NewPennCruiser

Loved the leisure suit comment. :) We did the fondue night on the Royal last year and had a great time. We were stuffed and enjoyed the dinner because there weren't many people eating there and we had met the waitress earlier in the week at the Wine Makers Dinner so we enjoyed her company again that night.

It seemed like the Crab Shack was a lot more popular and I wondered if they would even keep up with offering the fondue night if it wasn't well attended. I think originally on our cruise it was actually scheduled the same night as one of the formal nights but it eventually got moved to later in the week, possibly the last night if my memory serves me correctly.

The pictures shared above brought back nice memories of a great dinner. We were stuffed and I enjoyed seeing Princess offer something different. Dave

Thanks for the info everyone.

We'll be on the Emerald Princess, 7 day W carib out of Houston.

Princess offers some pretty good activities and programs for kids of all ages and it seems to keep most of them occupied. We mostly cruise Princess and even though we have been on some cruises with a lot of kids, we didn't really notice them. We've been on the Emerald and it's sister ships and there are a couple of pool areas that usually are kids free, the pool near the Sanctuary and the aft pool which is adult only. And maybe we've been lucky but most of the kids we've run into through most of our cruises have been pretty polite; some of the adults on the other hand, that's another story! Enjoy your cruise. Dave

We're not joining you but man I'm jealous. Your itinerary looks fantastic! I wanted to chime in quickly though because we did cruise on the Journey about 6 months ago and just loved it. It was the first "small ship" experience for me and we just loved the crew and everything about the ship. I wouldn't worry about meeting people... we found everyone to be open and friendly and being a smaller ship we did tend to run into some of the same people frequently and it made for a nice time. Same goes for the crew up to the Captain; they are out and about constantly.

On our sailing there were LGBT get togethers every evening in Looking Glass and I think they were always around 6:30. Our cruise director was Eric and I believe he's back on the ship now after a holiday. He was friendly, approachable, entertaining and just a lot of fun. I think you'll have a great time.

We're also cruising next month but will be back on Princess again in one of the larger ships so it will be interesting to compare again to our Journey experience. Have a great trip!! Dave

Similar to the last post, we didn't have any mechanical issues, but still got back late. It is a long excursion and worth it in our opinion, but it really didn't leave a lot of time for anything else. When we got back there was a long line for the tender so instead of standing in line, we did shop some. As the line moved and got shorter, we just followed and pretty much caught the last tender back to the ship. Dave

We personally like the longer cruises since it’s a great feeling when you reach day 6 or 7 and realize you don’t have to get off the ship yet. Of course if you’re having a miserable time you might be ready to jump ship by then but I haven’t had that problem yet. We’re really looking forward to this cruise even though it’s just a partial crossing of the canal. For us at least, this trip is more about the itinerary than the ship. We’ve been to Aruba numerous times but everything else on this trip is new to me.

The Island is a nice ship. Big ship amenities but never really crowded and an indoor pool if weather is bad. MUTS can be pretty cool if they are showing good movies, the gym/sports options are decent and they tend to have a lot of activities on sea days. But no wave riding, rock climbing, zip lining or other activities that some of the newest mega ships have. Sometimes I’m just happy sitting out on deck with a drink(s) watching the world go by. Dave

Well you heard right so hopefully you won't be too disappointed. I'm on this cruise with my partner, I'm 51 and partner 65, and I can tell you as a seasoned Princess cruiser that this cruise probably will skew toward the older set given the itinerary and time of year. (between holidays) I've been on a couple of cruises where I brought the age curve down!!

That said, I have been surprised on some cruises and the passenger mix has not always been what I expected and there will be all ages. You will notice a lot of "family" onboard (some single but mostly couples) and Princess does typically have daily LGBT get togethers so I'm guessing you'll have an opportunity to meet someone to hang out with. Sometimes the meetings are hosted by a crew member, sometimes not. Also some are well attended and some aren't but even if they aren't, look around and be observant, we'll be well represented. Even with an older crowd, there will be late night dancing with a DJ somewhere and opportunities to meet people who aren't quite ready to be in bed by 10. :)

We've cruised on the Island before so if you have any questions, let me know. Looking at your previous cruises, this ship won't be the entertainment equivalent of what RCI and the Getaway offered..... but that just depends on what you're looking for. Dave

She's just hitting the Marine Traffic radar now as she approaches Bermuda. Given the hour or so needed to get around to the West End after hitting the channel, she probably won't dock until about 5:30 or 6:00 (Atlantic time)

I agree with all other comments about the ship never feeling crowded. We recently finished our first cruise with Azamara and in fact it was my first cruise on a "small ship". I think we were sailing full and not once from embarkation to disembarkation did anything feel "crowded" to me. It really was the most relaxed and stress free cruise we have ever taken and hope to sail with Azamara again in the future. Dave

We recently cruised on Azamara and they pretty much confiscated everything. I usually travel with a small pair of scissors in my checked bag and I received notice that I had to go to security to ID my bag and retrieve after embarkation. They were busy with a lot of people signing for mostly small pocket knives. They kept everything until you retrieved them at time of disembarkation.

