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Paula_MacFan

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Everything posted by Paula_MacFan

  1. Yesterday we took an all day Princess excursion called Scenic Berlin. We met in Explorers at 7am but were delayed getting off the ship until 8am due to slightly late docking. They hurried 500+ of us off the ship to meet the chartered train cars on time. No disembarkation photos set up yet due to hurry 😊 The train ride to Berlin was 3.25 hours despite the tour description of 2.5 hours. During that time we had a host who provided info, water bottles, iced coffee, and snacks. The trip across the countryside was pleasant. Once in Berlin we exited the very busy train station according to our groups. There were several different Princess excursions offered that all take the same train. We had a competent guide & driver who led us on a city tour of the Reichtag, Berlin Wall, CheckPoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, and other local sights. We made several stops throughout the day. Lunch was at a traditional beer hall with German food & beer, served family style in a lively atmosphere. After lunch we had a River Spree cruise, followed by a quick shopping stop on the Kurfurstendamn. We left from a different but just as busy train station around 6pm to make the train trip back to Hamburg. We arrived to the ship around 9pm and left shortly after. It was the longest excursion we've ever taken but felt it was worth it. We sat on our balcony and enjoyed the moonlit sail down the Elbe River. The captain said the river is about 81 miles to the sea and one of the busiest shipping ports. It was a lovely evening and we called it a day around midnight. Glad the next day is a sea day to relax 😊 So far our evening food has been: Day 1 - buffet Day 2 - Lido pizza Day 3 - MDR Day 4 - room service/late arrival back onboard Day 5 - Bayou Steakhouse reservation (tonight) Day 10 - we have Sabatini's reservations scheduled
  2. We're having a great time so far. Both my husband and I have remarked this trip has had the calmest seas/least movement of any ship/trip we've been on. Which is rather surprising given the ship size & itinerary. Speaking of itinerary, as I mentioned earlier we pushed back another year to get the original schedule which includes Paris & Aarhus which weren't offered last year. We're glad we waited as we enjoyed Paris a lot and are looking forward to Aarhus tomorrow. We tend to cruise for the ports and experiences, and treat the ship as a floating hotel. We will partake in some evening live music or the occasional comedian, but we usually don't go to the MDR much if at all, don't usually go to production shows, and spend a lot of time on our balcony for sailaway or sea days. So far the weather has been lovely and on our first sea day there were even people in the outdoor pool swimming.
  3. You're welcome! We did not attend the pop up Alfredos but we talked to several people on our excursion today who did go and said it was very good & worth the money. They said they had nice salads, a choice of several different pizzas, & tiramisu for dessert. Normally we are Alfredos people but we were just busy doing other things during the time it was held.
  4. Port shuttle information and nightly buffet themes. Both were delivered to our cabin on day one.
  5. Here are the patters for days 1 - 4 so if anyone is interested they can see show times etc. Princess is doing this itinerary again in October. BTW the patters have been delivered each night without us requesting them.
  6. Yep, looks like it was 7:30 & 9:30. I posted wrong times earlier. That was the running time & not the show time. My apologies, we didn't go as we were totally jet lagged. Obviously maybe I still am 😊
  7. LOL my husband has on the same thing. However I'm simply commenting on the overall tone in the MDR because I keep reading on CC how it's so formal from Southampton. Not true here.
  8. England, Australia, & US. It's night 3 so people should be unpacked. The people next to us are currently having a loud face time call with their family at home. Not a real formal atmosphere.
  9. Currently standing in line waiting for a table on formal night. Didn't realize they did away with the beeper system. That is unfortunate. I can also report I've seem tons of athletic wear, tennis shoes, khakis, and non formal wear. I was prepared for coat and tails the way people carry on here, but I can tell you unequivocally tonight it is very casual. In fact as I stand here waiting I see no coats, and several people in Under Armour branded shirts. It is 6:21pm ship time.
  10. Night one was comedian at 7:30 & 8:15. Night two was Showtime Music Beyond Language at 7:30 & 8:15. Tonight is formal with Encore at 7:30 & 8:15.
