Complete - Trip Report - Our 1st Princess Cruise!

[Phonedave]

Just like Palo on the classic ships.



I'll agree that it's better than DCL and Celebrity. The thing I liked about it was that (at least, when we sailed 10 years ago), they made the dough for the pizza crust fresh each day. It was really good.

We often cruise with an other couple on Celebrity and our wives do not understand why "midnight pizza" is a thing for me and my friend. It really is not that good. What I do find interesting is the selection.

Celebrity seems to have 3 pizzas at night - cheese, pepperoni, and a leftover from lunch. I have seen tikka masala, bbq pork, and a variety of other toppings.

 

[imahistorygeek]

We often cruise with an other couple on Celebrity and our wives do not understand why "midnight pizza" is a thing for me and my friend. It really is not that good. What I do find interesting is the selection.

Celebrity seems to have 3 pizzas at night - cheese, pepperoni, and a leftover from lunch. I have seen tikka masala, bbq pork, and a variety of other toppings.

I can pizza every single day, even bad pizza. Princess had some interesting selections. I don't remember exactly what they were, but there was always something that was unique.

 

[MinnieM123]

To be clear, we are not hikers. We were dressed for walking and had on tennis shoes and layers but that was it. Sean chose the path up Dorr Mountain. A path has been created and pathways cut into rock were numerous. There were times we were basically climbing the side of a mountain with no type of railing or anything. I'm glad the ground was dry.

Happy to hear that you both enjoyed Acadia. (Although I'm more familiar with hiking various (smaller) mountains in northern Maine, NH, and Vermont, I've often read great reviews about Acadia National Park.)

Thanks for sharing your scenic fall photos. (Whether bright or more subdued foliage colors, each has its own charm.)

By the way, I'm impressed with the both of you for accomplishing your hike in only sneakers!

(Note: If you ever want to hike a mountain in the future, you might want to consider getting some sturdy hiking boots. They really help your traction over uneven terrain, support your ankles to prevent strains, and are waterproof for low stream crossings. Hubs and I also use trekking poles for safety.)

 

[imahistorygeek]

Happy to hear that you both enjoyed Acadia. (Although I'm more familiar with hiking various (smaller) mountains in northern Maine, NH, and Vermont, I've often read great reviews about Acadia National Park.)

Thanks for sharing your scenic fall photos. (Whether bright or more subdued foliage colors, each has its own charm.)

By the way, I'm impressed with the both of you for accomplishing your hike in only sneakers!

(Note: If you ever want to hike a mountain in the future, you might want to consider getting some sturdy hiking boots. They really help your traction over uneven terrain, support your ankles to prevent strains, and are waterproof for low stream crossings. Hubs and I also use trekking poles for safety.)

Thanks for the tip! It was definitely a first for us. it was a great hike.

 

[imahistorygeek]

Day 5 - Saint John

No tendering this day, so we could just step off the ship. We walked to the Saint John City Market.

Afterwards, we decided to head over to Moosehead Brewery via the Harbour Passage. It's about a 2.5 mile walk and you do pass the Reversing Falls Rapids.

Moosehead was a really cool hangout. We DoorDashed Turkish Big Bite Restaurant. This was first time experiencing smoked rice. It was so good!

While we were there, we decided we did not want to walk back to the ship, so I reserved a taxi online (no Uber/Lyft). Taxi was prompt and accepted US dollars.

The taxi dropped us off right next to Wasted Day Brewing. It's a cute hole-in-the wall and the ship was right across the street. Afterwards, we headed back to the ship.

 

[cgersic]

I absolutely love Boston too! I've met friends and family there for concerts, and spent a week each time, and have always completely enjoyed myself. You kids are putting in quite a few miles! I haven't ever been to where you went, so I'm really enjoying the report.

