charliedalrymple

I read this thread just to see whether "butter" was a typo.

The old locks are definitely on my bucket list. My parents did a full transit through the old locks and thought it got rather tedious after the first few hours. Do you share that opinion? Would you recommend a partial transit or even a small-boat excursion instead?

I'm curious: do you mean "real" VIPs (like celebrities or politicians), or does it include passengers who have done a gazillion Princess cruises but aren't staying a suite?

You are not. I was very surprised when I saw so many complaints about them, because they have never bothered me.

I'm late to the party, but here is my wish list. (If you read my recent Live from our New Zealand cruise, some of these will come as no surprise.) * Lower the volume of everything on the ship to half of what it currently is, especially events in the Piazza. * Better still, move the raucous Piazza events to the Vista Lounge. * Offer child-free cruises. I'd definitely pay more for those. * Make bars off limits to children--and empower the crew to enforce it. * Make Princess Live (and while I'm at it, most venues aside from the Piazza) off limits to children after 10:00 p.m. (Are you sensing a theme?) * Offer two levels of Plus and Premium: the current one with 15 drinks, and a cheaper version with, say, seven drinks per day. * Call formal nights something else to be more inclusive (i.e., no expectation of tuxedoes and ball gowns). * On the other hand, enforce bare minimum dress standards in the MDR. I know that will be controversial, but my expectations are super-low. I'm talking about no workout clothes, bare feet or flip-flops, torn t-shirts, etc. Yes, I've seen all of those in the MDR. And again, empower crew members to enforce it. Disagree if you must, but hey--it's my wish list!

Them's fightin' words for members of this community! 🙂 Many of us enjoy the onboard experience as much as the ports, if not more.

On our 13-day NZ cruise in December 2023, Majestic had four production shows: Sweet Soul Music, Fantastic Journey, Fiera and Encore. I will freely admit that live shows are always a highlight of any cruise for me (and I'm very disappointed when shows don't measure up). I will say that the current cast on Majestic is probably the best I've seen on any cruise. If nothing else, I would encourage you to give Encore a try, which is a wonderful show (with classical and musical theatre elements, as well as an amazing guest operatic soprano on our cruise).

Or you could just take turns going to the bar to pick up the drinks to ensure even distribution. We didn't worry too much about it, because we didn't even reach 15 drinks a day between the two of us.

Former lawyer here. As others have said, the chances of winning a lawsuit claiming negligence are very slim. Also, someone mentioned that you are unlikely get an apology that could be used against Princess. You best bet would be to write a very strongly worded letter saying how angry you are at their lack of follow-up and implying that you might be feeling litigious. I think Princess would be very eager to offer you some form of compensation to make the whole thing go away. If you have a friend who is a lawyer who could write it for you, even better. However, I don't think it would be worth the money to hire an attorney.

We did mid-May on Coral and it was perhaps our best cruise ever. The weather was perfect--though I would note that many of the locals mentioned how "lucky" we were with the weather. We loved the smaller ship for that particular itinerary. Nothing we wanted to do was closed.

Masonchar, we are all waiting breathlessly for the resolution. Please keep us posted!

We did a private tour (six people in a small boat) with Rum Runners Charters in Juneau. It's called a whale-watching tour (2.5 hours), but they also bring raw meat to feed to the eagles, who swoop around the boat to grab the meat. Quite impressive. (We did see whales as well! 🙂) Rum Runners starts early to get out onto the water before the big charters and cruise ship tours, so you can have the area to yourself for a while. We got some amazing close-up photos of eagles!

Our soprano on a NZ cruise (from the Sydney Opera) sang the Queen of the Night Aria and was awesome!!

The best show I have seen on a Princess ship is "Encore," even though it has no story. However, the guest soprano opera singer might have met even Strauss1020's exacting standards.

Haljo, I just tried to send you a message but it bounced back as undeliverable!

I can't speak to the other countries, but tipping in Scandinavia is not expected and generally not done. That isn't to say that they wouldn't appreciate tips!

Hi again, Roy. I just tried to send you a message but it seems that feature is not available.

So you know what I'm talking about with Princess! I thought maybe I was just becoming a cranky old man. Thanks for confirming what I've also noticed!

Thanks for the tip. I don't know what Club Orange is but will investigate. Are there perks other than a free upgrate?

Definitely love to read on cruises! Otherwise, I never seem to find the time to commit to a long novel. Oh--and I'm talking about actual books, not Kindle. Yes, I'm a tech dinosaur!

We booked this itinerary for both the ports (never been to Hawaii) and the sea days, which sound very relaxing--although I'm not sure about ten sea days during a 17-day cruise. We'll see whether we get bored!

I would love to see those, thanks! I'll send you a private message with my email.

We are relatively seasoned cruisers and have sailed primarily on Princess. Unfortunately, we have found that the noise levels in and around the atrium and at all of the shows have steadily increased over the years and have become intolerable. (Most bars and public spaces face the atrium, and it seems there is always an amplified event going on there.) We have also cruised on RC, P&O and Carnival (ugh), among others. We understand that HAL is perhaps the most "sedate" of the mass-market cruise lines, which appeals to us. We have booked our first HAL cruise on Koningsdam for January 2025 (17 days from San Diego to Hawaii, including ten sea days). I'd like to hear opinions on how HAL is different from the other mass-market lines from those who have experienced both. Given the number of sea days on our upcoming cruise, I'm particularly interested in daytime activities, as well as entertainment options. (I'm aware of the "Music Walk" but don't fully understand it, and I'd also like to hear about other shows and entertainment offerings.) Thanks in advance!

It's perfectly valid that you don't like show without a story line. Had you stopped there, you would just have been expressing your preference (albeit a bit strongly), as many do here. You are getting slammed because you found it necessary to go further and disparage the talented cast members who work extremely hard to put on quality productions. That was mean and uncalled for.

I hate to start another "Is the Plus package worth it?" debate--but what could be the benefit of getting the Plus package for a child?