Cruzinnana47

We wash our hands AND use sanitizer, and on the last couple of cruises, have tried to only get the "served" items, like the made-to-order omelets in the buffet, or burgers, etc. on the pool deck that are served to us.  I always have wipes with me, also, to wipe down surfaces.  

Some people can be so oblivious to simple common-sense hygiene.  It totally grosses me out when I see someone picking something up in the buffet line...then putting it back...yuck!  

Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to avoid being completely free of germs everywhere on the ship, but we try.

2 minutes ago, chisoxfan said:

We  wanted to book Spellbound and Specialty dining. Calling again will be my next move - almost don't care but since we have a suite and Premier, figured it should be simple to book two nights of included specialty dining.  Wanted to go to Spellbound also but frankly won't start crying of they don't take my 300 bucks. 

I know, Spellbound is pretty pricey.  Wasn't going to book it at first, but DH said go ahead...we've done Chef's Table before & that is a few $$ also.  We were able to get a 6:30pm reserv. for Spellbound on the next to the last night of our cruise.  Saw youtube videos of the experience.  Looks like fun. 

Yep, Same frustration with our trying to reserve dining on the Sun Princess for our Dec. 2024 sailing.

Once Princess said July 1st was the target date, I just knew it was going to be a big mess.

Couldn't book anything for the included MDR slots... kept trying, then was able to book very early MDR on deck 7 for most nights (not all).  Interestingly, had NO problem booking Spellbound or Specialty Dining...

For now, will keep what we have booked & see if we can change later on.

We sailed on the Enchanted Princess in 2022--in a premium deluxe balcony stateroom in the aft of deck 9---fantastic location viewing the wake with slighter more balcony space.  It was a bit of a hike to other areas of the ship, but we found it quiet back there...we do prefer aft location, usually.  And it forced us to walk and get some exercise, especially after our meals! 

Very pretty ship, large but never really felt overly crowded most of the time. 

As far as dressing for dinner,  I do enjoy dressing up for formal nights, but my DH definitely does not.  He was fine with a button-down shirt, tie and a nice pair of slacks.  No tuxes or suits for him, anymore. 

Sorry, I should have said we are supposed to have 2 included "casual" restaurants covered under the Plus package. If no reservations are required for O'Malley's Pub, I'm confused why it's listed on the app under restaurants that take reservations. 

1 minute ago, t&atravel said:

There are no reservations for casual restaurants.  Some ships that have planks and steamer will require a reservation but only once you are on board.

Our Sun Princess cruise is booked for Dec. 7th.  We have not made final payment at this point.  I found this past week that I could reserve the new Spellbound (at $149pp), but not O'Malley's Irish Pub, which we should be able to book at $14.99 (actually thought as Platinum, this would count as one of our 2 included casual choices).  Hmmm....isn't that funny?  

DH always goes to Vet's get-togethers and enjoys them.  Some have better attendance than others.  Princess does a good job.  NCL does also, and actually gives out some "Bling" to the vets...a commemorative coin and on our most recent NCL cruise last fall, the ship also had a photographer present and took photos of the vets and their spouses or SO's at the event.  We actually ended up getting a 5x7 photo, which was a nice touch.

The Military Benefit Credit Princess provides is certainly appreciated, as well.

2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We were just on the Sapphire for 30 days and had a great time cruising around Antarctica and visiting other nearby SA ports. The Reserve Dining Room is on Deck 6 on the starboard side next to the Santa Fe MDR. 

Thank you for your response.  Glad you enjoyed the Sapphire.  

Just now, startedwithamouse said:

Conservatory has the comfortable padded loungers and chairs. Nothing you have to pay extra for. 

Santa Fe is used for Reserve Collection dining. 

She's one of our favourite ships in the fleet. 

Thanks.  Did think I recall reading that Santa Fe was used for reserve collection dining.

That sounds fine, not having to pay $$ for the Sanctuary and able to enjoy an indoor pool area in the Conservatory, especially if the weather outside isn't the best.  

