Qcruise

I and many people we know would rather smell a cigar/pipe than a cigarette......the smell is stale and nasty.  

I can tell you that yes,  you are allowed to smoke cigarettes in the smoking lounge which irritates us cigar folks no end.  WE ARE NOT ALLOWED up on deck with cigarette folks BUT THEY ARE ALLOWED in the ONLY place they put us.  It makes for an overly CROWDED space.  They should allow cigars up on open decks.......had to vent.

Thermal suite is a place with steam saunas (eucaliptus and regular) both coed,  multiple showers to rinse off,  and about five stone tiled warm lounge beds to lie on and relax.  We enjoy it sometimes.....but be aware it is dark in there......no windows.....but quiet soft music .......low lights.

Bottom line is ......is Shooters bar a smoking lounge.....?    Do they have one on the Star....?   I enjoy a cigar now and then cruising and would like to know where that might happen.....thanks

2 minutes ago, nukesubsailor said:

My choice would be C-101 just so I could get a good view of the Battleship Iowa as we headed down the channel to the sea on the day of embarkation.  Other than that, I think either cabin would be ok as you will have a view one way going south and the opposite way when heading north.

Remember the Royal is backing out of port (it's too long to turn) as you leave......starboard side C101 will not see the Iowa but C102 will.......it has to back out and turn around in open water......it was weird.

I forgot.....Cabo is tender port you'll be out in the bay and ship turns so your view will vary.  In Mazatlan the ship backs into port so Starboard will be dockside and in PV she backs into port as well so starboard is dockside there to.  Do you want to look at sea (Mazatlan) and Stone island or port shipping containers......in PV port side will look at other ships next to you starboard at the land.

The only thing is do you want morning sun on way down or back up......?   We had port side so morning sun going down and afternoon sun coming back.  It worked out well that way as it gets colder coming back especially on last day at sea.....it was so cold and windy up on deck we could not go up.  Our friends had L107 up front Lido and had lots of wind such that they could not be out on balcony lots of the time.  Up/down movement is great up there as well......be aware.

We were on board with you.....thought the Royal handled the rough seas on Friday very well but up on deck was out of the question for us.  Loved all the entertainment options.

1 hour ago, cruzrbachoua said:

qcruise...did you happen to see what time the gym actually opened?  The patters I saw said 8-10 but that is usually the treadmills....however it looks like no cabins are below the gym so hoping for an earlier start time.  On our last ship there was a sign posted at the door and it actually opened at like 6 or so...

I'm sorry but we only walked through the gym a few times......did our walking up on track on 18 and stairs.  I have to say if they did get the beds ours was nothing like our bed on the Ruby in February......so I know what they are like.

We were excited to try this new class of ship on the West coast.  Embarkation got confusing when some people received emails about late boarding time due to a drill.....we arrived at 11am and were aboard at 12:15pm.   The ship is much more stable in high seas we noticed on our way Northbound we know how the grand class rides and this ship is much more stable we liked that.  The buffet is the best we have found at sea to date.  Very impressed with this.  Medalian worked only partially and we found it to be more of an annoyance than a help.  Coffee in the buffet is brewed and as good as IC......enjoyed that.  We did have the beverage package worked well never had an issue getting drinks,  doubles and any premium liquor we wanted.  No new beds on this ship yet......my back was a mess until we got home......disappointed about that.  All service was excellent made many friends with servers in Wheelhouse....Nam, Anthony, Richard,  and napkin guy were great fun.  Ask away specific questions.......

Here's a quick traffic alert for anyone that might live locally ......the Long Beach Grand Prix is next weekend so when we get off the ship do not go East over the bridge into Long Beach......BAD IDEA......head North up the 110 to the 405 or you'll find yourself in horrible traffic,  crowds and closed streets.  I drove down there today for lunch at shoreline and it is already nasty.  We will go up the 405 to the 110 South in the morning to get to port.  Just an FYI........

The tender lets you off in the marina,  and lands end is a quick water taxi ride to it and lovers beach.  However Medano beach is East of marina and a water taxi is the fastest way to get there,  walking would take you half hour to forty minutes.  You can arrange for the taxi to come pick you up a a specific time.  From where your ship is anchored you can see both arches and medano beach.  Have fun.

It would stick out into the channel if in 92.......too long

3 minutes ago, 4cats4me said:

 

Neither did we, but if you log onto Princess.com and comb through the info for your sailing, it is there, but it was not straightforward.  I had to go into our booking, then search through many items before locating the embarkation info, scrolled to the bottom and there it was.  Wouldn’t you think they would put a notification in bold or red writing once accessing the booking to make it more apparent? 

Absolutely......I would hope that if this were true they would send us a specific email regarding it or at least put it on our booking in the website.  That being the case we're going through with our normal plan.  Being that we are at the small "tent" due to the size of the Royal ( it is the only ship in port Sat. morn ) it will be a nightmare housing us all for hours if delayed.

I've not received that email regarding boarding times.....only the usual one for pre-cruise information but nothing about boarding time delayed.  We're going to show up at our usual time of 11am and hope for the best.

We enjoyed our lido cabin the one time we had one.  You're right there at the pool,  easy to get to buffet.  We would do it again.

The very first cruise we ever did was a spring break on the Diamond Princess with our then ten year old twin boys.  There were 800 children on board that ship,  but when you own some of them it doesn't matter so much.  I can tell you everyone had a ball.  We took gramma and she stayed in their cabin across the hall,  we had a balcony.  The boys had a ball,  made friends,  they could come and go from the kids club,  we gave them walkie talkies to keep in touch with us.  They had the run of the ship.....within reason.  While Princess might not have the ice scating,  water parks,  gocart racing,  rock climbing walls that other lines have our boys did not know what they didn't have at that time and loved it.   Now we enjoy sailing with no kids until grandchildren come.  I'm sure this will be the start of wonderful family vacations to come.

Easy enough to pay for a water taxi to take you all over to lands end arch and lovers beach......not expensive and would only take maybe 1.5 hours total.....marina area is nice to walk around.

Honestly one never knows......we've been in Mazatlan and PV in November a few years back and they were having a heat wave with temps in ninties with very high humidity.......but not the norm.

thank you so much.......:)

May I ask what apps we need to load for the medalian....?

We'll be aboard with you.....group of 3 couples just for fun trying out the Royal class we've never done.  We are hopeful all of the "bugs" are worked out by next week.  Also hoping there are not too many children on board overrunning the pools and hot tubs.....we did that on our very first cruise with our then ten year old twin boys,  there were 800 children on board the Diamond.  One does not mind when your family is part of the "spring break" crowd,  but based on pricing we thought this sailing was not part of that.....we know in our area "spring break" is Easter.

Cabo is American pricing so don't expect any great deals......food and beverage will cost what you'd pay in any tourist beach town.  Your best "old Mexico" town IMO would be Mazatlan.......easy walk (blue line) into town square by the cathedral great food and drink......four beers chips and quac might run around twenty bucks.....enjoy

I can tell you when we were in Cabo in August as soon as we got onto the tender you'd begin to sweat ....humidity was unbearable with the temps......we got to the Finistera hotel and just sat in the pools drinking margaritas until we had to leave for the ship.  We have not gone that time of year since.  Good luck.

Unfortunatly your time may vary......when we were aboard the Ruby last month it was 7:30pm and the shows were like 7 and 10pm which worked well for either.  Late dining should be around 7:30pm.