sunviking90

Thank you for your honest thoughts. Sapphire Princess was our first Princess cruise years ago when she was new and still one of our favourites. I would also love to do the itinerary you’re on one day. I agree the lack of a couch in the balcony staterooms has been a Princess weakness for years. The newer ships do have couches in deluxe and premium balconies. I also agree on the decor. Princess seems to have decided on a palette and decor sometime in 1993 and just stuck to it for years! We do love the classic look of the promenade with the chairs. It’s been a long time since we were on her, but we definitely walked every morning on the Promenade deck. That is the definition of “promenade” whether a noun or a verb after all! Maybe there just weren’t as many walkers at the time we walked? I know Sapphire has a wider Promenade deck than some of the other ships which should allow space for lounging and walking. I fail to understand why Princess (Celebrity is bad for this too) have the smoking areas where people go for exercise and fresh air. I’m glad you’re enjoying your cruise! How are the enrichment programs (lectures, etc) on that itinerary?

Have a great cruise! We are on the Koningsdam in January for our first Pinnacle class cruise, so we’ll definitely be following along.

May I ask you if it was a Canadian company or US and if you were booking in USD or CAD?

Thank you. I guess I’ll continue patiently waiting.

We have a guarantee booked for November 22 and are still awaiting an assignment. Cruise has been listed as sold out for a few days now. I was just wondering for those of you who have had a guarantee, when did you receive your assignment? It has been a long time since we’ve booked this way on HAL.

And the presumably young and female teller has to politely laugh at your “joke” because you’re the customer. Ick.

Did you choose this room on the Emerald Princess? Or was it a guarantee assignment? Are there other non-connecting rooms still available in the same category? If so, call Princess and tell them you would like to change rooms. Check before hand to see what is available so you can tell them which room you want to switch to. Basically keep it simple for them and they will do it. We have done this a few times when we didn’t like the location of our guarantee,

I’ve only bid twice and won both with minimum bids. This was when I could clearly see the ship was a slow seller and knew my chances were good. I don’t think I’d bid more than the minimum and I certainly wouldn’t bite on the news I was “outbid” with an invite to up my bid. This sounds like a new game. I won’t play.

Thank you for explaining it. What a lovely idea to bury your husband’s with him.

I’m sure many people do a search first, but I find search engines on forums are usually weak. I use Google for the topic with CC at the start of my query and it usually works well. It’s also amusing when you see the long threads that veer so completely off topic by the end. It’s like the telephone game.

Yes, most of our cruises lately have been Celebrity and Princess, and I was starting to realize that a quiet spot was getting to be a rarity. HAL ships are certainly prettier on the outside, but I agree about the inside although I haven’t been on the newest 3 which are supposed to be more light and bright.

Bon Voyage!

This thread made me go in and count my actual days, and I just realized I’ll pass 100 days during our upcoming Volendam cruise. I never knew before that there was any such thing as a 100 day medallion, but I guess I’ll get one? I thought only star levels mattered.

Yes, it seems to be getting noisier. I’m not against having fun activities but they seem go over board with the constant “fun”. I actually avoid the piazza now except for early in the morning. We just made elite, but we are taking our next cruise on HAL for a little peace and quiet.

I can remember my late parents proudly showing me the pins they had received years ago. I think they had only reached 2 stars at that point and they certainly never became more than 3. These things were very important to them back then. When we did our first cruise back in 1991, most of the lines had under 5 ships, fewer people cruised, and it was a LOT more expensive. These milestones were much more unique, and the cruiselines obviously really valued their top cruisers. Now with truly mass market cruising, SO many people are reaching or have reached the premium levels on the cruise lines, it’s not unusual anymore. I really don’t think they care anymore.

Good Morning Kazu, Thank you for the work you do maintaining this list. Can you please add us: Volendam - 22-Nov-23 - 18 day Circle Hawaii, sunviking90. No special occasion, just want to enjoy this smaller ship while she is still with us and DH is always up for a trip to Hawaii.

My new favorite after the sad departure of the Love Boat Dream. That new thing they have is a pitiful imposter.

I don’t know why, but we only used it once one our first cruise post Covid last yr since it covered Covid. The medical coverage if I recall wasn’t very much dollar wise, so we haven’t used it since. We have a premium credit card that has very good coverage, so we rely on that. If you’re over 65 that might not be an option though. Obviously it’s not CFAR, but you won’t find that with real insurance. Have you visited the Canadian cruisers forum? There may be more good recommendations there. They are usually very knowledgeable.

I was getting that before I upgraded my 6 year old iPad. New one loads their pages better. Just now I was getting prices as unavailable. I logged out and prices show. Oh, those crazy kids at HAL IT.

Oh well. There goes that theory🤷‍♀️

I wonder if it depends on the class of ship and size of laundry room? The Royal class ship laundry rooms are much larger and seem to always have free machines. On the older ships they are tiny with only 2 machines of each that seem to be always occupied. I can see why they wouldn’t encourage elites to use them when they’re too scarce to service the rest of the passengers.

Wanted to add that if you cruise with the HIA it does seem earlier is better with extras sometimes included. For us, we don’t drink, and only cruise with the standard fare so later is often better. A few years back, when we were working and had to prebook vacations farther out, we did get burned a few times as we watched the prices drop after final payment for our cruises on HAL. This could be because we tend to book repositionings, etc and avoid the 7 day loops. I usually know what I want to pay for a certain itinerary, and when I see it at the point I’ll book. It usually works out.

We also book most of our cruises after final payment now that we are retired and flexible with dates. We generally find we get the best price this way and have never had a problem getting a satisfactory cabin. If you are someone who cruises in suites, they are usually gone by then so that could be a con. Exceptions for us are new destinations that we would be adding land portions to which need more research and planning. Those we would book farther out.