Shogun Live From The Emerald

[OhioDogLover]

It is too bad about the luggage. I hope that it catches up with you soon and that you have a fun cruise anyway.

Ohiodoglover

[westwind6371]

Hi Shogun;

 

I have heard others that have had luggage missing were provided a complete tux outfit for no charge. I would check with pursers desk.

 

good luck

Dave

[geoherb]

Are they doing a "Chef's Table"? ... Any good wait staff to recommend?

We were on the Christmas cruise. They did not do the Chef's Table then--at least not according to the woman I asked when I called the reservations number right after getting to our cabin. I'm not sure if it was because of the norovirus outbreak or if our itinerary just doesn't get it. From what I've read, the 12/6 cruise had the Chef's Table--but that was the other itinerary.

 

We had traditional second seating dining in the Boticelli Dining Room. Our waiters were Woody from Thailand and his assistant Mil Oliver from the Philippines. Our head waiter was Feliciano from Portugal. All of them were very good. Woody made very good recommendations each night--steering our tablemates to things they would like. Oliver was very good at bringing me iced tea and bringing the woman at our table the breadsticks she liked. Woody did several special requests for our tablemates and a few for us. He would always say "I'll check and see" then come back with whatever was requested. (Nothing outrageous--just small things such as adding olives to a salad.)

 

We had several good waiters for breakfast and lunch. The only day that I thought service was bad was Christmas. It was way too slow. There were more people in the dining room for lunch that day.

 

The people posting to our roll call after the cruise have had more complaints than I do. A couple of posters have reported bad service at the Crown Grill and at Sabatinis. One said the pizza wasn't good. I did not try it. One said to ask Godwin in the DaVinci Dining Room to seat you in Tony's section if you have anytime dining.

[kcb]

Shogun!!!

 

Were are you? Did not see you @ sail away? Sorry about the luggage, but it's got to be around, somewhere...we were the only ship in FLL. Will look for you in woman's clothes, and not the kilt!

 

Nonvirus prevention obvious, no Chef's Table due to precautions.

 

Casino has been very friendly, try the craps table!

 

Internet access sucks, but on free time due to suite. Would not even bother if not free.

 

Good cruise so far!

[bookworm1]

GeoHerb is right, there was no chefs table on the 12-6 or 12-16 cruise. simple reason, nurovirus

We also tried to get it but no go.

michael and jeralyn

[LTCOP]

Sorry to hear about your luggage! So far the weather has been quite nice. I spent the afternoon at the Terrace pool and other than a quick sprinkle, the sun was warm with a lovely breeze. A day a the pool is the best! I've met Marie-Claude, but that's the only CC so far. They are taking many precautions for the Norovirus, but I haven't heard of any sickness this cruise so far. The food has been great, but there are problems with Anytime dining. It almost become somewhat of a riot last night and my family and I waited over an hour to get a table. I guess there are lots of large families and everyone wants to eat at the same time. We had requested second seating over a year ago and were assignmed first seating, but find that too early, so tried the Anytime. Once we got in the service and food were terrific, but my family was getting grouchy and the throng of people waiting to get in, was not in a good mood either.

Pam

[UT-Volsfan]

Sorry to hear about the lost luggage. We had the airlines lose one of our party's luggage on a 12-night cruise a few years ago and Princess offered to provide a tux for the formal at no charge, even though it was not their fault (luggage followed us to Spain, France, and finally caught up in Ireland 5 days later). Did you have trip insurance that covers replacement clothes for lst baggage?

 

Nice to see some live from the Emerald reports coming in!

[Shogun]

Hi KCB and All

 

Did not see you I was the one with Shogun on his base ball cap, we need to meet up pick a time and place.

 

Still no word on the missing bag, I am getting free laundry service, went to Cafe Thingy next to horizon, food was pleasent enough best thing was it was nice and quite, so you could have a chat, main dinning room is noisy, very noisy at times.

 

Found a weakness with ships layouit not enouigh deck space, it was very crowded. Santuary was very quite.

 

Thanks folks for offers of help, but St Thomas tomorrow so credit card time.

 

As to the bug a few red bio hazard bags about, a few areas taped of why do folk not stay in their cabins if they are that sick.

 

Still little word from ships staff about the bug if you ask them straight they do not give a straight answer.

 

Slots being very nice to us just now.

 

280 teens on the ship. teen police doing a good job.

 

Need to go to bed got US customs at 7.00am tomorrow.

 

Take all

 

yours Shogun

[SueM.]

Hi Shogun,

 

Now at least we know to look for someone with a cap with his name on it.LOL

 

On our Crown Princess sailing we found the same thing as you, not enough deck space by the pools. If you want pure sun, you can always go up a deck or so, but I want shade and want it near the pool/hot tubs. We booked the Emerald knowing this and figure we will use the hot tubs and if we can't find chairs nearby, we will go and relax on our balcony.lol I think this is a problem with a lot of the larger ships.

