PMGS247

45 minutes ago, Bgwest said:

As another poster so adroitly put it, it’s the cruise line that is short changing the crew and shifting blame to the passengers. 

If the cruise lines would simply do the right thing and pay THEIR employees a living wage and dispense with this mindless shell game, there are many (most) who would pay the fare and go on with life. And could then tip for extraordinary service. 

I don't disagree, but it's a fact that the power does remain in the hands of the passenger to short change the crew or not.

I think it's a garbage move on behalf of the cruise line to put passengers in this position but regardless of how you want to use the word "blame", it is still a fact that the passenger has full control and their decision to remove these charges will come out of the pockets of the crew.

Want to discuss how it's a bad system and they should change it? A fine topic to discuss...but has no bearing on the fact that the immediate impact of someone removing a DSC takes funds away from the crew.

If they shift to a system where they pay a proper base wage, (A) I'll be the first to celebrate it, but (B) the base cost of cruising will go up to cover it. You're paying it either way, but in the current system you have the option to opt out. I personally don't think you should, even if you disagree with the concept of the system.

Halloween was embarkation day for me on the CB last October.  It was a good time and nice way to start the cruise.  Lots of people dressed up, ship was decorated.  Halloween party in the piazza that night.

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

I don't agree with it, and have never liked it, but it isn't going away, and those who remove the DSC to "tip" those who they feel did extra, are rewarding those people less than a traditional tip would (since they have already removed part of their compensation), and punishing others who may have done a fine, but not excellent, job by removing their compensation.

Yep...while I deleted the rest of the quote to save space this post sums it up perfectly.  The system stinks, but it is the system, and if you know how it works, you realize removing the DSC is just short changing the crew, even if someone were to exactly replace their removed DSC with cash tips.

It is a method by the cruise lines to hide costs so they can advertise lower cruise fares only to tack on these more discreet costs later.  It's doubly bad because it hides costs from the end customer and the only people at risk due to the fact that it's semi-optional are the crew.

The system does stink.  But the conversation of what the system should be and how to get it changed is completely separate from whether you should or should not remove your DSC while you're on board under the current system.  Like other cruise lines that don't use the DSC? Fantastic....sail with them.

When you get close to the cruise the app & travel summary will show a boarding window but it'll probably say something like 10:00am - 2:00pm which is the entire boarding window and everyone gets the same.

5 hours ago, 555 said:

Yes but at the same time it is a major part of the 60 or 80 dollar per day charge.

I mean as pointed out numerous times, the degree to which someone needs to consume up-charge beverages varies form person to person but it's very common for the other inclusions to reduce that amount to what I would call a very non-"major" portion of the $60/day.

To clarify I don't really care if people get it or not, but Princess's packages are both more complex but also better deals than your standard drink package on another cruise line where it's $85/day and you need to have 10 drinks to justify it. If people brush it off because they "don't drink much" they may end up short changing themselves.  Just saying it's worth a self assessment, even to someone who doesn't drink a lot.

2 hours ago, nini said:

 

Very well stated! The breakdown is excellent.

An exception I can think of is if the person is Platinum or Elite and can get the WiFi for half off. However, we are Platinum and really enjoy the convenience of the Plus package and not stressing about our beverages. AND, we still enjoy tipping extra to crew members.

Agreed.  In OPs example they do not have access to the Elite discounted wi-fi pricing, but yes, access to cheaper wi-fi might leave you a larger gap that you won't utilize enough coffee/soda/alcohol to justify.  Elite discount 50% so that's like a $13 impact.  It's one additional alcoholic beverage basically.  Probably not likely to change the result for most people, but for some, sure.

Honestly it's the right call for most people. 

Where it's not the right call are: People who remove gratuities or don't use or share wi-fi AND they don't drink much. 

$60/day is low for a stand-alone drink package compared to the rest of the cruising industry so just drinks alone it's not that hard to justify it, but when you factor in the other inclusions it really is the right thing for most people.  Not judging it any way and not saying they don't exist, there's plenty of people who's vacation style doesn't justify the $60/day, but it's safe to say it makes sense more often than not.

If you plan to pay your gratuities and would purchase wi-fi anyway, you only need to get usefulness out of about $20 of premium coffees, sodas, and alcohol per day for the package to make sense.  With on-board prices as they are $20 isn't much. A lot of people get this out of just coffee/water/soda before even factoring in a single sip of alcohol.  If you take out wi-fi and/or gratuities it's a higher bar for how much you need to drink to justify the package.

