jasbo49

Is there any kind of enrichment stuff on these 3- and 4-day coastals, or do they just kind of figure that's unnecessary on a trip to Hussong's and back?

 

I know this post is a few days old, but thought I'd ask it here rather than post a whole new thread.

 

By the way, thanks for the review. It's nice for those of us boarding soon to have something to whet our appetites.

 

Jim

There are 2 winery tours. The one you are booked is just a tasting room in the city and Riviera del Pacifico (the old casino). ...

 

Thanks for the info. The Princess tour description states:

 

"Next, we'll visit Baja California´s oldest, operating winery."

 

Which appears not to be the case if they go to a city storefront rather than a working winery. Might have to cancel this tour. We're really not interested in the two winery tour because it's twice as much money and my wife couldn't care less about wine.

 

Jim

Got to admit, Carnival's Deli and Mongolian BBQ are real winners. I thought their pizza was just decent. I'll be interested to check out the Princess pizza some people rave about. I've never had a cruise ship pizza that was anywhere near as good as real pizzas in real pizza parlors in practically any town I've ever been in. The cruise ship ones are all dry with skimpy toppings.

 

What I can't forgive about Carnival is not an issue of quality, but of quantity. I detest the concept of the Bacon Police. You cannot get your own bacon at the breakfast buffet. It has to be parceled out by someone strip by strip. Geez, they're that distrustful of their own customers? It's insulting.

 

Jim

Hello all. My wife and I are booked on a Princess excursion to Bodegas de Santo Tomas this month. I was just reading some reviews on TripAdvisor that make it seem like you go to a tasting room, not a winery, and it really wasn't that great. But it's hard to tell how many of these people took a cruise excursion and how many went on another kind of tour or just drove there.

 

Has anyone been on the Princess or other cruise line excursion to this winery? Is the cost of the tasting included? How about the other Princess tour that goes to two other wineries? Any impressions to share? We leave in a week. This tour does have the advantage of being cheap ($29) and so are we (cheap).

 

Jim

There really are advantages to both extremes, booking early and booking late. I've never booked super early, but will sometime soon, just to get one of the cabins that tend to get snapped up first.

 

If it's price you're after, and you really don't care whether that balcony is fore or aft, I think you can do better by waiting and watching the prices on the sailings you're interested in. The cruises that aren't filling up fast tend to get cheaper, naturally, and/or add onboard credit to entice us.

 

Of course you need flexibility in your work and family schedules to do that. The Golden Princess B2B we're going on next week was booked about 3 months before the cruise, and we're getting really good fares with OBC. But the Carnival Valor Caribbean cruise we took in May was actually booked 5 days before sailing. What a rush, in more ways than one, but you gotta be retired. By waiting that late, we picked up a balcony for about $65 pp per night.

 

Jim

This food quality issue concerns me! How bad is bad? Is it that you don't care for the choices? The food in MDR is cold? Overcooked? What is it you folks don't like?

 

Obviously the poster above you (eclue) had a bad experience/cruise/chef. That's not typical. On our May cruise on the Valor, we found the MDR food pretty decent. I don't think it was as good as in 2004, but I'm not sure any line's food is as good as it was 10 years ago.

 

Anyhow, I wouldn't worry too much. I'm sure you'll get a few dishes that seem luke-warm or under-seasoned. But that's on any cruise line as far as I can tell. It's still nice to be waited on, get pretty good meals and order whatever you want. Don't get to do that back home.

 

Jim

I've read a few pages of this thread and am surprised at the defensiveness and "snarkasm" of many posters. Is this common on the Royal Caribbean forum? It reminds me of a nasty dress-code spitting match on the HAL boards.

 

The OP's original proposal was a valid one. Who would want to stumble around the ship and buffet with a carryon full of cameras and prescriptions and wine bottles rather than drop it off in a cabin? But IMO he/she would be wise to quit trying to refute every point made by his detractors. That's what turns a discussion into an ugly spectacle.

 

Jim

Thanks, everyone. That's good news and I'll try to quit fretting.

 

Jim

Somewhere around the 27th time I was patting myself on the back for snagging an Emerald deck mini-suite, I ran across a post suggesting that the Promenade deck below us on the starboard side was a smoking area. Does anyone know if this is true on the Golden Princess?

 

I've read so many glowing reports about these cabins: The covered balconies, no noise from the Vista Lounge on starboard, etc. Now I have this worry. Will our enjoyment of the large balcony be mitigated by drifting smoke. As a former smoker, I may deserve it, but my wife doesn't.

 

Jim

Another vote for "don't worry about it."

 

Several cruise lines for several years have been trying to regulate who arrives at the port when. In the end, it's not going to matter if everyone who visits Cruise Critic shows up at 11 or noon, when you can actually check in.

