eyelash

Sounds like sugar free and caffeine free water enhancers are the way to go.  Hope the bartender will agree to use them for my cocktails.  We'll see.

Can't find any reference to a caffeine-free diet soda (Sprite Zero for example) aboard Princess ships.  I use a walker and am not able to haul my own.  Anyone have any recent news on any caffeine-free soda options aboard?  Sailing to Alaska if that matters.

We'll be sailing the Majestic in May, and will have a person in a wheelchair in our party.  We would like to visit the shooting gallery on the Sports Deck, located on Deck 18 aft.  Although the deck plan shows an accessible route around the perimeter or deck 18, we don't see any elevator that would lead to that accessible route.  Are we missing something or is it not possible to access Deck 18 via wheelchair?  Any info appreciated.

*lbfluffy I hope you have a great cruise!  I'll be sailing her solo myself in May, so I would be interested if you you post any comments about any differences cruising solo vs. part of a duo!  Bon Voyage!

4 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

Here I was thinking the Crown was being used as a quarantine ship.

It may be for all I know.  My unfortunate voyage on the Crown was several years ago now.  It almost put me off Princess but it made me a Platinum member, so I'm, going to try the Majestic this time around!

Please tell me they've either improved or gotten rid of that gruel they call potato soup.  On my last cruise on the Crown, it was the soup du jour for 14 days straight.  One of my fellow passengers had recently retired from working at a prison, and  he said their prisoners ate better.   

It was obvious the ship was using the Horizon Court to feed the crew, without regard to the passenger mix.  Every dish was too highly spiced or funky fish tasting for me and served over rice, rice, rice. Once I tried the club "sadwich" (as it was listed on the room service menu), which proved prophetic.  You could have read a newspaper through the skimpy slices of meat and tomato. 

We started going to the dining room and the specialty restaurants for every meal, which we had never done before.  It was a slight improvement, but we still felt like we'd had better meals at chain restaurants. 

I'll be on the Majestic soon and I'm hoping the food has improved a bit, regardless of the Medallion's peccadillos.  

2 minutes ago, Linsifer said:

What about the five home tests that the government just sent us?  Are those acceptable? 

The ones I received from the government did not have the medically supervised (sometimes referred to as proctored) component, so they do not meet the Princess requirement.  The test kit you use, although it may be labeled for home use, has to have a tele-med component that you can access via the internet to receive your results in time.  I was unable to find any kit where you mailed the test to a laboratory that would provide the results back in time to meet the 2 day Princess requirement.  The Princess website doesn't give you brand names of test kits that meet their retirement, because they don't want to appear to favor any particular brand.  That said, test kits that meet their requirements were difficult for me to find.  They were out of stock just about everywhere I looked.  I live in Alaska where we have limited national drugstore chains.  I found these kits -- which specifically say they include the Telehealth component --  for $69.99 plus $20 shipping to AK from a website called the Optum Store.  I received an email that they shipped the kits to me the same day I ordered them.  You may be able to find kits for less money, but be careful searching the internet because every search I did included kits that DON'T have the telehealth component.  It was easy to get confused!

Name of test kit:  Abbott Binax NOW COVID-19 Ag Card Home Test with eMED Telehealth Services for Travel - 2pack.  I don't know if website links work on this message board, but there it is in case:

https://store.optum.com/shop/products/abbott-binaxNOW-COVID-19-ag-at-home-test-kit-2-pack

I hope this information is helpful!

If one is lucky enough to get a spot at Chef's Table, is it generally held on "formal" night or a smart casual night?  We never go to formal night but might if we were selected for Chef's Table.  

3 hours ago, caribill said:

 

No layover. It leaves FLL for LA on Feb 1 (same day it arrives) and arrives back in LA on Feb 16.

Oh!  I didn't read it right the first time!  Thanks!

1 hour ago, Trish Ahoy said:

Yes, I know of a back to back Panama Canal cruises on the Emerald Princess that leaves Los Angeles on January 17, 2023.  Arrives in Ft. Lauderdale on Feb. 1 and then returns to Los Angeles on Feb. 16, 2023.

Thanks for the suggestion.  The layover period in Ft. Lauderdale is a little too lengthy for us on this one.

5 hours ago, triple7tahoe said:

Check the Ruby sailing on February 25th. Many folks from a NorCal TA going both ways on the cruise. We will be on only to FLL but have friends going both ways with a couple of the folks doing Hawaii on each end for 60 days at sea 🙂

 

San Francisco - Ft Lauderdale - San Francisco is close enough!  Thank you. 

I've been wracking my brain on the Princess website trying to find a cruise that starts in LA and does a full transit of the Panama Canal to Ft. Lauderdale and then departs Ft. Lauderdale the same day to go back through the Canal to LA.  I'm not picky about whether it travels the historic or new locks either direction, but prefer a larger ship like the Emerald over the Island Princess.  We'd like to go in Jan 2023 or later.

