XBGuy

I understand, @skynight. I was trying to put myself in the position of the Princess executives who might have the ability to change the program. After 40 years in the corporate world, I quickly learned that proposed programs had to have a some sort of demonstrable payback in order to get support from the upper levels of the company. I thought that an enhancement whose aim is to improve future Princess revenues would have the best chance of getting executive support.

I was thinking of this while I was composing. Yes, it is up to Princess executives to hold their CIO's feet to the fire.

Yes and no. From the card issuer's point of view, it encourages the credit card holder to use that card. I am sure that Princess derives benefit also. Princess may very well think, "Hey, it gets those people to use that card, what can we do to get more passengers to spend more money with us?" From the passengers point of view he can think, "Hey, I can get points on my credit card, and I can also get points from Princess. It's like double dipping."

Every year, or so, these "Oh my life has no meaning because I have reached Elite level and can't move up any higher" threads pop up here. The proposed solution to this crisis is always the same--Princess has to create a higher tier and give us more free stuff. A few years ago I made a suggestion that was, pretty much, roundly criticized. The bruises have healed, and, since I am a slow learner, I am going to give it another go. Many here on Cruise Critic refer to the Captain's Circle as a Loyalty program. Many refer to those who have reached the Elite level as Princess' best customers. I'm not sure Princess thinks that way. To Princess the Captain's Circle is a marketing program. Anybody who has worked in or near sales know that their best prospects for future business is your customer base. So, airlines, hotels, cruise lines, supermarkets drug stores, you name it, have all created these affinity groups to maintain contact with (i.e., sell to) their customers. Also, I am pretty sure that Princess feels that their best customers are the ones who spend the most money. So, why wouldn't Princess enhance the Captain's Circle to encourage people to spend more money? My proposal is to add to the Captain's Circle program by allowing Elite level passengers to accumulate "Elite Points." Every dollar spent on a Princess cruise earns a point. I am ready to bet that there are very few (None, maybe?) people on this board who do not have a credit card (or two or three) that awards points for every dollar charged to that card, So, everybody here understands how it works. Elite Points could be earned for anything the passenger buys: Passage ticket Excursions Drinks Spa services Specialty dinners Wi-Fi Ship store purchases. Art Auctions Sanctuary reservations I think casino losses should not be included in this program. This could be a liability problem for Princess. So, what could a person do with accumulated points? Redeem them for onboard goods and services. The mechanics could work different ways. Prior to a cruise, the passenger could redeem Elite Points for OBC. Then, he could use it however he wants. Princess could create a schedule of rewards (e.g., complimentary drinks, complimentary specialty dinners, complimentary spa treatments cabin upgrades) which a passenger can claim by redeeming points. Personally, I would prefer the OBC thing, but my selfish view may not be the same as others--particularly, Princess. When I originally proposed this several objections were immediately raised. You're creating a class system. Yup. Are you suggesting there isn't a class system, today with Suite Breakfasts, Reserve Class Dining, Suite Concierge, free laundry for Elite level passengers, special benefits for Princess Plus and Princess Premier passengers? How would it handle passengers' OBC? Easy. Ignore it. Elite points would only look at the debit side of the ledger--not the credit side. What about Crew Appreciation? It counts. If it is removed during the cruise, then, obviously, it earns no points. What do you think?

You can use OBC to book excursions prior to the embarkation date, but that is all. Specialty restaurant reservations made prior to embarkation require payment with a credit card. Once you are onboard, you can make specialty restaurant reservations and pay for them with OBC,

We attended the Super Tuscan Dinner in 2019 on the Royal Princess. It was held in the Sabatini's space, and it was outstanding, It easily surpassed the Chef's Table event which we attended the previous night. As you can see from the following menu, the wines were outstanding. The price in 2019 was $60 pp. I would be absolutely stunned if the current price was less than that--or, even, the same. That being said, the OP references a "Tuscan Dinner" which may or may not be the same as a "Super Tuscan Wine Pairing Dinner."

