atobols

We just got back from a 15 day Hawaii cruise.  I'm not sure about the Welcome Aboard show.  If there was one, I missed it.  Our cruise director did open for the theater shows, at least the ones I went to.  They definitely did an announcement for every port to let us know when we could get off the ship.

On our last cruise, we had a full case of wine in a cardboard box.  I taped a luggage tag onto the top of it.  We planned to carry it on but got to the ship too early.  We gave all of our bags to the porter and went off on foot to explore the city.  We boarded the ship later that afternoon.  All our bags arrived but there was still no box of wine.  We asked around and were told it would be confiscated and we would have to go pay to get it back.  That was fine, we just wanted to know that our wine was coming back to us.   Around 10 at night we walked back to our room to find a box of wine sitting by our door.  We were never charged for any of it unless we took it down to the MDR.  I'm not sure we would plan on doing that again just based on the stress of waiting for our wine and nobody knowing where it was.  It was a good ending though.

We were just on the Grand Princess Dec 23-Jan 7.  It was a 15 day Hawaii cruise.  We were expecting there to be a wine package and we were planning on buying it.  We asked multiple people and were consistently told that the wine package wasn't available for our cruise.  They were switching distributors and stock was low so they weren't doing it.  

I was also on the Grand from Dec 23- Jan 7.  We purchased the photo package on board.  When we went to purchase our first pictures, we were told that it only applied to one cabin and we couldn't have people from other cabins in our pictures.  We explained that wouldn't work because we had one son in our cabin, and a 12 year old son staying in another cabin with his grandmother.  We weren't going to buy two packages in order to get family pictures of us and our two sons.  The guy we were working with ran over and cleared it with the photo manager to include both cabins.  He said it was only because we had a minor child staying in another cabin.  Whenever we dealt with someone new, they had to verify that it really was OK to let us have pictures from multiple cabins before we were allowed to take them.  

It's really not bad traveling with a toddler as long as you and the child are used to it.  We took our son to Italy when he was 2 months old and Greece when he was 12 months old.  We lived in Germany at the time.  Traveling when he was 2 months old was so easy, all he did was sleep and nurse.  It got a little bit more difficult when he was older and mobile.  We never used a baby bath so that wasn't a problem.  I just sat our son on the floor of the shower when I took one.  We did ask our cabin steward for a pack and play/crib as soon as we got on the ships.  It took a few hours to get them, but no big deal.  We napped in the afternoon when our son wanted to nap.  He wasn't interested in food until he was over a year old so we never had to worry about baby food.  I'm sure he had small bits of whatever we were eating but his main source of food was nursing.  We did find that going to the main dining rooms was always the better option.  They knew we had a baby and were prepared with a high chair.  Finding a high chair and an appropriate table was usually a problem at the buffet.  We mostly carried him around in a chest carrier and used a collapsible stroller when off the boat.

The crew were amazing when it came to a baby.  So many of them had left small kids at home and they wanted to interact with him every chance they got.  

1 hour ago, Potstech said:

The times will change when you get onboard.  This is a major problem with Princess, they send you information before the cruise and then it will change once you are onboard.  That is one of the reasons we select Anytime Dining.

Can you please explain this. We are new to Princess and we leave in 24 days.  We selected TD at 7:15.  Are you saying that we will most likely have our dining time changed or are you saying that they get backed up and we won't actually be seated at 7:15?  

On our cruise last year, my boys wore dress pants, dress shirt, and a tie.   Most other boys on the cruise skipped the tie.  

We have three formal nights on our upcoming cruise.  Both of my boys decided they wanted to wear jackets and ties this time.  They're 10 and 12 years old.  I took them to a local thrift store and they picked out jackets for less than $10.  I didn't want to spend a lot because they may change their minds at the last minute.  As long as it's within reason, I let the boys wear whatever they want.  I want them to feel good about the way they look and enjoy themselves.  

I submitted a price match guarantee a couple months ago.  I got an email saying it was approved and that I would receive on board credit for the difference.  I can't see that any on board credit was applied to my booking.  I think I remember reading somewhere that it might not show up online.  It's not a huge amount so I haven't bothered calling about it.  

We are Princess newbies.  We are going on a 15 day Grand Princess cruise from San Francisco to Hawaii in a little less than 2 months.   I'm so confused about the wine.  Can someone please step in and help me with a few questions.  Are there wines available on the ship other than dozen or so I can see on the princess website for pre-purchase?  I'm really not enthused about the ones they have listed on their website.  I'm already planning on taking a case of wine with us when be board, but I know we'll still want additional bottles of wine.  

Also, I have read in the forums about wine packages, silver and gold level.  I can't find anything on the princess website about buying them.  Is this something we purchase once we get on the ship?  Can anyone give additional information or their personal opinion on if it's worth it.  Is the wine package a good idea for the nights we want a second bottle?  We live in the SF bay area, so bringing wine from home won't be a problem.