cruisequeen4ever

If you’ve never sailed on Princess, you’ll probably really be happy because you don’t know what you are missing. Those of us who have sailed for many many years on Princess miss certain things that are gone, feel that some of the magic has waned, and feel the value has been somewhat lessened. Some of us, like me, are still 100% devoted to Princess, though, because it’s still better than other options. Ignore the reviews, and make your own opinion. You don’t have much to lose. You either end up addicted to Princess or decide to go with a different cruise line next time. 

It’s hot by day and warm to cool by night. Having a sweater is always a good idea whether it be for AC indoors or out on deck at night. 

6 minutes ago, Veinless said:

I saw! It'll be our first Princess cruise so I'm hoping the MDR is comparable to Celebrity's.

The food on Princess is superior to Celebrity IMHO.

The only baked goods that taste good to me on Celebrity are the cookies. They’re not as good as Princess’s, though, and I certainly wouldn’t pay for them. This is just ridiculous. 

1 hour ago, keesar said:

The desserts on the ships look better than they taste. Taste nothing like the items at bakeries near us.

Totally agree with this on Celebrity.

1) We like the sports bands. Everyone can choose the color they want, they’re comfortable to wear, durable, and affordable. 
2) Yes, you scan your medallion to pay for the laundry and the detergent. 
3) Get there 20-30 min early to be safe. 
4) The Sapphire is unique in that it has 4 identical layout dining rooms. You can go to any of them; the difference is the theme in decor. Each used to have a specialty dish but not sure if that’s still happening post pandemic.  
5) I don’t know

6) Yes, you can add all of your family members to your app, so you can track them all. Beware though that there is a delay. One night, I wanted to surprise my husband, so I used the app to find him. Well, I kept missing him because the app would be a few min behind. I finally had to use Facebook Messenger to call him. 

That has wonderful; congrats!

17 hours ago, NIkkiGR said:

Do you recall how much the bus to Knossos costs? We are are the same 21 day cruise in September and this was my plan also. Does the Knossos bus take you back to the bus station? Or where did you get off? 

I don’t know this answer, but there will be taxis at the port authority (where the port bus drops you off from the ship). They encourage you to book one to wait for you while you tour, so you don’t have to wait for a taxi after. If I remember correctly, it’s about 26 Euros one way taxi.

21 hours ago, DeeTO said:

Did you visit Knossos on your own without a guide. If so, did you think the signage was good enough for explanation. Thanks

I can answer that because we did that last month. If you choose to do this, absolutely buy your tickets online before you go! The line to buy tickets to get in was reallllly long, UNLESS you already had tickets. Once inside, try to avoid the tour groups to speed up your visit; they clog the walkways and sites sometimes. There are signs in Greek and English. We read them, but it was soooo hot and crowded that we really just focused on seeing the sites and getting  out of there. We actually said on the way out how glad we were that we hadn’t done a tour because we couldn’t take the heat any longer. Skip the bathroom there; it was the longest bathroom line I’ve ever encountered. Allot an hour for the visit; the local driver said that’s the typical amount of time. We finished in 50 min. 

2 hours ago, PATRLR said:

The monitors actually don't weigh that much.  One of the three in the picture is actually my laptop, so it's 2 monitors that go into the suitcase.  I have some packing material specific for those monitors and when you put the cords and dock, etc, the bag usually comes in just under 40 lbs.  I also have status so I don't have to pay to check a bag, so, the only cost is time waiting for the bag to come off the carousel.

It’s great to know you’ve successfully flown with monitors without them breaking. 

3 minutes ago, 2chiefs said:

I guess there should be some extra cost for combining business with pleasure?? 🙂 

Yeah, some added costs do make sense. The value is higher when cruising for a longer period of time vs one cruise.

5 minutes ago, 2chiefs said:

Hmm...  I wonder if he can write off a portion of the cruise expense for office space rent? 🙂 

I'm retired now but my home office was a pretty nice place. A "cruise office" would have been nicer but I don't think Wifi back then would have made it possible. 🙂 

Maybe

14 minutes ago, 2chiefs said:

The weight limit is not necessarily a restriction. They just charge an arm & a leg if you go over. If he can absorb it in the business expense and also write it off......

 

I was on a business trip to Russia in 2007 and when I was about to board a flight to Budapest, my bag weighed 70 lbs (the amount allowed when I flew to Russia from the US initially) and I was only allowed 50lbs for the flight from Russia to Hungary. No problem, $350 extra paid by my employer made the flight possible anyway.

