AtlantaCruiser72

@Daisi thanks for that info. I don’t travel until next fall so hopefully can use wireless earbuds if I prefer

Are the headset system Avalon use for their tours standard plug/wire type that hang around the neck or are they the integrated over the ear whisper devices that can be attached to a lanyard? if standard plug has anyone tried using a Bluetooth dongle to pair with wireless earbuds?

Like any major city you have to use precautions against pickpockets and scammers when in high density areas. Otherwise folks tend to mind their own business on public transit.

Rome has a large and thriving Jewish community. No need to hide anything there. The locals, especially in the tourist areas, are very friendly and welcoming of all. Edit to add: as a proud, openly Jewish, Queer American I felt perfectly comfortable & welcomed everywhere I visited on this trip - Rome, Santorini, Athens, Kusadasi (Ephesus), Mykonos, Katakolon (Olympia), Corsica, Toulon and Barcelona. With the exception of Corsica I would like to spend more time in all the ports we visited.

The key is finding the right bartender, sitting at the bar and befriending them. Just came off the Enchanted and drink quality varied widely based on who was behind the bar.

I was in Kusadasi less than a week ago and the locals could not have been more friendly and welcoming. Unless Türkiye becomes directly involved in either the Ukrainian or the Israeli conflicts I see no reason to pull stops from there any more than in Greece

A 3rd base hit, a foul ball, a home run and a strike out - this best sums up our last 3 dinners aboard. Day 8 MDR we had an excellent server and meal and met some lovely new friends by sharing a table in the Capri Dining room. Day 9 we went back to Amalfi as it was formal night and line for Capri and Santorini were too long. Servers were new to MDR and not working well together so service was a hot mess, but food was good. Day 10 was Sabatinis with excellent service from Stefan from Serbia. Princess have an unpolished gem in this young man. Day 11 was back to Amalfi. We were seated quickly but then waited 30+ minutes without having our orders taken. Waiters were too busy serving their “traditional” dining guests to give us any attention. This was only the second time I have ever walked out of a MDR in over 50 cruises. We had a sad depressing final meal in the buffet. Oh well they can’t all be winners. I’m going to leave this cruise and try and erase tonight’s dinner from the memory banks. Our day in Ajaccio was cold and rainy which made our walking tour less than enjoyable. As it was end of tourist season many shops were closed and the few that were still open seemed less than interested in earning our business. Other passengers agreed with me. Looks like a lovely island with a rich and convoluted history that I’d like to give another shot during a better time of year. Our final port was LaSeyne sur Mer. I chose a tour to Aix en Provence and Marseille. Both towns were charming and I’m glad that I saw the Basilica in Marseille but if I were to do it again I’d spend the full day in Aix. Far more picturesque and less hustle and bustle. Our time in marseille was rushed and so I didn’t get to explore as much as I would have liked. Overall this has been a fantastic cruise that went to several of my bucket list destinations and they did not disappoint. Were it not for a pesky think called work if stay aboard glady for the next 26 nights for the final Mediterranean cruise and the transatlantic. Overall scores (1 to 10): Itinerary 10+++++ ship decor, design and layout 9 ship upkeep 10+++++ staff friendliness and service 8.5 food 8.5 entertainment 7 overall 8.85

@DCThunder Kusadasi and Ephesus really have been the highlight of the trip for almost everyone I have come in contact with, myself included. The Turkish people are some of the most friendly and welcoming I have even been fortunate to meet. There was no sense of friction or unfriendliness whatsoever and I never felt the least unsafe. Kusadasi is a relatively affluent modern resort city on the far western coast of Turkey and very far removed from any of the fighting in Gaza (+/- 1100 miles)

