JimmyVWine

Maybe they are running through old inventory but we got plenty of round bars of soap in our Mini-Suite on Regal last month. And not thin single use bars. The same bars that had been provided for years.

Ditto. In a perfect world I would book on Sapphire Northbound. If leaving from Vancouver it will definitely be an Inside Passage cruise.

No fair skipping ahead!

Sabatini's is still just $25.

Thanks. UpSuites BCN is the name of the establishment and will come up in any internet search. We got a good rate on the online booking site I alluded to, but I am sure there are other ways to book. I used the online site because I was a little unsure what I was getting, and knew that any issues or refunds would be easier using a stateside booking system. But now having been there, I would have full confidence in them. The "front desk" (really a basement desk) manager was super kind and helpful. Even booked us a taxi to the airport on our departure date. I don't know what the other units are like, but ours was Unit 1 with the entrance, one bathroom, the kitchen, living room and patio on the street level, and the bedrooms, two more bathrooms and a deck one floor above accessed by an internal staircase.

Our Time In Barcelona, Part 2 or “You Mean the Guy Who Called All Those Super Bowls?” Sated and happy, it was time to begin our self-guided (or SV-guided) tour of Barcelona. Knowing that SV would show us around, I had actually done precious little planning or research for our time in Barcelona, which for anyone who knows me, sounds ... But it is true. So as we got ready to leave our “room”, I asked SV where we would be going. And she replied: “Do you like Gowdy?” And I said: “You mean the guy who called all those Super Bowls? Sure!” She gave me that tilted-head puzzled look that a dog gives you when you fool yourself into thinking that he understands what you are saying, and came back with: “What? No. I mean the architect” to which I replied: “You mean to say that in addition to hosting all those Olympics and Rose Bowls, he designed buildings too? You mean THAT Curt Gowdy?” Exasperated, she said “No. Antoni Gaudi. The renown Spanish architect.” I shrugged and said “Lead the way.” So off we went on a sun-drenched, hot for October day in search of the life’s work of one of the most ingenious, original and controversial-for-his time architects who ever put pencil to paper. Never having been to Barcelona and honestly not knowing much about it, my thoughts are these. In most of Europe’s great cities, there are any number of museums to go to in order to see the artistic masterpieces of the region. But Barcelona is its own museum. Until you have been there you cannot appreciate what an architectural masterpiece the city is. All one needs to do is look up and you feel as if you are in a museum. Are these works of art masquerading as buildings or buildings masquerading as works of art? As if to dangle that question in front of us, Gaudi created Casa Batllo to put the masquerade right in front of our very eyes. And when asked to build a house with iron railings, Gaudi challenged that notion as if to say, “I’ll give you iron railings!” On and on we strolled, jaws dropping at every turn, astounded at what an architectural marvel this city truly is. We walked probably close to 4 miles over the course of the afternoon, stopping on occasion for espresso and ice cream as the mood hit. Our agenda was no more ambitious than walking and looking up. Seems pretty simple and unfulfilling but trust me. For an afternoon in Barcelona this is more than enough. We returned to our abode and got ready for dinner. What little research I had done in advance of our arrival focused on food. No great surprise there. We would only have two nights for dinner, and I wanted to make them count. For the first night, I made an “early” reservation at 8:00 at a highly-rated restaurant within a few blocks of our hotel. It has (at least to me) the odd and incongruous name of “Jobs”. The restaurant did not seem to be paying homage to either Steve or employment, so if there is a joke in here, I missed it. But what I did not miss was outstanding Catalan cuisine and a particular dish that will haunt me until I make it myself, which I promise I will. We enjoyed Anchoas, (anchovies), Patatas Bravas which SV insisted we order and try, a delicious local burrata, steak tartare for SV, melt in your mouth beef cheek for me, and the dish of the evening, KV’s Veal cannelloni with a morel cream sauce. I cannot get this dish out of my head. The cannelloni itself was 10 inches long if it was an inch. And stuffed with either braised veal shoulder or short rib meat placed atop a delicate sauce of morel mushrooms, cream, and stock. As wonderful to look at as it was to eat. I will not rest until I replicate some form of this dish, perhaps with oxtail, or duck thighs or short ribs. The three of us capped off our meal by sharing two desserts, a chocolate coulis with hazelnut ice cream (to see if the kitchen could challenge the “Viking Ship” hazelnut dessert by Norman Love), and a passion fruit cream with coconut foam. Both were outstanding. Though I will say that the Norman Love Viking Ship does stand up to pretty much any dessert I have had on land, irrespective of the number of Michelin stars the establishment might have earned. We walked (or waddled) back to our hotel, grabbed a bottle of Rose and headed out to the patio to enjoy the evening air until either it got too cold, or we got too tired. The two seemed to happen in unison. So we called it a night and rested up for our next big Familia adventure.

