suzyed

On 8/19/2024 at 10:45 AM, julie3fan said:

 

IMHO, that seems like faulty info.  The reason *not* to do that is that in effect you're taking 2 tables, the TD you've chosen that would remain vacant, and the actual table you sit at if you don't go to your TD table.  Going to the buffet or a specialty restaurant would be acceptable, but not another MDR.  

Maybe the rep meant you could do either/or, not both reservations. If TD is once again not only keeping you at the same time but also the table with the same people each night then you get into the "notify my servers and table mates" mode when you plan to dine elsewhere for the evening.  If it's just the "fixed time" then that makes it easier to choose to dine elsewhere and they won't be "holding your table" in the TD MDR, at least not for very long.

13 minutes ago, Stosh68 said:

 

Sounds like fake news to me.

 

I just called my Princess CVP, and she was able to upgrade my premier from the old $80 to the new $90 plan for my cruise that embarks on September 1st.  She even was able to process the payment using my AARP gift cards.

 

Already have the conformation email that shows code 02 7011 Unlimited Specialty Dining Upgrade.

I guess it's being "rolled out"....it's being phased in.   For example our next cruise is on the Coral and is being phase in on Oct 17th which is the sail date of our cruise right after Dry Dock.....at least this is what I heard on Youtube.

13 minutes ago, JGmf said:

 

Yikes!  Well, this price list is pretty much a "we don't want to wash your laundry for you" pricing approach!

 

 

Good thing they have laundry facilities to do your own!

2 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

Why doesn't Medicare cover you on land in the US? 

 

If you are from the US and travel to another state, your medical insurance would absolutely cover you. 

That's not what I meant....it may not cover you OUT of the country.

17 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

If you're from the US, your existing medical insurance will cover you.

Unless you are on Medicare....not all will cover you.
Also, with many travel insurance polices, you have to have a regular policy in place since they will try that insurance first before the travel insurance is accessed....at least that is what I have seen.

18 hours ago, dog said:

I buy an annual travel medical policy and Princess Platinum insurance- mainly for CFAR.

Ditto.

1 hour ago, Clampram said:

This topic of insurance is very confusing. Last evening I reviewed my Princess Platinum Plan and I was surprised to see that the medical coverage is only $20,000. That does not cover much in the event of a serious emergency/hospitalization. In the light of that I am going to buy additional insurance. Geo Blue looks promising

We use the Annual Plan with Geo Blue which was a perfect solution to the medical needs of those of us on Medicare since with many plans you are not covered out of the country. 
The new issue with it, is that once you turn 70 the maximum coverage is reduced.  The maximum benefit is $100,000 which is probably sufficient but we should keep this in mind if we are "seniors"

9 hours ago, 555 said:

They're giving up on satisfying their loyal customers & catering to the almighty dollar. It's evident by the change in packages & designs of their newest ships.

Of course the old ships will be around for a while or at least until the old elites are phased out by attrition. 

Are you referring to the Package upgrades?   It's not just on the new ships....I heard they are phasing them in over the next few months with the Coral being the last one on Oct. 17th.

My question is if you have already booked SD and then you upgrade to Premiere will you get refunded for what you already paid for as far as SD?
Also, will it be available for upgrade once we get onboard?  The upgrade for the Coral is first available the day we sail.

13 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

Today was our first full sea day. Our room service breakfast arrived at exactly 6:30. We had selected 6:30-7:00. Since I am going to be working most mornings on this trip, we decided to just stick to the 6:30 wake-up time from my real life. I had my breakfast out on the balcony, but I was having trouble getting my laptop connected to wifi out there, so I ended up coming back inside. Once on the wifi, I worked on my blog and my husband played his Steam Deck for a long time. We were clearly going to miss MDR breakfast so we decided to lazily take our showers and get dressed for the day. By the time we were done with that, we realized that neither of us really wanted breakfast at all (besides my pizza muffin and his half a danish from room service), so we grabbed a board game and headed down to Good Spirits.

