resordanis

Thank you for your detailed posts each day. I have enjoyed them in the past but as we have 2 upcoming Princess cruises, I am quite excited about the cruises. I just hope that all ships follow the same as Grand.

10 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

@springaussie

Whats going on with Ovation at the end of next season?

It looks like they are pulling it out of the transpacific.

What is going on on Ovation. In the paper today someone smuggled a cat on board for a NZ cruise!🤔 

I also downloaded this morning, but can’t see future cruise, just the upcoming cruise.

15 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

@arxcards  Enjoy Geoff .

I have Celebrity Edge coming up .

Can’t wait for that review Chili. Will be keen to hear your views on Celebrity vs Royal.

20 hours ago, arxcards said:

I promise little, but hope to share some thoughts and comparisons from aboard Splendor over the next few days. First time on Splendor for me, and first time Carnival for Barb.

 

So far, so good. 1st on, even overtaking a few transit passengers that headed for X-ray ahead of us. One thing so far - so many with priority on Princess that there is a crowd when check-in opens. No so much with Splendor. First aboard at 10:45, and much fewer people in the conga line.

Enjoy your cruise Geoff. I am interested in your opinion of Carnival.

14 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

There seems to be a storm brewing about Royal being inconsistent and dropping the ball.

Talking to my sister that was on that cruise with you. She was told by a couple of bars that water is free for Diamond members. They gave her a couple of free bottles in the evening on top of her 5 vouchers ??

She threw a tantrum about the coffee machine being broken in the lounge. They said it just broke along with the toaster and they are searching the world for parts.

The toaster broke before the transpacific and the coffee machine has  been intermittent for months. It only worked a couple of days when I was on ,the thing is as old as Noah .why don’t the just buy another??

.
As for coffee she was told to just flash her seacard at the coffee shops and she did.

No vouchers, no questions asked,free cappuccinos .  

 

 

Definitely no problem with coffee and toaster worked for us!🤣. Grateful for small mercies.

4 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

You can’t get blood out of a stone uncle Les and even harder to get it out of a multi national.

BIG GAV ! He doesn’t even have a landline to his office . He will probably be working out of the boot of his car soon.

Chili on Brilliance last week, I kept getting charged for my Diamond + drinks,  and then having extra so  one day I asked the Loyalty Ambassador for 2 bottles of extra water for the inconvenience of getting charged for extra drinks. The look on her face, you would have thought I was asking for a free cruise! She gave them to me, but said it was a once only!😩😩

2 hours ago, Jean C said:

Hi, we did a 76 night South America cruise with a string of 7 sea days on the homeward leg. I thought I'd get bored but was surprised at how the days filled themselves. For something to do, we went as observers to the egg drop and paper plane competitions and enjoyed them, cheering along the contestants. We also went to all the port lectures and picked up some tips. We'd go to the art auctions for the free miniscule glass of cheap bubbles, each time enjoying seeing who was buying what but wondering why we bothered just for the free booze! Ditto the Effy promotions.  We even sat in on a snake oil salesman pitch!

 

I visited the library and discovered new authors I'd not read before - I even read my first, and definitely my last, Jackie Collins novel.

 

We'd go to trivia with a group, just for interest and the challenge, and although we sometimes "won", would keep it to ourselves - didn't want a medal or ship on a stick.

 

We'd also go for a swim every day and found the pool very social, making friends with people who tended to swim at the same time as us.

 

We'd eat relatively modestly most of the cruise but on the last few days we'd go to morning tea, afternoon tea and anything edible on offer.

 

We always enjoyed the ice carving too.

 

We book a balcony cabin and enjoy just sitting out there watching the water go by and spotting wildlife.

 

You might surprise yourself if you make the effort to go and see what's on offer 😊

Thanks for your input. We have actually done many longer cruises with sometimes 6 or 7 sea days but this was before Covid. I just don’t feel there are that many things to do since the restart of cruising……I could be wrong too! Maybe we have just done most of them over the years.

Anyway we have decided to stick to our cruise and make the most of it, we will just have to push each other out of comfort zone each day!

Everyones advice has been appreciated.

Hi Geoff,

You have answered my question and seems you feel the same as us and we seem to do similar things!

We have been tossing up since we got back from Brilliance between QE and the current cruise. I think we will continue with our original  Princess cruise, mainly for the Ports we will travel to. QE whilst we like the talks/speakers on the ship, we have been to all but one Port, so we would be doing the cruise for the ship.

I still have a couple of weeks to decide, so something might pop up. Royal Caribbean seems to have lost it for us, and we haven’t done a Princess cruise since the one last October 2022 (which you were on)  that we both got Covid. We have Majestic again in February, so I hope we have made the right decision.

Thank you for your constructive answer.

Gee thanks all, thanks I think we will finish it here. Appreciate all replies and comments.

