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2 minutes ago, lhsail said:

I believe this was the exception rather than the rule. Corkage was $15 for many years. We always took ours on board in roller bags, and yes, sometimes they wouldn’t say anything. However, if not properly tagged when we took it to the dining room we were usually charged the corkage then. Now with the packages that include other perks and the increase in corkage it’s not worth it to us to haul it on. 

I agree. With the package we drink whatever is decent, but usually buy one bottle in port if we are in a good wine-producing region.  I just wish Princess would have more decent wines on board.  I know they are playing catch up from covid, but it is really not acceptable to be pouring generic wines, although I see lots of people ordering them without problem.

7 hours ago, XBGuy said:

 

 

So, you are saying that you could bring wine aboard without paying a corkage fee?  That was certainly a very friendly policy for wine drinkers.  How long ago was that?  My first Princess cruise was in 2011, and it seems to me that they had a $15/bottle corkage charge when I first started.  Of course, it was raised to $20/bottle a few years ago.

We started with Princess in 2010.  I never did it myself, but I heard a few people say they did.  They had a stated corkage fee, but sometimes looked the other way.  I think it was people bragging about it on CC that put an end to it.

  I think it's nice that you can still bring a bottle on, some cruise lines do not allow it at all.  I can still remember snagging a bottle of Amarone at a convenience store in Livorno for 20E.

Ugh.  Pushed the button accidentally. Back in the day, when we first cruised Princess, people would stop at Total Wine in Ft. Lauderdale and put a case on board, and there was no problem.

6 hours ago, XBGuy said:

 

???

 

Are you saying that they are now requiring that passengers carry on the wine instead of having porters load it?

 

The official printed policy has always been that passengers were allowed to carry on their own wine.  However, over the years I have read multiple reports where passengers have dropped off cases of wine with luggage tags attached and the porters have loaded them.  To my knowledge there has been no change in the Princess policy limiting the number of personal wines that can be brought on board,  So, from your statement I am wondering if they are insisting that if a passenger wants to bring a case of wine on board, he cannot check it at the pier with a porter.  

 

Can you please provide some clarification?

They no longer allow you to do this, they will charge you $20/ bottle corkage, but back i

On 6/5/2024 at 11:14 AM, GetGlowing said:

Thanks everyone for the comments and the buffet suggestion -- not a bad idea. 

We will be sailing after the change back to traditional dining and I'm going to try to get all our family on the same dining rotation. So maybe MDR service will improve? I'm curious to see how that works. 

We had thanksgiving on the Crown in 2022 in the South Pacific.  It was wonderful.  They had a huge buffet for lunch, pretty much anything you wanted including a steamship of beef.  For dinner they had a lovely menu with one of the managers making a homemade gnocchi dish to order, in addition to all the traditional choices.

Request a set time in the deck 6 aft dining room, the service there is superior to the piazza dining rooms.  It is not going to be a Thanksgiving dinner like you have at home, because it is a different animal.  
 

I found if you make it a holiday, the staff picks up on that because Thanksgiving is not something they have experienced, except on the ship.  You have the advantage of having your family along.  Include the staff with some questions about their traditions and share some of yours.  You might be surprised that you don’t miss the ambrosia salad as much.

Just caught up with this thread and am happy this is being discussed.  We are cheap wine snobs, meaning we get very good wine for cheap prices.  Bogo at Publix helps us achieve this, but we average less than $10 bottle for wines like CS Substance, Bread and Butter, Clay Shannon, Tribute, Art of the Cooper, etc.  If we can get these wines commercially, certainly Princess can negotiate a contract for something similar.  We can regularly get New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs for under $10.

Before Covid Princess revamped their wine list and it was excellent, great wines for decent prices.  This is when they used to offer the Gold/ Silver wines packages, before the Plus package. I would never order a wine by the type, I always ask the bartender or waiter the vintner and they are patient with me.  
 

