dockman

i am sure you will be just fine...and while many spend their days glued to their cellphones maybe you will be out on deck looking at the scenery or chatting with interesting people while your cell phone sits in your room. Good for you.

Point is everybody is different and some people for whatever reason don't want or don't have smart phones and nothing wrong with asking how to navigate a cruise without one on a cruise forum.

I have a phone and am just fine with it's features and advantages but do not criticize those who choose otherwise...but as you say "whatever".

It means that not everyone is the same. Believe it or not there are still people who do not have or want a TV. Does that mean if you have a TV you are better? Just maybe not having a TV means those people spend their time doing much more interesting things than sitting on a couch staring at a screen. I have a phone and I like a lot of what it brings....BUT i go out of my way not to turn into some kind of zombie that can't help but to check it every thirty seconds while ignoring people talking with me those who are walking down the street bumping into people as they check what is happening on tik tok. The problem is not the phones but the addiction to the phone.

Yes corrrect: BUT there are also advantages to NOT being tethered to a phone and getting adicted to them like millions upon millions of people who can't go one minute without looking at them. I sometimes feel sorry for kids who are so addicted to them that they miss being a kid , riding bikes, playing ball and other games, etc because they cannot stop fooling with the phone....and yes I am one of the addicted. Maybe some do grasp it and still don't want it?

Thanks good to hear that...

Small town and beach area...i went to a place at far right of beach towards end (facing ocean from beach)...lot of choices but of course gets crowded quickly when ship docks so maybe try to get off early and grab a spot. Nice beach area with umbrellas and F and B service.

Have you noticed any problem with exhaust/smoke on the back deck pool? A friend said that the smoke blew down around that back pool? Maybe just his cruise but i am booked on sapphire for alaska and i always spend a lot of time on that back pool deck on other princess ships. thanks for any info if i should be concerned...

I was all set to book the world cruise on crystal but for some reason it turns out i did not win either mega millions or powerball...must have been a mistake so i will try again this week...but maybe hold off on booking world cruise just in case.

True that. If $ were no object i would prefer to return to crystal that i was lucky to experience a dozen or so times once upon a time...the old harmony and symphony were wonderful 900 pax ships that were just about perfect in every way. But it appears that my choice is now several cruises a year on holland or princess or maybe one on crystal...i do have a ticket for the mega millions lotto and as soon as i win it I will be back on crystal for sure.

Thanks for the memories. It was the smaller ships that made me a Holland fan and I was lucky to sail on almost all of the ones named. It was a wonderful size...big enough to give you space but small enough that you could run into crew and fellow passengers and got to know each other especially on longer cruises Wonderful wide promenade decks with teak chairs where many people would sit , read, watch the ocean and just relax. Generally wonderful libraries with comfy chairs, nice lighting, newspapers and magazines and lots of books in a quite environment. Good dining areas that were small enough to be intimate but big enough to be enchanting. Fewer passengers which overall meant less lines, less noise, and overall better interaction with the crew that really did get to know the passengers, many by name. Showrooms that were more intimate and most often lot of enrichment speakers as well as a much wider variety of entertainment instead of showing you a movie or some show that spends more on shiney costumes than hiring good entertainers. Overall seems to me it was a "kinder more gentle" time in cruising with a more overall civilized feeling not dominated by chair hogs, people pushing and shoving on/off elevators, buffet line, show room seats etc. The advent of the bigger ships brought lots of shiny objects that in my opinion had little to do with what i like in a cruise ship. I do not need 10 choices of restaurants that charge more. I do not need private sanctuaries to sit and enjoy the ocean views. I do not need to be surrounded by 4000 fellow cruisers to be happy on the ship or in ports. I could go on and on and on. Overall I just like a more ship experience and not a giant floating mall designed to separate you from your $ with bells and whistles. I like for the ship to look and feel like a ship and not a giant barge carrying thousands upon thousands of passengers with hallways half a mile long and so many crew that few remember more than a handful of passengers. And yes I know the big ships are more and more about $$$$ and the old ships also liked $$ but seems it was just done in a more classy way than having somebody trying to sell you something non stop from embarkation til disembarkation. The fewer newer bigger ships I have sailed on, not just holland but Princess and especially NCL seemed to be all about how much money they can squeeze out of you above and beyond the cruise and shore excursions. Ah the memories.

I enjoyed the emerald a few years back...but never been on enchanted or caribbean...don't think carib gets very good reviews from what i see/read. It is a rare cruise on Princess or Holland America that i don't enjoy. NCL and few others...not so much.

So to be clear did u take the $$ and run ending up with free cruise? Or did you like most plow it back into the casino? Lots of people talk about winning a jackpot in vegas...then they confess that oh but i lost it all back plus more at the blackjack table....amazing how people remember the wins and forget the losses. Hope u took the $$ and ran. The one absolute fact re casino is if you play long enough you will lose.

