Sox Fan Cruiser

Yeah, we just ask the bartender to make them in the bigger glasses and they do. I tell them that it saves them a lot of work. 😜

I promise, I will answer all your questions tomorrow. But one thing I have to get off my chest is that the coffee everywhere is horrible! We were having coffee delivered to our room every morning thinking maybe that would be better and individually made. We changed to tea after day two. Every cup of coffee was undrinkable. In fact, and I know this is subjective, but the food on the ship was really bad. I ate salad for lunch every day. I will not cruise with them again because the food was so bad. BUT, I don’t regret the cruise at all. It was magical. But the food was forgettable. I’m sorry to say this when you have an upcoming cruise. The cruise is still great.

What about the Sky suites with real balconies on E class ships? We have 6 in a row on the Apex in March.

Awesome! I KNEW it had to be somewhere. There you go, OP. Now you can see what makes up your balance.

Wow. I was so expecting to go to the Celebrity website and show you where you can see the history that makes up your current balance. It's very simple on Princess to see that. But you are right, I can't find it anywhere. Does anyone know if Celebrity provides that information?

I do plan to do a larger write up this weekend but can answer this. I'll give you my experience since I've only be on one cruise with this line on the Royal Clipper. Not sure what ship you are on. First of all there are not many excursions in each port as there are with the "big ships". The cruise line is proud to say that they can reach into ports that the big ships can't. But that also means there isn't much to do in these ports! Again, not a bad thing but this cruise is MUCH more relaxed and we weren't running all around. Some ports have 2 excursions and others may have 3-5. But that's it! And the experience is VERY low tech. There are binders on a desk for each port with a piece of paper and you sign your name. That's it! Then you get "tickets" in your cabin the day before. Funny thing is that you never show your tickets to anyone. They have a list of those signed up and they check you off. Not sure what the point of the ticket is! 🙂 They are very low key excursions. We were never in port for more than a few hours as they did two ports every day. Some were just beaches where you could go ashore and swim or snorkel. We only did a couple of them and they were either catamaran snorkeling or a "taste of" for the location. A lot of people just stay on the ship and relax. And on the ship they have the marina platform where you can swim or use the paddle board and such. If you give me your exact cruise, I can give you more information on any ports that overlapped. I also have all the activities sheets that I'll scan if I get energetic.

We just wrapped up a beautiful day in St. Lucia and are heading back to you now!

I took a picture. Hopefully it will load.

I’m excited to answer your questions but since you sailing in 2 months I’ll do it when I get back. I’ll also have better answers for all ports after the cruise! Bring ‘em on!

Random thoughts from being on the ship for a couple of days: There isn’t much to do AT ALL on the ship. But that’s a good thing! It’s to relax. But bring things to read and do. The ship rocks A LOT when sailing at night. We love it but be prepared. If you get sea sick bring stuff for that. You pay for every drink including sodas and bottled water. Although the prices are reasonable. There is a water station where you can fill up your own. The key card is only used to unlock your door or get on/off the ship. They just ask room number when you order something. There is PLENTY of food. There isn’t a 24 hour buffet but they feed you 6 times a day if you want, including mid afternoon and late night snacks. Internet is bad. It’s nice to get away so don’t expect to always be connected. It cost 18 Euros for 4 hours. Make sure you log off when not using. The first night they seat people with like languages together to “force mingle” but after that you can sit whomever you want including just two of you. Breakfast and lunch is seat yourself. They take your passports as the beginning of the cruise. You are without it until you disembark at the end. Be up on deck for the first night unfurling of the sails. If you are new to the Royal Clipper, it is amazing. Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad

In NYC right now and heading to Barbados today to get on The Royal Clipper tomorrow. Post questions and I’ll try to get answers. We won’t have much internet but will try stay in touch.

White parties started in the gay community. You were encouraged to get creative and dress all in white however you choose to. It’s moved more mainstream but I don’t think the creativity part is stressed enough. Especially on a cruise ship. Again, except for gay cruises. People pack steamer trunks to carry all the outfits necessary for 7 days of daily (or more!) theme parties!! 🤣

I heard that they do "Pirate Night". But nothing official came from the cruise line. We get on the Royal Clipper on Saturday and have not heard anything and aren't planning to pack anything special. "Theme Nights" are not really my thing.

I love Princess but there is no way I’m driving that thing out of my driveway with that wrap still on!! 😂🤪😘

And you’ll get to the ship faster. They usually wait for a bus to fill up before leaving.

They will send you all the information you need about 2 weeks before sailing. We sail exactly 2 weeks from today (on Royal Clipper) and got all our docs on Thursday. Be patient, they will come. I didn’t know that embarkation doesn’t even START until 4pm. So I have a whole day before we get in the ship. When I spoke to them about two months ago, they said that they hold off until bout two weeks before because things are still changing so much with Covid and other things.

We were VERY underwhelmed after having done the Chef's table on Princess. Now THEY know how to do a chef's table!! But if it interests you, go for it!

Also, if you don’t want to use the app to order a drink and would rather go up to the bar (the horror!), having the medallion with you allows the bartender to identify you and charge your account or know you have a drink package. Same functionality as a cruise card but you don’t have to show them anything. The scanner in the ceiling will read your medallion and your account (and your picture) will show up on the register and you are done!

There is so much more to Aqua vs Retreat than just the restaurant. But on an un-revolutionized ship like the Soltice, it does play a bigger role. I personally don’t like the decor of the pre-revolutioned ships nor the retreat spaces. So I stick with Aqua. My husband loves Blu over Luminae so he wins. But on Revolutioized ships, I must have at least a Sky Suite. And it has nothing to do with the designated restaurant.

We are Elite on both Celebrity and Princess and while we are moving away from Princess in favor of Celebrity, we do still cruise with Princess from time to time. (In fact booking both a Princess cruise and Celebrity cruise today.) Princess is comforting. We feel like family. We get to know bartenders and other crew and interact with them more. Sometimes service slips but we forgive them because we are on a cruise! Celebrity is all about professionalism. The service is mostly top notch and we feel more taken care of. We don’t get to know the crew as much but we never have to “forgive” mistakes. So when we want to feel special and taken care of, we cruise with Celebrity. When we want to feel like we are coming home when we step on a ship, we sail with Princess. Lately, we are feeling the Celebrity vibe more, but do go back to Princess every once in a while.

You can actually give the form to the person receiving the tip. They can then turn it in themselves. We did that for the Luminea staff and the restaurant manager called our room specifically to thank us.

As someone said, I assume it will work like Celebrity. When in a suite we let someone know if we are attending the show and they reserve seats. But you have to let them know ahead of time. You can’t just show up and expect seats.

I stand corrected. I should not have spoken for all ships and all cabins. I need to look into those cabins for the future!

Other than the 2 Sky Suites on the Royal Class ships that have them, no other suite is big enough for a dinning table. In general Princess suites are not very special when you look at other cruise lines. If you’ve been in upper suites on other cruise lines, don’t get too excited about Princess offerings.

There is a list circulating that IS for all the new 2024 sailings besides the ones on the website. I have seen it and I will be booking one when Elites are available to do so before they are on the website. I have already arranged it with my CVP.