Tini wines are even worse than Canyon Road, you can probably get these wines 3 for $10 somewhere.  I do agree the Erraruiz Carmenere is the best of the lot, but we usually pay up a couple bucks for the Seghesio or Silverado at dinner and use our beverage package for a couple of cocktails.  It is still worth the cost considering Wi-Fi and gratuities, oh and those fitness classes we all sign up for 😉.

I know the days of slapping a luggage tag on a case of wine from the Total Wine near Port Everglades is a thing of the past, but Princess has left us wine drinkers in the rear view mirror.  Please make sure to express displeasure on the surveys, we have seen them change things based on our comments before. Cheers!

I agree with all of these comments.  We have always got the best deal through Ez air and sometimes fly into one of their cities and take a separate flight to get to the cruise departure city in order to visit a landlocked city not available on cruises.  We generally love ez air.  One word of caution, last summer we flew on Eurowings Discover which was listed as an offshoot of United.  It was not worth it,  we had to pay for a glass of wine on an international flight and the seats had no room.  I am 5 feet at best and I had about 2 inches of clearance between my knees and the seat in front of me.  When the person in front of me put their seatback, I could not get out to go to the washroom.  Only silver lining is because I had status on United, we did not have to pay for bags.  Never again.

They had a show with traditional Greek dancers the night of the Pireas port (Athens).  They were very good and the show was well attended.

Did the 28day last November on the Crown.  If you have seen the movie Moana, that is the cartoon version of Moorea.  Like a fairytale.  We took a tour on a private company starting with a V and it is one of my top 3 tours of all time, maybe number 1.  We took a small outrigger boat with about 12 people.  Swam with sharks and rays, went snorkeling, barbecue lunch on a motu.

When contemplating this trip, keep in mind that (although we had an inside cabin) with the Princess plus package the trip cost about as much as a round trip airfare to Tahiti.  Plus that airfare included two stops and took over 24 hours.

2 hours ago, mike&elena said:

We haven't been to Iceland or Tahiti.  Our most recent 'long' cruise was 20 days on the Diamond last year to Central America.  More recently, we've taken the Emerald to Alaska and along the California Coast.  You'll probably recognize Mike because he's 6'3".  See you soon!

Mike & Elena

Tell him to look down for me, I might crack 5 feet on a good day.😂 Verymuch looking forward to meeting you and for this trip.  On the Tahiti cruise our CD was Olivia Guthrie and I see she is on theEnchanted.  She is delightful and very hard working.  BTW we have a wonderful private tour out of Livorno to Cinque Terre.  If you are interested I can send you the details or you can look at it on the roll call.

See you soon!

1 hour ago, mike&elena said:

 

We like your style!  We'll be on the 22-day Enchanted cruise this month too and we look forward to joining you in Take Five.  It appears that the daily Elite and Platinum reception will be held there.

 

Mike & Elena 

 

 

 

I recognize the names.  Were you on the Iceland/ Greenland voyage last year or the 28 day Tahiti?  See you guys in Take 5, so glad to hear they are not ditching it.

We are on the Enchanted 10/22 and we’re greatly looking forward to Take 5.  We truly enjoyed listening to jazz in the Bayou Steakhouse bar on the Island and were planning on frequenting this venue often on our 22 day voyage.  Will be be greatly disappointed if not there.  We also spoke to some musicians on the Caribbean who said it was their favorite venue to play.  Princess, if you are listening,  remember your target audience.  We are Elite on Princess because it is one of the last cruise ships that recognizes the desire for elegance.

21 hours ago, princesscruise2020 said:

We are having the same situation as Musky! I have 2 bookings. Both are 50 plus when we bought in September 2022 under LOVE BOAT PROMOTION INCLUDING wifi, crew appreciation and Plus Beverage.  I open the medallion app under PACKAGES: One reservation is showing 60+juice bar (wifi, crew, appreciation, plus beverage, premium dessert, fitness class, causal dining, medallion shipping, ocean ready delivery, and room service delivery) The other one is showing PLUS (only has wifi, crew appreciation and plus beverage).  It’s so strange that both reservations show different benefits for the same plus 50 packages. I will go to  customer services desk to codify the components of the past package that I bought. Therefore, I will not get the price on the statements. 

