Cruise Raider

Can’t wait! And yes, Cole is the CD and him and him and his staff are great! We knew he was going to be onboard via JourneyView and so brought him some Tim Tams. The look on his face was absolutely priceless when he got them!

So, we went to dinner at The Catch tonight and it certainly did not disappoint. The food was only surpassed by the service! Ovidiu is the maitre’d there and seated us at a wonderful table by the window. We asked about others that might be having trouble booking this restaurant in the app and he said that once they’ve received their maximum reservations, the app won’t allow any new ones. There were a fair number of people dining in there tonight. This sailing is nearly at full capacity, though. Anyway, it’s hard to know if it is really full or if the app is just not allowing reservations for some as I’ve had little problem making reservations on the app for our April sailing, even now, whereas others are still stating they cannot. I highly recommend the Ctach by Rudi, even more so than the Crown Grill. The menu is creative and the food is superb! I happen to like the current venue and I heard there was talk of switching Sabatini’s to that location and The Catch occupying Sabatini’s current location on deck 5. They know better than I which location would work best for their business model. We loved our dinner so much that we asked if it was possible to move our second reservation later in the week from the Crown Grill to the Catch. I see in the app that my request was filled. Yay! I already know what I am going to order. I will order the cold lobster tail with citrus foam and the calamari, both are appetizers. I will also ask if we can get a plate of the concerto pasta without any seafood to split. I don’t want to request way too much food, so this will be just enough without gorging ourselves. My DH ordered the surf and turf, which was a small but delicious lobster tail and a petite filet mignon. He said both were excellent! Our waitress also suggested a small plate of vegetables (baby bock choy, asparagus and some kale) and that was cooked and seasoned to perfection. she also brought some dessert and I was actually too full to partake in too much of it. I do t really have a sweet tooth but found the white chocolate candy to be fantastic. Thank goodness there were only two so, I only was tempted to have one. She also brought some minted berries with ice cream. I cannot stand mint so my DH was in charge of that dish. But I was completely satisfied with my dinner so didn’t mind. After dinner, we watched the introduction of the top officers from a spot on the spiral staircase and the Princess dancers perform a routine for formal night. The costumes and dance were quite elegant and perfect for formal night. We had a great vantage point from our spot on the staircase. We just stumbled upon it after leaving our dinner and so glad we did. My DH was actually game for participating in the photo op for the champagne pouring. We’ve never done that before so it will be fun to see how that picture turns out, since we get all our photos taken with the premier package. After that, we watch the acrobats in the piazza. Bravo 👏 We went from there to Princess Luve to watch the yes no game show and it was hilarious as ever. One arrogant college student was downright rude to the CD and his assailant (I’m thinking alcohol may have been involved) .. everybody cheered as he lost. Note to his GF in the audience … let his jerky behavior serve as a lesson and run as fast as you can! Oh, I digress! Let me get back on track. it was still about another hour to see Robbie Printz, the comedian from the night before, for his adult show in the Vista Lounge. I knew it would be another 2 hours before we would get out and we were both so tired from a late night yesterday, so we opted to just head back to the cabin and get some much needed sleep.

Yes their was .. I just happened to take a photo of it just in case someone asked. It is $60 pp.

There was no wait at the GastroPub but there was a line to be seated for sushi this afternoon. It was about a 20 minute wait. We explained we were just eating a modified meal, each with edamame beans and splitting an order of the vegetable roll. At first, I’m not sure if our request was understood but we were able to get exactly what we wanted and it was delish! We’ve seen people at the tables in GiGi’s but last night, it was just as empty as could be. We will be hitting it up tomorrow for a late lunch. So, to answer your question, I think if you can walk right up to be seated, it really just depends on when you go and what others are in the mood for. Of note, there was a huge line extending past crooners this afternoon and it was for people that wanted to go to tea time in the Skagway dining room on deck 6! I can’t believe how many people there were on formal night wanting to go to high tea shortly before dinner.

Take 5 is a lounge area just off the port side of the casino on the way into the theater. They play jazz music in there evenings and it’s such a relaxing nonsmoking lounge area with very comfortable seating areas for small to moderate sized groups. One of our favorite crew members, Jason, is working there now. They oftentimes have special meetings there, we’ve seen it all decorated for a wedding event in the past, and today it was closed off for a private event during the day for a wellness seminar. I’m not sure if that was a private event or something set up by a Princess. We have had a meet and greet there in the past. During the day, if it’s not reserved for a private event, it’s a great quiet place to visit with others or simply sit by the windows and read a book. A coup,e of months ago, they had a liquor cart there with special gins to choose from. That doesn’t seem to be there on this cruise. The name Kristoff is ringing a bell but can’t think of which ship we’ve sailed with him before. I believe they told me he was from South Africa. Maybe if I saw a photo, it would jog my memory.

we didn’t notice but it’s possible, under the new app, to look back at events retrospectively and I see it was listed was listed there. It does t show there was going to to be a prize, so that part was a surprise.