Yep definitely works.  I've never heard of being charged for sodas but it is definitely cans.

One point of confusion in surfing the internet for this topic is that Carnival drink package does not work on Princess Cays.  Given there's actually a lot more Carnival ships going to PC throughout the year than Princess ships, there's a lot of user created content and people's first hand accounts that would lead someone to believe drink packages don't work there.  Not sure why such a difference exists between Princess and Carnival, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's always been like that as long as I've been cruising.

4 minutes ago, thornegirl said:

Thanks for all your replies, still can't buy these items.  I can put an excursion in my basket and pay for that, the space to put your card number in is not greyed out for the excursions.  Really strange.  I'll wait a few days and if its the same I'll contact my TA.

 

 

Yeah both the website and the app can be glitchy.  I usually have better luck with the website but nothing's a guarantee.  Contacting the TA is a good call.

You should be able to order immediately after booking.  It won't ship until the last 2-3 weeks before your cruise, so it really doesn't matter if you order a month or 12 months in advance but I'm not sure there's a limit to how far in advance you can put in the order.  App has been particularly buggy recently so if you're having trouble it's more likely just the app being its usual buggy self. 

49 minutes ago, suzyed said:

Are they still doing the Gold and White night?

No seems like that ended sometime around the turn of the year. 80’s night seems to have taken its place. 

10 minutes ago, ridgecrest said:

Thanks @reedprincess  I was just confused as to why the site did not present me with the opportunity to purchase one of the packages as it did for all other stateroom types.

 

That's odd that it doesn't give the opportunity to buy the packages.  It should.  That's a customer service call.

Thanks for the detailed breakdown! Living vicariously through you as a month ago today we were at Princess Cays.  Want to go back on board!

Seems like a lot of effort to get the drinks thing squared away when you were at 12/15.  It is annoying that they don't listen to you when you ask them to split the drinks evenly but I think that's just an unfortunate reality at this point...as long as you don't actually go over and start incurring charges it doesn't really matter.  They should tell you at the time if that happens where they're about to serve you a charged beverage which would be an opportunity to say no, they've been charging everything to your account and they need to go on the other one....although I wouldn't fall out of my chair in shock if they just silently charged you and you have to take it up with guest services later. 

I would just keep a close eye on it and have your other half order the next couple rounds or use their phone to order on the app for both.  Going down the path of trying to fix it on the fly with chat or guest services is just too distracting in my book.  I'm going to take some basic steps to avoid being charged by playing games with who orders the drinks and whose app we use but worst case deal with charges the next day.  Chat function will just send me through the roof and ruin my evening LOL

18 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

I understand the convenience issue and I think there are several good points made in favor of the packages.  I think you are wrong to jump to the conclusion those without a package have mental anguish over purchases. We don't do the packages.  We buy what we want when we want without a need for ledger entries.  We don't consider ourselves bare bones but I suspect our on-board spending might be less than many. It is not something I would ever ask someone about.  I certainly have no issues with anyone having the package and don't need them to justify it to me.   

 

  

Fair, I suppose I'm intending to address specifically those that come in to discussions like these seemingly hell bent on convincing others what's right for them entirely based on their own style.  You certainly don't qualify....but there's never a shortage of them in threads like this.

should be able to make it work.  even if you run out of real estate under the beds with the additional suitcase it's would be reasonably out of the way on the floor of the closet.

Totally reasonable.  It's a fine line between doing the math for what you would have spent and what you'd be happy to have.  In a lot of cases, people end up covering the $60 fairly easily with just what they would have bought so it's not even necessary to dig any further.  This more stringent math is a better lowest common denominator for most discussions because typical nay-sayers will argue that if they wouldn't have bought it than it's automatically wasteful.  As pointed out though, it's not wasted if you enjoy it, and if having the package is what gave you the mental freedom to enjoy it, then there's legit value in that.

As with most things, YMMV, but the non-monetary benefits of the freeing mindset you get are a very valid justification if that's something you enjoy.  It's just a nuance that just doesn't go very far in a discussion with people who are trying to crap on the idea of packages because they like to have a bare bones vacation and think everyone else should too. I have not read this thread, it's way too long, but given the 9 pages of discussion I'll bet a few of these people have chimed in LOL

7 hours ago, suzyed said:

Which nights of the cruise are the formal nights?

On our sailing it was the first and second sea days. That should generally be true most of the time on a 7 day itinerary tho I’m not sure how it works on a 4 port itinerary since Formal night won’t be on the final night of the cruise. 

