MrSchwump

I think Ebola is the worst. The Medallion app is not much more than a petty annoyance for the well to do.

I just saw this on the social media site whose name shall not be uttered. No excursions in Panama from the Emerald Princess.

Oh yes! We were there last February and walked up to Ft George. Great views but it is a steep uphill. I’d rate it pretty strenuous. We then moseyed around downtown before heading back to the ship.

We didn’t know what to do when we visited St Kitts either. We just went into town and found a cab driver who took us to Brimstone Hill, an 18th century fortress. Great views and very interesting. You could see several other islands from there (Saba, Nevis, St Barths, et al). On the way home we did a quick island tour with a couple of photo ops. Quick and easy!

I’ll be onboard on 1/19 and will be keen to spark up a premium cigar. According to the Social Media Site that Shall Not be Named, smoking is permitted on the aft deck adjacent to the Tradewinds (?) bar. Thanks in advance and for the great info!

We sail on 1/19 for a Panama Canal partial transit. Looking forward to your pics and comments. We haven’t sailed on a Grand class ship since 2010 and one of the things I’m look forward to is the full promenade deck for walking.

That could be. I only ever went there while in port.

To get to the “secret” deck go all the way forward on the Lido deck, past all the staterooms. At the end of the hall there’s a door that’s not a stateroom door. Inside is a short hallway that leads to another door that opens onto a set of stairs. Go up the stairs to the open deck. This is atop the bridge. You get a great view, forward, port and starboard up there.

I like being on the fantail for sunset shots. You can include the ship’s wake in the shot. On the Ruby the “secret deck” above the bridge is a great spot for any photography since it’s easy to move port and starboard and you have an unobstructed view forward.

FWIW, I submitted my shareholder statement last Saturday and the $100 OBC was on my Personalizer by Monday morning. I pulled the docs from Fidelity and sent them as .pdf to the Princess email address along with the details about our cruise. Pretty easy.

I’ve found that I get different answers to questions time after time. The most consistent thing about Princess customer service is the inconsistency. I also find the never ending upsell pressure is aggravating. I can dig that they’re trying to rake back some of the money lost during the pandemic but it’s too much!

She’s in Portland now.

We did one on the Regal in 2018. There were 4 of us locked into a room with a bunch of objects. Some held real clues others were just there to throw you off. Periodically they would give you hints via a speaker. We got about 95% through before time ran out. It was fun and free at the time.

Because there are a lot of cranky people in the world who don’t like change.

This was offered through Princess and at the time it was $99. I think now it’s going for $119. I thought about doing it again this year when we go.

You drive in a small van, and go about an hour, up to Montego Bay and then inland for a short distance. One of the Rasta elders meets the group and leads you up to the village. You have to wade across a small creek and up a woodland path. Our group was 10 or 12 in total and you were taken to various areas. One was where woodworking was done, one featured soap making, another had a man making drums. They told you about their culture and beliefs (vegetarian, don’t eat salt, Haile Selassie as a diety, etc). Finally you are served an Ital meal, their version of Kosher meaning it conforms to their dietary requirements. It was good and quite interesting. At the end there was a drum circle. Everyone had a chance to play along as everyone sang “Rivers of Babylon”. Very cool! In reality, this “village” was more of a commercial recreation. They offered handmade stuff for sale, as well as Bob Marley t-shirts. Still it was a great experience. The Rastas were very friendly and authentic and answered everyone’s questions. I’d say we were there 2-3 hours. No one smoked ganja but there was a giant plant right in the center of the yard.

I’d just get a taxi and ask them to take you to a beach bar that rents chairs. Gotta be < $70!!!

I did my all time favorite excursion at Falmouth! Princess offers a visit to a Rastafarian village and it was fantastic! if you have any interest in Reggae music or the Rasta culture you would love it. Falmouth itself doesn’t have a lot to offer to American tourists but it’s probably less dangerous than, say, St Louis.

Last February in the Enchanted, we had Anytime dining (or whatever it’s calling itself now). We made reservations using the app on the nights we wanted to eat in the MDR and had no problems. We never waited more than a few minutes past our reservation time. We did Anytime dining when it was first introduced and, yes, it was faster. But back then most people were still doing finite seating times and were wearing tuxedos.

The app does seem a little non-intuitive to set up. And the demographics of the Princess passengers makes it a bit more challenging. Still, I’m glad not to need a sheaf of papers when I arrive at the cruise terminal. I’m very happy that my check in now takes less than a minute. I like that my door will unlock automatically when I approach. Cars were a lot simpler in the 60s too but I’ve really gotten used to heated seats and the backup camera!

Now we’re talking!

Since no one else has been low-brow enough to say it yet, I’ll go. Sherry who?

Whoever she is, she’s my hero. Fight the power! Stick it to The Man!

I really wonder if this whole chair hog thing is a real or imaginary problem. Are people really not able to find a chair at all, or can they just not find one exactly where they want? I’ve seen a couple of instances where chairs sit unoccupied by humans but do have books, bags, etc scattered about. But in a dozen or more cruises, those are very rare. I really think this is just something people like to kvetch about.

You Tek, are my hero!