Day 8. Disembarkation and Barcelona, Part 1, or “This Is What They Mean By Living The Sweet Life” We got up, showered, and kept our promise to vacate our cabin by 8:00, meeting that deadline by about 6 seconds. We headed to the International Café for a last round of breakfast, converse about our trip, plan the day ahead, and wait out the clock until our departure group was called. SV walked down the stairs to try to find some seats, but KV and I had luggage that needed to be taken down by elevator/lift. Only we didn’t want to be elevated or lifted. We wanted to be descended or lowered. But somehow “Descender” does not sound the same as “Elevator”. Either way, as anyone who has experienced departure day knows, getting onto a downward elevator from a middle deck is next to impossible. So eventually we made the play of getting on an upward elevator, (elevating, or lifting as the name suggests) so that we could later descend once the elevator had reached its apogee, wherever that might be. So from Deck 10 we ascended to deck 17, boarded a full allotment of passengers, and then made the trip down to Deck 5 stopping at every single deck on the way down. About half the time the people who were waiting self-declared that there was room for one or two more people (there wasn’t) and half the time the waiting passengers harrumphed and conceded that they would have to wait some more. Once we made it to Deck 5, we pushed the button for the deck that seemed to have the most waiting passengers so perhaps they could figure out that when the now-empty elevator stopped on their deck, they could/should simply get on it regardless of which direction it was heading. When our Pink group was called, we somewhat sadly walked off the ship, but once we collected our luggage, the sadness was replaced by excitement knowing that we would soon be exploring Barcelona, a place that neither KV nor I had been to, but one that SV had spent some time visiting her best friend who studied there while SV studied in Athens. So once again she would be our guide. We got in what proved to be a very long line for a taxi, but there really was no other good alternative to take us where we needed to go. We tried every rideshare app we could while we were in line, but none of them were able to connect us to a driver. So we waited in the line for about 30-40 minutes and were on our way. If you are doing a land visit to Barcelona, either build that time into your day, or arrange for a car service before you arrive. If you are thinking about public transportation such as the Metro or anything similar, remove that thought from your mind. The port is simply not situated such that walking anywhere from the ship other than into a bus, car or taxi is feasible. So this ends any and all discussion of the Princess Cruise part of our trip. If you are a purist and don’t want to or care to read anything about the land portion of a Trip Report, stop right here. I won’t judge. (But you will miss some cool stuff.) For those of you who want to come along on our journey to Barcelona, hop on board. Our hotel for the next two nights was called “UpSuites BCN”. It was next to impossible to find accommodations that would suffice for three adults, especially if we wanted to give SV her own room. Typical hotels just don’t seem to have such options, and even finding a room with two queen beds which are so common in the U.S. didn’t seem to exist. So after a lot of research and review-reading on the website that Advises people on their Trips (still not sure if I am allowed to say that name here), I honed in on UpSuites. Still not sure if this is really a hotel, or a series of privately owned apartments rented out through a common booking agent. Either way, I was able to make a booking online through a website that was very Expedient (still not sure if I am allowed to say that name here), and when we arrived there was a reception area one floor below street level, or -1 in European parlance staffed by a very kind and helpful gentleman. We had expected to have to drop off our luggage being that it was still so early in the morning, about 10:30 when we arrived. But to our amazement and luck, we were told that our “room” was ready for occupancy and that we could go straight there. So why did I put the word “room” in quotation marks? Because what we booked for just under $200 per night was not a room by anyone’s definition. It was a two-story, two bedroom, three bath, full kitchen, full outdoor deck, full outdoor patio with a full dining table and 6 chairs, SUITE. And I mean SWEET! Thoroughly modern in an IKEA kind of way, but not a thing in the place was more than a year or two old. Located in a somewhat residential neighborhood and 7 minutes from one Metro stop and 9 minutes from another, we could not be more pleased with the location. It’s not in the Gothic Quarter, or steps from any museum worth noting. But it is convenient to coffee shops, small groceries, an amazing charcuterie shop, a fruit stand, and pretty much anything else that we would need for some al fresco dining on our patio with full dining table and 6 chairs. Below are some photos of our Unit that I borrowed from the establishment’s website. If you look closely at the photo with the long white credenza, you will see a small stone bust on the right side. That is where I place my wine glass for the photo that appears in Post #6 of this thread. After unpacking we opted to go out for some provisions with Spanish wine, Spanish cheese, Spanish olives and Iberico Ham on our “must obtain” list. Seemed like lunch on our patio was what we all craved. So we headed out and achieved all of our shopping list goals and then some. I got my portable speaker hooked up to my phone and put on a Spanish guitar playlist that I curated for weekend afternoons by our pool and we were in heaven. Next up, we venture out into the city.

