Cruise Raider

It depends on capacity and when during the cruise someone tests positive. If it happens towards the end of the cruise, they may just have you isolate in your own cabin. I know some cruises are sailing at nearly 100% capacity and in that case, you will have to isolate in your cabin. I was told last week that the cruise we were on still had a small number of quarantine cabins available but that cruise had very low capacity. Someone mentioned you can identify the number of those in isolation but seeing a small table in the hallways. I never saw one on our sailing although, didn’t really roam any hallways other than our own.

We have been on several times since the restart and have several more booked for the upcoming months. I really haven’t noticed a change in infections based on people masking or not masking while onboard or even in the vaccinated or non vaccinated populations. I really don’t know how many or not vaccinated, though. I did get CoVid once but not from being on a cruise .. it was at a family party .. and I was being very careful. My DH, who was at the same party, never contracted it. I always test before we go out in large groups and before every cruise. I wouldn’t dream on hopping on a plane, a cruise, a party or even an Uber if I tested positive. But, the fact of the matter is, there are many places to get infected that have nothing to do with cruise travel. Just getting to the port probably exposes you to many pathogens. Who’s to say the cruiselines are responsible when any one of us could be the one that brought it with us onboard? at the risk of repeating myself, I really think the lockdowns did such a grave disservice to our immune systems, especially after there were vaccines and known treatments for CoVid. I really think that’s what is happening right now on cruises from down under right now. There is no real escaping it, just delays in when the outbreaks would hit once we were free to live our lives again.

I’m surprised to hear you say that. Princess has the most comfy beds I have ever found on a cruiseship. what didn’t you like about them? Too soft?

You can reserve your dinner times on the app and pick a private table for two. Depending on the capacity, it is easy enough to get a table to your liking without making a reservation once onboard.

It’s been happening on the Ruby and the Royal on our cruises this year. So yes, it is back and a very popular event.

We were informed by the front desk staff that the 4 day Thanksgiving cruise was actually overbooked when we were onboard the Royal last week.

We’ve cruise many times since the restart and have used the same wristbands and bracelets that we got onboard back in 2021. The medallions we just received fit perfectly, as have all the other ones we’ve used in the past. They are the same size as before.

The staff and crew are the best! Bon voyage!

On the other hand, we consider ourselves to be “loyal” passengers and the need for having a full promenade deck makes absolutely no sense to me. While I know some “loyal” passengers absolutely love that feature, I’d bet there are just as many that just don’t care. I just love and actually prefer the Royal class ships, especially where it seems to keep the smoking sections isolated and not directly under passenger cabins, which is something that I’ve noticed each time I have cruise on a Grand class ship. So, maybe Princess does actually listen to their “loyal” passengers, even though you may perceive that as you not being heard. What is actually a loss to some may be a win for others because we are all different in what we prefer. As of now, we all still have a choice on ships we can book that satisfy our likes and dislikes. Maybe ten years down the road, that won’t be possible.

Yes, you can sit out there at any time. Even though we usually book a balcony, we use those chairs on the promenade deck quite often. We’ve actually never seen those chairs / tables used for full dining services although, we may have just missed it.

There is a 4 night Thanksgiving cruise in there before Hawaii .. I understand that one is actually oversold with nearly 4000 passengers. They are even sending move over offers on that sailing. We were originally booked on that cruise and moved over to the 10 day cruise on the Ruby instead. I’d have taken a move over offer in a heart beat for that short sailing, though. We recently disembarked from the Royal almost a week ago … there were less than 900 passengers onboard for that cruise. It must be so difficult for the ship’s admin to go from 900 to 1600 to 4000 passengers in a matter of a couple weeks. I just can’t even imagine the challenges involved.

I believe you can participate if you choose to do so. It’s only open for prizes while the casino is open, so I would imagine that’s where you’d go to sign up. I can’t promise this is exactly the price but think it’s $20 a day .. not sure if you have to sign up for every day of the cruise. We were on a Northern Pacific Coastal and the casino was closed several days and nights of the cruise. So, it was disappointing that the prizes were only available for not even half of the cruise. But, it probaly didn’t make any difference. Both times I’ve signed up for the premier package, I’ve won $25 on the last evening of the cruise which was applied as obc. My total folio ended up being 5 cents in my favor. 😂 The people in the cabin next to us were the recipients of the $5000 prize. Sweeeeet!

