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If you like seafood then Sabatini's is the obvious choice. If you don't like seafood, while there are one or possibly two items you can order at Sabatini's, be warned that the whole restaurant will reek of seafood (smells like ass).

For us the Crown Grill is perfect.

Me, 10 Princess cruises and have never seen anything on MUTS ;)

Me too. If I wanted to watch TV on vacation, I could have stayed home and paid virtually nothing...

I really don't understand how the menu is boring. There are SO MANY options...homestyle comfort foods, ethnic dishes from everywhere, vegetarian, etc. How...can...the..food...be boring...

 

I don't get it.

Perhaps this is a corollary to one of my favorite forum quotes... "People who often complain about being bored are usually boring people."

Carnival had made to order Pizza, Sandwiches, Hot dogs, all types of bread, free hot cocoa lemonade, even ice cream available alnight.

On our Carnival cruise the pizza was disgusting and soft (like microwaved bread texture) and the "always available ice cream" was the cheapest off-brand ice-ridden-horridly-textured ice milk, and my husband, normally a complete ice cream fiend, took one bite and didn't have any ice cream for the remainder of the cruise.

It will literally take two minutes to purchase, and for the bar staff to put the sticker on your card.

Don't bother pre-paying...

I almost fell out of my lounge chair when I read in my Princess Patter there was a Mr. Sexy Legs contest poolside. Maybe try sailing out of Texas. :)

We knew something was wrong when we saw this as well. We walked past during the event and it was awful. Trashiest Princess cruise we've ever taken - worse than a Carnival three-day with worse-than-Carnival people. Needless to say, we've learned our lesson... never book a short cruise again.

The culture is making it worse with the cell/ipad/constant attention to something moving...I see people walking their dogs with their nose in their phone/texting or talking......really?

I always think that is being so rude to the poor dog . . .

Think about what they do to their kids!

I don't think it is always about reading. Some people need stimulation outside of themselves to feel "vitality."

I believe these are officially called "extroverts", though "attention whores" is usually more apt.

I'm sorry but I cannot imagine taking a 2 year old on the White Pass Railway. That's a long time to keep a toddler entertained in a small space. I don't think the beautiful scenery will mean beans to a toddler. Or maybe I'm just a bit jaded because we had to listen to a screaming toddler through a significant part of our Alaska cruise last year.....which was NOT fun.

I would agree with this... the White Pass Railway tour is definitely not appropriate for a young child at all.

We were going to try Sabatini's for dinner this past week, but every time we walked through the area (near the photo racks, Sabatini's, and the Wheelhouse bar) it smelled as though the restrooms on either end of the photo gallery area were being piped into the restaurant.

I became seriously nauseous from the stank and my husband nixed the idea of even attempting Sabatini's for dinner. When we took our niece and nephew through the area, they declined as well, despite our offer of paying their cover charge.

Do we need to call for reservations nightly?

I recommend calling in the morning. On embarkation day, call as soon as you get in your cabin.

I like that everybody is in bed by 10:00 PM and people in their 30's are the youngest.

*Less passengers per square feet (or so it seems on the 3 classes we have sailed)

*Repeat passenger perks & FCC/OBC

*Customer service

*Food choices

*Rest & relaxation (empty nesters who rather enjoy peaceful times without young children while on vacation)

*Mini-suites or full suites with nice sized balconies & room to spread out.

I would agree with the above statements. Of the lines I've sailed, Princess has the best balance of things I appreciate, like:

*Itineraries are places I want to go

*Ports of embarkation are extremely convenient to me

*No advertising to families with children, and for most of the intineraries I care about there are few if any children

*Ship atmosphere is relaxing and not frenetic or full of forced activities - the crowd knows how to entertain themselves without the crew harrassing everyone into stupid activities to fill time

*Actual quiet areas on the ship

*Adults-only facilities that are truly adults-only

*Average age of fellow passengers is high enough to be sedate without being on a floating funeral home

*Much fewer loud drunkards (especially compared to Carnival - NEVER. AGAIN.)

*Dining options let us avoid being forced to sit with attention whores

On all of the Princess ships I've sailed on, this has only worked as expected on one of them. I wouldn't be surprised if they removed them; it's just another thing to constantly fix.

Yes, it's available. It's even available on the condiment tray in the Horizon Court, and at the grill on the Lido.

While my husband and I generally cruise because we want to see new places and get a taste for them, we are also very fond of the luxury of idle sea days in each other's company without any structure other than meals.

Though we are definitely not all that fond of meeting new people; after the first few cruises we could spot from a mile away the old farts who would drive forced conversations because they were bored and/or nosy, or because they were attention whores who needed an audience to ooh and ahh over there stories (while their spouse rolled their eyes and tuned it out...). That's when we discovered Anytime Dining. :D Our savior.

