richsea

Looking forward to following along on your sailing! We’re on Emerald’s 11 night repo out of NYC in November. Our last Emerald sailing was in 2011.

I think they ruined the Retreat Pool on Sky & Enchanted. It feels too closed in with limited seating, but the Sky & Enchanted do offer the wake pool, & their Princess Live is head a shoulders better than the Regal version. 
i would bet that Royal & Regal will add balcony rooms to the Retreat area down the road. $$$

21 hours ago, Sprocket said:

 

Spells out pretty clearly if you want a specific location to book a cabin in that location.  

 

 

When booking on line, in most cases if you check that you want to choose a specific room, they still only offer a guaranty room. But even so, the room assigned should be in the area of the ship that you chose. I’ve found that if you book 3 in a room, there are many choices for specific rooms in all categories; very frustrating. I would bet that many get frustrated & just look at other lines. That’s what I’ve been doing.

23 hours ago, mamamusings said:

forgot to attach event list! Here it is. 
 

 

Wow, that is a pretty lame list, especially for a sea day. In all of our almost 50 cruises on multiple lines we’ve never seen an entire day with one trivia, & none in the morning. Would not be happy!

19 hours ago, Coral said:

It was something I requested on the app somewhere or on the web (can't remember). There was no problems with my original one but due to a medical reason - I needed a hand one. I believe anyone can request one. I had read that they do run out so I asked my room steward for it right away when I boarded.

 

It is fine except it must not be tightened all the way as water jets out the side towards the shower curtain. My room steward is currently ill so I don't know who my room steward currently is so I haven't dealt with it. I just make sure the shower curtain is closed all the way so it doesn't spray into the mirror.

Thanks so much for the response. BTW, I love the story of Patsy Ann!

Hi Coral, & thanks for taking us along on your journey!
A question if I may; earlier in your report you spoke of having the shower head changed to a hand held one. Is that something that can just be requested, or was there a problem with the original?

6 hours ago, ldtr said:

Of course the entire class of repeat cruisers they need is not all Elite or even Platinum. Princess is now running the oldest average age on the main stream lines (Hal, Celebrity, Princess, Royal, Carnival, NCL).  HAL and Celebrity have been successful in lowering their demographics, while Princess has gotten older. 30 to 35% elite and platinum might be a good mix 50 to 70% is a bit much

Interesting. Is there somewhere on the net to find those numbers? Thanks.

We’ve sailed both, & prefer Enchanted over Emerald. Enchanted has smaller balconies, but her standard balcony rooms do not a anywhere to sit other than a desk chair or the bed, while Enchanted also lacks a sofa, she does have a deluxe balcony with a loveseat. This may not be important to you but it is to us. Also, I prefer a hand held shower head which Emerald lacks. I haven’t sailed Emerald in some years, but other than the points I made, she is a nice ship. If these things don’t matter to you, then I would choose the 14 night sailing. 14 days over 10 is preferable

Another great trip report. Thanks for bringing us along!

We’ve cruised Celebrity over 25 sailings, but have pretty much switched to Princess the past 7 years or so, due mostly to Celebrity’s pricing. We find the lines more similar than different. One thing I would caution you about Princess are their standard balcony rooms, which do not have a couch or loveseat, leaving no place to sit other than a desk chair or the bed. I think Princess is the only mass market line without a couch. If this is important to you, try a deluxe balcony on one of the Royal Class ships, which do have a loveseat.

11 hours ago, VibeGuy said:

Boomers just like to vent.  A lot. 

Hey, I resemble that remark!

12 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

The OP and probably millions of others should attend the funeral service for Custo Mer Service. Custo passed away a few years ago and was replaced with a dozen Gen X trainees who lack training, authority and almost always common sense.

 

I think you forgot, “hey kids, get off of my lawn!”

Sorry, but I don’t see why you just didn’t get it adjusted on the ship. I’ve never spent more than a few minutes at guest relations, unless you go there on the last night of the sailing; then all bets are off. You wasted hours on the phone instead. I agree that they need a better response time, but it’s not like it was a huge charge, it was $50 & they said they’d fix it onboard.

3 hours ago, XLVIII said:

We’re on Enchanted right now (St Kitts). Most crew members are not wearing masks. 

