3 day cruises - Who's been on one?

[chamima]

Hi

We just signed up for a 3 day California Coastal cruise ( in a nice suite ;) ) because of the sale Princess is having.

We've never been on such a short cruise and are just curious which of the things we are used to will be included.

We are Elite - will the normal amenities be there? I would imagine we won't have any laundry unless there's a spill.

Wine tasting?

In room set-up?

In the dining room do we have the Welcome Dinner followed immediately by the Farewell Dinner? ;)

I'd appreciate any info from someone who has done one of these!

[RiverCityCruiser]

These are drinking, gambling and party cruises. Especially the ones that are over the weekend out of LA.

 

We prefer the seven day cruises.

[chamima]

Good thing we're in that suite!

We may never leave the cabin!

[RiverCityCruiser]

Sounds like a good plan! You can always make the best on any cruise.

[sweet carol]

Hi

We just signed up for a 3 day California Coastal cruise ( in a nice suite ;) ) because of the sale Princess is having.

We've never been on such a short cruise and are just curious which of the things we are used to will be included.

We are Elite - will the normal amenities be there? I would imagine we won't have any laundry unless there's a spill.

Wine tasting?

In room set-up?

In the dining room do we have the Welcome Dinner followed immediately by the Farewell Dinner? ;)

I'd appreciate any info from someone who has done one of these!

 

Hi

 

We just did a 7 day Alaska followed by a 2 day coastal. We had a mini suite so upon boarding we ordered room service and had lunch on our balcony with the glass of champagne that you get upon arrival in your room. We had a fridge filled with the free liquor because the 2 day was a second cruise. We had the nice towels etc. they did not do the most travelled traveller but they did do the evening gathering for the elite and platinum where they have a special drink for $5.00 and appetizers. Laundry service was offered and we needed some done and it was sent out the first day. Wine tasting was not offered and the menu was the prime rib the first night and it was a different menu the second night from the previous cruise. Food was excellent. Hope this info answers some of our questions.

[san diego sue]

How about four day cruises. Any Wine tasting? Or most traveled. There is a sea day on this one plus two ports.

[NavyVeteran]

How about four day cruises. Any Wine tasting? Or most traveled. There is a sea day on this one plus two ports.

 

Four-day cruise out of LA in September had two wine tastings (the less expensive one that is free for Elite and a more expensive one), Captain's Table, and Ultimate Ship Tour. I don't think they had a most-traveled event, but I'm not sure - since I probably would not have been invited.

 

They had Platinum/Elite/Suite reception in Skywalker's each evening, but no Captain's Circle party. Instead, they gave each Platinum and Elite a voucher for a free drink at the Platinum/Elite/Suite reception in Skywalker's. However, the voucher did not arrive until the second day, so you couldn't use it the first night (margaritas and guacamole).

 

They did have the mini-bar setup.

[O2Bcrusin]

These are drinking, gambling and party cruises. Especially the ones that are over the weekend out of LA.

 

We prefer the seven day cruises.

 

I know Carnival has this reputation but has anyone done a three day Princess and is it the same?

[waltd]

Karin you should be fine. It is a different customer base but still a Princess cruise. We have noticed that Princess cuts back a bit on the menu especially in the buffet. Doesn't seem like they have as many options. You get more new cruisers trying out Princess. And I think it is a bit younger crowd but not bad.

[seacruise9]

Hi,

 

I was on the first four-day cruise on the Golden Princess to Catalina Island and Ensenada (September 26-30). The cruise was fine and felt like a typical Princess cruise (only shorter). The food and service were comparable to the longer Princess cruises that I have taken recently (I did a seven-day Princess cruise earlier this year and an 11-day Princess cruise last year). I had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the cruise.

 

Chuck

[O2Bcrusin]

Karin you should be fine. It is a different customer base but still a Princess cruise. We have noticed that Princess cuts back a bit on the menu especially in the buffet. Doesn't seem like they have as many options. You get more new cruisers trying out Princess. And I think it is a bit younger crowd but not bad.

 

That is kind of what I was thinking. We are actually doing a 4 day and was hoping it would be more typical of Princess. Have cruised Princess many times but not on a short cruise.

[Mrs Soup]

My sister and I just returned last week from a 3 day coastal and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We found it to be no different than any other Princess cruise we had taken. There was no official 'formal' night but we found many passengers like us chose a night to wear dressier clothes. On the evening of the 'at sea' day the ship had the photographer set up for portraits like they do on a formal night. The only thing lacking was lobster in the MDR. If you have the time I would encourage you to give one of these 'shorties' a try.

 

Mrs Soup

[Bruin Steve]

I know Carnival has this reputation but has anyone done a three day Princess and is it the same?

 

I've done 3-nighters from LA on NCL, Royal Caribbean and Carnival...Doing my first 3 nighter on Princess next month (I've only done a 7 nighter on Princess out of LA)...

