Live from the CB 11/11-25/2018

[satxdiver]

12 hours ago, vmom said:

We will be doing this itinerary in January on the Caribbean Princess.

 

Any non-Princess tours / tour operators you recommend in any of the ports? 

Can you tell how anytime dining is going with the new changes in dining times? Wondering if ATD is more crowded.

 

Thank you for your postings. I have been enjoying following your posts.

 

We used Shore Excursions Group (https://www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com/) to book both of our private tours.  It is easy as they will offer private tours for all the ports you will visit.  We entered the information for our ship and they identified tours available in all ports.  The actual providers of the tours were local operators and they guarantee small numbers of pax.  

 

We are doing TD second seating in the aft MDR deck 6.  I will try to drop by the two ATD MDR before our dining time and see if there are lines.   Our dining time is well attended but not full of course due to the late times.  Most of the pax around our table are either UK or Canadians. 

[satxdiver]

18 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Maybe the other ships will join the CB shortly. 

 

Hopefully.  Since RCI, X and HAL have already gone to this newer policy, it appears Princess is trying out the policy on this ship as a trial. 

[MissP22]

In the anytime DR last night for a formal night I haven't see that many guys wearing just dress shirts in a long time, 

[compozer]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

In the anytime DR last night for a formal night I haven't see that many guys wearing just dress shirts in a long time, 

I saw more men wearing tuxes and sport jackets than in a long time.    Love the look.   And some beautiful formals.

 

[canadarocks]

satxdiver: Having just done the ship's Trinidad tour that you chose, would you recommend it? 

[Sea&SkiCruiser]

On ‎11‎/‎19‎/‎2018 at 9:40 AM, lhsail said:

Liked your comments about the BBQ. Living in the Austin area DH declares he’s not paying money to eat BBQ on a ship. We’ve decided were just going to stick with our Elite internet package. We have T-Mobile so unlimited data in every port. Plus, if we need additional for those last two days at sea we’ll just pay the $9.99. 

 

Have they upgraded the hair dryers in the cabins or are they still the ones where you have to hold down the button the whole time and they barely work?

 

Thanks! 

Nope, don't have to hold down the button on the hair dryer.  Two speeds plus on/off button.  Works great for me.

[Sea&SkiCruiser]

On ‎11‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 11:50 AM, vmom said:

We will be doing this itinerary in January on the Caribbean Princess.

 

Any non-Princess tours / tour operators you recommend in any of the ports? 

Can you tell how anytime dining is going with the new changes in dining times? Wondering if ATD is more crowded.

 

Thank you for your postings. I have been enjoying following your posts.

We booked two non-Princess tours.  Having already done the Princess “Sugar Train” excursion on a previous cruise, we booked the Grand Tour of St. Kitts with Grey’s Island Excursions.  Thenford Grey was our guide and he was excellent.  Mr. Grey was entertaining and a great story teller.  I highly recommend this tour.  In Martinique we took the North Island Tour by Beyond the Beach.  Our guide Sophie was awesome and also very knowledgeable.  It rained on and off during the tour and it seemed like every time we got on the bus, the sun came out and when we got off the bus, it poured.  Everyone took it in stride, it became a running joke.  Good tour, just not impressed with the “beach stop.”

[satxdiver]

13 hours ago, canadarocks said:

satxdiver: Having just done the ship's Trinidad tour that you chose, would you recommend it? 

 

Yes  It was a good look at the island in a safe manner.  Nice part was that even though 300 of our fellow pax had signed up we were all put on 21 pax buses.  Our driver worked to show up at sights before the other ones did and was semi successful.  Our guide was very informative of the island and answered all questions.  With the US State Department warnings about safety issues we felt safe with this tour and the guide would tell us what to do  and not to do.  

[canadarocks]

Thanks so much satxdiver. Good to know I chose well. 

[satxdiver]

Wednesday Curacao

Observation.  Both my cell phone and laptop continue to lose the internet signal requiring a login again.  My cell phone also locks up from time to time.  The patter continues to list the MDR for breakfast and lunch when at sea as the Island MDR on deck 5 midship when the actual MDR used is the Coral on deck 6 midship. 

 

We had a private 6 hour island tour.  Turns out there were only 5 of us on the tour so it became a personal tour on a 21 pax bus.  The guide was very good in talking about the island and the places we visited.   Our last visit to the island we toured only the city and of course rode the swinging bridge.  So this time we wanted to see the other parts of the island.  We visited the Curacao distillery and had a nice Curacao daiquiri, visited a beach and viewed the flamingoes. 

 

Tonight was the 24K Gold Party on the lido deck.  We had some locals come aboard to put on a Willemstad Caribbean Experience show which was great and well received.  Because the ship did not leave until 10 PM, all evening dining was open dining (ATD).  It was noted in small print on the back page of the patter where the different open hours are listed.  Many did not see the dining change and tried to show up for their normal TD times.  We have the aft MDR which a lot of pax are not aware so there was no waiting.   I watched our 10 PM sail away from Skywalker’s with a cold libation. 