It depends. So, bear with me. Princess allows each adult passenger to carry on a single 750ml bottle of wine to enjoy in their cabin. Taking that bottle to a dining room or restaurant will incur a $20 corkage fee. Multiple posters here on Cruise Critic have stated that they have poured a glass of wine in their cabin, carried that glass of wine to a dining room and enjoyed it with dinner without being charged any fees. The rule pretty clearly states that the wine be carried on. I see that you live in New Hampshire and, presumably, in order to get to an embarkation port, you will have to fly. If you are aware of a location in the port city where you can pick up a bottle of wine, you will be fine, but if you plan to buy it at your home location you will then have to work around TSA regulations. You will not be allowed to carry a bottle of wine onto your aircraft. So, you will have to pack it in checked baggage, In my case I have retrieved wine in my checked baggage at the airport after reclaiming my baggage so that I could carry it onto the ship. It's a pain, but it works. When you check in, more than likely one of the agents at the X-Ray scanning station will notice the wine, but since you are brining on only one bottle per adult, you will be allowed to board with your wine. The rule also specifies a 750ml bottle. Dessert wines are often sold in 375ml bottles. I have seen a few posts here on Cruise Critic indicating that smaller bottles have been allowed. That seems reasonable to me. So, if you want to bring a smaller bottle, I think you will be OK. On the other hand if you get an agent at the pier who is starting his first day on the job and his instructions say "750ml bottle," he may very well have the bottle seized. These seized bottles are returned on the last day of the cruise. If my explanations have been confusing, please ask for clarification and I'll try again. Also, Princess does allow passengers to bring more that one bottle per adult onboard. If that is of interest to you, I can explain how that works. As you might expect, that will involve corkage fees.

I can't say that I do. @Barry H beat me to it. I would suggest that you buy your own bottle and bring it onboard. Personally, I don't think it is necessary to bring your own glasses. We have always asked our room steward to bring us some wine glasses when he introduces himself on embarkation day. Also, I have walked up to Vines and asked for a couple glasses.

The fact that there has been no response to your query does not bode well, @cruise*enthusiast. As a wine buff have regularly studied the Princess wine lists, and I can't say that I recall ever seeing Ice Wine (or if you would like to go "Old World." Eiswein) being offered. The only dessert wines that I can recall are the Errazuriz Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc and Rieussec Sauternes. I saw a picture posted recently of the Errazuriz being offered at the Chef;s Table. So, it looks like that one is still offered. I really am not sure if Rieussec is still available.

I have purchased bottles of wine in Juneau (multiple times), Ketchikan and Skagway (multiple times), and have had no problem carrying them to our cabin. Of course, this experience may be meaningless when Alaska cruising resumes in 2024. If the policy changes, the worst case scenario is that your wine will be taken when you reboard the ship. Presumably, it would be returned to you at the end of the cruise.

I'm sorry, @Plato123, but I had to chuckie at this. It seems that you are saying the the ribeye steak is too big for somebody who orders two main courses. It is outstanding that your steak was prepared to your specification. My Crown Grill experience on a half-dozen Princess ships has been hit or miss with the preparation of red meats. I agree completely. In our one (14-day) Royal Princess cruise we had dinner in Sabatini's four times. We were one and done with Crown Grill. My problem with the Crown Grill is that the dining area is almost an adjunct to the adjacent bar. When we were originally seated, we were almost in the bar. The annoying problem was that there was a very maudlin singer performing. Immediately after being seated, she finished one song, and the bar patrons offered some applause. Some of the restaurant patrons seated in our area also felt compelled to applaud. As soon as she started the next song, we summoned the hostess and asked for a different table. The second table was more towards the center of the restaurant, but still well withing earshot of the singer. I have often posted here on the Cruise Critic Princess board that service levels in the specialty restaurants is variable. You have to remember that the crew is constantly changing. So, if Mauricio provided excellent service in Sabatini's on the Crown Princess, there is no guarantee that he will be on the ship even a week later. More importantly, the management also changes. It does not take long for me to determine whether the headwaiter in any specialty restaurant cares about his customers and instills an excellent service attitude in the service staff, or he/she is just going through the motions and allows the service staff to have the same philosophy. Thank you, @Plato123, for a very comprehensive and interesting report.

.Bougainvillea. Yeah, Mrs, XBGuy also thinks they're pretty. I have to tell you, though, when those pretty flowers wither and fall off, they are a pain to clean up. If I'm lucky. though, Santa Ana winds blow them into neighboring yards--or neighboring counties. 😁

Note to self: Make sure I’m not traveling with these people the next time I book a helicopter tour and we are asked our weights by the operator. 🤣🤣🤣

We did not see a TV in our cabin until we took our fourth cruise on Carnival in 1996. I don’t recall if there were TVs in any of the public venues. There were no TVs on our three previous cruises 1976 on NCL 1983 on Costa 1992 on Regent

Very cool that you were able to meet with them. I am. once again, envious of you, I don't know if you are aware, but Lagier Meredith released its last wines, from the 2021 vintage, in September. Carole and Steve are retiring. (As a man who is in his second decade of retirement, I completely endorse this move,) Future harvests from their vineyard will go to neighbor Aaron Pott for his label. I don't know if they will be single-vineyard bottlings, but that would be cool I don't know if you are aware, but Yes. m