  11. Thank you! We initially booked this cruise back in 2018 to sail in 2020. Then of course covid hit and it was pushed back to 2021, then 2022. We opted to push back another year to 2023 to get the original itinerary including Paris & Aarhus. So it's been a long time coming and we're just happy to finally be onboard 😊
  12. We've been aboard a couple days now. Our first full day was at Le Havre and we took the Princess excursion to Paris with Seine lunch cruise. It was wonderful and totally worth the time & money to go. We had superb guide & driver who both made the day special, and everyone on our tour was pleasant. So far we are enjoying the ship and are finding her in good condition. The first day they swapped out our balcony furniture for new. The staff has been very courteous and gracious. Absolutely no complaints so far! Our first time on the Island but we've sailed on Grand & Royal class in the past many times.
  13. Great, so glad to hear it and we are doing the same train excursion in Germany πŸ™‚ Sorry OP, didn't mean to take over your thread.
  14. Under the search box there's another option with '+More Search options' where you can filter by specific words or phrases, and other options. That might help you. I can't personally comment on the Catch reviews, but I do know that fairly recently there was a thread asking which specialty dining venues were recommended, and there were several comments there about Catch specifically.
  15. Same for us. We have loved Alfredo's in the past and usually eat there 2 or 3 times on a 7 day cruise. Last time on the Regal we had embarkation day lunch there, and then ate 2 evening meals there later in the cruise. We're leaving for an Island cruise tomorrow so sadly we won't have any Alfredo's, unless they do a pop up lunch. However, we are booked on the Regal in January and are looking forward to Alfredo's again and don't plan to let the new pricing scheme stop us. I just hope it's as good as we remember πŸ™‚ Edit to say we are flying to London tomorrow for the Oktoberfest European Capitols cruise. Didn't you guys do that last year? I seem to recall a review you did. We've been looking forward to this one for a long time, initially scheduled back in 2020 but was postponed several times, obviously.
  16. Agree with this 100%! Also dislike all the unnecessary packaging when medallions are sent to your home. Otherwise we really like the technology and features.
  17. I'm sure the room issue varies ship to ship and I don't dispute your comments. We were able to get as much boxed water as we wanted from any bar during the cruise.
  18. We've used EZ Air many times with no problems. In fact we're flying to LHR next Monday using EZ Air πŸ™‚ For our NCL cruise last January I booked all our flights and didn't use NCL for the reasons you stated. The reviews were horrible and we wanted to fly a week early. We even booked under the 'free airfare' promo and didn't use it.
  19. We sailed on NCL in January and boxed water was included in the drink package. Our room was available upon boarding and we didn't have any issues with our cabin steward or room cleanliness.
  20. Just curious why you're considering the Breakaway from New Orleans and not the Prima which sails from Galveston, the same as the Regal? Prima is one of the newest NCL ships while Breakaway is almost 10 years old. We have both the Prima and Regal currently booked from Galveston in January and are still considering which to take and which to cancel. We love the Regal and have cruised on her before. But we took our first NCL cruise earlier this year and really liked that too. Prima appeals to us as a very new ship and they also have the 4-port itinerary with NCL's private island, vs the Regal itinerary only has 3 ports and no private island. To answer your query about kids -- we've been sailing on Princess for almost 20 years now, and have never noticed a huge amount of children onboard. I would think your February time frame would be good for less kids, as most are in school then. We avoid school break times in general for our trips. Good luck with whatever you decide πŸ™‚
  21. LOL! I'd take Alfredos over the MDR any day anyway. We usually eat there several times if we're on a ship that has one.
  22. On our last several cruises we haven't stepped foot in the MDR. Well other than for the cheap t-shirt sale on sea days πŸ™‚ Don't miss it, don't care about formal nights, have no interest in 2+ hour meals. We board the Island Princess from Southampton in less than 2 weeks. It will be interesting to observe the dress as compared to US embarkation ports.
  23. For our upcoming cruise in 2 weeks this activity is listed several times in the JourneyView schedule.
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