MacMadame

I was able to do it for a US-based cruise and I have never been on a Princess cruise ever. However, I can't do it now. Therefore, I think @BamaVol is correct. There was this brief window after the new app was released where it would let you but that window appears to be closed.

The TA who was going to take over my booking checks every day for all the booked cruises she is responsible for. That's more than I do and what I would expect since it's her job. I did too when I was just searching blind but when someone recommended a TA to me, I finally saw those deals that other people were talking about. Cruising is changing all the time though. It's hard to keep up.

One of my parlor tricks is being able to tell how much things weigh. 🤣 I pick up the suitcase until I think it's just under 50 pounds. I do double-check with the bathroom scale (I get on it with and without the suitcase) even though that method is not as accurate and so far I have never been wrong! I am obsessed with YouTube videos about taking everything in a personal item and a carry-on. I understand why they do it but I just can't see it for myself at least not for an 18-day trip (travel plus cruise). Even if I plan to do laundry during the trip, there are just so many little things I'd need that add up once I pack the 7-8 outfits that they show in the videos.

Please report back!

The last time Princess had a sale on excursions, I rebooked and saved $80! However, the current prices are the same as the ones I got. So either it's the same sale or they raised the prices in order to "lower them". I think it might be the same sale as I rebooked my excursions pretty recently though.

I have a similar philosophy in terms of "if it fits". We have one larger suitcase that we use for all trips (car and airline). If it doesn't fit in there, it doesn't go. Except a lot fits in there so sometimes I am adding things in until it fills up. 🤣

The Plus fare for my cruise says it includes 2 premium desserts, not 2 at $12 or less. I bet that guy is wrong.

People are part of the system though. If the system leads to too many mistakes by humans, changes should be made. But why? When it comes to things like this, Princess is going to look at ROI. It costs them almost nothing when two people with a package get the wrong drink associated with them. Hardly anyone complains. If someone without a package gets put on the package instead of paying, that does cost them. But how much? I assume that this situation is not causing Princess enough $$ and/or aggravation to have them change anything. A handful of people coming to GS to complain each cruise (or even each day) is probably not enough to get them to implement a more elaborate and costly (body cameras for every staff member? big cost) system. They also have to factor in the complaints when it takes longer to order drinks. I'm finding the thread amusing. 😉

How did you know which side to book on or was it just luck you could see it from your balcony? (Asking for 2026 planning.)

There are cruise lines that make this easier than others. I agree you shouldn't have to be so diligent that you are asking multiple people and triple-checking constantly. But I do think you do have to have some diligence. Not everyone understands what you are asking. I learned this the hard way when I was a vegetarian and asking waiters if a dish was vegetarian would give you the wrong answer because they had no idea what that meant and would say yes for dishes with fish, with beef broth, and even with meat in them! I believe Celebrity Cruises has indications on the menu as to allergens for every dish. (I saw it on a YouTube video or I'd link to the menu to show it.) You might want to check them out.

And assigned time! I've been thinking about this. From what I see, there are cruise lines that are much closer to the Good Old Days than others. Ones with dress codes that are enforced, ones that have assigned dining times, ones where much more is included. But they COST. They cost more than I want to pay. So my guess is that if Princess brought some of these things back, they'd have to raise prices to the point where many of us wouldn't book with them.

My first Disney cruise was on my Honeymoon. No kids at that time. 😉

I tried to do this. (But had missed the window by 7 days and wasn't successful.) My reasoning was: - TAs will monitor pricing and refare for you (less work than doing it yourself) - TAs often have deals such as OBC (I was going to get $1000 of free stuff, IIRC) - TAs can give advice and know things I don't know My experience was that I decided to go on a Panama Canal cruise. I did some research and realized quickly that I wanted to do a full transit through the old locks and only some ships could fit. It took me *forever* to figure out which ships I needed to stick to. Then I looked at all the cruise lines that had those ships and figured out which ones even did the PC and what they cost and which itineraries I liked the best. However, I had trouble figuring out what was and wasn't included so it's quite possible that one of the lines I didn't go with was technically slightly cheaper. I do think I made a good choice based on what I read here on Cruise Critic (which I only found after I booked). I also found out about re-faring and set up alerts on various websites to tell me about price changes. I saved about $900 and got a better cabin on top of that. (So much better that no subsequent price drop would have saved me money.) But it took me 3 different refare opportunities to successfully refare because I didn't have a TA and the Princess CVP assigned to me never responded and my request for a new one was ignored. I finally just called the CVP number and talked to a random CVP who helped me. Honestly, I lucked out getting that good deal. If I had used a TA, I could have told them what I wanted and they could have come back with a few choices and talked me through them. This would have saved me so much time. And so much second-guessing myself. Why didn't I use a TA? First, I'm kind of a planner who likes to do the research when it comes to big trips. Second, while a good TA can save you money and time and give you good advice, a bad TA is worse than not having one IME. I did look for TAs in my area and ones that specialized in cruises but I couldn't figure out which ones were good so I just did it myself. I now have the name of a good TA and I will probably use them for my next cruise (which won't be until at least 2026 so hopefully they will still be in business!) but my desire to do the planning myself may cause me to just do it on my own again now that I know more (thanks to CC!). I hope my experience helps you decide what is right for you. I don't think there is one right answer.

