createmem

Thank you for taking your vacation time to update all of us behind the screens!  We just booked Allure for December and are anxious with the new requirements.  We shall see how this goes.  

Have a great day in Cozumel!

4 hours ago, jagsfan said:

And  water tastes fine. The first time I ordered it I hoped it wouldn’t be a generic with an aftertaste. It tasted like the brands I buy. 

I think it was Niagara. 

I’m carrying on water on our next RCI cruise because I won’t pay their price. 

I would - I just never feel like carrying something like that on.  I looked at the water they showed on the princess website and it looked like spring water which doesnt have an aftertaste to me.

On 11/5/2019 at 10:26 AM, skynight said:

Is that $40 for 12 bottles? $3.34/bottle? Princess' on board by the bottle price isn't that high.

Yes it is.  They play it off because its Evian.  But I don't care, I can buy a bottle of Evian at my grocery store for about $1 so I don't think I should have to pay that much!  Don't price gouge me because I like bottled water on a cruise!

On 11/5/2019 at 10:22 AM, neverbeenhere said:

 

With all that liquid intake, please memorize the restrooms on the deck plan. 😋

Lol - I always do!

20 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Maybe RCI doesn't actually want to sell water, but feels pressure to offer it.

that is quite possibly true!  I drink 64 - 100 ounces of water each day, so its important for me to have.  When I cruise, I also drink a great many other things that RCI is all too willing to sell 🙂

I noticed that.  I am good with the 12 pack they offer.  I think RCI is ridiculous for charge $40

On 11/3/2019 at 7:44 AM, PaperSniper4 said:

 

Something I have noted that sets Princess apart from other lines we sail (RCI, HAL, Celeb). While we not big drinkers, so the "beverages packages" do not interest us, nor do we drink in bars. We prefer our cocktails on our balcony or in our cabin; made fresh by me. Having the ability to either pre-order  a 0.375l bottle or do once on board is a big plus for us. Prior to sailing Princess I was forced to smuggle using a Rum Runner. Oh, the shame of it! 🙄 I much prefer not smuggling and having the option Princess offers. Prices are not bad, although the selection, at least for scotch, is poor for my tastes.

Yes, that is appealing.  We are similar, though on RCI we spend our pre dinner time in the diamond lounge and then normally get a "to go" drink for dinner.  The idea of bringing on wine, and also ordering a bottle for the room will work for us too.  Also, I noticed the water cost to be SIGNIFICANTLY lower than order a 12 pack of water on RCI.  I hate that they price gouge so much, so paying $7 for the water feels amazing!

On 11/1/2019 at 5:13 PM, neverbeenhere said:

No diamond or suite lounge on Princess. ☹️

That is partly why we havent tried another cruise line.  My hubby loves Diamond lounge on Royal.

18 minutes ago, KevintheIrishDJ said:

You can order room service via your smart phone.

nice!  

1 hour ago, Pierlesscruisers said:

 

Something that was not mentioned in the earlier post is that once you have registered for the Veterans' OBC, it is linked to your Captains' Circle number (the loyalty program) and you will automatically get it on every future cruse (so, if you use a TA, make sure they link your CC no. to any cruise they set up for you.  Oh, I'm also attaching the Veterans' OBC form to this message to make it easy to register.

 

Tom

Veterans Benefit Form.pdf 124.5 kB · 2 downloads

Thank you!  My TA sent it to me and I got it submitted!

1 hour ago, mamkmm2 said:

I am in agreement with Coffeeluvr05.  Princess does provide more "quiet spaces" than the other lines that I've experienced.  We've traveled on Oasis of the Seas and you would think a ship of that size would have plenty of quiet space.  We didn't find that to be true.  There were some interesting spaces … Central Park was divine … but with more people on the ship the public spaces were naturally more crowded and some people seem to think that everyone around them and two blocks of cabins over want to hear their conversation.

 

 

This part excites me.  What I didn't enjoy about Oasis and Allure was not really seeing the ocean.  The ships are lovely, but unless you have a balcony cabin you really don't see the water.  Royal keeps you a bit captive.  We live in land locked midwest, so the reason we cruise often is to be by water!

1 hour ago, XBGuy said:

OP, since you are taking a "wine country" cruise, do you, or any of your friends, enjoy wine?  If the answer is "no," then feel free to ignore the rest of this post.

