R**T

On 12/4/2019 at 6:29 PM, Bluemoontets said:

We are booked on a cruise from Singapore in March 2021 and had booked a balcony, imagine our surprise yesterday when we had an email from Princess upgrading us to a Mini Suite.  Had to check our cruise personaliser as thought it might have been a spam email. A very nice Christmas present for us especially as 16 months before we sail.

Congratulations!

We've done 22 Princess cruises and have never been offered any kind of upgrade.

7 hours ago, pablo222 said:

 

 

Threads like me convince me that there will be lots of people who pay no attention,

and have no idea what to do in an emergency.

 

 

 

 

These are the same people that block the hallways with their scooters, and could not find a fire alarm or extinguisher if their life depended on it -- which it might.

The crew train constantly to respond to all kinds of emergencies.  Is is too much to ask the passengers to be able to find their muster stations and know how to put on their life jackets?  Yes it is boring, but only until  you find yourself  in a life threatening situation.

I would love to sing in the Princess Pop Choir.   I can't sing though so it is probably best if I don't.

Yellow Fish!

Another fan here.  Your blog is ALMOST like being on a cruise myself.  Those menus are killing me!

14 hours ago, 2cruiserz said:

I realize this is an old thread but if anyone has stayed in either of these rooms, what did you feel are the cons?  Was there much noise with people going in and out the doors to the shuffleboard deck, etc.?

I have actually stayed in both of these cabins.

S704 was fine.  Occasionally there would be noisy people waiting for the elevator.  Only two of the elevators go to this deck so there is lots of waiting.

S702 had problems.  There is a storage room across the hall -- not shown on the deck plans -- that is used by the Horizon Court -- one deck down.  Late at night the crew would be in and out always banging the door behind.  I should say BANGING!  Also, crew members liked to hide in this hallway to check their mobile phones.  It was weird to walk out of the cabin and find someone loitering.  In S702 we also had problems with the door lock, air conditioning and the refrigerator.

The Golden Princess is leaving the Princess fleet in September 2020.  After that these cabins will be on the P and O Pacific Adventure.

In 2016 we did a B2B2B on the Island Princess from Fort Lauderdale to LA, from LA to Vancouver, and from Vancouver to Whittier.  The trip was booked as three cruises with three booking numbers, but we stayed in the same cabin throughout.  We went through immigration in LA and Vancouver.

I clearly remember that the original booking was done by the Future Cruise Consultant during a previous cruise.

The Sea Princess, currently on a world cruise, had a May 30, 2019, stop in Columbo cancelled.  The change was announced as they were leaving Brisbane on May 16, 2019.  Instead, the Sea Princess stopped in Port Kelang, Malaysia, on June 1, 2019.

11 hours ago, Pam in CA said:

I haven't gotten a post-cruise survey in the last 4-5 cruises. Yes, I checked my spam folder. I now make notes during the cruise and get a "Comment' card at the Passenger Services Desk, fill it out and turn it in. Only way I get any voice. 😞

Sometimes I get a survey.  Sometimes I don't.  I have learned that they expire after a couple of weeks so I need to respond quickly.

So, before I  leave the ship, I always fill out "Comment" cards for outstanding crew members.  I hope someone really reads them! 

Our ship the Sapphire Princess is scheduled to be in Colombo on December 2, 2019.  I am watching, waiting, and hoping it is not cancelled.  We will need to get visas soon.

What ship will this be?

20 hours ago, nukesubsailor said:

The card you will find in your cabin that lists the schedule for the Elite/Platinum/Suite function also list the food items they will have each evening.  Be warned!   When they mention having onion rings one evening, they do not mean battered and deep fried onion rings.  The onion rings are just raw onion.  Supposedly, raw onion goes with one of the other items on that nights' menu but I think it is just cruel to advertise onion rings and not state that they are raw.  Everywhere else I have ever been that mentions onion rings was referring to the battered and deep fried ones. 

I don't know if this bait and switch scheme is part of the cost cutting Princess seems to be doing or if it is the sick joke of some pompous executive chef.  Makes me wonder if Curtis Stone is behind this.😖😁

Sometimes there are deep fried onion rings at the grill on the pool deck.  Just ask the cooks.  They can tell you if and when they will have the crispy, golden kind.  It is not every day.

By the way,  the staff that run the grills are some of the nicest people on the Princess fleet.

55 minutes ago, caribill said:

Can't answer about Sri Lanka, but when we were on another cruise line that stopped in Oman there was no visa required pre-cruise. If any visa was required on arrival (and I do not know if one was), the cruise line took care of it at no cost to passengers.

