catgirl411

Exactly the feeling we felt. Sometimes it happens with large family reunions too. On a recent Christmas and New Year’s cruise a multigenerational family of 26 ( who were very nice) took over the piano bar (Crooners) every night, making it difficult to get a seat and driving the music selection. It is difficult for large groups to see that there are other passengers on board.

Totally agree…wish there was a way to know ahead of time. Just got off Regal Princess British Isles. There were 312 Red Hat Society ladies on board…they were everywhere. Always dressed in their red hats and purple outfits. I think the worst thing is that you feel like you are attending someone else’s party. Years ago, we had a similar experience with the Philadelphia Phillies fan club. In that case HAL closed off several venues at certain times for their exclusive use.

Hi all, we are booked on a October Canaries and Portugal cruise on Apex. While we are experienced S Class cruisers, this will be our first E Class cruise. I’m staring to organize dinner reservations and am looking for advice on choosing the MDRs. Is it best to try all 4? Do you have favourites? If so, why? Your advice will be most appreciated. TIA

Just got home from the May 5th sailing of this cruise. It was great and we lucked into wonderful weather. Enjoy your cruise. One experience you won’t have is the 312 Red Hat Society ladies who were on board our cruise…they were everywhere. interestingly we had a passenger emergency not long after leaving Southhampton. They were going to transport by helicopter but it was too windy so they sent a Coast Guard boat. Apparently the passenger had a heart attack.

We are currently on Regal in the British Isles in M107. The cabin is great and the balcony is amazing. It is only day 2 but I can imagine it will be wonderful when in port. The room configuration is wonderful basically L shaped and there is a huge picture window which provides a view from the bed. So far we couldn’t be happier with it.

Currently on Regal Princess and they are back here as well. Not in big numbers and not aggressive but still around. It’s formal night tonight so we will see if they are roaming the dining room.

Well we are two people in their late 60s, one with a hip that had been unsuccessfully replaced and one who was waiting for knee replacement at the time. We try to avoid anything crazy involving walking and carrying. We travel with two large suitcases and a carryon each. We truly didn’t find the SkyTrsin to be any harder than walking through airports dragging suitcases. It was just fine and usually isn’t crowded. You just keep the luggage beside you on the train. It is an LRT for commuting not a train as such.

Do it. The SkyTrain works very well.

Have you ever done the Sky Trsin from the airport to the port? It’s fast, cheap and easy and avoids the downtown traffic.

One our favourite cruise experiences was the day we spent in Glacier Bay. We were on Royal Princess in an aft facing suite and we had breakfast served to us out on the very large balcony. It was magical!

A word on Scenic dress code. A number of years ago, we did the 14 day Amsterdam to Budapest route. It was a wonderful trip. There were almost 100 Aussies on board, about 20 Canadians, 6 Americans and a scattered number of others. The Aussies were so much fun, such lovely people. We got to know one couple quite well. He was a retired senior civil servant . When it came to dress though he came to dinner barefoot almost every night and he wasn’t the only one. For those of us from North America , “no shirt, no shoes, no service” is ingrained in us so it was very strange to see.

We did it on Princess over Christmas and New Year’s December 2022. It was awesome!

Ok that helps clarify. It isn’t the walking around with a drink that you object to…it’s how the drink was paid for. I guess I’ve gotten used to drink packages where it doesn’t matter when/where you acquire the drink,

I still don’t understand the problem with someone ordering a glass of wine just before getting up from dinner and walking away with it. One of the cool things imho about being on a ship is the freedom to walk around with a drink if I want to…something I sure can’t do on land. What if I want to stand out on the deck after dinner and watch the ocean with a glass of wine in hand? Who am I hurting?

Wow, I’m not really understanding the problem with this? Sometimes you haven’t finished your drink when it is time to go to the show. It doesn’t mean the drink came from your own stock. It could have been from dinner or from one of the bars. It’s not unusual to see this on other cruise lines (Princess, Celebrity for example).

Completely agree with this philosophy. In the old days, before packages, I used to dread the bill slipped under the door on the last day with all of the charges. It was depressing to be reminded of another $1500 or so of charges at the end of a lovely vacation.

Loved Japanese toilets especially the heated seats! I was in a public washroom at a museum in Tokyo where in addition to the “standard” features, it also played music to cover the sounds!

So excited to follow another of your wonderful Lives! I was thinking of you the other day when I received my new DB backpack…purchased on your recommendation. I got it on an excellent sale. Can’t wait to try it out on our May British Isles cruise.

Completely disagree with OP. We did the land tour to Denali and Mt McKinley Lodge. Loved everything about it. The train was wonderful. Yes, the accommodation isn’t luxury but it was good and we had a couple of lovely meals. Also love the Captain Cook in Anchorage…great hotel with wonderful dining.

Thanks! Good to know about the rooms…after some debate we decided that they would book two Oceanview cabins and our adult stepdaughter booked an interior. DH and I have a balcony. They are doing 7 days and we are doing B2B so that we can enjoy whatever doesn’t work for them in our second week.

So thankful that you have provided this very balanced view of your experience on Sun Princess. We recently booked for a Caribbean cruise next February. We are experienced cruisers but this is the first cruise for some of our family group which includes our 13 year old granddaughter and 15 year old grandson. Have you seen many teenagers onboard and are they allowed in Princess Live for trivia etc? The other thing they will love is Umai for teppanaki. I can’t recall if you tried that.

I love this philosophy. We’ve booked our first ever family cruise for next February and I am really going to try to relax and let everyone enjoy it in their own way. And as an additional way of coping, we will be doing it B2B while the others are only doing the first 7 days. That should allow us to do anything we missed in the second week.

A few years ago we were in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur in July. It felt hotter than the surface of the sun (lol). I don’t think I’ve ever been so hot, even in summer in the Caribbean. Loved that trip, hated the heat and humidity. We were originally scheduled to do a Viet Nam, Thailand, Singapore ocean cruise in February 2021 but it was cancelled and we never got around to rescheduling for a variety of reasons. Looking forward to travelling along with you!

Really enjoying your posts. This is a bucket list trip for me so I will be following along. How do you find the heat?