TheMichael

I'm sorry you had that experience - we LOOOOOVED Planks on the Eclipse/Panama Canal cruise. We got 4 of the 5 entrees between us, everything was spot-on (pulled chicken a bit dry, but without sauce it's gonna be). I would love to have had some of the wonderfully spicy sides that land-based BBQ spots serve, but it's a cruise, so I just added extra pepper or hot sauce to everything and (chef's kiss)! Same with Steamers - fantastic value. And the service staff for the pop-ups was awesome.

The title of this thread needs to be changed to "APP Fail." The Medallion is used when you're ordering yourself at the bar. That is, unless they have updated medallions that work like Star Trek TNG communicators, which would be so cool...

I think they stopped allowing people to walk around and choose a table when the ships started getting full and the ranks of the elites grew exponentially. Allowing hundreds of people to take a stroll around the MDRs and barter over table location would be even more insane than the current process at the Sanctuary, in which you can spend hours waiting your turn for selection, followed by being informed that limited least-wanted seating is available only for certain dates and times. Personally, we book random available times once we're on board, then walk up when we actually want to eat (of course avoiding the 5-to-6 hour completely). Least possible stress.

Unless it's Tony from La Lido Loca.

As I mentioned, I don't think they're all that selective. One checkbox not checked or one drunken night of angrily unsubscribing from all commercial email is all it takes to miss out.

If by "quietly" you mean "they sent out a mass email a week ago," sure...? (I'm nowhere near elite...)

I think we've now ascertained that bright yellow coloring isn't standard for "real" or "good" butter, along with the science behind that fact. Of course, posting the facts has never stopped CC forums from continuing circular arguments before, so I don't expect it here...

Here are a couple more article quotes (common sense, really) that show the holes in the "butter should be yellow" assertion: "If cows are raised on pasture, their butter is more yellow when the milk is collected in late spring or summer, when the cows have more beta carotene-rich forage to chew on. In wintertime, even cows raised on pasture are usually brought inside and fed grain, which doesn’t have much beta carotene." "But, of course, many industrial dairy producers raise cows without ever putting them out on pasture, in which case seasonality makes no difference. Those butters, which are quite common in grocery stores, aren’t very yellow at any point in the year." Most cruise lines and other large-scale buyers probably don't (and may not be able to) source all of their butter from grass-fed cows, or source it all only during the seasons when those cows can graze.

Not going to engage any further. Maybe rethink your "discussion" style.

As usual for someone holding themselves over others in their answer, you apparently know "just enough to be dangerous," that is, your answer is not entiiiirely correct... https://archive.nytimes.com/well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/10/14/since-milk-is-white-why-is-butter-yellow/

Oh come on, every American knows that real butter is naturally bright yellow, salty, and only comes in rectangles!! You make it sound like butter is churned from dairy cream or something. BTW, just got off the Emerald, and paid special attention to the MDR butter. It's butter.

There might just be a business idea in manufacturing "cruise size" walkers, if no one is already doing that.

I've travelled on three Princess ships in the past 18 months (including Discovery), and all have been the most comfortable beds on any of the cruise lines I've been on - and more comfortable than a pretty reasonable number of the many hotels I've stayed at in the past several years. IMO, they ARE "the good mattresses." As some people have said, maybe you got the disadvantage of "temporary" mattresses during the shakedown period. New ships gonna new ship.

Cruise line changes tend to apply to sailings that begin on or after the designated date. Not likely to be half-and-half on your cruise!

I’m not even sure they have a buffet at all. There are 20-something “casual/specialty” restaurants, all included in the fare, plus a food hall.