triple7tahoe

Many of our cruises were/are Casino "free" cruises and do not include the drink package. When we book those, all added costs i.e. upgrades; EZAir; drink packages need to be paid upfront. Some of those cruises were over 6 months out so we did not add the drink package until about a month before sailing. We did add the drink package for a November sailing just before the price increase to get it for $40 a day. In all other cases I found it easy (if I had the time to wait on the phone) and got to keep my money just a little longer 🙂 

4 hours ago, mthomp5 said:

Thank you!  This is indeed helpful!

 

I noticed the Patter for Day 6 says it’s “Dress to Impress”.  Was the attire different than formal night?  Thank you!

According to the Loyalty & Events manager, they changed "formal" to "dress to impress" so that the officers would not have to wear their formal uniforms. In our last few cruises, including a recent one on the Discovery, there was not much difference for the  passengers

We have taken our own kettle on each of our cruises. Read the fine print  "Thermostaically controlled kettles are allowed".  It is the power strips that we have had problems with and understand. We no longer take them,

23 hours ago, skynight said:

True, but many of the participants do change. In the assisted living community, OPs venue,  the participants will be the same each time so the moderator has to change the questions. 

In the "assisted living community: where my MIL lives you wouldn't have to change the questions 🙂  One nice thing about getting older (and fading memory); you are always making new friends 🙂

2 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

I received the same email for upcoming cruises in October.  I guess they are sticking to the 90 day rule again.

I was beginning to think the same thing as I had tried for the credit on a cruise that was (at the time) 5 months out and got the return email about 90 days. Last night, while playing on the computer, I decided to try again for the credit-Cruise is four months out. I thought, "What the heck, it is Sunday night and maybe my request will on top Monday morning 🙂 . I got up at 0800 this morning (monday) and credit was already in my folder.  Go figure.

10 cruises this year with Medallions- A couple prior to the "forced vacation" from cruising. Pick the answer you would like and I think we can give it to you. We have gotten them mailed to us, sometimes we get only one?. With the Medallion app, it has not been easy to get them ordered many times. Last cruise (two weeks ago) we were gone for three weeks prior to the cruise (different cruise :-)) and when we got to the terminal they would not give us Medallions as "Yours have already been mailed to your home". Told them about being away and they gave us a blue card to use to get aboard. Folks at Customs/Immigration would not recognize the blue card so we were asked to "step aside" while they checked with ????. Half hour later, we were waved through with instructions to go to customer service aboard the ship. Fun!  We have 6/7 upcoming cruises and I tried to use app with no success. Went to the chat line and spent an hour with them, only to find that I needed to call Princess. Who has three hours to spend on hold? I will take the hold time with medallions for upcoming cruise (June 19) do not show up in a couple of weeks--otherwise I will just continue to plan for great time.

In Athens I found that I could not beat Princess transfer price. Since I had EZAir and my flight was fairly early I wanted to be sure that there wasn't a way any misconnections could be blamed on me. Being less or equal to, non Princess transfers made the decision easy 🙂

You may find two "formal" or one formal and one "dress to impress". We were told by the Loyalty & Events Manager (Captain's Circle) that they used to "dress to impress" to allow the officers to not have to put on formal gear. We were caught by surprise on our latest cruise on the Discovery Princess 😞

3 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

Are you staying in Southampton prior to your sailing?  We’re staying there a few days and getting our test the day before embarkation at Boots Pharmacy in the West Quay Mall.  Each sailing will be different as to how many passengers will want the test at the pier.  We don’t want to take a chance that there will not be enough to go around.  It’s also quite a bit cheaper at Boots.

Just checked the Boots site--30 GBP each--Around $40-Must make appointment. I am thinking about taking Princess suggested test with me and take proctored test in hotel. We have done that a couple of times in the last three months but not overseas.

While on the Regal last month (or was it the month before 🙂 ) when mask mandates were reduced but still suggested, on elevators-I also found myself getting out when large groups of non-masked people, got on. Yes I know the mask is of little good but darn, folks are sure inconsiderate 😞 

18 minutes ago, jaxw17 said:

Thanks I will go and get some dollars to throw away 

If you happen to be on any of our UK (Southampton) cruises this summer, I would be glad to trade US dollars for pounds. 🙂  I have actually done that on Australia cruises and found that cutting out the middle man saves money.

5 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Cruise is in December 2022. E-mailed request on April 11, 2022. Was approved about a week later.

I wondered if I had just sent my request at the wrong time. For some time there was only one person dealing with all the requests. I almost have the email on speed dial so will try again tomorrow. Funny thing is that it was the one time I got an answer from that department and it was to tell me my request was denied; As others have said, don't seem to get a notification when it gets accepted 🙂

Agree with all that say "Casino will pay their portion". Self assurance when you can get one of the Casino folks (I love Connie) to protect all of your cruises. We will have done 14 this year and 10 have been Casino. I am not sure my TA is still talking with me. I do have a concern that I have been slightly afraid to ask about. I had 4 cruises out of Southampton booked, including EZ air. Two are Casino and two are through TA. Casino made me an offer for a cruise that fit in almost perfectly with the 4 but required changing EZair. When you use EZair with Casino cruise, you pay at the time of booking and by changing EZAir there became a price increase-Casino made the flight changes but has not billed me for additional fares. With Casino record of paying near sailing time, I am wondering if they will realize I need to pay more for my air fare? We will be gone on cruises for almost 2 months prior to the final cruise and would rather not hassle with trying to pay while away from my bank. Should be interesting:-)

For awhile, they were allowing the request to be sent by email for any future cruise ( I had cruises over a year out that were added to my OBC account within days of emailing the request. When I booked my most recent cruise, I emailed the request and was told that they were not accepting them that far out (cruise is in 4 months). What have you folks had as recent experiences- I will email again but the chances are we will be on a cruise during most of the time prior to the noted cruise-We have 6 cruises booked between now and departure

1 hour ago, that said:

are casino rates all 5% less now

ie 30% not 35%?

