suekel

5 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

Their answer was 3,300 +/-

Ugh.  I've been so spoiled by half empty ships. 

I believe in Hawaii last month, the tenders were shut down from 1-5 am.  I think.

2 hours ago, jeromep said:

I respect your opinion, but food is subjective.  On every cruise I've been on, food, or rather its appearance and taste, has varied from day to day and venue to venue.  I've been on cruises where the buffet was atrocious at almost every meal, but the MDR was almost always stellar.  I've been on cruises where the MDR was good some nights and terrible on others, and the buffet was the same, good some nights, terrible on others.  I've even been on cruises where the only really great food on board was from the pizzeria and grill on the Lido, and everything else was just edible matter.  It has never caused me to write off a cruise line entirely.  I chalk up these experiences to travel in general.  I've been on non-cruise vacations where I couldn't find decent food anyplace, not the airport (usually never the airport), not high end restaurants at the destination, not low end places at the destination.  And then the opposite is true of other vacations.  One of the best pasta dishes I've ever had was in coach on an Alaska Airlines flight.  It was piping hot, the pasta was cooked just right and the sauce was savory and excellent.  It only cost $6.  And it was served in a black plastic bowl with a foil lid.  I've not been able to replicate it in my own kitchen.

 

Frankly, the things you said that you loved, are probably the biggest reasons that we cruise and mostly with Princess.  The ships are great, the staff is great, the medallion is great, and their embarkation and disembarkation process is stellar and quite sane.  Any one of those items not being up to par would make me more likely to not cruise a line than the food, or a couple not so wonderful meals on a cruise.

 

I've always seen cruise food as being the worlds largest catering event.  I've had lots of catered food in my life; weddings, a few parties, a number of business conferences and trade shows, and the common thread is that the food is ok, but never stellar.  I see the food on board a cruise much the same way as food at a conference or trade show.  You have kitchens that are feeding 3000-6000 people every day, so the menu has to be somewhat limited, and you have to put up a lot of the same thing over and over that day.  When you are doing steak for 3000, there are going to be a lot of gaps in its preparation, quality issues related to hot hold and cold hold of prepared items which can't be easily resolved, that a regular restaurant doesn't necessarily deal with when you are preparing steak one at a time for each order.  I've done the kitchen tour on Princess and the on board kitchens are both spotless, but also totally different from the kitchen at your local Applebee's.  The quantity of food they are slinging each day, combined with the scale in which they have to prepare it does impact what comes out of the kitchen.

 

We shouldn't pay mid-high market prices for bad food on a premium cruise, but there are limitations in how cruise food is prepared which some executive chefs can get past, and some do not.

 

Just my errant thoughts.  Happy cruising.

I totally agree.  The best fish that I have ever had was in a shack on the beach in Boca De Tomatlan (south of PV).  It was about $3.00

17 hours ago, iamaqt2 said:

Woke up to sunny skies after a rainy night.  Headed over to the Happy Diner for breakfast for a real locals experience.  Had the ILWU (Longshoreman Warehouse Union workers) breakfast special.  Way too much food but I just had to go for it.

 

 

 

Shuttled over to port at 9:30. Checked in at 10. Waited in Platinum seating area and onboard just around 11.  Very smooth. Popped up to the Sanctuary to make chair and cabana reservations.

Dropped smaller bags in room then off to muster.  Had lunch at Gigi's which was absolutely fantastic.  The Agnolotti (lamb ravioli) is out of this world good.

 

 

 

 

After lunch headed back to room as it was ready, and founs this great photo album waiting for us, as well as the daily planner.

 

 

 

 

 

Chilled out on our huge balcony for a bit, and bags arrived at 2:45. Unpacked and bags stowed by 3:15.

 

Headed out to Lido for sailaway as it just gets me in a great mood for the cruise no matter how many times I've seen it.  And love the Love Boat theme playing on the ships horn.  

