Cruise Raider

While we ended up canceling the Panama Canal cruise on the Ruby for this October, I have no doubt you will have a great time on her. She is a great ship with a fabulous staff. Our neighbors are still going. I just had a lot unexpected expenses arise.

We always do but thank you for that reminder. That danger CoVid is still lurking!

That’s what we were hoping for when I booked it! We are probably just staying close to the hotel once we are settled in because of the weather. But, I’m sure after we’ve disembarked from the cruise, we will be looking for something yummy to eat close by. I don’t think the hotel itself has any food venues attached. We have umbrellas, though. Last time we stayed there, it was at the Pan Pacific and we weren’t even sure where to stop in for a meal. We ended up at the Cactus Club and that was so good. The service and views were quite impressive. Oh, those chicken wings were so delightful. I may be easy to please. 😂 We sure do hope to meet you onboard! Like I told @AnyMajorCruiseDude, we like to hang out in the piazza and in Vines and my DH has a big white beard (and a pony tail now, too). It was all a result of the CoVid lockdowns and cataracts … now, we both just really like it so he isn’t thinking of cutting any of it off. Anyway, I’m sure hoping the casino will be open. I can’t imagine it wouldn’t be but last time we went from Victoria to Vancouver on the Royal, it was closed the entire time. I would love to play a bit while we are onboard.

Oh wow .. we loved him, too. I sure hope he is doing well.

Wow… that was a long time ago and once we got to the Hawaiian islands, I tore up my knee something fierce. I would say that was at over 10 years ago, maybe 15??? I’ve since had surgery and the knee is all better. Yay! We may look different now .. but if you see us, stop by to say hi. My DH is the one with the big white Santa beard. We like Vines and the piazza during the day.

thank you for that! But, since we will still have no room in our luggage, we will probably wait until we are already in port on the 2nd or 3rd leg of this trip. We are packed tight and it just fits. But, I will keep that in mind for next time we travel up that way.

We are staying at the Auberge .. it looks like it is really close to Canada Place, had really good reviews and was about half the price of the Pan Pacific. We love the Pan Pacific and would have stayed there if we could find a good price .. but, that wasn’t meant to be. We packed our decent umbrellas and a rain jacket just yesterday after seeing the weather report. We don’t mind rain so much, actually wish we had more of it down this way, but probably will be hanging out close to our hotel rather than touring Vancouver this time around.

Thank you so much for those encouraging words. We rarely have problems with the beds, especially on Princess. I love their pillows so much that I’ve just stopped taking my own.

Since we are flying in and changing ships and transferring to a hotel and back to Canada Place on foot(in the rain), my DH challenged me to get everything into one carry on and one personal item each. By George, we did it! I seriously don’t think I overpacked .. people may see me wearing the same clothes but it will be spread across 3 different cruises. I will just hit up the laundry onboard if needed. No room for goodies for the crew unless we find stuff while in port.

We are also on this two day sailing. We will be disembarking in Vancouver to stay overnight at a nearby hotel and getting on the Majestic on Tuesday. The Royal is my absolute favorite Princess ship for so many reasons. Not sure who Andrew the Canadian is but we will have fun regardless. Just checked and found out Miggy Washington will be performing .. if you have never seen him, he’s so funny! We will definitely be going to see at least 2 of his four shows. He does comedy without being vulgar .. I just love that so much! Because we are going for a B2B on the Majestic the day after we disembark from the Royal, our reservations are all messed up. My DH never received his medallion for the Majestic so, even though we have the package on each leg of the sailing, we will be headed for the blue line, I guess. I got both of my medallion one for the Royal and one for the B2B on the Majestic. Also, on the app, I can’t make dinner reservations for anywhere, including the MDR. That’s ok, I think we will take advantage of our specialty dining options but just go to the casual dining options instead of trying to make reservations. Anyway, aside from not being able to make any dining reservations, I think the JourneyView may be messed up for me as well. Unless the same bands and music groups are playing on both both ships, I think there is a glitch in the app. Or .. perhaps, they will be switching ships just as we are but I think that might be unlikely. On our profile, the days we are on the Royal are attached at the end of the days on the Majestic. But, ether is definitely a day in between those two distinct sailings as they didn’t know if it was a PVSA violation to go from Seattle and ultimately to LA, even though they are different ships and different embarkation ports. Thus, the two day sailing. For those that have taken the train or QuickCoach, we’ve done both. While QuickCoach is more convenient in that you get picked up and dropped off pretty much door to door (port to airport or vice versa). While they were sorting out my possible PVSA violation, everything was fully booked on QuickCoach so, we decided it would just be easier to get a hotel in Vancouver near Canada Place for one night. Anyway, the busses are clean and pretty reliable but if there is that back up at the border, it can be a bit iffy that they are ‘always’ timely. The train on the other hand, is usually very timely .. and the ride is so gorgeous. The train station is a close walk to or from the Sky Train and then not too far from the Sky Train to or from the pier. But, if it’s raining (which it looks like it will be up in Vancouver) and you have luggage to haul, it may not be quite as convenient as the bus. They both have their pluses and minuses.

