Barry ATL

20 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

They should just get rid of everything or charge for everything that is complementary including Guy Burgers, pizza, entertainment, the view, etc. Wasn't some cruise line going to go full a la carte? How did it go or was that just a rumor?

 

I don't need schools on land these days. Never admitted to a hospital.

 

I think that is one of those slippery slopes.

Remember EasyCruise?  Everything was a la carte with very cheap cabins (well, what they called a cabin).  That experiment only lasted a few years.

Princess is offering their "branded" travel insurance and many of us get independent insurance.  At the beginning of the pandemic I watched a lot of YouTube bloggers who traveled the world make a bee line back to the states before everything closed and the main reason was their travel insurance would not be valid in a country the State Department advised travel restrictions.

So, as as an example, the Bahamas is a level 4 travel advisory with the State Department.  Will our travel insurance be valid going there to catch a cruise?  Would the Princess insurance be valid?  (I know Princess is not sailing from a Caribbean port yet, but I am being forward thinking here)

1 hour ago, CineGraphic said:

I've seen them making sushi in Vines, but I've never indulged.

We do not drink wine.  If Vines has sushi, do we purchase it?

DH @Ken-ATL loves sushi.  I see some of the old listings show sushi available on the ship.  Since the refubs is sushi still available?  Cost?

1 hour ago, jondfk said:

We will of course make adjustments like:  I don't thing we'll ever travel again leaving any meds at home, and I think we will for a long time hoard a few provisions immediately upon boarding, we'll also have a plan in place for keeping the house going "what if" - all to a far greater extent than we ever did before.

 

What items would you "hunt and gather" on the first day?  Also, how long of a supply of meds would you take?  

4 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Did they also ban drinking while in the casino?

The last casino I was in had very specific rules about drinking.  In the gambling area one could only drink while sitting and had to put the mask back up after each sip.  There were "minders" coming around to constantly remind people to comply.

1 hour ago, Daniel A said:

Do you think Princess will also ban drinking and eating onboard?  These activities also require removal of a mask.  I just don't see the issue of mask removal to affect the sales of beverages or the consumption of food.  I suspect that masks will not be required if everybody on board has been vaccinated and research shows vaccinated individuals do not transmit Covid.  So, in the long run, I don't think Covid will affect any decision to become smoke free.

 I have been to two land based Casinos that have "temporarily" made all indoor spaces non-smoking because of mask wearing.  At the casinos they only allow a mask to be removed while eating at a designated tables in the restaurants.  The tables were spaced more than 10 feet apart.  Harrah's is a large company that did use Covid to change their smoking policies.

I am just raising the question.  I think mask wearing is going to be required when we return to cruising and I think the cruise lines are not going to take any chances.  One mistake could shut them down again.

So, will the return to cruising under Covid rules change smoking rules?  I have not been on Princess in many years, I have read that the Casino still allows smoking in certain areas.  Will indoor smoking be allowed anywhere due to masks being removed?  If so, what will the rules be for this?  Here is the current FAQ from the Princess website on smoking:

Designated Smoking Areas
Clearly marked “Designated Smoking Areas” are available onboard and include a sufficient number of ashtrays that are emptied regularly. Generally, these areas include cigar lounges, a section of the nightclub, as well as a portion of the open decks. The Casino and Casino Bar are non-smoking areas on board, with the exception of designated slot machines where guests are permitted to smoke only while playing at those machines. All table games are non-smoking. The Casino will also have one or more non-smoking nights (6 pm to closing), depending on length of voyage. Show lounges, dining rooms and all food services areas on board all Princess ships are non-smoking. As a safety precaution, guests are reminded to properly dispose of cigarettes, cigars and pipe tobacco, which are never to be thrown overboard as this may be sucked back into the ship and cause fires.

https://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/onboard/experience.jsp

7 hours ago, skynight said:

I don't think so. R302 will be roughly under L302 in an area that does not have an extended overhang. The good thing is that you have cabins above and below you. An extended overhang would be under the pool and buffet areas. Shade is more based on the direction of the the ship than the overhang. Think promenade deck with lots of overhead. One side can be fully in  sun with the other fully in the shade. 

Well, you are correct.  For some reason I had been thinking the 302 rooms were at the mid-ship stairs, but they are at the forward stairs.  Okay, so there is basically no difference between the B302 and R302 locations other than a little more height.

I did a recent reprice on an 11/28 cruise on the Caribbean Princess.  The reprice changed the cabin from B302 to R302.  Unfortunately I have looked on the internet and one of the major cabin sites has posted the same pics for every accessible balcony cabin on CB making Google search for images not very helpful.

My question is about the Lido deck.  From what I can see from the outside pics of the ship, the R302 cabin will be under an extended area of the Lido deck resulting "more shade".  This is a good thing for us, but I was curious if I am correct.

What I was getting before is a drop down for the next choice for different rates and then another drop down for cabin choices.  I did not have to keep going to the next page.  This is what I am getting in Chrome and Edge.  I liked the drop down version better.  

I have liked the design on booking process on the Princess site.  It was easy as it did not require going to page after page when comparing different option on a particular cruise.  At least for me, it changed today.  It now looks like almost every other cruise line site.  Lots of going back to previous pages to see different cabins and pricing options for a cruise.   *sigh*

DH @Ken-ATL and I booked on an 11/28 Caribbean Princess.  We booked so late in the year with the thought that limited cruising would probably actually start in Sept/Oct and we would not be one of the first cruises.  Now we are not so sure.