 

But, from my experience so far, Carnival really is a bit different--WAY more of a "party cruise"--more drunks and obnoxious people...I think they draw this crowd with their advertising of "Fun" and "Low Prices"...There was definitely a different atmosphere on the Royal Caribbean 3 nighters and I expect Princess to be about the same. Remember, Carnival is still running their 3 nighters as competition and that should draw off most of the party crowd...

[jsiegel]

We did a three-day just a week ago. You may need to ask for your Elite bar set-up and bathroom amenities as the cabin stewards have so much to do on turnover day. We had to ask but it was no problem receiving them.

 

Wine tasting is offered on the sea day. Make sure you read your patter as to location. The waiter at lunch told my parents the wrong location, but they got there in time anyway.

 

There is no formal night but you will get a door hanger thing on the second day to order your canapes for one evening.

 

There were a lot of first-timers on our sailing. So many so that my sister ended up being one of the most-traveled and got a voucher for dinner for two at a specialty restaurant.

 

Others have mentioned the voucher for a drink in lieu of the Captain's Circle party.

 

We didn't bother with the Elite/Plantinum lounge. According to flyer in the room the first night was guacamole and chips, second night steak tartar, third night cheddar/port cheese.

 

It wasn't really a rowdy crowd. Some 20-30 somethings were inebriated on returning from Ensenada but over all a pretty quiet cruise and it was over a weekend.

 

Jackie

[Coveguy4]

Just did the 4 day last month, and with the special promotion doing the 3 day next week. With the cost being credited to my upcoming cruise in April, having a reunion with fellow cruisers from our Panama Canal cruise last April. Cheaper than going out to a nice dinner!

[chamima]

We did a three-day just a week ago. You may need to ask for your Elite bar set-up and bathroom amenities as the cabin stewards have so much to do on turnover day. We had to ask but it was no problem receiving them.

 

Wine tasting is offered on the sea day. Make sure you read your patter as to location. The waiter at lunch told my parents the wrong location, but they got there in time anyway.

 

There is no formal night but you will get a door hanger thing on the second day to order your canapes for one evening.

 

There were a lot of first-timers on our sailing. So many so that my sister ended up being one of the most-traveled and got a voucher for dinner for two at a specialty restaurant.

 

Others have mentioned the voucher for a drink in lieu of the Captain's Circle party.

 

We didn't bother with the Elite/Plantinum lounge. According to flyer in the room the first night was guacamole and chips, second night steak tartar, third night cheddar/port cheese.

 

It wasn't really a rowdy crowd. Some 20-30 somethings were inebriated on returning from Ensenada but over all a pretty quiet cruise and it was over a weekend.

 

Jackie

 

Thanks Jackie

I read on another thread somewhere about your sister and wondered about the most traveled passenger count. We have more than her 19 cruises so maybe we'll make the top three for the first time. That would be pretty funny.

This cruise will be a whole new experience for us - haven't even done any 7 day cruises recently.

I feel really badly for the cabin stewards - I can't imagine how hard it must be to have turnaround day every three days and to have to get used to new people with new foibles.

[jeeper2]

Does anyone know what time check-in began on any of the recent three or four day trips? The personalizer for this weekend says between 12:30 and 3:00, but this seems pretty late. Of course, there could be a reason for later boarding. I just am anxious to get to the pier!

 

No suite/platinum/elite waiting areas on these short ones, right?

[kath00]

I know Carnival has this reputation but has anyone done a three day Princess and is it the same?

 

NO! We have done a number of these sailings with Princess out of LA and have NEVER had this problem. I dunno where these vast generalizations are coming from actually. They are the same people (as a matter of fact last one we did was during the school time and the people were older and retired and very subdued) as those who take the 7n cruises or more.

 

We love them since we work hard and are too busy to do long cruises all the time. Our next one is on the Sapphire in 3 weeks! Cannot wait.

[waltd]

Does anyone know what time check-in began on any of the recent three or four day trips? The personalizer for this weekend says between 12:30 and 3:00, but this seems pretty late. Of course, there could be a reason for later boarding. I just am anxious to get to the pier!

 

No suite/platinum/elite waiting areas on these short ones, right?

 

We just returned from a 7 day. Our personalizer also said 12:30. We thought we would get there at 12:30 and avoid the crowd. When we arrived they were still boarding. Elite passengers were allowed to walk right on at that time.

[Thrak]

I know Carnival has this reputation but has anyone done a three day Princess and is it the same?

 

NO! We have done a number of these sailings with Princess out of LA and have NEVER had this problem. I dunno where these vast generalizations are coming from actually. They are the same people (as a matter of fact last one we did was during the school time and the people were older and retired and very subdued) as those who take the 7n cruises or more.

