IECalCruiser

Is she going to try the higher caffeinated Starbucks? I think I get enough caffeine to bypass their newest product. Americano’s work for me.

Same for DW.

 

 

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Are you sure it was the Chef's Table? The last time we were on the Pacific Princess (Sept 2016), the wine tasting / food pairing event (called something like Sammenich) was held at the entrance to the Club Bar. It was very good, but not a full dinner and much less money than the Chef's Table. The table is set as if a meal is to be served, so perhaps you were given the wrong impression.....or maybe it was the Chef's Table :D:D

It very probably was the Stammtisch Table. That is where it was held on our cruise in November of 2016. There were 12-14 of us plus 3-4 officers.

 

On the 50th Anniversary Cruise they had planned to hold it outside on deck nine but bad weather forced it to be cancelled [emoji22]

 

 

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If the Pacific Princess Chef's Table is held anything like the former Ocean Princess Chef's Table (which I suspect it is as they are the same ship layout and Oscar has moved from the Ocean Princess to the Pacific Princess), it is NOT held outside the entrance to the MDR. Rather that is where the event begins with donning the white coats in preparation for the galley tour and appetizers in the galley. Once that is complete, the party takes a crew-only elevator up to deck 10 where the meal is provided in the back room of whichever specialty restaurant is not open for the evening.

That is the same as for us in November of 2016. Sabatini’s was the restaurant open that night and the ride up the elevator was unique as we enter at the back of the room where the table for the 14 of us was available. Oscar is the best ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 

 

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Pass on their coffee altogether and just order Americano; double shot. They never charge extra for the additional shot.

Thanks Pia for the suggestion. Hope to run into you again on a Princess cruise!

DW was introduced to Americanos by one of our waitstaff at Sabatini’s for breakfast in 2012 and that is now her go to caffeine delivery system in the morning.[emoji4][emoji4]

 

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What is that tiny lobster tail swimming in? Doesn't look appetizing to me.

That is actually soubise, an onion sauce and quite good. The point is that you have six courses including a starter, salad, pasta, seafood, meat and dessert. If serving size for each course were larger you might not have room for the delicious dark chocolate cremeux dessert. If you just want a lobster dinner then SHARE is not for you. If you want one of the best meals on the Ruby then try SHARE.

 

 

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Ah, I'm glad I am learning this now . . 10 day cruise without a covered balcony might be worth switching. Now, worried about noise tho.

Sailed in both Dolphin and Emerald deck minisuites. The uncovered balconies on Dolphin deck don’t bother us and we even had an Ultimate Balcony Dinner one night.

 

We had no issues with noise on the starboard side (odd numbers) but there have been reports of noise issues in the last two or maybe three cabins on the port side, mostly thumping bass.

 

 

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we are going on the Ruby in Feb next year. Is Sabitinis now replaced by Curtis Stone 6 course meal? Is it good? What is better Crown Grill or the Curtis Stone restaurant? Thank you for your opinion.

SHARE has replaced Sabatini’s on the Emerald and Ruby. The Crown Grill is a steak house with a few seafood entrees. IMHO the steaks are no better than in the MDR but others will certainly disagree. We had the opportunity to eat at SHARE on the Ruby last November. DW and I felt it was one of the best meals we have had on our 20+ Princess cruises and service was excellent. It was probably even better because they had reduced the price from $39 to $29 in honor of their second anniversary onboard [emoji6] Although each course is small, we were full after our meal. On the last night, it was fully booked. That doesn’t mean every table was full but server capacity matched diners.

 

 

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Right, the punches will be good through August next year. But since ships are not selling physical coffee cards, people will not be able to use a card without a ship/voyage number to get the free brewed coffee like they could have before.

You are correct. I didn’t notice that the post before was stating that a card without a voyage number could potentially be used for complementary fresh brewed coffee. The paper coffee cards will only be valid to 12/31/2018 for recent cards that had that expiration date added or 08/31/2019 for cards that have no expiration date and until expiration, you will only be able to get coffee with punches.

 

I just hope that they add different amounts of specialty coffees for the packages depending upon the voyage length before our 28 day cruise in September.

 

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Um, yes, pretty sure they will. Until 8/19

I would imagine that if you have one of those cards and you use it this year, they MAY write the voyage number on the back when you first use them onboard, you can't use it on your next cruise.

Without an expiration date, punches are good until 8/19.

 

 

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If we cruise out of San Pedro or drive to a cruise out of San Francisco, we bring wine from our cellar. On our 28 day cruise this fall from San Pedro to Sydney we will bring two cases on board. We will be on a B2B so four bottles will be for consumption in our room without corkage and the other twenty bottles for consumption in the DR or elsewhere on board. If we ever cruise out of FLL again we will make another stop at Total Wine. We have purchased the wine package for cruises out of other ports such as a 12 day Med cruise from Venice to Rome.

 

The break even point for choosing between the Silver and Gold Packages is wine costing $38 without gratuity. If you plan to drink wines costing more than that then go with the Gold package. Most of our wine choices used to average less than $38 but with recent increases, two of our favorites, the Ruffino Chianti Ducale Riserva and the Domaine de Vieux Lazaret Chataeuneuf-du-Pape are well over $38 so it will be Gold package for us in the future. Interestingly, I can buy the Ruffino on sale and even with the $15 corkage it is cheaper than if purchased with the Gold package. On the other hand I haven’t found Vieux Lazaret as cheap as the package price.

