Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[Jimbo]

3 hours ago, h20skibum said:

It has been a couple busy days for me, interacting with the medical community.. Yesterday was my annual wellness check up, and I still know how to put numbers on a clock and show the hands properly.  
 

Today, I had a stress test that was scheduled by my cardiologist.  I never had one before, and was shocked when the hospital called and said to plan on being there for 4 or 5 hours.  I found out there was a lot more involved than just hopping on the treadmill.  When the nurse had me take my shirt off so she could hook up all the wires, she said I looked really fit and should have no problem with the treadmill.  Made my heart feel good, because I have been working at it since my grandson went home.  Now the wait till next week for the results, but they say I did good.

 

So after all this, what to do?  I came home and booked that Princess cruise I was looking at.  The new Sun Princess in January, 2025.  I may actually get some of my cruise excitement back.    We have sailed Crown, Coral, and Grand before, and it will be interesting to be on their newest ship.  

7 nights or 14 nights?

[HBE4]

14 hours ago, MJSailors said:

Good morning ,all.

The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is on its’ way to NYC. It was found in BinghamtonNY (Upstate ) and is eighty feet tall.

The tree arrives tomorrow and soon it will be strewn with lights.

Maybe Greg or Jimbo would like to lend a hand in decorating the tree?

 

MJ🙋🏻‍♀️

 

On the way. I'd hate to get stuck behind it for the 190 mile drive.

 

Found the pic on the Internet.

 

Edited November 11, 2023 by HBE4

[helen haywood]

Yes, @h20skibum, I too would be interested in what you booked on Sun Princess.  Princess is the one line I’ve never sailed.  But I’ve read some great reviews from Princess regulars and they are on my radar.

[Jimbo]

Found Lucy hiding under one of our trees today.

 

 

 

 

 

Found some more ornaments to put on our cruise tree from last month's Greenland Cruise.

 

 

Went out for Mexican food tonight for dinner, forgot to take pictures of the $2.75 frozen margaritas 

 

Edited November 11, 2023 by Jimbo

[xpcdoojk]

11 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

I got excited for a second.  I just looked and our Utopia is September 30.  It would of been so cool cruising with you!

I wonder if they will have Todd Rundgren music playing on Utopia. 

Clearly ought to be the house band.

 

We saw Todd about 7 or 8 years ago in St Louis at the Pageant.  He was being Todd, which means he played stuff nobody ever heard of, like a weird Loren Green song (yes Bonanza Loren Green), one of the guys playing then was Kasim Sulton from Utopia.  Anyway, he would stop and tell silly stories, my favorite and I think appropriate for the Utopia of the Seas, was the one about Daft Punk.  

 

There was a party after they won the Grammy, and Todd and wife were invited.  They arrive, and figured since Daft Punk recorded some of his songs on their early albums Todd thought they would be at the main table, but they were quickly redirected to a far distant corner of the room.  He said Daft Punk was brilliant, because with the masks, Todd said they he could have toured forever, and just had someone else do all of the touring while he stayed at home counting the money.

 

jc

[h20skibum]

5 hours ago, Jimbo said:

7 nights or 14 nights?

We booked 7 nights.

 

5 hours ago, helen haywood said:

Yes, @h20skibum, I too would be interested in what you booked on Sun Princess.  Princess is the one line I’ve never sailed.  But I’ve read some great reviews from Princess regulars and they are on my radar.

Sun Princess is still being built, and sails in 89 days.  We booked the Princess Plus option that includes drinks, WiFi, and tips.  We got an OV cabin on the midship bubble. 
 

 

It looks like it will be about the size of Odyssey or slightly larger.  This ship does look like they may be trying to capture more families with a few of the kid related things.

 

And the dome looks like an interesting venue. 
 

 

From our prior Princess sailings, we both thought their food was better than Royal.  Definitely, their pizza was.  We will have to see if they are doing any cutbacks like Royal.  We were on longer, smaller ship sailings, and their entertainment was similar to Royal, or Celebrity smaller ships.  I guess I would expect their entertainment to be similar to Odyssey.

 

I may have to do a comparison review, since we will just be off three Oasis class sailings before this one. 
 

