Cruise Raider

Perhaps it is because we tend to eat early but we don’t notice it at all on either the Majestic or Discovery.

I love Harmony and hope they don’t replace it. Different strokes, I guess! I heard from the F&B manager that they may move The Catch to the current location of Harmony or Sabatini’s on the Royal class ships. The location where it current is doesn’t bother me one little bit, though.

We thought it was excellent when we tried it. Some lady was asking they put more lobster in hers .. lol! It was already very full of lobster. I’ve noticed they’ve also added lobster rolls to the lunch menu for sea days in the MDR, for a charge, of course.

I thought it was loud when held in the piazza. I was commenting that they moved it to the Club Fusion, which should make some people very happy. I know it made me happy.

If they have the wine check in table, they ask for your cabin number and mark off what each person brings onboard. I say ‘if’ for the wine table because we cruise an average of once a month and haven’t seen a wine table recently. But, I guess that could all change.

Just of note, we just sailed on the Crown and they held the Zumba exercise routine in the morning down in Club Fusion. That was really the only event that I thought was so loud as to where you couldn’t hold a conversation. Otherwise, I really like all the activities that are held in the piazza .. and I am in the baby boomer generation.

I don’t think they realize the captain has the power of the law by holding this position. I read, but can’t confirm this, is that they were all informed there would not be a Princess cruise again in their future. So, maybe that is just rumor but it is certainly a possibility. Not only did they put the patient at risk by delaying their evacuation by a couple of hours, but the ship was also late pulling into port for disembarkation in San Francisco. That also costs money as the port workers and delivery people are there already. Of course, embarkation for the next sailing, which we were on, was delayed. So, there was a domino effect the rest of the day. Since then, we’ve seen a change in procedure for these air evacuations.

Oh my word, you have to be really desperate to steal cruise ship toilet paper! Whenever I return from a cruise, I always note how much I have missed my Charmin! 😆

Still, a very decent wine glass and a little more heavy duty than the Riedels. I’d take one of those every day. Even when we got to Vegas while playing at the machines, they will give you a nicer glass in some casinos if you ask for one. We always return them to the bartender at one of the bars and they are always so appreciative of that there, too.

We just love Aldrin. We not only pinky swear but tell them to charge us a deposit of $25 a glass .. not that they charge us but I’m serious that we would pay that amount if we don’t return them. Another one of our favorite bartenders told us they definitely keep track of who has those glasses. some ships are pickier about it but once they see we always return them at the end of each day, they trust us with them. We are super careful with them and when we order a second glass of wine, we just have them our it into the nice glasses we’ve already used that day.

It was prior to the pandemic but there were some passengers that wouldn’t get off their balconies even when the captain instructed them to do so several times. I understand they were all notified in person and that explained they had photos of all of them. They would be notified later of the repercussions of not following the captain’s orders. They no longer mess around with allowing people to stay in their balcony cabins. Again, it’s not only for the safety of the rescue team and patient, but for their own safety.

You may want to try it while at home using airplane mode and WiFi. That way, you will know if it works or not ahead of time.

We’ve seen several of them during the day and we had family in a balcony and they were all asked to go down to the lounge in the middle of the night. All the balcony furniture is taken inside the cabins and the passengers are cordoned off from going to their cabins during the evacuation for the safety of the helicopter crew, the patient and the passengers themselves. On this latest one, friends were up on the Lido deck in an inside cabin and they were instructed to take a different route to their cabin via the forward stairs to get to their rooms. Balcony cabin passengers had to wait it out. One time, they even had to close the buffet down.

The Royal is a wonderful ship .. one of my favorites! I love that Princess has a lot of Alaska themed events such as a totem pole carver, Puppies in the Piazza, Libby Riddles, games centered around Alaska, etc. They will also have a naturalist onboard to give lectures and will be out on the deck to point out wildlife and geological points of interest, etc while out on the deck when in the fjord leading up to the glacier. They even have special menu items on these cruises. I can’t imagine anyone being disappointed with an Alaskan cruise on Princess, yet, I am sure you will always find some that don’t appreciate anything. Of note, many of the Princess ships left in the fleet do not have an indoor pool. There is some shelter available out on the deck, though.