 

Have fun shopping in St. Thomas tomorrow!!

 

sue

[vickie_bernie]

you have such a good attitude Shogun about your lost luggage, and I wonder if I can fool my husband and tell him I lost my luggage by shoving it under the bed == maybe he will let me go shopping in St. Thomas with credit card.:)

[lynwar]

Hi

We were on the same cruise as MyCruz and there were just sporadic outbreaks of the virus-they were starting the precautions but nothing as major as yours at that point. We were "encouraged" to use the sanitizer (a staff person made us use it up in the Horizon Court for a day or two. Also, later in the trip-no shaking of hands, salt and pepper shakers were handled by the staff. However, we didn't have a problem. Stayed well the entire time.

Lost luggage is a really bad feeling. But, that's what the boutiques are for, right? You'll have plenty to choose from with the Princess Logo-all starting at $16!! LOL. And, if you go to St. Thomas and dock at the Havensight Mall-you'll have some more choices-like Hawaiian shirts, etc.

Neil came on as our CD and is really nice and met with us the final day--he certainly had his hands full-filling in for James Lay--And, he sings, as you've probably found out by now in the first evening's show.

We enjoyed using the Internet minutes. I think I had 8 left out of 250-but hubby had about an hour. Knowing me-I would have gone over on that LAST email-so I just stopped.

Take care and have a wonderful time. We found it to be showery when we were on that itinerary so hope you can find an umbrella or rain covering.

And-check out David Williams in Crooners. He'll grow on you--the waiters are fun, too, when given the opportunity.

 

Lynne

[mycruz]

Shogun, don't forget to check out the Chill Out area, all the way aft and up two decks from the Lido deck. Awesome! Very quiet, with a small pool, a huge hot tub and plenty of chairs and few people. A really nice place in the evening if you want a great view while soaking in the tub after all the shopping while in port.

 

Glad to hear the slots have loosened up! That's right go ahead and take all my money, LOL!

 

Mary

[TorontoTL]

Shogun, so sorry to hear that you still don't have your luggage. It is nice to see that you're not letting it ruin your cruise. I guess you'll be doing a lot of shopping in St. Thomas to make up for your lost luggage.

[leavitt1]

Hi Shogun. I'm enjoying your "live from" posts very much. I am curious if Princess is offering you any sort of compensation for your loss of luggage? I can't imagine the stress I'd be feeling in your position. My DH and I leave for our Grand cruise in 3 weeks! Now if I can only get rid of this bronchitis I have right now...

 

Michelle

[mycruz]

Shogun, big favor if you can....can you print out the 10 day Seinfeld Episode Review for CD Neil? KCSungirl promised him a copy and is having trouble emailing it to him.

 

Thanks

[Shogun]

HI Folks,

 

Well another nice day in St Thomas, only ship in which was great, took the boat to St John leaves from dock at Crown Bay,

 

Went looking for socks $24 a pair with some silly logo on the side no chance, so it will have to be Princess ones for me.

 

Looks like Aruba for shopping or may be a trip to Saw Grass Mall at FT L.

 

Princess have still not found the bags, have said not at hotel, well I could tell them that, but not at cruise port either, so it must be on the bus right, still waiting to see what Greyhound say.

 

Princess have given me $250 to buy stuff.

 

As to the ship I think the coffee has got better, ok it could not have got worse.

 

The cafe on deck 5 is great for nibble things, but they do not last long big que there this morning,

 

Have you seen the 7 foot dancing duck in the captains uniform, I assume he is from the kids dept rather than from the bridge, anyway he was doing the birdy song yesterday outside the cafe.

 

time for more food so must go

 

KCB where are you.

 

yours Shogun

[mississauga]

Shogun,

Is it possible that your luggage is in someone else's cabin. I read on these posts awhile ago that a mother went in to her son's cabin on the last day of their cruise and saw a suitcase not unpacked. When she asked her son about it, he thought it was his roommates and the roommate thought it was his. The suitcase belonging to another cabin sat there all cruise with the owner without his/her clothes because these young men didn't bother to check. :( Is it possible for housekeeping to do a check or make some inquiries for you?

[sppunk]

HI Folks,

 

Well another nice day in St Thomas, only ship in which was great, took the boat to St John leaves from dock at Crown Bay,

 

Went looking for socks $24 a pair with some silly logo on the side no chance, so it will have to be Princess ones for me.

 

Looks like Aruba for shopping or may be a trip to Saw Grass Mall at FT L.

 

Princess have still not found the bags, have said not at hotel, well I could tell them that, but not at cruise port either, so it must be on the bus right, still waiting to see what Greyhound say.

 

Princess have given me $250 to buy stuff.

 

As to the ship I think the coffee has got better, ok it could not have got worse.