 

 

Decided to check out the Platinum, Elite,  Suite lounge this sailing, as I hit Platinum 2 cruises ago and have yet to attend.  Having heard that not many go I was shocked that close to 100 people must have shown up.  It is from 4:30 - 6:30 in the Vista Lounge.  The snacks were good and there was a pianist.

 

 

 

We had a 6:00 dinner reservation in Skagway so didn't eat much and headed off to Good Spirits to grab a drink before heading to dinner.

The starboard side of Skagway was for Club Class and port side had 2 lines, one for those with reservations and one for those without.  Neither line was very long just before 6, but was insanely long when we left at 7:45.  I had checked the menu on the app ahead of time to figure out what I wanted, and this is where Princess let me down.  2 items I had preselected to eat were described differently in the app vs. the actual menu.  I was really looking forward to the app version of the Marinated Goat Cheese Antipasto as the app describes it as coming with spinach and beets.  And the Salmon was described in the app as having a red wine reduction with Mashed potatoes and collard greens and leeks.  I just asked for no rice and sub Mashed potatoes, but they were just bland.

We also had the Garlic Prawns, and while mine were cooked perfectly, there wasn't even a hint of garlic, and my husband said his prawns were shrimp cocktail cold.  It wasn't a terrible dish, just not what was advertised. My salmon and the pork tenderloin that my husband ordered were cooked perfectly though. The best thing that landed on the table was the Pina Colada soup.  We joked about ordering it again for dessert, but got the souffle and Creme Brulee instead.  Service was disjointed at times, with new dishes being delivered before replacement silver, and then the new silver was just plunked on the edge of the table. Definitely not something I've experienced before and our server didn't seem new, just very disorganized. And we only saw our assistant waiter twice.  Once to order wine and once to ask for coffee. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had planned to try and make it to the 9:30 comedy show but decided to call it an early night.

If this post loads, the internet is working great. 

I'm on her a week from Saturday.  So happy they haven't changed the menu yet.  On the Regal later in the month and they have so I better load up on Onion Soup and Fettucine!

Depending on where you are sailing, I prefer the new Royal Class over the older ones.  Mainly because if it's warm, I want more than one pool.  (2 if you count the Retreat).  There are some Premium Deluxe Balconies on Dolphin that have bigger balconies, but I prefer a front facing Mini.  They say that they are not usable at sea but I rarely find that to be the case.  

I've been on front facing cabins a couple of times and only rarely were we unable to use the balcony.  

I'm sailing on the Discovery in 11 days and the Regal in 28.  I'm so disappointed in the new menus, losing the items that are available every night.  There is something that looks good everynight but I hate losing choices.  I'm sure I'll still gain a couple pounds.  Are the burgers and hot dogs still good up on Lido?  

Going back to the original post.  The chicken soup is terrible.  Mine had a small handful of ramen noodles and a few carrots.  Never again.  But I do like the chicken salad and chicken club.  

I love the front facing cabins.  There have been very few days that we haven't been able to use the balcony.  Even in the middle of the ocean on a cool day sailing to Hawaii.  Sitting behind the balcony wall gives good wind protection. I have booked one for Alaska next year since I think being forward facing when scenic cruising the glaciers will be glorious.  That being said, I also love the Vista Suites.  

5 minutes ago, Treasure Hunter said:

Does anyone know if we can upgrade once the bidding process starts. Or are we denied that chance too?

Yes.  I've done 2 fully comped casino cruises since October and have one in 2 weeks.  I upgraded all of them. 

5 hours ago, cruiser113 said:

This  happened to  me as  well.  We  were  on regal princess and my  bid  for  Sky  princess that  we  were getting  on as  soon  as  we  finished  on  Regal was  accepted  4  days  prior  to  sailing.

 

I  went  to  cruise  vacation  planner on Regal and  she  was  able  to  help  me  make  our  payment. Payment completed and we  sailed  without a hitch.

