timtrek

Hello

My wife, grandson, and I are on the Magic sailing on Oct 29 out of San Diego. We were on the Christmas Cruise last November and are excited to do the Halloween cruise.  I recommend making reservations for the Royal Court as soon as they open, as getting up close and personal with the princesses was our grandson's favorite thing on the cruise.  We also did the Royal Tea but would not do it again because of the expense. It was very exciting for him, and another opportunity to get some autographs. 

Watch the activity board for character meet and greets, as you need to line up early. 

My wife and I took turns doing some of the adult activities, and she really enjoyed the wine tasting, and I would highly recommend the chocolate and liquor tastings, as well as the bourbon tasting.  

We all bought costumes for the pirate party, and it was great.  My grandson and I had reservations for pirate makeup at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, and both had a great time.  Definitely get a reservation for that as the space is very limited.  

We bought the digital picture download package and it was definitely worth it, as you will get all the pictures they take, which in our case was 75.  

The evening shows were very well done, too, especially Frozen, but I am not sure if that will be on the Magic. 

Get ready to have a blast!  

Tim 

We are on the same cruise and are also very excited about Belize.  It is our first time on Celebrity, too. I don't have any information about your room, but I bet it is great!  We are also in a Sunset Veranda and have heard great things about them from our friends who have been in one. If you see someone waving at you from deck 11, it will be us! 

Tim & Arlene

The Panorama is still not in port.  I just looked, and it is just passing Huntington Beach on its way to the port.  

4 hours ago, pris993 said:

Monkey see, monkey due, model seems more like Celebrity with modern furniture.  I am elite on both Princess and Celebrity, when Celebrity built new designs tried them, did not like at all and stopped cruising Celebrity.  HAL has eliminated bathtubs from their new builds except for suites, I like a bathtub so don't plan to cruise HAL anymore either.  For now I will stick to Grand and Royal class Princess ships, prefer Grand over Royal.  Seems cruise lines designs going in the wrong direction for my taste. 

I tend to agree with you.  I like the "old" walk around decks. 

Hi Everyone

Decided to book one of the first 3 cruises that were announced. Called right at 6:00 AM and got right through. Was able to reserve a "Reserve Class" Cabana room. Looking at the drawings on the website, looks like an amazing room.  I'm a little sad to see the bathtub being gone from the mini suite, but it looks like a big shower. I was told there are many room types already sold out and people are going on wait lists. $400 pp down payment and it is refundable till Nov 30, 2023, so even if things change, I feel pretty safe.  The itinerary is Rome to Barcelona - 10 days - with scheduled ports of Naples, Santorini, Kusadasi, Athens, Messina, and Mallorca. If they all stay the same it will be a great cruise as they are all ports we have never been to, except Barcelona. 

I'm not sure how some of the announced changes on the Sun will affect the culture of Princess cruises, but I am excited to find out.  

Tim

Thanks for the review. We are on the Radiance this Friday.  Looking forward to an uncrowded cruise.  

A picture of Sabatini's Menu would be appreciated

Sitting in the Good Spirits Lounge listening to everyone discussing the extended cruise.  We did not leave Vancouver till 2130 due to tides.  We were told an oil company spilled crude on the ship hull and we were not allowed to leave port till it was cleaned.  On Sunday at noon we were told due to late start we would not be arriving to LA until 1230 and all air needed to be changed to 4:30 or later.   Anyone with ezair was taken care of by princess but others had to take care of it themselves.  I was surprised and happy to see most passengers taking the changes in stride and there did not appear to be any issues. 

Monday at around 10 am the Capt came on and said now they were expecting to be at the pier at 2:30 PM on Tuesday, not 12:30 any longer. Now people began to show the stress of a second change as the new schedule for disembarking had some walking off as late as 4:30 PM.  We were told this was all because of the late sail away from Vancouver (2130) and the new 10 knot speed limit in LA/Long Beach area for cruise ships.

At 1005 am we were just off Avalon (see map) and were told it was still a 2:30 PM arrival. 

I feel bad for those that had to two air changes, but Princess did step up.  All calls were free from the room phones and everyone got free internet.  

Overall, service and food were great as usual on Princess and the staff went our of their way to be helpful.  I think the Captain could have just made it a 2:30 pm arrival to avoid issues with air changes twice, but he had hoped to make better time overnight Sunday to Monday but it didn't happen.

Oh - Matt O. the cruise director was great as always.  Just cant say enough about him.  

