Tiggerontheseas

12 minutes ago, abqmommyof4 said:

 

Sorry, didn't realize duplicate thread.  Thanks time4u2go.

58 minutes ago, craig01020 said:

Anyone else having issues with Royal's website? I can't see any of my cruises. I've tried multiple browsers.

Mine was the same way earlier today but seems to be fixed now.  Hopefully yours are back up as well.

17 hours ago, BND said:

It's why we get a JS always.  We like to sit outside on the balcony and hear the water as well as see it without having to lean over or turn around.

I've never splurged for anything higher than a normal balcony cabin, but I agree.  Sitting on the balcony with a glass of wine is my happy place. 

11 hours ago, BND said:

At breakfast and lunch when we're in the MDR, we get one a lot and the view is usually the same, just water so we don't see the point. 

One of my favourite views.  A big part of why I like to cruise.  🙂

53 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

A year ago Princess didn't have a bidding system.

No, but other cruise lines like Royal Caribbean, NCL, etc. do and the big box agency does not participate in those either.  That is most likely what the poster was referring to.  

On 9/11/2022 at 11:26 AM, DirtyDawg said:

 

Funny, my ouija  board says "Take the Steelers" today. 😉

Ha!  Having foreknowledge from your ouija board must have saved you tons of stress before they finally pulled it off.  Insanity.  🙂

9 minutes ago, Cruzinnana47 said:

We got our "upgrade offer" early this AM.   Not exactly like NCL.  When we sent a bid on an NCL cruise a few years ago, there was the similar sliding-type meter showing "weak" to "strong" and we could put in the maximum we were willing to pay, but the Princess upgrade offer starts at a pretty high price (for their "weak" accepted minimum and the "strong" is way more than we'd ever pay.  No thanks.  We're staying with our original cabin (Prem.Deluxe Balc.).

Thought it was odd that all the choices given us with this offer---e.g., Club Class Mini-Suite, Vista, Premium & Penthouse Suites---are available, when they're showing as unavailable for our sailing in Nov. on the Princess website.

BTW, our bid through NCL was accepted--from an Oceanview to an Aft Balcony, and the upgrade price was quite reasonable, IMO.

If it is like Royal Caribbean's ROYALUP, I think that RC offer bids for categories not currently available.  If they become available (cancellations, hold-backs, etc.) then they have the option to entertain the bids received.  If they don't, no one wins their bid for those categories.

I agree that these minimum bids seem high. 

44 minutes ago, jkx said:

Went on Harmony last December and their French toast in Windjammer was pretty thin and chewy crusts. Has RCL updated their French toast? I’ve seen recent photos and videos showing it and looks like a thick brioche style French toast which looks way better than the old style. It is one of my favorite breakfast meals so does anyone have any input, or photos? 

No photos, but on the Freedom of the Seas in both 2016 and 2019 we had the thick style French Toast you are describing so it's not a recent update.  Maybe this was just a Harmony issue or supply chain problems? 

22 minutes ago, Senga said:

We’re also Canadian.

Yes, obviously I'm not very observant.  In that case, I have no explanation. 🙂

5 minutes ago, antsp said:

I had $950 of obc on the sky in March, every $ was taken of the ship in cash via the magic method. Why would anyone leave Princess to refund you 

In our case, it was mostly just laziness.  We seldom frequent the area where the magic method can be used and just didn't get around to it before disembarkment.  LOL!  

32 minutes ago, Senga said:

It took a while for us to get our cheque but it definitely didn’t look like junk mail.  Princess was on the return address.

Oh, that's great.  Ours definitely looked like junk mail and the return window address area was for a totally different company.   I wonder why the difference?  I'm in Canada, so perhaps that changes things.

1 hour ago, NV-Joe said:

My wife and I were on the island princess for a transatlantic which ended in South Hampton on June 13, 2022.   We had a $740.00+ credit on our shipboard account.   Not ever having had that in 20+ cruises, I figured that the money would be credited back to our credit card on file NOPE!

After a couple weeks had passed I called Princess and endured about a 3 hour wait... to be told that "I must transfer you to the business office"  I was on hold 90 minutes for that.   The young lady then td me "to be patient, return of credits must be paid in check form and take 6 to 8 weeks.

I called back after 8 weeks... and after another 2 hour hold time ( the first representative gave me her "direct" number) and this representative told me.. "actually they are taking up to 10 weeks now".    Earlier this week I called back (10 week mark) and was on hold for 2 hours, someone picked up and then hung up on me.   I am beyond frustrated with Princess.  Heck of a way to do business, especially  for an "Elite" status passenger. I'm looking for a new cruise line... is there any line out there that doesn't keep you on hold for a minimum of 90 mins?

 

Lesson learned, I'll NEVER make that mistake again.

 

Joe and Tammi in Las Vegas

Ugggg!  We got our refundable credit back at just before the 8 weeks mark for a June cruise.  Ours wasn't as much as yours so we had no problem waiting but it does seem like there should be an easier system.  It's not like they don't have your credit card information on file.   

As others have mentioned, do be very careful not to throw the envelope away.  It does really, really, REALLY look like junk mail.  

2 hours ago, zackarykeef said:

Yeahhhhhh this is crazy. Looks like I won’t be sailing Royal for a while. It just doesn’t make sense. Even Celebrity, which is nicer…even though the base is higher, at least they include drinks with the always included. I know Royal is geared towards families with kids anyway, so maybe including drinks isn’t such a big draw? Idk…regardless, it can a most double the cruise fare depending on the deal so…I think I’ll pass 🤣

Yeah, I understand.  I really like Princess' plus fare.  Once the gratuities are factored in, it makes the drinks portion more than doable for us.   For Royal we'll be okay paying as we go.  It'll probably be good for me to have to think about what I'm ordering for a second first.  Not as much fun, but good for me.  😁

1 hour ago, AZDivers said:

 

It's hard to argue this. We are going on Allure in Sept and going to pass on the package. The pricing is just nuts considering how many days we will be off the boat and only having cocktails in the evening when we get back on.

