pppatpc2

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!

7 minutes ago, traveling1969 said:

A Visit From St Nicholas

(With Apologies to Clement Clarke Moore)

 

T'was the night before Christmas, when all through the ship,

not a creature was stirring, no drinks left to sip.

The stockings were hung on the balconies with glee

in hopes that St Nicholas would find us at sea.

 

The cruisers were snuggled all warm in their bunks.

The guys with their sweeties, the girls with their hunks.

And Joyce in her jammies and I in the buff

had just taken bonine as the seas were quite rough.

 

When somewhere above there resounded a roar

I sprang from my bed and fell flat on the floor.

Away to the slider I stumbled and lurched,

went out to the balcony and searched and searched.

 

The moon on the waves cast an eerie bright light

so it looked more like noon, instead of midnight.

When what apparition appeared on the seas

but a bright red tender pulled by 8 red jet skis.

 

And atop the tender, with a whip in his hand,

was a bearded jolly elf so plump and so tanned.

And they sped o'er the wavetops onward they came

he whistled and shouted and called them by name.

 

On Regal, on Royal, on Golden and Grand,

on Diamond, on Coral, on Emerald and Island.

On up to the Lido, and it's MUTS screen so tall

now dash away, dash away, dash away all.

 

As zephyrs, and breezes and hurricanes blew

they arose to the sky, on the updrafts they flew.

So up to the sky bridge in search of a flue

went the vessels with Santa and all of his crew.

 

And above we could hear them, it sounded so cool

as the tender and jet skies did donuts in the pool.

As it grew quiet, we heard a faint sound

and there was St Nicholas as we turned around.

 

He was dressed in a wet suit with flippers and all

he was almost as wide as he truly was tall.

He had a case of wine under each arm

with Pinots and Malbecs to help us stay warm.

 

His eyes were all bloodshot but oh, how they twinkled.

His hands they looked frozen, so red and so wrinkled.

He opened his mouth and let go with a yell

"Hey let's open this wine, I'm about cold as hell"

 

He pulled out a pipe and some green stuff and said

"No, I'll save this for later, I've a long night ahead".

He looked like a sausage packed tight; he was stout

but his belly was pooching as his spanx it gave out.

 

With a wink of his eye and a twist of his head

he opened and poured us a large glass of red.

After that he was silent and set to his task,

filled our stockings with wine and put some in his flask.

 

Then he jumped off the balcony but went up not down

and the mist began swirling around and around.

His minions were waiting, to the tender he flew

and they headed to the next ship to give them their due.

 

But we heard him exclaim as he sailed out of sight

"Happy Cruising to all and to all a good night".

 

Merry Christmas

Thanks for amusing us on a Sunday afternoon!  May 2023 bring peace and happiness to all, Merry Christmas!

Just now, wowzz said:

I thought the gratuity was 18 % ?

My bad. Typo.

9 hours ago, suzyed said:

I have to admit there was a red blend on the "plus" wine list that wasn't half bad.  But most times we ordered from the regular wine list and paid the small upcharge.

 

You may be thinking of the Nikiari Bourdeaux blend which was our go-to wine on our last cruise, at a one dollar upcharge.  More like this would be perfectly acceptable.  It did make our stateroom account comical with $1.13 charges (dollar plus gratuity) appearing quite frequently.  The most annoying thing was we were also charged tax in the Hawaiian islands.

4 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

Speaking of the quality of wines, we did a blind taste test of wines at Pirate Manor several years ago.  Whites, blush, and reds.  She Who Must Be Obeyed did the pours and was the only one who knew what was what.  

 

Low and behold, the budget wines won out across the board.  Even our wine snob friends were flummoxed and somewhat embarrassed that their palates betrayed them. But it was quite a fun party.

