EconDoc

I’ve seen every combination. The full canal transit still has three nights labeled formal. 7-day itineraries seem to have one formal and one dress to impress. I’ve seen some shorter one with only one dress to impress.

The afternoon tea in MDR is quite nice and normally available every sea day. We enjoy it and have had it on Discovery. You are welcome to eat as much as you like of the offerings, but much are served from silver plate trays. The Royal Tea I think is in the atrium, which is not my favorite atmosphere and the extras make it more food than is needed at that hour. We always get the Plus package so if we want a glass of Prosecco with the regular tea, we can just ask for it or bring it from a bar.

We sailed this itinerary last year and had a (large) service dog on board. After a couple of days we got the same notice in the Patter because people were not respecting the dog's work. We became friendly with the family and found out they and the dog had special permission to disembark in Puerto Vallarta because they were moving from Europe to Mexico. They took a ship from Southampton UK to Ft. Lauderdale to join Emerald toward Los Angeles. They were avoiding flying for their move. We saw them all off the ship at PV (with special arrangements for immigration). I do not think Princess or other major lines allow emotional support animals, just service animals (and animal species are probably very limited).

Pretty sure it's been charged as long as I can recall. If you had one of the old coffee punch cards, you had unlimited brewed coffee at IC until your punches ran out (it did not count as a punch).

You can talk to the Restaurant Manager (head waiter) but it really isn't necessary. Reserve same time and dining room for each night (minus any specialty nights). Dine where you are assigned the first night and if you are satisfied with table and staff, ask the seating coordinator at the front to keep you there for the whole cruise. They normally have a two sided chart where they enter the regular parties for early (5 or 5:20pm) and late (7pm on). If your reservation is between early and late (say 5:40 to 6:40pm) it might be harder to manage since they may not be able to guarantee the table open for you. If you didn't like the table or waiter, ask the seating coordinator to fix your seating for the remainder of the cruise but in another section. We did that on Discovery after a bad experience the first night (waiter was great but table location and surrounding tables were annoying. Elaine Torres hooked us up with one of the top waiters in the room and a much better location for the rest of the cruise).

Guarantee cabins seem to be allocated often between 5 weeks and 3 days before sailing, but can be earlier or later. With a special request like you have, it may take longer because there are only a few qualifying cabins and they will likely have to move someone up to make room for you. They won't move people up for free until all the bidding has a chance play out.

Since Plat and above lose out on the 50% off Wi-Fi when buying a package, it would be nice to get something off the package, even if it's only off Premier, as you propose.

I got decent coverage. I visited all the formal photo lines (and was standing in several of them with my family to try to get some nice portraits) on each of the three formal nights. I also walked completely around our dining room and the areas around the Crown Grill, showroom, and other public areas both before and after we ate on each of the formal nights. This was last year so all there were actually called "formal." They aren't any longer. Admittedly, the places I went would have attracted the more formally dressed and I didn't visit the buffet, so there might have been some more casually dressed folks up there. Emerald Princess was 2/3 full and a quite old crowd so likely dressier than many other cruises. Overall the dress leaned more formal than I expected and noticeably more than 7-day cruises we've been on. Thanks. I do think it's useful to let people know they are still welcome to wear tuxes. They won't be in the majority, but they won't be alone, either. I think the women dressed up a bit more than the men on the canal transit.

We've seen groups playing mah jong and other games on Discovery but I'm pretty sure they brought their own sets. I think there were a few games of some sort in the internet cafe (as noted, there is no library on the newer ships). You could use those in the atrium area to play.

On a 15-day full transit early December (older crowd), we had 5-10% tuxedos, 50-60% jacket (suit or sport coat with or without tie, mostly with), 20-30% or so dressy shirt and pants. Maybe 10% in polo shirts or other casual clothes. On a 7-day from Los Angeles, less of all the more formal options but still some of each—and a lot more polo shirts.

They do give a $10 per person credit when you buy it on board. It’s to make up in case you paid for medallion shipping.

A year ago, I booked two relatives who last cruised Princess 17 and 19 years ago. Both loyalty numbers and cruise histories came up right away when I gave their full names and birthdates. I actually tried to get referral credits for them, not remembering they had previous old travel (which, of course, I didn’t get).

It’s done through a special web browser page that I just left loaded on all my devices so I could easily switch at will.

At Sabatini’s and Crown Grill, we’ve always been allowed additional appetizers or desserts, if anyone can eat that much. Indeed our last Sabatini’s waiter suggested fried calamari for the table in addition to the appetizers each ordered. It was a good suggestion. As the menu states, there is an extra charge for pastas and main courses. I think Crown Grill is officially four courses: appetizer, soup or salad, main, and dessert.

Thank you so much for this live posting and all the details. I think you get 1 point per $2.50 in coin in for slots. I don’t gamble a lot but did 500 points earlier this year on Discovery. I get nice offers from time to time especially on less desirable cruises and staterooms but no total comps. I booked this itinerary on Discovery a couple weeks ago on a casino special for $249-259 per person plus port taxes with a $100 OBC per person for an aft or forward balcony. They mostly seem to come 1-3 months before sailing.