We recently cruised on both the Ruby and the Emerald and they are both in great shape for ships of that age. Plus, the crew and staff on both were just phenomenal. I do love the Royal and the even the Ruby but, since they will no longer be here in SF, I was really hoping the Crown would be a suitable replacement. The mattress comments have me a bit concerned.

I’m so disappointed to hear about this as the Crown will be home-ported in the City of San Francisco by the end of this year and we already have several cruises booked on her through the middle of next year. I wish they would have let the Royal stay here. I guess they can really count on the bookings of out SF, so we would cruise on any ship they give us. We cruised on the Crown quite some time ago, the first cruise on her almost had us never returning to that ship. We did end up cruising on her again the following year and had a great time. One of the many things I love about Princess are those excellent mattresses. It will be sad if they aren’t replaced anytime soon. Does anyone know if she has a dry dock planned in the near future?

I found it to be quite interesting. If you post the rest of your review, I promise to read it. I’m sure others will read it, as well. Anyway, too bad you didn’t have a fabulous time. I love the Discovery and we’ve always found our cruises on her to be excellent.

Wow, that’s really great! We’ve kind of stopped going to dinner as we just eat the snacks served up in one of the lounges.

I only bid if I’d be happy in any cabin within the category I bid on. We have never b had a bid accepted but were really lucky to just get a complimentary upgrade from an inside to a BB balcony. It’s probably not a location I would have chosen but am happy with the outcome, nevertheless. they’ve now offered us a really inexpensive offer for a bid to upgrade to a mini suite. We are happy with what they gave us so, think we will pass.

We always purchase the Plus or Premier package but still really enjoy the PES lounge. The nibbles are so good on most nights. I get that Celebrity and Royal Caribbean offer free drinks but during this event but just cruised on Celebrity and there were no more appetizers being passed around. I can’t speak to RCCL as we haven’t cruised with them in about 10 years. It was really great in the past, though.

I believe it’s in Skywalkers one the Emerald. I know we went to it recently and found it to be substantial enough we never went into the MDR for dinner. We were recently on the Ruby and it was so good .. again, we only made it to the MDR the night of the captain’s party as the PES event is closed that evening. They had the best food with great service and some fabulous entertainment.

Excellent news! We’ve taken move over offers a couple of times and really enjoyed the free cruises that we got. I always keep my fingers crossed to get one of those emails.

That’s exactly what I was looking for! Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.

Does anyone have any current menus from the Majestic, namely from Harmony and Vines Wine Bar? And, does the Majestic still have Sur La Mer and if not, any menus and opinions on the food at The Catch by Rudi would also be most appreciated.

You do you and stop telling other people how to show their appreciation.

I oftentimes just take a photo of their name tag as well. I believe it is true that the survey has to be submitted for the crew members to get recognition onboard from their direct supervisors, however, it will still go towards the count of good reviews at corporate headquarters if you return it later than the 3 days. That survey often takes me two hours to complete, so I'm usually busy with other things. Now, I have whittled it down to take an hour, I include names but maybe not quite as many personalized comments so I can get it done in time.

Being from the US, we would never consider removing the crew appreciation as we believe there are those behind the scenes that contribute to experience while onboard. I understand there are cultures where tipping is not the norm and I can respect that, as well. But while in Rome (or on a cruise), do as the Romans do. We always get at least the Plus Package. We also tend to bring goodie bags of treats (individually packaged bags of chips, chocolates, nuts, protein bars, trail mix, etc) for those that have made our trip extra special, but usually only if we leave out of our home port as we are able to easily take an extra piece of luggage. Some staff may also get an extra cash tip, which they are able to keep but we’ve noticed that, at least at the bars, it goes into a jar to be shared with the crew at that specific bar. We don’t go overboard with cash tipping, though. For room service, we leave between $3-$5 per delivery. We usually distribute no more than $100 overall for a 10 day cruise for our favorite waiters, bartenders and room steward …. some passengers leave a lot more, some leave nothing extra and the choice is always personal. I’ve never seen waiters complain or give lessened service if people do not leave them extra. Oftentimes, we will just ask what they want or need from in port if they don’t get a chance to get off the ship .. they are always hesitant to tell us but we convince them they will just get something they may not want. 😉 Most important, we always fill out the survey post cruise. We learned they only get to recognized onboard if we do so within 3 days at the end of the cruise. I text myself all the names of the staff that we’ve gotten to know to make sure I don’t forget anyone that gave us extra special care.

I feel as though a full suite is a real splurge for us … would not even think about booking one if I were to be joined by others we wanted to dine with or be seated with us in the theater. But, unlike many others on this post, I’d have no problem staying in an inside cabin. I actually feel like they are rather cozy. My DH would not consider staying in an inside but he’s getting a chance to check one out again next week. I’m sure he will be just fine!

On the Discovery, we found similar wines at the Crown Grill Bar.