Cruisemeister2002

Have today received notification that Princess will be changing the dining arrangements after the 14th September and that once we have paid the balance on our cruise we will be afforded the options available for dining arrangements. It was welcome and strange how these new arrangements start the day before we sail. As I have said we welcome these changes. Don't think we are stick in the muds for preferring a set time each night and we like the thought of hopefully building a rapport with our fellow diners as we will probably request a table of six.

Seems like a good idea to me. I suppose it all depends on who wants what on whichever ship they are sailing. I don't know the individual amounts that the MDR's take on say Sky Princess. I say Sky Princess as this is the ship we next sail on. No reason once an approximate amount of passengers is know and what dining option they prefer that if x amount of passengers want set time dining split into early and mid evening and y amount who want anytime then providing both early and mid evening dining doesn't fill the restaurant the remaining setting could be used for anytime dining. I suppose how the kitchen is set up for the various dining times may influence this, I don't honestly know.

Over the moon. have apart from one cruise which was a late booking dined at 8.30 so will save having to book a restaurant each night. Most of my previous cruises were on P&O and up until the two latest additions of Iona and Arvia fixed dining was always available. Why do we like it ? It gives us a chance to make good friends as you are seated with them every night. If for whatever reason you don't get on with someone you can always switch to another table but have only in 18 cruises not got on with someone. Also as I say the time suits as except when on an excursion we go back to our cabin late afternoon, maybe have a nap, shower and have a drink in our cabin before going to a bar for a pre dinner drink. Have our meal in the MDR and then go to a show in the theatre and then if there's a cabaret show we like go on to that, if not retire for the night with maybe a hot chocolate.

If the refit is on a par with that which took place on Ventura last year I don;t seriously know why they bother. The ship was 5 hours late into port the crew didn't seem to know what they were doing and the chefs must have been on holiday. There was still refitting staff on the ship when we sailed apparently fitting carpets in the staff quarters.There seems so much ballyhoo surrounding refits with illusions that the ship will look new. Have much nicer modern decor and that millions have been spent. I should have known better. Didn't particularly go a bundle on Ventura first time and last years cruise was by far the worst of the seventeen cruises taken.Have even gone over to Princess after a very bad experience on Ventura. It was a disaster from day one and never improved the next 34 nights. The two highlights were the two tribute acts and the meals we had in Sindu. Those apart, very, very poor and many passengers we spoke to were making notes of their problems as well.

What's the betting though if they collected them for disposal they'd make a charge. Seems the norm to me that although historically cruising is cheaper fare wise than it used to be every way you turn someone wants their pound of flesh for everything and things that were once inclusive now require a charge. Not limited to Princess either.

Hi all, just wanted to know if anyone else was sailing on the Sky Princess in September this year and had booked the excursion which was a tour of New York at night. Why I say this is strange is because the excursion is on the second day of our stop off and it states the ship departs New York at 5 p.m. but the tour starts at 7 p.m. until 11 p.m. Unless the time of leaving is wrong or the excursion has been put on the wrong day on Princess website it's a bit odd. They also added that have a two day New York bus pass on the second day as well ?

Just looked on NCL. It's $109 per day for the Premium package, drinks up to $15. A Premium Plus at $138 per person per daywhich are all top shelf cocktails and spirits,Hawaii package $109 apparently a wide selection of drinks up to $15 + a 20% gratuity.An unlimited soda package $9+ 20% gratuity per person per day and finally an unlimited Starbucks package at £12.95 + 20% gratuities .

Are the prices on these cruise lines higher for unlimited ? Also as I say, some would exceed the 15 limit and some wouldn't so I suppose as far as the unlimited cruise lines are concerned if you make a charge it evens itself out whereas Princess would gain because they would charge extra for those exceeding the 15 limit and also make on those that come well under it as well.

