Lobez

Just off the Caribbean Princess on Saturday.  There was a broken pipe near a public rest room on deck 6 and there was a sewage smell from that, but it was resolved quickly.  Overall nothing unusual.

I felt the same way on our April 16th Majestic cruise.  I always like to get a warm waffle from the buffet and have some ice cream put on top at swirls.  Had it once and was very disappointed with the ice cream.  We thought it had an artificial/chemical taste and was as the OP described.  On a positive note the waffle was good!

On 3/8/2022 at 9:17 AM, JimmyVWine said:

Did they test all the passengers once the cruise was under way?  The Princess website states that certain cruises are subject to en-route testing, but it sounds like that is the exception and not the rule.  I ask because if the people who are Covid+ are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, why would they think to self-administer a test to themselves? 

I'm wondering if Princess is using the Medallions for contact tracing.  If they find a positive crew member or passenger, I'm sure they could find close contacts through the Medallions and test/quarantine those people.  Just a guess on my part, and I'm not against it.  Think it would be a good tool to control outbreaks.

7 hours ago, Parrottdizes said:

When I used my iPhone, I did experience what happened to you.....luckily I have the app on my mini i-pad too, so I opened the app on there and was able to see the confirm bottom on the mini.   

Thanks for the info.  The app wouldn't display the confirm tab on my iphone8, but showed and worked fine on my wife's iphone13.  Not sure why, but we're set to go now.

The arrival group selection just opened on the Medallion App for our April cruise.  I am able to choose the boarding time but the app doesn't display a way to confirm or save the selection.  If I close the app and then open it again the boarding group is blank .  I tried all the groups (early, mid & late) and they all do the same thing.  Anyone experience this before and have remedy?  Thanks

We'll be sailing on the majestic in April and I am wondering when they open the Arrival & Departure Group selections on the Medallion App.  Right now I am getting a message that these will be available closer to departure.  Any info is appreciated.

Anyone know what security measures are being put in place to protect the data on the new medallions? I asked this on a recent cruise and couldn't get any answers, but I realize it's not active yet. My concern is if the medallions use RFID they can easily be compromised. According to the press release about the medallions, all the information you provide pre-cruise is stored in the medallion real time, but makes no mention of encrypting or securing the data. I'm concerned about this because I've seen the damage that can be done when your personal information winds up in the wrong hands. Hope Princess has this in mind.

Anyone know if there is an additional charge for any of the new eateries?

My first cruise was on the Fairwind in 1974 when I was 11 years old. I loved the cruising life I was introduced to and have been cruising as much as I can since then. My memories:

Great food and service, and dinner with the Captain in the dining room. He had his own table and would invite passengers to dine with him. Also remember the real flaming Baked Alaska and loved the Midnight Buffet.

There was trap shooting off the back deck.

Having to pay for, and being assigned a deck chair. This is the cruise where I fell in love with the Promenade Deck.

The Captains Circle was called the Circolo club but not sure of the spelling.

Men dressing in Tuxedos with ruffled shirts, not my style but still made for great photos.

Do they still do the pub lunch fish and chips i think it was on the Regal. I did not see it in any of the posted Patters. Thanks :)

Check the 1st Sea day. The Pub Lunch is listed in the activities from 11:30-1:30.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2459063&page=2

This thread has photos of some the menus on the Ruby including the new restaurant Share.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2450300

This link has all the patters from a Mexican Riviera cruise in January. Hope it helps

Get a hot waffle from the late afternoon buffet and add ice cream from scoops. Nothing like a waffle and ice cream!

My wife and I are booked on the Ruby are are waitlisted for a traditional dining, table for 2. After final payment our waitlist position dropped to #3 and stayed there for 2 weeks. Today I check and we moved up to #4. How can that be? Were we bumped up for someone else? We booked this cruise several months ago and steadily moved down on the waitlist so I'm surprised we are going in the other direction. We are not new to Princess and both have Elite status. Not sure what's up here.

Yes. A few years ago we had our carry-on bags stolen from our rental car on our way to the ship. We had Princess Platinum insurance as well. We filed a police report before we got on the ship, and upon our return we filed a claim with Princess travel insurance. We also had to start a claim with our homeowners as there was some question about coverage due to a theft from a vehicle in route to the ship, but this wasn't necessary in the end. The travel insurance through Princess covered our losses, including a camera, without question.

The insurance carrier was Berkely and they were very easy to deal with. Anything we purchased and had a receipt for was covered fully. Any items that we didn't have receipts for was covered at a reduced percentage.