Days 7 The last day of our cruise was a Sea Day. This is the second cruise where our last day was at sea, and I’m still not sure what I think of it. It does take the pressure off of packing, but it also means that your second Formal Night, or Dress To Impress Night, or “Wear your very best tank top and torn jeans night” as we came to call it due to the attire of a person seated near us in the Dining Room that night, is on a port day, which tends to be suboptimal. But on balance, and owing to the fact that we were going to spending two days on land in Barcelona seeing as much as possible in that time, the relaxing day at sea proved to be a welcome rest. Unfortunately, the tail end of the horrid weather we had in Naples lingered as we traversed the Tyrrhenian and Balearic Seas. The rain had subsided, but he wind persisted in spades. We tried to enjoy as much time as possible up by the Retreat Pool, and finding loungers there was easy due to the fact that the weather simply did not favor that sort of activity. But SV was heading back to Edinburgh soon, and we were going to be making our way back to New England, so the prospect of not experiencing a warm, sunny day on a lounge chair for the next 7 months was enough to cause us to tough it out. Rather than make use of the Medallion App Ordering, we opted to walk around the ship to get our cocktails, making sure to hit up any bar that we might have possibly missed during or cruise. By the end of the afternoon, we had crossed off every bar on our imaginary Regal Bingo Cards. Trivia, a return trip to Alfredo’s and packing pretty much rounded out our afternoon. I really have to stop asking the question: “What would you prefer to do for lunch…buffet or Alfredo’s?” because in all the times I have posed that question, the answer has never been anything other than Alfredo’s. At dinner we said our goodbyes to our servers and promised Arthur that we would see him in April/May and would be requesting a table in his area. He was all smiles, and I do hope that both his plans and ours remain steady and we get to see him again on Regal. I just love the way he says: “Here you are Mr. James” as he brings me my glass of wine. A few more cocktails and a trip to the Theater to see comedian Chas Burnett capped off the night. Now, was Chas as entertaining as his namesake Carol would have been? No, but we did enjoy the show. Perhaps it was the wine and cocktails, but I think the three of us enjoyed the show more than most. Back to the cabin for some last-minute packing and that ended our day, and for the most part, our cruise. We had a 9:30 disembarkation time in the morning since we were not catching a Princess Transfer or a flight that day, so we had some time to spare, but we did make a promise to ourselves that we would be out of our cabin by 8:00, so we couldn’t stay out too much later this evening. Still come, our stay in Barcelona. Happy to answer any questions that anyone might have.

I’ll withhold judgment until I try it, but there is no context in which “ice cream” and “augmented reality” (AR) should be used in the same sentence. Or paragraph. Or story.

This is true for the fare. But if you want to use a gift card to set up some refundable OBC, you have to call.