 

Crazy, isn't it?  Here is mine for the Odyssey of the Seas TA next October.  Granted, that price is quoted in CAD but that still works out to approximately $98.00 USD (the same that your cruise is showing as the onboard price before discount).  No discounts as of yet for us.   For 15 nights, if we tried to drink enough to cover the cost of the package we'd probably end up comatose.  LOL!   We are definitely planning a la carte unless it goes waaaaay down.  

Deluxe Beverage Package

Full Sailing - 15 Days

From $125.42 CAD / per guest per day

16 minutes ago, Tatra603 said:

So you can fly into Greece without a test, but you have to take a test to leave on a cruise ship.

This makes no sense.

 

Canada is exactly the same.  No testing needed to arrive in Canada by either air or land border but you need one for cruises.  I'm from Canada and I don't understand it either.  Hopefully, changes will be coming soon. 🙂

32 minutes ago, D. B. said:

The Laundry is Not "FREE!!" you paid for it as part of your Cruise price.

 If it makes you feel better to think of it as Free then Go with that..........

Reminds of my sister-in-law. Oh, Look they have Free Ice Cream!

Free.  Complimentary. Included. No extra charge.  It's all the same to me.  Semantics, we all knew what was meant. 🙂

30 minutes ago, little britain said:

I’ve often seen wheelchairs on the tenders. 

Thanks!  That wasn't my understanding for Royal Caribbean tenders so that's good to know.  

24 minutes ago, little britain said:

Portofino and Kotor are the best ports on this itinerary and you’re missing them?.

 

As the OP mentioned, his wife is in a wheelchair and Portofino and Kotor are tendered ports so they would be inaccessible for her.  

3 hours ago, Ret MP said:

I don't like food or drink served piping hot.  It drives my wife crazy with I don't touch my coffee for over an hour and then drink it like it is a soda.  Food, I'm happy if it is just a little above warm. Hence, I do like a good buffet.  

 

My dad would almost throw his food and/or drink at the server if it wasn't hot enough to burn asbestos. 

I've found my people!

My dad would constantly microwave his coffee whenever it would get just a little bit cool.  So then it would be both hot AND microwaved coffee.  So gross.

3 hours ago, topnole said:

I like my coffee room temperature.  Most people think I’m crazy for that.  

This entire thread has been fascinating, but this is amazing.  I thought that I was all alone in the world! To be fair though, I'm good with most temperatures of coffee as long it's not piping hot.  At a restaurant where there is no time for it to cool itself down and I can tell that the coffee is strong enough to handle a little watering down, I'm putting ice in that sucker. 

25 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

I have to agree. We were at the Riverside this May for two nights at the beginning of our land portion. The restaurant was definitely a buffet for all meals and the quality was down. At that time the servers were working hard and were personable but hey, early in the season maybe they weren't worn down yet. As far as food being days old, well ... we didn't see that and a quick visit by a health department inspector would shut down a facility faster than you can say OMG. I find it hard to believe that the food was actually three days old - however, it may have been out too long and ... sterno warming tins not being lit is kind of hard to fake. So, there's that.

 

In summary it sounds to me like the facility certainly didn't improve and probably did get worse.

Yeah, true enough.  I admit that I am unobservant enough to not even know if the warming tins were lit but the food was certainly cold enough for them not to have been.  And mushy, overcooked or dried out enough for it to have been a couple of days old (although, I'm certain it wasn't - heh).  I had to laugh.  We were sat for breakfast and the server said, "oh, no - these are wrong" and grabbed our green napkin wrapped cutlery off the table and returned with blue napkin wrapped cutlery.  I was confused but no biggie.  Opened the napkin and the spoon was really filthy.  So, I flagged down another passing server and he grabbed a green napkin off the next table and gave it to me.  Opened it up and...no spoon.  Ahhhh...now everything made sense!  It was apparently a code that not all the servers were allowed to know. 🙂

3 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Amazing.

First post...sometimes those "one off" posts are just to complain with no responses after that. Hope you're not one.

The poster is unfortunately 100% correct about Riverside.  We did a recent cruise first land tour and our entire trip was fabulous except the final two nights at the hotel.  My husband and I have basically just tossed off the days as 'not really' being part of the vacation but more just a stopover leg before flying home.  Lol.

3 hours ago, Homosassa said:

People were taking excursions in shorts and tank tops. I had packed sweaters and long pants. At least I didn't need my sweatshirt.

I know, right?  I definitely didn't pack enough shorts.  🙃 

7 hours ago, Homosassa said:

????

Are you talking about June 2022?

 

We were also on a seven day cruise, Vancouver to Seward that left June 24.  Weather were warm, sunny and clear. According to crew on board ship and locals in the ports, it had been the same weather pattern they had been experiencing for most of June.

 

Visibility at time was for miles (could see a snow topped mountain range 66 miles to our north in Juneau and down the pass from White Pass summit to Skagway port).

 

It definitely was not the Alaskan weather I packed for and expected.

I was on a Vancouver to Whittier that left June 22nd.  Weren't we lucky?  We were also told that it had been really nice but many of the crew commented on how lucky we were because it was rainy and cold for the entire week before us.  So, I suppose that's the weather rodiond got.  

1 hour ago, grammi said:

The requirement was added about June 18th on HAL. 

Oaktreeb was talking about a cruise first land tour.  I know on Princess that they only require a test for the land portion if it’s before the cruise and I think HAL is the same.  If the land is second there is no testing requirement.  I'm not sure about any other lines. 😀