flourpot
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Posts posted by flourpot
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It was around 2 weeks for me. I got an email confirmation but my travel partner did not with her submission. When I called, they said both of us had the match and deep blue extras (and we both had it when we boarded the ship in March). If you don't see an email around the 2 week mark, give them a call or use the chat feature and see if it went through.
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I am going to be doing a B2B on the Valliant Lady this summer and am wondering if any food venues will be open on turnaround day (after everyone gets off the ship and before the new passengers get on).
Thanks!
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I just booked a cruise for December and noticed that there is an option to prepay for excursions now instead of just reserving an excursion. The option to reserve without payment wasn't there. I also realize that it is more than 200 days out until the cruise and excursions typically don't pop up until about 75 days before, so that might be new and it might give the reservation without payment option closer to sailing. Anyone know anything about this?
Thanks!
Bonnie
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Wow! Thank you so much for all your info! We're thinking about going to a specialty restaurant, but are hesitant if I will just get a bowl of fruit for dessert. That doesn't seem worth the cover charge. We leave in a week for our cruise and I'm excited to cruise as a Celiac for the first time. Thanks again!!!
Bonnie (aka flourpot)
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I have been diagnosed 11years and in that time done about 17 cruises with Princess. They have improved year on year the quality and choice of foods available. I have never failed to get gluten free on an excursion any where in the world. Just tell the excursion desk as early as possible and let the guide know who you are as someone once stole my food because they had not ordered gluten free but expected the maître de to pass it onto the excursion desk.
This is amazing! Thank you!!!!! :D
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Thanks so much for all your help everyone! I'm feeling much better about my trip around Cape Horn in December now. :-)
- Bonnie
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At the HC Talk to one of the head waiters or Head Lido chef about what is safe to eat. Be careful of cross-contamination.
OP I'm finding it ironic that you're allergic to gluten. :):):)
We have other allergies and have had success eating onshore. Going to non-English speaking countries we take allergy cards. I've made our own but you can order from selectwisely.com.
Haha! Sadie, I hadn't noticed my name on here being gluten-FUL. That's pretty funny. Maybe it was a sign of what was to come. ;-)
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They are good with special diets. Talk to the Matre d' as soon as possible after boarding so they are aware of your needs. This is not an unusual condition or diet' date=' so they are quite familiar with it. It is obviously easier with traditional dining than any time, but any time will just delay your food a little. At breakfast and lunch sit downs, let the head server know when you enter the room and let the server know in case the message didn't get relayed.
You can have gluten free rolls, breads, sauces, etc. As to the buffet, they will typically walk thru the buffet with you and go to the back to get whatever you indicate you want so there is no risk of cross contamination (they get it from a fresh container which has not been out on the buffet.)
Excursions, unfortunately you are on your own. In some ports it is illegal to take food from the ship. Others allow packaged food but nothing fresh, and some don't care. I'd suggest you bring some protein bars or other packaged food for just those occasions...if you can get something on land, that's great. If not, you'll have something to eat until you get back to the ship.[/quote']
Thank you so much for your input! :-)
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The pizza out by the pool can be made with a gluten free crust. It takes a little longer to get since they make it especially for you. I can't comment on anything else as I've just observed people ordering their pizzas.
Thanks for the info!
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Hi all, I have cruised with Princess many times (I think I'm at 17 now) and I've never had anything out of the ordinary (medical wise) to deal with. I was recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease (gluten/wheat allergy in simpler terms), and am wondering how Princess is with dealing with that. I searched on here, but the most recent info I could find was from 2013, and I'm hoping someone has cruised gluten free since then and can give me some info.
My main questions are:
- Are there certain gf items that are on board that I should ask about?
- Are there specific gf items that I can get at breakfast (toast, muffins, English muffins, waffles, pancakes, etc.) or dinner (rolls, sauces, etc.)?
- Will I be able to get gf pizza, burgers, sausages, etc. out at the grill on the pool deck?
- What do I do when the restaurant is closed? Do I go to the buffet? How does that work without getting cross contaminated?
- What do I do when I have booked an excursion through Princess with a meal included? Do I just skip the meal and bring a protein bar or will Princess accommodate me on an excursion as well?
Thanks so much for any help you can provide.
:-)
Bonnie
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I'm currently sitting in the Piazza of the Grand with my soy hot chocolate and was reading the coffee menu. It has changed and is new (at least since I last cruised in March) and I thought I'd post it here. There are new options for us non coffee drinkers such as chai tea and cold tea fusions. I really like the cranberry pomegranate tea. Here's a picture of the new menu. :-)
:-)
Bonnie
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Thanks! What is the furniture like? Loungers? Chairs with foot stools?
