sunviking90

Not sure, but my request thru Stockperks last week for our October cruise was declined with a note to resubmit in a few months. Resent it yesterday and approved in hours. Thank you to OP for posting this.

The casino is VERY smoky and when we were on the Emerald again last September the doors were always open and I could smell the smoke on the left side facing at guest services which is just outside the doors. There were also long lines for lunch in the MDR on sea days that stretched down along the shops to near the casino open doors. We lined up once and then never again because of that. I’m not sure if it’s the practice to keep the casino doors open all the time, but in our sailing that seemed to be the case. As long as you avoid that area you’ll be fine.

That’s a great, and very artistic shot! It reminds me of some of my art deco era travel posters. Best wishes to all the dailyites!

Hmm, no problem here, but I am in a hotel currently and using a VPN. Still in Canada though. Checked a few and all came up with pricing.

This is a good idea on the part of Virgin. Princess has one of the MDRs open during the day for card players, etc (noted in the daily patter), but most seem to still prefer the buffet area. I don’t have an issue with it during down times, but it shouldn’t be allowed during meal times when others are looking for a place to sit and eat.

Yes, I miss the Crows Nest as it used to be. We spent many hours on Alaska cruises with our now grown son working on puzzles up there. I also miss the nice little food items they had all day. Only 3 ships have a Grand Dutch Cafe, and I really dislike the move of Explorations cafe to the bar side, on the Vistas like an afterthought.

I also think that while the ship food is overall pretty good, when people are on it for 4 months, they may just crave a decent pizza that that isn’t found on most HAL ships. To each his own. Thank you to OPs for coming back and letting everyone know you’re ok. Good luck with recovery. Patience in recovery can be hard for an active person.

Good post. I thought only the Zaandam and Volendam had the No Jogging signs due to the passenger cabins below the lower promenade deck. I haven’t been on Oosterdam though. We are pretty fast walkers, but I don’t think it’s really suitable for jogging with the high number of slow, elderly walkers. My pet peeve is those who walk 3 abreast or 2 far apart (slowly) leaving no room to walk past.

Its beyond tacky for people to discuss how much they did or didn’t pay. Why would you tell people how little you paid, which would then make them feel they paid too much? Even beyond the casino, on any cruise you’ll have people who booked last minute who may have paid less than half of what some advance bookers did. As far as the casino cruiser with a “free” suite, I’m sure he “paid”. There was a thread on the Princess board recently by a casino cruiser that shocked us with the amount of money being wagered, lost, and occasionally won. He was offered a suite for his next cruise. For those who come out ahead and get the offers, good for you. Happy cruising!

Ugh. This is exactly why we avoid the Lido in spite of the often better options and fresher food. You can’t un see things like that. Apparently Covid, Noro etc have taught us nothing. Does anyone remember pre Covid that they did not allow self serve beverages, etc in the Lido for the first 48 hours, until they knew noro hadn’t been brought aboard? I’m sure I remember this, but I’m not sure if it was all sailings or only some? I remember being surprised in our first HAL post Covid cruise in Aug 2022 that this practice was not in effect. I hope everyone stays healthy. There are a lot of weird noro type things going around right now, but definitely hope none of you have to experience it on vacation.

They will usually have one of the dining rooms set aside for card players, mahjong players, etc during the afternoon. It will be in the daily patter. We enjoy Skywalkers for reading as it is the only quiet place with no music on the ship.

Your pictures are lovely! Glad you made it up there. I agree about bus tours. Definitely not for us. We try to rent a car or just do our own thing when in the ports. At least you got to use your HIA credits though. If you return to Kauai one day it is a good one to rent a car in as it is pretty small and you can see a lot. Good luck with your phone!

Enjoy Kauai! It’s our favorite Hawaiian Island. Very “South Pacific” vibes. The canyon that I think your tour is going to is lovely. Hopefully you’ll have clear enough weather up there. There are chickens all over the island, and when we drove to the top of the canyon, we were amazed that they were there too!

So glad your MDR situation has improved. Ours on the Koningsdam in January was similar. Our waiter seemed indifferent and I think was put off because we didn’t want to order dessert with our starters and entrees.. I find it so strange that they have started to do this. We always said weren’t sure until after dinner if we want dessert. The concept of coffee WITH dessert also seemed to be a challenge. They never were together. We’d finish dessert long before coffee arrived. The last night we just left after our entrees. I guess this is all a result of short staffing, but doesn’t make for a nice dining experience.

Bon Voyage!

That’s awesome! Congratulations.

Here’s a thread: We’ve bid twice (minimum only) and won both.

I agree on Sitka. It is also our favourite port in Alaska. We were fortunate last year to take an 11 day Princess cruise round trip from YVR which included Sitka.

We’ll be on the Royal Princess crossing the date line on our 35th anniversary this year. We’re heading east so we’ll have 2 days to celebrate!

I was also very apprehensive of using Stockperks, but it went very smoothly. I “skipped” all the personal info questions and uploaded our brokerage statement with more personal info (other investments, our address) blacked out. 3 days later got the email that it was accepted, went into the app to redeem credit, and it came through the next day.

Agree on the crowded Lido. We are also no really buffet people, but do go occasionally. We found it surprisingly crowded on the Volendam last year and the ship wasn’t full! Everyone is trying to eat in the same very short windows of time. We would look at the menu and it looked like they had a lot of great options, but just so unpleasant to be in there. Really enjoying your reports so far! Thank you for taking the time.

I was wondering if you meant HAL. We always have them empty it too. I prefer Princess’s empty fridge for sure. No issues with unwarranted charges.

So sorry you had this experience. I think the worst part was the stress of being told you’d be kicked off before you’d be able to get your Medical info. @SCX22raises a good point, but It would be nice if the ships had a crew member assigned as a liaison to ensure people in this situation are not just “dumped”. If you do not hear anything from Princess in 4-6 weeks I would encourage you to go higher up. I have done this in the past when I had had no responses after months. Email for Collin Steinke (director of customer relations) is csteinke@princesscruises.com. CC customer relations when you do. Be specific and if you want some type of compensation, say so.

Yes, I remember some years ago my mother took a Baltic cruise from Dover, so they used to have some UK departures.

This past Black Friday we booked with free Crew Appreciation, but without HIA.. Not sure if that might suit you better.