SCX22

Just got off this ship and that was the rumor being spread by the crew. Harmony is supposed to turn into The Catch by Rudi. The Catch by Rudi is supposed to turn into Sabatini's. The Chopsticks Noodle Bar will turn into Slice as you said. Majestic is being decommissioned for 3 weeks in of March 2025 for a dry dock. If these changes are going to happen, presumably, they would happen then.

And that's the other double standard for cruise ships; they can fail inspections, but not have to stop operations completely, rectify the violations, and get a re-inspection to re-open, like restaurants on land do. The repercussion is just a slap on the wrist. I understand why, but it's a double standard nonetheless. After getting an inspection score of 68 last year, the MSC Seascape still sailed.

If I recall correctly, this coincides with formal night. If it's 10 p.m. or after, have fun schmoozing with the 10 people or so that show up.

Princess has to do what is right for their business. Australians deserve a new ship as well (this is where the Discovery is going). During the cruise restart, the Royal Princess was homeported in San Francisco, my homeport, for a few months. It was a welcome departure from the old ships that are normally homeported here. At this point, Princess doesn't have enough ships to go around.

This could or could not work. On some sailings, people start to line up so early, it's ridiculous. Last year on the Majestic in Skagway (tendering due the rock slide), tender tickets were being distributed at Bellini's, and the line at 7:00 am for an 8:00 am start to the tenders, snaked through The Shops of Princess and to Princess Theater. The ShoreEx people were not amused because they also had tour meeting at Princess Theater and the crowds were getting mixed up. Same long lines happened on the Emerald in Cabo this year; then again, the ship arrived at noon so all passengers were pretty much out and about. I think the only way to guarantee you're one of the first on the tenders is to use the Elite benefit.

Take the plunge, but try and suss out the agent that's helping you. Cabin might not be there when PVP returns. PVP can always fix it if the call center screws up.

Not doubting what you're saying. But, as a restaurant partner I've seen so many other things that would violate food safety standards that would get a restaurant on land closed by inspectors that flies on a cruise ship. For example, the dairy that's out in pitchers at the self serve coffee/tea station in the buffet: Fresh dairy is perishable and always has to be kept under refrigeration. Should it not be under refrigeration, it has it be kept in a thermally insolated carafe and can only be kept out at ambient temperatures for a maximum of 2 hours. On Princess ships, the said dairy as of recent is always in a stainless pitcher and kept out the entire breakfast run, possibly all day, instead of being tossed replaced on regular intervals (on some ships, I've noticed the lack of food service labels noting when the pitcher contents have to be tossed and the pitcher replaced). Moreover, there's cross contamination in that when a pitcher of dairy runs out, the same pitcher is only refilled and not replaced with a new pitcher with strictly new dairy product, thus allowing the dairy that has been sitting out to mix with new dairy and deeming the entire pitcher of dairy contaminated. This is just one of the myriad of questionable food safety practices. Not trying to poke holes at adhering to regulations, but just noticing a double standard.

Yes. SF is my homeport and during the cruise restart when the Royal was homeported here, I was able to purchase sourdough from the Fisherman's Wharf Boudin before embarkation, and successfully bring the bread on board. I hadn't made it out to a proper Boudin the entire pandemic, so the hankering was there. I "concealed" it in my rolling carry on. Costco here sells Boudin Rounds, but they don't quite taste the same as getting it from an actual Boudin--not as tangy.

Just reacting to the script you posted. If Princess wants to make this policy and to try to enforce it, then they need to make it public, not just sent as personal e-mails to certain individual passengers who ask. The outside beverage policy is written out on their website, and the outside alcoholic beverage policy is even included in the cruise contract, so it can be enforced should the powers that be want to enforce it.

My gripe about enforcement of this policy is, if Princess is going to take this privilege away from passengers, then they need to take it away from crew as well. They're human too and are subject to the same food borne illness as passengers are. Let's see how well this policy goes over when the crew begins to complain.

Also, the crew bring back food to the ship as they please. When there's a Jollibee or Panda Express in port, you see the crew carrying back bags from these places en masse.

If you've ever taken a long cruise, like over two weeks, the food onboard gets really repetitive. Bringing food onboard is one way to combat the monotony. Sometimes all aboard is too early for dinner, so I grab something to go and eat it on the ship during dinner. Some ports have food that you want to continue to savor, like pastel de nata in Lisbon or mochi in Hawaii.

That's just the script. It's a question of enforcement at security. If security doesn't enforce it when going through the x-rays. Who is going to enforce it once on the ship? If it really was such a big deal, why aren't there public notices stating that passengers aren't allowed to bring food on the ship, like how passengers aren't allowed to bring food off the ship?

As far as booking onboard, don't expect to be spoon fed information. YOU have to know your stuff--research prices before you go, be aware of Princess' booking policies (like i.e. the lowest location categories will have non refundable deposits), and SAY NO to the Princess Promotions packages. The people working here really only care about selling the Princess Promotions packages because it's their employer's product, of which Princess Cruises is only a party to. On a recent cruise, I went to Future Cruise to have one of the cruises on the specials list priced out. The price that was quoted to me was the same price as was showing on princess.com. When, I confronted the consultant about it, she got very defensive and saying that the special pricing had already reached capacity. On a different occasion, I did go ahead an book a cruise on the specials list and the consultant in the booking process was forcing me to choose a cabin. Well, I always book guarantee. She kept forcing me to pick a cabin and said, "I'll just mark your booking 'for upgrade'." I rebutted her by saying that no such thing exists, and all that meant was that she would be marking my reservation as willing to accept an upgrade, and booking a guarantee, in theory, meant the same thing. Not quite sure why I was forced to pick a cabin at the beginning, but I got my guarantee cabin.

