sailing canary

Hoping for some help. I want to pay my salon bookings prior to sailing with my OBC, but the only payment options on the website are credit card or PayPal.

Any advice? I have no wish to end up having to buy things I don't really want in order to use it up if I can't use it for this.

TIA

On 4/5/2024 at 8:59 AM, jsn55 said:

"Not allowed" means little to some people; unless there's a monitor 24/7, I'm not sticking a toe in that water.  

I'm with you on that! And it's not just incontinent babies and toddlers that worry me, it's the levels of personal hygiene of the other adults in the pool or hot tub. How can I be sure they've had a proper wash of all their nooks and crannies before getting into watm water!!! Not been in a public pool for decades!!!

Has anyone any experience of this service? It's less expensive than a taxi, and would be (to me - elderly solo traveller) preferable to the RER.

TIA

I'm on Sky Princess out of Southampton later this year. What sockets are in the cabin? UK, US, Europe, Australia????? 

Just want to know how many adaptors to take for various devices.

I know there are USB sockets, but they're no use for USB C cables.

Thanks

Thank you all, but I'm worried there won't be any available taxis on the rank. I checked with the Port of Southampton cruise ship schedule, and on 3 August there are 4 cruise ships docked. I thought this might mean a bunfight for taxis!!

How easy is it to pick up a taxi on disembarkation?
Would it be better to have one pre-booked and if so, any recommendations for reliable companies?

Thank you.

It never ceases to amaze me that some people think that service workers from other parts of the world are going to be grateful or happy with the likes of a fridge magnet or baseball cap from Schitt's Creek or some other real place they've never heard of!

What ARE they thinking???

On 1/28/2024 at 1:26 AM, Crystaltipps67 said:

Greetings from a fellow Brit. Please don't panic - we pay the auto gratuity but rarely anything more. I certainly wouldn't ever be carrying round a stack $ bills to dole out to people as we go. It's not our culture and I'd feel really uncomfortable about doing it. Room stewards do their job. I've never felt that they were doing anything above and beyond to deserve anything more. The only additional tip we've ever given was to a MDR waiter who saved us a table in his section every night, got the chef to cook us Phillipino food because we mentioned a Phillipino dish that we like, always spotted when the wine glass was getting low and appeared with a fresh one, and was the funniest man we've ever met. He got £20 in cash (cruising out of Southampton) on the last evening and a mention in the post cruise survey. Hope that helps.

Yes that does help, thank you. I think it's quite difficult for some cruisers from a tipping culture to understand just how uncomfortable tipping is from those of us from a non-tipping culture. As far as I can see, having already paid the automatic gratuities, why would I pay someone extra for doing their job?

Thanks again

PS - is your other half called Alistair???

9 hours ago, Redrobo said:

 

There is no requirement for you to tip anyone. If you do decide to tip and sailing out of Southampton GDP is more than adequate and accepted by the receiver. 

Enjoy tour cruise.

 

Thank you. That has clarified what I thought. No extra tipping required. 

5 hours ago, nini said:

 

Like our cabin steward, a sweetie at the buffet, a bartender who knows exactly what you want and how to fix it. We also tip a few dollars for room service and enjoy doing that.

The tips are always in American dollars in an envelope with their name on it and ours as well with cabin number.

But this isn't really helpful as I've already said I don't go to the bar nor eat in the buffet nor use room service.  And where would I get USD on a cruise out of Southampton?

I'm unsure about this too, so any advice would help.

Solo cruiser, sailing from UK, crew appreciation already included in fare.

I'm very low maintenance, once a day is enough for my cabin refresh. I don't need turndown, I don't drink - so no bar staff on my radar. I eat in the MDR, but don't choose any fancy alternatives. If I want tea/coffee or a snack during the day I go to the buffet.

So what ( or more to the point who) would I be to giving little cash envelopes to?

30 minutes ago, wolfie11 said:

If I was going to do the Baltic out of Southampton, I’d look at P&O as well.

I did, but the dates don't suit.

Yet another question! When sailing out of the UK, are prices of drinks, food etc listed in GBP or USD?

3 hours ago, trinitygirl said:

You can pay your gratuities up front - in the personaliser there is a tab where it sets out how much it is with a ‘click here’ button to pay by card.  I did that for my August and November cruises because for us (booked in australia, cruises in Europe and out of Southampton) the Plus package does not include gratuities.  I prefer to pay up front so I don’t have to think about it again

Thanks for this.  Another question (sorry!!)

Did you use a UK or Australian based travel agent, or did you book direct with Princess? I can't figure out what's the best thing to do. I did book my last cruise through an agent, but the only advantage to that was that she could get me the exact cabin I wanted.There were no other perks, so if I hadn't been fussy about location, I could have done it myself.

That's exactly what I mean! That must be the UK based site, as the Australian site - which I can't seem to get rid of - does not show crew appreciation in either of their packages. 

Fare Options.pdfFare Options.pdf

On 11/24/2023 at 8:20 PM, Geoffa30 said:

 

 

Gratuities are included in the Princess Plus and Premier packages .......

I can't seem to find any information on this. Where would I find it? The description on the Princess website of what is in each package doesn't mention gratuities. 

I also can't find a UK based Princess website - it always defaults to either the US or Australian one.

So....if I have understood this correctly. In addition to the quoted fare, I have to add on £xxx per day crew appreciation and do complicated sums to add 18% to anything I might buy on board? I don't drink anything other than tea or water and the VERY occasional glass of wine.

Would a package make more sense? Then I would know in advance exactly how much the cruise was going to cost me?

And are there kettles???????????

Thanks for the speedy reply. So are gratuities added to my account automatically and I would just settle my bill at the end of the cruise? Could I use onboard credit to pay? I have only cruised out of Australia before and gratuities are included in the upfront price of the cruise.

I am considering a Princess Baltic cruise next summer and I have a couple of questions.

On a Baltic cruise in the school holidays, how likely is it that there will be hordes of children?

And, are gratuities included in UK based cruises?

TIA

I don't wish to appear rude, but why would your opinion on where to see spectacular NZ scenery be more relevant than the responses from people who actually live there and actually know what they're talking about?

Hi

Can I take a towel off the ship when we have a day on Mystery Island? I don't want to have to pack a beach towel for just one day.

Thanks

This just occurred to me. There are hundreds of posts about the new Medallion on here, but what about the people who have never heard of Cruise Critic (which I believe is quite a lot) and who wouldn't have read them? How do they find out how it works? Are they given instructions at embarkation??
Just wondered.

2 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

 

Puzzled Yank here - what does the Caribbean have to do with a cruise to Bermuda?

Sorry - muddled it up with Barbados!!

Thanks for the explanation of the 'rules'. Also in Europe, Labour Day is May 1st, so that would have been very odd. 

4 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Nobody is going to say a word if you wear white after Labor Day...

Puzzled Scot here - what has Labor Day got to do with temperatures in the Caribbean?

Hi crystalspin

No need to apologise - I found it really interesting! I haven't been yet. If all goes well I'm hoping to go in November, but there are health issues (and therefore insurance issues), so fingers crossed.

Or I'll have left it so late I won't be able to afford what's still available!

I'm still determined to only go with cabin baggage and a tote.