Last night, we attended two music trivia events .. so much fun and we learned we were pitiful .. 😆 We followed that by a most hilarious comedian. My goodness, we laughed so hard … a comedian that isn’t vulgar but can make people laugh until they hurt is deserving of an entertainer of the year award! This was one of those comedians. I think his name was something Prinz. Absolutely worth seeing!

The pop up Crab Shack lunch is currently happening in the GastroPub. It is priced as specialty dining, not casual dining. The Captain just announced that the passenger that disembarked made if off ok and is doing well. That’s something to applaud!

I was hoping for some of those, too. I was told that the ones that are 30% off are mostly for late 2024 and 2025.

It was in the Future Cruise Consultant office but wasn’t really given the opportunity to review it. Will try to peek at it tomorrow while we are anchored in Cabo, as we tend to not use the tenders and the line won’t be so long.

The internet is working pretty well … I keep reporting in small segments to ensure my messages go through but that doesn’t seem to be an issue so far. We did have an emergency evacuation last night .. so sad for the first day onboard, or any day, for that matter. There are just over 3600 passengers onboard, mostly American. The cut off for the Most Travelled Passenger luncheon is 536 days. The next cruise is waitlisted. We were going to try to stay onboard if there were any deals to be had. Unfortunately, there are not. That’s ok .. I bought air for both disembarkation dates, both cancellable, so no harm! Gone are those days of low capacity cruises. Fortunately, it doesn’t feel super crowded. There are a lot of new crew onboard but it hasn’t had a negative impact on us. Things seem to be runnng very smoothly. We booked the premier package and eat mostly at the casual dining venues so, had our dinner at the GastroPub and it was outstanding! The new lunch menus in the dining room is in full effect. I do love the small plates. I may miss my chicken korma at lunch on the first sea day but I can get great Indian food in the buffet. There are updated door signs. No more seeing if you’ve won or not when opening your cabin door. The entertainment staff is incredible. The activities staff is so much fun and full of energy. Cole, our cruise director is announcing a prize of the premier package for two. If you already have a package, the prize will be $1300 .. refundable? It randomly picks a person in the crowd in the piazza based on their medallion being present. We didn’t win but what a nice treat for the woman that did. So happy for her. If you purchase the package on day two, you can either have it retrospectively applied or it can be prorated. For those on the Total Solar Eclipse cruise on this ship in April, Christoff will be the cruise director. Attached is the current officers board. sorry if this is getting long .. looking more like a live from post but am trying to answer some questions that people have asked on different threads. The plus and premier packages

OK .. I’m back! We reported that the app didn’t register the muster drill on the new app. I’m thinking it may have been due to me being signed in under my general log in vs the cabin or booking number. That would make sense. I did use the new app to order room service this morning. It worked perfectly! The order came hot in the time it took me to unpack this morning, which is quick because we don’t overpack. I checked into the Wine Makers Dinner without the Caymus at the previous prices. No, they don’t have that onboard this ship. The price is $140 pp. Also, the Catch by Rudi looks to be the new hot spot. Some people are having trouble booking it on the app, whether it be the old app or the new one. I never did have trouble booking it on the app and we will be going to dinner there tonight so will ask if they are setting aside reservations to just book onboard. I know they ere doing that on the Majestic a few months ago. There are a list of discounts cruises if booked while onboard. Copies are not allowed and I really didn’t even get a chance to peruse the list. I’m going to go back tomorrow and probably book a cruise or two. Hopefully, there is something of interest to us on that list. There is supposedly at least one pop up crab shack happening onboard this cruise. There is also a Super Tuscan lunch for approx $60 pp to be held in Sabatini’s on one of our sea days. Service has been graet and our room is clean and comfortable. We have a very wonderful room steward. We normally book on deck 8 and got a fair amount of obstruction but it doesn’t bother us in the least.