When I look at the app it shows no packages, although on the website under travel summary they show. Any suggestions?

17 hours ago, susanb0424 said:

So the Palm is at the back of the ship, so that is the best??  

 

The Palm is at the back.  I believe in the app you choose a time and you can pick from private or shared table, if not, you can just request on the first night and they will accomodate you.

5 hours ago, Crystaltipps67 said:

I am so glad I discovered the Atomic Pomm in Take Five on Sky Princess early on in our recent cruise. It's a keeper for me - green chilli vodka, pomegranate juice and lime. Delicious!! 

I have to try that. We will be cruising on a ship with Take 5 for the first time in October, and am interested in any other suggestions of their specialty cocktails.

In return, I am going to add my suggestions:

DH is very fond of the 24K (rocks, no salt), Chairman of the Board, and Pirat and Gulden Draak Belgian beers.

My favorites are an afternoon Aperol Spritz accompanying a good book in Crooners, Chocolate Mint Martini after dinner (not creamy), Espresso martini, and my secret menu addition - the Crouching Tiger Martini (vodka, lychee liquor, raspberry purée).  
 

Us wine drinkers need to keep filling out the surveys to get rid of the “generic” wine offerings.

1 hour ago, fpsphil said:

Our favorite bartender has been in Take 5 the entire cruise so we are always going for her suggestions

How is the Take Five?  We have not been to one yet and are really looking forward to it.  Do they have

specialty cocktails?

After almost 250 days at sea, I finally got it through my head, if you want the best dining experience, choose the rear dining room.  The most experienced waiters are in that dining room and you will get the best service.  
 

We were on the Caribbean in April and had Agustin and he was terrific, as was the assistant waiter Greggy.  

14 hours ago, Bridgestone66 said:

One last request from future cruiser in m107.  Patter doesn’t have menus for the main dining does it?    I guess it will post on the app soon.  Curious so I can plan specialty dining around good nights.  Thanks again I appreciate all the info and pictures.  We will be there soon

 

MDR menus can be seen on the app for every night once you board.  You will go to the Dine My Way section - View or book daily reservation and there is a box to click with each nights menu. You have to have a reservation in the MDR to see their menu.  If you have a specialty reservation, it will show you that menu.

Bon Voyage!!

Thanks!  We will be on Oct 21 for the 22 day RT Barcelona.  Would love info on the new restaurants and also, if you have time, the Take 5 jazz club and what kind of wines are being served with the Plus package now. 

BTW - do you know if my husband and I each had a separate account, can we each get 5?  Timing is short so we can't wait the extra month.

Thanks for all this.  Just dove in with the rest of you!  10% baby.

Does anybody know if Gary Golding will still be on the Enchanted in October?

On 1/28/2023 at 12:11 PM, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

Well, if the above schedule is still accurate, Enchanted is scheduled for dry dock this spring march 29-April 15, and princess.com shows no cruises for those dates on enchanted, so I’d say that schedule is  still accurate.

 

If so, then a dry dock in 2024 seems very unlikely.  

 

Now, why there is no schedule yet for enchanted, or emerald also, is a question I would like to know, also.  Trying to decide between a cruise and land vacation for that summer, and need to know schedules and prices!

Does anybody know what they are doing to the Enchanted in dry dock?

We were on this cruise with you, thanks for the great memories!  We were the obnoxious couple that won the twist contest In the piazza on the last formal night.  These were all bucket list stops for us as well, although we have been to Cobh several times.  If you ever get back there, try to go to Kelly’s pub, on the street that fronts the port just down the street.  Sometimes the performers from the ship go down there, especially in the afternoon.  
 

Happy Holidays!