jasbo49

21 minutes ago, compozer said:

We book the aft suites and love the view the best but having to walk a distance is a plus - we have never gained any weight .

I agree. Lots of exercise without even having to think about it. 

Jim

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

...we're glad we upgraded to the aft Penthouse on the Caribe deck.

 

 

A Caribe deck aft penthouse for 30 days? Oh, my. That's bound to spoil you. Our first suite was either C748 or c749 ,can't remember, and it was one of the best we've had.

Jim

10 minutes ago, cherylandtk said:

Just got the full paper copy of the Destination Collection March 2020-May 2021 in the post box!😁

Good news. Glad they're still printing them.

Jim

18 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We have found a 30 day cruise on the Grand where we can actually afford booking a Penthouse. But there is a $20 per person per day difference between an aft-facing one and one found in the center of the ship. From what I can tell from the website description, the ones in the center are approximately 76 sq ft larger than the aft-facing ones. Are the views from the aft-facing penthouse suites really worth the additional cost or is there something else we are missing?

It's the balcony size that makes them way more attractive to me. The mid- ship ones have the same balcony depth as a standard balcony cabin, while the aft ones have much deeper ones. Check the deck plans to see relative size. 

There are people who are sold on the aft view, but I enjoy the side view just as much.

(Oops. Editing here. I see now that the Grand's mid-ship suites are on the Caribe deck, so have a 9-foot deep balcony, so they're not skinny at all.)

Jim

1 hour ago, CAVE MAN said:

Would love to hear your thoughts on the Crown Princess, sailed on her many years ago.
Looking at another one I would like to take, but have read some very negative reviews. Thank you for any help!!!

I have nothing negative to say about the Crown. We've sailed four times on her in the last few years and have another cruise scheduled for May. It's up to snuff with the other Princess ships, which means pretty darned nice.

Jim

23 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

Well, my jaw just dropped!  Darn close to being free flights!!  I don't think we can expect anything that good!

No, you probably can't expect anything as joyous as the most extreme examples we're seeing here, but you can expect to do a lot better than through the airlines.

Just for hoots, I went to the Delta site and priced our April-May 2020 trip, which includes land time and a 7-day cruise (Italy and Greece), and found Delta wanted more than twice what we booked for in business class.

Cruise after cruise, I don't see anyone coming close to EZair prices, and best of all you're flexible until 45 days before your flight departure.

Jim

1 hour ago, steelers36 said:

This is not an open-jaw booking.  An example of an open-jaw booking would be Toronto-London and Rome-Toronto for a hypothetical cruise from London to Rome.  What you are doing is booking two 1-way flights (IOW that "jaw" between FLL and BCN is way too wide).  

 

I guess I'm not clear on the terminology. What I do know is that last year we booked EZair from Oregon to FLL, then home again from Barcelona after a TA and the rate was way better than anything I could get through the airlines. I've had similar experiences with other EZair bookings.

Jim

EZair is great for that. And it doesn't seem like you pay a nickel more for the open-jaw flights.

A couple times it was so cheap we treated ourselves to business class.

Jim

20 minutes ago, christinelee said:

It is a request from your host - Princess Cruises - that you dress formally for the two or three nights that your cruise has assigned to it. Why would you not? We always like to accommodate our hosts.

Did you get enough popcorn to share,Tony?

Just to be clear, "our host" has asked that we dress formally only if we plan to eat in the main dining room.

I always get a kick out of this "our host has requested" business. (No offense, christinelee, just an observation.) Our host has requested that we observe the progressive boarding schedule on embarkation day too, and no one seems to have any interest in honoring that request.

BTW, if you define formal as coat and tie or better, I'd say maybe 50 percent of men are dressed formally. I think people who say the vast majority are dressed up are mostly just looking around the dining room.

Jim

The cruises I've been on the Platinum Elite Suite lounge runs from 5 to 7 p.m. You can probably wrap up dinner by 6:30 sometimes and drop in at the end.

By the way, a few drinks are still discounted. It's just that they're $6.50 now instead of $5. There are something like 8 drinks to choose from.

Jim

Oops, I see if I do just a little arithmetic this is a 7 day cruise.

For the added money I would consider an aft suite with the bigger balcony. But I would not consider one of the side-facing Riviera suites. They have the same skinny balconies as most Royal-class balconies.

