pilot

Our friends brought 9 bottles on our TA and were charge $20/bottle. We brought 2 and the line at the table was crowded and we told just to get on the ship. 

3 hours ago, jlawrence01 said:

if the dog is a legitimate service dog, the dog accompanies the passenger everywhere.

 

And if the HAL ship has a dog on board, the crew rolls out a small pallet with grass and a "fire hydrant" for the dog out onto the Promenade deck in the aft portion of the ship.

Not always true. When we got on the ship Sunday they were taking apart the dog potty area on the Promenade deck. There is nothing there now. No idea where the dog is going to do his business. 

Had a first last night in the dining room on Nieuw Statendam. Saw a couple leaving the dining room with a dog in a stroller. Have been on previous cruises and have seen working service dogs, but never have seen one pushed around in stroller through the dining room. 

1 hour ago, doghog said:

I'm not interested in any of that stuff. I'll just stick the medallion in my pocket like I always have with my SeaPass card. 

Why have both medallion and SeaPass card?

1 hour ago, doghog said:

I've read (a while ago) on the Princess forum that once onboard you can request at GS the medallion be exchanged for a Seapass card. Our last Princess cruise was 2010. A lot has changed in the last 14 years. 

I have heard that this is possible, but I can’t understand why anyone would want to. 

14 minutes ago, snaefell said:

Almost sounds like an invasion of your privacy,do you have any choice/input into what appears on the screen?

I’m guessing somewhere in their cruise contract, that you have to agree to, in order to sail, the cruise lines can do just about anything they want. 
 

Hopefully your cabin is your private space. Anywhere else on the ship, who knows. 

On the several cruises I have been on I have never just seen my info pop up. They have a place that you can tap your medallion and your picture comes up, but never had it show just by walking by. 
 

I did have something interesting happen on my 2 week Sky Princess cruise. We had a group of 4 that had standing reservations at dinner. One formal night we decided to skip dinner and stay in the bar. Thirty minutes after our reservation our restaurant manager walked up to us and asked if he needed to hold our table longer. We apologized for not canceling and told him no.  He was able to track us with our medallions. 
 

Some may not like this, but it doesn’t bother me. It’s a great way to keep track of your traveling group. Overall Princess has done a good service with the medallion. 

15 minutes ago, doghog said:

You also have to be in the green lane in order to have the medallions mailed to you.  

Almost…you must have your medallion beforehand to use the Green Lane. 

3 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

It has nothing to do with like, or dislike, of technology.

Sorry I must have misunderstood when you said “I would prefer RCI not do such a thing”. 
 

I took it that you hoped RCI would keep their old technology and not update to something newer. 

9 minutes ago, doghog said:

We received our Princess Medallions on 13 March for our 27 March cruise. No charge. About the size of a half dollar coin. Verdict is still out as this will be our first time using them. Still leaning towards the slim Seapass cards. They also came with a lanyard. 😂 Those immediately went in the trash. 

You must have purchased the Plus or Premier‘Package. 

6 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Good to know. Do they charge for the medallion?

If you have purchased one of their packages they mail medallions to your home no charge. If you haven’t purchased a package there is a $10 charge to mail. 
 

If you don’t want to pay, just pick up at the pier, no charge. 

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

I would prefer RCI not do such a thing.

No problem, some just don’t like new technology. 

8 minutes ago, Tlbecker1 said:

I am also one that has been fine with 1 day service.  It is so nice to not have to worry about leaving our room at a certain time twice a day. I wasn’t sure I would feel that way, but it has been nice.  

Never had a problem leaving our room at a certain time twice a day so room could be cleaned. The steward cleaned it on our schedule, not his. 

Most people are fine on RCCL because they don’t have a choice. So they accept it. We use to put RC in our cruise rotation with Princess, Celebrity, and Holland America, but now avoid them (unless we are taking grandkids…they love the activities on RC).  
 

The turn down service is not a big deal, but for us we will take our dollars elsewhere. With their full ships, I’m sure they don’t care. 

I know several people are going to jump on, so I will be first. This is what a good TA will do for you. Hopefully lesson learned. 

14 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

Carnival and NCL are also once a day now.

Did they lower tips when they cut service 50%?

Since we did the Quantum last June we did a 12 day Regal Princess, 14 day Sky Princess, and a 7 day Nieuw Amsterdam cruise. All of these cruises offered twice a day service. The daily service fees were the same for all cruises. Bottom line Royal Caribbean provides less service for the same charge. 
 

Holland America does give you the option to decline turn down service if you don't want it. 

I have NEVER had a supervisor call me back. 

On Nieuw Amsterdam the smoke was very noticeable on the starboard side of the Lido buffet. 

Got off the Sky last month, B618, worse mattress ever. 

Has anyone been charged at Fort Lauderdale for bringing 2 bottles of wine on board?

Got off the Sky Princess last early this month.

It was very clear to see what was refundable. There were two lines on the bottom of the folio showing refundable and non refundable balances.

Where in the new app can I add Shipmates?  Traveling with two other couples and want to add them so I can make dining reservations. 

Got off the Sky Feb 3, we spent 14 days on these loungers and didn’t have a problem. Did see all of the old ones stacked on port side. 
 

Not saying you can’t get hurt, but we didn’t notice any problem. 

Why?