wrongwaywatson

I drink regular coffee (no specialty ones) and Diet Coke.  There is no way that I would spend $35 per day buying them individually.  How much is a cup of coffee in the IC now?  Just coffee, nothing specialty?  

I really don't get WHY they messed with The Love Boat Dream.  Why change it?  It makes no sense.  It was my favorite.  We were on The Enchanted over Thanksgiving for a 10 day cruise and I was pleasantly surprised that it was the original version.  My BIL & SIL stayed on the ship to do a back-to-back and they said that on the second leg of the cruise, it switched to the new version and it was not a hit.

So, no more coffee cards at all?  I always purchased it, because I love fresh brewed coffee.  I don't like any specialty coffees.  I only use it for the convenience of the fresh brewed all day and all evening (I usually grab a cup after dinner to take to the theater).  I usually buy the soda package, because I like Diet Pepsi with my lunch and supper and I like it on sea days by the pool.  I may drink a few alcohol drinks, but not very many.  We had the plus on our last cruise, because the price with it was about the same as booking a cruise, soda package and gratuity.  I didn't have very many alcohol drinks, many days I had none.

I had already decided that I would swap out the mini bar for coffee cards, because we are finally elite on our next cruise, and just do pay as I go for the soda.  Figures it gets taken away just as we would get it!

I guess I will be a pay as I go for coffee and soda, because I don't see me spending more than $15 per day total (I won't drink as much coffee if I actually have to pay for it each time.  I will grab hot tea in the buffet)

4 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Amen!

Ditto!  Get the passport!

Interesting.  I'm not here to defend Princess or say that your comparisons are wrong, because I've only sailed on Princess.  I can't say that I've had a bad cruise, even our two post pandemic cruises.   I've enjoyed the food in the buffets and the MDR.  The only meal that I didn't enjoy was in Sabatini's, where I didn't like the food and I thought that the servers were standoffish.   Sure, I've had one or two things on several cruises that I thought could be improved.  On our Thanksgiving cruise on the Enchanted, I had a little trouble with room service.  One night I ordered hot tea around 10pm and I went to sleep at 11:30 and it still hadn't arrived.  The next night I mentioned that and it came in just a few minutes.

Maybe I'm lucky/fortunate?  Maybe I'm easily pleased?  Maybe I don't do many other vacations and I have lower expectations?  Not sure, but I'm glad! LOL

It is interesting, though, to read the comparisons.  Like I said, I'm not invalidating anyone's experience.  It is just interesting.

I'm glad you got your booking back.  We are just now at 90 days today on our upcoming cruise.  My TA sent emails 10 days out and 5 days out.  I called and gave them payment 2 days ago.   My emails did say that the cruise would be cancelled for non-payment if we did not pay.

We visited Roatan a few times in the past 15 years and we used Christopher Tours for a snorkeling tour twice.  Truthfully, it was one of the best snorkeling experiences we have had.  We are looking at going again, and their website shows that they are still in business and running tours.  Has anyone used them lately?

On 12/16/2022 at 6:38 AM, 1965 said:

We'll use ours for the steak house, if we can get a reservation. I keep reading they're hard to get once you get onboard.

 

On 12/16/2022 at 8:02 AM, MissP22 said:

We've never had a booking problem but then again we always eat at the earliest time available, which most people don't want. We also never go on formal nights either, which seems to be more popular for some reason.

We had never had a problem, either, because we eat early.  However, we were on The Enchanted over Thanksgiving and The Crown Grill was sold out before we even got on board.  I checked back twice once onboard to see if there were any cancellations and there were none.   First time for us!

5 hours ago, laktex said:

Boring it most certainly is not.

Good food, good wine and an undoubted “experience” will not be boring to many.

I have no problem with having those things for other people to enjoy.  I don't particularly like wine (the only one I like is a very sweet, cheap Moscato, LOL), I have a basic palette and some food allergies.   So, not for me.  But, I hope other people enjoy.  Just not my thing.

6 hours ago, MissP22 said:

We also order doubles and never been charged extra. It must have been an inexperienced bartender. 

I was charged for a double (amount over $12 on Princess Plus) on The Enchanted and that was the only drink I had that day.   I didn't think to tell them to charge me for 2 drinks, instead. 

The lobster bisque is very tempting!

We didn't eat there, but I did have an observation from our Enchanted Thanksgiving Cruise.   Before we got on the cruise, the Crown Grill was completely sold out.  You could get a reservation at the Bistro most nights (I didn't look at all of them).  When I looked in (admittedly, only 4 or 5 times, but at prime dinner time), there were tables available.  