 

I am reminded of the words of our town wino "wine is not wine unless you drink it from a brown paper bag behind the store where you bought it"

There are budget wines 😀 and there are budget wines 😝.  The ones Princess is serving are of the 😝 category.  I’d be perfectly happy with 3 buck chuck.  If the wineries can supply the entire Publix chain so that they can sell Petit Petite for $8.50 a bottle on the BOGO, I think wineries like Sterling, Chateau Ste Michelle, or even Bogle could arrange something with Princess. Not my first choices, but better than what the current offerings are.

We spoke to one of the Food and Beverage officers who indicated that they are working on it.  Keep filling out those surveys!  (She said naively)

6 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

I mentioned this while OB. I don’t think we will get Bora Bora back because they substituted another day in Papeete.  However, not an even substitute, because originally, Bora Bora was 2 days. 
 

Pago Pago was substituted for a sea day. That definitely should be refunded.

I called OB, twice, because we have always received port fee credits on the actual day the port was missed on our folio, or the following day.

 

I was told my GS employees, including an officer at GS, it would be refunded back on our CC used to purchase the cruise.

Hmmm

 

I received my credit for the transfers today (to my original payment method) but not port charges.

4 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

 

 

The most I have carried on for a cruise is two cases and that was for our longest voyage to-date - 60 nights around South America.  Don't recall if I bought any additional in ports, but perhaps a small amount.  If we were a bottle-a-day folks, IDK how I would manage 5 cases.  LOL.  Anyway, it is often possible to supplement the initial haul with additional bottles at port stops. 

 

But it can be a burden to get a significant amount onto the ship.  And with 5 cases, I'd need to bring a wine cooler as well.  😉

 

I remember the “good old days” when you could slap a luggage tag on a box from Total Wine in Fort Lauderdale. 😏. Hopefully they don’t eliminate the ability to bring on wine from the ports.

Off the Crown for the 28 day Tahiti run, they eliminated 2 ports that we originally paid for (Bora Bora and Pago Pago) and are still waiting for port charges.  My DH called and they said they would refund.  Also asked for a refund for Princess transfers to LAX since we waited in the sun for 2 hours and eventually had to take a cab.  Never again.

As promised, reporting on wine situation first hand from the Crown.  There is a very simple rule...don’t get wine from any of the outdoor bars.  It was explained to me that they cannot climate control any good wine outdoor, hence they don’t serve them.  I shudder to report there is worse wine than Canyon Road being served out there, 😳 namely Tisdale (3 for $10 at the grocery store).  We are sticking to cocktails and go to Vines before dinner and get a double to take to the dining room.  There are a few decent things in the plus package Spellbound Petite Syrah and a nice French Sauvignon Blanc, but we pay the extra dollar per glass and they have nicer options, namely C3 substance and our new favorite La Vigne Nikiara Meritage.  
 

This is a workable solution for us.  Thought you’d want to know.

On 11/10/2022 at 11:29 PM, dides said:

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SHIP	CAPTAIN	CRUISE DIRECTOR	ENTERTAINMENT DIRECTOR	DIR, RESTAURANT OP's
Caribbean Princess	Vincenzo Lubrano	Kristoff Greyling	Daniel Gibson	Oscar Perego
Coral Princess	Diego Perra	Kevin Tugwell		Joachim Rothe
Crown Princess	Vincenzo Lembo	Olivia Guthrie	Michael Kujawski	Mariusz Czemarmazowicz
Diamond Princess	Stephano Ravera	Sophie Gideon
Discovery Princess	John Smith	DuVaul Gamble	Neil Rose	Francisco Patricio
Emerald Princess	Christopher Lye	Marcus Prince Juanta	Martyn Moss	Rui Manoele
Enchanted Princess	Mario Ciruzzi	Jody Miles	Bernie Fuentes	Silvio Zampieri
Grand Princess	Michele Bartolomei	Aaron Hawkins	Callie Smit	Paul Ciobanu
Island Princess	Paul Slight	Andi Sanders	Susan Rawlings	Francesco Ciorfito
Majestic Princess	Michele Tuvo	Armando Merin	Ben Powney	Neville Saldanha
Regal Princess	Aldo Traverso	Gary Golding	Alex Yepremian	Nicola Furlan
Royal Princess	Tony Draper	Corinne Steele	Ruth Sandell	Claudio Giuliani
Ruby Princess	Mario Tani	Aaron Mac	Sammi McDonough	Giuseppe Gelmini
Sapphire Princess	Todd McBain	Fernando Cunha	Marissa Wurms	Mario Propato
Sky Princess	Heikki Laakkonenn	Paul Chandler-Burns	Matt Thompson	Valentin Ciprian Hoidreag

