Live from Sky Princess 25 February

[_rusty_shackleford]

A little cruise haiku to get things started here:

 

Many people few seats

Lounge is full it's almost time

God I need a drink

[_rusty_shackleford]

And now for some actual news: they're handing out paper flyers with some basic info: bars, dining options, stateroom ready times, etc. There's this part for Plus/Premier as well. We've got a ton of OBC credit to use so I will let everyone know if upgrading uses that as soon as we're on.

[PacnGoNow]

2 minutes ago, _rusty_shackleford said:

And now for some actual news: they're handing out paper flyers with some basic info: bars, dining options, stateroom ready times, etc. There's this part for Plus/Premier as well. We've got a ton of OBC credit to use so I will let everyone know if upgrading uses that as soon as we're on.

I had to laugh!  I too, need a drink with all these beverage package changes and pushing them. 😂  I’m not even OB.

 

Health and wellness beverage package? Really?

 

Do they mention discontinuing the New Grounds Coffee Package on that letter?

 

TIA

 

 

[_rusty_shackleford]

1 minute ago, PacnGoNow said:

I had to laugh!  I too, need a drink with all these beverage package changes and pushing them. 😂  I’m not even OB.

 

Health and wellness beverage package? Really?

 

Do they mention discontinuing the New Grounds Coffee Package on that letter?

 

TIA

 

 

No mention of the coffee package. This is really like a mini-Patter letting people know what's going on for the first few hours onboard.

Edited February 25, 2023 by _rusty_shackleford
Punctuation error

[PacnGoNow]

2 minutes ago, _rusty_shackleford said:

No mention of the coffee package. This is really like a mini-Patter letting people know what's going on for the first few hours onboard.

Okay thanks.  Maybe you’ll find out later?

Enjoy your cruise!!!

[_rusty_shackleford]

1 minute ago, PacnGoNow said:

Okay thanks.  Maybe you’ll find out later?

Enjoy your cruise!!!

I will happily share if I see or hear anything. This community has been good to us with info and such. Happy to give back and be a part.

[_rusty_shackleford]

Can absolutely confirm your OBC applies to Plus/Premium. Was very simple to do in the app as well!

[_rusty_shackleford]

7 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Okay thanks.  Maybe you’ll find out later?

Enjoy your cruise!!!

I don't see the coffee package in the app, but I do see it available if I access the Cruise Personalizer via the web vs the app. There might be hope for you yet!

[PacnGoNow]

12 minutes ago, _rusty_shackleford said:

I don't see the coffee package in the app, but I do see it available if I access the Cruise Personalizer via the web vs the app. There might be hope for you yet!

😂 We’ll see.

On the Discovery they said it would be activated at 5pm PT.  So, sounds like to me a reinstatement. Of course, JMO and hope!  😆 

 

They can book it OB using the Ocean concierge.  

[_rusty_shackleford]

So about last night...

 

Confusing to say the least. Dinner service was the worst I've ever had on a ship. 2 hours from seated to finishing main course and we didn't stay for dessert, assistant server told us the only wines we could get in the dining room were the Plus options (refused to bring anything else even when I said I'd pay the difference), and brought me a late harvest dessert white wine when I asked for a Carmenere because he said they were from the same maker. They clearly seemed overwhelmed so I'm not sure if this a staffing or training issue since we haven't been back to full capacity for that long. Food quality still seems pretty good overall.

 

Unlimited juice bar: make sure you have unlimited time to wait. One poor guy who is working his tail off but there's only one blender and they have to wash everything out between orders. It is pretty good though so there's that.

 

The jazz band was really good though. Definitely plan on seeing them every night. Trying a different dining room tonight to see if that makes a difference experience wise.

[CapnCrews]

50 minutes ago, _rusty_shackleford said:

So about last night...

 

Confusing to say the least. Dinner service was the worst I've ever had on a ship. 2 hours from seated to finishing main course and we didn't stay for dessert, assistant server told us the only wines we could get in the dining room were the Plus options (refused to bring anything else even when I said I'd pay the difference), and brought me a late harvest dessert white wine when I asked for a Carmenere because he said they were from the same maker. They clearly seemed overwhelmed so I'm not sure if this a staffing or training issue since we haven't been back to full capacity for that long. Food quality still seems pretty good overall.