Am I missing something or does Princess just not offer this possibility?  Any info appreciated.

15 hours ago, big al said:

Question: does anybody know if there is SPLENDA on the Enchanted? It comes in a yellow packet next to all the other sugar substitutes that are pink & blue? It's the only one I like in my coffee & sometimes I just bring my own 'cause some cruise lines don't carry it because it's a bit more $$ than the others...thanks!!

 

Big Al 

@BigAl I take a small squeeze bottle of liquid Splenda with me when traveling.  I like that there's no paper wrappers to deal with and no matter where I am traveling I can count on having my favorite sweetener.  I thought I would mention it in case you haven't already considered it.  

1 hour ago, Don9992 said:

It's not intuitively obvious but I found that,  if you click on the year at the top of the calendar, you can scroll by years.

Thanks so much for this bit of info.  It's still 61 calendars, but I guess that's an improvement.

Ocean Medallion does not find my booked cruise by booking number, but gives me the option to log in using my name and date of birth.  Except there is no option for entering my date of birth other than to manually scroll backwards through monthly calendars from 2022 back to 1961 when I was born.  No thanks!  I'm done with this thing.  Thankfully I'm within driving distance of my port, so I'm showing up  with my passport, COVID info and the .pdf document confirming my booking, and they can either let me on or not.  

23 hours ago, TracieABD said:

 

 

For the life of me, I cannot get it figured out.  I have tried screenshotting and posting to no avail.  I am sorry.  I just don’t think I can make it happen.  

Thank you so much for trying, don't give it another thought!

On 12/4/2021 at 5:53 PM, TracieABD said:

Here is a link to the spa menu:

The link to the spa menu doesn't open for me.  Am I doing something wrong?

12 hours ago, TracieABD said:

 

When we returned to our cabin- we chatted with Amanda, the concierge. Jon mention that we were pretty much packed to move, and if it was easier for us to take our suitcases down to A735- we would be happy to do that... She made a few phone calls and informed us that it would actually be easier for us to move today.

 

 

I'm booked in A735 for an upcoming cruise on the Majestic, which I believe is comparable to the Regal.  I'd be interested to know if the balcony is covered.  If you happen by the spa I'd love to see their menu of services with prices...or maybe just a picture of that information from your in-cabin TV if it appears there.

If the opportunity presents itself, could you post the Lotus Spa menu of services and price list for your cruise?  I would appreciate it!

We order a pot of coffee and a pot of hot water for tea and drink half of the coffee while using the hot water to pre-warm our thermal mugs.  Once they are hot inside, we dump the water and add the rest of the coffee before heading out of the cabin.  Stays hot a lot longer that way!  We tried just prewarming our mug using hot water out of the tap, but it just did not get hot enough to do the trick.

If anyone on the cruise now could post a screenshot of the Lotus Spa services I would appreciate it.

If anyone on this cruise uses the thermal suite, will you share whether you think it is worth buying the cruise long pass that entitles a passenger to use it 2 hours per day?  I would also be interested in the hours for the thermal suite.  I saw a previous posting that made me think it is only open from 8-10am.  Too early for me!  I sleep in while cruising and would still be yawning over coffee at 8am!  Any info appreciated.

Does A735 on Majestic have a covered balcony?  Having trouble finding pictures of the aft of the ship where I can tell for sure.  Any info appreciated.  

21 hours ago, geoherb said:

The roll call for this cruise has been fairly active, although there's not a meet and greet scheduled for our cruise. I will encourage the other participants on it to post here as well. According to my cursory look at available cabins after people got our cabin assignments, there will be about 400 empty cabins. I'll find out when the Captain's Circle hostess announces the numbers for each level next week.

If anyone books the thermal suite, I would appreciate knowing whether you found it worth the cost.  I believe eve with a cruise-long pass, it is limited to 2 hours per day.

If anyone remembers to look, I would appreciate knowing whether the bars stock Hpnotiq blue liqueur or Curacao blue liqueur.  (We have a blue cocktails list we'd like to sample on glacier days).

Thanks in advance for any info.

1 hour ago, CruiseChick33 said:

We met up with Neville and discussed the possibility of the Chef's Table.  He was going to see what he could do.  

Who is Neville?  Is the Chef's Table announced in advance and bookable with the Medallion, or do you have to be "in the know" to get a reservation?

1 hour ago, CruiseChick33 said:

After breakfast we had a couple's massage with Luchie and Sherill. We were very happy to see that they have limited the upselling.  They were incredible!  We loved it so much that we booked another one for Tuesday! 

 

Are spa bookings available on the Medallion in advance of sailing?