Just want to say that on our last cruise, we had our kids with us and they had a blast. Even the 18 month old! Our son was around 8 and he loved the kids club. I agree that 3 is a good age to start cruising. They are old enough to get something out of it and they might even remember it.

Yeah, those two words are extreme (not that some people don't feel that way) but OVERWHELMED is *for sure* something many of us both feel and express here. I think my issue is that I'm an information junky so I do a lot of research as part of planning big trips. But some of it is that there are certain base choices that cost enough money that I do want to make sure I make a good choice. This is mainly around fares and packages. I actually ended up making a spreadsheet My first cruise was done on a whim getting a killer last-minute deal. I had no idea what I was doing. For excursions, I'm not sure if there were any but if there were, I didn't know about them. I found a City Tour at the port for Puerto Rico and it was lovely. But for the Dominican Republic, we got off the ship and within 10 minutes *everyone* had disappeared. What I didn't know was the cruise port was in the middle of nowhere and everyone in the know took a taxi into the main town and went shopping. I, OTOH, made friends with some little boys who showed me around and let me ride their donkey. LOL Honestly, I had a better time than I would have going shopping as I don't like to shop! (And, yes, I tipped them.) We also went to St Croix and I also wandered around there but it's a much smaller place so I saw lots of cool things and even ended up in a church listening to an excellent choir during a morning mass. I hear you on Disney. I feel for people who just show up with no knowledge and no plan. Not only do you have to reserve your days in the park ahead of time but at WDW many rides need a reservation too. And you have to book 90 days in advance! Disneyland isn't as bad but if you have something you *especially* want to do, you do have to plan ahead. I've woken up many times at 3am to grab a dinner reservation at a particularly hot venue.

I'd be very surprised if they had lifeguards given that most cruise lines don't have them for the regular pools which are a lot less safe. Also, they don't have them for the jacuzzis and a swim spa/endless pool is just a rectangular jacuzzi with a controllable current and a leash to hold you into position if you want to use one.

I am going to a job fair tomorrow and I just realized that I don't own any fancy clothes from the waist down. I do everything on Zoom these days so I only dress up from the waist up. 🤣

Yeah, Mr Mac and I don't drink a lot but we do drink some on vacation and he likes his sodas and I like my bottled water when off-ship. Plus, unlike a lot of people, I do plan to use the 2 fitness classes. 🙂 So I made a spreadsheet and the packages make sense if we drink a certain amount but don't if we don't. So how do we predict? My best guess is that the packages will save us a couple of bucks especially since we have a lot of sea days. But we'll see... I agree! I thought the Sun Princess would be too big for me but there are a lot of things about it that have me thinking maybe we should schedule a cruise on her. 😄

I'm booked on the Coral Princess for Jan '25 and it is scheduled for drydock/refurbishment during Oct '24. So taking bookings doesn't mean the ship isn't scheduled for a drydock/refurbishment. If you have a ship you want to book in '25 and you want to check when it's next scheduled for drydock, that information is generally known. Search this site or use Google and you should be able to figure it out. Here's a CC article but it was published last year and doesn't include all the cruise lines: https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/upcoming-cruise-ship-refurbishments

it's not included in the standard *fare*. It *is* included in the Plus and Premier fares. It is also billed to you daily if you have the standard fare. Saying it's not included in US fares is splitting hairs IMO. It's not in the initial fare but it's still in the money that leaves your bank account.

I am confused. Isn't parmesan a type of cheese and isn't cheese made from milk? Which would make it vegetarian but not vegan. No need to start an entire line. Just bring a bag of chocolate with you. 😉

I prefer not to know. 😉 Margine is worse for cholesterol because it has trans fats though.

This isn't really true. Princess is a US company and they include tips in the fare for cruises that originate outside the US. For cruises that originate in the US, they may not be included in the main fare, but they are part of the Plus and Premier packages and you can't remove them. For standard fare, they get added to your folio automatically but you can remove them. Most people don't. So in all those cases except the person with standard fare who removes tips, the tips are included in the amount you pay Princess and there is no need to pay extra unless you want to.

I've actually been thinking about bringing some because I do love a small chocolate when I go to bed. 🤣 It would mostly be a surprise for my husband.

You can ask for a van when you uber. You may have to wait longer but I've done it and it was pretty easy.