 

 

 

[taznremmy]

Currently on Crown Princess and receiving twice a day room service. 👍

[Sea Dog]

1 hour ago, h20skibum said:

I may have to do a comparison review, since we will just be off three Oasis class sailings before this one. 
 

I would love for you to do this. I would also be interested in cost comparison.

[Sea Dog]

20 minutes ago, taznremmy said:

Currently on Crown Princess and receiving twice a day room service. 👍

How is it cost wise continue Royal? More expensive? Cheaper? I’ve heard good things about them. Do they do  loyalty match?

[h20skibum]

46 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

I would love for you to do this. I would also be interested in cost comparison.

They had an Oasis sailing, departing the same date, and the same number of days for a western sailing.  The Oasis sailing for an OVB at midship was within $20.   The difference was, for essentially the same price as the Oasis sailing, I booked the top category of the OVB with the Princess Plus package that included drinks up to $15, WiFi for both of us, and tips included.  It also came with $200 OBC.  I know I will be following some of the early reviews when it starts sailing.

 

Given this is a brand new ship, it wasn’t a difficult choice, although I  did feel like I was cheating on Royal.   I looked at a Wonder sailing the same time, and it was $1,000 more, and you still wouldn’t have any extras.

 

Princess doesn’t have a status match with Royal or Celebrity, but it doesn’t take long to move up their tiers.

 

 

[Sea Dog]

2 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

They had an Oasis sailing, departing the same date, and the same number of days for a western sailing.  The Oasis sailing for an OVB at midship was within $20.   The difference was, for essentially the same price as the Oasis sailing, I booked the top category of the OVB with the Princess Plus package that included drinks up to $15, WiFi for both of us, and tips included.  It also came with $200 OBC.  I know I will be following some of the early reviews when it starts sailing.

 

Given this is a brand new ship, it wasn’t a difficult choice, although I  did feel like I was cheating on Royal.   I looked at a Wonder sailing the same time, and it was $1,000 more, and you still wouldn’t have any extras.

 

Princess doesn’t have a status match with Royal or Celebrity, but it doesn’t take long to move up their tiers.

 

 

My neighbors are longtime Princes Cruise Line cruisers and they love it but they are top tier loyalty so I would expect that. I don’t plan on abandoning Royal but as I get to be a more experienced cruiser, I’m more interested in locations offered. I want to find more lines that explore the BVI.

[Momof3gurlz]

17 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

They had an Oasis sailing, departing the same date, and the same number of days for a western sailing.  The Oasis sailing for an OVB at midship was within $20.   The difference was, for essentially the same price as the Oasis sailing, I booked the top category of the OVB with the Princess Plus package that included drinks up to $15, WiFi for both of us, and tips included.  It also came with $200 OBC.  I know I will be following some of the early reviews when it starts sailing.

 

Given this is a brand new ship, it wasn’t a difficult choice, although I  did feel like I was cheating on Royal.   I looked at a Wonder sailing the same time, and it was $1,000 more, and you still wouldn’t have any extras.

 

Princess doesn’t have a status match with Royal or Celebrity, but it doesn’t take long to move up their tiers.

 

 

 

11 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

My neighbors are longtime Princes Cruise Line cruisers and they love it but they are top tier loyalty so I would expect that. I don’t plan on abandoning Royal but as I get to be a more experienced cruiser, I’m more interested in locations offered. I want to find more lines that explore the BVI.

We’re kind of in the same place Greg.  No plans to abandon Royal BUT, their itineraries are getting a bit stale and their prices are crazy. Now that we’re Diamond the four vouchers are nice but not if other lines are including drinks, tips and WiFi for a similar price such as the deal Mark has. 
I also like the idea of trying some new ships and ports.  

Edited November 11, 2023 by Momof3gurlz

[h20skibum]

5 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

My neighbors are longtime Princes Cruise Line cruisers and they love it but they are top tier loyalty so I would expect that. I don’t plan on abandoning Royal but as I get to be a more experienced cruiser, I’m more interested in locations offered. I want to find more lines that explore the BVI.

This one will be more to explore the new ship, rather than the itinerary.  I have heard that Princess has better Alaska itineraries, so I will look long and hard at doing one of those with them. 
 