 

[lostpro9het]

So Im catching up now. Here was lunch at Bar Harbor:

From top to bottom:
Lobster roll
Fish and chips
Tubular IPA by Orono Brewing
Staycation Land Lager by Baxter Brewing
Puffin Pale Ale by Lone Pine Brewing
Machine Pilsner by Bunker

Finally, they had this amazing hot sauce with scorpion peppers. It kicked but had amazing flavor

 

[lostpro9het]

Our visit to Moosehead looked something like this:

From top to bottom you got:
Helles Bock
Small batch Cascadian Dark lager
Barking Squirrel lager
Moose Light lager
Derek Oland’s Family IPA

This was an amazing stop and I highly recommend it. When we sat down the barkeep asked what samples we wanted and if we would like some 4oz drinks. We responded with “can we get pints?” and I think it caught him off guard and he was like “ Oh yeah, guy, sure!“ I then went to hand my CC to keep a tab open and he waved me off and said “bah, no need, I know who you are”.

I like Canada!

 

[imahistorygeek]

I had the lobster roll.

Geddy's "Bacon Jalapeño" Lobster Roll​

Native fresh-picked lobster with seasoned mayonnaise over shredded lettuce; topped with bacon, house made cream sauce, and fresh jalapeños, served on a new England style roll.

The lobster was excellent. No smell and a fresh taste. The "no smell" is important, so put a pin in this.

 

[imahistorygeek]

Dinner that evening was Planks. Planks is up-charge casual dining. It's $14.99/person.

I ordered this drink. I "think" it's a Rosemary Sour.

Cornbread signals the beginning of the meal. It's served with butter and pimiento cheese. I did not care for this at all and I really like cornbread.

I got this salad. Why is corn and black beans even on this?!

Everyone gets the same meal here. This was pretty good. Was it real BBQ? I'd compare it to Sonny's BBQ. Mac and cheese was pretty good.

Dessert - I'm not sure which one because this doesn't look like anything described in the menu. It's probably the chocolate cake, but the crushed candied pecans are nowhere to be found.

If we the same plan as before (premium) and the casual restaurants were complimentary, I'd eat here again. However, if I have to pay, that's a no.

 

[lostpro9het]

St. John bay continued for me:

We did finish our day at Wasted Day Brewing:

Top to bottom:
Black 47 Irish stout by Loyalist City Brewing
Split Pants Pilsner by Wasted Day

Wasted Day was right off the dock and had great prices given its location. We did some market place exploring and I learned that things in Canada are not what I thought. Case and point:

I immediately had to contact my boy @amjt660 to see why the milk was not in a bag. Mind blown!

St. Johns was fun and the people are amazingly nice.

 

[imahistorygeek]

Day 6 - Halifax, Nova Scotia

We didn't have concrete plans this day except visiting the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

We made the walk and arrived before cruise guests, but we didn't make it before school groups, but it wasn't bad.

The main reason for the visit was the Titanic. These artifacts are different than what you see at some of the Titanic exhibits. I don't know how I felt about these because some of these items were removed from the victims. It is what it is at this point and it was interesting.

This was actually a really great museum with a lot of interesting exhibits. If you take a trip to this area, it is 100% with the visit.

There are also some exhibits outside and the boardwalk is nice to explore. There are also a lot of food options.

We tried some poutine and for a chain, it was some of the best I've ever had.

If you're cruising, you know seagulls can be a real PITA. For Halifax, it was these guys, the Starling. There were everywhere.

We made our way back to the port and stopped by a brewery right next to where the ship was docked.

 

[amjt660]

For the record I never said all Canadian milk comes in bags!!


Max

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

For the record I never said all Canadian milk comes in bags!!


Max

There's actually milk in the US that comes in bags! That's what I buy for milk.

 

[amjt660]

There's actually milk in the US that comes in bags! That's what I buy for milk.

Just curious which state are you from - maybe the one that sure a horse with Canada have bag milk?


Max

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

Just curious which state are you from - maybe the one that sure a horse with Canada have bag milk?


Max

I'm in Minnesota. We have gas stations/convenience stores called Kwik Trip that sells bag milk.