That makes sense if it’s a business trip because of “business need”, but choosing to work from a cruise ship doesn’t constitute “business need”. I’d have to pay for all added costs. 

I have seen how crew absolutely adore the little kids when they work on cruise ships that don’t normally have as many children because it gives them a chance to connect with kids that remind them of their own kids or grandkids from back home that they don’t get to see much. If the kids club is open, your child will probably be spoiled as he or she will probably be one of the only kids on board. I absolutely loved my Holland America kids club experience when I was eight years old, and that is what got me started on my addiction to cruising. I’m glad that you figured out even if there isn’t a kids club that you will still have a lot of fun. 

1 hour ago, PATRLR said:

I've got two monitors, a dock, cables, etc that fit nicely in a suitcase.  I bring that with me when I travel and plan to be in the same place for more than a couple days.  It's really quite easy and I could easily set it up in a cruise ship room.  The chair would be the bigger concern for me.  

Here's my workstation at the Marriott Circular Quay earlier this month:  

Wow, it’s impressive you were able to travel with all of that! How do you fly with your monitors? How do you not exceed the weight limit? I worked from my parents’ city and just bought a monitor to store there because I was nervous about flying with my monitors. 

This whole closed due to capacity thing was news to me, and I live in Anchorage. Juneau is part of our news, but I haven’t seen anything about this outside of Cruise Critic. I can’t imagine booking an Alaska cruise and not having the opportunity to go there, if one so wishes, as that is one of the most common destinations for cruise passengers in Juneau. I do remember locals in Juneau wanting to restrict the number of tourists, though. Maybe that’s when the whole capacity thing started.

I have successfully traveled via cruise, around the US, and to Europe with pill organizers many times. I have read that Asia is extremely strict with pills, though, so, if you are going to Asia, leave all of your pills in their individual, labeled bottles to be safe.

I always love hearing these stories. I work from home now, but I need high bandwidth and speed to do video calls and run certain programs all day. I lost hope of ever being able to work onboard when a few weeks ago, our speed dropped to around 100, and my calls got twitchy. 🙄 Mayyyyybe it was a fluke, but I can’t count on it and then not be able to once onboard. I guess that would be my question. What do people do the first time they try it? Do they tell their boss that if it doesn’t work out, they’ll just take unpaid days and then never try it again? 

I sure wouldn’t! Even though I always feel much safer at sea than I do on land, what people have described being at sea to be like is a great analogy. They say that a cruise ship is a microcosm of society, so think of a city, having X number of criminals, and then use proportion to figure out that there must be at least some onboard a cruise ship, too. Best to keep your pride and joy in the kids club, safe and sound, or with you, safe and sound. 

2 hours ago, Labanos said:

I just talked to Dirk Brand the hotel manager. He was surprised breakfast wasn’t mentioned in the Patter. Also the info from crew chat was wrong. The buffet was open as always. Better next time.

Glad you can now enjoy the best breakfast at sea, IMO. 

14 hours ago, bluey258 said:

Thanks everyone for all your help. This new to me. We did change to a handicap cabin. With the walkers and shower they advised me to change. We love cruising so have to figure it out!!

Excellent decision!

21 hours ago, Aurianna said:

Heh... and I'm torn again. Partly because of this, partly because I just checked out the price differentials. Holy buckets. Pretty sure our family could buy its own sled dog for that price difference for 9 of us.

I extra vote for the Royal then! The excursions are priceless memories, so to me, this would be a win win.

16 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

If you click on "Learn More" it takes you to the website and FAQs clearly state: A one-time access fee of $14.99 per person per voyage will apply for OceanNow® delivery and a $5 room service fee will apply for each order placed by stateroom phone. OceanNow delivery refers to orders placed through the app that are delivered to wherever you are, including your stateroom.

That’s the most clear explanation I’ve seen yet! Thank you!

We disembarked this ship 3 weeks ago, and the buffet was open every single day for breakfast. It opened at about 5:30 AM for a continental breakfast with some hot egg sandwiches, and then the full buffet opened at 6:00 AM, since they know most people had to be up early for tours. The person you spoke to must have been brand new and didn’t know. Go there tomorrow morning, and I’m sure you’ll be eating a scrumptious breakfast.

As for the dining room, we didn’t even consider going, so I can’t answer about that. I saved the Patters, but I’m not near them right now.

The Connoisseur one includes lovely, full, gourmet meals. It may cost more, but food is expensive here anyway. We’ve stayed at the Copper River Princess Lodge, and it was worth visiting.