18 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

Ohhh,  also just curious...  Did the ship pull in or back in???  Which side is overlooking the harbor.   Hoping that she pulls in and PORT is overlooking the harbor...  But, I am quite sure the Captain would be oblivious to my request!!!  Hahaha!

Someone posted the webcam image confirming port side was indeed facing the harbor.  The same was true when I was on this same itinerary 2 weeks ago, but I've been stalking it for a while and I can say that when they visited ~3.5 weeks ago based on the same webcam they backed in and starboard was facing the harbor.  No idea what drives that decision. 

Seems like 90% of the time it's done like this with port side facing harbor.  St. Thomas and Port Everglades are similar in this way.  I think it's how I got in the habit of snagging port side rooms. On two occasions on debarkation day the captain has decided to pull in the other way in port everglades and I've woken up to the terminal outside my balcony, but seems like 9 times out of 10 they back in and you're facing the water.

2 hours ago, MissiCruzs said:

Last night was Westside Story on MUTS.  I wish they had closed captioning because I couldn't hear what they were saying most of the time. 

 

 

Interesting! My wife and I just got off the Enchanted a couple weeks ago and were applauding the fact that they had closed captioning on all MUTS.  I had assumed that was fleet wide but apparently not. They definitely can do this though.

I don't disagree with any of the ranting/raving in this thread, I don't have anything to add in that regard, but just to chime in on the one element that I don't think anyone's addressed: The delivery date of 6 weeks actually probably does make sense.  They tend to ship all medallions for the same sailing at basically the same time, typically arriving ~10 days before the cruise, give or take.  Doesn't matter if you ordered 15 months in advance or 4 weeks before the cruise.

8 hours ago, Coral said:

I would think if you didn't like Caribbean Princess, you probably would not like Emerald.

This was my gut reaction.  Very similar ships.

My first 4 cruises were on Grand class ships, and my 2nd cruise, my honeymoon, was on the Emerald.  Loved them back then, it's how I fell in love with cruising, but upon revisiting the Caribbean Princess this past October for the first time in a long time and after experiencing a couple sparkling new Royal class ships over the past few years, it definitely confirmed that we strongly prefer Royal class ships now.

Can use OBC if you wait to board. The biggest risk is price going up between now and your cruise. It's no more expensive on board than it is pre-cruise but at some point the package will increase across the board so the longer you wait the more likely that is to happen. 

On the flip side, if you're purchasing insurance with your cruise, your insurance premium is slightly higher if you pre-purchase since it's considered part of your insured cruise fare.  If you purchase on board it would have no impact on insurance.

As for specialty dining & medallion shipping, as long as you're willing to float the cost you can still pay for these things in advance and then when you purchase the package on board they will refund your original purchase to your on board account.  If I were able to snag a good dining reservation time (a big IF) I'd float the cost and take the refund on board.  I just did this a couple weeks ago on the Enchanted after I upgraded to Premier from plus on board.  I had to go to Guest Services to get them to apply the OBC, not sure if it ever would have happened without my requesting it, but it took a matter of moments when I requested it.

22 hours ago, CenTexan said:

Anton - thank you so much for the screen shot. I know more now.

 

From the way they wrote it - it sounds like the "coffees and teas, hot chocolage, water, smoothies" are lumped in with the "wine and beer" and therefore are limited to 15 per day. Only soda and juice is unlimited? Does that mean I can't get 16 specialty coffees in a single day?? (that would be a caffeine coma!) I didn't realize the 15 limit included other than alcoholic drinks . . .

It is poorly worded.  As others have said it is just alcoholic beverages that count, but totally fair to walk away with that perception based on the poor wording in the app.

1 minute ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

Or room is flooding. Not a good thing to come back to from the sanctuary. 

IMG_3206.mov

YIIIIIIKES! Curious how the story of this one plays out.....what caused it, how quickly was it resolved, etc.  Good luck.  Sorry to see this happen to you! 

53 minutes ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

Many people are there just to drink and listen to music.  We ate there and the food was great.  O'Malley's was open for lunch today and then dinner.  I think it's only open for lunch on sea days. People were singing along last night, it really was a fun spot to be. 

Totally agree....as the week goes on though I recommend showing up earlier and earlier....people figure out how great the Duo is as the week goes on and it gets more and more difficult to get a spot.  When we showed up top try to do Lunch on both of the final 2 sea days right at 11:30 when they opened the line to get in had more people in it than were seated in the restaurant. Someone described this in a Sun Princess video review as "too popular for its own good".  Definitely found this to be true...still love it though!