It's a question of enforcement. Personally, I've brought plastic bottles of water (up to gallon size) onboard. In Hawaii, I've brought back 24 pack cases of Hawaiian Sun drinks from Costco with no problem. Both of which are supposedly prohibited. The best advice is YMMV. Personally haven't experienced any problems with bringing onboard as much non-alcoholic beverages as I've been able to carry, in plastic bottles and cans. Meanwhile, I've seen a kid in Ketchikan try to bring onboard a souvenir toy sling shot and have ship security confiscate it for collection before disembarkation. If it's not a safety risk, ship security tends to turn a blind eye as it's not worth the argument, if it were to ensue. Kind of like how the dress code is only a suggestion, but not enforced, for the most part.

Princess will know that you will be In Transit when in Barcelona. People do B2Bs all the time. It doesn't phase Princess one bit. Theoretically, you will only be issued Medallions for the first segment. That will be your Medallion for the entire 42 days on the Sun. The question is whether the battery will last the entire 42 days. In the battery dies, Guest Services can create a new Medallion for you, but the date engraved will be embarkation day of the first segment regardless of when you (if you) have it replaced. On the manifest, you will be listed as an In Transit passenger. An In Transit card will be left in you cabin prior to arriving in Barcelona. If any one at the terminal stops you once you arrive back from exploring Barcelona, you just flash your In Transit card and Medallion and you will be let through. TBH, the only time where anyone's ever asked to see an In Transit card is for B2Bs that require a the ship to have a zero count before reboarding, in US ports. One thing to be mindful of are Princess shore excursions on turnaround day in Barcelona. You'll have to pay attention if they are for disembarking passengers, meaning the excursion will end at the airport, OR for in transit passengers, meaning that the excursion will end back the cruise terminal. While excursions for in transit guests are offered, sometimes they are cancelled due to lack of takers, and if there are few in transits to begin with, the likelihood of it being cancelled are high. Just have plan B, just in case.

Interior to Mini-Suite, and any cabin category in between, has a motion activated light in the closet area. It's bright enough to wake those in deep slumber while in bed. For me, it's more than enough light to see the bathroom light switch from the outside and turn it on. The nightlight is helpful if you decide to block the sensor on the motion activated light. Just make sure that if using the plug in style (as opposed to battery operated) that you get a nightlight with non-polarized plugs as the only socket in the bathroom will only allow for non-polarized plugs as it's meant for charging electric shavers.

My point in my original post above was that when doing the document check for the int'l segment, sometimes the gate agent is able to pull the baggage tracking to make sure your checked bags made it into operating airline's possession. Sometimes this doesn't work because of the connection time; you could already be onboard the airplane by the time your bags make it into their possession.

It's mandatory for the operating airline to ask passengers arriving from other airlines' flights to present themselves at the gate for a document check. In the end, if the airline operating the international flight transports a passenger with improper documentation and the arrival country's immigration denies them entry, it's the operating airline's responsibility to transport the passenger back to the country of origin. It's a liability. Different airlines use different reservation systems and the passport data isn't shared between systems like names on the passenger manifest for codeshare flights.

https://claalaska.com/?page_id=1551 Has all the berth schedules for the Alaska season. Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska is the monopoly port agent for cruise lines in all of Alaska.

Maybe no longer a bracelet, but necklace charms/pendants. Some ships advertise these giveaways in the Event Listings; other ships as flyers sent to the cabin. This flyer was part of the garbage that was sent to my cabin when I was on the Majestic in April.

Depends on the type of fare you booked. If you booked basic directly with the airline, you're up a creek. Those fares are typically no changes or refunds. Even mainline fares have restrictions.

Flexible tickets booked throught EZAir can be changed up to 45 days before the flight, payment can be postponed until final payment of cruise, and there is late arrival/departure protection when purchased through EZAir. The Regal arrived into FLL a few hours late last October because of strong currents. Those booked on EZAir automatically had their flights rebooked with no penalty and at the expense of Princess. Everyone else was on their own. In addition, those booked with EZAir had all airline inventory open. My parents were originally booked on Delta via Atlanta but EZAir rebooked them on the non stop United at Princess' expense. Same happened to the Majestic this April when a storm prevented a ship from departing the night before which dominoed into the Majestic arriving late. There was also the case with the cancelled Sun inaugurals, where those who made independent flight arrangements were stuck with flight credits. Aside from the prices, which there are bargains if you're fortunate enough to live in major hub cities, there's piece of mind. It's not always the cheapest, I will concede that.

Also make sure to check-in with an SAS gate agent for a document check. They will want to see your passport and any necessary documents required for travel. United will not require this because they are not transporting you on an international flight. Sometimes the gate agent can track your bags to see if they made it into their possession.

FYI, EZAir is a consolidator. Most consolidators don't get any money back after reservations are ticketed by the airline. You seemed to only praise EZAir when it's convenient for you...like when you said that the benefit was because by booking through EZAir you'd have late arrival protection with such close flight arrival time. When you have a problem that's out of control of EZAir, they're suddenly the worst thing on the planet. The best advice was that has been given was when a poster called this a "cautionary tale."