fabby50

My husband gets eggs benedict with scrambled eggs - much better in his opinion.

16 minutes ago, mmtska said:

Oh that makes sense with the pasta class! I’m leaning towards that now haha. 

on the barbeque class, my husband said they gave them a tour of the barbeque kitchen, they prepared a brisket, but since they take a long time to roast, they didn't get to eat what they prepared at the time.  We went to the Asian restaurant for dinner and they brought him his brisket, which he could barely eat because we had finished dinner 🙂  After the class, they had lunch at the barbeque place.  We're looking forward to making pasta - 

My husband took the barbeque class on the Panorama and we are signed up for the pasta class on our next trip.  He enjoyed it.  I thought the pasta class sounded fun and you prepare lunch, so it gives us a different dining experience for a sea day.  I understand with the pie class, you prepare your pie and they serve it in the dining room for dinner.  Not sure if its still this way, but it is making me skip the dessert classes because we don't usually eat in the dining room.  I was going to sign up for the sushi class, but the timing wasn't right for our trip.  I signed up for the teppanyaki lunch instead.

We are headed to Grenada next weekend and the entry requirements and country requirements are quite strict.  I am happy to comply - I feel I'm lucky to finally take this trip (cancelled last year) and their requirements/restrictions are helping to keep residents and visitors safe.  They've only had 15 cases in the last two weeks.  All of the Caribbean had a bad rise during the late summer - most decided to go ahead and have their carnivals and festivals.  Most have also said that was a mistake and they went back for awhile to heavy restrictions.  Barbados in not doing well at all right now.  I try to keep abreast of things in the Caribbean because before the pandemic, we would travel there one or two times a year.  There is a world map that shows bi-weekly reported cases easily found on the net.  This will be our first trip in over 2 years.

I don't drink, my husband does.  I would never buy the package as we both would have to get it.  It has been nice when its included.

I have heard more funny stories about people showing up for the Friends of Dorothy meetings.  Starting with women named Dorothy 🙂

We went on the Grand, Zumba every day in the main theater, not sure about line dancing.

4 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

Just noticed there is no Sabatini's on Majestic. So we'll give Bistro and Harmony a try.

We are on her for our next Princess cruise.  Looking forward to trying both.  I have heard good things 🙂

10 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Yes, the restaurants are not the same area of the ship.

I think that depends on which ship your are on, on the Grand, they are right next to each other.  The staff in the Crown Grill brought me a main dish from Sabatini's one night.  The staff, atmosphere, etc. in both are great, its just all up to your tastes and what food you prefer.  I am a sucker for the pasta dishes, the appetizers and the desserts in Sabatini's.

When we were on the Grand, NO FOOTBALL, college or pros.

We scheduled for December 2022, hope things are semi normal by then, but I said that this time last year too!  We are going on a land trip to Kauai in February, looking forward to hearing directly from the locals what they think.

1 hour ago, Tedferg said:

Can't he order the Filet in Sabatini's - doesn't everything come from the same kitchen ?

They have separate kitchens.  That's one of the great thing about both restaurants, cooked to order, right there.

I too prefer Sabatini's over the Crown Grill.  Much more imaginative menu.  We go to both, but my husband who loves his filet, likes Crown Grill.  I am looking forward to our next cruise which is on the Majestic to try the other two restaurants we haven't experienced yet.

Do you know if they do something similar on Christmas in the cafe?  I never even though about it or checked it out when we went on our Christmas cruise.  Went to the main dining room and it was the worse meal of the week.  The cafe meal pictures above look like a really good experience.

When we went on our Christmas cruise (a year before the shutdown), the specialty restaurants all had their normal menus for Christmas.  Since we ate in one every other night, we decided to try the dining room for Christmas dinner.  I was really underwhelmed.  Not to say your experience will be the same, I'm glad we tried it to see, but I wouldn't do it again.  It was loud, crowded, people seemed to be very demanding, not sure if it was just the night or if it was the crowd for that particular trip.  The servers were rushed, the food not good, the desserts a terrible let down.  Next time, if we go on a Christmas cruise, we will either got to a French restaurant if available or the steakhouse. 

One question before I launch into anything 🙂  Are you cruising in suite?  If so, the experience is completely different.  Don't want to overpost if it doesn't concern you.

One thing my less than mobile relatives love about Princess is the International Cafe.  I think it would be hard to find the same experience on another line because of the way its set up.  We have one person who has bad hips and can't really move around much.  She will sit there pretty much all day - entertainment is every changing, she can get wine a the wine bar, breakfast/lunch at the cafe, coffee from the coffee bar and some of the Princess ships have converted part of the wine area into a sit down pizza restaurant.  I can't see her being happy on any other line.

I guess we'll know things are back to pre-COVID normal when we see topics like rum runners, "do I need to bring my own beach towel?", "how can I remove the autogratuities?" etc.

1 hour ago, OCruisers said:

We were quarantined in our cabin one time because my husband was sick.

No matter how large the cabin, I needed that BALCONY to not feel trapped.  

That is what I now seem to be concerned about.  Never even though about it before and we really did enjoy our window suite, all that space and the suite benefits.  We have sailed all the way forward on other lines and I would say it would depend on where we were going if we'd do that again.

We have sailed in one twice - once on a Mexico cruise and once to Alaska.  Advantages are they are really big cabins, lots of storage space, great location, sort of off to themselves, excellent price to get all the benefits of a suite (you can look at the benefits on the Princess website).  That being said, we will probably never book a cabin without a balcony again.  I seem to have developed an somewhat irrational fear of being quarantined in a room without any outdoor space.  We have had friends that were stuck in theirs due to engine troubles that required the ship being towed and know of several people that were quarantined in theirs.

We really liked the Asian place, the name escapes me tonight!  They were very good about special requests.

Pretty sure its always been this way.

check out this link from Amazon (I think its OK that I post this).  This is similar to the drops our grocery carries (I am in California):

Amazon.com: SweetLeaf Sweet Drops Liquid Stevia Variety 5 Pack 1.7 fl. oz each : Grocery & Gourmet Food

Check the coffee aisle at your local market, every store I've been in has them by the powdered creamers now.  A few drops goes a long way with flavor and sweetness.

I was disappointed on our last cruise they didn't have any.  Luckily, I had some flavor drops in my suitcase.  I get the store brand, they have vanilla, hazelnut, and caramel.  I now never travel without them.

My favorite breakfast on a cruise ship is muesli.  I load it up with nuts and dried fruit usually found by the oatmeal.  Its not something you can find in an restaurant around us, or really that I have seen in the US.  It is fairly rich because I think they use cream or at least some cream.  Its pretty hard to screw up and so filling.  If not available, I'll have fruit and a muffin or bagel.  I haven't found breakfast that good on cruise ships either unless you are lucky enough to have a suite and can eat the special breakfast.  On Carnival, they have a walk up Mexican place that makes burritos, tacos, etc. - that's actually my favorite egg based breakfast on a cruise line.  Has anyone else found anything special on the buffet that they wouldn't normally think about?  I'm always ready to branch out of my muesli bowl for something good.