51 minutes ago, northhavenjon said:

I think the people on here that have a great experience must work for Princess or Carnival in some way.

My BIL & SIL both caught Covid on the Sky in May.  They have no complaints about their treatment.  They said that they couldn't imagine a better place to be in quarantine.  They were checked on and they had everything that the needed/wanted.   AND......they do NOT work for Princess or Carnival!

3 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

not in GA... In a very long time.

 

My mom actually had an emergency in June and an overnight hospital stay when we came back from the cruise with Covid, and I couldn't go with her to the hospital. But they didn't test her. They tested her for everything under the moon, even A1C for some reason, but not for Covid.

Well, Illinois is a strange state.  One of the very last to lift regulations, Chicago was one of the last schools to send people back.   The hospital my neighbor takes her sister to for tests/visits, she still has to take a test beforehand and if my neighbor goes in with her, they test her.  It's a teaching hospital in downtown Chicago.

3 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

On the same cruise - lot of people coughing and sneezing. Some did it right in their hand. Some didn't bother covering up at all.

 

A woman on the elevator with us coughed without covering up - I was visibly taken aback. She was like - it's not covid. And I said - you still have to cover up, nobody wants your mucus all over them.

 

We wore masks indoors at all times, unless actively eating. We didn't get covid THIS time, but we got it on our last cruise in June. This time we were freshly boostered in addition to having it in June.

 

We also used plastic gloves at the buffet because I saw people sneezing into their hand and then touching public utensils. Otherwise, I'd have to wash my hands after every plate fill up. Which I occasionally did, when not wearing gloves. I did this because we touched a lot of foods with our hands - peeling hard boiled eggs, eating donuts and sandwiches, mcmuffins, etc.

I only took the elevator a few times during the cruise.  We were on the 11th floor, so it was easy to walk down or up to where we needed to go.  I never noticed people coughing or sneezing.  Not saying that there wasn't, just that I didn't notice it.

10 minutes ago, Coral said:

They are not testing everyone for COVID in the hospitals. Maybe people who have symptoms.

Yes, I said WAS, not is.  In 2021 anyone who had any test done or who was hospitalized was tested for Covid.  Some places still do.  My neighbor goes to a hospital near Chicago with her sister, and they still test her when she goes up for any appointments/tests.

Yes, the media was reporting people "hospitalized from COVID" when actually they were hospitalized with something else and tested positive for COVID when they tested them, because they tested anyone coming in.   

I enjoyed Rock Opera, but not Five Skies.

We got off of a 10 Day Cruise on The Enchanted Princess on November 29.   I didn't see people that were visibly sick.  I also didn't see people suddenly "disappear" aka go into isolation.  There was very little masking, but people were washing hands and using sanitizer in the buffet.  But, overall, it seemed a pretty healthy cruise.  We were cruising in the Caribbean.  

Make sure and check that they charge you for 2 drinks.  I ordered a double Bailey's on the rocks and I was charged a little over a dollar for it.

We got off of the Enchanted last week and I consumed a whole lot of fresh brewed coffee from the IC.   I thought it was delicious!

I'm not opening my app for a few days, LOL  We are green lane for our April 1 cruise, so I really don't need to get into it right now.

I do have to say that I thought the app worked great on our Nov 19th cruise on the Enchanted.  It didn't seem to glitch on us at all.  I ordered drinks and received them promptly, made reservations, located hubby and SIL a few times, etc.  We were happy with the performance. 

If you manually set your time and have "automatic time zones" turned off, your smart watch won't go wonky.

Also, I do remember changing ships times and then getting into the next port and we did not change to local time.  We kept ship's time, even though local time had changed.  They announced it, put it at the top of the patter, and they had a big sign as you got off the ship.   Having that setting turned off would prevent it switching in that scenario, too.

I agree with the posters above.  Your smart watch will work fine, syncing to your phone.  On board it seems to work better to NOT do the automatic time zone on your phone, but to manually set it.  I would set it, double check it with the TV or the app (in the app it does say SHIP TIME in the corner) and then sync once the phone is right.  That way you don't have to worry about your phone switching back if the ship doesn't.  Always double check your watch when you get off the ship, though, to make sure it is right!

24 minutes ago, paradiselivin1 said:

Were they good? I will look for that on the menu as I love both of them, too!

Both were delicious!  Highly recommend!