I did look at a couple Celebrity sailings for the same time period, and it became a toss up between Sun Princess and Celebrity Apex.  Apex had ports we like and a couple we hadn’t been to before.  

[Sea Dog]

Just now, Momof3gurlz said:

 

We’re kind of in the same place Greg.  No plans to abandon Royal BUT, their itineraries are getting a bit stale and their prices are crazy. Now that we’re Diamond the four vouchers are nice but not if other lines are including drinks, tips and WiFi for a similar price. 

I’m with you. I just don’t care for the Western Caribbean routes. I also hear Royal is going to have less ships in Europe. At some point there are more places I want to see. Especially the BVI where most of the larger lines don’t go. I too enjoy being Diamond but I like the idea of all inclusive where everything is included.

[h20skibum]

You can make Royal all inclusive.  You just have to add about $150 a day per person to do it at their current prices.

Edited November 11, 2023 by h20skibum

[Arzeena]

24 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

This one will be more to explore the new ship, rather than the itinerary.  I have heard that Princess has better Alaska itineraries, so I will look long and hard at doing one of those with them. 
 

I did look at a couple Celebrity sailings for the same time period, and it became a toss up between Sun Princess and Celebrity Apex.  Apex had ports we like and a couple we hadn’t been to before.  

We have done two Princess cruise and we loved them. They were different.

We did the Ruby to Hawaii (16 days sailing) some years ago Rt out of LA. (San Pedro). The itinerary was great, more than enough sea days going and coming back. But what I loved most was the "culture immersion". They had a Hawaiian host couple on board who directed Hawaiian shows, food, stories, classes, sing alongs, sarong tying, hula classes, lei making etc etc etc. I enjoyed that a lot. Princess employs these hosts. We had an ocean view cabin on deck 8 aft supposedly obstructed, but there was not an inch of obstruction and our window looked straight out at the water.  I met a lot of great cruisers then and still am in touch with a couple. Very international crowd on that one. We had also booked our flights  (😑yes had to fly! It was either fly to Cali or fly to Hawaii if Hawaii is on your travel list😨) with Princess, since they gave a good deal.

 

The second Princess cruise was not planned but our Princess PCP (self appointed, but very nice guy) called and said that we had placed a future cruise deposit on our fist cruise and it would be expiring soon, so we placed a booking on the Crown. Well, that was not meant to be and the pandemic caused many cruises to be cancelled, so Princess offered us the money back or double of what we paid in FCC with all the perks and some more, if we booked by a certain date. We missed the date because we were very unsure of the start of cruises and how it would unfold. So that "offer" expired. Then when we felt that we could cruise and could handle all the protocols, we called our PCP (or whatever he was called) and asked if the offer was valid and if we could book, what was being offered at that time. (Princess had already refunded us in full by that time). So the PCP said he would call us back. He did in an hour and had a lady with resolutions with him. They honored that double FCC deal and offered us a lot more. So we booked on the then (quite) new Enchanted. Now we had credit left with them with the doubling of FCC etc. So we moved to a balcony, then we moved to a deluxe balcony. Then price came down, so PCP moved us to better location in deluxe category. Hubby started saying don't get used to it because we won't do it without all that FCC. Drinks, wifi, tips were included as well.

 

I loved the Enchanted Princess. A modern, beautiful, huge ship. Everything was excellent. No complaints.Their equivalent of Al Bacio is A+. The cabin was pretty spacious, very well appointed, serene,with walk in closet ( that almost all types of cabins have, our OV on Ruby had it too). Shower is small, with curtains 😑, but very well appointed. Balcony was good, smaller. I did enjoy this cruise a lot. It was a 10 night Caribbean.

 

Interestingly, since we had been on 3 Carnival cruises and 2 or 3 HAL before, our status on Princess was one above the "new" cruiser status. I do not recall the exact name. They were doing status reciprocation with HAL and Carnival and their family of cruise lines. So we got some perk which was not even worth remembering....like access to the princess of Princess the (loyalty lady).😁. I don't know if they are doing this now but ask. I do know for sure that there is no status match with Celebrity or Royal.

[Keksie]

Breakfast this morning.

 

[MJSailors]

To all the veterans who may be posting or reading Dani’s thread, I thank you for your service.

