DougandEric

Our experience was very similar to others. My TA called HAL and got the document that's been posted here. She was told that regardless of how the wording is phrased, you HAD to have the ashes in a biodegradable container. I went online to Amazon and found pillow shaped paper containers in various colors and patterns with biodegradable plastic bags and ordered one. The cost was minimal. I just checked and they are showing anywhere between $31 and $134 and it seems to be based on the amount of ashes they can hold - there is a guideline in the description about the weight of the person to help you choose the correct size. My husbands brother was a big boy. He transferred the ashes himself though I suspect a funeral home would do it for you. The only sticky point was when we boarded and the container went through the xray machine. We had to describe what it was to security. After that, the day after we boarded we went to guest services to check on the arrangements and they gave us the day (we were in the Caribbean) that we could do it. We chose the time in the afternoon and they escorted us through the dining room (we were on Koningsdam and it was after lunch so no guests) to the rear doors of the promenade deck aft. The had a crew member on either side of the deck to block it off. The guest services lady used my phone to film the process (nothing fancy - a few words and overboard). I believe we got a certificate later about the location where it occurred. On that same cruise in the dining rooms rear windows was a large smear high up. Turns out someone did their own thing off a rear balcony and it didn't make it all the way. It stayed there the whole trip until a day before we got back when it was washed off. Grandma got a free cruise.

We did 9 RSVP cruises in the 90's to early 2000's and loved them but they were very limited on itineraries and ships. We sailed with Pied Piper twice - one transatlantic on QE2 which was fantastic and once to the Baltics which was total flop (no issue with ship or crew - just the hosts). One thing to note about Pied Piper is that you are dependent on the hosts to be good - our Baltic trip they were terrible (a number of others were not happy either so it wasn't just us). We complained in writing and never got any acknowledgement so dropped them from consideration going forward. We would no longer consider a gay charter like RSVP/Atlantis - those days are over. We now just cruise regular cruises to places we want to see and have a great time. We like Princes and HAL, have sailed NCL, Cunard, Celebrity, etc. I'm personally wary of new companies that pop up and have no track record so I'd have to wait for them be somewhat established before I'd consider booking with them.

We can purchase the unlimited laundry package on our 3/2025 43 day cruise from Auckland to Seattle for $322 ($7.49 per day). Seems reasonable to me.

It’s just decor. The menus are the same.

Yes, the pub lunch was listed in the program as an event and was from 11:30AM to 1:00PM. It was busy but we didn't have to wait but a few minutes for a table for 2 and we went about noon. The International dining room showed as open for lunch from 12:00PM to 1:30PM that day as well. We never attended afternoon tea but it shows up on sea days in Pacific Moon from 3:00PM to 4:00PM.

My issue is that instead of a line one moves down, there are two central 'stations' that usually hold salads and the like in the middle and are not spaced very far from the outer stations on the perimeter making it congested. There is no flow from left to right so everyone is walking in all directions and bumping into each other. It's not that big an issue if it's not busy but during peak times it's frustrating. I also wish they would post some kind of menu like HAL does (or did) so you had some idea what was on offer. We would have to walk through and try to read the labels while people were getting food adding to the congestion just to see what was available that day to determine if we wanted to eat there, at International or the restaurant. I had no issues with the food or quality of it. I thought the food in general was very good.

There was a husband/wife 'ambassador' team that played music, danced and held classes in ukulele and crafts (jewelery/lei making kind of things) but I don't remember their names. We did not attend any classes but did see some of their performances on deck or in the piazza. I personally didn't think the 'Hawaii' feel for this trip was as intense as the past three trips which could be because the previous ambassadors 'Elua' are on the Crown now. They did a hula dance one night on deck we watched and they handed out fabric lei's. We aren't really into attending these kinds of things so we're not a good one to ask. We did see a number of people practicing their ukulele's around the ship. They did play 'Blue Hawaii' one night at Movie Under the Stars and the lecturer did a whole series on volcanoes outbound to the islands. The CD and staff were very visible. You might check your rollcall to see if anyone has advance knowledge of who will be on your ship

I must have missed the menus then. I thought I'd checked everywhere but the best I could find was to make the reservations. Yes, the weather was fine in the islands, just to and from was cooler than I expected and this was our 4th trip. There were plenty of taxi's at the pier. We got off around 8:30AM so availability may have been less later in the day. At the airport after dropping off the car, you just walked to the departure taxi line across from the rental return building. Traffic in Honolulu proper is very busy but outside the city it's fine.