Personally, I've found that people who are easily bored are boring.

I have to quote this, it's brilliant.

If itinerary is one that you like, I'd then look for the smallest ship for Alaska. HAL and Princess will both have nice service, food and amenities.

Obviously if you go for a larger ship, there will be more public rooms,bars,entertainment options . Not sure if you are looking for something in particular onboard.

This cannot be stated enough... if you have a preference for crowds or a preference for quiet, choose appropriately, or you'll not enjoy your cruise nearly as much.

Personally I'd pick the itinerary that includes Glacier Bay.

I actually preferred Tracy Arm Fjord over Glacier Bay. It was much more intimate, even on a larger ship.

I prefer Princess over HAL because the demographic and ambience seems slightly younger on Princess.

One of my (well-cruised) table mates on my last cruise put it this way: "Some people would call a Princess ship a floating nursing home because of the average age of their passengers. The HAL ships are funeral homes in comparison..."

We're still anxiously awaiting witnessing someone drop an iPad overboard while trying to take pictures. It will happen... It will happen...

I got an iPad Air 2 for Christmas and wonder what people think about photography with an iPad. I always thought people looked stupid taking pictures with their iPads but the Air 2 has an 8 megapixel camera, my snapshot camera is 5 mp. I'm not talking professional level photography, just taking snapshots while cruising. Thoughts?

I recall seeing an elderly gentleman hauling around an iPad (completely unprotected and not even in a case) in the Butterly garden in Victoria, BC—a cobblestone, slick, uneven and rough surface—and our party basically thought he was insane.

Personally, I've had enough experiences with people holding up iPads in the air, blocking the view of others without any regard, all to take very poor pictures (*hint* it's much more difficult to hold an oblong, awkward, slick-to-the-fingers camera still enough to take good pictures, regardless of how many megapixels it has...).

My husband and I usually watch such persons with bated breath, waiting for the inevitable drop and satisfying crash of glass that it produces. (*hint* get a protective case. You will eventually drop it.)

We are receiving the comp first-night Crown seating on our upcoming 3-day cruise in a suite.

My in-laws ended up flying to New York, taking three back-to-back cruises on Cunard through Europe and Russia back to New York for less than the airfare it would have been to fly to London to start a single cruise there.

Purchasing the drink package (though not the Ultimate package) is the first thing we do once we drop our carry-ons in our stateroom.

You can go to any open bar, any open dining room, or the Horizon Court buffet to purchase it. On embarkation day, there are also typically staff members in the forward and aft elevator bays who will sell the packages, and you can usually purchase any of the wine-tasting events at the same time if you choose.

We've been to Mendenhall Glacier several times and are always amazed at the change from visit to visit.

One of the cable stations is currently playing The Love Boat on Thursdays, and during one show they had cast out there at Mendenhall; we were astounded at where the glacier was in the early 80's compared to our recent trips.

We've stopped participating - about three cruises ago, the Lotus Spa staff forced us to do the grand tour and infomercial to get the stamp... and then they didn't hold the drawing at the sailaway, they forced you to go the Lotus Spa instead (naturally you had to be present to win, of course... :rolleyes: ).

Since then the cruises we've been on have also not had the drawing at sailaway, so we haven't bothered. It was always apparent that they were trying to get you to spend money (given the "value" of the prizes), but now it's just obnoxious.

Our first three cruises we did traditional dining (which we found tiresome and limiting), and every cruise since has been Anytime dining.

The only time we've ever waited for a table has been when we've gotten to the dining room earlier than our reservation. The materials in your cabin indicate how anytime dining works and how to make a reservation.

It's a bit ridiculous to think that you could simply walk up and get seated immediately during the old fogey hours (5:30-7) when there are 1,500 to 3,000 other people on the ship wanting to do the same thing.

Hence, researvations.

When we've received onboard TA credits, they've been on a card received in the room with your various Princess materials.

The Beef Wellington is on the menu for the second formal night, when lobster/prawns are the featured dish; it's a consolation prize for those of us who don't enjoy eating insects.

This is always an interesting topic for me... we specifically book our cruises to avoid having to deal with other people's children.

While I agree time of year has a large effect on the average age, I think the main determinant is often cruise length, for reasons already explained... working adults like us simply can't spare the time for a long cruise.

With that said, one of the cruises we took with the highest average age was a "last of season" Alaska cruise (when places like Skagway were shutting down for the fall). I'd guess the average cruiser was in their 70's... we only saw 3 children the entire trip, and that was in a single family.

Now on our 10-day Mexico honeymoon cruise this year, one of our (elderly) dinner companions pointed out that "the average age of this cruise was deceased."