JEH

Have gone to Alaska  twice in early May and loved it . My college  roommate's daughter  was a Park Ranger  in Denali  and recommend  going  then. There was snow cover in some areas, spectacular  waterfalls  due to melting snow, foliage  was just blooming and crowds of tourists  minimal . IMO a great time to go.

Bait and switch ?

We ask one of the Horizon Court head waiters . They are very helpful, we really recommend Bavarian  and Italian  Night .

14 hours ago, 1965 said:

Who do you ask at the buffet? We definitely want to do the special nights. 

The show gives a great insight into the daily life of crew members  and their ĺiving conditions . I'm sure it will  be  very hard for them to come back . We have January  and February 2022 cruises booked and are looking forward to them so we  can do some special  things for these hard working  crew members.

Does anyone  know what benefits  if any the crews got during the shut down ?

On 3/30/2021 at 7:59 AM, Jadn13 said:

Didn’t even know that was a thing! 😁

During the first days of a cruise we always  ask at the Buffet  what nights are specialty  nights. This information sometimes  can be  found in small type in the Patter . Bavarian  Night is our favorite .

Get up and dance and don't  hold back . Hope to see you on a future cruise  with us .

Booked for a ten day for January  2022 , hoping that cruises  will sailing by then.To all those who have cruises booked  for 2021 ,I hope they sail and that you have a wonderful  cruise .

All of the improvements  and new procedures should be part of the New Normal for Princess  along with passengers  only allowed to disembark  on ship sponsored  shore excursions . 

DW and I had booked a 10 day Princess  Caribbean Cruise   departing in January   2021  , we have since cancelled  and booked another for January  2022  Too much uncertainty  about what the new normal  will be for cruisers caused us to decide to wait and see 

Have gone on 2 Princess  Alaska  land/sea cruise in early May . A friend's daughter who is Park Ranger stationed at Denali  advised us to visit then . She stated Alaska  weather is cool but sunny, with the trees  just budding you can be deep into forest ,  animals  haven't  been spooked tourists in their space, snow melts with snow  on ground in shady spots . We followed  her advice and it was right on ,had a wonderful  trip both times

You have certainly  covered all bases regarding why  people  won't  cruise. DW and I have taken  many cruises with  Princess ,  Holland and Celebrity  usually  2 to 3 per year  We have none  planned  for  the future . We well know what the old norm of cruising was and will wait to see what the new normal brings to cruising.. We hope and pray that we can cruise again sooner rather than later .

DW and I miss cruising very much , especially  getting  out of Chicago's  Winter .We have cruised to so many interesting  places and have met so many wonderful  fellow  cruisers it's hard not to miss cruising .

We wish everyone  good health  and pray that a vaccine  will be found soon and we can all rejoice  by taking  a cruise . 

6 hours ago, pris993 said:

We have well over 60 cruises on 9 different lines... about 10 years ago, when the MDR service and menu changed, we started changing what we did on board.  We were on a 11 day Mediterranean cruise on a Celebrity ship, after 5 nights we decided we were not enjoying the MDR very much, it was too crowded, noisy and not well lite - we could hardly read the menu.  We decided to ship the MDR for the reminder of the cruise.  Much to our surprise we did not miss it at all.  From then on, we started changing up what we did on board.  We sometimes do the buffet, sometimes bring back food items from port to enjoy on our balcony, sometimes go to a Specialty dining room and sometimes use Room Service.  Found we love the variety and freedom to schedule our day the way we like... have not gone to the MDR for a number of years now.  We actually prefer solo dining vs meeting other people over a meal, so that was not an issue for us.  WE sometimes chit chat with strangers but don't develop relationships with other cruisers on board.  Just not our thing.   Cruising for us is more about enjoying being on the water, so we always book a mini suite and enjoy a lot of time on our balcony.  I suspect when cruising returns and we face new changes, we will figure out how to make it work for us, after some trial and error with the new arrangements.  We are going to wait til Jan 2022 to cruise, by then we may have a better idea what to expect.   I can tell you we always did a table for 2 in the MDR, would much prefer balcony/cabin dining, specialty dining room where there is more space between tables in the future. 

Your game plan appears to be just like the one DW & I have . We always ask at the Buffet for a scedules of its Specialty  Nights , the Italian  & Bar Barvian are our favorites .  We have a Circle  Caribbean  scheduled  for early January  2021 but we're are going to cancel  and re book for 2020 .

Based on this information  it appears that there will be no Caribbean  Cruise in January  & February  2021 . We booked  a  Circle Caribbean   Cruise  for January  2021 but not have received  word from Princess that it has been canceled . With no proven vaccines and a yet to be announced  New Cruising Norm , we are going to cancel . Thankful  that we were able to take as many cruises as we have done.

Thank you for posting this information .  To me you have always posted great trip reports and now great financial  reports Thanks .

For DW & myself our glimpse  of the future is no more cruising unless a miracle  vaccine  is discovered .  We have had many wonderful  Princess cruises and don't want to have our future  cruise  experience  lessened by the " new anti virus  changes " that are forthcoming .  We hope for a happy ending to this crisis  but are not getting  our hopes up. We certainly  will not be among the first cruisers to experience  the new normal.

Our first land/cruise to Alaska . It gave us the time to relax , discuss  retirement  and experience  the wonderful  world  of  Princess . We both retired  within the year and have never stopped  

The vaccine  must be found and made readily  available before  we would consider cruising again We have the 14 Day Circle  Caribbean Cruise  booked already for January  2021 but  unless things change for the better I doubt we will be going  . Realistically ,  one year after the vaccine  has been given to all and then we will resume  cruising

3 hours ago, AF-1 said:

JEH,  have faith and don't worry about going on a cruise.  Once everything pans out;  the cruise lines will make cruising available to all ages.  

Thanks , We certainly  hope so

I'm 70 & my is 69 so we are at the threshold  of making our end of cruising decision .  We had hoped to be  making this decision  at 75 but look like  today as it snows heavily  in Chicago  we will seriously  discuss  this decision .We are both thankful  for all the memories  of the wonderful  Princess  cruises  we have taken and would hate to have our final  cruise be a horrible experience . Praying  that a vaccine is found quickly and that life returns to normal. 

Never had a problem w taking a cab

We were on the Crown in January  for 2 ten day back to back cruises and passenger  organized bridge was played on sea days . There was a sign up  sheet in the library for those who wished to play.

This was totally  unacceptable , the ship should have sailed without them  

Pam, when I started  cruising with Princess  and reading Cruise Critic Ì quickly  became a big fan of your postings. Now I'm an Elite  but the information  you have provided  to everyone reading your posts has made our cruising so much more enjoyable . Thanks