Here are some random thoughts in no particular order: 1. Ship nice and clean, constant maintenance. 2. Miss the bigger bathrooms with shower doors on the newer ships 3. Buffet still a mess – bad design which isn’t likely to change. 4. Staff and crew were great – no complaints at all. 5. Fastest boarding time in history – 15 minutes from arriving to drop luggage to being on the ship at 11:30AM. Rooms not ready until close to 1PM. 6. We watched the muster video on my phone but it didn’t record that Eric had so we let it play again in the room then checked in at our muster station. 7. Had lunch at Alfredo’s after boarding and they offer a salad which isn’t on the menu. Pizzas great there and by the pool. 8. Medallions are great – app not so much nor the WIFI. Medallions worked great but I think mine had a low battery since my husbands would register to open the door when he was well behind me in the hallway. Towards the end I had to hold mine up to the display to get into the room. 9. WIFI – not impressed. Coverage was everywhere but service was frequently slow so no better than prior to Medallions. We did have coverage all the way to and from Hawaii from what I saw but I would be knocked off the service at random times and have to log back in. 10. VPN’s – I have Norton 360 VPN on all my devices. My experience on using it was this: a. Turn on airplane mode b. Select Medallion WIFI c. Turn off the VPN d. Open your web browser and type in MedallionClass.com to log in to your account (instructions in the Princess Patters each day) e. Once connected, you can turn your VPN back on. You will have to do this each time you switch devices if you have the single device plan. I found that you could not log in to your wireless account if the VPN was turned on. 11. No one even asked about the arrival group you’re supposed to select in the app. Check in time at the desk was 3 minutes max and she just verified our passports since we were green lane. 12. Security in LA would not let you through to the ship with water which was new to me. 13. Food was good to very good. A few things to mention. a. We ate in Sabatini the first night and they sang to us and banged plates which had never happened before. Could do without that! We ate there again towards the end of the trip but I recommend making your reservations early on as they do book up. b. We ate in Sterling’s once. It was good but steak isn’t my thing. Service in both restaurants was excellent. c. The TV food list for dining room menus didn’t always match the actual menu, close but there were some differences d. The TV menu for the hot dog/burger place showed bratwurst as available but they never were e. I usually made reservations for the next evenings dinner in Savoy at 7PM the afternoon or night before and only had two times we couldn’t get in. Ate once in Pacific Moon and once had a 7:20 reservation at Savoy instead of 7. I wish the app listed the menus as well. f. Fettuccini Alfredo was a little claggy and thick but tasted good. Had it several times for either appetizer or main depending on what else was on the menu. g. The grilled chicken sandwich at the hot dog/burger grill was good but the description said it came with lettuce, tomato and onion. It actually came with sliced cucumber and tomato. Just go into the buffet and get the other fixings from the salad bar and add it. h. Having the Plus beverage package was great and I had server café mochas in the afternoon after lunch. We ordered off the Premier package for wines by the glass and paid the difference. I wasn’t overly impressed with that selection either but it was all drinkable. 14. There were 1955 passengers per the CD and the ship didn’t feel crowded. 15. There were a total of 77 active/recovered Covid cases during the entire cruise including crew per the captain. Most passengers and crew did not wear masks. We did the first few days and again the last few when the captain said cases were on the rise. 16. The theater was PACKED to overflowing for the cooking demonstration towards the end of the cruise with maybe < 5% people wearing masks. We left after more and more people chose to stand in the back with us – too crowded. 17. The Covid cases had small tables in front of their doors so you could go up and down the halls to see them. I didn’t hear much coughing at all but there a couple. 18. We had a champagne waterfall but we were at dinner when they did it. I think it was at 8PM one night. No balloon drop. 19. We did have a pub lunch in Savory heading back from the islands. Fish and chips, chicken curry, breaded prawns and chips and scotch Egg & salad. I had the curry which was very good and Eric had the fish and chips. He asked if they could do ½ and ½ with the shrimp but they brought him both entrees. Trifle was tasty. 20. We docked at pier 2 in Honolulu instead of Aloha Tower even though there was no other ship in port with us. 21. The lecturer was excellent. We went to every talk on the way back about Route 66. We missed the lectures heading out about volcanoes but that would have been very interesting considering Mona Loa went off 3 days after we were there. 22. Princess canceled our Kona snorkel excursion a week and a half before the cruise which left us with no tour options as everything was booked. Ended booking a Viator tour which was subsequently canceled as well (it was Thanksgiving and I guess they couldn’t get enough people). I got my refund quickly so no complaints. 23. We missed Hilo because of a storm system moving through that would have taxed the mooring lines in port and was to cause 18-20 meter swells. Captain decided to head back to LA with a more southerly course to avoid the worst of it and suggest people who got sick to start taking their medication as we left Kona. It was rocky but not really any more than we’d experienced sailing from LA to Hawaii in the past. It was also much cooler on the way back and we wore jeans and sweaters the last three days. 24. We were on the port side in C244 and had the sun on the way to Hawaii and none on the way back to LA. 25. We got off the ship earlier than expected but then had to wait for a taxi for almost 20 minutes. Norwegian Bliss was in port as well and it was raining lightly. We used the Platinum/Elite lounge and barely sat down when they called our group. We have Global Entry but they didn’t have any lines for it since they use facial recognition instead of checking your physical passport. Very quick and easy and the line moved fast, literally seconds. 26. We finally got disembarkation information the 2nd day before we to back to LA. Pre Covid it would have shown up several days earlier. 27. We didn’t take elevators too often. If several people gathered while we were waiting, we’d just walk up/down the stairs. 28. If you can, fly in/out of Long Beach – it is so much easier. It is small without any seating inside exception for the gates and they get crowded. We sat outside for almost an hour when leaving but it was cold and wet so we finally had to go inside. 29. Used Airtags but one of them died after we got to LA but all our luggage arrived regardless. Nice to see if makes to the plane with you. TIP: Replace your batteries in all of them at the same time. 30. The only problem I had was ordering flowers. Ordered them the evening we got onboard (Thursday), didn’t get them by Saturday so checked and they couldn’t find the order. They re-orderd them again for Sunday. On Monday we still didn’t get them so went back. They think they were delivered to the wrong cabin so the front desk promised to have them to us that day by 4PM at no charge. They were in the room within the hour. Frustrating but it worked out well in the end.

