets the awkwardness out of the picture. Just a cultural difference.

Back to the topic, we booked our next cruise as Princess Plus. It's the first time I've taken a package involving alcohol - usually I would get the soft drink package and coffee card, and then have the odd beer or cocktail now and again. I'm not a big drinker, but when you consider how much you'd pay for the internet and gratuity package anyway, and then for the soft drink and coffee packages, it's only a little more (particularly with the exchange rate the way it is) to have almost complete freedom of the bar menus. Given it's a two week itinerary with a fair number of sea days it's nice to know that we can just have what we want, when we want, without thinking the costs are going to stack up. I don't recall seeing anything I particularly want on the bar menus that isn't included.

At least in the UK, it's the fare inclusive of Princess Plus that they've been promoting of late - certainly when they launched the Summer Seacations. I think they've realised that if they want to lure people away from all-inclusive resorts (definitely becoming more of an expectation amongst premium customers) then they need to be offering an equivalent product in that respect. Certainly many people I've spoken to in the past who have been curious about cruises have appeared surprised when I've said drinks aren't included normally.

Equally most people in the UK aren't used to budgeting for tips in the same way so Princess Plus manages to avert the issue that this might bring.

I wouldn't be surprised if the daily price increases but I suspect at least in the UK they will continue to promote the Plus-inclusive fare as the mainstream offering.

As a point of context, except for the most ultra-budget lodgings, an electric kettle (along with tea bags and milk, and maybe instant coffee) is generally an expected room amenity in hotels in the UK, despite changing tastes over recent years. People are very particular about tea and tend to like to make their own. 

So I'm actually a big fan of Ben and David's videos. I actively like the boundless enthusiasm / occasional silliness, though I appreciate that's not for everyone.

I probably wouldn't go to them for reviews - this isn't a particular dig at them but I'm sceptical of most YouTubers because they have to stay close to the cruise lines to get the access they want. They typically aren't very critical but I suppose I've learned to read between the lines.

However I enjoy their cruise vlogs - they're very good at capturing the excitement of cruises and showing what they can be, particularly to people who haven't cruised before. Equally the sheer production quality of their ship tour videos is a cut above most other cruise YouTubers - and also pretty consistent, meaning that you can use them to compare the look and feel of different ships.

In terms of who I *trust*, it's probably Gary Bembridge. His videos aren't particularly glitzy (though I've noticed he's relaxed into his YouTube persona over time) but his tips are based on real experience and you sense that, even if he does accept press trips etc., he's not dependent on those and so doesn't come across as beholden to the cruise lines. I noticed that particularly on Twitter he's notably absent from the usual cruise YouTuber fawning whenever a cruise line announces anything. He seems to be more capable of taking a step back and analysing things critically.

I also will miss it if it goes (and I'm in my mid-30s, and relatively new to cruising, so it's not just a generational thing). I like being able to have a nice point of structure during the day around which I can plan other things, but it's the "same waiters" aspect of Traditional Dining" that I really like. I appreciate little things like the waiters quickly figuring out what kind of bread rolls we like and what drinks we always start with. I'm definitely not anti -Medallion - I actually thought it was great on our December 2019 Regal cruise - but there are some personal touches and human elements that AI and machine learning can't replace.

Also, as someone who's cruised solo before, I think I'd have found my first cruise much less enjoyable if I hadn't been set up with tablemates who I would spend time with throughout the cruise.