We've done the California Coastal 3 times (1 w/RCCL and 2 w/PCL). It's easily our favorite! We love the ports, the climate, and the people at the ports - all friendly. Definitely take the PCL wine tour in Ensenada. San Diego has a FANTASTIC zoo, obviously, and it can be done in a day if you get there early and plan your route ahead of time. Love it! The SD waterfront is also a great place to just stroll along. The battleship is very interesting, and a harbor cruise is lovely! Love Santa Barbara (go to The Mission!), and San Francisco is probably my favorite port of any we've been to - so much to do and just a fascinating city! The Big Bus Tour is a great way to see SF. Or take a wine country tour to Napa/Sonoma. Two other couples joined us for our California Coastal cruise last year because they had heard us talk about it so much - they also realized why we love it so much!

Any recommendations for a wine country tour operator in SF? Going on a coastal in a couple of weeks and interested in taking one.

Hertz now has a rental office located on 6th street in San Pedro. They offer free shuttle to the pier. I booked a car at LAX with a return to this location and there is no return fee. I have used Enterprise in the past, but they charged an additional $40 return fee for San Pedro.

We were there last August on the Ruby. It was short stop and we didn't have a full day there. We walked to the German Underground Museum (really a neat place to see) and then checked out the Fort on our way back. We walked passed Victor Hugo's house but were too late to get a tour. You can do a lot on your own within walking distance of the pier. It is a nice port, but time was limited

Yes they do. I had to ask for it at the pub lunch. They brought a bottle of the traditional sauce to me, no the steak sauce. If you don't see it, ask for it.

We had an incident with stolen carry-on luggage. We had princess insurance and I was very pleased with them. Any items we purchased to replace what was was stolen was reimbursed to us %100 if we submitted receipts. I had a necklace that was a gift for my wife in one of the bags that I had bought 3 months prior. I had the receipt and was reimbursed %100. Other items like shoes, pants shirts etc. that I had no receipts for were reimbursed at %80 of the value I estimated them at, of course within reason. The turn around time for reimbursement was very reasonable and the paperwork was not cumbersome at all. Overall I had no complaints with Princess insurance.

We were on the Ruby Princess that docked in Dublin this past August. Princess does run a shuttle from the port that drops you off at Trinity College. I don't remember the exact cost but it wasn't too much, maybe 10 Euro round trip. You can either book the shuttle on board, or at the bus itself. They took our cabin numbers at the bus and our on-board accounts were charged. I wouldn't recommend trying to walk. There isn't much to see around the port area, and it's a long hike to get to anything. Once we got off of the shuttle, we bought tickets for the HoHo bus and made the rounds.

At most stops on the British Isles cruise, representatives from the local tourist agencies would set up tables with information. Sometimes it was on the ship in the atrium by the International Cafe, other times they were in the terminal as you got off. In Dublin they were on the ship and gave us maps and offered good advice. On the 1st Wednesday of every month, all attractions run by the Office of Public Works (Kilmainhan Jail etc) are free and lines can be long. We were told this and went to these places first and had short waits. By 1pm they were not booking any more tours. I would highly recommend a tour of the jail, it's fascinating.

We stayed in the Premier Inn County Hall this past July. It was unusually hot and the hotel has no A/C in the rooms, so it was a bit uncomfortable. The hotel was very clean and the staff very friendly. I would stay there again, just not in summer months. We picked this hotel over Waterloo because of the price, but learned why the difference once we got there.

I was able to meet with the Matre D and change my dining on my April 2014 CB cruise and my August 2014 Ruby cruise. I found the time and location listed in the patter after embarkation. I had booked any time dining on both and switched to a table for 2 in the traditional dining room once on board. No problem at all.

We had the same situation as the OP on a recent Ruby cruise. We had done Sabatini's before the menu change and loved the experience. We wanted to take my son there to celebrate his birthday and we were very disappointed with the changes and found the food and service no better than the main dining room. We didn't do the Crown Grill this cruise so I can't comment there. We'll try the Crown Grill next cruise but we'll scratch Sabatini's in the future, it's simply not worth the extra charge.

No, we didn't do the tattoo. In Glasgow I met up with a bunch of friends there getting ready for the world pipe band championships and didn't take the trip to the tattoo. I would suggest you research Odyssey tours in Belfast. They were very good and took us to the Giants Causeway, the rope bridge and a tour of the city for 25 pounds each. In Orkney, we took a bus tour from the local tourist center that was 8.50 per person and took us to the Ring of Brogdar and Skara Brae. A great tour at a really good price. Any other questions or info I can provide, just ask. It's a great trip with a ton of options.