 

<COPY TO THIS LINE SO THERE IS SPACE TO TYPE CHANGE NOTES AFTER THE CHART>

Sophie Gideon has just left as ACD on Discovery Princess and been promoted to Cruise Director of Diamond Princess.  She is lovely and great fun - had a good natter with her on the day she joined Discovery on our cruise at the end of September. 

The Dine line opens at noon. So when we have done it in the past, we stand by a house phone and call right at noon.  They are more likely to choose you if you have no dietary restrictions.  We also tell them we will eat whatever the chef prepares.  Also, the Maitre’ D used to take requests in the dining room the afternoon on embarkation days, but that seems to have gone away.  
 

Keep in mind, since COVID, they no longer do appetizers in the galley, which was my favorite part. 

The ayes have it!!!!  We absolutely adored him.  We saw him a few years back, probably 2017.  I agree, I would take a cruise just because he is on it.

When we went through the locks on the Caribbean, it was raining pretty hard.  We got up early and got a good seat in Skywalkers, from that lounge you can see all vantage points. You also have quick access to the top deck, if you want to go outside.

3 hours ago, PTMary said:

 

Hit the "+" to the left of the "Quote" button and the "+" on any additional posts you want to quote and you will be able to include two or more quotes. 

2 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

 

And then once you have done that click on the resultant box that looks like this:

 

Look at me go!  Thanks for the tip.

We were on the Island in August and heard a lot of how run down the ship was, but that was not our experience.  I thought it could certainly use updating but thought it looked fine. Anything it lacked in modern decor was more then made up for by the staff.  Maybe the best service we have ever had.

You can get pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, tacos, etc. out by the pool outside of mealtimes.  There are two coffee bars, one at the Good Spirits and the other in the buffet next to the desserts.  Otherwise, no matter where you are, you can order snacks/sandwiches/coffee from the medallion app to be served wherever you are. We on deck watching the glaciers in Greenland and ordered two Irish coffees from our app and about 7 minutes later, the nice man just walked right up to us, also ordered Guacamole to have in Explorer’s, sandwich in Crooners.  It is heaven.

I also liked the indoor pool area on the Island.

20 hours ago, geniesue said:

Sailing through the orchard my new favorite!  Vodka, spiced pear liqueur, elderflower liqueur, triple sec, lemon juice, simple syrup, aromatic bitters, delicious!

I have many comments, regarding several of these posts, but don’t know how to quote more than one person.

First, I am a big fan of Sailing Through the Orchards and the Baked Alaska.  I am a fan of sweet, but not creamy martinis.

Secondly, although most of the martinis are included in Plus package, the espresso martini is a little extra. However, when I was on the Island in August, if I ordered it in Explorers, they called it something different and said “oh, you mean the blah blah”, which is included.

Also, my personal favorite “secret” martini, which was only listed on an Asian cruise I took, was the Crouching Tiger.  It is raspberry and lychee, and rarely available, but I have found the last two cruises they will make it for me in Explorer’s.  
 

For sweet/spicy, I like the watermelon drink at Good Spirits.
 

I also wish I could get a pack of the martini cards.  I have 21 sea days coming up to do more “research”.

14 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

I just went through several threads with a bunch of the "new" menus and didn't find this listed in any of them. Do you remember what the price was for the Nicolas Feuillatte?

That is usually what they serve with the appetizers for the Chef's dinner and also is offered in Bellini's on the Royal class ships.

