Questions from Princess Newbie

I am sailing on Princess 2/18 because the cruise I had booked on HAL has been cancelled. I can almost copy what I had planned on Princess.

I'm unfamiliar with Princess and have a couple of questions at this point though maybe more later:

I will be getting several shipboard OBC from Princess. Can these be used for gratuities?

If I don't use them all up, will I get the extra returned on my credit card?

Can I bring bottles on wine on board with me? Only at embarkation or also at some of the ports (will be going to South America)?

Thank you,

Jane

I will be getting several shipboard OBC from Princess. Can these be used for gratuities? Yes. While Princess sells OBC for specific purposes (such as excursions), buying non-specific OBC allows you to use that to offset any charge on your final statement such as bar tabs, gratuities, excursions, etc. You don't need to do anything special. Your OBC will be applied to your bill automatically. Also, if you want, you can pre-pay your gratuities. In the "Gifts and Services" section of the website, there is a way to pay for your gratuities in advance. But in reality, what happens is that your prepayment gets credited to your account and is then used to offset the gratuities. So your final statement will still show that you were charged for gratuities during the cruise, and the money you paid in advance will show up in the "credits" section of the bill in an amount exactly equal to your gratuity charges.

 

If I don't use them all up, will I get the extra returned on my credit card? I believe so, but others who have actually had leftover credit can confirm. There is such a thing as non-refundable OBC, but that is typically the OBC that the cruise line gives you as part of a promotion. I believe that whatever you purchase can be refunded.

 

Can I bring bottles on wine on board with me? Only at embarkation or also at some of the ports (will be going to South America)?

Princess allows you to bring on as much wine and Champagne as you like at the port of embarkation. One bottle per person will be allowed on for free and will remain free if it is consumed in your cabin. If you bring your "free" bottle to a public venue such as a dining room, you will be assessed a $15 corkage fee at that time. Beyond your one "free" bottle per person, you can bring on as many additional bottles as you like. Those bottles will be assessed the $15 corkage fee upon boarding and that charge will be placed on your shipboard account and will show up under the name of a restaurant. So if two adults bring on board a total of six bottles, they would pay $60 (4 x $15) at the time of boarding with that charge showing up on their account. Those bottles will be stamped with an ink stamp to show that they have been paid for. The two unstamped bottles are free and remain so unless they are brought to a public venue. If you do the latter, your server will check to see if the bottles are stamped. If they are not, you will get a bill for $15 at the time of dining.

 

As for bringing wine on board at ports, there are supposed to be different rules for that, but they seem to be enforced erratically. We have brought bottles on at several ports and paid nothing at that time, nor have we had the bottles confiscated and held until the end of the cruise. (But I believe that others have had the latter happen.) Of course, the bottles that we have brought on board were not stamped, so when we brought them to a public venue, we were assessed the corkage fee.

 

Thank you,

Jane

See above. Welcome to the wonderful world of Princess.

The OBC I will be getting are part of a cruise line promotion - Sip n Sail. Taking the credit instead of the drink package. The other one if for retired military. These are not OBC's that I am purchasing.

Jane

The OBC I will be getting are part of a cruise line promotion - Sip n Sail. Taking the credit instead of the drink package.

Pretty sure that it will be non-refundable. Your Booking Confirmation should usually list your OBC, and state whether it is non-refundable. I have seen language such as (paraphrasing here), "Please enjoy this On Board Credit on your cruise as it is non-refundable."

If you think about it, this is the only way it could work. Otherwise, someone could pay the promotional price for the cruise, get OBC instead of the drink package, not spend any money on board, and come off the ship with cash in hand. (Or a credit on their credit card statement). I don't think that the promotion is intended to allow people to walk off the ship with cash in hand.

The military credit is refundable. I believe you can have it also carry over to another cruise if you have one planned in the future. It's one of the many reasons I'm loyal to Princess, they treat military very well.

Cheers,

But yes, both of those will go towards gratuities.

The military credit is refundable. I believe you can have it also carry over to another cruise if you have one planned in the future. It's one of the many reasons I'm loyal to Princess, they treat military very well.

 

Cheers,

Military credit is refundable & if the remaining amount is less than $25 you can get cash at the PSD; if more than $25 it's refunded by check & comes by mail from Bottomline so don't mistake it for junk mail. I received a check after not using all of my military OBC on an April cruise which the PSD said is automatically refunded. Like you, their military credit is one of the many reasons that Princess is usually our cruise of choice. :)

I've had the same wine experience as JimmyVWine from ports of call and have never attempted to conceal it but the only comment I have received has been nice bottle of wine. When the current wine policy was implemented a couple of years ago, bringing wine from ports was frequently discussed on CC because that wasn't clearly stated in their policy. The question was asked on the Princess Facebook page and the reply was that they realize passengers want to experience wines from around the world that they do not carry on their ships and thus they will allow it with the $15 per bottle corkage fee.

As Jimmy posted charging corkage when carrying on wine from ports can vary. However we drink most of our wine in the MDR so we either pay corkage at dinner or when carrying it on the ship.

As far as I know you are only allowed 2 bottles of wine per cabin at embarkation. As stTed at ports it is hit or miss. We have never had any taken and held or paid corkage.

As far as I know you are only allowed 2 bottles of wine per cabin at embarkation. As stTed at ports it is hit or miss. We have never had any taken and held or paid corkage.

In post #2, JimmyVWine explained the procedure during embarkation...we can bring as much wine as desired by paying a $15 per bottle fee after the one free bottle per adult passenger. If there are two adults, then it's 2 bottles; if it's only 1 adult then it's 1 bottle because it's not based on 2 per cabin but on the number of adults.

