modem9

1 minute ago, skynight said:

Good point. But, some have reported on these boards that canned soda is now available with the packages. I'll see for myself in a few months.

I hope that is true.  We will be on the Sapphire in 12 days so we will also check if out and report back.  I prefer getting a can so it lasts longer and doesn't spill quite as easily as we move around.

Even if you have the Plus package, one advantage of swapping out for the soda is they give you cans of soda.  Using the plus package for drinks, you can only get soda in a glass, no cans.

I'm curiouse as we will be on the Sapphire to South America next month.  Do they have USB ports in the cabins?

On 9/24/2022 at 2:38 PM, Coral said:

That is great.

I know this is a few months old but I would like to share my experience with bidding for an upgrade when in an accessible cabin.  

On my next sailing, we are in an inside accessible cabin.  There have been several balcony accessible cabins available and today, just 11 days before sailing there are still 2 of those available.  

Today I talked to Princess about bidding for an upgrade to only an accessible cabin.  They said that is not available, the system would only offer a balcony cabin, not an accessible one.  In reality, someone in a standard cabin with an accepted bid might end up in the accessible cabin if that is the best available even though they are not in need of it.

I was also unsuccessful in getting any type of accessible accomodation.  The only offer they would make is upgrade at the full price.  I know they are not obligated to offer anything but this close to sailing, it was hoped they could come up with something.  Not to be.

I did not find Princess to be very accommodating for the accessible cabin folks like they are for anyone not in an accessible cabin.  And yes, I did also try directly with the Princess accessibility office.

We have completed the full list of documents and been green on our last 3 cruises.  For all three, the shoreside staff did not use the QR code or anything we had input.  They still scanned the passport and looked at our hard copy documents.  I don't see why we should go to all the trouble of completing the app documents when they are not even used.

We had the plus package on 2 of our last 3 cruises.  They were priced at $40 each and at that price, we broke even or close to it.  It was very nice to have, not thinking about the cost of the beverage, just ordering what we felt like.  We really enjoyed it.  

However, at $50 each it is not the same value for us.  I may break even but my DW will only have several cokes and doesn't come close.

On our 12 days cruise earlier this month, we did NOT have the package.  While it would have been nice to have a drink occasionally, we did just fine with the complimentary drinks and tap water.  It is interesting to note that without the package, we did not purchase a single drink. We brought our soft drinks on board.  So Princess lost revenue due to their price increase.  We booked a new 7 day cruise on board and did not purchase the Plus package as we didn't think we would get our value from it, especially with all the port days.  While I think the package is great, we likely will not purchase it again at the current price.

We too were on last months Emerald Transatlantic.  We found the food to be average but the choices/selections to be much less than before.  Beef was hard to find.  They called beef chile the beef dish at the main dining room and the next night it was beef fajita's.  Those are not what I considered main dining room fare nor are they a 'beef' dish.  We never went hungry of course but we were often disappointed in what was available in both the buffet and main dining room.  There was rarely a green salad on the main dining menu.  You should have to continually go to the everyday menu to find your main meal selection.

Ship - Ovation

Deck - 9

Stateroom # - 9668

Stateroom Category – Accessible Balcony

Starboard or Port Side - Starboard

Quiet Stateroom? (With comments on problems) – Good Stateroom

Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? - No

Balcony View - Give comments on view, noting if location of any obstructions was an issue. –

Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - Ovrsized typical Accessible

Was wind a problem? - No

If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? -

Any specific problems with this cabin? - Less storage than typical cabin, good access to balcony, couch does not have armrests, plenty of room for mobility and scooter, bath and bed on left as you enter, bed near bath.

There is a VERY importantant difference between the 2 types of Abbott at home tests.  Near the bottom left corner, you will see either OTC or RX.  While both of these are home tests, only the ones labeled with RX are proctored and accepted by cruise lines.  If you test says OTC, it is a good test but will NOT be accepted by Celebrity.  If the test you are buying is about $10 or less each, it is surely a OTC test.  If the cost is $25 or more, it quite probably is the RX version.