3 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

We’ve only cruised on Princess since the restart and have been extremely happy with the wine selections until this most recent cruise.  We were always able to get some decent wines within the plus package and even upgraded to the premier package for the second leg of our B2B cruise.  All was fine until they ran out of my favorite Chardonnay, Rombauer.  They were serving me a Hartford Chardonnay instead.  It isn’t my favorite but very drinkable.  I would have preferred the Mer Soleil, though, which I could easily find onboard in the past and it was offered by the glass within the plus package.  I was also served Nicolas Feuillatte sparkling wine in Crooners, which is decent.  As far as red wine, I found a nice Chianti in Sabatini’s.  
I’ve once again upgraded to the premier package and hope they have some nice white wines, especially Chardonnays that I like.  I know that Princess is really trying to keep their overhead low while still making a profit and I do support those efforts.  I couldn’t care less if they remove the little gold goodie bags or even the laundry.  But, if I am paying for the premier package, I would certainly hope I could get a drinkable wine at most of the bars I visit.  
Now, on a very positive note, I have noticed a great improvement in their dining .. nearly everything was excellent on our most recent sailing.  
 

 

 

Thanks for this. I also have found the food very good lately.  2 more weeks before I can report first hand On Plus wine selections and with now 21 sea days, I will have plenty of time to “research”. 😊

We are looking into two more cruises for next year and are reconsidering even the Plus package.  There is no sense spending the extra for "cheap wedding wine".  

We will end up spending 51 days at sea this year on Princess and are rooting for them to survive turbulent times, but this is a hot button with one of their main demographics and I hope they don't lose too many passengers to other lines. 

14 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

We just disembarked from the Royal a few days ago.  All that was available in terms of white wines under the plus package was Canyon Road and a Santa Helena.  The Canyon Road Chardonnay is just not good at all.  I upgraded to the premier package for the 2nd leg of our B2B and was able to get a glass of Rombauer at Vines and the Crown Grill Bar but by the last couple days of the cruise, they said they had no more.  They did offer me a Hartford Chardonnay but that comes nowhere near Rombauer, IMO.  There is also a Beringer Premium at the same price point ... seriously??  

Once in a great while, they found some Decoy for me, but only the chardonnay.  They no longer had Mer Soliel Chardonnay, Decoy Merlot or the Meomi (sp?) Pinot Noir, which were all such decent choices on the Plus Package just a few weeks prior.  

So, my DH found that he liked Substance Cabernet.  Others were Chocolate Block and Spellbound, that could be found in Vines.  I'm thinking all of these wines incurred a small charge over the Plus package price (like a dollar or two over).  He also liked the Seghesio Old Vine Zin but that was more along the lines of the Premier Package pricing.  

 

So, the answer to your question is most venues, at least on the Royal, only served that Canyon Road wine.  I understood the pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc were better than the chardonnay in the plus package.  I didn't try either of them.  

 

So, funny story, I asked the waiter from Good Spirits what kind of wine they had.  He brought me a menu.  I asked which of the wines were actually available as I saw a few that I liked.  He came back and said, 'none of them, ma'am'.  Oh boy .. they did find a Decoy Chardonnay for me after all that.  It's not my favorite but was at least drinkable.  

 

 

 

 

Canyon Road,  really?!!!!  Wow.

15 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

With the Crew Chat feature, asking the bartender to track you down if there are any nice bottles in need of finishing is never a bad idea!  Thread drift, but back in the day when the California Grill first opened at Disney World (if you are familiar with it), they had a policy (since changed) that you could order wines by the glass from almost any bottle on their list.  (They excepted out things like Harlan and Hillside Select.)  One day my wife and I arrived in town too late for dinner, but we decided to try to have dessert up at the California Grill bar.  We ended up closing the place down with the bartender (Ray. I'll never forget him.)  Once he figured out our passion for wine, it was two hours of: ""Try this!" (Peter Michael Chardonnay) and "See if you like this" (Martinelli Pinot Noir).  And on and on.  He said that these were all opened during the evening and they never try to store fine wines because, well, what's the point.  They would all be taken home by the staff if not consumed by customers.  Since most of what we had were short pours for educational purposes, at the end of the night he only charged us the equivalent of two glasses of wine when we probably had the equivalent of 5 or 6.  So he ended up with a tip that was the equivalent of the price of about 5 high-end glasses of wine.  So yes, it pays to make friends with bartenders who find themselves with a glass and a half of great wine left in a bottle. 

