FM

15 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

Well, I wouldn't consider the Haven Bar to have any sort of view. And bar service was limited in the sundeck area so we went elsewhere for sailaway. 

 

Lobster every night at Haven Restaurant. And yes, no slippers was disappointing. 

Sorry, mean to say the Horizon Lounge - it's just a short distance away from the Haven Bar correct?

In re: to the slippers, even the latest video on YouTube re: the Haven Courtyard Penthouse referenced the Haven bathrobes AND slippers.  Sometimes it's the little details that makes the experience a more enjoyable one. 

Enjoyed reading the review of your Haven experience aboard the Joy. Along with @Sthrngarythread, we are getting a full picture of what to expect later this year if we finalize our cruise aboard the Bliss. 

Am a bit shocked that you did not meet your butler till the following day. Can't imagine why it would take that long?

Also disappointed to hear about your somewhat lacklustre Haven bar experience. Granted it seems great to have a bar so close by if you are IN the Haven, where you can grab a drink and enjoy the views from the lounge ... but if the vibe is off then what is the point of the Haven experience?

Concerned about the height of the tub for those with mobility issues. It would be nice to have an occasional bath but the fact that the Bliss has a Thalassotherapy pool available makes having a tub somewhat moot. 

In re: to dining in the Haven restaurant, was there any night at all where lobster is available? Did you have a chance to try room service?

And no slippers?! C'mon NCL! 

We have a choice between a 7-day Alaskan cruise aboard the Bliss this fall in a Haven Penthouse ... or a 10-day Hawaiian cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Quantum in a Owner's Suite. No comparison in re: to the suites as the Owner's suite aboard Quantum looks to be absolutely wonderful. But that is offset by the fact that NCL has the "HAVEN" experience. And cruising for us is all about the experience.  So it's great to hear other's perspectives ... not great that we have to decide which one to pursue - lol. 

According to the guidelines on the website, 

• Specialty Dining Packages include one main course per person at Cagney's and Le Bistro

So for example, if dining at Cagney's, in addition to ordering the one main course (entree), one could order several starters, sides and desserts?

• So one could order the crab cake and oysters rockefeller along with a lobster bisque for starters ... and for the sides onion rings, sauteed mushrooms and a baked potato ... and then for dessert a creme brulee and apple pie?

But then for other specialty restaurants such as Food Republic and Los Lobos for example, one could continue ordering until they are stuffed to the gills, so to speak?

For those who have experienced both, which do you prefer overall? 

For those who have experienced both, which do you prefer overall? 

Apparently Quantum underwent a refurb in 2019 but haven't been able to locate any current videos or photos of the Owner's Suite and Coastal Kitchen aboard the Quantum.

Saw a recent video of the Owner's Suite aboard the Ovation and it looks quite nice - wondering if the ones aboard Quantum appear as modern?

The only photos I've seen of the Coastal Kitchen seems to indicate a more darker wood tone and doesn't appear too modern.

Has anyone recently sailed aboard Quantum and dined in Coastal or stayed in an Owner's Suite?

Thanks

Can anyone confirm that the separate bathtub in the bathroom in the Owners Suite is a Jacuzzi bathtub? Is there a link to the floor plan of the various staterooms aboard the Quantum?

Thanks.

Everyone has to do their own risk analysis but for us not likely for the next year +.  

Consider the following statement from the U.S. State Department ... “While the U.S. government has evacuated some cruise ship passengers in recent weeks, repatriation flights should not be relied upon as an option for U.S. citizens under the potential risk of quarantine by local authorities"

No one knows how quickly a situation will evolve overnight.  Am sure the passengers aboard the Grand Princess did not expect to be in the situation they are right now.  Now with official statements from the Canada's Chief Public Health Officer recommending Canadians avoid all travel on cruise ships ... and the U.S. State Department advising Americans against traveling on cruise ships and the CDC recommending travelers, particularly those with underlying health issues, defer all cruise ship travel worldwide ... people have to make some tough choices.  Our tough choice will be coming up later this year ... 

We each have to evaluate our own situation re: travel.  One of the main concerns regarding the coronavirus is the spread of it to those who are older, have weakened immune systems or more susceptible to it because of underlying medical conditions.  With symptoms not appearing till 2-14 days after exposure, it is a concern.  

We have a cruise aboard the Sky Princess later this year.  We will be monitoring the situation and in the end will decide what we will do.  One hopes for the best … but you have to plan for the worst, as one always assumes that it won't happen to them … until it does.  

Safe travels and enjoy your cruise. 