I would check that as my balance payment for a cruise onboard Sky princess in September is due in June. Be wary, how did you receive this demand ? Recently I received a request for a payment for a hotel I had booked prior to our cruise in September. Firstly the payment is not due to be paid again until June and secondly just after the request I received an email stating that several people had requests for payments and it was a scam. Not saying yours is, but just be careful

As with everything if you have for instance an eat all you can at a set price some will literally eat all they can. I have seen instances where people go to the buffet area at breakfast and pile their plate high and then leave half of it. Possibly one reason for silver service being done away with on ships and ready plated meals are served in the main dining rooms. A pity really as I like silver service and was as a young man trained as such. Therefore I believe that if you made drinks unlimited some would literally go for it and some would be under the current 15 drinks. My concern would be that whilst I am in no way concerned what others alcoholic wise consume if it spilled over into bad behaviour , drunkenness followed by bad language and fighting and impacting on other passengers enjoyment then no I wouldn't agree with unlimited and I doubt from a personal view I would even near the 15 a day.

I fully understand your feelings. Cruising with whatever cruise line seems not to be what it was. I cannot really comment on any other cruise line than P&O as out of 17 past cruises 16 were with P&O and one with Princess back in 2004. P&O have changed significantly and whilst I have had comments in that others don't miss these things I do. When we first sailed it was back in 2002 on Victoria, a ocean going ship that P&O bought as it was no longer required for transatlantic crossings due to the Jumbo Jet coming into service. It was originally called the Kungsholm, then Sea Princess. When P&O bought Princess cruises Princess had their own Sea Princess so the P&O one became Victoria. A small ship holding around 700 passengers. The cabin we had was a sea view, if you could call it that as it had a small porthole which was closed going through the Bay of Biscay. With P&O on our early days you got a little bag with the P&O logo with ladies toiletries. Your bed was turned down at night and a chocolate on the pillow. Drinking chocolate and sandwiches after the late show in the theatre and an announcer describing ports of call as you sailed in. Steak wasn't available as the norm on the dinner menu, but if you didn't like anything on the main course you could request a steak and it was decent quality. Now they are available every evening, but not as good a quality. Stilton cheese came in a truckle and a good selection was available. Now it's pre- plated with very small pieces of cheese. The meals were all silver service, much nicer than today's where everything comes pre-plated.

I refute the suggestion I am calling you or anyone an alcoholic. I did maybe suggest that if someone could arrive back at the ship late afternoon and down 15 drinks between then and bedtime that it was something I and I would think a majority would have difficulty in consuming that amount. Each to their own though, if that's what floats your boat then good luck to you. As for the 3,000 different plans I agree we all, as with the drinks situation have different ideas. But there would be no need for 3,000 different plans. All that needs to happen is for Princess or whatever cruise line to make a couple of things available instead if a passenger say didn't want the 2 x gym visits they could have a voucher for the shops onboard. If for instance you wanted a bottle of wine at you evening meal it could be a substitute for some of the drinks you had during the day. Not hard to carry out as they obviously monitor the 15 x $15 limit per day.

Yeah agree. I have been on 17 cruises prior to the one we have later in the year. This will be the first time we have taken out one of these packages as we aren't big drinkers. Our normal routine would maybe be a drink lunchtime or if I watch a football match in the afternoon with a couple of beers and the wife will have a cider or a pina colada. Before dinner we shower and have a drink in our cabin, then go to a bar and have a glass of wine. Sometimes we have a bottle of wine at dinner or I have a beer and my wife a gin and tonic. Unless we go to a cabaret act after the theatre we don't drink again except for a cup of hot chocolate before bed.

Sorry for this. But obviously "To infinity and beyond"

All I can say is good luck to you if between late afternoon and even 1 a.m. you can down fifteen cocktails or whatever. That's your choice and I appreciate that. I can't and neither can my wife. I accept a package is what it is, but the question was "What would people like to see made available on a cruise" Mine was that perhaps Princess could offer exchanges for certain parts of a package or where the usage of an item or items was lower than the limits set that an alternative could be offered.

Until this forthcoming cruise we have always gone for second sitting 8.30 p.m. as we like being seated with the same people each night as we have made many friends over the years. I don't know if all Princess ships are anytime dining now, but P&O still have some ships that do first and second sitting. Mainly their older ships which quite frankly are getting past it.