 

The cafe on deck 5 is great for nibble things, but they do not last long big que there this morning,

 

Have you seen the 7 foot dancing duck in the captains uniform, I assume he is from the kids dept rather than from the bridge, anyway he was doing the birdy song yesterday outside the cafe.

 

time for more food so must go

 

KCB where are you.

 

yours Shogun

St. John's from Crown Bay ... do you mean from Red Hook? You can't get to St. John's from Crown Bay (well, I guess if a Princess excursion is booked ... ).

[BACON227]

Shogun was that through the ship or is a ferry now leaving from Crown Bay???????

[vickie_bernie]

did you take a princess excurssion for St. Thomas to St. John? Ferry doesn't leave from Crown Bay to St. John, but there is a ferry there to water Island that is quite nice.

[UT-Volsfan]

Shogun,

 

was wondering if you'd heard anything about buying a Princess Wi-Fi card for $50 and having unlimited usage for the entire cruise? There was a post on CC today from a person who was told about it by Princess Customer Service for his upcoming cruise. Just wondered if this was true or not - $50 for unlimited usage of the laptop to upload photos to home and compose emails offline would be a great deal.

 

Thanks.

[Shogun]

HI Folks,

 

Not heard about wi fi card, will ask if I see anyone with a lap top.

 

The boat from Crown Bay to St John is not a ferry, it is a charter by Princess but seats 100 plus people so they were selling seats, do not know if this is offical, but very handy. Will ask again for next week and see if I can get on.

 

Now the complaints,

 

The ship is to big, I like ships of less than 1000px OK so why did you book this cruise.

 

To many kids why book at holiday season

 

Standard not as good as 7 seas, bet it was half the price,

 

So many folk complaining about this and that I think they have all missed the point, is it value for money. Yes it could be better, but thats not the point if I paid douuble the cost and got Princess standard I would be very unhappy. Princess is a mass market cruise line, and yes things 10 years ago were different. But so was the price.

 

Now thats out of the way.

 

No word on my missing stuff, got free on board credit, free laundary and clothes for formal night so Princess is making an effort.

 

Still a few red bio hazard bags to be seen, still folk being sick in the wrong places but this might be kids over eating.

 

Dominica was Dominica green wet and very hot and sunny, people very nice, took Wacky Rollers tour which took me to places I had been before but it was still a nice way to spend a few hours.

 

Those that took to the water said the fish and that were great,

 

see you all soon

 

Shogun

[bohunk72]

Shogun

 

DW and I are renewing our vows next week on the Emerald. I noticed in research that you might surprise your DW this cruise after she turned you down when you asked last year.

 

Did you do it??

[Strawberry]

Shogun - This happened to me a few years ago when we flew from PHL to Miami. My 2 suitcases never made it to the ship. Although my Husband's did. They couldn't tell me anything about the location of my bags until the night before we disembarked. Late on the last night before we arrived back into Miami the Purser's Desk told me that my bags had been located and would be by the gangway and there they were just sitting not in the baggage collection area but all alone right at the bottom of the steps as we got off the ship! They still had my identification tags and the correct ship tags on them as well as the correct airline location tags. However, someone had hand-written some paper and string tags and tied them on to my suitcases sending them from Miami on another airline to Puerto Rico -- NOT one of destination ports. So, my bags had their own vacation.

I did have a small carry on bag with some extra shoes, and my makeup, and jewelry etc. Also, I had purchased Princess Insurance and was able to buy things from the ship's boutiques and get reimbursed when I got back home. They gave me a nice discount on my purchases, arranged to do laundry for me every night (this was before I got Platinum Elite status) and also lent me an outfit for formal nights. A number of crew members offered to lend me clothes from their wardrobes. It worked out just fine. Don't give up hope!

Interestingly the Airline told me that when I put the ship's tags on my bags it became the cruise company's responsibility if they were lost; however, Princess told me that it was the Airline's responsibility.

[joanne1]

The boat from Crown Bay to St John is not a ferry, it is a charter by Princess but seats 100 plus people so they were selling seats, do not know if this is offical, but very handy. Will ask again for next week and see if I can get on. Can we just walk off and buy tickets? I really would like it to not be an excursion but just the ride there and back would be great! I would love to know the scoop on this so thanks for trying to find info on it.

 

Now the complaints,

So many folk complaining about this and that I think they have all missed the point, is it value for money. Yes it could be better, but thats not the point if I paid douuble the cost and got Princess standard I would be very unhappy. Princess is a mass market cruise line, and yes things 10 years ago were different. But so was the price. I think part of it is that there are new cruisers coming on because of the great prices, but are expecting it to be the way 'they heard it was' or 'the way it is on TV'. Too many people are just coming on with lots of expectations!

 

Shogun

 

Thanks for all of the info, love hearing about the day to day play backs. You are a great sport!!