Jim

Without knowing how long your cruise is, it's impossible to judge what a good deal is.

BTW, this sounds like what's usually called an upsell.

Jim

2 hours ago, singingthinker said:

TM- I agree with you. Princess is probably not the line for me if I care about singing during the cruise. I will look into other lines.

 

Consider a longer cruise with more sea days.

In those you will usually have the Princess Pop Choir, in which a group of 20 to 50 will rehearse most sea days and perform 6 or 8 songs in the Piazza near the  end of the cruise.

Nobody gets a solo, but it's lots of fun.

Jim

5 hours ago, DMT1970 said:

So with that being said.  Is there any other benefit to the club class dining.   In others opinions is it really that much better than traditional dining? 

In addition to being seated almost immediately, you generally spend less time waiting for courses. If you can count on being finished in an hour, it's a lot easier to plan to your night's activities.

Jim

6 minutes ago, brisalta said:

Are you implying there is no room service on that ship?

No. I'm not implying that, and I'm trying to figure out what you mean.

Jim

18 minutes ago, sofiefleurie said:

Do you know if they are open before 6 am? I thought I had read the hours of operation as being later.

My recollection is that the coffee bar on the Island opened closer to 7 when we cruised the Panama Canal a few years ago. Maybe it's earlier now. I hope so. All I know is that I didn't consider it a good coffee ship.

Jim

1 hour ago, sofiefleurie said:

yes, that is a good resource, one I often use,  but I like to hear what fellow cruisers have to say.  It is generally more interesting and informative than a list of policies.  Also, sometimes funny, charming and clever.  I have yet to see a list of prohibited items do that.

 

Thank you to all who responded.  I will either bring a French press or spend a lot of time at the coffee line.  Either way, I'll be on a cruise ship drinking coffee!  😊

You haven't said what ship you're sailing. If you're on the Royal or Regal or one of the upcoming new ships, you can get brewed coffee in the buffet or any dining room.

No concentrate-bases coffee on these ships.

Jim

Unfortunately, no. I think it's silly.

Soon you'll get replies about what a fire danger they are. But several cruise lines have them and I've yet to hear of one starting a fire.

Jim

42 minutes ago, Coral said:

You missed the point. This is a group cruise where you have to book with the group to take advantage of the group theme. They have special dinners and special events that you are only invited if you book within the group.

But wouldn't the passenger,  whether booking solo or in a group of 500, be able to go to the Princess site and confirm booking number, dining and bedding choices?

Jim

In 25-ish cruises we've had exactly one minor upgrade. I think a lot of people have never gotten one, but it's the lucky ones who pipe up and say something.

And it seems like in the new world of upsells, you'll see fewer and fewer free upgrades.

Jim

1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

... All in all, if you really want to stick with Princess, I would look at an Athens/Rome itinerary with stops in Kotor, Corfu, Crete and Mykonos, and add some days to your trip to see Athens ...

We are doing this trip in reverse in 2020. While it has only four stops (including disembarking in Athens) in Greece, it seems like a good way to sample Italy and Greece with stays in Italy at the beginning and Greece at the end. It's only a week, so adding on the other stuff is pretty easy and affordable.

Jim

2 hours ago, cruisintoddler said:

The Princess Website calls the "2021 Dream Destinations" the "Destination Collection 2020-2021 (formerly Cruise Atlas)".  

 

I sure hope someone in IT made a mistake loading this because as others have noted, this brochure is a subset of the fleet only - not the entire Atlas that we all know and love.  

 

You know, i think you're right. I think it's an in-house screwup. The file size of Dream Destinations is much smaller than the previous Atlas.

So let's hope the real Atlas, whatever they want to call it this year, is still coming. 

Jim

I remember being the fourth ship to arrive in Cabo once. It seemed like it took forever to tender in because we were sooooo far away.

I don't think it matters as much on your return trip to the ship. Each ship has its own load to manage.

Jim

The egg muffin things in the morning. You can get them at the buffet and via room service, but they're hotter and fresher at the IC.

Jim

13 hours ago, idahospud said:

Here is an exciting addition to the Suite benefits on the Royal Princess right now! They are testing it here (and only here) and will be making decisions on whether to continue it based on feedback from the Suite guests on the Royal Princess.

 

 

... DRINKS ARE FREE.

So, they're having to test and do a study and wait for feedback? To see if people like free drinks?

Jim