Same experience.  We were on a P & O ship that stopped in both Salalah and Muscat.  No visa was required prior to sailing.  We did not get off the ship in Salalah.  In Muscat we were handed a small tourist card which we carried and tossed into a box on return to the ship.  It was all very casual; the number on the card was not recorded.  When our passports were returned to us at the end of the cruise in Dubai, there were entrance and exit stamps for both Omani  ports. 

10 hours ago, hillslife said:

We were on that cruise and heard it was a one time event.    Great ports and cruise but many unhappy passengers with very limited culture, shore info and very limited enrichment lectures.  Princess really dropped the ball on this cruise. It could’ve been fantastic 😢 with lots of info and history 

We were on that cruise as well.  Who can ever forget the wonderful day "at sea" while anchored and trapped in Yokohama Harbor!  Very poor communication.  Very poor logistics.

Despite it all, I feel sure that Princess could easily sell out this cruise again.  Princess regularly offers a Circle Pacific cruise round trip from Sydney, Australia. 

2 hours ago, caribill said:

They have already saved money as they were not purchased for the Majestic.

 

After not having a number of complaints about the missing chair on the Majestic, it became an easy decision to remove them from other ships so as not having to worry about repair/replacement of those chairs as time goes on.

The Majestic Princess was built specifically for the Chinese market and has spent most of her life doing charters in China.  Do you imagine that Princess sends surveys to charter passengers in China?  Maybe they want chairs too.

8 hours ago, jlp20 said:

This is on the Princess thread. On Princess, pax are required to keep in their cabins at night.

True, but there is always someone who insists on parking their scooter in the stairwell or hallway, and it is a real safety hazard when they do.

As Anne says, there is not much to see on the starboard side.  On the port side you will get to see lots of towns and the southbound convoy of ships when it passes. 

We did a southbound Suez transit several years ago.  We had to enter the convoy at about 2 a.m. so we missed a lot in the darkness of night.  When morning came, we had a couple of hours of dense fog.  When the fog lifted, we really enjoyed the trip. 

My last Princess cruise was less than perfect.  I did not come back new.  And now they are taking away the lounge chair and table from my cabin?  I do not read, eat, or watch television in bed.  I'll be taking my loyalty credit and moving to another cruise line.  Even the Motel 6 can provided two chairs and a table in their rooms!

9 hours ago, Rocking Waves said:

I agree, every room should have 2 chairs of some description to sit on, not just on the bed - whether to read, have a drink, eat breakfast, etc.  The coffee table is about the only place to set down a tray as the desk is often filled with personal items, flyers, etc.  We like to enjoy our room to relax and both need a place to sit down.  I do hope all those chairs and tables haven't disappeared.

 

Agree completely!

Our minutes rolled over on a recent (September-November 2018) back-to-back on the Coral Princess.

We did this in January 2017 on the P&O Aurora.  When the ship arrived midday, everyone went through immigration in the terminal.  When we left the ship about 1:00 a.m. all the immigration officers were gone.  Only the security officers were available to scan our luggage.

We stopped at passenger services to pick up our final bill and just pulled our luggage off the ship.  No problems.  We also told our stateroom steward that we would be leaving early.

When we left the terminal,  there was a single taxi waiting for a fare.  He said he had been waiting for a couple of hours.  Apparently the taxi drivers pay a fee to enter the port area.

December 2010. Rome to Rio on the beautiful Star Princess. What an amazing cruise!

The International Cafe on the Emerald Princess recently made me a wonderful fruit punch. It was a surprise from our waiter who thought I would like it. Loved it!

We were on the Golden Princess last summer -- July 2017 -- and the wine package was not available. Our dining room waiter had never heard of such, so we made him ask the head waiter. Perhaps because it was a Australia based cruise?

We are going to be on the Emerald Princess in a few weeks, so we are hoping that the wine package will be available. One time we had a bottle left at the end of the cruise, and they gave it to us unopened to carry off the ship.

We are sailing on the Golden Princess in July. We wanted to have a specific cabin, but when we booked, we had to be waitlisted for the category. After a couple of months, we got a GTY. After many months and a couple of weeks after making the final payment, DH called Princess and we have the EXACT cabin that we wanted! Can hardly wait.

When we were on the Island Princess last May, the puppies came on board in Skagway in the afternoon before departure. It was listed in the Patter so you won't miss it.

Ryan Reddington -- just Google him! -- brought "Moose" and "Mink" on board for cuddles. Such sweet mellow dogs! There was a long line for photos and although I NEVER buy photos from Princess, I had to buy one of me holding "Mink." I hope Mr. Reddington got a percentage of all the sales!

The funniest thing: One of the puppies did a tinkle -- as puppies do -- and Princess brought in a three man hazmat team to do the cleanup!