johnfas

So, we will be on the Sun Princess in a few months and looking for a wine menu from that ship.

I am interested to see what they are offering for those that have a Plus or Premier package.

If anyone knows where or how I can see a menu, it would be appreciated! 

On 5/1/2024 at 11:39 AM, voljeep said:

#metoo

 

October cruise, deposit only paid, highest status, premier - trying to book Catch and another - trying to charge $90 for each night

The cover charge is $45 per person....

I also think people taking the BOGO wine and pouring it into a Coke glass then back to the room for later had something to do with it too.  Yes believe it or not last cruise while they still had happy hour a guy was sipping his first glass and slowly poring the second one into a plastic Coke cup with a lid. Eventually most of his and wife's went into the cup and away they went.  

On 3/1/2019 at 12:52 PM, BarbinMich said:

An alternative idea--eat dinner in "cafeteria" upstairs.  No waiting!  Very good service for beverages like wine.  Plenty of seating and it's quiet.

Agreed! We have just recently started going upstairs for dinner on occasion.  Very surprised as it is generally not busy, nice assortment of dinner choices and no loud dinner noise like in the main dinning rooms.  Of course our first choice is still the Crown Grill second, Vines, third upstairs and fourth is the main dining room.  Of course you don't get a meal at Vines but with the International cafe next to it, makes it all good!

11 minutes ago, geoherb said:

 

The coffee card is no more. It's now a coffee package attached electronically to your account. Everything expires at the end of the cruise. Passengers can't carry over unused punches like they used to be able to do.

Thanks for the heads up...we were just on a cruise last year and had coffee card... hope those punches left are still good!?!

2 hours ago, HiStrung1 said:

You mentioned the bar offering free apps if you buy wine.  Do you have to buy something additional outside of the beverage package to get the apps?  

You really don't need the beverage package at all.  Actually unless you drink very heavily or constantly I have found it's just better to buy as you go.  You can also bring 2 bottles of wine on board. No corkage fee if opened in your room.  We like to enjoy a glass pre dinner and sometimes will carry a glass to dinner.  Also if buying wine do the bottle. They will hold it for you to enjoy the next day or just bring it back to your room...of course when we were younger we never had any left...lol

2 hours ago, Jilliebean28 said:

We have about $900 onboard credit for our upcoming cruise in March.  I have already bought coffee cards and water packages using my credit card.  Should I have waited to buy them onboard using our onboard credit?  Not sure if I have made a mistake.  Thanks for any advise you can offer!

Not sure what mistake you are talking about.  Coffee cards do not go on sale. They used to have coupon books where they were buy on get one, but haven't seen that for years.  If any punches are left you can use it on any ship but not for brewed coffee.  If you cancel your cruise you will not lose money as it wasn't your to begin with.  That's a lot of credit. Your account will start with showing $900 on it. Then every day after spending it will be deducted. That goes for the daily gratuities. I would surely use it in the specialty dining.  And check if any is refundable.  Most of the time it's use it or lose it.  Have fun!

On 2/25/2019 at 9:27 PM, bigeagle12 said:

Will be on the Crown in March and have never done anytime on Princess.  How does it work?

 

When does it start?

 Can you reserve a table for same time every night?

Sounds like one dining room open early and then another after early traditional dining is done.

Any suggestions .. we like to eat early between 5:30 and 6. 

Anytime is just that....come when ready.  Both times we were on the Crown it was easy to get seated whenever. Just don't get p o'd if you have to wait a few minutes.  Go in with an open mind. Some days you will be busy others not so. You may not want to eat at 5 or 6 so just go with the flow.  Sit and have a cocktail, people watch in the atrium, have a glass of wine! Remember there are no clocks or people telling you what to do or when (unless you are on a tour of course).  On Princess, the wine bar offers free apps if you buy wine and with the International cafe (there is no charge, just in case you are a first timer with Princess) next to it, sometimes we don't go to dinner, all is good!

And yes you may make a reservation or choose to sit with others. Talk to people it's fun!

PS...if you haven't already , try the Crown Grill, it's well worth it.

I also like Princess and I will have Elite status after my next cruise. I have cruised Celebrity more frequently.

It would appear that you have come to your conclusion based on a single Celebrity cruise on the Celebrity Millennium in January of 2002.

I suggest you might want to try one of the Solstice Class ships (I would suggest the Silhouette) and see if your comparison holds true.

