wowzz

We never drink coffee in the buffet. On Princess we will go to the International Cafe, and order coffee from there.

If they are giving cruises away, why is the same cruise that we are booked on in July 2023, £1000 more in July 2024 ?

You should have checked Princess t&c's. Sorry.

Good Spirits has very limited seating, and no changes have been made during the dry dock. It seems entirely stupid to have a bar with seating for no more than 30 or 40 people, and yet have a photo gallery taking up an inordinate amount of space.

You should have renewed earlier.

No, the OPs passport expires in November.

Renew it now. Why risk it ?

Strange that something us Brits think of as completely normal and sensible, and has always been around, has not been copied by the rest of the world ! Glad you had a good visit and the rain held off for you.

Princess have served juice, water, tea and coffee in the buffet on every cruise I have been on since 1998. Are you sure you were actually on Princess, as your recollections are totally different to the other Princess cruisers on here ?

You can understand why Princess don't have them, given the number that are required !

Really looking forward to your review Jimmy.

Hopefully then we will get new bathrooms, new interior cabin walls, and a new air conditioning system that actually works.

Whilst it is good news for those who like adult ships, the refurbishments announced seem to relate to mainly cosmetic changes such as furniture, soft furnishings etc. rather than structural improvements. As you said some time ago, bathrooms, for example are designed to last the life of the ship, and replacing them is really not feasible. And the bathrooms on Arcadia are already showing their age ! We were thoroughly disappointed with our cruise on Arcadia last year - so, much as we like the idea of adult cruises, we are not prepared to cruise on her again, despite the adult only benefit. Goodness knows what state Arcadia and Aurora will be like in five years time.

Good to know. Much more civilized than the drinks station rigmarole.

I suppose it depends on the cruise line. Can't remember how the buffet worked on Arcadia last year, but on Princess butter is served in individual pats, which you put on your plate, and you spoon the required amount of jam, marmalade etc from a receptacle onto your plate as well. So no tiny dishes to carry around. Must be a slow news day, with all this talk about trays, of all things!

I've never known Princess to use plastic plates in the buffet. Certainly they have been china on our last couple of cruises. I think they do use plastic plates in the on deck eateries (pizza, burgers etc).

I'm just going by my own experience last month, and the comments from various live blogs.

Careful MB - dont let the facts get in the way of 40 cruises over 75 years !

You said no cruise line serves drinks in the buffet. I was proving you wrong.

But you have no current knowledge - hence why you do not know about Princess table service of drinks in the buffet.

You have obviously never been on Princess !

Surely the hot items will be cold by the time you have eaten your fruit ? And lets face it, buffet food is not that hot to start with ! Even when trays were available, we would make several visits, so as to make sure our eggs and bacon were at least slightly warm.

Princess seem determined to keep pushing the Love Boat theme, despite only Americans over 50 having any idea what the programme was about.

I've sailed on both Regal and Sky, and never noticed any smell of smoke either in the mid ship dining rooms, or the Piazza.

No evidence at all that Princess are getting strict.