Review of the Sapphire Princess (long)

(John*Sisker) wrote:

"Jeff Gersten" wrote in message
...
(John Sisker) wrote:


Likewise, as an Elite Member I did receive
150 minutes of free Internet service, which
would normally be $75. That I did get.
However, upon logging-in, there was a
notice that because of various connections
at sea, some service may be somewhat
slow. I quickly
found that their connection was not much
better than regular dial-up, so 150 minutes
was not really a true 150 minutes to count
on. However, I made do, and only ended up
paying $3.75 extra for all week long.

Wow, you've been on all these cruises and
just found out that the internet connections
on the ships are at very slow dial-up speed.

That only became an issue to me in trying to
beat my free 150 minutes, normally at $75.
This way I could actually determine just how
'slow'slow actually was. Likewise, it doesn't
take much time at all at sea to determine that
150 minutes can and does many many things,
all depending. We simply needed to compare
apples to apples in this case for our clients,
not to oranges.

I don't understand your apples to apples and not to oranges reference.
I'm sure the internet connection was slow on this cruise. and it was
slow on the Enchantment of the Seas in 2004 when we had to e-mail our
son and my wife's mother of our new plans when the ship's disembarkation
was delayed due to a hurricane. And it was slow this past summer on the
HAL Noordam when we wanted to check and reply to our son's e-mail about
the new job he was starting on the day we left. And it has been slow on
every ship we have been on.

And as a travel agent, you just found this out because you had free
minutes?

On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:02:00 -0500, (Jeff
Gersten) wrote:

And as a travel agent, you just found this out because you had free
minutes?

Hi Jeff,

I found it most revealing that he did not know the Anytime Dining
rooms served the same menu as the traditional dining rooms. He also
did not know Princess provides robes in the cabins which it has done
for the at least the last 16-years.
--
Ray Goldenberg 800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905
Lighthouse Travel http://www.lighthousetravel.com
Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/lighthousetravl
Follow us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ray.goldenberg

Ray Goldenberg wrote:
On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:02:00 -0500, (Jeff
Gersten) wrote:

And as a travel agent, you just found this out because you had free
minutes?

Hi Jeff,

I found it most revealing that he did not know the Anytime Dining
rooms served the same menu as the traditional dining rooms. He also
did not know Princess provides robes in the cabins which it has done
for the at least the last 16-years.

In addition he didn't know to put out the "do not disturb" sign when
sleeping. If he had used the sign, the cabin steward would not of
knocked on the door to deliver their robes.

sue

(Ray*Goldenberg) rote:
On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:02:00 -0500, (Jeff Gersten)
wrote:

And as a travel agent, you just found this out
because you had free minutes?

Hi Jeff,

I found it most revealing that he did not know
the Anytime Dining rooms served the same
menu as the traditional dining rooms. He also
did not know Princess provides robes in the
cabins which it has done for the at least the
last 16-years.

Hi back at you Ray.

In 2007 when we did our special 30th anniversary cruise to the Baltics n
the Star Princess, we knew about the robes. IIRC, you were asked on
Princess' personalizer whether you wanted them. We also knew we'd get
the same menu in anytime dining.

This past summer, we knew Holland America would supply us with robes on
the Noordam. I had also read (I believe on cruisecritic) that the buffet
had the same main courses for dinner as the dining rooms. I found this
to be partially true. As I wrote in my review, the buffet generally had
4 of the 6 mains that were featured in the dining room.

I'm sure I could have got all of the above information from my travel
agent if I had not found it myself.

On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:33:21 -0500, (Jeff
Gersten) wrote:


In 2007 when we did our special 30th anniversary cruise to the Baltics n
the Star Princess, we knew about the robes. IIRC, you were asked on
Princess' personalizer whether you wanted them. We also knew we'd get
the same menu in anytime dining.

Hi again Jeff,

You are correct. As I mentioned earlier, robes have been available
for at least 16-years on Princess. It is one of their signatures.
Unbelievable that someone that professes to be an experienced travel
agent had no clue.