I do like the Vines better than the Wine Cellar on Celebrity. The small size of the Main theater is the most aggravating aspect of Princess for us. The small venues for secondary entertainment on Princess is very nice.

Yes! so we are giving it another try on the Reflection in 2019 out of Dublin. Itinerary was the main reason. And although I would put Royal last on my list, can honestly say we have not been on a cruise we did not enjoy! Stuff happens ya know? Kinda hard to please 2-3000 people 100% of the time.

Here is our preference in cruise lines as of today (this is a moving target):

Note: We will eliminate the more expensive upscale lines we have cruised. (i.e. Azamara, Oceania...,)

 

#1 -- Celebrity is still the best bang for buck. Great food, large cabins, good entertainment, and a modern uncrowded ship.

#2 -- MSC Yacht Club is a bit more expensive, but it is all inclusive. We do an inside cabin to save money. Ship within a ship set up. Very upscale feel.

#3 -- Holland America is now one of the great deals in cruising. Very inexpensive for what you get. Improved smoking policy and great service.

#4 -- NCL, but a lot of buts. We prefer the smaller Jewel class ships, as the newer ships are very crowded. We only eat evening meals in the alternative restaurants which are very, very good. This requires purchasing an ultimate dining package. Their free drink package requires a service charge. Nickel and dime city. It's a great experience, but it pushes NCL to a cost now above HAL and Celebrity. Plus, their taxes + fees are the highest in the cruise industry. Excellent entertainment.

#5 -- Cunard is HAL on steroids. Very formal, but kind of fun doing that old school Titanic British experience (sans the iceberg). Good MDR food, but the buffet is iffy.

#6 -- Royal Caribbean. Family fun, with loads to do. Food basic, so you need to get at least a three night dining package. Entertainment is very good.

#7 -- Princess. We don't get it. People love this line and we have had nothing but mediocre experiences in three tries. Crowded, so so food, and small venues. Great deck spaces however.

 

Never cruised Carnival, Costa or Disney.

 

Your milage may vary,

Enjoy!

Kel

So to paraphrase another, what you like someone else may not!

Our favorites is Princess hands down. I won't go into details because too much to cover. But generally we love thier specialty restaurants, Vines wine bar, Muts(movies under the stars), varied entertainment and ability to get food 24 hrs. Also they have many no pay places to eat, not just the buffet. Not too many kids and a great crew.

2nd, 3rd, 4th, is a tossup. As we have sailed Princess, Celebrity, Royal and Carnival.

We have noticed though Princess along with most lines have upped the prices on most itineraries.

For June, July, August and September this year there is only one Princess ship in the Caribbean, the propulsion limited Caribbean Princess.

Sorry, we never cruise the summer months so I take back what I said about having more than one ship in the Caribbean. I was referring to the winter cruising season, Jan, Feb and March.

Caribbean princess has got to be one of the worst ships princess has i would go with rccl anyday in the Caribbean

Funny, we sailed on the Caribbean Princess and thought it was excellent, that was a few years back so anything can change. But I do not even see mention of that ship. (My last two rccl cruises were my last.) Just got back from a Caribbean cruise on the Crown I rated it 4.5 out if 5. You do know that Princess has many more than one ship in the Caribbean?

And if you get a chance definitely do the Royal Princess, larger ship but really beautiful and accommodating.

Hello all,

 

For those of you who have sailed on both, are there any noticeable differences between Royal and Princess? I have always believed that Princess was a step above Royal... I am asking for my mother, who booked a mini suite on the Golden Princess sailing to Alaska. I have sailed Alaska, so I have been advising her on shore excursions (White Pass, whale watching). I've looked over all the different ships with her, and advised her to choose Princess over Royal (About myself - I've been on 6 cruises, 3 with Carnival and 3 with Royal-, never sailed on Princess). I'm hoping I made a good choice. She will be sailing with a friend who has terminal cancer, so I am really wanting this cruise to be perfect. It will be her first cruise, my mother's 2nd but her 1st was 20 years ago.. How are the shows? The food? Are there any can't miss activities? It is to my understanding that her friend tires fairly easily, so I would think she would just do what she is capable of. Thanks!!

9 Princess and 4 RCI cruises. Will probably may never take another RCI again. I realize all Cruise lines are cutting back, but in the main dining room the food on RCI was fair at best. Service very disorganized, dishes piled up on the table and sat around long enough without even being offered coffee or dessert. This happened on our last two RCI cruises. We would have eaten in their specialty restaurant but they charge you an upcharge on top of the upcharge for steak and some seafood.