Look up “spectacular specialty dining failure” in the dictionary. There you will find a description of SHARE. It was a concept that sunk like a Stone.

The chat function on the Princess website works very well. I have never waited more than 5-7 minutes to be connected with a customer service rep and the people I’ve been connected to have been able to accomplish everything I need. So if people are putting “wait time to get assistance” on the scale, keep that in mind.

And yet other cruise lines are charging (and getting) 50%-100% more than Princess. That can’t be going unnoticed.

Back to the topic at hand…I have been reading lots of articles on this topic this week and I am amazed at the price difference between PCL and its competitors when it comes to Specialty dining. $48 here. $60 there. And Princess is at $29/$25. Hard to imagine that a $$10+ price jump isn’t coming soon.

BINGO! Tips are earned through human interaction and not through an extra half ounce of hooch. And glowing comments directed to the proper recipients are worth way more than a buck, or a pound or a loonie.

Interesting thread. My thoughts. If you order “Scotch” without naming a brand, then do you really enjoy Scotch? The difference between Laphroiag and Macallan is like the difference between Guinness and Budweiser. Without suggesting that one is “better” than the other, it cannot be denied that the difference is readily apparent to even the most casual observer. Would you order “beer” without knowing which one you would be getting? Why would you do that with a $12-$18 glass of Scotch? And if your taste bends toward a smoky, peaty Scotch, getting “upgraded” to a higher priced caramel/vanilla Scotch does you no good. Sorry. Not buying the idea that bartenders are going to risk their jobs pouring passengers $18 glasses of Scotch when the order was for a $9 glass. And if you have a drink package, who cares if your $1 tip gets you a heavy pour? You get 15 drinks and odds are you aren’t coming close to that number. Sort of like people who go to a place that serves unlimited refills on soft drinks and order/pay for the extra large. I think that the best servers on a cruise ship are the ones who make you think that they are giving you “special treatment” when in fact you are getting exactly what you paid for. It’s sleight of hand and based on this thread, it works. Bottles are monitored and with the current medallion ordering system, upgrading, overpours and freebies are not nearly as likely to occur as one might think. The art is in making the customer think they are getting those.

Unless it has changed in the past two years, the rental cars (for the major brands) at FLL are right there in the airport parking garage. No shuttle.

So if there are two or more people in the cabin, does one person approach the cabin and enter while the other person stands back; allow the door to close and lock, and then have the second person approach and enter the cabin? (And if there is a third or fourth person in the cabin, rinse and repeat?) Does this increase your chances of winning random prizes and/or get you more entries into the last night drawing? Also, do you have to be present to win the prizes drawn on the last night? I heard the drawing take place during our dinner on my recent cruise and thought to myself that I was glad that I wasn't involved in that, as it would have interfered with our evening plans considerably.

I'm not sure I understand the logistical problem here. Why would it be easier and preferable to drive to the port to drop off luggage early, then go out to breakfast, and then return to the port with only carry-on baggage as opposed to simply going to breakfast with all your bags in the rental car, then return the rental car and then take the bus from the rental car center to the port? (Or a taxi as suggested above). The bus (or taxi) will drop you off literally into the arms of the porters. The only point in time when you would have to "lug" your luggage would be from the point where you take leave of the car to the point where you board the bus (or taxi), and an airport luggage trolley will solve your problem if you have too much to carry. Seems like that is way easier than driving into PE early in the morning, and then driving back out again.