Not really a live from feed but some additional notes about the Discovery Princess We flew in on a rather late flight yesterday, knowing what the risks were in doing so. All worked out well and we were onboard by 1:30 PM. It’s the first time we’ve arrived that late so by the time we got through security and check in, we could immediately go to our room. There was a little hiccup in the terminal .. seems the port workers are still holding up sets of people under the tent area until lines cleared out at security. It’s kind of not a good look for the security folks at the terminal to be laughing and joking around with each other with nothing else to do while people are waiting in line. They must figure that 3 separate lines is better than one really big long line. Either way, once we got out of the outside line, then through the inside line security line, through security there was an inside line before the port worker allowed us into the green lane, where there was no line. The blue lane was really really long! I’m sure those in that line were there for nearly an hour. I had success with the new app at first. I really like the layout and functionality of the new app, save a few things. My DH can’t log into his so is still using the old app. I really want to work out the bugs on mine before it’s mandatory, which is one of the reasons for this post. We are going to visit the ocean navigator area to figure that out today or when convenient. I also want you report that on the new app, I watched the muster drill once and it just got stuck on the end of the video. I set it up to play again, same results. So, finally, I set it up on my old app and it gave me the check mark. We weren’t paying attention to the time so, went to go check in at our muster station and they had already checked us off. Well, we made sure to know where our station is so, all is good and it automatically gave us the ✅ on our app. To be continued …

I think a lack of sleep for days on end can make some only look for the worst things they can list. It just builds and builds until you, yourself, pull yourself out of the meltdown mode. Just mentioning this as we are all most responsible for our own happiness. As previously noted, we didn’t like the Diamond Princess at all. Some of our friends had felt the same but a couple of them had wondered what we didn’t like about it. So, when we sat down to realize the good things about the experience, it made our cruise most memorable and in a good way. We did have the best entertainment that I could even imagine on that cruise. Luckily, we weren’t sleep deprived. While many things lacked, it wasn’t blown out of the water as being the worst cruise ever… however, it was probably not a ship I’d ever book again but wish we could get the same entertainers back together on another cruise ship.

I wonder if one over the other gets precedence at the last minute .. like drawing the short straw. Perhaps another ship has to give up a different port in the event that the Regal has to give up Roatan. Frankly, I am just making up a scenario that might explain the late notification.

C325 is not and M1 or club class cabin (now referred to as reserve class). Of course, the path to and back from Hawaii is notorious for rough seas. Plus, there are storms out in the US west coast, not really the fault of Princess.

You are absolutely correct! Celebrity used to be our absolute favorite cruise line but then, they abandoned us here on the California coast several years ago. We started jumping more and more on Princess ships. When the Royal came to our homeport of San Francisco, everything changed in what we valued in cruising! Princess became our fast favorite. We even had a leftover sailing, paid in full with a lot of OBC from many cancellations due to charters back before CoVid. Since we wanted to use it, we booked the Solstice down to Mexico from LA. We also booked a Discovery Princess cruise for the same day we disembarked the Solstice. It was like day and night and not just because the age of the ship but also because of the activities, the medallion, the ability to order food deliveries almost anywhere on the ship, etc. We were just kind of bored on Celebrity. I wouldn’t say we’d never go back but we didn’t purchase a future cruise deposit. We always buy at least two more whenever we are on Princess. Getting back to the OP’s point, we cruised on the Emerald several months ago and had the best time! Ipwe hadn’t cruised on that ship in over 12 years and thought they did a great job in maintaining that particular ship! She was gorgeous, the food was great and the service was phenomenal. We’ve also cruised on the Diamond in 2023, as well. I don’t have very many good things to say about that ship except it had the most phenomenal entertainment. Suffice it to say, I won’t be booking on her again. She was in very poor shape IMO!

We booked an aft balcony on the Royal last year and got so sea sick that we had to plead to move cabins. Thankfully, there was a midship cabin available and we were promptly relocated. We normally stay in either midship or aft cabins but this itinerary just hit some very rough seas.

They don’t work for me or should I say, there were way too many side effects.

I have requested turkey or chicken sausage for the last several years and have never found them to be available on Princess.

There are those that don’t even use the app or even the medallions, so I imagine if Princess gets enough pushback on this from those that do, they will fix it in the system. I’m not one having any problems with the new app and I actually like it but, I liked the old app as well. To force people into not using it is not something I believe Princess will embrace. If people don’t like it, they simply won’t use it! Whether that means they will just do everything we based or move to another line, time will tell. I did see someone on FB comment that they told her that if she didn’t fill out the shoreside info, she would be denied boarding. Either she misunderstood that statement or someone gave her some very inaccurate info.

I doubt if you will have any issues. if you paid to have the medallions shipped before you got the premier package, you will probably get a refund onboard. You may have to ask for it .. that is, if it’s worth it for you to do so.

We booked a window suite a few times on the Grand. I thought my DH would really miss having a balcony. Once he got into that room, there was no chance of him missing anything. We were really spoiled, as a matter of fact!

No, the windows do not open. I would not hesitate to get a window suite, however, these are way up front which is the reason I wouldn’t book one.

While I’ve not been on the Regal, the Royal did allow gelato scoops as a premium dessert. The Diamond Princess would not allow it! So strange but that was what we encountered.