SHIP TRAVELER

Thank you for the review. I understand the ship had a dry dock in Jan. 2024. Was you bed good and was the ship as a whole in decent condition? We have a cruise booked in early 2025 and were concerned after reading some reviews. Thank you for any information.

I am glad you decided on the Silhouette. The sky suites them selves feel a lot bigger on the S class. I would suggest the Aft sky suites on deck eleven if any are still available. The view is to die for and you are not under the OVC.

We bid just over the minimum for an upgraded cabin on the SS Victoria for an August 7, 2024 Moselle Rhine cruise. We put the bid in on April 14. We don't expect to get an upgrade as we are first time cruisers on Uniworld with no loyalty status. We are mainly interested in getting the bigger cabin. Going from 188 square feet to 253 square feet would make for a more comfortable cruise. We will post here when we get an acceptance or denial message in case anyone is interested.

I read this to see what others would say and felt that you are a Blue Chip player (as are we) that you not count on being able to gamble on a Royal ship. When we were on the Allure with a group last year we found that the large casino did have a non smoking side but the only craps and black jack games open were usually on the smoking side. Heavy gagging smoke. Every table had someone smoking while playing. We spend a lot of time in the casino on Celebrity but we detour around it on Royal. Any non smoking room would likely have slots only.

It is nice when trip reports are posted here so that others can ask questions and leave comments for the OP. It also makes it easy to see a recent review and a fresh prospective. I find the trip reports very informative and entertaining compared to canned reviews.

We are going to be on the Jewel August TA after that ones dry dock., We were wondering if there are any changes inside the cabins. I would love to hear that the mattresses had been replaced and maybe the sofas. Since the Jewel and Radiance are in the same class, I am hoping you can tell us about the dry dock in some detail. Thanks and Bon Voyage.

As a frequent Celebrity cruiser, I was happy to see than at least on the Sun Princess showers now have glass doors and comfortable looking extra seating in all of the balcony cabins. A beautiful young woman stretched out with a breakfast tray on the bed may look chic but in reality having room service setting on the bed was dumb. The cabins were so small there was not room for the little table and it ended up in the closet. One had to book a mini suite to have a place to set. Speaking of closets, the new glassed in one may be a little small but I never liked looking into a pile of shoes walking into the cabin so I like the new design and a bigger desk. I didn't realize that there were not take away cups for coffee in the buffet or steps into the pool but both of these things exist on other lines. All this said we are trying the reserve mini suite with premium plus next year on a royal class ship so I think Princess is trying to compete and willing to make changes to do so. I hate the smoking casino also and I love to gamble almost daily on Celebrity but will stay away on Princess.

Lots of good ideas here. We are light packers but find room for 2 strong magnetic hooks and 2 small pinching clamps for keeping the black out curtains closed. For longer cruises I print out a one page blank generic calendar that we post on the wall to help us keep the schedule straight. None of these items take up any room and they make life easier for us. The fun thing I like to bring is a couple of strings of colorful Mardi Gras beads because that means there will be a Cruise Critic roll call sail away event and we will get the party started earlier.

We paid extra for Reserve on a future cruise on the Regal in hopes the dining situation would be better. My DH thinks that the dining experience sets the tone for the success of the cruise No one should dread heading out for dinner.. Not everyone feels this way of course as evidenced by people that eat every night in the buffet. We have been disappointed in the the service and seating more than the food on recent cruises on Princess. We would like to cruise more on Princess and are hoping that club class dining will make a difference. This is the dining available to the top suites so it should be an improvement. We are hoping for something at least like BLU dining on Celebrity. I know this does not answer your question but it will let you know that it was a good question. Let's hope you get some good replies.

Yes Thanks for taking the time to report back.

Thanks for posting. We will be on the Regal from Galveston next year. The Premier package is new to us. I was wondering what casual dining venues were available. I am hoping for some pop ups like the crab night in buffet or pub night. Was there anything like a sports bar/Gastro pub with the casual dining. Where did you use your specialty dining nights and what menu items do you recommend. We have not sailed Princess recently so any comments on getting the most out of the the Premier would be welcome. We would also appreciate any tips about must see areas or events on the Regal,

One thing I saw in some of the sideways bed photos of an ocean view on an on line site showed a door. The inside door between some adjoining door cabins is back by the window wall which would put it in the middle of the bed with the twin set up. When there is a connecting door the bed is sideways (at least sometimes). We have cabin 4501 on a 16 day cruise is August. Hope it is OK. We usually get a balcony but the ship is nearly booked out and the balcony cabins are expensive. This is Amsterdam to Boston with Iceland and Greenland so a great cruise at least on paper. There is supposed to be a dry dock in April.

Thamks for the replies. I have a friend who will only play the cash games.

We had an ugly (free dining) surprise on Celebrity. Our on line TA advertised free specialty restaurant for two with a booking. When we got on board no voucher was in the room so we contacted the TA who had paid Celebrity for the dining. We went to guest services and after being handed off three times we were told that we had $45 per person OBC to use toward a specialty restaurant. Since Celebrity has no specialty restaurant for under $55 (plus a required 20% gratuity) this was not what we expected. We would never have known that this refundable OBC was a restaurant. I know this is a Royal board (Diamond plus here) but I wanted others to know this. I felt it was Celebrities mistake for not honoring something they offered to TAs at a discounted rate. I did follow up with the TA after returning home. We did not use the $90 to dine because we would have had to add another $55 to eat in Murano's. Sort of felt like it was a trick.

Have not sailed with Princess in a long time and can't remember if there is a live cash game on board like on Celebrity and Royal. If so what are the limits and rake. Thanks to anyone who may know the answer.