FaceTime and WhatsApp have worked for us. I would think Google Voice would work, as well.

On the new app, my status is right but my DH’s showed as ‘New to Princess’. He was still showing as elite onboard, just not on his app. We were on the Crown last week and one visit to guest services and it was fixed within a couple of hours. The guest services staff took a photo of his app and sent it to the appropriate department. Great customer service!

Wow … three in one cruise! When it rains, it pours! We've seen our share of air evacuations but never 3 on one cruise. I was on a cruise like that to Hawaii once and one up in Alaska last year, both on both of those, we just diverted to another port. The captain was just mentioning having all hands on deck for the air evacuations. There is so much to be done to keep the passengers from wanting to be on deck to witness the evacuation. Half the crew is needed simply to keep other passengers from putting themselves or the rescue crew at risk. 🤦‍♀️ And you are most likely right .. it was probably the stabilizers being deployed or the waves whipping up from the motion of the rotors on the helicopter that created that vibration. It was probably a bit of both.

They have become very serious at port security about dumping any liquids in plastic bottles and any liquids in travel coffee cups, etc.

They use both Riedel and Chef Sommelier wine glasses on the Discovery but they are getting harder to find. The Discovery used to always have nice wine glasses but they’ve been replaced by those chunky heavy duty Libby type wine glasses. We were recently chased down leaving the Crown Grill (not on the Discovery), as my husband had one of the Chef Sommelier glasses in hand. I was done with my wine so left my Riedel on the table. Ridiculous! We aren’t going to steal them. I guess some people do but, we always return our wine glasses to wherever we’ve gotten them. I get that they are fragile but we are always careful with them and haven’t broken one yet. We cruised on Celebrity last year and every single venue, except out by the pool, used Riedel glasses. Even their water, martini and champagne glasses were Riedel. Wow!

Also, a couple of casual dining meals, free medallion shipping in the US, along with some other perks that we don’t necessarily take advantage of.

We just cruised on the Crown and absolutely love the new lunch menu with the small bites. I could make a meal out of those chicken tacos each and every day. Ooooo yum! The Calamari, roasted cauliflower, spring rolls are also really good. Although I must say, I do miss my first sea day Chicken Korma with tons of jalapeños on top and that hot Thai soup was also a favorite of mine. Our key to going for any meal is to go when we are hungry. All food is so much more appetizing if you are actually hungry. We rarely eat just because it’s time to go to lunch or to dinner.

Oh .. just got my folio and not one extra charge on my account. On the past few cruises, there were some extra charges added after we disembarked.

It was honestly the weirdest shaking for a few seconds. Maybe even longer, as it woke me up from a deep sleep. I am wondering if they had to bring the ship to a more sudden stop than expected because of the helicopter or the helicopter whipping up the seas. Because I was sleeping, not sure if the two were related as I had no real concept of time in the middle of the night. Our friends with rooms up from described it as a jolt.

Just saw this posted on another site. Glad to hear that was a successful evacuation. PRESS RELEASE | Feb. 7, 2024 Coast Guard medevacs 76-year-old man from cruise ship near Monterey SAN FRANCISCO — The Coast Guard medically evacuated a 76-year-old man from a cruise ship approximately 74 miles southwest of Monterey Bay, Tuesday. Coast Guard Sector San Francisco watchstanders were contacted by Cruise Ship Crown Princess crewmembers requesting a medevac for a man requiring medical assistance. An Air Station San Francisco MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrew was launched. Once on scene, the Dolphin aircrew hoisted the man and transported him back to awaiting emergency medical services personnel at Monterey Airport. The man was transported to Natividad Medical Center in Salinas, and was last reported to be in stable condition. -USCG-

No .. we hope to get there again one day.