Going through a time zone?

On 3/28/2010 2:32 PM, peter wrote:
On 3/28/2010 8:07 PM, Marcia R. wrote:



It surprised me that the person I spoke to said they have no idea which
nights are formal, because the cruise staff can change it. Don't they
have to print up the Princess Patter ahead of time?

Just like a newspaper most pages are freshly printed close to
distribution. That' s why you'll notice weather forecasts are much more
accurate than would be the case if the Patter was printed months ahead.

Right. Those are clearly printed on the ship the day they are
distributed, given the current info that they have included.

Bill

Bill wrote:
On 3/28/2010 2:32 PM, peter wrote:
On 3/28/2010 8:07 PM, Marcia R. wrote:



It surprised me that the person I spoke to said they have no idea which
nights are formal, because the cruise staff can change it. Don't they
have to print up the Princess Patter ahead of time?

Just like a newspaper most pages are freshly printed close to
distribution. That' s why you'll notice weather forecasts are much more
accurate than would be the case if the Patter was printed months ahead.

Right. Those are clearly printed on the ship the day they are
distributed, given the current info that they have included.

Bill

Interesting. I never even thought they had the facilities to do that on
board.

Marcia

In article ,
"Marcia R." wrote:

Bi
Interesting. I never even thought they had the facilities to do that on
board.

Marcia

During one of the Capt's lectures on an early cruise, he stated that
he was like the mayor of a city, but he had an extra perk of being the
publisher of the town's daily paper. He noted that they had a full
service print shop on board that did most of what he needed except for
the full-color glossy stuff.

--
I get off on '57 Chevys
I get off on screamin' guitars
--Eric Clapton

On 3/28/10 2:07 PM, Marcia R. wrote:


It surprised me that the person I spoke to said they have no idea which
nights are formal, because the cruise staff can change it. Don't they
have to print up the Princess Patter ahead of time? He did say the first
one lists all the nights and then each day we get one for that day, so
they don't seem to be interchangable.

Marcia

Here's the "general rule"...

A formal night is NEVER on the first night (embarkation) since some
people may not get their luggage by dinner time.

A formal night is NEVER on the last night because of the packing issue
(they want your luggage out before midnight).

If at all possible, a formal night is usually a "Day at Sea" day, to
give you a long time to get ready (and not rush back from port and get
into your formal outfits). But on port intensive itineraries there will
likely be exceptions - in that case look for a day with an early port
departure. And on itineraries where the last day is a day at sea...
they have to re-balance (again look for an early port departure).

With these rules... you have a "shot" at figuring it out once you look
closely at the itinerary.

--Tom

Tom K wrote:
On 3/28/10 2:07 PM, Marcia R. wrote:


It surprised me that the person I spoke to said they have no idea which
nights are formal, because the cruise staff can change it. Don't they
have to print up the Princess Patter ahead of time? He did say the first
one lists all the nights and then each day we get one for that day, so
they don't seem to be interchangable.

Marcia

Here's the "general rule"...

A formal night is NEVER on the first night (embarkation) since some
people may not get their luggage by dinner time.

A formal night is NEVER on the last night because of the packing issue
(they want your luggage out before midnight).

If at all possible, a formal night is usually a "Day at Sea" day, to
give you a long time to get ready (and not rush back from port and get
into your formal outfits). But on port intensive itineraries there will
likely be exceptions - in that case look for a day with an early port
departure. And on itineraries where the last day is a day at sea...
they have to re-balance (again look for an early port departure).

With these rules... you have a "shot" at figuring it out once you look
closely at the itinerary.

--Tom

Sounds logical, thanks.

Marcia

On 3/29/2010 12:04 AM, Tom K wrote:

A formal night is NEVER on the last night because of the packing issue
(they want your luggage out before midnight).

Also, no time to sell the photos they took that night!

Bill

Tom K wrote:


All you might have done with your response is put more doubt in Marcia's
mind, as to not trust the cruise lines as well. So now we have opinions
as fact, more distrust, and cruise line personnel who may or may not
know what they are talking about. Unfortunately, we're right back where
we started from - but now with an added layer of a so-called authority
who is not always right.

John Sisker

In the big scheme of things... it really doesn't matter what we say.
All that will matter is what the ship's crew decides to do once the
sailing begins.

--Tom


Tom is right, the ship's crew makes these decision. If you want to know
something, ask the cruise director, they seem to be in charge of almost
everything.


Becca

On Sun, 28 Mar 2010 11:07:49 -0700, "Marcia R."
wrote:
John Sisker wrote:
"Tom K" wrote in message
...


All you might have done with your response is put more doubt in Marcia's
mind, as to not trust the cruise lines as well. So now we have opinions
as fact, more distrust, and cruise line personnel who may or may not
know what they are talking about. Unfortunately, we're right back where
we started from - but now with an added layer of a so-called authority
who is not always right.


That is a GOOD thing. You should never trust just one person's
information especially on the phone. I know. In my job we had to
come into the office one day a week and answer phone questions. More
often then I would like, I didn't know the correct answer.

I never take as gospel anything that anyone says unless I already have
information that the answer is probably correct.

In the big scheme of things... it really doesn't matter what we say.
All that will matter is what the ship's crew decides to do once the
sailing begins.

--Tom

Right

Apparently, it doesn't seem to matter what the cruise line itself says,
that is before one steps foot on the actual ship. So much for planning
ahead. It would be interesting thought if someone from this newsgroup
actually surfaced, who at one time did work for a cruise line
headquarters. Maybe they can weight in on just just how accurate the
information is that they give out to agents/clients. I would still feel
that that percentage would be pretty high.


On our last cruise (Celebrity) the cruise director got on in the port
we did (he'd been on vacation) and also the assistant got on there and
he was new. They came to the Cruise Critics' Meet and Greet, and
there they said that the first couple of days of the daily paper had
already been printed up, and now that he was on board that he would be
adding a lot of activities.

It surprised me that the person I spoke to said they have no idea which
nights are formal, because the cruise staff can change it. Don't they
have to print up the Princess Patter ahead of time? He did say the
first one lists all the nights and then each day we get one for that
day, so they don't seem to be interchangable.

That's correct - they print it up for each day. They also have port
maps, and information on what the shops on the ship have specials on
and specials at the spa etc.

Most of the ships I have been on also do a condensed version of
several papers (4-6 pages photocopied). Usually one for the Canadians
and one for the US and maybe also something from the UK. Sometimes
they distributed this to the rooms automatically, sometimes you can
ask to get it every morning and sometimes you have to go get it if you
want it.

[Default] Thus spake "Marcia R." :

It looks like it's an hour earlier in Alaska (at least the parts we're
going to) than it is in Seattle. How does that work on a ship as far as
stopping in ports and going through Tracy Arm Fjord? Do they announce
when to change your watches, or does the ship stay on the time of the
departing port?

Thanks,
Marcia

Yes.

Actually, they will usually "tell" you the night before in the daily
rag. It seems that not only does it vary by line, but by ship, and
sometimes by itinerary.
--

- dillon I am not invalid

The more I drink, the less I think. The less I think,
the better I feel. The better I feel, the more I drink.
And so goes the circle of life.