Cruise Raider

We cruised on the Diamond last year and thought the food was top notch, especially in Sabatini’s. We only went to the buffet to get a late night snack but thought it was very good. We are not foodies so, I may not be the best judge. But, I do like the buffets on the Royal class ships so much more so than on the Grand and Crown class ships. I really didn’t care for the Diamond Princess and I wouldn’t be a fan of the Brazilian restaurant. The Japanese favorites menu sounds like it is right up my alley, though. I would try another ship as I think they offer different experiences.

I would love that elegant chic nights vs the formal nights. In all honesty, that’s what it has turned into anyway. My DH used to dress in a tux and me in a formal gown. That turned into a black suit, dress shirt and tie and a nice dress. It is now a dress shirt with tie, black khakis and for nice paints and a sparkly top. We have had good luck when we’d go to the dining room where the restaurant manager would save the same table for us every night but that was before the ships were getting filled to capacity. We rarely hit up the MDR for dinner anymore. I have a pretty severe reaction to strong perfumes and so, would prefer not to be seated close to someone that has doused themselves in it.

Bravo .. I would love to see the ability to get a discount on the packages or perhaps a free upgrade to the premier if we purchase the plus. I love that suggestion! We are ones that never ever use our mini bar! I would like to be able to trade that in for something I would actually use. Although, when we have our white elephant gift exchange at Christmas, you can’t count on the one from us being a box of 40-50 mini bottles of liquor. 🤣 But, a BOGO specialty dinner or a sanctuary pass for half day would be very nice. Although, since those are already very popular items, not sure if that would be a viable suggestion. I also love the menu being available on the app ahead of time. We actually saw that in 2022 but not on all cruises.

We use a plastic mushroom container from the grocery store .. it fits over the lights we’ve seen on the Crown class ships quite well. I also use those containers for the little items in my nightstand and one over at the desk. So, when they are packed, they fit into one another and easy to fill with socks and such in my luggage. On the Royal class ships, they have different sized lights outside the bathroom but I am thinking they’ve disabled those lights between the closet and bathroom on the Discovery. ?? I am sure they installed those lights due to safety purposes but they are ridiculously bright and go on and off all the time when the seas are rough. We take a small hockey puck sized motion light for in the bathroom, the same kind we use at home and the light is dim enough to allow us to go right back to sleep after a nighttime trip to the bathroom.

Yes, Yes, Yes!

The BTW, Princess just sent me a survey asking me about the premier package not a few minutes ago. One of the questions was whether or not specialty dining should be unlimited. While I’m not sure that is possible, it raises the concern about the # of specialty dining on longer cruises. There was only one small space for comments and that is where I entered they should have more casual dining options, especially on the Crown class ships and a lunch option would be most appreciated. If they cannot do that, perhaps being able to order the pizza and / or sushi option should be included.

You’ve taught me something new!

I wouldn’t even reduce my gratuities as I know the entire fleet benefits from that. But we certainly don’t need to evening service. Just stock the bathroom with towels, tissues and TP .. I could probably go a few days with no service. We did it in Vegas during the height of the pandemic and we rather liked it.

Exactly! We always tell them they can take the evening off from our cabin and we definitely let them know if we are in a B2B in the same cabin, they can just skip us. We leave a mess for our steward and they’ve even told us that skipping our cabin only saves them like 1 minute in the evenings. The turn around day one though, they are always so appreciative of that.

What we have found is a good number of the crew and even officers also smoke. So, I guess it doesn’t bother some of them. I know smokers have paid for their cruises as well, so I respect they have a habit that might be very hard to kick. But, providing a space outside should be sufficient. Whenever I go into the casino, the machines I love to play are mostly in the smoking section. Now, there are a lot of people that just stand over there to smoke, whereas they are supposed to be actively playing. We used to get a break from it on formal nights (way back when) but not even that anymore. 😞

100%! Celebrity has done it and their casinos are successful. We even tend to spend time in the Park MGM in Vegas since it is now all nonsmoking!

I’m a big fan of the app but we cruise in a couple of days and dang, if I couldn’t get my app to print out my luggage tags. It also showed me as blue lane after being in green lane for quite a while. Now, I’m magically back to the green lane. It is quirky at times!

Hear Hear! You said it. I think most of the slamming is because people leave their balcony door open while at sea and the cabin door slams .. but no matter what, some are just clueless.

I actually meant so I could turn it up so I don’t have to stick my head in the hallway to hear the announcement. The emergencies would come through as normal.

I am oftentimes coming up with suggestions for Princess to consider or reconsider .. I would like to hear yours if they are reasonable. I would like to see a small rack for paper recyclables in the cabins. I would like to see those ships that don’t have an Ocean Terrace or Alfredo’s/Gigi’s pizzeria offer complimentary pizza and sushi delivery via the app if already included in your plus or premier package. This suggestion belongs to someone else but sounds reasonable. If a cruise is over 13 days, the specialty dining and casual dining perks should reflect the number of formal nights. I would even go so far as to say if your cruise is under 5 nights, maybe that should be limited to one vs two specialty dining options .. just to keep it reasonable. I would like to see the option for no lanyard and no medallion clasp be offered when ordering your medallion online. We have so many of them already. It wouldn’t save them a lot but every little bit helps. I would like to see a notification pop up on your app when someone on the other end of crew chat notifies you. I would like to see nonsmoking nights return in the casino. I would like to see all shipboard deck plans available on the new app as they were on the old app. Even if they had them available in the future cruise sales office, that would be so helpful when picking out a cabin on a different ship. I would like to see a volume button in the cabins to hear the announcements over the PA. I would like to see all cabins equipped with both USB-A and USB-C ports near the bedside. Oh .. there are so many more, many of which wouldn’t save Princess money but some of which would be too costly or impossible to enforce. I really wouldn’t mind once a day room steward service in our cabin .. that one may not be popular with others, though. What are some of your reasonable suggestions?

We are on a cruise April 3rd and they have been listed for at least a couple of weeks already. Go into your JourneyView and they should already be there.

Cute ..

I would call cruise transportation from the San Francisco East Bay a real game changer. If only!

That’s an excellent point. I am going to include that in my survey next time! And, I have 2 SD on a 3 night cruise and wondering how in the world I am going to be able to eat that much food in 3 days? I could just skip it, I suppose, but that seems like such a waste. I think one is sufficient for anything up to 5 nights and 3 for anything between 14 and 20 nights. Oh, if only I were king for a day. I also think that the pizza or sushi delivery should be included on the Crown class ships as their casual dining options are so limited.

The only extra dining you get would be the unlimited casual dining.

They should be populated on your app.

You would if you got the promo codes … 😂

Great advice!

@azbirdmom you make good sense. If I gave the impression a that my CVP said I was not worthy of the offer, I should clarify that is meant to say, I did not qualify for the offer. She did mention that I should take screen shots of the offerings next time but I was so sure I didn’t need them as, it was showing up on several cruises. Next time, I will be wiser. @HaveDogWillTravel and I have a pact that we notify each other of deals, price drops, cruise planning, when a whale shows up “port side”, “starboard side”, etc .. we always text each other. So, when she told me about it, I just assumed it was a new promo for all. You still make a good point about notifying corporate .. not to complain about my CVP. I think we’re good! It’s more about offering something and then not following through with it without an argument from my end. Is it there IT dept? Was I never supposed to receive the promo, as it is now gone? Those would be my questions.

Thank you for that my dear friend.