As of 2 days ago, all crew have been wearing masks. Just returned from dinner; every crew member I saw was wearing a mask.

1 hour ago, lx200gps said:

Don't think it's changed. We tried ordering from the app for the first time on the Enchanted last month. Not only could we not figure out how to "customize" the order with specific brand requests, but there were some drinks that simply couldn't be ordered via the app as it didn't appear on the list of available drinks.

Thanks. That’s too bad. Aside from maybe ordering a beer or bloody Mary, I’ll just hail a server or visit a bar.

Don’t know if it has changed since our last medallion cruise in 2020, but I found that the main problem with ordering from the app was that you couldn’t order a specific brand, like Jack Daniels or Maker’s Mark.

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Good luck with that !

Short of living off grid, you are being tracked and profiled incessantly 24/7. 

The medallion is the least  of  your worries !

That’s kind of why I asked the question. There are so many ways one is tracked in today’s society that about the only thing you can do to stop it is maybe live a Monk’s life. But, each of us  have our own comfort level, & if taking certain precautions to feel  secure makes us more comfortable, we should by all means go for it.

9 hours ago, Expat Cruise said:

  Then medallallion does not need to contain a lot of information. It just needs to be able to ID you. It could be with a simple number code. But that simple number code gives much more information than just the number.

 

 They use the tracking system to log everything you do on the ship, anyplace you go, what you drink, how much you drink, the times that you do this, the places, track all your purchases, track how long you spend in different parts of the ship. And all this information builds profiles of you.   If you go to the med center, and get medications that will be tracked.  

 

And under the terms of use Princess Cruises is free to sell this information to anyone they want. Let's say for example  that because the stairs were wet you slipped and fell and had major medical issues.  They could use your pattern of drinking as a defence. 

 

No one can be a private person if they allow this tracking to happen.

Besides using your potential abuse of alcohol as a possible defense them having wet stairs, what are you against them finding out about you?  I’m really curious, not trying to be snarky. In today’s society, with cctv cameras & cell phones everywhere, if we’re afraid of being tracked, we have to never leave our house.

Starboard is best. While docked, you will see the Freedom Tower to your right from your balcony & sail by the Statue.

See you on board!

I checked out YouTube videos of balcony rooms, & their bathrooms are about as small as ours on our first cruise on Celebrity Meridian which was built in the 60s. Talk about tiny! And now I see I was wrong about Princess being the only line without a loveseat, but at least they do have a small chair. I was also surprised that Virgin balconies are as small as Princess Royal class. The hammock doesn’t entice me. Looking forward to hearing about the on board experience.

Have a great cruise(s)! Looking forward to your report. I suspect it will be like comparing apples & oranges.

In general, I don’t have a problem with new vs. old ships, except that we generally book balcony rooms, & the lack of a love seat, couch, or even the barrel chair in standard balcony rooms on older Princess ships means that we’ve stopped choosing Grand class Princess ships, & will only book deluxe balconies on Royal class ships. Having only the bed to sit on to dress, or watch TV is not my idea of comfort. It seems that Princess is the only main stream line without adequate seating in a standard balcony room.

1 hour ago, sonomaphil said:

I'll like to be the first to say we like Dine My Way and despise traditional dining.  Please take note of that Princess.  

That’s great. Everyone has their preferences. I think the author’s point is that there is no reason the app can’t accommodate both traditional & anytime dining. Princess has been doing it for years. 

Thanks so much for your perspective. It’s nice to hear pluses & minuses reported in a calm manner. 

9 hours ago, MissP22 said:

All these figures can vary greatly depending on the time of year you choose to sail. We've sailed Princess when it looked like a nursing home at times, while choosing a cruise in the peak summer time will give you a completely difference experience. 

Absolutely the time of year you cruise has a big effect on passenger age. We only cruise with the family in summer, & then only on family lines like Royal or NCL, but mostly fall & winter. As I said, in my experience, Princess passenger are a few years younger, not older, than those on X, & have always heard that HAL draws the oldest. I’m sure the actual numbers are out there somewhere, but really not worth the bother.

I’m hoping our upcoming Enchanted sailing is better than what’s being reported. We’ve enjoyed all of our Princess cruises. We’re going with an open mind & decide for ourselves.

Happy cruising!!