 

Jim

If you'll excuse me, it sounds like everyone is guessing. Does anyone really know what determines these taxes and fees? I sure haven't a clue.

 

I've seen cruises with lots of ports that have minimal added fees, and others with just a few that have a lot of extra charges. Quick examples are: A Caribbean cruise that hits six islands in seven days with about $70 in fees and East Coast fall trips that have four stops and about $200 in taxes and fees.

 

What gives? Anybody know?

 

Jim

I finally got mine Friday. I ordered it in late August, so it took a long time to reach me in the wilds of Southern Oregon.

 

And yes, according to the Captain's Circle stuff, Platinum and above get it automatically. The loyalty bennies are on Page 20 of last year's atlas if you're curious.

 

Jim

[quote name='Thrak']Two...More...Years... Seems like forever.[/QUOTE]

Yes, these things do come to an end. I remember when I had 5 years till retirement, then suddenly it was 2, and so on.

Now, I can look back on three mostly blissful years of working where and when and only on the things I want. That means delivering Meals on Wheels and a little bit (a very little bit, given my skillset) around the house. Your time will come.

Jim

[quote name='Thrak']Ordered it online on September 5. Today is the 16th and it still hasn't arrived. :(

(Hopefully posting this will make it come in the mail today... )[/QUOTE]

You and me both, brother. Is this discrimination against the State of Jefferson (Southern Oregon-Northern California)?

Jim

We're booked on a couple short October cruises on the Golden out of L.A. and wondering whether we'll be able to see the MLB playoffs. If the Dodgers are still in it, I would think there would be demand. Lots of SoCal people on board.

 

I wouldn't care whether it's on the MUTS screen, in some lounge or in my cabin. As a former SoCal type myself, I'd just like to be able to check in a few times, watching a few innings.

 

Any idea what's been done in the past?

 

Jim

According to the new 2015 - 2016 Princess Cruise Atlas Princess will have 7 ships doing Alaskan cruises during 2015. Coral, Crown, Golden, Grand, Ruby, Star, and Pacific.

The Crown and Ruby will operate round trip out of Seattle. The Golden will operate round trip 10 day cruises out of San Francisco. The others will run between Anchorage and Vancouver.

 

Right you are. I stand corrected. My search for for 6-8 day cruises, so it didn't turn up a 10-day out of SF.

 

Jim

FYI: I'm looking at the Princess site and seeing a whole different list of ships for summer 2015. There's no Golden, but lots of cruises on Crown, Coral, etc.

 

Jim

All these ships (the three Princess and the one Celeb) are 12-plus years old, so keep that in mind when you talk about tired. The Golden was the most recently refurbished, in 2012. Still you'll find a few reviews that call it "tired." I guess people want all their ships to be fresh as a daisy.

 

As others have said, Pacific Princess would be the first one to throw out because it's probably going to be an older population and not going to have much for kids.

 

Between the Golden and Star, I might lean toward the Golden (just to be clear, I've never been on any of these ships, just doing the logic). But I'd put itinerary first. Go on a cruise that includes Glacier Bay, not one of the lesser sights.

 

Jim

HTH (Hope this helps)

 

Helps a ton. Thanks.

 

Jim

Somebody else had pretty much the same question a couple of weeks ago. Here's a link in case you want to check out the variety of answers.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2092532&highlight=coastal

 

P.S. My answer is always yes to a balcony.

 

Jim

I'm not sure whether the OP is still following this, but here's my go-to site for menus and pics.

 

http://www.zydecocruiser.net/GoldenPrincess/Menus/mdrdinner.htm

 

Jim

I believe Concierge class is a Celebrity Cruise Lines thing, so it's a little like asking the local Ford dealer whether he has a Corvette. He doesn't, because Corvette is made by Chevy.

 

Princess has lots of suites, but they're not going to have the exact list of amenities Celebrity's Concierge suites have.

 

Jim

I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread (sorry if I missed it), but you apparently get to skip the muster drill on the second leg too. Yippee. Maybe this is not a big deal on Princess; I forget what it was like on our one Princess cruise, but on Carnival it's gotten downright dehumanizing.

 

Jim

I think it just means most people aren't crazy about sailing the Caribbean during hurricane season.

 

Jim

Scroll down on this link and you'll find a room service liquor menu.

 

http://www.zydecocruiser.net/GoldenPrincess/Menus/rs.htm

 

This is really a plus for Princess in my book. I can get a half bottle of Jim Beam for $17 (I think it's gone up since this post), while on recent cruises on Celebrity and Carnival I paid about four times that for a full bottle. And I had to pre-order it, while here you can order it when you want it.

 

By the way, if you've never prowled around the zydecocruiser site, check it out. It's invaluable.

 

Jim