Sadly the Royal has no wrap around prom deck as it seems that there are lots of shops there instead of a prom deck. Great just what is needed, more shops and less outdoor places to walk, sit and enjoy the views. There are two tiny outdoor spaces in the back but starboard side is lots of smokers puffing away and neither side has very much seating. The "walking" space is on one of the top decks, open to the elements with lot of wind, potential rain, and about 16 laps to the mile. Horrible place for anyone half serious about walking. Also you get to look down to the ocean about 15 decks below through usually dirty plexiglass. So if you want more shops then Royal may be the choice. If you want nice outdoor areas to enjoy views and walking that are mostly shielded from the elements and make you feel like you are on a ship and not a floating shopping mall I would look elsewhere.

just curios what you mean by they checked each can? did they think it was disguised beer or something?

I also did uber and it was quick easy pick up drop off and price is cheaper especially for two people...can't see any advantage to buying princess transfer and having to go back to the airport in a shuttle with luggage etc and then hang around waiting for bus to be full..by that time a uber would pick u up at your hotel and away you go...they pull right up to the bag drop area at the pier and next to security and check in counter....

I always leave on the auto tipping and then spread a few more dollars around here and there...i really sort of enjoy tipping people who go out of their way to assist me and act like they care and maybe even a smile and a thank you....i don't expect them to bow etc when i sit down but it is nice to at least get greeted with a smile or a hello and then some semblance of good service which i get quite often on cruises. I have also found that sometimes I want to give a few dollars to some buffet line employee who is super nice and maybe goes out of their way to fix or find something just for me....i don't think they often get this and not saying i do it all the time but wow sometimes some of them are so good and a pleasure to come into contact with. unfortunately the vast majority of people i tip in USA seem to think that they are entitled to tips just for showing up, ignoring you, getting orders wrong, playing on their phone and never bothering to look around to see is a customer might need something. I am slowly getting to the point that I try not to reward these types and leave very little or even nothing sometimes as i would rather give a bit more to the ones who actually are nice and take care of you....not easy to do but something that i feel needs to happen more often in many instances..

I prefer to tip some of the exceptional crew members who provide me with fantastic service with a smile and go out of their way to talk to me and make sure i am taken care of as i usually am solo ...heck of lot better than feeling forced to tip on land everytime i turn around whether tip jars or now presented with computer tablets to select 20 or 25 or 30% %or more.....problem is often the service on land is very basic or awful but they still think they should get an extra 25% or so for just showing up, never saying a nice word etc...and most people me included somehow feel shamed into tipping even when got bad service... i have never felt pushed to tip extra by the crew on cruise and when i do give extra they seem to genuinely appreciate it and give you thanks...seems on land even to get a thank you is not all that frequent anymore. Lot of times on cruise all i want is a glass of ice water in bar etc and they bring it and of course free so no tip added...I carry few $1 bills to give tip for that which they always seem to appreciate as just as much effort to bring me a glass of free water as to bring me a $15 cocktail. Not sure but i think they get to keep those $1 ++ tips in cash for water or maybe they get pooled?

So bottom line is eventually pooled tip money does get returned to the crew in some form or another...princess does not just put it in their pocket but give it back to the crew members. I fear that some may think their tips disappear into some corporate pockets when in fact they go back to crewmembers which of course is where it should go.

In the words of my thai girlfriend..."you tink too mutt"

Did it on emerald several years ago...caught covid along with few dozen others and spend most of cruise in quarantine on a closed off half of a deck with security guards in hallway where i could watch from the balcony but not allowed to leave room for six days...was vaxxed of course and very mild symptons but those were the rules...good news is i had done most of the ports before...also got a credit for days in quarantine...bad news was getting covid in spite of being as careful as i could possibly be...

I do not like being in a room with those fold down beds...banged my head on them couple of times even though never folded down.....mine was not a balcony room just oceanview so maybe in balcony different layout....unless you need the extra beds i would try and avoid rooms that have them. Not the end of the world and up to you. I also try and avoid connecting rooms as makes noise from next door flow through easier...usually not a problem until u get neighbors who want to talk loud, argue, or play tv at loud volumes.

Enjoy having a single cabin without having to pay double....you got lucky?

On the Sapphire did anyone have a problem with smoke from the engines on the back of the ship pool deck? My favorite place but someone said smoke often blew down around the pool which doesn;'t sound like fun.

I spend very very little as I have been to almost all the ports before years ago when shore excursions were reimbursed as biz expense as well as being a lot more affordable....plus i am fortunate that one of my favorite things is to go for a 5 mile or so walk in most every port...the walking is free and i feel like it is an excellent way to see a place through more local eyes than staring out the window of a bus. I also rarely if ever feel the need to buy any food ashore as i am very very happy with the onboard food and frankly the best view in most ports is from the ship..it can also be wonderful to keep shore time minimal as the ships can be wonderful places when most of the passengers are gone all day....I am not a big spender for the cruise line on drink packages shore excursions etc but i do go on a lot more cruises than their average customer... i think i have spent over two years + of my life as a cruise ship passenger. Big regret that i did not keep track of all the various cruises as well as ship dates and itineraries...