I've carried these same scissors on every Princess cruise and was never questioned. A very funny British guy standing in line with me to retrieve his bag referred to it as the "naughty" room and he had what appeared to be a small butter knife. I'm not exactly sure what awful things they thought he was going to do with that.

Dave

We agree with the OP's comments and just got off the Journey as well. We were actually first timers to Azamara and I'm sure it won't be our last. The ship and crew were fantastic. I'm going to try to post a review later from a first timers perspective once we get home, but first we are spending a few days in Lisbon before returning to the States. We just got off this morning and I'm already going through espresso withdrawal from Mosaic Cafe. Dave

Even though it is not really advertised as such, Suite passengers can order full breakfast on disembarkation morning in their suite. Just check with your room steward. Dave

We did our first "short" cruise this past year on Ruby and it was a little more casual than most cruises that we have been on. There was not a formal night and we actually only ate in the main dining room one night where it seemed pretty normal for what people were expected to wear. I don't remember seeing anyone in shorts.

On the other side, we ate in Sabatini's one night and folks were actually dressed very nicely... not formal but much better than what we saw for dinner the other nights when we ate in Horizon Court or at the Grill. Actually I really don't notice what people are wearing unless someone stands out and I don't remember any of those moments this cruise. Dave

Personally I do think they both compare favorably. We have stayed in an aft Penthouse Suite on the Dawn and an aft Vista Suite on the Sapphire and feel both were exceptional vacations. I know people rave about the NCL suite experience and it was nice but we thought Princess was just as good. Personally we really didn't need to use the Concierge on NCL and we fortunately didn't have the same issues that the OP had with their Steward. That would have annoyed me too, but our Steward was attentive and gave us everything we knew we should have received without us ever needing to ask.

The suite perks are different between lines and to be honest the price point for the most part on NCL is lower than Princess when we have compared suite prices on comparable cruises. I thought there were perks on NCL that were better than Princess and likewise thought Princess beat NCL on others. If you can afford the suite life on either line I think you'll be pleased. Dave

It's funny you bring up bronchitis... well it's not funny, but wow, lately it seems like I've known at least a dozen friends and family all over the country having respiratory / bronchial issues, including me. My Dr said it's been a bad season (whatever that means) but I was down for the count for two weeks and I wasn't even traveling anywhere. Another friend came back coughing from San Juan (not on a cruise) and family in Ohio and Arizona came down with the same thing, same symptoms, all put on the same zpacs, etc. It just seems crazy but lately I've known more people who have gotten sick than haven't. Some were flying on planes and traveling, none were cruising. I sure hope you're feeling better but it seemed to take forever to clear up in all of us. Dave

We are thinking of getting an owner's suite on the Emerald for the transatlantic. I'm worried about the soot issue and wondering if we should opt for the suites in the middle of the ship.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

:confused:

The aft suites on the Emerald and sister "grand" class ships are amazing. No soot issues.

Thanks for the review of your experience. We have never attended the auctions but do like to browse and have on occasion chatted with the Princess Art Directors if they were around the gallery. On most occasions if they were not busy, they were interesting to talk to and never over bearing other than to maybe remind you that an auction was coming up and ask that you give it a try.

Once we tendered with the Art Director into Santa Barbara on one of the Coastals and he gave us a lot of good tips on places to go to and he was getting off to browse some galleries as well. He was extremely knowledgeable and nice to talk to; as most Princess employees are.

It's a shame that Princess has turned this into something that sounds so negative and that they chose to go with Park West which comes along with their own past baggage and questionable practices. Maybe feedback and lack of attendance at future events will send a message.

Like so many people have said, we have seen most shows numerous times and really until they shortened them to 30 minutes, most really never changed. And those format changes really just resulted in dropping some songs to shorten the time. We don't go out of our way to see them but do usually go. Even though we have seen the shows, the performers change and we enjoy the entertainment.

I do notice though that the theater is not as crowded as it used to be, especially when it is a show that has been performed for years. With so many repeat cruisers, it seems like many don't bother and I have to laugh at the pre show recording that asks people not to save seats when the theater is only 3/4's full.