 

Movie was Ocean’s 8.   I made my usual late night journey to the IC where the crew was busy decorating the bar area for Thanksgiving tomorrow night.   Tomorrow is Aruba where we plan to just walk around the business area as we have been here over 5 times and have seen most of the sights.

[MissP22]

Check your account from time to time. The other day we discovered a drink charged to our account form the casino bar. No signature required for drinks any longer. 

They removed it of course. 

[lhsail]

Thank you for the information on the hair dryer. Usually bring my own, but I don’t need anything fancy so may skip it this time. I also have a lighted travel makeup mirror and I’d rather have room for that. 

[MissP22]

Last night in the DR I had one of the worst meals of our trip. I ordered dark meat turkey & it had so much pepper on it that I could hardly eat it. Talking to a few other people they experienced the same thing.

The while meat seemed to be fine.

They did have whole roasted turkey at the buffet which we should have chosen.

Live & learn. 

Once again the pumpkin pie was a disgrace. 

[satxdiver]

Thursday – Thanksgiving

The servers in the various bars are still carrying tablets but are not using them.  They have started taking your OM to the POS terminal and entering the order or will take your cruise card.  Cabin steward knocked on our door tonight to see if we were still in the cabin so he must not know the indication on the tablet mounted by the door that someone with an OM is inside.

 

Today was Aruba and since we have been here many times we just walked around the main street near the ship.  The Carnival Horizon was in port again with us.  You could tell which ship pax came from since the younger ones were on the CCL and the senior ones were on Princess. 

 

The ship was decorated for Thanksgiving although only 1/3 of the ship pax were from the USA.  Dinner tonight was of course turkey with its usual accompaniments.   We have been drinking our wine in the cabin but saved one bottle that had the fee paid to take to dinner tonight.  The PES Lounge in the evening has been in Club Fusion.  The entertainer tonight was Bobby Brooks Wilson and again the first show at 6:45 was simulcast in the Explorer Lounge.  On MUTS tonight they had the NFL Atlanta vs New Orleans.  I managed to drop by the Coral MDR (6 midship) and there was no line to get in.   I went to the Future Cruise office to see what cruise brochures they had out and noticed there was a line to talk to him.  We bought our FCD from my cell phone early in the cruise.   They continue to let shorts and tshirt in the MDR for dinner so Princess is testing the waters evidentially.   The Carnival Horizon is following us back to Florida. 

 

Tomorrow we are at sea and it is the last formal night. 

[satxdiver]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

Last night in the DR I had one of the worst meals of our trip. I ordered dark meat turkey & it had so much pepper on it that I could hardly eat it. Talking to a few other people they experienced the same thing.

The while meat seemed to be fine.

They did have whole roasted turkey at the buffet which we should have chosen.

Live & learn. 

Once again the pumpkin pie was a disgrace. 

 

We had the white meat and had not asked for any modifications.   It was good but way too much.  There were some pieces of dark meat under the white meat and it was good.  I did not notice any excess pepper.  We were offered additional cranberry sauce which we gladly accepted.  The dessert was pumpkin pie of course.  I had indicated Ms diver was celebrating a birthday so she was surprised with the usual chocolate cake and their singing happy birthday to her at the end of the main course.  

 

I check my folio many times a day using my smart phone and so far we have not had any erroneous charges.  We are now headed back to PE with two sea days.  

[compozer]

I have not seen any shorts in the evening in our MDR.

 

Our phones and laptop have not been disconnected the past week.   Internet is working better than ever.

[MissP22]

On 11/23/2018 at 5:21 AM, satxdiver said:

 

We had the white meat and had not asked for any modifications.   It was good but way too much.  There were some pieces of dark meat under the white meat and it was good.  I did not notice any excess pepper.  We were offered additional cranberry sauce which we gladly accepted.  The dessert was pumpkin pie of course.  I had indicated Ms diver was celebrating a birthday so she was surprised with the usual chocolate cake and their singing happy birthday to her at the end of the main course.  

 

I check my folio many times a day using my smart phone and so far we have not had any erroneous charges.  We are now headed back to PE with two sea days.  

I think they cooked the dark meat separate than the white meat & over did the pepper.

The dark meat in the buffet was done OK.

[MissP22]

20 hours ago, compozer said:

I have not seen any shorts in the evening in our MDR.

 

Our phones and laptop have not been disconnected the past week.   Internet is working better than ever.

Come to the Island DR tomorrow nigh and you'll see plenty of them. 

[compozer]

3 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

Come to the Island DR tomorrow nigh and you'll see plenty of them. 

Let them all stay there.  I prefer CC where people are dressed up.

 

[Camelia-]

8 hours ago, satxdiver said:

Thursday – Thanksgiving

The servers in the various bars are still carrying tablets but are not using them.  They have started taking your OM to the POS terminal and entering the order or will take your cruise card.  Cabin steward knocked on our door tonight to see if we were still in the cabin so he must not know the indication on the tablet mounted by the door that someone with an OM is inside.