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Hi all,
I am looking at booking a cruise on the Grand and was looking at the "Premium" balconies on the Caribe deck. Does anyone know what makes those balconies "Premium"? Do they have special furniture or something?
Also, if you have any info on specific cabins on this deck, I'd love to hear it! I was looking in the mid aft (C601-C623) and mid forward (C246-C319) range. Thanks for any insight.
:-)
Bonnie
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It's now 2:00pm and we're still at the small island in Greece. The Red Cross came onboard, as well as the Greek Child Protective Services because there were apparently a number of minors included in the 117 refugees from Syria. They had to get clearance from the local authorities to remove the children from our ship and take them into Greece.*
The captain just came on the intercom and said that all of the refugees are safely on shore and we're free to go as soon as we put our lifeboats back up. He also said that instead of going to Istanbul (it's now too far away and we won't make it in time), we will be spending tomorrow in San Torini, Greece. I don't know anything about it, but people on board cheered when it was announced (if you know anything, please tell us!). The shore excursions desk asked for 2 hours to get tours ready for us (pretty spectacular to get that going in only 2 hours in my opinion) and they would have info sent to our cabin.
We just started moving again and the captain tells us we'll *be in San Torini tomorrow from 8:00am to 8:00pm.
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It's now 11:20am and the captain just told us that our ship has received clearance to disembark the Syrian refugees to the Grecian authorities. The Greek coast guard is here. He said that the women and children (we saw a baby girl somewhere around 1 year old) will be getting priority on the first tender boats and the remaining men will follow in later boats. The refugees stayed on the very front of the ship where they were given lounge chair and mats, as well as towels and blankets, and were fed. The captain said that he would come back on the intercom after the refugees were disembarked and he would tell us where we will be headed and when we will arrive there. I don't think he knows where we're going after this is over.
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It is now 5:25am and we've been up all night. We now have 117 refugees in the front of our ship and off of their sailboat. At first count, the captain counted only 25 people on the top of the sailboat, so they must have been packed in underneath. We're all shocked that that many people were on that small boat. We thought that we were just standing by to help if needed, but as we watched, it was evident that the people onboard didn't know how to sail the boat.
We're now headed to a Greek island that starts with a K about 75 miles from where we currently are with a port large enough for us to drop them off. I'm not really sure where we are right now since we went off course many hours ago.
The cruise director just came on the intercom at 9:30am and said that we will be arriving in the small island of Katakolon, Greece at about 10:30am with the 117 Syrian refugees that we picked up overnight. Because we don't know how long we'll have to stay in Katakolon (we arrived at the scene around 8:00pm and didn't leave with the refugees until 5:30am the next morning...I thought we'd only be a few hours helping out...not hanging around for many hours before eventually bringing them onboard), we aren't going to Istanbul and we don't know where we're heading next. According to the cruise director, the refugees are being well cared for by the ship's security.
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It is now 5:25am and we've been up all night. We now have 117 refugees in the front of our ship and off of their sailboat. At first count, the captain counted only 25 people on the top of the sailboat, so they must have been packed in underneath. We're all shocked that that many people were on that small boat. We thought that we were just standing by to help if needed, but as we watched, it was evident that the people onboard didn't know how to sail the boat.
We're now headed to a Greek island that starts with a K about 75 miles from where we currently are with a port large enough for us to drop them off. I'm not really sure where we are right now since we went off course many hours ago.
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It's currently 8:50pm on Saturday night. The captain just came on the intercom and told us that the Greek coast guard contacted us and asked us to leave our current course and head toward "a ship with many passengers that is in distress". The captain said that we are about an hour and a half away from the ship and he'll update us again as we get closer.
Ship in distress update: We went up onto the top deck of our ship to see what was going on. We saw 2 lights in the distance and a flare in the air. When we got close to the boat, we saw that it was a large sailboat. The captain came on the intercom and said that there were at least 25-30 people that they could see on the top deck and maybe more underneath. The people on the sailboat are definitely getting wet, as it is very windy outside and the waves are large and spilling over the sides of their boat. The captain said that he was talking with the Greek coast guard in Athens and they will be here in approximately 45 minutes so our ship is supposed to keep an eye on them and make sure they're OK while we wait. We have life boats ready to go if need be, but it doesn't look like the sail boat is currently sinking. I'll post again when I get another update.