 

[imahistorygeek]

Day 7 - At Sea and the last day of the cruise sad trombone

We also received the saddest of all things - the debarkation instructions

There are no survey cards. Princess sends you an email after the cruise. It's a lot more comprehensive than Disney (if DCL still does the cards). Email surveys are better, but I get why DCL does the cards.

We were pink something, but I can't remember. We went to our assigned location and once called, we were off the ship pretty quickly. We walked to the airport transfer location arranged by the cruise line. Not once did they check information. We could have been the McGuillicuddy's for all they knew and were getting a free ride to the airport.

Our usual sea days are spent by the pool. Since it was chilly, it would not be a pool day. We kept ourselves busy.

 

[imahistorygeek]

We watched some games in the atrium (which was too small).

I liked the activities. However, the activities staff was not great. They were late to everything and in wrong locations, etc. The cruise director was ok, but didn't seem genuine at all.

We also went to our first ice carving demonstration on the pool deck.

It begins with a block of ice on indoor/outdoor carpet (which is also found on many of the outdoor deck areas). This gives you an idea of size.

The ice carving begins! The cruise director went around and asked for guesses.

I had no idea for a while and the end result was impressive for about a 5-minute job.

We also spent some time in the casino. This casino has a smoking and non-smoking side ( sure Jan). I have a favorite style of slot machine and they were always busy in the evening and I wasn't having any luck. I thought I'd try my luck in the afternoon. It's less busy and less cloudy.

The casino gods were on my side!

We had a really good day at sea despite no swimming.

 

[imahistorygeek]

Our last night's dinner was at Crown Grill. This is the second specialty dining venue on the ship. $39/person

Crown Grill Menu

Nice and steakhouse-y decor.

First up, a delicious bread (included) with cheese in the middle. It was hard to eat slow.

Black and Blue Onion Soup with fresh thyme, Jack Daniels and a roquefort crust (aka French Onion Soup)

We both chose the ribeye.

It was excellent.

This is the rest of our meal. What you don't see is my baked potato. We pretty much ordered all of the side except bone marrow and mashed potatoes. The potato was good. Nothing fancy. The fries were fine. It was a really great meal overall.

If you look at the corner of the plate, you'll see two piles of salt. The menu gives you a good description. These were flavor enhancers. Honestly, the steak was so good you didn't need anything else.

It was during this time that a table very close to us received their food. You remember me mentioning the fresh lobster and no smell? Well, they ordered lobster and you could smell it before it even arrived to the table. I love lobster and it smelled disgusting. I get that it can't be super fresh on a cruise, but that was way past its expiration.

We finished up with dessert.

Salted Caramel Creme Brulee Cheesecake

Triple Chocolate Treasure

Both desserts were good.

Overall, great experience at Crown Grill.

 

[imahistorygeek]

Well, that's it. Debarkation was a breeze. We flew back to ATL out of LaGuardia. I think it was a new Delta terminal. It was shiny and everything looked new. There's not much to eat, so we chose a place where you order off a mobile menu and they bring it to you. Two sandwiches with pickled veggies on the said and two beer were $70 (I think).

How does Princess compare to Disney? They're not the same, that's for sure, but on Disney, I appreciate the non-smoking everything. DCL still has the best shows. I miss the shows more than anything. I miss Palo. I miss the Disney vibe. Disney MDR is better than Princess. However, I don't miss the Disney price tag.

We didn't see a ton of children on this cruise, but I think it was due to being a New England/Canada itinerary and cold. We did however see people swimming.

Where Princess really excels is the medallion. It's basically a magic band and you can choose how to wear it (e.g. necklace, wrist, clip). When it works, it works really well. I'd say the biggest issue is when it's busy, they have a hard time finding you with your food/drink.

Would we sail Princess again? Absolutely. We've booked the new Sun Princess for next October, during the same timeframe, so if you want to sail with the Mullinses, get you a room!