Well. I am popping up, again, and you know what that means. I'm going to pontificate on wine. With apologies to @richwmn I am going to make a correction to the wine of the day. It should be 12 e mezzo Varvaglione primitivo puglia. While Italian word "primitivo" does translate to "primitive" in English. In this case, on a wine label it refers to the Primitivo grape which is widely planted in the Puglia Region of Italy. I am going to get much deeper now. For many years Zinfandel--sometimes referred to as an American grape or as a California grape--confounded wine historians. Nobody seemed to know where it came from. Even the history of the name was unclear. Carole Meredith, a geneticist at the University of California, Davis discovered that what was called Zinfandel in America and the Primitivo grape of Puglia were DNA identical. The obvious conclusion is that Primitivo cuttings were brought over by Italian immigrants and planted in California. When you look at the number of Italian families involved with California wineries and vineyards, this is easy to understand--e.g., Barghetto, Mancini, Martini, Montalfi, Mondavi, Pagani, Papera, Parducci, Pucini, Pucioni, Pedroncelli, Sebastiani, Seghesio, Teldeschi, Trentadue, Zichichi. So, Zinfandel lovers you might want to try an Italian Primitivo. Then the question arose, where did Primitivo come from. Meredith was contacted by two professors at the University of Zagreb asking if she would be interested in working with them on a project funded by the Croatian government to investigate the country’s traditional grapes. Years of additional research led to the conclusion that Primitivo found its way to Italy from Croatia, The Croatian grape known as Crljenak Kaštelanski was DNA identical to Primitivo. Happily for us Americans who have difficulty with certain non-English words, there is another name for the same grape that is much easier for us to pronounce--Tribidrag. Epilog: As a Doctoral student at UC Davis, Carole Meredith met fellow grad student and researcher, Steve Lagier whom she subsequently married. Lagier grew up in Napa Valley where his family was immersed in the wine industry. Rather that continuing in academia he returned to Napa Valley as a winemaker. The couple purchased property on Mount Veeder and planted grapes. Meredith commuted between Napa Valley and Davis until her retirement from the university in 2003. The couple made some excellent wines, particularly, Syrah, and were encourage to start their own label--Lagier Meredith. They have produced varietal wines made from Malbec, Mondeuse, Syrah and Zinfandel grapes grown at their Mount Veeder vineyard. I have to include this picture of a bottle of their Zinfandel.

I am a pretty liberal tipper, and I don't see that behavior changing in the future. I added this disclaimer to emphasize that the following is for humor purposes only. Not philosophies are implied. Not related, OK, very remotely related, is a sign I saw in the vet's office: Rambunctious children will be given a cup of Espresso and a puppy.

@HaveDogWillTravel, I read into your post that there is no discount on these packages if one signs up for the Plus or Premier pricing. Am I correct in that, or did I misunderstand? FWIW, the three-bottle Sparkling Wine package looks the most attractive to me.

It is always our first choice on San Francisco port stops. Regarding the cost, we feel that the return is commensurate with the investment. Our standard mid-day order is the Ceviche sampler, the Empanada sampler and a bottle of Albariño. 😋 I suppose we could look at a South American wine, but we both really enjoy Albariño.

Haddock? Swordfish? From a Marx Brothers movie.

There is no upcharge for the lobster entree at Crown Grill. They do have a "Surf 'n' Turf" offering (filet mignon and lobster tail) for which there is an additional $10 charge. My displeasure was the fact that there was no flavor, and it was chewy. I suspect that the latter problem (possibly the former, also) was caused by overcooking.

I just love the entire Sabatini's experience, No particular favorite, and I have never been disappointed with anything. We dine often in Crown Grill. I like the Beef Tartare (warning, it is slightly seared) and the Shrimp Bisque. The beef entrees are fine (I often order them.) but no better than something I buy at a local market and grill in my back yard. I have enjoyed the Sea Bass, but I would strongly suggest that you avoid the Lobster Tails. Mrs. XBGuy's go-to favorite is the Mussel Pot. She also orders the Garlic Fries as her appetizer. Invariably, the server gives her a double take, but her fries appear along with my appetizer course.

OP's question regarding check-in seems to be that the check-in date (Dec. 9) is not the same as the cruise date (Dec. 10). That sure sounds like a mistake.

Here is an update to my previous post. My coffee shop buddy is leaving next Monday on the Los Angles-Hawaii round tripper on the Discovery Princess. The Discovery Princess is a Royal Class ship. So, it is very similar to the Royal Princess. He told me that his cruise does not stop at Kauai because the ship is to big to negotiate the rather small harbor at Nawiliwili. Apparently, they cannot tender there, either. So, if you are, in fact, considering the Royal Princess, and if visiting Kauai is important, you'd best verify the itinerary.