 

Unlimited juice bar: make sure you have unlimited time to wait. One poor guy who is working his tail off but there's only one blender and they have to wash everything out between orders. It is pretty good though so there's that.

 

The jazz band was really good though. Definitely plan on seeing them every night. Trying a different dining room tonight to see if that makes a difference experience wise.

90 Minutes to a couple hours for a relaxed dinner with good conversation seems about right.  
 

If dinner included food as good as Princess’ usual high quality but there was some minor hitch in the wine availability, I think “worst service ever” is probably a hyperbolic accusation.  

[nini]

It is really sad that Princess STILL has not figured out the wine supply issue. We cruised last May (Emerald) and it was an issue. There were just a few wines available from THEIR OWN wine menu. The same happened on the Grand last September.

[Happiest when cruising]

57 minutes ago, CapnCrews said:

90 Minutes to a couple hours for a relaxed dinner with good conversation seems about right.  
 

If dinner included food as good as Princess’ usual high quality but there was some minor hitch in the wine availability, I think “worst service ever” is probably a hyperbolic accusation.  

Well, it was two hours to finish main course, never mind waiting for coffee or tea and dessert. I feel 2 hours is long enough to complete a full dinner service, especially if there are only two people at a table. 

[hop2it]

I posted this question in another topic. Maybe you can answer.

  <<Can someone please share or offer a link to current details about the Plus wine menu? Are they still just listing under-$15 wines by varietal name rather than the label?<<

[_rusty_shackleford]

11 minutes ago, hop2it said:

I posted this question in another topic. Maybe you can answer.

  <<Can someone please share or offer a link to current details about the Plus wine menu? Are they still just listing under-$15 wines by varietal name rather than the label?<<

They do actually list out the available wines now by label so that's nice. Every bar I go to (haven't been to Vines yet) seems well stocked. I'll see if I can get some screen grabs of the wine menu shortly.

[_rusty_shackleford]

2 hours ago, CapnCrews said:

90 Minutes to a couple hours for a relaxed dinner with good conversation seems about right.  
 

If dinner included food as good as Princess’ usual high quality but there was some minor hitch in the wine availability, I think “worst service ever” is probably a hyperbolic accusation.  

It's all subjective right? That's just a personal observation when I look at how long we were idle and how often we saw the staff. I'm used to 90 minutes or so, dessert included, which I think is about right. If nothing else I assumed they'd want to try to turn the tables in a reasonable amount of time as the ship seems at capacity. This was us sitting for 30 min between courses when we were clearly finished. Again, I think they were either understaffed or suffering from a lack of dining room leadership but this is definitely the longest meal (and most time between courses) I've had during my cruise history. Certainly not enough to merit throwing a tantrum at guest services or getting snippy with staff like some do, but just one experience one night.

EDIT: and by some, I do not mean you so I hope you don't take it as an affront and apologize if it sounds that way. Every cruise I'm on there are always people that treat the most minor inconvenience as a personal attack. C'est la vie I suppose but it always embarrasses me to see people treat others the way some do.

 

We were a table of 2 but they seemed to be waiting for the other two tables of 2 next to us to be brought/finish their courses even though we clearly were not together nor were seated at the same time. I think that's what made it feel like it was dragging. We'll see what tonight brings. Not nearly enough to convince us not to go back and I'd never base an entire cruise off of one night.

Edited February 26, 2023 by _rusty_shackleford
Clarification

[nini]

6 minutes ago, _rusty_shackleford said:

They do actually list out the available wines now by label so that's nice. Every bar I go to (haven't been to Vines yet) seems well stocked. I'll see if I can get some screen grabs of the wine menu shortly.

 

That is really good news. When I wanted a glass of Chardonnay on the Grand last September, there was only ONE Chardonnay for my beverage package. And it changed often. It began with Decoy and then something else when they ran out of the Decoy.

[_rusty_shackleford]

1 hour ago, nini said:

It is really sad that Princess STILL has not figured out the wine supply issue. We cruised last May (Emerald) and it was an issue. There were just a few wines available from THEIR OWN wine menu. The same happened on the Grand last September.

I actually don't think this is a big availability problem on this cruise. I have seen a few of the wines at every bar I was told were "unavailable" in the MDR. Didn't have that issue on the Royal this past fall so I'm chalking it up to either understaffing or an inexperienced staff member. Not the end of the world either way- can ways bring a glass in with us.