My father, two uncles and FIL served in the Army during WWII and  my BIL served in the Marines with a tour in Vietnam. I am remembering them all today.

 

Princess has been our cruise line of choice since we took our first Princess cruise to Alaska in 2004.

We are two cruises short of the top loyalty level, but Covid halted that progress and we haven’t been on a Princess ship since 2017.

In Alaska, it is my understanding, that Princess is one of the few cruise lines that has access to Glacier Bay.

When we went,the day of Glacier Bay sailing/viewing was truly amazing.

We always enjoyed sailing the Princess ships We experienced the inaugural years of the Sapphire,Crown and Regal.

The ships are tastefully decorated, there is a calm atmosphere onboard and we always felt the service and staff were exceptional.

I was a bit surprised to see the post about the new Sun Princess with the added features that have never been a part of a Princess ship.

I understand trying to attract younger passengers as the “older” passengers are moving on from cruising days-at least some of them.

It is a sign of the times and change is inevitable.

For those of you who are considering a Princess cruise, I would suggest reading some Princess reviews posted by Amarillo Pescado. She can be found on blogspot.

She and her husband would spend months in the Winters sailing on Princess ships.

Both her writing and photos are excellent.

 

Wishing all here a pleasant day!

MJ🙋🏻‍♀️

[George C]

2 hours ago, h20skibum said:

You can make Royal all inclusive.  You just have to add about $150 a day per person to do it at their current prices.

My royal cruise is close to all inclusive, we are diamond plus so 5 free drinks , we are in grand suite so free beer and wine all day in suite lounge , can eat all meals in suite restaurant CK and 3 hour happy hour with free liquor. I don’t believe Princess offers much for suites.

[Jimbo]

3 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Do they do  loyalty match?

 

[Jimbo]

3 minutes ago, George C said:

My royal cruise is close to all inclusive, we are diamond plus so 5 free drinks , we are in grand suite so free beer and wine all day in suite lounge , can eat all meals in suite restaurant CK and 3 hour happy hour with free liquor. I don’t believe Princess offers much for suites.

How do prices of Suites compare though, I assume you probably paying more for the free beer, wine and eating at CK in your original cabin price.

 

What is the difference between a JS and Grand Suite, that is where you are paying the extra money for what you mentioned above.

Edited November 11, 2023 by Jimbo

[George C]

6 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

How do prices of Suites compare though, I assume you probably paying more for the free beer, wine and eating at CK in your original cabin price.

We have cruised nothing but suites on rccl for a decade , we paid about 2500 per person for grand suite which is very nice , oasis class gives you lots of suite perks , including free internet, older ships have a lot less perks no CK no internet. Only lines we better suite perks are celebrity and MSc yacht club. On Princess we only cruised mini suites which give you nothing special.

[Jimbo]

1 minute ago, George C said:

We have cruised nothing but suites on rccl for a decade , we paid about 2500 per person for grand suite which is very nice , oasis class gives you lots of suite perks , including free internet, older ships have a lot less perks no CK no internet. Only lines we better suite perks are celebrity and MSc yacht club. On Princess we only cruised mini suites which give you nothing special.

I know you like Suites on Royal, but if you had to you could book just a JS and survive right? The GS is only about 120 square feet larger then a JS, so you would still be okay.

 

So that extra money you are paying for is what you are paying for that beer and wine in the cabin and the ability to go to CK.

 

I guess if you can drink lots and lots of beer and wine on top of your diamond plus 5 drinks  a day it might be worth it. Depends to I guess how much you like to drink, We did a 14 night cruise this past September, My Wife and I used our 5 drinks a day each for the first 10 or 11 days after that, we just kind of got tired trying to use all our drinks each day and then to try to drink beer and wine on top of that, just not for us.

[mafig]

8 minutes ago, George C said:

 Only lines we better suite perks are celebrity and MSc yacht club. On Princess we only cruised mini suites which give you nothing special.

And Norwegian Haven.

[ReneeFLL]

On 11/6/2023 at 1:59 PM, Ocean Boy said:

Wow, I didn't realize that you had an Odyssey cruise coming up. Enjoy!

Thanks. I needed to book another cruise in order to get a block on the Icon. I know where my priorities are. 😁