I'm sure I could have got all of the above information from my travel
agent if I had not found it myself.
Well, there is one travel agent who did not know but you are correct.
You would have been able to find out from your travel agent. :+)
--
Ray Goldenberg 800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905
Lighthouse Travel http://www.lighthousetravel.com
Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/lighthousetravl
Follow us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ray.goldenberg

On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 11:54:35 -0800, "John Sisker"
wrote:

I though I would try this just one more time. We did have the
option of choosing whether we wanted robes or not when asked via the
Princess Personalizer. We said yes. It was just that we did not expect them
to be delivered at 10:30 at night in a paper bag outside our cabin door.

Hi John,

Here is what you said in your initial post and I will let those on
this news group draw their own conclusions.
"But this brought up another question in my mind, and that was, who ordered the bathrobes in the first and were we going to be charges for them? If they were simply a courtesy, which it turns out they were, somewhere along the line we could have been informed of this, without me have to hunt down that answer myself. Was this an extra Elite Member status feature, or did everyone receive a robe? I give up trying to find that answer."

You also were not aware that the menu is the same whether you choose
Personal Choice or the Traditional dining rooms. Again here is what
you said to refresh your memory.

For this particular cruise, we choose 'Anytime Dining' over the traditional
dining experience. For 'Anytime Dining' we had 4 choices of the Pacific
Moon, Santa Fe, Savoy and Vivaldi Dining Rooms. Traditional dining offered the International Dining Room, which we did have the opportunity to experience a number of time as well, mostly for breakfast and lunch if we so
choose. The problem I had, and again am maybe getting a little too picky,
was that each of these 5 restaurants had exactly the very same menu for
breakfast, lunch and dinner. Somehow, I was expecting a bit more variety.

You were also surprised at the slow Internet connection. Here is what
you wrote:
However, upon logging-in, there was a notice that because of various connections at sea,
some service may be somewhat slow. I quickly found that their connection was
not much better than regular dial-up, so 150 minutes was not really a true
150 minutes to count on
--
Ray Goldenberg 800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905
Lighthouse Travel http://www.lighthousetravel.com
Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/lighthousetravl
Follow us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ray.goldenberg

Ray Goldenberg wrote:
On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 11:54:35 -0800, "John Sisker"
wrote:

I though I would try this just one more time. We did have the
option of choosing whether we wanted robes or not when asked via the
Princess Personalizer. We said yes. It was just that we did not expect them
to be delivered at 10:30 at night in a paper bag outside our cabin door.

Hi John,

Here is what you said in your initial post and I will let those on
this news group draw their own conclusions.
"But this brought up another question in my mind, and that was, who ordered the bathrobes in the first and were we going to be charges for them? If they were simply a courtesy, which it turns out they were, somewhere along the line we could have been informed of this, without me have to hunt down that answer myself. Was this an extra Elite Member status feature, or did everyone receive a robe? I give up trying to find that answer."

You also were not aware that the menu is the same whether you choose
Personal Choice or the Traditional dining rooms. Again here is what
you said to refresh your memory.

For this particular cruise, we choose 'Anytime Dining' over the traditional
dining experience. For 'Anytime Dining' we had 4 choices of the Pacific
Moon, Santa Fe, Savoy and Vivaldi Dining Rooms. Traditional dining offered the International Dining Room, which we did have the opportunity to experience a number of time as well, mostly for breakfast and lunch if we so
choose. The problem I had, and again am maybe getting a little too picky,
was that each of these 5 restaurants had exactly the very same menu for
breakfast, lunch and dinner. Somehow, I was expecting a bit more variety.

You were also surprised at the slow Internet connection. Here is what
you wrote:
However, upon logging-in, there was a notice that because of various connections at sea,
some service may be somewhat slow. I quickly found that their connection was
not much better than regular dial-up, so 150 minutes was not really a true
150 minutes to count on

OMG! Sisker, you have been screwed by your fellow spammer goldendick of
all people.

"Ray Goldenberg" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 11:54:35 -0800, "John Sisker"
wrote:

I though I would try this just one more time. We did have the
option of choosing whether we wanted robes or not when asked via the
Princess Personalizer. We said yes. It was just that we did not expect
them
to be delivered at 10:30 at night in a paper bag outside our cabin door.

Hi John,

Here is what you said in your initial post and I will let those on
this news group draw their own conclusions.