We booked an Alaskan cruise on the $1 promo which also included $250/person OBC. The price with the Sip + Sail promo is unchanged. Although the PBP is “worth” $483/person on this cruise the $250/person of OBC is worth more to us so we won’t be switching. If we didn’t have the OBC offer we would have already switched.

 

 

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The defined minute packages show again on our Golden cruise. Was really hoping for a change to the daily rates [emoji848]

 

 

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I have heard that on the newest class of Princess Ships such as the Regal, that they serve brewed coffee, not syrup based in the MDR and the buffet.

The are coffee brewers available for passenger use in the Horizon Court on those ships. Don’t know the source of dining room or room service coffee.

 

 

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Another option is to make a cup of hot tea (there are usually a number of choices) and pour it over ice.

I do that all of the time. Also make tea in a 20 oz. covered mug and place in the mini fridge to pour over ice the next day. If I have to drink the Princess ice tea I typically dilute it 1:1 with water.

 

 

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There definitely can be differences in motion. Now the Pacific is a smaller ship and is knocked around by waves more than the larger ships. We were mid-aft on deck six and our friends were all of the way forward on deck six. We had rough seas the night sailing between Cabo and Puerto Vallarta. They invited us to their cabin and it was really rocking and rolling while our cabin had much less motion as the motion up and down forward was much greater than mid aft. On the Ruby the side to side motion was much greater in SHARE on the Sun deck than in our mini suite seven decks below on Dolphin deck.

 

 

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We have been in two different WS on the Golden, F307 and F315, and F311 on the Grand. No joggers noise on the 24 days in those cabins. We had stabilizer noise in F307. We had some rough seas for a night in F311 and as the ship moved the walls creaked and groaned, especially the wall at the head of our bed. When the seas settled down the noise disappeared. The cabins were added later and are probably less rigid than original cabins.

 

 

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Well' date=' this thread got me curious--the internet packages have been removed from our Alaska cruises on the Golden.[/quote']It’s missing for our Golden cruise in September. The Golden should have the equipment for rolling out the higher speed daily plans and I hope that is why.

 

 

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Free always has shrimp, salmon, prosciutto on cream cheese, (or maybe it's not cream cheese and is a salmon mousse) and I forget what else. Haven't seen or wanted them in years.

Yup, the “free” suite/elite canapés sound very much like the deluxe offering. There are no cheese mouse, bay shrimp, cooked ham, salami, or tuna mousse.

 

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On the Ruby last November, Crooners Bar opened at 9:00 and Outrigger’s opened at 10:00. The bar portion of the IC was closed between around midnight and 6:00 a.m. for alcoholic beverages and specialty coffees. Never tried ordering an alcoholic drink at breakfast in the MDR or HC, and I never make contributions at the Casino [emoji6]

 

On the Pacific in November of 2016, the Panorama Bar adjacent to the Panorama Buffet opened at 5:30 a.m. and the Club Bar adjacent to the MDR opened at 7:00 a.m.

 

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I sure hope HC will be open after our multiple long days in port (British Isles)

We have Traditional early seating and I’m sure we’ll need the buffet.

 

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Don’t worry, the buffet will be open until around midnight although selections may be reduced after 9:00-10:00.

 

 

 

 

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Thanks for sharing the actual experiences. This link shows that PCL says Horizon Buffet is closed at dinner

https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/food-and-dining/dining-options.pdf

 

Regarding juices available, what about grapefruit? Also is the cranberry, 100% cranberry or is it the blend with grape juice?

 

Regarding the extra cost steak, we would think of that on night when only one of us wants steak and the other is happy with the regular dining room menu. Would hope for the extra charge, you would get a properly prepared, hot meal :).

 

Again, thanks for sharing.

You can’t always believe what you read on the website. We have been on the Crown, Emerald, and Ruby and the HC has always been open for dinner, usually with a themed buffet most nights.

 

As I remember, it is cranberry fulcrum cocktail.

 

The extra cost steak option was just added to the menu as a trial on the Ruby about a month ago so there will not be a lot of information yet. Apparently it has been rolled out on the Star also.

 

 

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Can someone provide examples of kinds of things offered - what sandwiched, salads, or soups, particuraly the soups? Also what was the selection of tapas? Do you order from a menu or view them and pick what you want? Thanks.

There is typically one (or maybe two) soups available and they will vary from day to day. The sandwiches and salads used to be pretty much the same every day but now there is a wider selection that rotates from day to day. All ships should have a panini press and you can get sandwiches heated if you wish.

 

Check out these photos of the Emerald IC to get an idea of other offerings.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/photos/ships/emerald-princess-377/international-cafe-402352/

 

 

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Thank you everyone. We will definitely skip those. We haven't been on a ship this small and wasn't sure what would be available snack wise.

 

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Although the Panorama Buffet on the Pacific is smaller than the Horizon Court there has been a good selection of munchies throughout the day. Because there is only one serving line, the buffet does shut down for a short time during changeover from breakfast to lunch and lunch to dinner.

Elites used to be able to order chocolate covered cherries as an option on formal nights. When they went away we would order the profiteroles. When they went away we stopped ordering because the rest just weren’t that good.

 

 

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There are five people selling Coffee Cards on eBay at prices ranging from $23-$25. At least some appear to be falsely stating that they are good for fresh brewed coffee and premium tea.

 

 

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