SiliconCruiser

2 hours ago, voljeep said:

the one that came up when I searched for 'Princess Promotions' on the 'web'

Is that the one that tries to ask you to log in using your Princess account ID and password?  Looks very suspicious.

I've never been, since I was of the opinion that it was just a ruse to sell watered down cocktails.  But some of the offerings look inviting, especially those that aren't available in the MDRs.  Might be worth exploring ...

3 hours ago, EDDY0827 said:

Suite, Elite, Platinum and then C.C. followed by the rest of the passengers.

Or at least that is the pecking order that I have observed.

Generally it is ADA, Suite/Elite/Platinum, Club Class, and then the time slots.  Don't know how it will be in Galveston, but in San Francisco, the later arrivals tended to be stuck in lines outside of terminal for long periods of time, generally causing a late departure, since they have to transmit the manifest to the Coast Guard an hour before they set sail.

1 hour ago, CRUISER94044 said:

We are booked on the South America and Antarctica cruise on the Sapphire Princess Jan 4 2023. I was wondering whether the Sanctuary is booked at all during the days cruising through Antarctica.  Thanks for your thoughts

It's the middle of summer, but the weather may still not be that appealing.

On 11/16/2022 at 11:14 AM, Thrak said:

Too bad it's for "new bookings only". Our son is a CHP officer and is booked with his family and us for their first ever cruise in 2024. I hate how they run these promotions that block out people who are already booked for a future cruise.

The one case that I've seen showed a Chicago PD officer who was issued a medallion with a shield rather than a Princess logo.  There are some first responders (especially law enforcement) who would rather not have their occupations broadcasted while they're on vacation.

2 hours ago, Ombud said:

46 out of how many on board (pax + crew)? Just trying to figure out if it is higher or lower than the general California public. 

46 amongst passengers alone would be well below the state average, even if they only had 1800 passengers on board.

On 11/10/2022 at 4:42 PM, cruzysuzy said:

My previous cruise on the Regal in December of 2019 had great food and plenty of creme brulee.

 

We were probably on that cruise.  We did a b2b on the Regal in December of 2019.

On 11/7/2022 at 5:51 PM, Arizona Wildcat said:

Can I wear scrubs on formal night? 

Why not?

4 hours ago, Doug R. said:

Princess "in their in infinite wisdom" did not strip creme brulee from the menu. I had it several times during my recent cruise on the Enchanted.

But it was one of their 'regulars' in the everyday menu.

20 hours ago, MissP22 said:

My doctor (GP) dresses casually every day and he's doing just fine. 

I trust him to take my well being as his most important concern, not how he dresses to influence his patients.

40 years ago, when things were more "formal", I worked in one of the highly respected teaching hospitals in the country.  The M.D.'s that I worked with generally wore a shirt and tie (sometimes with a sports jacket) when they met with vendors or were teaching as Assistant Professors.  But when it came down to days (as they described it) when they were "playing doctor" they just wore scrubs (maybe a lab coat if it was cold; this was in San Francisco after all.)  Oddly enough, employees in lower/lowest pay grades were more likely to be seen walking around with lab coats.
Currently, I have never seen my doctor in a shirt & tie, only scrubs.  Though he does wear a lab coat on occasion.  Doesn't affect my confidence level one bit.  Especially after my stint working in a hospital where the highest paid surgeons wandered around wearing scrubs (and a cloth mask.)

2 hours ago, Sockie said:

I have to assume you live so near SF to have so many trips going thru SF

I have to figure out how to get to the port from Fremont.  No one likes to drive into the city.

Get a friend/relative to drive you, or you can take BART into the City then the F streetcar to Pier 27.  From the South Bay, we can take CalTrain, N Judah, F Streetcar.  But we usually get a friend to drive us and pick us up.

No more tuxedos and accompanying jewelry, not more cocktail dresses and jewelry.  Will most likely be considering less clothes and just using the on-board laundry (can't trust the free laundry.)  Am really considering a couple of 22" bags for a few b2b2b cruises.  The cost of a few laundry tokens may be worthwhile.  And we are even throwing around the idea of using public transit to get home after the cruise, with the lightened luggage load.  (We'll be able to get home in plenty of daylight ...)

22 minutes ago, SantaFeFan said:

 

Apparently they did hire some fresh marketing people, and the horrible The Real Love Boat mess was the result. 

The TV show fiasco had very little to do with the Princess marketing people other than grasping upon the opportunity to add it in as an attraction to some of the cruises.  If Princess wants to attract a younger demographic, they have to develop a different marketing image rather than riding on the tail of a TV show that ended before much of the younger demographic was even born.

On 10/27/2022 at 8:11 AM, Electricx said:

I am hoping someone can help me out!