I was told that it depended on which stateroom you chose- Inside/balcony etc. ?

12 minutes ago, voljeep said:

SKY, Ruby and Regal all in PE on 3/12/22 - my monies on SKY getting 2 - Regal 21 and Ruby ?

Just wish I knew where terminal ?? or is that terminal ?  🙂  was located.

22 hours ago, chubbypiggy said:

We will be going on the March 12 Regal.  Which terminal should I tell the taxi driver to drop us?

Wish I knew??? We are coming in on the Ruby and transferring to the Regal. The last two times we have taken the Regal (November/December) it was at terminal two. Certainly not certain for this trip. I will continue to check Port Everglades terminal site for an update. Not shown the last time I looked as terminals were not posted for that far out.  I know that Lyft used the excuse of not knowing which terminal to go to in doubling our price--Check you before you go!!

We could have an even bigger(?) issue- There will be 3 Princess ships on port (March 12) when we arrive on the Ruby and transfer to the Regal. Fine so far but Sky is also in that day. I will keep checking Port Everglades terminal schedule and hope they are close to each other 🙂

On 6/20/2021 at 12:21 PM, Roberto256 said:

If you give them enough money...

 

They will give your your next cruise at a discount rate, to give you the opportunity to give them more money.

It is very thoughtful of the cruiseline to do this!

 

As a blackjack dealer in vegas once told the table I happened to be sitting at:

 

"They didn't build these hotels on the backs of winners."

 

And, I thought I was negative at my job!

 

Along that line of thinking---On of my favorite dealers used to say "The less you bet, the more you lose when you win" 🙂  and you thought all the deep thinkers were politicians 🙂

Interesting--Sure glad we are boosted 🙂

Has anyone had any luck in contacting EZAir directly-  I just added a cruise and need to change my flights (over 150 days out). Princess told me that they cannot see or help modify flights without cancelling entire air schedule. Using mock booking I am unable to make flights with the needed time span (July 7 through September 19) and would like to see if live person at EZAir could help. Do any of you have a direct number?  Thanks

Just booked a cruise using the promotion-The one that said "OBC could not be combined with other OBC--- My military OBC shows so I will send my CCL request soon 🙂   Ran into another problem in that by adding this booking at the end of 4 other bookings I need to change EZ air for which I have already paid. Representative at Princess telling me I will have to cancel and rebook all flights. More things to keep me busy while waiting to cruise.

2 hours ago, trbarton said:

FYI…There is one company that runs the casino’s on most of the cruise sips. I don’t remember who that company is but I did contact them once  & was told I didn’t qualify. Your time spent is only on our cruise ship not in a casino elsewhere. 
 

How some people get contacted & some don’t is the $64,000 question. 
 

Hopefully someone will post what company is in charge of the casino’s. 
 

Tom😀

Ocean Players club is the name the ship casinos go by. Email for questions--oceanplayersclub.com/contact .They do not seem to be associated with any cruise line, We have a couple of friends that work for them including one young lady from Peru--Monica- that we have hosted when the ship she was on came into San Francisco and gave her tours of the area. On one trip she was able to take us aboard and gave us a chance to see the crew area--Rooms/ bar (love their price), mess facilities and rec area. Deck 4 and the main walkway is called the M-1--Yeap just like the UK although not many Brits there 🙂

1 hour ago, CineGraphic said:

I’m currently on a free casino cruise, (my first freebie) and I didn’t dare apply for the shareholder’s benefit.

Until I received this latest offering I would have applied for all that I could. I have done close to 15 (free) casino cruises. I have talked with Casino booking folks and they remind me that Princess is not giving me the cruise--The casino is!  Granted the Casino probably gets a discounted rate but many of their booking agents go out of their way to offer even higher benefits. I have received stock holders and military credit on all in addition to onboard casino credit. That is why I wondered about what appears to be additional "small print". I will know more tomorrow as I have picked a couple of cruises 🙂

27 minutes ago, Jadn13 said:

My parents are leaving tmrw on the Enchanted w/a casino offer and combined Military and Shareholder. If you find out there has been an update please share.

Of the cruises we have booked since the freeze over half have been Casino offers. I have those brochures and will check the fine print. I do know we received the OBC for military and shareholder for those we have taken and for all still out there (at least it shows on our personalizer). Maybe I have not read the fine print close enough before. I do know that many offers gave ON board casino credit but only on the first cruise under each offer. Most offers would allow up to three free staterooms but Casino credit only on the first one.