PescadoAmarillo

Since you’re already staying up late, take one for the team and keep notes to come back and share. I suggest this notebook.

Man, y’all are on a different Princess ship than I am. Or else I’m going to sleep before the party really gets started.

Our TA got us 5 days just using Polar Online. No call necessary for this cruise (in December). Sometimes it’s not just a matter of making a decision, it’s waiting for a credit card cut off date to push paying off the cruise out another month.

I agree, the normal hold is 3 days, but TAs can sometimes extend for a couple more days. That’s what happened with our booking.

DH was on several B2B cruises last winter when I (at home) started getting emails regarding his dining reservation being changed for that night. And I received them night after night. But he had been on the ship and had the same table and time for several cruises by the time this started. I finally pestered him enough to ask a Restaurant Manager about them. He was clueless, had no idea emails were sent out like that. It changed nothing for him on board. We also always (!) receive an email that our medallion order has been cancelled at our request. And then it arrives as planned a week or two later. Even when something is working as it’s supposed to, Princess IT manages to screw it up.

I’m sure Galveston Express provides a variety of service levels, depending on the weekend and traffic but DH used them at least five times last year and never had an issue. In fact, one time, he extended his stay on the ship, and I phoned GE a day in advance of his transfer and they allowed me to just move it to a later date, which they didn’t have to do. Hw also used the Princess transfer one time (to Hobby) and said never again. Apparently there was a lot of confusion about which airport the passengers needed, although they had been directed to the bus based on a Princess sticker. ETA: I know there was a dust up on Facebook last year where a GE competitor was dissing them online and on reviews, and they were outed on at least one forum, but again, I’m sure some of the bad reviews you read were well deserved.

TA’s can still book options, at least on some cruises. We just today had a hold placed on a cruise booking that won’t expire until October 8 (5 days).

The Girl Scout cookies might last slightly longer than the 360 experience. Might.

I’m sure they are! This was day 6 of a 7 night cruise on the Sapphire.

If you ever see cauliflower steak with quinoa on the menu, definitely give it a try, vegan or not. It’s one of the best things I’ve eaten on Princess.

I would love that too, but, you’re right, it will never happen, at least not on Princess. Eating vegan, if you stay away from processed vegan foods which are expensive and instead stick with whole foods, is significantly less expensive than eating meat and dairy. I don’t believe the new vegan menu will raise food costs at all and will likely lower them. Organic foods, of course, are a totally different story, particularly for meats.

I wish you luck.

Contact Galveston Express and see if they’ll reserve an entire van for you. Is Galveston a port where ride shares can’t get close to the terminal for pick ups or drop offs? I don’t know the answer to that, but I thought I recalled hearing that there was an issue about having to walk to/from a more distant pick up or drop off point.

Do you have Cancel For Any Reason insurance? Or are you trying to secure a financial gain?

Simply stated…YAY!! Thanks for sharing this information. Seven different menus with multiple choices on each menu is incredible.

I thought I remembered it was ten alcohol (the eight you stated plus two beers) and ten non-alcohol. Should have read to the end first. Yes, I’ve not read elsewhere about cutbacks.

When we were on the Norwegian Spirit (not sure about their other ships) they had exactly this setup for exactly this reason. It was a port intensive Mediterranean itinerary (11 in 12 nights, I think) and a lot of people just wanted to go from sightseeing directly to dinner. The casual restaurant featured the same menus as the dining room.

I’ve done that also, and then had the reservations for several individual nights changed to a shared table, even though a private table is still available. And then I’ve had to make the change back for each of those many nights. It’s a gem, DMW is.

I wanted quite desperately to be on that cruise, and on the Antarctica cruises that follow it, and even more so after having been on the ship for 14 nights in July-August. It’s a wonderful ship. DH and I did lose weight, but only because we had the Plus package and we were so full of drinks that we didn’t eat any breads and had only a couple of desserts. Because of a family issue, I had to cancel the Sapphire cruises I had booked for this fall and winter at final payment, and now can’t get a cabin in a location that appeals, so I won’t be joining you. But I sure wish I was. I love the Sapphire. You’ll have a wonderful time.

Sydney, Australia .

OMG no! I almost choked on my lunch reading your post. If Princess ditches pre-Royal class ships heck, even if they hold onto the Ruby and Emerald- they are going to lose an entire segment of their customer base who don’t believe bigger and newer is better. As for crew quality on newer ships vs. older ships, there never was and will never be a better crew than those who worked on the Pacific Princess during its final years with Princess. And that was a 20+ year old ship. When the Royal first came out, we heard time and again from many crew members that they hated working on that class of ship because the the work was harder and the hours longer. It’s hard to believe that’s been improved on the newer ships. As for the condition of the Sapphire, I was very impressed with the public spaces and our cabin when we were on the ship in August. Yes, it has the dreaded stinky shower curtain, but all current Princess ships do. We had one drawer that stuck a little in our cabin, but our mattresses were probably the best we’ve even had on Princess. I would cruise that ship anytime over any of the Royal Class ships.

CCL OBC disappearing after re-fares has been a known issue for years, and it clearly is not a priority to fix. Your post is a good reminder to always check.

If your cruise is within Australia (ie Tasmania or Queensland), there is nothing to do. If outside Australia, you get the form on the ship and it’s basically a walk off, very quick.

On the Sapphire, DH put an 8x10 photo in the door, held in place by a magnetic hook, the same kind we use on the cabin walls. The photo stayed, the hooked disappeared and was replaced by a tiny, flat magnet the size of a small watch battery. Geesh, thanks….kind of.

We found cruises round trip from Australia or New Zealand to be rather informal except for holiday periods. Aussies and Kiwis are laid back and friendly, my favorite cruisers.