Safe travels … have fun. Look forward to hearing more about the Sky … 

Very nice review layout - appreciate the photos of the menus and the Princess Patter (which we haven't seen in a very long time as we've been cruising other lines).  Surprised to hear about line-ups that early in the AM when boarding … when is the earliest one can board? Appreciate your culinary reviews …   

On 2/14/2020 at 10:59 AM, twodaywonder said:

As with any drink package. How much will you use it? I drink a lot of diet soda. The smoothies are nice. Pina Colada, Miami Vice, Mango swirl, Strawberry swirl, just without the rum. Still taste great. When I am ready to get a burger I get a milk, vanilla, strawberry or chocolate smoothie. Tastes a lot like a milk shake. From any bar that does frozen drinks.

Am definitely going to try each and every one of the drinks you have listed - LOL. Thanks! 

The last incident of an outbreak of GI we encountered on a cruise was back in the 90's where we were boarded by CDC upon return to port.  DW ended up being one of five hospitalized in the ship's infirmary, receiving IV for rehydration.  So she was one of several interviewed one-on-one by CDC and asked to provide samples.  CDC also collected rectal swabs, whole stool samples and serum from a number of the ill passengers; serum samples and stool sample were also collected from well persons.  As per the CDC, the illness was characterized predominately by diarrhea, nausea, abdominal cramps, vomiting, headache and fever lasting 24 to 48 hours.  We received a detailed eight-page report from CDC several months later outlining the results of their investigation. This wasn't the first time we've been boarded by CDC, as our very first cruise, our honeymoon cruise, also had an outbreak. In that instance, I was the one that became ill.  Despite these two incidents, we continue to enjoy cruising as long as we feel that the cruise industry and the cruise lines make passenger safety their number one priority. 

2 hours ago, Davis2010 said:

Can you share the link to it? I’m not able to find it.

Try "Luke3DP Watch Adapter" … this may be what the OP is referring to … 

23 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

This topic has me pretty worried about my upcoming sailing on the Ruby in August. I have only ever sailed NCL before and my day-to-day dress on any cruise consists of jeans, a t-shirt, sneakers, and a hoodie as such:

 

My "formal" attire on a cruise, which I typically wear to specialty restaurants and the one more formal dining room is a maxi dress, sandals, and usually a little sweater as such:

 

Am I never allowed to wear jeans in the MDR? Is my dress still too casual for a formal night in the MDR?

I would say that you are fine on both occasions.  Your jeans are not in any state of disrepair that would prevent you from the MDR during regular dining ... and your dress is perfectly fine for formal dining, as my DW has dressed similarly a number of times before. (Would love to see a Maitre D' argue with a lady whether or not her 'dress' clarifies as an evening gown or cocktail dress -lol).   

Enforcement of the dress code, particularly for formal nights really comes down to the whim of whoever is standing there at the entrance.  There is an article by the Washington Post last year titled "The demise of formal nights on cruises: How dress codes are tearing passengers apart" that puts a perspective on the whole matter.  Cruising has definitely evolved over the last few decades … but so are the type of people who now cruise.  

On 1/22/2020 at 4:54 PM, polmcs said:

We sailed on the Royal over Thanksgiving doing the MR itinerary. We booked Sanctuary for the entire week and loved it. The loungers were very comfortable and the service was outstanding. We had chairs right at the front of the space and the glass walls definitely helped keep the wind off of us when under way. The Sanctuary wasn’t full for our voyage, so we were able to shuffle our chairs around a bit to give us some shade. The most uncomfortable we got was in PV with the sun blazing through the glass walls later in the afternoon and there was no a breath of wind to be had.

 

We had contemplated just renting a cabana at the retreat pool for the 3 port days and then just using loungers around the retreat pool for the sea days, but glad we ended up in the Sanctuary instead as it was definitely a little “blowy” in the pool area whilst the ship was in motion and in fact they closed off the entire retreat area on the way back to San Pedro. 

 

The most memorable experience from being up in Sanctuary, was seeing hundreds of dolphins playing off the front of the ship as we approach Cabo, though getting buzzed a few times by an F18 Hornet on full afterburner on the last sea day was pretty heart pounding.

What did you think about the Cabanas in the Sanctuary? Were they pretty well all booked for your cruise?

55 minutes ago, LoriPhil said:

FM, I gotta ask... what is your dream watch?

She surprised me with the LE 'James Bond 50th Anniversary Omega Seamaster Diver 300M' celebrating 50 years of James Bond … which features a black dial decorated with the James Bond 007 logo in a diagonal pattern, a unique caseback stamped with the gun-barrel design shown in the opening sequence of James Bond movies, a "bullet" decoration on the rotor that is visible through the central sapphire crystal glass, a helium escape valve and  … etc. 