Day 6 in Naples or, “Will Our Day of Ruins be Ruined?” Day 6 of our cruise, October 13, brought us to the port of Naples, the same port my grandfather departed from when he left his homeland to venture off to the New World at the age of 14. So there was a bit of emotion on my part as we arrived. This was going to be the crowning glory of our trip and would bring all of the reasons for our travels together in one big, memorable trip to Pompeii. If you’ve followed from the beginning, you will recall the story of SV’s college and graduate school adventures, and our desire to celebrate her accomplishments with two degrees in the field of Classical Archaeology. She has studied all things Pompeii, and it would be here that she would take the reins from her father as the lead familial tour guide. A passing of the torch if you will. Today would be the seminal day of or “Totally Ruins Cruise”. (Someone posted earlier that this title was “click bait” and I still don’t understand the reference.) Our plan was to skip an organized tour, (“Dad! How much money have you spent on my education? Do you really think that we need a private tour guide after all of that?”) and spend as many hours at Pompeii as possible. I did give SV the choice of hiring a guide so that she would have someone to geek with, but she declined with the scolding above. And yes, we did just that, but I have to inform you that to our grave disappointment, it rained that day. And when I say it rained, I mean it rained, and poured, and deluged. If it had rained as hard on that fateful October day in 79 AD, Vesuvius may very well have been doused and history changed forever. So while we did get to spend a very long day at the ruins of Pompeii as planned, we slogged around in the cold rain, and I never was able to take my camera equipment out of its bag, so I have no pictures to share. Memories, yes. But no photos. So without the ability to make this a pictorial essay, I will stick to the logistics of our day for the benefit of others who may wish to replicate the experience, (hopefully without the rain). Knowing that there would be multiple ships in Naples that day, (I always check the port schedules to see who our competition will be for the day, and when we will arrive in relation to the thousands of other cruisers), and assuming that excursions out to Pompeii would be one of the top two activities that people would be booking for their day in that port, I decided that we might be able to beat the masses to the ruins by hiring a private taxi to take us from the ship directly to the entrance. After researching the options, I settled on a company called “Naples Airport Taxi” and made an online request for private pickup for a one-way trip from the ship to the “Marina Gate” at Pompeii. The cost was 68 E for the three of us, and I was grateful that we would not be beholden to the schedule of a bus tour. The ruins were scheduled to open at 9:00 so I arranged for our taxi (a Mercedes private car, really, as it had no indicia of being a taxi at all), to pick us up at 8:20 for the 35-minute drive to Pompeii. Everything worked out as planned except for the fact that the torrential rain made it difficult to meet up with our driver, owing to the fact of the hordes of people huddled under umbrellas trying to connect with their tour operators and the sheer number of vehicles in the pickup area hoping to catch the attention of travelers who wanted to get out of the rain. But after exchanging a couple of text messages, our driver sent us a photo of the place he was parked, and we soon found him and were on our way. I don’t know if it was my expert planning or the horrific weather, but either way, when we arrived at the Marina Gate (the Main Entrance), there were very few people there, and we were able to enter with our pre-purchased tickets like we had FastPasses at Disney World. No line, no waiting. A word on tickets. “Skip the Line” prepaid tickets are available from a number of sources, or so it seems. But I wasn’t quite sure who was legitimate and who was not, so we purchased ours directly from the official Pompeii site. Their tickets go on sale around 30 days in advance of the time you wish to buy them. With all fees included, our tickets were 16 E per person. Again, you may see a slightly lower price offered from other sellers, and if you do an internet search for tickets, these other sellers’ sites come up in the search results well before you will find the official site, which in turn links you to a ticket seller called “ticketone”. I can’t vouch for or criticize any other ticket sellers, as we only used the official site “pompeiisites.org” and that worked out just fine. You print your ticket from a confirming email and bring that paper ticket with you to the entrance, using the “internet tickets” entrance to get right in. So here we are at Pompeii, almost alone with no crowds to contend with. We weren’t sure how long that would remain the case, so we set off to see as much as we could before the buses arrived. It was a fabulous experience if not a fabulous day. The rain hardly ever let up, but that did not deter us from our journey. In all, unlike many organized tours that might offer a 4 or maybe 5 hour trip, travel time included, we stayed at the site from 9:00 until 3:30 non-stop with only bathroom breaks to slow us down. I got a tremendous education from our tour guide and busted with pride with every new fact and detail that she pointed out. When it was time to leave, we walked across the street from the main Marina Gate to the train station, bought one way tickets back to Naples, and boarded a 4:12 train that would arrive in Naples at 4:46, in plenty of time for the 6:30 “All Aboard” time. Taking the train to Pompeii really is easy and convenient, with one caveat thrown in. The Naples train station is not very close to the port, requiring about a 30 minute, non-scenic, somewhat uneasy walk. Or a cab ride. We thought about taking a cab to the station and then taking a train to the site, but we figured that once we were in a car, we might as well have the driver take us all the way to Pompeii. But I was certain that on our return, the train would serve us well as time was no longer a factor. I just didn’t count on the rain. I had assumed when planning that we would make the 30 minute walk from the station to the port, but it was raining so hard when we left the train station that we decided to just take a cab. Most (all?) of the cab drivers in the taxi line at the train station were expecting and hoping for fares to the airport, and when it was our turn at the front of the line and we informed the lucky driver whose cab we entered that we were going to the Regal Princess, (we got in and shut the doors before telling him our destination so that he couldn’t refuse the fare) he told us that he would have to charge us a flat rate of 25 E for the trip. I knew that I was being taken advantage of, but I was too cold and wet to argue, and I certainly wasn’t going to walk a mile and a half more in the pouring rain. We got back to the ship wet and hungry, but full of memories from a family day spent at Pompeii. KV won the battle for “first to shower”, so SV and I went up to the Lido Deck to find some food, lunch having been skipped this day. The Horizon Court’s cupboards were bare, as we had entered in the dead zone between Lunch and Dinner, and we were too hungry to wait for Dinner Rope Drop. So we walked under as much cover as we could find from there to the Trident Grill to get some cheeseburgers and fries to hold us over until dinner in a few hours. It was still pouring, and there wasn’t a single chair hog in site as the entire pool area was as deserted as could be, save for one lone guy in a hot tub. We laughed at the site of his towel draped over the railing, waiting for him to exit his bath and dry off. The towel was wetter than he was. After we were all showered and dressed, we repeated what had become somewhat routine (in a good way, not a boring way) of getting some wine at Vines, easing our way to “our” table in Concerto, enjoying a nice “Dress to Impress” meal that included escargot, lobster and Beef Wellington, and then hitting up various lounges for music and more cocktails. We ended the night at Club 6, more or less closing the place down a little after midnight, as tomorrow would be a Sea Day with no need to rise and shine any earlier than we desired. That finishes our day in Naples. Sorry for the lack of photos. I will make up for it in my report on Barcelona. Happy to answer any questions anyone might have.