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It's currently 8:50pm on Saturday night. The captain just came on the intercom and told us that the Greek coast guard contacted us and asked us to leave our current course and head toward "a ship with many passengers that is in distress". The captain said that we are about an hour and a half away from the ship and he'll update us again as we get closer.
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Good morning!
I'm currently sitting on one of the 4 brand new aft facing balconies on the Island sailing between Venice and Istanbul on the Grand Mediterranean itinerary. Before I left, I said I would report on the room and ship since it's drydock.
So far, so good. I know that there was a problem with one of the engines or something on the previous cruise (I'm typing this offline, so I can't check the specifics), but I'm happy to report that everything is fixed and we are traveling at full speed on this first of 2 sea days.
As far as the new balcony room, we are in B741 and are one of only 4 rear facing balconies on the whole ship (with the exception of a couple of suites). The balcony room is a tiny bit smaller (the only thing I noticed is that there is a *tiny* bit less room at the end of the bed, but it's really not very noticeable. When you first walk into the room, you need to use your cruise card to make the lights and a/c work (I put my JoAnn Fabrics teacher discount card in the slot...any flat, plastic card will work...so I could have the a/c going while out of the room cause it's hot here). When you put the card in the slot, all the lights turn on and they are VERY bright LEDs. One change is that the 2 switches by the door don't control closet area for one and the bedroom area for the other. The closest switch to the door turns on 2 small canister lights over the bed and the switch further from the door controls extremely bright lights in the closet area as well as the bedroom area. The problem I found with this was that if you want to take a shower the morning and then get dressed in the closet area, you will wake up the other person in the bedroom area if you turn on the closet area lights. Otherwise, you just have to get dressed in the dark. The closet area itself is exactly the same as other ships, along with the cabinet with the safe. There's a coat hook on the wall behind the front door, which is different.
The bathroom is where I saw most of the changes. There is no longer an overhead light. Instead, there are 2 lights built into the mirror. They work fine and I think they're actually better than the overhead. The shelving near the sink is more spacious (I can actually stand my electric toothbrush up in it!). The sink is awesome! It's a large rectangle. There's so much more space. I was able to wash a few clothing items in the sink without the worry of splashing water everywhere. There's also a free standing soap dish. The shower is HUGE! I haven't smacked my elbows into the side of the walls once! Instead of a square, it is a rectangle with a shelf on one end (you could put your foot up on it) and the shower at the other (it's a pull down shower head where you can adjust the height of it). There is also a soap dish shelf near the shower head like in other ships. The only thing I don't like is where the toilet paper is located. It's kind of behind the toilet, under the sink, so you have to twist around to get to it. Other than that, the bathroom is pure awesomeness.
OK, moving out to the bedroom area. The beds are brand new. We always ask for egg crates, but didn't need them for these beds...so much better than usual (I do realize that we are only the 3rd people to sleep in them, so that's probably why). The TV is mounted on the wall directly opposite the beds and is quite big. They have installed Samsung smart TVs and I'm sure they're for when the ship gets upgraded to the Princess@Sea and OnDemand, which hasn't happened yet. Anyway, having the TV out of the corner gives you and extra flat storage space above the mini bar fridge which is wider than before. You still have the small table next to the mini bar and the desk with chair on the opposite side if the room, along with another chair. Oh! You won't find the hair dryer on the wall near the desk. I was very confused and thought they had need eliminated. They have new hairdryers (much higher quality) in the top, left hand drawer of the desk. It is already plugged in, so just pick it up and hold down the button to use it. There are 2 US outlets and 1 European outlet on the desk and 1 US outlet and 1 European outlet in the bathroom. Our stateroom steward said that the bathroom ones were fine for charging or using with 2 pronged US cords, but 3 pronged cords needed to be used at the desk.
The balcony is really nice. If you look at pictures of the rear if the ship, our room is right smack in the middle of the big white wall. We are the farthest square to the right. It's actually pretty great because there are actual walls on all sides instead of the partitions between balconies. The glass fence area is higher than on the sides of the ship. There are 2 chairs and a table and the balcony itself is deeper than I expected. Not as deep as a Caribe balcony, but I can sit in the chair with it all the way back to the door and not quite touch my toes to the glass.
Oh, we're elite, so we get a free mini bar setup. We always switch out the alcohol for pop. The choices this time were ginger ale, Aranciata (which is like Orangina), Coke, Coke Light, Sprite, and Sprite Zero. We also get free canapes and the chocolate covered strawberries have disappeared off of the list. *sniff* So sad. Those are my favorite. They've also added ChapStick with SPF to the elite bathroom pack, along with a gel eye mask that I hadn't seen before. We're storing it in the fridge.