Been a busy few days. Athens, Kusadasi (Ephesus), Mykonos, Katakalon (Olympia) and finally a much needed sea day. I am left humbled and in awe of the beauty of the history of the region. If I had to pick a highlight it would definitely be Ephesus. If you visit make sure you book a tour that includes the terrace houses. Stunning. That said each site we visited offered something new and unique and deepened my understanding of the region, its peoples and their cultural rise and fall. History came alive and I am forever changed. This itinerary is not well suited to those with mobility issues as few of the sites have facilities for guests with mobility issues and feature lots of uneven and irregular stairs/walkways with virtually no handrails. The tours have LOTS of walking and many of the guides move at a fast pace. We were lucky enough to dine at 360. As we are not in a suite it was a cover of $149pp and with every penny! Seven courses with complimenting cocktails and wine. Truly a magical experience and photos just do not do it justice. Ate at GiGi’s one evening and food was good. Service was a little lacking as our server was only 4th day on ship and still getting her footing (more on service later). Crown Grill exceeded my previous experiences and had a few more decent meals in MDR. Now for the big disappointment- O’Malleys. The food was actually very good but the service team was in meltdown mode while we were there. Plates of food coming out of kitchen and then going back in as servers were trying to deliver to wrong tables or had wrong items. Lack of training for new staff and inefficient management led to a very poor dining experience. So much so we walked out before dessert as the staff had virtually disappeared and left us abandoned. So now to the big issue - staffing. There are ample staff aboard and they really are trying to do their best. There has been a huge staff turnover during this cruise and it is apparent that many of the onboarding staff are new, like “new” new and they are receiving only the bare minimum of training before being sent to the wolves. They are trying their hardest and I find a little patience and a smile go a long way to getting a positive result. More to come

Max wait I have seen/experienced has been 5 minutes. We have dined between 715-730 each evening with reservations in different MDR/tables each night

Day 4 - Santorini. Both exceeded expectations and disappointed. Akrotiri is an amazing archaeological site and we had an excellent guide with a real passion for her work ripples history. Oia was a picturesque as one imagined and enjoyed strolling the town however prices were borderline extortionate. Fira was well, dumpy. Ended up walking down the donkey doo path of doom as they kept shutting down the cable car due to high winds dinner last night was the Catch by Rudi. Far exceeded expectations in every regard and would heartily encourage a visit. Started with the mussels Provençal which were heavenly and a massive portion. Really should be shared or served as a main. Main course was French turbot with a tepanade served over puréed parsnip and cauliflower. Perfection on a plate. Dessert was Chef Rudis signature soufflé which was light, fluffy and served over the most deliciously macerated strawberries. Service was outstanding spotlight bar was excellent n in main theater last night. Hands down best production show I’ve seen on Princess tonight’s dinner in MDR did not disappoint and the Mushroom arancini stater was a standout. Ordered the veal over the polenta that was supposed to accompany the shrimp/scallops rather than the mash it should have come with. The polenta was an excellent accompaniment to the veal which was perfectly cooked, though a Marsala should have mushroom in the sauce which this lacked. this continues to be an excellent sailing

This will not be a live report and I may not do much fact finding. Just want to give some random observations. First - the ship is stunning. Every single area sparkles and is decorated beautifully. The crew are justifiably proud of their ship and keep her spotless Second - food - very subjective. I would say the variety of items on offer has been equal to if not better than my previous Princess cruises. First night MDR dinner was exceptional. Second very good but may have just made choices that could have been better. Entrees both night’s excellent. Buffet breakfast good but nothing unique, but that is normal for Princess. Everything everywhere has been fresh and at expected temperatures. No evidence of cutbacks in quality or portion sizes. Zero complaints Third - service - the staff are friendly, responsive and up to princess standards of old. No waits for bar or food service even though ship seems to be 90-95% full Fourth - entertainment. Have not attended and shows in theater but tonight is first production show (Spotlight Bar). Lounge entertainment good and the trio (piano, bass, drums) in take 5 are excellent however they SHOULD be a quartet with a brass/woodwind player of some sort, but that’s just a quibble. in conclusion - after 2 days the cruise is off to an excellent start with no noticeable cut backs in staffing, food quality or quantity of entertainment.

The published itinerary by HAL from POLAR (travel agents res system) shows at sea on 11/3 and Split on 11/4. This should be the “official” itinerary barring a last minute port swap from mechanical or weather related issues.

https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/360-experience/

I believe it is only available on Enchanted and Discovery as it requires a purpose built venue that other ships do not have.