I will be getting several shipboard OBC from Princess. Can these be used for gratuities? Everything that you spend on the ship goes on your shipboard account (with the exception of cash in the casino) Non-refundable is debited first, refundable last. ALMOST the only OBC that's refundable is Veteran's.

 

If I don't use them all up, will I get the extra returned on my credit card?

As stated above, IF you have any left, it will be mailed in a very plain looking envelope that looks like junk mail. If you ask at Passenger Services, you will almost certainly be told it will be on your credit card - that's incorrect information.

 

Your OBC will most likely be used up paying gratuities and any other activities that you want to join in on, like Bingo, specialty dining (not terribly expensive and a cut above the MDR), shopping in the onboard stores, etc.

The OBC I will be getting are part of a cruise line promotion - Sip n Sail. Taking the credit instead of the drink package. The other one if for retired military. These are not OBC's that I am purchasing.

 

Jane[/quote

Military credit is refundable.

Sip&Sail OBC is not refundable

If you own at least 100 shares of Carnival Corp. stock you can get additional OBC.

All OBC is credited to each on board account at the start of the cruise. As you accumulate on board expenses these are added to your account for a net balance. Gratuities (auto-tip) are added each evening. The amounts are $12.95/pp/day, or $13.95/pp/day if you are in a mini-suite or full suite. This adds up fairly quickly. The accounting system uses non-refundable OBC's first, and then the refundable OBC's If there are any refundable OBC's remaining at the end of the cruise you will receive a check in the mail. The refund will not go to your credit card because you did not purchase them by credit card.

As others have posted, you can bring as much wine on board at embarkation but you will be charged $15/bottle corkage for each bottle over the one per adult of drinking age in your cabin. At ports, you should be prepared to be directed to a liquor checkin table as you go through security and pay corkage. In practice, there is seldom such a table and you are waved through with your wine. As with the two bottles at embarkation, if you want to consume that wine in public areas you will be expected to pay the $15 corkage.

Welcome to Princess!

You can see if you have any refundable credits by clicking on Payments & Credits while in the Cruise Personalizer for your cruise. Scroll down and you'll see an asterisk next to the non refundable credits with this language below: *Please enjoy using these credits onboard as they are not refundable.

Just tell the truth. Either they will keep it til you disembark or let you keep it. Honesty is the best policy. What if they can arrest you for lying. Possible? Yes!

Princess Cruises began its anticipated crackdown of contraband alcohol March 27 as passengers boarded Golden Princess for a 10-night Hawaii sailing. Smuggled alcohol was disposed of as it was found.

Cruise Critic was first alerted to the extent of the crackdown by community member Antsp, who posted immediately after boarding Golden Princess.

"Just boarded the Golden. Any alcohol in your luggage is now being removed and destroyed. It just happened to me. Major arguments going on down on deck 4. The new alcohol policy is now in full force. Be warned."

That post from antsp is 3-1/2 years old.

began its anticipated crackdown of contraband alcohol March 27 as passengers boarded for a 10-night sailing. Smuggled alcohol was disposed of as it was found.

 

"Just boarded the Golden. Any alcohol in your luggage is now being removed and destroyed. It just happened to me. Major arguments going on down on deck 4. The new alcohol policy is now in full force. Be warned."

Really nothing new........

This has been like this for over 3 years. We experienced it last September.

Here's a link to the Princess shareholder application form which isn't required to be used but it provides the procedure & all of the necessary info to quickly process our requests.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=388078&d=1466095327

 

Princess only accepts faxed or snail mailed applications & 14 days is $250 of OBC. :)

Thanks Astro Flyer for the link

Yes, there is lots of trivia on Princess. Form up to groups of six. We always have a great time and have no problem joining or forming a team. On one cruise, our tablemates also enjoyed trivia and we met up with them a couple of times of day at the trivia sessions. We had a blast....never won, but fun. Well I guess forming a friendship is winning.

Thanks Astro Flyer for the link

You're welcome & I submit my application after final payment and it's usually issued within a couple of days. You can view most of your OBCs on the Cruise Personalizer under the Payments & Credits option & those that are nonrefundable such as shareholder OBC are marked with an * asterisk.

Thanks Robinsoncruiseso for letting me know about trivia. I have so much fun there.

To clarify a few points:

o OBC can be used to pay for gratuities. However, if you pre-pay gratuities as someone mentioned, then OBC will not be used for that purpose.

o You did not ask, but OBC can also be used to pay for Princess shore excursions.

o Any wine brought aboard on embarkation day should be in your carryon luggage. If it is in your checked luggage, it might get confiscated.

o Any liquor/beer brought on during embarkation in carryon or checked luggage will be confiscated and not returned.

o Any liquor brought on at a port stop will be kept by Princess until the last evening of the cruise.

o You can bring on as much soda and water as you would like.

Just tell the truth. Either they will keep it til you disembark or let you keep it. Honesty is the best policy. What if they can arrest you for lying. Possible? Yes!

 

Princess Cruises began its anticipated crackdown of contraband alcohol March 27 as passengers boarded Golden Princess for a 10-night Hawaii sailing. Smuggled alcohol was disposed of as it was found.

 

Cruise Critic was first alerted to the extent of the crackdown by community member Antsp, who posted immediately after boarding Golden Princess.

 

"Just boarded the Golden. Any alcohol in your luggage is now being removed and destroyed. It just happened to me. Major arguments going on down on deck 4. The new alcohol policy is now in full force. Be warned."

As others have pointed out the post is quite old but if trying to hide "liquor" under you underwear & get by the scanners it's not going to work. You've got to be a little creative if you want to smuggle. :D