 

Oh. And as for the spoiled wine.  There is no guarantee that the wines spoiled due to being opened for 24 hours.  Few wines are that delicate.  How many bottles have you had that improved on day 2?  Countless.  It is entirely possible that the spoliation came during the pause when the storage conditions of wine on board ships remains a mystery.  Were these wines kept in 55 degree wine lockers?  Probably not.  90 degree storage areas in and around FLL?  Quite possibly.

I completely agree about befriending bartenders.  That should be another category on the thread about Captains, Cruise Directors, etc.  When they first started the wine tasting in Vines, it was only $15.  There was a bartender named Alan, who opened 8 bottles for 10 of us.  We had the best time.

59 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

All good points.  Wine storage for open bottles is irrelevant on a ship with 3,500 people.  They go through way too many bottles/glasses a day to worry about storing open wine.  Any good bartender will know how to use a smooth sales pitch to pour out the back half of an open bottle after 10:00 p.m..  Or use heavy pours to drain the bottle if need be. Or make the wine available to off duty crew members in the crew lounges.  But the turnover of the bottles on the ship is so fast that spending money on Coravins or other such systems would be foolish.  I've drunk some mighty fine "last pours" around midnight with sommeliers over the years.  Including an almost full glass of '61 Petrus from Magnum that the diners who ordered it did not finish. 🍷☺️

I hear what you’re saying but there were 4 half bottles of very good wine at a pool bar on the last ship that were all spoiled, broke my heart. 
 

Maybe I can just have them scan my medallion, if they have something good left at the end of the night. 😂

40 minutes ago, loge23 said:

I read recently on this board that the Elite 10% discount in the shops is no longer given, since Princess sold off the shops to an independent vendor. Can anyone confirm this?

Last cruise I was on in Aug/Sept the discount was still in effect.

Thank you to all for this.  I would be happy with Decoy merlot or Meiomi Pinot.  I have never been a fan of Spellbound Petite Syrah, although Petite Syrah is my favorite type of wine.  I agree about paying for the overage.  On our Iceland trip, it was pretty easy to find the “Chocolate Block” and at an extra price of $1 that was my go to.  
 

Those onboard, thanks for posting.  If there is interest, I will post here when I board the Crown Nov 9th.  It has just been through dry dock, and is taking a trip through wine country, so I hope we are well stocked for 28 days to Tahiti, I don’t think there is a Total Wine on that route and I would hate to have to buy pineapple wine.

2 hours ago, CruisinCouple2010 said:

Two cocktails that I recommend  are Mud Slide and Dirty Banana. Both are delicious.

Enjoy your cruise. 

These are extremely good and quite a splurge on calories.  Every party has a party pooper...  If it is your first time on Princess, go classic and order the Isaac, named after the bartender from the show.  My go to drinks with the package:

  Bloody Mary to start a sea day, Outrigger specializes in several different types           Aperol Spritz in Crooners while reading

Chocolate Mint martini after dinner

Sometimes they turn Sabatini’s into Alfredo’s on sea days.  They don’t announce it but you can find it listing on the dining room hours on the “Patter”, which is their activity schedule.

Ocean Medallion is a love/hate thing with Princess cruisers, but works very good for ordering the specialty coffees included in your plus package, as well as other food and beverage.  Servers find you by your medallion.  We ordered guacamole and chips in Explorer’s one night. Very convenient.

Welcome to Princess, I hope you like it as much as we do.