Glad to hear you enjoy sailing on the Sapphire.  Even though it's older, we don't mind as we prefer this class of ship.

We're considering booking the Sapphire Princess possibly for a May, 2025 Pacific Wine Country sailing.   This would be our 7th Princess cruise, but first on this ship and are interested in booking a reserve collection mini suite.  Read somewhere that this particular ship has 5 dining rooms onboard.  Which dining room would be used for the reserve collection dining?  

Saw that the Sapphire has a Conservatory area including a covered pool.  Any thoughts on this--good/bad, would be appreciated.  Pictures seen on You Tube looked pretty nice.

TIA.

1 hour ago, Tatka said:

We are from MA. We would be upset, but would not cancel if ship had indoor pool. Seems like Meraviglia does. Boston is so beautiful now, we would use our time to enjoy it

 

 

Enjoyed your pix.  Especially great time of year in Beantown. I hope some of those pax had a chance to enjoy their visit while in port.

Sorry for these folks on this sailing expecting to sail to the Bahamas and ending up heading North.  Unfortunately, when you choose to sail out of a Northern port (e.g., Bayonne, Brooklyn, NYC) in the cold weather months, it should be understood that the weather AND the ocean temps are COLD and a major storm can pop up at any time.  

We took a So. Caribbean cruise out of the Manhattan Cruise Terminal on the fairly new NCL Breakaway in early Jan. 2014 right after the holidays & immediately following a big snowstorm, with the wind chill temps in NYC below zero.  Our Amtrak ride from Boston to NYC was delayed by hours and was a long trip into the city due to icy track conditions.  We stayed in a hotel 2 nights pre-cruise, and we sailed out on a Sun. with freezing rain at sail away.  We were very lucky that, although it was a miserable day, we were able to embark from Manhattan close to schedule and continue on our planned itinerary.  But it could have easily gone another way.  Being from MA, we definitely would have been unhappy going North.  At least we had winter coats, sweaters and boots with us from our trip to NYC.

This is when we decided this cruise was a "one and done"...no more sailing from the Northeast in the winter!

Thanks for doing this detailed review.  We sailed with you on the Boston/ Canada leg of your trip.  Sounds like you enjoyed yourselves, which is great.  Unfortunately, we can't say that this was our favorite cruise (11th on NCL and 22nd overall).

We did enjoy the Canadian ports, especially, but the ship--not so much.  

Agree with you the ship is pretty average.   We prefer smaller ships, but there were a lot of apparent cutbacks on the Pearl that disappointed us, including the entertainment choices.  Jason O., the pianist who covered Billy Joe and Elton John so well, was a standout to us.  The Legends show was pretty good, but we personally did not care for the young lady who performed as Tina Turner.  Just our opinion, of course.  We found our balcony cabin was not laid out well--crazy place for the safe low in the closet and impossible to access with the clothing (especially slacks), covering the front of it.  Our biggest complaint was the way folks were allowed to disembark the ship.   It was total chaos, even for those of us who had booked NCL shore-ex.  And the day of the customs inspection---a big mess, with absolutely no organization at all.

But it's not all bad---we did have some good meals, especially in the specialty restaurants.  And we met some great folks on the ship -- plus our cabin steward on deck 10 was fantastic.  All is all, we are glad we went, but not in a hurry to book another NCL cruise anytime soon, unfortunately.

Recently sailed on the NCL Pearl.  We stopped counting after the 1st 4 times we received the emails for the check-in that we complied with and just deleted all the ones after that....definitely OVERKILL!

No, NCL was not freestyle when we began cruising in 1993 on the NCL Seaward.  We had assigned seating for dinner.  If I recall correctly, our first "Freestyle" cruise may have been on the NCL Dawn in 2004.

We sailed twice on the SS Norway, originally the SS France, which NCL had acquired by the time we first sailed on her in 1995, and for a second & final time in 2001.  The dinners were still assigned seating and that ship was unique as it still had the feeling of a true "ocean liner".  It was lucky we had those 2 sailings on the Norway as we experienced some of the "old days" of cruising...midnight buffets, ice cream socials, skeet shooting off the aft and 1st class service at dinner.  No Freestyle then!

