Cobra427SC

Thank you to everyone who is providing information. Very interesting!

Thank you for your detailed response w/lots of good information. Glad to hear you enjoyed the trip. Except for the long lines and the little bit of a cold. 

Has anyone recently returned from a South American cruise: Buenos Aires to Santiago or vice-versa? How was the trip? Any suggestions? Any tips? We are sailing in a few weeks and wanted to hear the latest information. Thanks for your input.

Not as exciting as a game show, but much more cerebral and useful,  would be to read David McCullough's excellent tome on the building of the canal..."The Path Between the Seas". His insight into this incredible project is mesmerizing, but not for the faint of heart. The time it takes to read will be repaid in spades (pun intended)  as you make the transit. Hint: unless your're an English major and graduated Summa Cum Laude, you might wish to have a dictionary nearby. steve

Long ago (and far away), I had my boots polished....didn't realize it was the cabin steward who did the deed. Have never asked again, and won't. Those guys and gals work like dogs and I wouldn't even think of adding another task to their day. steve

we've been bringing our own wines on board since 2000 and more than 30 cruises. Before the brouhaha with the stickers, we just packed our wines in a styrofoam 12 bottle shipping box and sent it through on the plane and on to our room, but no more. Here's how we do it and have never lost a single bottle (I'm sure i'm gonna regret having said that!). Wrap every single bottle, individually, in a large disposable baby diaper (I, myself, prefer a clean one). Then put the diapered bottle in a 2.5 gallon hefty brand zip lock bag, and do it again...meaning, double bagged. Then we put those double bagged bottles side by side in our 21" hard sided rolling bag...holds 10 bottles. If we need more than 10 bottles, as we will when we do the 14 day Regal out of Buenos Aires in Feb, we'll probably pack a couple of extras in a similar manner, in our regular luggage, and just carry them on board.  We try to stay out of the naughty room and just pay at security. If the posts about the stickers seems confusing, it's because it is and gets applied somewhat erratically, depending on who's scrutinizing and how much skin they have in the game. s

unfortunately, at least on the Royal, they didn't have Fox Sports, so I didn't get to see my alma mater beat up on our arch rivals, The University of Michigan! s

lamcruizin...i agree with your thinking. probably can't get a reliable answer and extension cords are almost certainly verboten thanx. s

When i composed this fairly straightforward question,  i almost included "please don't tell me i can just buy a coffee card", but thought better of the audience. Misjudged that one. s

I know that they didn't like regular coffee makers, but how 'bout the Keurigs? thanx. s

I know that Princess didn't use to like you bringing a coffee maker on board, but do they allow the Keurig coffee makers?

thanx s

oops, i messed up....the $11 I quoted for The Footbolt was for glass....so sorry. no longer the steal I'd thought. i really should read more carefully. however, having said that we ALWAYS bring our own wines, tho' the list has improved. I think a bottle of Footbolt is about $20 retail. s

The Dom isn't too far from a pretty fair deal, but don't forget that you must add 15% to the printed price for the Princess "gratuity". Having said that, d'Arenberg The Footbolt shiraz (named for a race horse, as I recall) is a steal at $11, unless I misread that. s

We too, were on the SFO/RT to Alaska in August....the Grand and it was, well, Grand. We had an excellent time and being able to fly RT to SF was so much easier than almost every other itinerary. However, I agree with other posters who say that you can't see many of the great things in Alaska on this cruise, but it is cheaper, etc. If you've got the time and money, I'd try to see Denali, etc, but it you want a less expensive "sampler" you can't can't beat this one. steve

Everything written above by various posters is correct. Not being a moscato drinker, I dunno what they have, but we are wine and port lovers and have brought many bottles on board, paid the corkage fee and sat back to enjoy them all. So, pack up all of the muscat/muscato you'd like, pay the corkage fee and enjoy. steve USAF '78-'80

