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brucedodge

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  1. Agree with Sue. We were on her last year, and we're leaving Saturday to join her again in Santiago, partly because this is the ship doing the itinerary. However, if you didn't like the Diamond (which we did), I'd be careful. Now that the "R" ships have been sold, the Coral is our favorite, and the Sapphire is second.
  2. Obviously completely of the subject, but yes, that Azamara cruise was one of the best. We're at lastname at Comcast point net Bruce
  3. Carnevale, Thanks for posting this. We are also avid dancers. We board the ship March 18th and wonder if either or both of the duos will be on board. Don't know if you've been on Coral, but it has the best dance venues of any Princess ship, with the Wheelhouse near the theater with a bigger dance floor than the usual Wheelhouse, the Explorers, and the aft lounge. The Island used to have all three, but Princess got rid of the aft lounge on that ship.
  4. Waltd is correct. And if you'd been in a suite (even a window suite) you'd have received 4 setups.
  5. Ken, If you get a chance on your return voyage to engage Paolo Ravera in conversation, you should ask him about taking the Coral Princess into the caldera at Deception Island in 2020. One of the most interesting things I've seen a cruise ship do. Supposedly it was the largest ship at that time to have ever entered the caldera. Bruce
  6. The Sapphire crew seems to be exceptional. When on board in September, they were awarded Best Princess Crew, or something like that. And usually that comes from the top down, not vice versa. The officers while we were on board were quite involved. And we always (or almost always) fill out the mid cruise surveys. They do read them, for sure.
  7. To answer the title of this thread in one word: Yes
  8. Thanks to all for your clarifications.
  9. We abandoned Azamara a number of years ago when they transitioned from duos/trios who played nightly upstairs. They went to a guitarist and they lost us. Every couple of years (and it's been a while) I ask the Azamara cruisers if live music has returned. My question is: when you say "band," are you talking about the ship's band, or an extra group of musicians? If it's the ship's band, don't they take up a lot of space? And do any of you remember when Azamara used to have a harpist on board? 😀
  10. We've cruised with Mario a number of times over the years, the last time in September. He now has over 51 years with Princess. Even Jan Swartz came to his 50 year ceremony.
  11. We do a lot of cruising from foreign ports. Over at least the last 15 years I cannot remember NOT using EZ Air to fly international business (domestically we don't care). Always selected the seats at booking, and even though I suppose there could be a glitch, it's never happened to us. I'm guessing one way business class fare via EZ Air has probably cost us about $1000-$1500 pp. However, at our ages it's the only way we'll fly transoceanic, and good luck touching those fares booking yourself.
  12. Before the chop up, Island and Coral were our favorite ships (other than the R ships, which of course are now gone}. After the butchery we did cruise the Island once as we agreed to go on a short family cruise. Just as we feared, the Island was a disaster, and we've avoided it ever since. So glad we can still cruise the Coral.
  13. FWIW, just came off Sapphire (sister to Diamond) a few weeks ago in a mid-ship full suite. We like the extra space and spend a good deal of time in the room; however, quite frankly, a Reserve mini would have been fine, even without Sabatini's breakfast. In our case the price difference was not as great as what you're looking at and was tolerable. We've also been in a Royal Class mid ship suite and the Concierge Lounge is very nice. There are tradeoffs and only you can decide the ones that are important. Incidentally we find the Sapphire and Diamond comfortable and a reasonable size; however, the smaller Coral is our preference. Not a fan of big ships.
  14. And I thank you ❤️ Interestingly our Norway cruise last year was supposed to be on the Grand (booked quite early), but due to COVID, the ship changed twice and ended up as the Sky Princess. Lovely ship, great itinerary, and good weather, and we even ended up upgraded to a mid-ship full suite. But the ship was just too damn big. I know many people like the Royal Class and I'm happy for them ❤️. It seems ships are largely (!) becoming the destination rather than the places they can take you. Cruising is a for-profit venture, and the accountants know that. And as ships become larger, we will slowly shift, just as we jettisoned Celebrity, despite our Elite + status, as they went big Again, as I always say, we have different tastes and different ways to satisfy those tastes. Bruce
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