[_rusty_shackleford]

Plus/Premier wine menus. Not sure if they have all of them or not but I have definitely seen most of these options at one bar or another.

 

Most liquor seems to be in stock as well. I have not seen a bottle of Maker's or Knob Creek but they do seem to have plenty of Buffalo Trace unlike my last cruise. No glaring absences for scotch or tequila either.

Edited February 26, 2023 by _rusty_shackleford
Added liquor observations

[nini]

33 minutes ago, _rusty_shackleford said:

I actually don't think this is a big availability problem on this cruise. I have seen a few of the wines at every bar I was told were "unavailable" in the MDR. Didn't have that issue on the Royal this past fall so I'm chalking it up to either understaffing or an inexperienced staff member. Not the end of the world either way- can ways bring a glass in with us.

 

I was talking about the entire ship, not just dining room availability. We always bring our own glasses of wine into the dining room as we do not want to wait.

[_rusty_shackleford]

1 minute ago, nini said:

 

I was talking about the entire ship, not just dining room availability. We always bring our own glasses of wine into the dining room as we do not want to wait.

I think we're going to do that tonight as an insurance policy. This is also our first full capacity cruise in 3 years or so, and I'll admit I had been spoiled by/forgotten what the full capacity experience is like when there haven't been lines in a while. This is also our second cruise with Princess, the first being a 14 day Alaska in September, so the experiences were never going to translate 1:1. All in all still a great time and I appreciate the tip. My goodness do we miss Alaska though. I'm pale and tragic so the Caribbean sun and I do not work well together.

[nini]

39 minutes ago, _rusty_shackleford said:

I think we're going to do that tonight as an insurance policy. This is also our first full capacity cruise in 3 years or so, and I'll admit I had been spoiled by/forgotten what the full capacity experience is like when there haven't been lines in a while. This is also our second cruise with Princess, the first being a 14 day Alaska in September, so the experiences were never going to translate 1:1. All in all still a great time and I appreciate the tip. My goodness do we miss Alaska though. I'm pale and tragic so the Caribbean sun and I do not work well together.

So.............. which ship last September? We were on the Grand beginning September 14.

[_rusty_shackleford]

9 minutes ago, nini said:

So.............. which ship last September? We were on the Grand beginning September 14.

Royal. We were exclusively Carnival cruisers before that one, mainly because that's what my family started out doing back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth so that's what we had stuck with. We love the Princess experience but I really miss the Spirit class ships with Carnival. Perfect size, perfect passenger:crew ratio, and very well laid out. One huge plus with going out of Tampa is those are about the biggest ships that fit under the Skyway Bridge so we almost always got one of them. Sky and Royal are nice, don't get me wrong, but we are not really fans of big ships. I'm afraid they're only going to get bigger and move further to the 'ship-within-a-ship' profit model. Maybe the Grand-class are more up our alley.

[nini]

20 minutes ago, _rusty_shackleford said:

Royal. We were exclusively Carnival cruisers before that one, mainly because that's what my family started out doing back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth so that's what we had stuck with. We love the Princess experience but I really miss the Spirit class ships with Carnival. Perfect size, perfect passenger:crew ratio, and very well laid out. One huge plus with going out of Tampa is those are about the biggest ships that fit under the Skyway Bridge so we almost always got one of them. Sky and Royal are nice, don't get me wrong, but we are not really fans of big ships. I'm afraid they're only going to get bigger and move further to the 'ship-within-a-ship' profit model. Maybe the Grand-class are more up our alley.

 

We loved the Golden (now gone from the fleet), the Crown and the Grand. And loved the Regal (different class) We did not care for the Emerald but loved the itinerary... the crew was a bit on the grouchy side (not all of them... covid issues?).

[californiagirl]

1 hour ago, _rusty_shackleford said:

We were a table of 2 but they seemed to be waiting for the other two tables of 2 next to us to be brought/finish their courses even though we clearly were not together nor were seated at the same time. I think that's what made it feel like it was dragging. 

On Discovery here and that is exactly what happened to us!  We were the last two top seated and the server then proceeded to take orders for all the tables along the row of two seaters.  I watched and each of our courses were brought out at the same time…even though some were finished sooner.  It might be quicker to sit at a table for 6.