 

Every adult is allowed to carry on one 750ml bottle of wine on embarkation.  I think this is similar to the Royal Caribbean policy.  This wine may be consumed in your cabin at your convenience.  Speak to your room steward about wine glasses for your room and, if necessary, a corkscrew.  You may take the bottle to one of the restaurants or dining rooms to enjoy with your dinner, but it will be subject to a $15 corkage fee at that time.

 

The above, however, does not limit you to one bottle per adult on embarkation.  You can, in fact, carry on as much wine as you care to.  Bottles in excess of the "one per adult" are subject to an immediate $15 per bottle corkage fee at the pier.  You will be asked to sign a chit for the extra corkage fees and it will be charged you your shipboard account.  Bottles for which the fee has been paid at the pier will be identified with a sticker.  Those bottles can be taken to any of the restaurants or dining rooms and no additional fee will be exacted.

 

The policy seems to be a bit fuzzy, but I have found that Princess is pretty liberal about allowing adult passengers to bring back one bottle of wine at port stops.  I have had no problem bringing wine back on board in about eight or nine West Coast port stops.  I also have to believe this liberal attitude would predominate on a "wine country" cruise.

 

The dining room wine list on Princess is quite comprehensive and fairly priced compared to land-based restaurants.  The specialty restaurants have different wine wine lists.  I have to give a shout-out to the wine list at Sabatini's--the Italian specialty restaurants.  I sailed on the Royal Princess in September and found the wine list in Sabatini's to be absolutely amazing.

 

Have a great cruise.

You could say we are wine people.  Its one of the reasons we chose this cruise.  Our friends are not, we are.  They thought this might be an easy way for them to cruise with us, and for them to learn more about wine.  We were planning a trip to Napa and Sonoma (which we will still do at some point) but this came along and we thought, lets try something different.

I have taken wine onto Carnival before (including 8 bottles once) and have no issue with doing that here, I don't mind the corkage fee as its reasonable.  I will look at the wine list too and see.  When I looked at the Princess wine list initially, I was excited to see somethings that haven't been at Royals Vintages wine bar, so its great to try new things!

7 minutes ago, rjgdjg said:

Divine Norman Love desserts...watching first-run movies in Movies Under the Stars with blanket and free popcorn...champagne Captain's Welcome with a free glass...wonderful steaks at Crown Grill specialty restaurant...elegant décor...relaxed vibe...- Musing About Cruising

Sounds perfect!

And I am looking very forward to Afternoon tea! I hated when Royal did away with that, and have always loved that on Carnival!

I did not know about the vet benefit, so I am looking into that now.  Thanks!  

And I am good without all the extras pools etc.  Hubby thinks he will miss it, though on our cruise this year on Allure he didn't surf once, so I think he will be fine!  I have heard the food on Princess is phenomenal and I am looking very forward to different menus!

20 minutes ago, nukesubsailor said:

We have sailed on both Princess and Royal Caribbean.  We much prefer Princess for the reasons given in the above posts.

If you are traveling with children, they will have a better time on Royal Caribbean.

Adults only from here on out!  Kid is grown and moving into her own life.  Its my turn!

29 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

The best part is less kids. 

I am at a space in my life where I don't want to babysit other peoples kids!

Hi All!  

Hubby and I are pretty much a Loyal to Royal cruiser, but an itinerary caught our eye and we are trying Princess for the first time in September 2020.  

I am excited to try something new, Hubby is apprehensive because he likes his Royal set up.  We are cruising on the Royal Princess from Vancouver on 9/26/20 with a group of friends on the wine country cruise.

Tell me all the things I need to know about Princess!

Thank you!!!! 

Hi All -

Do you know when RCL typically releases itinerarys and dates for the next cruising year?  We are eyeing a particular cruise, and we want book for 2021 (or something like it).

Thanks!

1 hour ago, tntodom said:

Thank you! My TA mentioned Central Park so it might be included. I am a wanna be foodie, but also a little picky so it makes it tough, lol!  After looking at the menu's I know we would love Chops as it is similar to our fave go to here in town. I'm also not sure if we can book in advance with a voucher can you still get reservations once you are on the ship?

Yes, we reserved on board.  Actually we forgot about the voucher until partway through the cruise and Chops called to remind us.  We were able to get in on the night we could go and at a good time.

5 hours ago, tntodom said:

 

Thank you so much for your review!! It sounds like you know what you like and were able to just enjoy the time.  Question, if you had a specialty dining voucher, where would you chose to use it? I don't think we will be paying for any specialty dining as this is our first cruise and we are splurging on the drink package. However, we did get a voucher from our TA so I want to make it count.  