7 hours ago, texasgirl29 said:

We have a transatlantic on the Island booked for November 2021. Thanks to advice on CC I’ve been watching prices and managed to save money + perks. When the Best Sale Ever came out I used the chat feature on the Princess website to request adding the specialty dining perk. It took about an hour but the CSR added the dining and saved us about $700 by applying the new fare. Last week on CC I learned that website prices can be different if you are logged in vs. not logged in. On my iPad I saw the price decrease $200 while logged in. I used the chat again, asked for the new rate and in less than 1 minute, saved another $400 for the two of us. 
 

I’m also watching the EZ Air rates. On the first day they were available I booked Austin-Rome and Ft Lauderdale-Austin on Delta, economy comfort, for $793 each. Subsequently the prices have been around $1000 each. 

Yep... checking the Princess cruise prices has become part of my nighttime ritual before going to bed.  I like this game.  😀

3 hours ago, donswife said:

Good for you!  Sometimes it is hard to find the accessible cabins that you want.

So true!  Normally, when booking an accessible cabin you have to take what is available and seems to always be higher priced than the advertised price the non-accessible cabins go for.  So, for us, this was a great find.

9 hours ago, Jplanetx said:

love a bargain, did you keep your perks, what's included?

The before and after prices were both for the Best.Sale.Ever. so it had all the perks including the specialty restaurant.  A mid-ship, higher deck balcony, for seven days at $1004 pp including all the perks is a deal.

I did my daily price check.  DH (who is wheelchair bound) and I are on the 11/28 Caribbean Princess in accessible  balcony cabin B302.  The price is $1079 pp with perks.  For fun, I looked at the price for an ocean view accessible.  There were none available so the website gave me an instant upgrade to accessible balcony R302 at the same price as the ocean view, $1004 pp w/perks..

I called Princess and the person said their system would not give them that price.  The rep was really helpful and asked me to book the new cabin at the cheaper price on the website.  I gave her the new booking number and after some moving money magic we got a better cabin.  Add to that saving $140.  

I have never really stalked the pricing like others here on CC.  I now see the thrill of finding a bargain.  

@Ken-ATL

18 hours ago, skynight said:

Looking at a balcony cabin the fares are in line or as low as they used to be. The Best Sale Ever adds $40/pp/day to the no frills fare, a nice value and includes hotel gratuities, premier beverage package, wifi, cabin location upgrade, one specialty dining/pp. Considering the daily gratuities are right around $15/pp/day (varies by cabin), the net extra is really only around $25/pp/day. A few alcoholic drinks, specialty coffees and soft drinks per day and you break even without counting the value of the wifi which when purchased is around $10/day. The premier beverage package covers drinks menu priced a $12 and under which is around 90 to 95% of all drinks offered on board, plus the package also covers the beverage gratuity. No extra gratuity per drink.

For us, we will use all of the extras included in the Best Sale Ever.  So, I shopped Carnival (I know, does not really compare in experience), and their prices with were higher with just the beverage package included.

We have a Caribbean Princess cruise booked for 11/28.  I booked with the assumption that for us this is a cruise to nowhere.  We don't care about the ports or if we even get off the ship.  So, this cruise appeared to be a good deal.

I have been stalking the pricing for similar cruises on other lines in the Nov-Dec 2021 time frame and Princness seems to always come up cheaper (when you include the perks).

Carnival is currently offering a drinks included price for similar cruises, but that price is more than Princess with no gratuities or wi-fi included.  To top it off, the ships are not nearly as nice or have not long in the tooth since the last refurb.  Point being the parent company is charging more than Princess.

Looking at Celebrity prices makes me want to close the browser.  They are sky high.

So, I am only watching this time frame in the Caribbean.  Are others seeing this as a pricing trend with Princess?  Is everybody getting deals?

8 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

The drink package has never included anything delivered to your cabin. That has always come under Room Service.

Agreed.  So, is the room service/delivery menu on the phone change based on location?

25 minutes ago, 2 cruises a year said:

Your stateroom isn't a PUBLIC area, is it? 😁 I think if you order to your stateroom, it will be room service. ☹️

I think you are correct.  Much of the propaganda from Princess talks about being able to order food anywhere on the ship from a limited menu.  I am just curious if that menu is the same everywhere (including the stateroom).  Since it would seem there would be much confusion about a different cost using the app depending on where you are standing, I thought maybe the rules have changed.

Others have said in this thread that the drinks ordered in the public areas will count as part of the drink package.  If that is so, what about ones ordered to be delivered to the stateroom?  Is there a difference when using the app?

3 minutes ago, BarbinMich said:

But aren't those little side decks completely open to the sun, etc.?  Never seemed very attractive IMHO.

When the Promenade is not busy there are chairs there.  Many ships (we have not been on Princess in years) have seating inside in odd areas that are near venues.  People don't stay in those spots too long because they eventually want a drink or snack.  The two most exciting things we are looking forward to are food and the order anywhere service.  Especially for drinks.  We do not have to hang out in a bar.

I have been asking questions about Ocean Medallion's ordering service for any place on the ship.  We were specifically asking, because we like to find out of the way spots that are not part of a venue.  With the Ocean Medallion, we can find that "weird out of the way place" and order drinks and food.

Now, we just need to find those places with outlets so we can watch the ocean and play on the laptops.  😀

4 hours ago, Kamloops50 said:

Breakfast is served everyday of the cruise. Lunch is only served in the MDR on sea days . As for choice of food, The buffet has a better and larger selection at breakfast and lunch. MDR breakfast and lunch is restricted to a few common items.

What about the pub lunch?  I have read about it being serviced at The Crown Grill and saw a mention of it being in the Wheel House Bar.  I saw a meat pie I would love to have.  😁