Just off the Grand 2 weeks ago and they had prime rib on sail away. For the first time in many cruises, i thought mine was very good....usually I think it's terrible. In fact, i thought the food in the MDR was really up 1/2 notch compared to past Princess cruises. s

Yeah, we always head straight for the MDR after boarding...carried bags and roll ons as well. You'll see many others, too. They just put 'em aside and you eat your excellent salmon and ceviche. notta biggie. s

sorta sounds like I do bring my own cellar, and we do bring our own glasses...getting the "good" (probably Reidel) glasses has been a hit or miss proposition, and since it matters to us, we have some nice, tho' Costco bought, Bordeaux glasses. We just plunk the bottle of the night in the 'fridge about half hour before dinner and by the time we're ready to eat, we're pretty much on schedule. It may sound "snobby" but what others think matters much less to me than a nice bottle of wine, properly chilled and served (not filling the glass to the tippy top, etc.). It does irritate me that for the $15 corkage fee I pay per bottle, Princess gives you dreck stemware. Still, having a nice bottle with every dinner is worth the freight. s

since when did Princess start serving wine at the "proper temperature"? That's one reason why i like to bring my own, virtually all wines taste better are "cellar temperature", which is 55° F. s

I'd point out that another reason to bring your own wine, is that I've yet to see Princess serve a bottle properly chilled. I stand to be corrected, but even in the Crown Grill, the bottles are served at room temperature unless you cajole your waiter. Warm wine dramatically dumbs down the complexity and taste of a good wine. While I'm complaining about the blatant disregard for decent wine service, the stemware, unless you ask, is also sub par. For the $15 corkage you pay, you should automatically be given a decent glass, there a good glasses that aren't as expensive as Reidel. steve

Let's say you're having dinner at CG but you want the "Ridge Lytton Springs" zin from Share. Will they bring you that wine to CG? Seems like that would be a no brainer, esp since when you buy a bottle in the MDR, they'll "save it" for you for the next evening. Thanx steve

OK, I'll take complete credit for suggesting Ridge Geyserville (aka, now "Geezerville") and a few Bordeaux. We just pulled 10 bottles for our up and coming Alaska cruise (SFO, to and fro') and lo' and behold, Ridge Lytton Springs made the cut, as did Phelps Insignia and several Bordeaux....not a Pinot or white wine in the bunch! But, if you're a Merlot, Chard drinker, chances are you won't go for either, esp. the zin. (If you do go for a zin, just pick one that starts with an "R" and you'll be OK.... Ridge, Ravenswood, Rosenblum, Rafanelli...you get the picture.) Since we're not bringing three cases, we'll use our trusty hard-sided carrion and stop by the gatekeeper to pay the toll.

If your wife can bring her sewing machine, I'm gonna bring my tool chest...i have several old Holley and Weber carburetors that I can rebuild en route!

steve

OH yeah, and one more thing...use wine "shipping boxes", NOT the regular wine boxes that you see stacked up in the front of most liquor stores. These have either styrofoam compartments or some sort of crépe dividers or such. Haven't lost a bottle yet, and tho' another PITA, we always take our own wine glasses, opener and pouring disc. Nothing more disappointing then pouring a decent bottle of wine into those 50 cent, thick glasses that you wouldn't use at home. s

The last time we shipped our wine as luggage I was called to the "naughty room", but as a discipline problem all of my life, I felt right at home. I was called about 2-3 hrs after boarding, but I enjoyed the respite wringing my hands. Security guards opened the box and, as I was being waterboarded, they counted the bottles and I paid "the freight", got my stickers and they delivered the case to my room. steve

Heck, just box it in good wine shipping boxes (i suspect you know what I mean...styrofoam or the stiff crépe stuff), tip the baggage folks, pay the damn corkage fee when they ask and be done with it! With 36 bottles over 60 days, what are you drinking? My list starts with say, Ridge Geyserville Zin, a few good Malbecs and lots of Bordeaux....not a Burgundy/Pinot drinker. s