Someone onboard said our 11/17 cruise would have 2045 passengers per passenger services which was 300 less than they currently have so 2345+ with crew. .02 percent is real good. We're flying and will wear masks in the airport and plane. We got our flu shots and latest booster over a month ago so we're as ready as we can be.

We sail next Thursday on Sapphire to Hawaii. Saw chat on the rollcall that an excursion was cancelled. Looked and sure enough mine was gone. Granted it is on Thanksgiving day but they should have known and let us know well before this. There are no tours available at this late date to book. I'll check when we get onboard and see if anything is available or they've added additional spaces on other tours. I did check my credit card and see the refunds but no emails at all.

We’re using AirTags. We took them last year to Napa and they worked great. Flying to LA in a couple of weeks for our Hawaii cruise and will use them again. If you use whatever brand, set them up and test them out so you know how to use the app. ThePointsGuy site has an article about setting them up and using them (AirTags). I’d recommend they go inside a side pocket so they don’t get ripped off like luggage tags.

We've booked these cabins several times. Since they're half covered, you can be outside when it's raining or get out of the sun. Mini suites on Dolphin deck I would not book because the balconies fully exposed.

We've also sailed over Thanksgiving for the last 10+ years. Even in Tahiti they had a turkey dinner on the menu. Some ships were more decorated than others, usually something in the Piazza, buffet and dining rooms. We're doing Hawaii again next month and expect pretty much the same. The turkey dinner I've had a couple of times and it has been very good. Other times I go with something else, depends on how I feel in the moment.

Can you imagine Princess posting menus before a cruise, days or weeks in advance, not being able to source ingredients for whatever reason so the dish can't be made? And the outcry from those who had preplanned their food choices and not being able to have that dish? Not worth it. Might even be worse than an itinerary change!