Since we're in the new cabins on the back of the ship, they created a new area for our muster station drill. We went down the crew stairs at the back if the ship to the gym on deck 6.
There have been questions about the vibrations in the aft balconies. During our 2 days in Venice there was little to no vibrations in our room. After sailaway, the cabin did start to vibrate some, but it's not horrible at all. Currently, we're in motion and I don't hear any glasses shaking and nothing in the bathroom is falling over. While lying in bed, you can feel the vibrations, but it really just feels like a light massage. I had no problems sleeping at all. It's really not that different than any other room on a cruise ship that I've been on before.
If you're on this Grand Mediterranean itinerary later, you might like to know that Princess offers shuttles into town for Venice-boat to St. Mark's Square ($29), Istanbul-bus to Grand Bazaar ($10), Mykonos-bus to town ($8), Livorno-bus Piazza Grande (€5), and Toulon-boat to downtown ($20). The port talks are also happening well before the cancelation times for the tours, so we've ended up dropping some of our tours since we sort of know where we want to go and we have plenty of time to get it done with the shuttles.
The cruise director is Richard Joseph. The deputy is Duke. The maitre d'hotel is Giuseppe Gelmini. Captain is Andrea Poggi.
I think that's all for now. If you have any questions, you can ask, although I can't guarantee that I can answer them (I don't have access to other cabins, so I can't answer those questions) because of internet access and such.
Bonnie
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[quote name='MaryZ']How are you enjoying your tour? We are on the Paris tour on 9/1 and then onto the island princess 9/7.
Hopefully :D[/QUOTE]
So far, so good! Yesterday, we climbed to 11,333 feet to see the summit of Jungfraujoch in Grindelwald, Switzerland. It was pretty darn amazing. Now we're in Lucerne and will be heading to Lake Como in 2 days and then to the ship in Venice. -
[quote name='Starry Eyes']Hi everybody.
For the person wondering about the itinerary: today July 5 our original itinerary would have been Kusadasi, but Captain scratched that port, instead sailing straight from Istanbul to Athens. It is now about 9 pm local time July 5 and we are due in Athens at 7:30 am July 6.
Speeds have been reduced, though it is hard to guess speed from deck lacking a decent GPS. ScanDisplay on TV seems inaccurate, showing us sailing along Kusadasi route rather than straight to Athens. I do not particularly trust the varying speeds displayed there today.
Basically total silence on board as to situation. Neither DH or I heard a peep from the Captain overhead today. On other lines, I have grown accustomed to hearing from the Captain daily, often at noon or so on sea days; I rather enjoy those short pleasant announcements. Given current circumstances, especially would have appreciated hearing today from Captain; pity we did not.
Repair plans have not been mentioned to us. If I ask, I am only told we will be in Athens on time tomorrow, as if one should have any further interest. I very much hope the poster saying it might be repaired while docked in Venice is correct; that would be great for upcoming cruisers.
Wendy[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the info. I'm currently on the Princess land tour leading up to the July 9th cruise. I keep checking here for updates as we move closer toward Venice. Thanks for taking the time to post. :) -
Let me start this up again.....if anyone has info about vibration issues in the new cabins on the Lido.....please share....
Go here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2224626&page=3
They're talking about the vibration from the Lido deck cabins right now. Apparently, it's quite shaky.
I'm on the Baja deck on the Island's next cruise and am hoping it won't be as intense. If it is, I'll just think of it as a built in weight loss device a la the vibrating belts. :-) or, the magic fingers that motel beds used to have! :p
:)
Bonnie
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The time in ports changed as follows. Athens was 7 to 5:45 and now it is 7 to 2:00 (our excursion's return time is 2:45 so they will have to shorten it by at least an hour.) Istanbul was shortened by an hour so I am no sure what that will do to or lengthy excursion. Mykonos was shortened the most (from 1:00-11:59 PM to 1:00 to only 8:00 PM)
Thanks for asking!
Wow! Those are really shortened. I just looked at my itinerary on the cruise personalizer and found that my port times have not changed. They are the same as your original postings. Have you contacted Princess to see why they've changed for your sailing?
:)
Bonnie
Back to Back (B2B) Cruise Turnaround Day
in Virgin Voyages
Posted
I figured out the answer. Everyone doing the B2B will get off at the same time, go through customs, then return to the ship immediately after (or choose to go into port for the day, but then you have to go through the regular embarkation with the new guests). Restaurants open at 1pm on turnaround day.