3 hours ago, Over from NZ said:

You're answering your own questions basically. Sounds like you're going to get bored. Why would you do it? 🙂 

I actually have done many, many long cruises prior to Covid, but feel things are a little different these days. Thank you for your reply.

Thanks all for information. Much appreciated.

13 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

We have done many long cruises with Princess. There will be two shows every night in the Marquee Theatre (7pm or 7.30pm and 9pm or 9.30pm). There is often another show in the theatre at the back of the ship. In addition, a band with a singer will entertain people (usually in the Wheelhouse Bar). I don't know what time this starts but it is certainly before 7.45pm. There will be a pianist playing in the Crooners Bar but this doesn't usually start until 9pm. There will also be some game shows (Marriage Match etc).

 

Daytime - We don't play bingo but we do go to trivia usually twice a day. On long cruises Princess usually has Enrichment Lecturers who present a talk every sea day. In addition, the shore excursions staff (or a Destinations Expert) will present a talk on each of the ports of call. There are sometimes craft activities.

Thank you for the information. We don’t play Trivia, but might have to as we are both good at useless information.🤣 I know my husband will do Princess Pop Choir too! I only ask because whilst on Celebrity earlier in the year and also in the past on Cunard we have never been bored, but 4 of the last 5 Royal Caribbean I could have jumped ship with boredom, so it has me doubting cruising.

Hi all,

For those of you that have done longer cruises……over 20 days, can you tell me what activities, etc will Princess have available? .I am starting to doubt my next cruise  and doubt cruising, so before final payment(very shortly) I want to know we have made the right decision. On our last Brilliance of the Seas cruise, we found it quite boring at times. We do not play bingo or trivia and the shopping on board is of no interest these days. The Spa prices were absolutely ridiculous too! We like shows, and some nights there was nothing. We are also interested in music around the ship before and after dinner, but will Brilliance the timing of these didn’t suit the 5.00pm dining (never again either).
Generally we used to love 5 or 6 sea days but we are both questioning this at the moment. 
Do Princess have guest speakers? Shows each night? Any information would help.

Thanks

45 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

Just say they did go to Cairns, wouldn’t there would be a lot more unhappy people.

The people I have chatted with onboard are satisfied with the cruise.

 

My problem is not with the change which I accept. My problem is with Royal Caribbean. The nickel and diming as they say. After 300 nights, might give it a rest!

2 hours ago, bretts173 said:

Many people just looking for some compensation probably, I mean Cairns and the north of Qld is a total disaster area.  Royals job is to deliver a good cruise and those that I've spoken to are having a ball.

Really, not all. Many unhappy atm unfortunately. I actually haven’t heard of many wanting compensation. It was mainly that many guests did not know of the changes at all.

I am glad your sister is enjoying herself. I do wonder that there was no Captains Corner as he might have been asked questions about compensation.? Many people not happy, with their lack of communication.

We are going ok, but not rushing back to Royal in a hurry I do not think. It would have to be a very good itinerary.

Our son lives there and yesterday morning, he had a metre of water thru his house and rising! 
No contact today unfortunately.

CHILLI if you read this, did they have a Captains Corner when you were on Brilliance.? None today and I was a little surprised.Also, no one has mentioned the whole cruise about our change of itinerary, not a word! It is like it didn’t exist.

Also,,the staff have gone out of their way in the last few days to make sure everyone is happy. I think they know the guest satisfaction surveys are around the corner. We even got our Chops Steak bill taken care of my Head Waiter.

Update on the Billiard Balls. 64 have been found. Apparently a hole in the billard table and the balls were slipping into this hole.So not only were the 22 found but some additional found also. A case of believe it or not🤣 it will be repaired in Sydney.

I just asked someone playing the billiards the question…….he had absolutely no sense of humour and looked at us like idiots! Many people with problems, I think, when you consider the billiard ball situation!

52 minutes ago, icat2000 said:

Dont those noodles who acquired the billard balls know that there is cameras all over the ship.  Have there been any off loading of passengers at any ports yet or have the balls been returned.

No more news of the billard balls. They said they had the cameras but they were hoping for an honesty system.

1 hour ago, Chiliburn said:

Did you get a scallop pie in Hobart?

No today but perhaps Tomorrow. The Salamanca Markets had scollops on a stick though.😄

58 minutes ago, cheznandy said:

Wow Cheryle, that is so bad that people may have stolen them.

We had a couple of games when we were on board, love those tables. 

Hope you guys are having a good cruise.

Going ok Chez, but not our preferred cruise obviously. Haven’t had your problem thankfully.

Currently on Brilliance and about to lose internet. We just had an announcement thru all cabins and dining room that 22 billiard balls have been misplaced or stolen on this cruise and they are wanting them returned. I did have to check my watch to see it wasn’t 1st April. Third world problem for Royal Caribbean as it has apparently never happened before.

1 hour ago, gbenjo said:

Don't forget your sunscreen……….oh thats right .😂

Extremely funny (not)