Thanks much for posting the update.  We will be going there in less than 2 weeks.

I agree that overall, the fish dishes were disappointing.  At the Fish & Ships, I had just fish the first time, half fish, half chicken the second and only chicken the third.  I gave up on the fish but the chicken was actually quite tasty.

But I was also disappointed somewhat in the Dog House.  The servers there (both times) didn't seem to know what to do or where things were.  While the dogs were ok, it was very irritating that the sauerkaut had meat in it.  I am already getting a dog, I just wanted kraut on it, not more dog.  On top of that, the hot dog was beef but the extra meat in the sauerkraut was pork.  Just stupid.

We were also on the Oct 1 sailing.  We did the Fish & Ships 3 times.  Service was VERY slow all 3 times even though there were very few ordering.  I thought the fish was just adequate, not at all what I expected considering that was 1 of only 3 items they were making.  The chicken strips was actually quite tasty and I switched to those.  Never tried the sandwich, it didn't look interesting.  They were out of the candy bars.

I think RCCL needs to reconsider this venue.  I LOVE fish and chips and was so glad they had a dedicated venue for them.  The reality was quite disappointing.

Skagway had many places open but the overall shopping was better in Juneau and 

ketchikan.  We left Juneau on time from what I watched from my balcony.

There was a lot of new snow from Friday and Saturday so the mountain were beautiful and many waterfalls running.

The ship does not feel at all crowded being at just over 50% capacity except for the windjammer and specialty restaurants.  Windjammer usually has a line to enter.  There have been no open spots in the speciality restaurants since day 2 is what I was told.  The early theater show and Two70 are usually very full with no reservations available.  They scan your seapass and verify the vacination wrist band before entering.

We are doing this for our January cruise.  We reserved a car at MIA and will drive to our FLL hotel upon arrival.  Then we drop off the car on sail day and they transfer us to the port.  I know there are cheaper methods but this give us more flexibility as well.

I love the Vision class ships, especially for enjoying a relaxing cruise.  If you want lots of entertainment and dining options, then a bigger ship is for you.  We also love the Radiance class.

Thank you.  I certainly won't rely on the cabin coffee then.  I too like a big strong black cup of coffee, not expresso.  

2 hours ago, CruisingAndDiving said:

Only Neptunes unfortunately

Does HAL provide plenty of the K-cups or do you have to bring your own?  If they provide, is there a choice?

Thank you.  That is more what we are looking for.  I will have the taxi driver take us there.

Can we access the beach near the Boatyard and purchase a chair/umbrella without going through the Boatyard?  I don't want their package.  I just want to sit on the beach with an umbrella.

mathed101, do you have any pictures of B6225 that you can share?  We will be on the Volendam in a few weeks.

I did a booking for a 2021 cruise and the website came up with a room selection which I accepted.  It only had the 1 price option and never mentioned anything about non-refundable.  I booked it but when looking at the email reservation document, it indicated non-refundable deposit.  I was not happy and immediately called to cancel it.  When going back to check on how this happened, the website this second time came up with two options, the non-refundable and the refundable.  This was different.  Since this time, I have checked this sailing a few more times and sometimes the website give me just the one choice and sometimes gives me both choices.  There is obviously a web problem here with Celebrity.

Celebrity has now cancelled all the Millennium Asia cruises through March.  See the announcement on the Celebrity website under the Coronavirus link at the top left of their home page.

Thank you for posting this.  It was very helpful.

Thank you everyone for the replies.  As suggested, I am going to take our USB hub with us just in case.  It is really to bad that Princess can't be consistent on things like this across each ship.  It is simple to replace all the table lamps so that we cruisers don't have to wonder about whether our cabin has the same amenities as the cabin next door. 

During drydock on the Grand, did they add any USB ports at the desk area or nightstands?  I usually bring a USB power port but it there are now built in USB, I won't need to.