wblynch

So many factors to consider.

For East Coast cruises we prefer Royal Caribbean. They no longer serve the US West Coast so we go on Princess.

We sailed HAL --- once

NCL or Carnival? ..meh

i feel the same! We watch the walking dead ( never thought in my life i would be interested in a show like that), hilarious and good review

+1 :)

We used it for messaging. Plus you can forward an event to your contacts and I think there's a way to get an alert when an event (activity) is about to start. But you have to have the app open at the right time.

I want to try it on our next cruise. I just wish it was a pub lunch type thing. I will be really disappointed if I don't like the food and I wasted a night I could go to the Crown Grill or MDR.

That's what I felt; that we wasted a whole evening on a poor dinner.

The Salty Dog opened at 6:15 the night we went. We arrived for our 6:30 reservation and the loud music was already playing. Later it switched to a guitarist/singer which was more pleasant.

I was just in the Salty Dog two nights ago on Crown Princess. Pretentious food that was not satisfying at all. I should rather have gone to the Horizon Court buffet.

In fact, I went up and got pizza afterwards. The pizza was great.

Looking forward to the rest of the review, especially about Manzanillo.

Enjoying the photos too, but I have to say, an In-N-Out outside of Southern California is just plain wrong. 😎

I am diamond also on RCL and love the line. But our most recent RCL cruise was four years ago on the Allure. I have enjoyed all my RCL cruises and feel connected to them. I love their ships and the energy I feel when on them. We have a week booked on the Allure for this November.

But I sense changes with the company that don't excite me. They abandoned California and have pulled a lot of ships out of the Caribbean, sending them to Asia and Dubai. It's as if they don't care for the North American customer any more. And theIr new ships are getting more and more gimmicky.

Now, for all that, we have just finished our third Princess cruise, the second from Los Angeles in the past two months. Princess has excellent ships and nicely presented. I find them relaxing and they have as many amenities as I need.

But I don't feel the same energy I get from RCL. I think the food and entertainment on RCL is better. And the Princess ships are all pretty much the same without much individual personality.

I will gladly take a cruise on either line. I'm inclined to choose Princess for California, Mexico and Hawaii sailings and Royal Caribbean for Florida and Mediterranean sailings.

I guess my point is both are great and it's good to change it up now and then.

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Thanks for the great thread CanadianBurger. And thanks for all the great photos.

We were on this cruise also, but without internet or cell service throughout. It was a great getaway.

We went to Sabatini's on the first night and it was amazing. Great food and service, worth every bit of the extra charge (only $25/per). It's a shame Princess is eliminating it for that silly Share. Oh well...

We went to the Salty Dog gastro pub on the final night and I didn't like it at all. Very pretentious and just weird food. Not worth a penny. Waste of time and a waste of a meal.

We didn't attend the shows as they had the same on our Ruby cruise 10 weeks prior.

Hung out in the Addagio bar with my sister late the last night as both our spouses turned in early. The Addagio is very nice. Beautiful decor and there were only about 10 people in there the whole evening.

We all bought unlimited beverage packages but lost money on that deal as none of us could drink enough to break even. Although trying to do so was a learning experience :)

That might make sense IF there are a lot of higher class cabins available. If there's not a lot of inventory to be sold, the prices are not likely to come down enough to be worth it.

Yep, that's the risk.

i have to think about that "strategy" :)

I don't believe there are any extra perks with a mini-suite on Princess over a regular balcony. (perhaps better soap in the bathroom? )

Thank you everyone !!! We decided to cancel our massage reservations, and jump on this offer. I called and left a message with my information . Hopefully we get this

Great trade!

We just did this on Princess. Booked an ocean view guarantee and since booking was after final payment date, we paid in full.

Then the price dropped on balconies and though the cheapest balcony was now less than we paid for OV, I was able to get them to upgrade me to a deluxe balcony for $20 more per person. I think they allowed it because I brought more money to the table.

It was a great deal for me. My sister also had an OV guarantee but decided against paying for the upgrade. She had a theory that she would get a free upgrade to a balcony at assignment time. Well, that didn't happen. They assigned her an ocean view cabin, according to the guarantee she purchased.

So I now have a new strategy; book a lower class cabin than I want and try for a low cost upgrade after final payment. (who knows, might work..) :)

I submitted twice with no response. I wasn't sure we would like MSC anyway, so I just cancelled my future MSC cruise.

Being self-employed without paid vacations, my lost income over one week can easily be four times the cost of the cruise. And I'm lucky to get more than one week a year for vacation. So a mistake made on the wrong cruise line could put me in a bad mood for a year.

I probably won't try MSC until after I'm retired and can afford to waste a week on an experiment.

Until then I will stick with Princess, Royal Caribbean and perhaps try Celebrity.

Do you mean the ones by the diving show?

Yes

So what was the food and service like in the 90's?

Better. Much better.

I always look forward to a cruise as a way to kick my soda addiction for a week.

The iced tea and lemonade are fine and I'll even drink water if forced to :D

5 bucks a can? They have gone mad.

No more public (secret) balconies on the back of the ship. They've been turned into suites.

Those junior suites are probably not as big as a typical balcony on the newer ships. Back then you had to get a suite to have a balcony. It was a big deal.

I also noticed there is nothing showing for Empress past June 2016. I wonder what is planned after June?

I don't remember reading anywhere but does anyone know if they will install a movies under the stars on Empress? That would be fun.

Some people like to try different things. I don't want to sail on an Allure or Harmony every cruise.

Mix it up!

I believe she already has the rock wall. Installed back in 2005 or so, no?

If they have to seal off a section of the ship because of fire or other reason they can't have people going around the fire doors through the balconies.

They started these games back when they would mail coupons and you couldn't use the diamond coupon and get your diamond balcony credit.

I am finding that Princess offers better pricing even though we're not any status at all over there. Royal Caribbean is getting too gimmicky with the new ships too.

Funny they invent their loyalty program to keep you coming back but then play these games to make you angry and leave.

I still love cruising on Royal Caribbean but their management approach is driving me elsewhere. ( and it isn't to Celebrity )

We will never cruise the Island Princess again. I am sorry to say that Princess has butchered this ship. We just got off the Island....

They must not forget the appeal of cruising is the romantic notion of feeling you're on a luxury ship.

Who wants to sail on a utilitarian ferry boat?