 

For all of the Hawaiian ports, take a look at what Roberts Tours has to offer.  They are the largest tour operator in the islands and also contract with local municipalities for their local transit systems.  They also contract with Princess for many of their excursions.  Super nice people that embody the Aloha spirit.  They know what they're doing and usually will be running their own tours that match the Princess tours.  Don't buy that 'get you back to the ship on time ' line that Princess feeds you about them waiting for you. When Roberts offers an excursion directly, they will also only do it for one ship.  So if the Roberts bus is late getting back to the port, the Princess tour that Roberts is contracted for will also be delayed (maybe even later.)

We had an experience where they didn't have a 16 passenger mini-bus with a wheelchair lift (they said that Princess had taken it.)  When I told them that the chair would fit in a baggage compartment, they said they could arrange that.  The following morning, there was a 54 passenger bus for 16 passengers and a wheelchair!  ... the Aloha spirit at work.

Oh, we went through the entire Hawaiian cruise without booking a single excursion with Princess and were quite pleased with our experience with Roberts at all the ports. (except Oahu where we used DaBus.)

On 10/27/2022 at 1:22 PM, Thrak said:

 

Be aware that ordering 2 often ends up with 2 full dinner plates. I used to be able to just get an extra lobster tail but the last few times I tried they would only provide the entire plate full of food.

On our last outing, the waiter told us to order 2 lobster tails each.  It was brought out as a single order.  It was as I was finishing the second lobster tail that I noticed a slight tingling on my tongue and remembered that I wasn't supposed to eat too much shell fish ... Wellington and lobster next time.😄

On the other hand, on another cruise, I had the beef Wellington, and asked for a lobster tail a la carte, and the waiter refused to do it saying that I had to order the entire entree and he would only put in the order after I had finished the first entree.  I now know that I should have summoned a head waiter or just gotten up from the table to request a table away from that waiter.

.

On 10/27/2022 at 11:50 AM, Tedferg said:

Thanks for the list of prices. I was looking for Johnny Walker Red. So just curious, does this only show if you have a booking to order against?

$25.96 for a 375ml bottle of Red Label?!

I paid less than that for a 1.75L bottle at Costco the other day. 😁

Princess has been milking this Love Boat stuff for over 30 years after the show went into reruns.  If the company wants to attract a younger demographic, it might be time for them to hire some fresh marketing people.  Otherwise the nostalgia will only attract the boomers and maybe some Gen-Xers.

11 minutes ago, iamaqt2 said:

You're braver than me, and I live here LOL.  I haven't ridden Joe Metro (old school slang for the bus) in years.  And I rode the light rail once to go downtown for the Seahawks SuperBowl win parade.  I still  have PTSD from that ride.

Mike Holmgren and I went to jr. high and high school together.

1 hour ago, iamaqt2 said:

If you're wanting to stay in Seattle for a few days after the cruise and you don't want to spend a lot of time in traffic or commuting you don't want to stay near the airport.  It's at least a 30-40 min drive from Downtown Seattle.  On the other side of that coin, the light rail is cheap and reliable to get to downtown from the airport and the airport hotels are a 1/3 of the price.  It just eats up a lot of time getting back and forth and the light rail goes through some sketchier parts of town.

Thanks, we had planned on using public transportation.  I'm from the Bay Area and BART is sketchy on all of it's routes.We've even taken buses in Seattle.

19 hours ago, martincath said:

If you want to head straight to Seatac, cruiseline transfers are probably cheaper than QS and have no stops except at the border.  Hard to say since QS moved to a new pricing model, with extra fees for every suitcase but slightly reduced base fares, but for typical cruiser with a big bag or two it's more expensive than it used to be (which was US$59pp in TheBeforeTimes).

 

 

It wasn't so much the price, just too many horror stories of how unreliable some of the Princess transfers can be (they're all contracted with local companies.  And the other thought was that we might want to spend a few days in Seattle before going home.  Though most of the hotels near SeaTac have shuttles to/from the airport, it would offer more flexibility if the bus were to have other stops.

22 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Discussed at length in great detail in the ports section.

I gave up on the Vancouver page after 8 pages of posts going back to 2019, and not finding anything on the subject.

I'm looking for suggestions/recommendations for ground transportation options from Canada Place to SeaTac or that general area, other than Princess transfers.

1 hour ago, Longwood50 said:

You know yes and he could be on vacation or having a bad day.  What kind of response is it that you "think" he might not care about my concerns.  Maybe he would 

Okay, if you think he could care less, try jpadgett@princess.com, or padgett@HAGroup.com .

1 hour ago, Longwood50 said:

You know yes and he could be on vacation or having a bad day.  What kind of response is it that you "think" he might not care about my concerns.  Maybe he would 

Guest Services represents the face of Princess.  Think about it.