SantaFeFan

Here is a video of connecting mini suite D214 on Regal. It's a bit jumpy, but at the 3:50 mark you can see the connecting door quite clearly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZdl6PTyFT4

Nice! And infect everyone around you so their cruise is ruined instead of yours. Talk about entitlement!!!

Is $10 that important? Considering what the total cost of the cruise, including travel, cruise fare, excursions, souvenirs, etc., $10 is a small fraction of the total cost. Is it worth all the apprehension being expended for a few dollars?

No need to shout!! Sorry to get you so riled up!

Thank you for the explanation. We just made our final payment last week as it was due, so we believed that it was being handled as you described. One thing that isn't entirely clear is do the new additions (desserts, gym classes) grandfather into the old plans or not. I suspect not, but the increased gratuities apparently do, so maybe the desserts do as well? Not a big deal if they don't, but would be nice to know.

Some people take this formal dress thing much too seriously. It's just clothing!! Sheesh!!

The poster quoted says "If it's formal night and you want to dress informal then go to the buffet." He is telling people that they must do what HE wants them to do. That is a demand in my book. Definition of Demand, Oxford Language dictionary: verb insist on having. "an outraged public demanded retribution". Or in other words: "an annoyed diner demanded compliance"

The ambiance you demand is overrated and outdated. We are dining on a cruise ship, not at a Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony.

They were in our area. Might be an option depending on the local phone company.

And almost on queue, this morning I received a notification directly from Princess and a few minutes ago, which was less than an hour after the Princess notification, I received that same notification from my TA. And this is a Saturday! THAT is how a good TA does things.

I wonder how some people here survived when every city corner had a phone booth with a big book that had their names, phone numbers and even addresses in them. 🤔

I've been booking with a TA for years and have always had them notify me of any changes.

The midnight buffet was eliminated years ago. It was a huge waste of food as most people only took photos and didn't eat anything so soon after dinner.

I can picture it now - a bunch of paranoids with their key cards carefully tucked away in faraday sleeves and slinking around wearing a Guy Fawkes mask to hide their identity, all in an attempt to not be tracked. But, they forget that they are on a 1000ft long floating tub in the middle of the ocean, so they can be found if those insidious "trackers" wanted to find them.

I bring one pair of comfortable walking shoes, one pair of sandals, and one pair of brown leather shoes for dinner- shoes I wear often during a cruise. I don't need to bring yet another pair of shoes that I will only wear a couple of hours during the entire cruise. Not that it is any business of yours.

Of course it's naïve. They are the type to reduce the grats even knowing how many people share it. They are the same type of person who will argue that the cruise line should pay the crew decent wages and to include the grats in the base fare, where they wouldn't be able to selfishly lower them for their own benefit. Whether the grats are paid as an additional cost or rolled up in the base fare, the passengers ALWAYS pay the crew's wages. Where do these people think those wages come from? The cruise fairy? And a note to those naïve people - the passengers pay ALL THE EXPENSES to run a cruise line, including the original cost of the ships, the fuel to make them move, the captain and his staff to safely pilot the ships, the maintenance to keep them operating, the food for all the meals, the advertising to entice customers to book their cruises, the company management who make the decisions, and every other single item or service that is necessary to run a cruise line.

They used to offer skeet shooting off the aft of the ship in the so-called "glory days" of cruising. They also used to allow the practice of hitting golf balls of the ship as well. Thankfully, those activities are no longer allowed.

It does weigh more because formal wear for men - tux or suit or jacket, plus dress shoes - is in addition to the normal clothing we would wear on non-formal nights, and not only adds more weight, but also takes up more space. It's simple physics. And I don't find the dining rooms too cold, so a jacket is too hot and constricting to wear while dining.

Here's your original thread:

Royal Princess, perhaps? It sails out of San Francisco about an hour drive north of San Jose.

Thank you for a rational view on this topic. I do my best to understand and appreciate the customs and culture of the places I visit, and to follow them instead of imposing my own. It's nice to see people from other countries with the same thinking when they come into contact with the customs of my home country. Our differences make each journey more interesting and enriching, not an intrusion and irritation.

You will quickly discover that the service you will receive is quite good, and often exceptional. Your belief that there is no incentive to provide exceptional service with the "service charge" is entirely wrong. These people take pride in what they do. They provide excellent service BECAUSE they know they will be receiving those gratuities from the majority of the people they serve. Your assumption that they only provide excellent service to earn a tip reward is insulting. You are putting them in the same category as a performing animal who does tricks to earn a treat. And, to further challenge your assumptions, if a person removes the gratuities, do you agree that it should be fair then for the staff to react in kind and provide that person with the sub-par service they are paying for?

What to wear depends on where on the Princess website you go to. One page called "Dress Code" says: "Formal: "Evening gown, cocktail dress or pantsuits for ladies, suit, combination or dinner jackets for gentlemen." There is no mention of Tuxedos on that page. Even their own recommendations aren't consistent.

The only reason Princess keeps their current dress code policy in their publications is to appear to be an upscale cruise line. It is more about an image they want to project than in what kind of cruise line they actually are. They want people to think they are a more luxurious cruise line than they are.