 

We love them since we work hard and are too busy to do long cruises all the time. Our next one is on the Sapphire in 3 weeks! Cannot wait.

 

We've never been on a shortie cruise before but have a 4-night booked in May. It never even crossed our minds that it would be a "party cruise". One of the reasons we book Princess is because we feel confident that this will never be an issue. (My son is talking about booking Carnival for his next cruise as he finds Princess a bit sedate for his taste. :rolleyes:)

[critterchick]

Hi

We just signed up for a 3 day California Coastal cruise ( in a nice suite ;) ) because of the sale Princess is having.

We've never been on such a short cruise and are just curious which of the things we are used to will be included.

We are Elite - will the normal amenities be there? I would imagine we won't have any laundry unless there's a spill.

Wine tasting?

In room set-up?

In the dining room do we have the Welcome Dinner followed immediately by the Farewell Dinner?

I'd appreciate any info from someone who has done one of these!

 

We had a Window Suite (I'll send you the pictures soon, Jackie!) and got all of the suite perks as well as the Elite perks. Dinner at the specialty restaurants was complimentary on the first night so we didn't see the MDR menu.

 

There were four wine tastings - the regular one that's free to Elites and the Maitre d's winetasting for $25 (not sure about the price), plus two in Vines - Old World and New World. Those were $15 plus 15%, and well worth attending - better pours and more interaction since they were limited to 12 people.

 

We had one set-up in our suite and called room service for the second. We opted for coffee cards (2) in place of another round, swapped out a few items and ended up taking home 8 little bottles of vodka and gin.:)

 

We sent our Friday clothes out on Saturday and they came back Sunday night. I wonder if anybody noticed on Monday that we were wearing the same clothes to the office.:p

 

The 2 free drink coupons we got were good in most bars - Vines wouldn't take it, but we had no problem redeeming them in the casino.

 

We arrived at the pier around noon and Elites were called to board around 12:30. There was a VIP waiting area that was pretty full by the time we arrived, but we managed to find a few seats for all of 10 minutes.

 

By the way, their handling of the wine was to pull people aside if they saw the bottles going through the scanner and they had to be checked in, even if it was a single bottle. A couple that went through security in front of me took 15 minutes to get from there to boarding, and missed the Elite window. They didn't see mine, for reasons unknown since it was right there in my bag, so I just walked on through.:)

 

I know Carnival has this reputation but has anyone done a three day Princess and is it the same?

 

I wouldn't say that it was the same as a Carnival cruise, but it was definitely a much livelier crowd than we've seen on Princess before - lots of young and young at heart people, plenty of drinking and carousing. We were on the 10/4 weekend 3-nighter. Our favorite winetender in Vines said that he'd never seen bar receipts so high (he was thrilled). He was pulled out of Vines on Saturday night to help out at the casino, which was packed, a first in our experience.

 

A fight broke out in the casino on Sunday night. I was there, but missed it, but apparently one guy landed on the floor. There was plenty of drinking, lots of cigar smoke coming into the WS hallway until I closed the hall door and lots of people having a very good time.

 

There were a few passengers who didn't get the memo about no formal night, and there were more who didn't know what "smart casual" means. It all made for great people watching.:)

 

I wish we had time to book one of the other short cruises to take advantage of the sale, but we are as booked as we can be for this fall. Three more trips on Golden!:D

[critterchick]

NO! We have done a number of these sailings with Princess out of LA and have NEVER had this problem. I dunno where these vast generalizations are coming from actually. They are the same people (as a matter of fact last one we did was during the school time and the people were older and retired and very subdued) as those who take the 7n cruises or more.

 

We love them since we work hard and are too busy to do long cruises all the time. Our next one is on the Sapphire in 3 weeks! Cannot wait.

 

I respectfully disagree. We've sailed a few 3-night repositioning cruises and haven't found a big party crowd, but when the ship is sailing round trip over a weekend, there are bound to be plenty of people out for a good time, and that's what we found on our cruise.

 

I suspect that one reason many of the 3-nighters depart during the week is that Princess wants to avoid the party crowds, but those party crowds are what will make it financially viable to keep the ships sailing the shorter itineraries. Life is full of tradeoffs...

[mountainmaniacs]

You have a different class of people on the short cruises!

[luvcdays]

You have a different class of people on the short cruises!

 

Wow! This is so untrue and an insult to many of us that are doing some of these shorter cruises!!!

[SadieN]

Mom and Sis are on the Golden cruise this week. They called from Catalina and said they noticed as many drunks at muster on this cruise as on our last four day, same itin, on the Carnival Inspiration during Spring Break. The difference is that these are pax in their 50's-70's rather than in their 20's. Mom feels very young on this cruise!

 

The main difference they say is in the choice of Karoake music. Sis said that the fastest song last night was 'My Way'.:p