Royal Caribbean Group (Royal and Celebrity) are the only ones who routinely play shell games with fake sales/discounts on ancillary items such as Drinks packages, wifi, shore excursions, specialty dining etc. With Princess & HAL the price is the price, though excursions do increase in price as it gets closer to sailing by $10-20pp. Things like Drink packages, specialty dining and wifi all have a fixed price that is usually the same pre-cruise as onboard the vessel (or a fixed price increase onboard vs pre-cruise) With Princess and HAL the bundled fares (Princess Plus/Premiere and HAL's Have it All) are a set price on top of their standard early booking fares or can be added on post-booking to most discounted/private sale fares for the same differential ($60/$80 for Princess Plus/ Premiere and $50, soon to be $55, for HAL Have it all)

Change of ship and/or sailing date requires a new booking # so is a cancel & rebook. As above deposit may or may not be able to be transferred and may be subject to penalty. Changes to cabin grade, fare code, promotions, room #, etc may or may not result in a new booking # depending on the change you are making. either way you must call, no way around it.

No empirical proof, but know several people who have managed outsourced, offshore call centers and this fits their description. Staff are given minimal training on the products they are supporting with the biggest focus on the operating systems they are using. Everything else relies on use of Knowledge base articles. I do know the one Princess “agents” use is the same search engine knowledge base available to travel agents in POLAR. They may be on a dedicated Princess team but depth of product knowledge is lacking, which is plainly obvious by all the misinformation they give out.

The problem here is most of the “Princess” service agents are not employees of Princess or even Carnival Corp. They are mostly employees of a 3rd party off-shore call center farm. They could easy answer the next call “Thank you for calling Kroger” or “Thank you for calling Tesco” as they are to answer the call for Princess. They are reading from a script, have ZERO knowledge of the brands they support beyond the script and an online search engine based “knowledge” databank to go to for anything not on the script.

Much as I had speculated above - thanks for the update!

I sailed Caribbean in December 2022. The only real signs of age I noticed were numerous public washrooms had non-functioning sinks for the entire voyage with the ubiquitous "We're working on it" signs on them. Overall I found her much the same as in the past, but with some furnishings and fabric updates here and there. The lack of proper air circulation leading to hot and cold zones in public area, intermittent cabin ac and plumbing issues etc have been there since I said her when first launched. These issues exist on other Grand Class vessels, but I always have found Caribbean Princess more apt to them in general. I think it is amore a systems design/build issue than age related

I wonder if this is a seasonal re-purpose, possibly for West coast sailings with Casino tournaments? I know HAL did something similar on Konigsdam a while back on sailings from San Diego that they had a series of casino tournament cruises and re-purposed the Ocean Bar with additional slots, once tournaments were over it went back to original function as a lounge.

The lotus pool is not barrier free nor does it have an ADA compliant chair lift for pool or hot tubs. Access from the Lotus Spa area requires going up 3-4 steps to get to the deck surrounding the pool, then up several more steps to get to the pool itself, then down several steps into the pool. The floor of the pool is NOT level and can be difficult to stand on as the side area slope In significantly towards the center That said this is probably my favorite pool area on Grand Class ships

$700 to move from inside to a mini is an absolute STEAL! Congrats on the upgrade!

it’s confusing and less than transparent. The $50pp/day ONLY applies when comparing the ‘Advantage’ fare to the ‘Have it all’ fare. Any discounted fare BELOW the Advantage fare (standard early booking no-perk refundable deposit) will distort the difference. Most, but not all, discounted/private sale/casino fares can have Have it all added as a post booking add-on in the cruise planner or by calling reservations. There is a specific code the reservations team can use to do this. Adding Have it all CAN AND will affect travel protection premiums. Beware some reservations agents will try and re-fare rather than ADD the proper code if you call in. The current Early booking bonus version with elite bev, upgraded WiFi and gratuities is NOT able to be added, only the standard version. As always a GOOD AND KNOWLEDGEABLE TA knows how to navigate this. Not all TA are good or knowledgeable