That said we did see the three new shows on Royal in February and I assume these will filter out to the other ships as props are added and the performers learn them. Are the new shows better than the old ones? I don't know. It's all in your personal taste I suppose, but I did really like Sweet Soul Music and went back to the late show to see it again. It was one of the few production shows that I have attended on Princess that actually got a spontaneous standing ovation at the end of the show without the CD prodding more applause. That was also the one show that included the Orchestra. The new shows are high tech with amazing lighting, sound, digital images, etc., but are they better? I guess that is something that everyone will need to decide on their own, but at least the shows are new and fresh.

Dave

We had similar credits offered on our Noro cancelled cruise on Crown in 2012 and we saw the refund and credit within a week. In fact we were doing a B2B and scheduled to be away a while; our TA was able to apply the future cruise credit toward a a cruise we actually booked on the ship the week that the cruise was cancelled. As for the cruise refund, it registered before we returned home. Dave

I guess it all depends on your perspective and what you want to see. We were on the Royal in February and the Orchestra/Showband was well represented all week. They performed for the Sweet Soul Music production show, were in the theatre for another performance (don't remember exactly what it was), performed for the Ye Old Pub Night show in the Lounge and had duo's and jazz quartet's playing various venues throughout the week. I actually thought there was more live music on this cruise than I've seen in a long time along with the other groups and pianists that were everywhere as well. I do agree the dancing options are very different and not to the liking of many people, but I thought the music scene was alive and well.

Dave

We're enjoying your thread as always, especially this time since we are doing this itinerary later in the year for the first time. I watched the Aruba webcam this morning and find it interesting that you are actually docked with the Island in Aruba today. It probably doesn't happen too often that both sister ships are there at the same time. Enjoy your day!

Is there a different way to sign out when using an IPad. Have just bought one so not fully up to speed with it yet.

Same as a laptop, make sure you type in logout.com. I always then go one step further afterwards and check my connection to make sure it disconnected. If you don't properly log off on your laptop or iPad, you will drain your minutes. Once you do log off, you should see a screen that shows you how many minutes you used during your session.

The S6 vista suites on the Coral are not aft facing like they are on the Grand class ships but they appear to be just as spacious and the perks are the same. You will have a large balcony but not quite as large as what the aft VS's on the Grand class ships offer.

We stayed in vista suite on the Sapphire once and it was an amazing vacation. We were treated like royalty and I would recommend booking one of these rooms to anyone who is considering it.

When you walk into the buffet from the pool area, you will first walk into the Bistro. The furniture is different with lots of tall tables and counter type space to sit at and the pastry shop is located here. Desserts are available there all the time even if the Bistro section is not necessarily open. As you continue aft, you will enter the Horizon Court area and there are many serving areas available and as Pam has mentioned, make sure you walk through and check out everything because there are many options. There was often a taco area, many pastas, a grilled food area and many salad options.

You will get spoiled and the old Horizon Court will just seem totally inadequate, so enjoy. As you continue back through the Horizon Court you can go through the doors to the Horizon Terrace which is outdoors but completely covered. The Outrigger Bar is located here with sofas to lounge on and many tables that give you the option to eat outdoors even if the weather isn’t all that great. There always seemed to be open tables.

A nice addition to the buffet is hand washing areas as you walk into the Bistro. They still have the hand sanitizers around but I thought it was smart to add an easy option for washing your hands. We always stopped and they usually had someone there asking people to wash their hands as they entered the area. At busy times, most people just seemed to walk by but many people stopped.

Depending on time of day or how busy they are, the entire Bistro / Court area might be open but there were often times when some sections were closed down. Even if a section like the Bistro might not be serving food, you were always welcome to sit there.

Oh and before I forget, if you have a coffee card or just would like to get an espresso or latte, they have a coffee machine in the pastry area of the Bistro that will make coffee drinks, just like at the International Café.

Have fun exploring!!! Dave

We've cruised on both ships and while they are not in the same class and the Royal is much nicer (in my opinion), I think the itinerary on the Dawn from Boston to Quebec City is more interesting than the round trip from New York.

We've also done the round trip NE/Canada cruise on the Caribbean and it was a great cruise but our favorite stops were in Canada and it would have been nicer if it continued to Quebec. We probably should have taken the 10 day Princess cruise but like you, we were limited to 7 days.

I would weigh the itineraries against each other and pick what you prefer. Food is subjective and like some have said, we had no issues with the MDR food on the Dawn. And if you choose, the specialty restaurant selection on NCL is quite fantastic with a lot of options. Both cruises will be nice and my suggestion would be to go with the itinerary that you prefer. In either case, have a great cruise!

Dave

Dave beat me to it, but yeah, the aft Promenade Deck areas on either side will be perfect for what you're looking for. The starboard side toward the back allows smoking and given the current itinerary that side will be in the sun heading to St Maarten, then the port side on the return trip.

We wanted quiet time in the shade so we just picked the appropriate side and it was a fantastic place to lounge, read, relax and do whatever you want away from the many other activities going on around the ship.