Honestly, if you had never cruised on Princess before and then watched that show, you’d hardly know that they were on a Princess ship. The show had many faults, including not really featuring the Regal Princess, Princess Cruise Lines or the enjoyment of cruising generally. The show could just as easily been filmed at a local zoo.

Advertising is all about making an emotional connection and sparking a memory that makes you recall the product when it is time to make a purchase. The Love Boat tie in has served Princess well and will continue to do so as people who watched the show between 1977 and 1987 continue to be potential customers. It causes an instant connection to Princess. By way of example, what comes immediately to mind when you say “Holland American”? Nothing. Or “Celebrity”? Nothing. “Carnival”? Party ships. “Royal Caribbean”? Amusement park decks. “Princess”? That’s the Love Boat company!

There is no disadvantage to pre-booking. Pick the time or times that you think will be best for you and grab those slots now. If plans change while on board, it is easy to cancel or change. The slots available that you can change to will be the same irrespective of whether you prefer-booked or not. For example, if you pre-booked 7:00 and decide you want something different you go to the app to see what is available. The slots that are available may not be better for you than what you already have. But by pre-booking you have two slots to choose from—the one you already booked plus the one that shows as available. If you don’t pre-book, you only have one slot available—the one that shows up on the app. There is never a time when one choice is better than two.

We did a tour with an outfit called Hawaii Forest & Trail and loved it. Not sure if that is viable as a cruise option, but might be worth investigating.

On Regal recently, the host made a point of telling everyone who approached the podium for lunch on departure day that they were only serving pizza and no other items. He couldn’t have been more emphatic. But when we sat down and ordered we asked if we could get the agnolotti and the waiter said “Sure”. The menu handed to us on that day was much more limited than we were used to. Later in the week we returned for lunch on a Sea Day and the larger menu was handed to us. So my words of wisdom is that things can vary ship to ship, and even within the same ship from day to day.