I went to the future cruise people and she said she could email the casino but that was all she could do.  She did follow up with us to make sure we got it handled but that's it.  Glad yours worked out.  

I've seen pictures of the menus for the CB and Sky, the always available is gone.  Is this on all ships? This is terrible if true.  

I just got off a cruise to Hawaii.  While I was onboard, I received notice that my bid upgrade on a cruise in early January was accepted.  Be warned that there is no way to pay for this while onboard and there was no option to pay on my personalizer since the cruise was booked through the casino.  If we hadn't stopped in Ensenada so I could call, I would have lost my new cabin.  If you cruise a lot and book casino comped cruises, this could be an issue.  

I love them.  Booked M106 for a cruise to Hawaii leaving Sunday.  We're going to have dinner out there on the night we overnight in Honolulu...Motion hasn't been an issue and the balcony is awesome.  

My TA is able to get me the discount.  They should have the code.  

If the discovery is like the enchanted, the cabins at the very back of Dolphin have larger balconies.  

If your balcony is big enough, many are not

14 minutes ago, SOLIVITA LADY said:

Im traveling on December 10 on Regal Princess and having a problem accessing my Boarding Pass on the Medallion app. Also cannot access an arrival time. Everything shows correctly and we are checked for the green lane. Arrival time shows up saying it will be available closer to cruise. 
Help!

They just did an upgrade to the app.  Try that first.  If that doesn't work, log out and then log back in.  

Neither my son or I got one after our cruise in October.  We checked our spam folders.  

For me it's not worth it.  I get a variety of vodkas and my husband gets his crown royal.  There might be 2 or 3 times, I upgrade my wine but the plus wine is fine.  If I want specialty dining, I just book it ahead of time.  If you drink middle of the road liquor, You'll be fine on the plus.  

1 hour ago, candy4040 said:

My phone number for casino has changed.  Does anyone have the current number?

 

I call 661-284-4414

I did this a few years ago in January.  Day 2 out of SF was nice.  On the way back, it was so warm and sunny that I sat in the sun the day before SF.  Seas were calm the entire time and the whole cruise was lovely.  Though, your mileage may vary.  

12 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

I have shared my own experience with masking elsewhere and sometimes been cancelled for it.

 

Briefly, since March 2020, I've only worn a mask when mandated.  I've been on five cruises since the restart with various levels of masking, almost double that number of flights mostly without masking, on trains mostly without masking, in taxis mostly without masking, in restaurants without masking, and in grocery stores without masking. As mandates dropped, so did my mask.

 

I am vaxxed and triple boosted.  Since March 2020, I haven't had so much as a sniffle or sore throat.

 

My sort of personal experience doesn't make headlines.

 

 

Me too.  5 cruises since january and  no covid.  I have to fly for every one.  Hopefully in 2 weeks is the same. 

It was great.  

It's a very long day and most likely very hot day.  Take some money as the lunch won't keep you from being hungry towards the end.  They also sell soda and beer.

The start of the excursion is further from the ship than the description describes.  Pee before you go.  There is a bathroom on the boat.  

When we did this, it took approximately 10 hours.  Our bus broke down on the way back to the ship.  Good thing they have room service! 

9 hours ago, marmac761 said:

Captain announced yesterday 46 passengers had tested positive for Covid.  I noticed a lot of passengers coughing the last few days.  Wondering how many have it but have not been tested yet.  We are due back to LA Thursday. 
If you are boarding on November 17th, might bring masks for extra protection!

I'd say only 46 passengers is a win

13 hours ago, Hammoandnads said:

Been checking out the sports 24 channel and only NHL is set for late November early December.. so no NFL or FIFA World Cup. Budget cuts or will we be pleasantly surprised on board?

They had the games on Thursday, Sunday and Monday a few weeks ago on the Enchanted.  I was pleasantly surprised by the Thursday.  I was disappointed they didn't have the World Series.  So, I streamed it on my phone, put it on the bar in the casino and drew a small crowd.