I must say we have noticed on Princess the cut backs taking place. Entertainment on our last cruise was sort of very limited. Like the same quartet playing in the Piazza every day? Shows just not up to par. I knew the Cruise director from a previous cruise and asked about that. Her response was...we have to work with what they allow me . Another words they can't spend as much anymore.

Sounds like they are taking a page out of Southwest airlines, selling pre boarding.

That extra $5 goes into the tip pool so your waiter probably only sees about $1.50 or so if he's lucky.

No, I always hand it to him as we leave. What he does with it after, well that's up to him. I never write an extra amount on the bill I have to sign.

I agree...$78 for dinner without adding wine or a drink now you are talking over a hundo for dinner. Plus what you already paid in your cruise fare. It can get out of hand. Being american, and accustomed to tipping I would hand our waiter and extra five. Don't feel your obliged to tip for this meal.

A must do would be a 7 day cruise. Three days will hardly give you enough time to enjoy the ship. Plus on these very short cruises I feel you will not get the best of what Princess has to offer. Getting to know the crew, room steward, wait staff etc is a big part of it. Don't know if specialty dining will be available but the Crown Grill is outstanding. We have sailed the Emerald twice and all though it is not the newest or biggest I remember a great time and everything was as expected.

Would be on Cabin view by renmar's website. You may get lucky if he has you cabin listed.

So we booked a guarantee obstructed balcony cabin (BZ) on the Royal and were assigned E323 (Deluxe Obstructed Balcony - DW -technically an upgrade). Does anyone have any pictures of this? Also, does anyone know if I can call Princess and see if they would "downgrade" us to an unobstructed balcony since we booked on a guarantee? Thanks!

I do not have a picture of e323, but we were fortunate enough to be upgraded to e409. Truly unobstructed and a Hugh balcony. E323 as I remember does have lifeboats outside but not sure of the exact obstruction.

You can always request Princes Not to upgrade you and take a chance on where the cabin will be within your category. And don't forget DW is mid ship. Just don't let the room dictate whether you have a great time or not.

We were upgraded to E409 and I think we had one of the largest balconies on the ship. As you can see the outside picture ours is the one that comes to the outer most point. The balcony is huge. Normal balcony is about half this size. We paid for a category BY partially obstructed and when they gave us this room it did say obstructed but as you can see absolutely NO obstruction. When I checked into the category and priced this cabin it is in the upper tier, so you will pay more. But if you want a great spot (center of ship) and large balcony this is the one. I did some further checking and any room between 407 and 425 (same for other side I suppose) you will get a larger balcony and no obstruction. By the way, we had a simply wonderful cruise. Check out my review on cruise critic.

Renmar, your site has been on my favorite list since I found it a few years ago. You are doing a great service to Princess cruisers. Thanks for that!!!

Someone should start a thread with peoples submitted photos of the view from specific cabins, like the wonderful link with photos of obstructed view outside cabins on the Princess ships.

 

For our specific sailing on the Royal, the obstructed view balcony cabins weren't much less than the unobstructed view. At this stage, unless I was sure my view was oK, I would not risk it.

This is a site that shows most cabins with a view or obstructed view. Note the new Royal does not have any pictures yet, but many for other Princess ships. I find it most helpful.

https://sites.google.com/site/cabinviewbyrenmar/home

Just got off in November ship is great. Here is an obstructed view pic. Can you tell we had fun!

Just recently retired and I’m looking for a project to keep me out of my DW way.

It seems to me that the obstructed view cabins have a lot of people wondering what they should expect and rightly so.

I know there is a tread that lists a lot of info about obstructed view cabins but I’m wondering if it would be useful to have something similar as they have on the HAL forum where you can check out a lot of cabins.

The only thing I would change is that this tread would only be for obstructed view cabins.

To get things started I have compiled pictures (good ones and bad ones) of cabins with obstructed view from most of the Princess fleet. I downloaded those pictures mainly from CC treads but also from other sites on the internet. However, I like to know if I’m breaking any rules by posting those pictures.

As far as I know, whatever is available on line is public domain but I could be wrong.

Anybody care to give me some info.

Also like to know what our moderator’s view is on this.

Theo

I have pics will upload asap.