mrmarklin

I loved the suite we had on Dolphin deck on Sky Princess. In fact my impressions were exact opposite of yours. 🙂

Did this trip last Thanksgiving week and had a suite at the stern of the ship with a wraparound balcony. You won’t regret it.

The Catch and Sabatini’s are both excellent.

Ate at the Catch last week of July. Food was excellent. Had Crepe Suzette. Not flamed tableside, but adequate. Did not notice any excess noise, and we were not by the window.

RCCL

I was o Celebrity’s website today. It’s worse.

We were recently in cabin d 121 on Sky Princess. It has a forward facing picture window which we loved. There was also a balcony on the side of the ship. Not large, but then on this class of ship only the aft balconies are decent IMHO. The cabin itself was a bit larger than the average suite, albeit with a slanted front wall. There were some rough seas on the cruise and my wife and grandson got seasick. No question there is more motion and slapping sounds in 3 meter waves. I would book again in a heartbeat. My wife said never again!

Last cruise on Sky last week, we were always offered one extra appetizer and one extra main course every dinner. On surf and turf night we were offered Lobster Thermidor, for example.

She went into the concierge lounge whenever she wanted to.

AFAIK there is none. Four years ago my ten yo granddaughter ran tame on Regal Princess. Our suite was just across the hall.

I’m on this cruise. There is a sign noting a half hour limit to chair hogs. I wouldn’t hesitate to remove a towel only under this rule. Likely, you’ll never be challenged. And if you are, assert the rule.

There must be some incident of ownership present for me to not just take over. When I go to the pool, I wear sandals and a bathrobe, for example, and leave these near the chair.

Never having to wait in line for meals is worth a lot to me. YMMV.

We are leaving for London the 23d of July. Still not ticketed. Return on August 12 is ticketed. I called Princess and they said not to worry. But I’ll call again soon.

Sounds like they were frozen. That’s just wrong.

US & UK. Two nations divided by a common language.

No waiting is worth a lot.

I think black is Elite. The medallion is black. Ask me how I know.;-)

Buckingham palace, London eye and Tower are heavily trafficked. Tickets are usually booked way in advance, and not always available. We have already booked ours for a month from now and not all time slots or days were available. Good Luck!

Depending on your timing, the hotels near the pier where the ship will be are in a good area of the City, and near Fisherman’s Wharf. It will be a very short cab ride to the pier. Staying near SFO airport, there is nothing to see or do. There are a couple of decent restaurants near the airport. Try Max’s or Kincaids. But you may need Uber depending on the exact Hotel.

On a good day Monterey is about two hours from SFO dock. Maybe Princess will offer excursions. The aquarium is worth seeing.

I would never order this. The egg is cooked as well.

Go to Muir Woods instead. Sausalito has not yet recovered from Covid. But the hotels are full for some reason.

We were on Discovery over Thanksgiving last fall. 3950 passengers and did not seem crowded to me. Of course, you will almost never enter an empty room, but always plenty of seating available. I did not use the pool area.

Mark Twain famously said, the coldest winter I ever spent was Summer in San Francisco. Our typical summer weather pattern on the west Coast of California is Fog in the morning, burning off to warm in the afternoon. Then cooler in the evenings and the Fog rolls in again. On a California cruise, I would definitely take a sweater or even a jacket. Remember, a ship traveling at over 20 knots creates a wind chill that even in relatively warm temperatures, will make one feel colder that it actually is.