Love the watch 🙂 

I just now learned Omega released last year, another LE James Bond Seamaster Diver 300M, this time celebrating the 50th anniversary of the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.  Now that is a beautiful watch!

Just caught up on your Sky Princess Pictorial Travel Journal - great way to document your trip!  Is it through a blog hosting service where you purchase your own domain name and web hosting service?  

In re: to your description of the Sanctuary, it sounds you can pre-book a lounger for the entire length of your cruise or for certain days ahead of time - correct?  If you reserve a Cabana, can you specify/request a particular Cabana (i.e. looking for one with the best view so to speak). 

If you've cruised with Princess since the 80's you must remember the Fair Princess … lol.  What a ship 🙂 

$69?!  Guess I won't be packing my lucky Bingo troll … LOL 

Congrats on your Tag purchase -  checking out the latest in watches while cruising was/is still my favorite past-time.  It's how I picked up my first Tag.  🙂 Now I just window-shop after DW got me my dream watch.  

B2B's are nice - hope you are enjoying it.  

Just got our Amazon order of stainless steel straws ordered specifically for our upcoming Princess cruise.  Paper straws just don't cut it.  

When you boarded, did you notice if the Internet Packages were better priced when purchased on embarkation day as opposed to pre-purchasing it on the web?  

Thanks. 

Wow.  Did not realize or it just slipped past me that 5 pm is the start time for TD and ATD - that is early!  We love to try new cruise ships so when I learned of the new Sky Princess last August, decided we had to come back and check out how Princess has evolved over the past decade plus since we last cruised with them.  

So it was quite interesting to read everyone's dining experiences aboard Princess cruises, especially about ATD and TD.  Certainly wasn't expecting to read about line-ups before 5 pm - lol.  From the look of things, we'll probably stick with our usual 'early or first' seating times even though we are ATD.  It's just going to be a tad weird (for us) though just to stay in one 'regular' dining room for a 10 night voyage without doing some specialty dining - lol.  But with such an early start, the evening entertainment shows aboard Princess must start earlier then - correct?  

15 hours ago, justafem said:

I've weighed the differences in cost between getting the coffee card and soda and more package, with the Premium Coffee and Soda package.  

 

Cost of a coffee card is $36.xx, cost of soda and more is $14.xx per day.  Cost of Premium Coffee and Soda package $28.xx per day.  All of these prices are with the 18% grat added.  

 

So for us on a 15 day cruise the cost would be $418 per person for the Premium Coffee and Soda package.  The cost for the soda and more and a coffee card would be ($208 plus $36)  $244 per person.  Saving us $173 per person for the same drinks.  

 

Granted, we don't get unlimited specialty coffees our way, but for a $350 difference, I can buy more specialty coffees if I want.  That difference also pays for 7 (SEVEN!!) specialty dining(s)!  A HUGE savings.    

 

And the truth is, since they raised the prices so much on the soda and more package.  I've chosen not to get it anymore *I don't drink soda*.  I normally have a glass or two of juice and a mocktail each day.  At the old prices, I was breaking even, at the new prices it's cheaper for me to forgo the mocktail and use a specialty coffee instead, then grabbing a juice in the morning, calling room service or just paying for the juice.  

 

Princess has lost money on me because of their new pricing. AND I'm using ALL my "punches" on the coffee card now, where before I was only using 1 or 2.   

Wow!  Thanks for the calculations!  Combined with the photo of the prior menu, can easily see that the Premium Coffee & Soda package will not be a good deal at all for our 10 night Southern Caribbean voyage later this year as we are not regular coffee drinkers but do like the occasional specialty coffee.   

18 hours ago, Thrak said:

The premium coffees (and hot chocolate) are the same with both packages. The New Grounds package doesn't include juice, soda, or mocktails. I know there's a recent pic here on CC but am too lazy to search it out at the moment. This pic may not be completely up to date but the coffee menu doesn't really seem to change.

 

 

Thanks for the pic … it provides a sense of what to expect when we board later this year. 

Onboard Princess Cruises, is there really a reason for one to choose Anytime Dining if you are dining with the same group of people around the same time each evening?  It's not like you have the ability to dine in a different themed restaurant like those aboard Celebrity Edge as part of your main dining or the rotational dining that occurs on Disney Cruise lines.  If a couple was on Anytime Dining would they have to request a table for two each and every time … or if you were a party of three or four, would your group be placed at a larger table (that seats eight for example) with other groups?  Just curious as to how AD works aboard Princess.  Thanks.