Sox Fan Cruiser

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.

Yes, it’s 2024. I assume the original poster was just confused. But the ask is still valid. The 2024 sailings go on sale in a little more than a week with Elites getting a first look 24 hours before. Does someone have that list?

I’m on the team that doesn’t go ashore. I just stay on the ship and enjoy it with everyone gone. Definitely not boring. The warm weather. The beautiful ship. Not working. All good things to just sit and relax.

They used to do Mobile Passport but you needed to look for it. Most terminal workers didn’t know about it. We used it quite often. But we haven’t used it in years. Customs has gotten so smooth that everyone is through pretty quickly. (And it worked for airports and some cruise ports including FLL.)

“…all night long” ?!? On a Celebrity ship? Have they seen their passenger demographic?!? 🤪😝😂

I think it's more a consideration for people who don't cruise a lot. A huge FCC is no big deal for me as I'll use it. But when I am traveling with someone that may or may not cruise with Celebrity again it may be a different story.

Us to! We just were finalizing which cruise we wanted to book.