Thanks, all, for your replies.  To be fair, NCL is not exclusive in the pretty lousy coffee...the regular coffee on Princess is made from some kind of syrup concentrate,,,like dishwater.  The good coffee on Princess ships is at the International Cafe.  To us the Starbuck's coffee always tastes burnt, like @cruiserbear55 said.  Not a fan.  Think it's overpriced, too.

Haven't sailed with NCL since before the pandemic and seem to remember while on a cruise on the NCL Gem some years ago, we were able to get brewed coffee at a station at O'Sheehan's.  Also, my friend found a coffee urn at the buffet on the Gem that had fresh brewed coffee and it wasn't bad.

Sailing soon on the Pearl.  Looking for best places on board for brewed coffee (other than Starbuck's, which we don't care for).  I know the buffet has coffee, but it is fresh brewed?

Just an FYI...the Sumner Tunnel in Boston, one of the main tunnels leading in to Logan Airport has been closed from July 5 to Aug. 31 for long overdue repairs.  This has been causing massive delays in traffic as well as major headaches for commuters, especially those who need to get to and from the airport.  I agree with others who've suggested a later pm flight out.  Booking an early departure from Logan this summer would not a good idea, IMO.

We live what less than 50 mi. from Boston and departing in late Aug. on a cruise from Boston but this time going to allow at least 2-3 hours for the ride to the terminal.  

1 minute ago, Thrak said:

 

I tend to avoid the Dark Roast as it has less caffeine. I'm more of a Black coffee with an extra 2 shots of Espresso. (Not often but I do sometimes order that. I've gotten some odd looks from other people waiting to order.)

Nothing wrong with that, if this is your preference, go for it!   IMO, any coffee combo from the IC is so much better than the weak coffee in the DR's.

Dark roast coffee in the am...and sandwiches, salads and maybe some cookies in the PM...😉

7 minutes ago, happytotravel said:

I remember tea time with music on the SS Norway so many moons ago.  I'm afraid those days are long gone except maybe on the more luxury cruise lines.

 

But, cruising with NCL is still wonderful.  I just finished a cruise on the Norwegian Sky on Thursday and enjoyed it very much.

Blessings, happytotravel

 

Yes, sailing the SS Norway had many "special" events, like tea time, ice cream socials, etc.  You're right, those days are pretty much gone...at least on NCL.

Princess does offer tea time on their ships.  At least ones we've sailed on.

Saw in your signature you were on the SS Norway several times, including your honeymoon.  Sailing on that ship was a wonderful experience and so glad we did it  twice (in the same stateroom--oceanview with no balcony, BUT very roomy with double closets).  The midnight buffet was really something to see and experience--lining up to take pictures first, then lining up a 2nd time to actually partake.

Still miss this kind of cruising....didn't worry about having internet or a cell phone then.  Completely able to relax on a true ocean liner.  

DH served in the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Naval Reserve, so we understand the reasons for a muster drill.  Of course the newer e-muster is very convenient and "easy" but doesn't take the place of a more traditional muster.  I personally don't enjoy standing out on deck wearing a lifejacket, but I get it!  It's only an inconvenience for a few minutes, providing everyone complies and reach their muster station promptly.

Thanks to Chengkp75--always enjoy your insight and maritime knowledge.

Yes, EZ Check was available for our cruise we just returned from this past week (Nov. 19-29) from FLL.  It worked out great and we thought the $25 fee was well worth it.   Putting our big bags outside the cabin the night before disembarking and not seeing them again until we went to baggage claim at our airport was great!

DH is a veteran, so we signed him right up through ID.me yesterday after we received the email from NCL.  We have a Aug.,2023 cruise booked.  I had our NCL cruise consultant check and unfortunately the price for our stateroom has increased, so if we were to cancel and rebook for the same sailing in the same cabin category, the increase in fare from when we booked would be just about the same as the 10% military discount being applied.  Not worth it.  The consultant said she will watch the fares and let us know.

Oh well, we tried!