shellbeachjim

32 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Can't answer your specific question...but just be aware that even if there *is* a physical port there it just might be locked out through programming.  I've seen various threads that mention this possibility.

In addition, you may not be able to reach the HDMI port. Some televisions are so close to the wall it's not possible to access the port.

1 minute ago, Coffeehound510 said:

If we wanted to change it, we would just call the dine line or stop at Sabatini's or Crown Grill and get it changed.  That should still work when the medallion app doesn't 

There, I fixed it for you... 😇

2 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

Anyone applied for Global Entry recently? How long does it take? A friend said he waited a long time for an unterview but I also hear that some locations take walk ins.

We have a tight connection in Newark on our return from Quebec so we just applied for Global Entry.

My wife just renewed hers. She did the interview over Zoom. Hint: check on Saturday or Sunday morning and you might be able to get a Zoom interview the same day. That's what worked for her.

5 hours ago, coo359a2 said:

We might have been on the same cruise - 7 June to 13 July 2010 - Ocean Princess with Captain Stefano Ravera. Neither rain, sleet, snow or icebergs kept up from getting into   ports.  We for sure followed the rules to keep from meeting up with any polar bears.

Yes, that was the one. Captain Ravera loved his ship - "The Beautiful White Lady". Norway is amazing and it should be on everyone's short list.

We went to Ny-Ålesund (also on Spitsbergen) on the Ocean Princess in 2010. Brrrrr. I found it fascinating, but there really wasn't much to do other than wander around the town. I did enjoy this sign near the edge of town.

We did this prior to our Grand Princess cruise out of San Pedro in April. We tested on Friday prior to our Monday sailing. No issues with our check-in.

I just checked the schedule and the Preakness is showing up as a live event. 
 

The sports channel on the ship’s television service is Sport 24. 
 

https://sport24live.com/home

You can check their schedule on the website, but you’ll have to perform some time zone arithmetic to get the local time correct. 

I can't speak for the Discovery, but the daily special dish was offered to us nightly on the Grand last month. Well, there was one waiter who didn't offer it, but told us when we asked (we only had him the one night).

1 hour ago, Happiest when cruising said:

I’m glad you enjoy it. We all find value in different things. My point was that it isn’t a different dining room. I guess I couldn’t see the napkins well enough to notice a difference, although we were seated very close by. 

My response was a bit tongue in cheek. I don’t think the napkins make a heck of a lot of difference - unless of course Princess started using cheap paper napkins in the dining room. The newer ships (the Majestic for example) do have a more defined area for Club Class than the Grand, although it’s still in one of the main dining rooms.

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

 

The plates should also have been a different design from those used in the regular dining room. Certainly worth the extra cost for CC for this feature. 🤣

 

The napkins are also different. We enjoy club class and it’s now the minimum level my wife will let me book. 🙀

11 hours ago, Ronnieslady said:

Maybe they let them come back early because they were so short handed & that is why all the cases. And did they quarantine all their friends that they were around.  
 

We talked to a few of the quarantined crew members and they were not allowed to come back early. Also, some had to quarantine if they had been in close contact with someone who had tested positive.
 

I wore my mask whenever I was moving about the ship. I can’t say that of most people on the cruise. The mask wearing was sporadic at best. 

As far as I’m concerned, they should ban smoking in the casino. The smell coming out of the elevators on deck 6 was just awful whenever the casino was open. We had mostly good dinners in club class, although there were a few misses. There were also a number of crew members who were under quarantine when we boarded which definitely caused some service issues. 

3 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

They did not have some of my favorite cabernet selections onboard, but I brought on my private stash so did not suffer at all!

There was no Zin by the glass. The only California Cab by the glass was the Rodney Strong and was not available. We survived - usually with the Ancient Peaks Renegade. Our private stash was all bubbly - we were celebrating birthdays and anniversaries with our travel companions, so it seemed appropriate to bring a few bottles along.

Thanks for doing the "Live from..." for the cruise!

4 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Wow! And you can still log onto cruise critic and post pictures like this one at that low of a speed. Interesting.

Amazing, isn’t it? The image is 366KB, and took several seconds to upload. I didn’t put a stopwatch on it, but probably about 20 seconds. Our cruise ends tomorrow so we’ll be back home to normal speeds. The slow internet is annoying, but in the end doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of our cruise. 

As a follow up to my post yesterday, here are the latest speed test results while in port in Ensenada. Basic DSL when first introduced years ago was 384Kbps. 
 

4 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

Mom and I had our final sea day lunch in Club Class. 

 

 

 

You missed a bet, the farfalle was wonderful! 😋

1 minute ago, HBCcruiser said:

It was mostly Cold and Cloudy out today. Let’s hope it warms up tomorrow. 

We’re in the Sanctuary and the only thing I can say is “Brrrrrr…”

We’re currently on the Grand, and the speed is terrible. We’re on our way back from Hawaii, the day before Ensenada. Here’s the speed test I just ran. I’d say this was typical for the entire cruise. This isn’t dialup speed, but comparable to when DSL first became available years ago. 
 

1 hour ago, HBCcruiser said:

I tried walking up front and almost got blown off the ship! No sanctuary until the wind calms down.

One of our travel companions texted us that it was very blustery in the Sanctuary today, so we’re passing on it too for today. The winds yesterday in Maui were bad enough - and the ship wasn’t even moving. We plan to be up there tomorrow. 

Our day in Honolulu included the obligatory trip to Leonard’s. 
 

1 hour ago, Ronnieslady said:

We are on this cruise.   Thought of going to Walmart ( here in Hilo today  ) with the shuttle,  but the line for shuttle was about 1000 passengers & crew ahead of us.  .We thought we would pass from getting squished in that hugh bus.   
Love the Hawaii cruises ( been many times)but this one feels different for me.  The crew is great, but they are short handed.  Everything on a shoestring.  Don’t get me wrong , it still beats cooking, cleaning, shopping for food, doing my own laundry.  We are grateful to be here in our favorite aft Vista Suite.  
Any questions ?  just ask

Also on this cruise. There are a number of crew members who were in quarantine at the beginning of our cruise, and some of them are just now available to work again. This can explain some of the short handedness. All of our booked excursions were canceled for “operational reasons”, so we’re mostly hanging out in the Sanctuary. Fortunately we don’t view any of this as a hardship. 

3 hours ago, HS2BS said:

Beware - the Sapphire Princess sailing on March 4, 2023 is one day off, should be March 5, 2023 which we are booked on.

 

Hal

Actually it’s March 4, 2024, not 2023 for the new Buenos Aires to Los Angeles cruise. We booked today. 

1 hour ago, wineglass said:

Booster is not required as of yet, but if you are bolstered it eases the Clovis test requirement somewhat 

 

 

I didn't know Clovis had special rules...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clovis%2C_California

Sorry, I couldn't resist...  😼

To stay on track, we will be getting the second boost, but probably after our cruise leaving on Monday.

24 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

What is the point of being escorted?  Is that an "I am better than you" showoff or is it that suite passengers just can't find their way to their suite?

 

DON

My wife has mobility issues, and were were escorted on our last cruise in December on the Grand. I tried to tell our escort he was on the wrong side of the ship, but he must not have heard me. We got to the rear of the Baja deck when he figured out that the hallway there doesn't go all the way across the ship. We had to backtrack to the elevators, cross over the other side of the ship, and then get to our cabin. Yes, I could have been a bit more forceful, but I wanted to see what would happen. 

TL/DR - we know how to get there, aren't showoffs, but sometimes the escort doesn't know the way. 😄