Ray, in my 15 "or so" years of reading this newsgroup, I don't really ever
recall you posting a review of any cruise you've gone on. Or if you did, it
was years ago.

And, about 2-3 years ago I asked you for some feedback from your trip to
Norway after I gave you a bunch of info before your trip... and I'm still
waiting for your reply... (not holding my breath...)

You criticize John's review, but at least he gave it a shot. He took the
time to do it. And in his own words. I may not agree with what John does
from a "posting press releases like you do" perspective, but at least in
this case he's doing something like the rest of us do (posting a review with
his own personal comments), not just posting someone else's press
releases...

I have drawn my own conclusion. Maybe his review wasn't perfect. And maybe
there is stuff he didn't know. But at least he gave it a shot. And I did
read it, which I typically don't bother doing with most of the press
releases that you and he post.

John, thanks for taking the time to write a review (even though I still hate
when you post press releases).

--Tom

Why is it "spam" when 'Ray or John post press releases about the topic of
this newsgroup?? I've always appreciated (even if they weren't always of
interest to me) the news/press releases Ray posts. I don't recall seeing
John here when I was active on the newsgroup from 2004 to 2006 but have no
problem with his posts either. It's "news" on this topic's "news"group for
the love of pete! So their signature represents their companies, big deal.
They're not trying to trick or mislead anyone with their posts. And big
freakin' deal that John's review was a bit "all over the place" and not the
easiest to read. Yes, I noticed it too but apparently have the social
graces to not embarrass him over such "small stuff". If you don't like what
he had to say or how he said it how is calling him on it going to change
things? Lighten up. You'll live longer
Monica

"peter" wrote in message
...
Ray Goldenberg wrote:
On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 11:54:35 -0800, "John Sisker"
wrote:

I though I would try this just one more time. We did have the option of
choosing whether we wanted robes or not when asked via the Princess
Personalizer. We said yes. It was just that we did not expect them to be
delivered at 10:30 at night in a paper bag outside our cabin door.

Hi John,

Here is what you said in your initial post and I will let those on
this news group draw their own conclusions.
"But this brought up another question in my mind, and that was, who
ordered the bathrobes in the first and were we going to be charges
for them? If they were simply a courtesy, which it turns out they were,
somewhere along the line we could have been informed of this, without
me have to hunt down that answer myself. Was this an extra Elite Member
status feature, or did everyone receive a robe? I give up trying to
find that answer."

You also were not aware that the menu is the same whether you choose
Personal Choice or the Traditional dining rooms. Again here is what
you said to refresh your memory.

For this particular cruise, we choose 'Anytime Dining' over the
traditional dining experience. For 'Anytime Dining' we had 4 choices of
the Pacific Moon, Santa Fe, Savoy and Vivaldi Dining Rooms. Traditional
dining offered the International Dining Room, which we did have the
opportunity to experience a number of time as well, mostly for
breakfast and lunch if we so choose. The problem I had, and again am
maybe getting a little too picky, was that each of these 5 restaurants
had exactly the very same menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Somehow, I was expecting a bit more variety.

You were also surprised at the slow Internet connection. Here is what
you wrote:
However, upon logging-in, there was a notice that because of various
connections at sea, some service may be somewhat slow. I quickly found
that their connection was not much better than regular dial-up, so 150
minutes was not really a true 150 minutes to count on

OMG! Sisker, you have been screwed by your fellow spammer goldendick of
all people.

Monica wrote:
Why is it "spam" when 'Ray or John post press releases about the topic of
this newsgroup?? I've always appreciated (even if they weren't always of
interest to me) the news/press releases Ray posts. I don't recall seeing
John here when I was active on the newsgroup from 2004 to 2006 but have no
problem with his posts either. It's "news" on this topic's "news"group for
the love of pete! So their signature represents their companies, big deal.
They're not trying to trick or mislead anyone with their posts. And big
freakin' deal that John's review was a bit "all over the place" and not the
easiest to read. Yes, I noticed it too but apparently have the social
graces to not embarrass him over such "small stuff". If you don't like what
he had to say or how he said it how is calling him on it going to change
things? Lighten up. You'll live longer
Monica



Nicely said Monica!