I would like to see packages available that have choices that can be mixed and matched. Maybe if you don't want 15 drinks in a day as some days especially those where you may be on an excursion most of the day you'd have to be an alcoholic to down that many between late afternoon and bed time. Also one part of the package is two gym sessions, personally I have never been to a gym in my life and don't intend to start at 74. I know that it will be pointed out to me that Princess informs the customer of what a package costs and entails and you have a choice as to whether to take one out or not.

I am booked on Sky Princess for September and although not as long to go as yourself have just booked my third excursion which is a coach tour and stop off in Times Square at night for fear of missing out. I also have a couple of other excursions I want to do but have other expenses to look after including the cruise balance so I'm juggling the costs as I go along.

Yes probably. I know we get two casuals with our package. Do you know what the extra is for the Speciality type dining ? Not that we are thinking of doing that every night but maybe two or three times on the cruise along with maybe a couple more on top of the two casuals we get.

Really this is a question on top of a question. Our friend asked about drinks above the $15 price and charges involved. We have the same package as we aren't heavy drinkers and if we desire to go to a Speciality restaurant I'll gladly pay the $14.99 or whatever. My question is " If I wanted a double scotch is there any reason I can't order two drinks at the same time and just pour one into the other and my wife orders her drink on her medallion ? I ask this a you are not breaching the $15 per drink and 15 per day ?

I preferred both Oriana and Aurora to Oceana. But I think it was just the destinations more than the ship. We did several crossings of the Atlantic on both Oriana and Aurora, but the cruise we did on Oceana was a last minute thing so we had casual dining which we both dislike, we like eating around 8 to 8.30 so second sitting in the MDR is what we like. The Ports of call I remember included the Azores and the Canary Islands and Madeira. A bit of a strange combination, one I have not seen since. Many of the meals weren't very good and not very hot either. Not saying Oriana was perfect as the last cruise we had on her was 2016 her 20th year and she had a fire in the engine room leaving Miami. The coastguard were informed and we had to go back into Miami and consequently miss Key West. We weren't too bothered as we had been there before, but some passengers threw their toys out of the pram as they would have liked to have gone to Key West. Aurora has still many admirers and although she has great memories I wouldn't sail on her again as the facilities are very yesterday. My next cruise I am trying Sky Princess as our last cruise with P&O on Ventura was a long, long way from being satisfactory.

Don't get me wrong, but being the wrong side of seventy I find coach travel difficult. I am just over 6 feet tall and to me the seats are cramped. I did travel via coach last year and the problems, not all related to the coach started when because a neighbour gave us a lift to Newmarket, approximately 45 minutes from where we live he decided he wasn't going to arrive late. We got there an hour before the coach was due. Having to stand in the cold as it was March wasn't great fun. The coach having to pick up in many locations arrived in Port mid afternoon to the sight of hundreds queuing and cases piled high as Ventura had arrived in Port 5 hours late. Due to the many problems that arose before and during that cruise I have abandoned P&O for a cruise on Sky Princess later in the year and we are going down to Southampton by train, well that is unless they replace some of the travel by bus.

Of the three sister ships Aurora, Oceana and Oriana I can't really split which is/was my favourite between Oriana and Aurora with Oceana definitely in third place. If pushed I'd say Oriana as we had some fabulous cruises on her. I'm amazed at how much these old ships are up for sale for. But then the new one's coming online are over a billion. I suppose it's unsurprising given covid and the cost of new ships that prices are rising, ships are getting bigger and extra's are being pushed. Must say though that I prefer the ships with less than 1000 passengers but can't see the mass cruise markets ever building small ships again.

Living in the UK we get OBC via holding 100 Carnival shares .In 2022 I bought 100 share which at the time cost me £700, early 2023 we went on a 35 night cruise on P&O Ventura to the US and Caribbean, also taking in Cozumel Mexico, Roatan and Belize. I received £150 OBC. When I got home a short while later the shares reached over £13 per share so I sold them for £1300 a profit of £600. We had fully intended due to age and health that we wouldn't be going on anymore long cruise so the profit would more than make up for OBC gained in future. Besides OBC isn't really worth the amount you receive as goods and services onboard all have huge mark up's. So say £150 OBC is probably worth £75. Also if you are say Elite tier if you spend $150 onboard you will receive $15 refund on your final bill.

Sounds like Puppy Love to me ?