Nada on my account ...

That's what I would do, as well. They may be willing to work with you depending on your emergency.

We've been to Alaska several times on all different ships and the ones with a covered pool have been our favorites for that itinerary. However, we had some fabulous pool weather in the end of July once... nearly 80 degrees. That is not the norm, though. But, it can be quite pleasant in Alaska and we've spent many days walking around without a jacket. We've even bundled up and watched a movie at night on MUTS.

We only had a problem once when trying to get into the Crown Grill the first night for our suite dinner. They assigned us to Sabatini's instead. We were able to switch our included specialty dinner to the second night instead as we really wanted to go to the Crown Grill and the first night was completely packed. So, they will work with you.

I was able to make my reservations on one of my sailings with the premier package. When going to the reservations page on DMW, it showed I had a credit so never had to go to the page where it charged me. Another cruise, it didn't show and I had to pay for the reservations and then it was credited back to me onboard. Not sure what the difference was as neither cruise was paid in full.

You cannot.

You can order the varietal and that’s what you will get. You just may not know the winery where it was produced. I am not a huge fan of their Canyon Road Chardonnay but their Pinot Grigio was much better. Under the Plus package, they found a Decoy Chardonnay for me, which was quite drinkable. You can always go to Vines and pay an upcharge for a nicer wine by the glass or even purchase a bottle with a 25% discount. They may even give you a double pour to take to the dining room. BTW, the Prosecco that we were given on the Royal recently was quite good and included in the plus package. Bellinis will have a larger selection of bubbly wines. I think each ship will have different policies and each bar stocks different wines but you can probably find something you will enjoy.

There is one caveat that we’ve been able to use .. if you have the premier package, it offers you two specialty dinners for the cruise. When making reservations online ahead of the cruise, it will apply your included dinner reservations without paying for them up front. Although, you’ve already paid for them up front in your fare. But, my point is that they’ve figured out how to include those in the app without having to shell out more $$ that will ultimately have to be refunded. On some cruises, it is impossible to get reservations once onboard. And you are so right, the specially dinners are so much more reasonable on Princess than on other cruiselines.

We do the same, especially after disembarking from a cruise, which we do quite often. We also take a few kits with us and test mid cruise for anything 7+ days. We don’t want to be the ones that spreads it to others that might be at higher risk than we are.

This is why I still home test the day of my cruises ... just in case I am carrying CoVid but have no symptoms. I wish everyone would do the same even though the home test kits are not foolproof. I thought going for my test three days prior was a pain .. but it would be nice if all cruiselines strongly encouraged the home testing the morning of one's cruise.

It isn't really engraved, it's just printed. It can probably be scraped off if it bothers them that much. If the medallion cannot be fixed to your liking, just have him/her put it in their pants pocket. Plus, there is a preferred name that can be entered into his/her profile. That's probably what the staff and crew will use when addressing him/her.

I agree ... I actually had a hard time popping it out of that holder.

I loved the wine choices that were available on the Plus Package prior to the introduction of the Premier Package. Ever since the new package was introduced, I was able to just pay the difference for the wines I really liked and twice, I've upgraded to the premier package and was pretty happy with that and felt the upcharge has been worth it. But, the supply chain issues have hit the cruiselines hard. My DH has actually been happy with red wines that are just a dollar or two over the $12 limit. We were given a bottle of the Canyon Road Pinot Grigio in our cabin and it was very drinkable....and actually, such a nice gesture. But, that brand of chardonnay is just not good. I could find a bar with Decoy Chardonnay once in a while. Gone is their Mer Soleil Chardonnay and Meiomi Pinot Noir, which are a couple of my favorites. We were able to get some decent wines on the premier package, such as Rombauer Chardonnay and Seghesio Zinfandel, though. But, they really don't offer these to you unless you have the Premier Package. We did bring a special bottle of cabernet to share with some friends while in the Crown Grill and were not charged corkage. I think if you upgrade to the premier package, it would be great if they didn't charge corkage on that ... and who knows, maybe they did that? Anyway, the wines used to be better but there are still some decent wines to be found, especially at Vines. For me, it definitely was a better deal to upgrade to the premier package, especially because it also gave you photos, specialty dinners, additional devices for your WiFi and Prizes, not that I won that much ($25) but still came out a bit ahead because of the getting the wines I really liked.