 

I am a little bummed to hear they don't play to the 40's-50's something crowd in the venues, as that is the only way I would be able to get my husband to enjoy a "club" at all. I can and will dance to anything, but he will only occasionally slow dance. 

Same on the hubby thing - unless I can get him tipsy enough.  He tends to be a tired drunk so its a fine line between tispy enough to club dance and sleep!  

I am not sure if 150 Central park is on the voucher list, but I would always choose this place if you are a bit more foodie inclined.  If you just like a solidly good meal, then I would choose Chops.  Its a solid steakhouse and this is from a steak loving Nebraska girl who is quite steak picky. Chops is consistently good from ship to ship.  I have never tried Giovanni's and have heard good things, but its never made our list of must tries on a cruise.  We did try Izumi last year on Oasis and I thought it was just okay,  Honestly, I think there we have a better hibachi restaurant here in Omaha.  I felt the same way about Sabor when I tried it on Freedom.  The Guacamole was super good but everything else was so so and I felt we have better restaurants locally for that.  That Chops steakhouse would rival many of the great steakhouses in Omaha, Nebraska (partly because they do serve Omaha Steaks brand meat there.)

On 3/2/2019 at 8:06 PM, traveler1980 said:

I loved reading your review and the details you put into it.  We are not going on Allure, we are on Adventure in March, but just love reading about others experiences.  It will be myself and my husband (39/41) and our two boys (6/9).  Side note, we are from Kansas City and enjoy weekend trips to Omaha!  I am definitely the planner of our trips, seriously I am not even sure if my husband could tell someone else where our ship is stopping.  The best reminders I am taking away from your review are to go with the flow and just enjoy.  We've cruised many times, so it is not new to us or the boys, but often I do find myself getting caught up on timing or feeling rushed to do "all the things".  The best part of any vacation to me is spending time with family.  I do have a question in regards to Bernards as we are also booked with them to do the island tour with beach stop, which I am really looking forward to.  Do you remember how much time, or around what time, you got to Maho and did you feel like it was enough to see several planes land?  Maho is a big deal to my husband (bucket list item), so I might even say the most important stop to him on this trip.  I've already emailed Bernards and they said it would be fine to stay there and find our own way back if we wanted, but just trying to get a feel for timing there and if we'd miss anything after Maho on the tour. Thank you so much!  

And we enjoy weekend trips to KC!  Love heading to the plaza at holiday time, and we really love going to Ikea!  I assume with kids, you enjoy the zoo here.  We really are proud of our Omaha zoo!

I have done the Maho beach side trip twice with Bernards.  They give you about an hour depending on schedule which I personally found to be just right.  There is a sign in the bar that tells you which planes are expected to come in, times and size of aircraft.  This last time we saw 2 large jets come in and several smaller planes.  We also had 1 large Jet Blue jet leave as well as several smaller planes fly away.  I think the fly away is incredible because they go straight into a mountain - you would think those larger planes wouldn't have enough runway to get up in time.  I did do some research ahead of time and I think the cab fare from port to Maho is about $20.  We had considered just doing that, but am so glad we didn't.  The beach is overcrowded with no beach chairs so its really not about the beach there.  Maho is the last stop before heading back to the port so you are there in the early to mid afternoon.  Bring sunscreen!

Surprisingly, this airport is busier than most would expect and there is a steady flow of traffic coming in and out.  I think you will be pleased with the time there.  

15 hours ago, VPIcruiser said:

Thanks for your review.   I really enjoyed it.  Like you, we will be staying at the Hilton downtown in April before boarding Allure. I wish we were arriving in time to dine at the restaurant you suggested.  This is one of the few times we have sailed out of Miami in the last 22 years, maybe only time.  Can’t wait!

I think Miami is one of my favorites. It’s a beautiful sailaway. I a, sure the Latin restaurant is open quite late. It was getting busier when we left at 830. 

14 hours ago, Anita Latte said:

Thank you for writing your review! DH and I are sailing Harmony 2020 over Valentine's Day and I'm pretty sure we have the same ports...but sailing out of Port Canaveral. Feels like you were really able to relax and unwind on your cruise with your more relaxed attitude with how you were spending your time. It's inspiring!

Enjoy!  

14 hours ago, michelle-nh said:

 

Oh my. Responsibility is in my top 5 too. I totally relate!

It’s like a blessing and a curse. I think mostly a curse!