Does anyone have a recommendation for Scuba Diving in Madeira.  I have found several companies but not many reviews.  Thanks for any information you can provide.  

I did a one way trip up to Vancouver from LAX using EZAir on a cruise I am going on next week. No problem booking it.

What is making me very happy (at least hopeful) is that if you go to the Princess.com page on the Enchanted Princess (https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ships/ex-enchanted-princess/index.html) under "Ship Highlights" it lists CROONERS !!!!!

Welcome Back Crooners! (I hope)

Looking forward to the rest of your review!

EZ Check is not offered in Los Angeles, at least I have never seen it offered in LA, I used it in Ft Lauderdale in April and I wish they offered it at all their ports.

It's a terrible deal considering they are digital. The individual prices are over the top priced so that doesn't justify the deal. Bring your own camera.

That is incorrect. You get the printed copies as well as the digital files.

I just saw this on a cruise I have coming up in September. Quite the price increase. Guess from now on it's a quick trip to the nearest grocery store to pick up a 24 pack for 5 bucks and slap a luggage tag on it.

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We got back on April 8th on the Regal. it was available and we used it. It was great! Highly recommend it!

Thanks for the review. We will be on the Regal in 13 days for an Eastern Caribbean cruise. Was there a Pub Lunch and/or Crab Shack during your cruise? From all the recent reports I have read the Happy Hours have been discontinued, but I will ask any way - were there any BOGO1$ on your cruise?

:mad::mad: Can someone verify that ?:mad::mad:

 

So, it's now just show up and get in line with everyone else??

What makes you believe this?

Thanks for the review. We will be on the April 1 cruise - getting close!

I try every day to see if it will allow me to add my April 1st cruise. As of today it is still not working. One Regal thread had several people mention that they were able to add their reservation about 30 days out if I remember correctly, so there is still hope!

Tim

Hi all,

My wife and I are ready to try the more upscale ships. We started out with a boom-boom spring break to the Bahamas ( Carnival big mistake). We are late 50's and the cruise age was 20.

 

I post this on the Princess forum because a lot of Princess cruisers have done upper scale cruise lines and in my opinion have the best overall experience.

 

Our 2,3,4 cruises were on Princess out of San Francisco on the Golden and we enjoyed it very much. The ship was kinda old but the staff was wonderful.

 

We are now ready to upscale to Oceania, Chrystal, Regent and other high end cruisers. We are more than willing to pay for excellent service and food. Hence an upscale cruise line. We want it all. Sorry we don't want to seem snotty.

 

Our problem:

We booked the grand suite on the Princess $1000 p/day (Golden) but it was really lame service. Suite L302

The breakfast menu was the same as everyone else and no perks at all for booking the grand suite. You booked the grand suite- but don't expect anything more.

 

We really want a beautiful suite and all the perks with fine dining , which in your opinion cruise line does it the best?

We've heard that some cruise lines require suit jackets after 6pm??

 

We realize that food is subjective. We don't want to be nickel & dimed but are willing to pay top dollar for top service.

No kids- no boom boom party cruises, basically old timers like us that want to relax in style with perfect Gin & Tonics.

 

Does it exist? Sorry for being long winded.

Thanks to all for replying.

 

 

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Seriously? Did you know about Sabatinis for the Suite only breakfast. This is one of the reason that my wife and I book suites. I dont think its worth 1000/day, but it is not the same menu as everyone else. Also did you know you could order off the MDR menu for room service? That is a great suite perk, too !

Here is a very thorough comparison of Princess and Celebrity by Bimmer09 aka Norris. Be prepared, once you start reading one of Norris' reviews you will find it hard to stop, and you will end up reading all of them.

Comparing Princess

and Celebrity http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2317130

You dont have to cancel - just use common sense precautions that are discussed all over this board. I have been on the Ruby twice after seriously big outbreaks of Noro and did not got infected. It sounds like a very small outbreak - probably something that they caught in the port and brought to the ship but reading the live thread the Captain has taken great care to keep it from spreading.

Generally speaking the ships arrive in San Pedro around 6 AM and the earliest I have ever gotten off was at 0730 as a walk off with my own luggage. The luggage assisted groups begin around 8:30 after the first walk offs. These are just what I have experienced and there can be delays due to customs..

I made a reservation at the Hyatt Pier 66 for the end of March last year and had not heard anything about a change. I looked today after reading this thread and my reservation was there, just not the Hyatt any more. I also saw that rates had dropped considerably so I cancelled and rebooked a better room with the Cruise and Snooze offer and saved 45.00. Thanks for the thread!