 

Today was Aruba and since we have been here many times we just walked around the main street near the ship.  The Carnival Horizon was in port again with us.  You could tell which ship pax came from since the younger ones were on the CCL and the senior ones were on Princess. 

 

The ship was decorated for Thanksgiving although only 1/3 of the ship pax were from the USA.  Dinner tonight was of course turkey with its usual accompaniments.   We have been drinking our wine in the cabin but saved one bottle that had the fee paid to take to dinner tonight.  The PES Lounge in the evening has been in Club Fusion.  The entertainer tonight was Bobby Brooks Wilson and again the first show at 6:45 was simulcast in the Explorer Lounge.  On MUTS tonight they had the NFL Atlanta vs New Orleans.  I managed to drop by the Coral MDR (6 midship) and there was no line to get in.   I went to the Future Cruise office to see what cruise brochures they had out and noticed there was a line to talk to him.  We bought our FCD from my cell phone early in the cruise.   They continue to let shorts and tshirt in the MDR for dinner so Princess is testing the waters evidentially.   The Carnival Horizon is following us back to Florida. 

 

Tomorrow we are at sea and it is the last formal night. 

May I ask how you bought the FCD via your phone? We usually just fill in the form and wait to get the confirmation but there's always a delay because many people are doing the same thing! 

 

Thanks!

[Colo Cruiser]

46 minutes ago, Camelia- said:

May I ask how you bought the FCD via your phone? We usually just fill in the form and wait to get the confirmation but there's always a delay because many people are doing the same thing! 

 

Thanks!

On the ships system where you check the Patter and your onboard account on your device there is a link to purchase an FCD.

 

If I use the form I never wait. I just slip it in the drop box outside the FCC's office and it gets credited within a day or 2.

[satxdiver]

4 hours ago, Camelia- said:

May I ask how you bought the FCD via your phone? We usually just fill in the form and wait to get the confirmation but there's always a delay because many people are doing the same thing! 

 

Thanks!

 

The new free app on the intranet called Ocean Concierge allows one to order breakfast in the cabin, purchase FCD, see the activities for the day, create a personalized daily plan, see the different floor layouts, view your folio and more.  You attach to their intranet server, log in with stateroom number and birth date. It is quite handy and all your need is a smart phone or tablet.  The FCD showed up on our Princess personalizer the next day.   A little bit through the cruise we did receive in the stateroom a form to buy FCD all filled out with our information and needing the number of FCD and a signature.  Since we had already bought the FCD, we put the form in the circular file. 

[satxdiver]

Friday at Sea

Tonight is our last formal night so time to get out the guayabera one last time.  We went to trivia in the morning and afternoon simply to learn how much trivia we do not know.  All last night and into today the Carnival Horizon has been off our port side.  Last night in Aruba they held the ship for one last pax who arrived in a taxi with a large trunk.  We believe it was the magician.  Princess where before flew in their entertainers the day before has switched to bringing them in the day of their performance.  However they had to delay the magic show since the magician did not have enough time to organize his act.  I think it will be tomorrow night.  There were no performances in the theater tonight.

 

Tonight was the usual escargot and lobster.  I was able to consume two of each of them thanks to our waiter.  He anticipated ahead of time so thanks.  The infamous balloon drop – Formal Gala Party - was tonight in the piazza along with music by Topaz.  MUTS tonight was Mission Impossible – Fallout.  Earlier they showed Thor – Ragnarok.  The Marriage Match Game Show was tonight unfortunately while we were at dinner. 

 

They have a small device with a round OM emblem near all the POS and all one has to do is hold their OM over the OM emblem which turns from blue lighting up.  The same is true when leaving or entering the ship.  Cruise cards are not used.  However the bar cocktail servers have to take the OM to the POS to scan it and then return it with the libation.  They can use the cruise card instead and as I indicated earlier I was able to use my cruise card to open the cabin door by placing it over the OM emblem on the pad outside our door.  Today for the first time my android Samsung cell phone was able to keep contact with their OM router.  It made it a lot easier than having to start WiFi all over each time.  We received our luggage tags and information for Sunday morning when we leave the ship.  Tomorrow morning after the steward cleans the room, he will place the brown kiss of death on the bed signifying it is almost over.   

[Ep010835]

Thank you very much for the wonderful day-by-day description of your journey. I’ve enjoyed your stories and have learned a lot from them. 

Wife and I board Sunday.  

[caribill]

10 hours ago, satxdiver said:

 

The new free app on the intranet called Ocean Concierge allows one to order breakfast in the cabin, purchase FCD, see the activities for the day, create a personalized daily plan, see the different floor layouts, view your folio and more.  You attach to their intranet server, log in with stateroom number and birth date. It is quite handy and all your need is a smart phone or tablet.  The FCD showed up on our Princess personalizer the next day.   A little bit through the cruise we did receive in the stateroom a form to buy FCD all filled out with our information and needing the number of FCD and a signature.  Since we had already bought the FCD, we put the form in the circular file. 

 

You can also fill out the form pre-cruise in the Personalizer.