 

At Good Spirits, I went up to the bar to order our first round of drinks while my husband set up our game. At the bar, I ended up sitting right next to the same couple we had met there right when we boarded. The wife overheard me ordering a Champagne & Chambord and decided she really liked the sound of that, so she was going to order one next.

 

We played through our first round of Splendor Duel and then I was poking my phone and checking Cruise Critic. Someone posted to our roll call asking what date/ time the M&G was and I replied that it was in an hour at Take Five. I then decided to double-check and found the Google Sheet that the M&G signup was in and lo and behold, I was wrong. The M&G was right then! We quickly packed up our stuff, grabbed the second round of drinks that had just been delivered to our table, and headed over to Take Five, only a couple of minutes late.

 

The M&G was well attended. We got to make nametags for ourselves as we walked in and then we all just loitered and chatted. There were three officers there. I believe they were the Guest Services Manager, the Hotel Manager, and the Food & Beverage Manager, but don’t quote me on that. I didn’t get a chance to talk to any of them, because we were so busy chatting with our fellow Cruise Critics. We had a nice time and ended up staying way past the end time of 11:00, chatting with @Canuker and his wife.

 

At that point, it was time to decide what to do about lunch. They were doing Pub Lunch in the MDR, but we decided to do Pub Lunch in the actual pub. So we headed to O’Malley’s. This time I got the onion soup and the other burger option (the Blue Cheese one). My husband got the crab dip and decided to try the fish & chips. My Blue Cheese burger came without any blue cheese on it, but that was the only snafu and was quickly remedied. My husband said the fish & chips were okay, but still likes the stew better. I suspect that he will be ordering the stew for the remainder of this trip now that he has tied two other items and has been less impressed.

 

After lunch, we, of course, headed back to our room for a nap. I napped HARD and didn’t even notice when my husband got up and left the room. I woke up around 2:30 and tried to text him, but my phone didn’t seem to be working. The text wouldn’t go through and I couldn’t get on any websites.

 

I headed down to International Cafe for my afternoon coffee and then used the app to stalk my husband, who was at the Crown Grill bar. Once settled in there, I rebooted my phone and it was working fine, but my husband was having the same problem with his and rebooting didn’t help. We ignored that for the time being and played another round of Splendor Duel. I won that round, making us even for the trip so far. Also, while we were seated at the Crown Grill bar, my husband attempted to order us some drinks via the app and it worked! It took a long time, but we did actually receive our drinks. After that, I decided that I wanted to get my casino-ing done early in the day so that I could enjoy the evening activities. So, I headed off to the casino and left instructions for my husband to find me there later since his phone wasn’t working, so he couldn’t text me.

 

I then proceeded to rapidly lose my daily budget. On the bright side, I actually managed to acquire a drink from one of the roving servers, which I have never been able to do successfully in the casino on this ship. My husband managed to find me as I was cashing out my $.74 or whatever paltry amount I had left for the day.

 

I don’t remember the exact sequence of events after that, but I know we ended up in Crooners for some pre-dinner drinks and a quick chat with Bon. We then headed over to Ocean Terrace for dinner. I got the Octopus Nigiri and the Spice Salmon Roll. The Octopus Nigiri was AMAZING and I will order that every day for the rest of the cruise! The salmon roll was also good, but I had tried that on our May sailing, so that wasn’t a surprise.

 

After dinner, we decided it seemed like great hot tub weather, so we went back to the room and got changed into our swimsuits. We picked up some drinks from The Mix bar up on deck and then headed to the hot tubs overlooking The Retreat pool. There was one gentleman in the hot tub when we arrived, but he didn’t stay much longer after we arrived. We stayed for quite a long while. I found it interesting that the jets never timed out and there wasn’t a button we needed to press to restart them.

 

We went back to the room and changed. I decided I desperately needed a pizza muffin, so I stopped by the International Cafe while my husband headed to Princess Live where we planned to watch Karaoke, but it turned out we had the location wrong. Karaoke was being held in the Vista Lounge, so we moved over there. We ended up not staying long though, because my husband’s tolerance for bad singing is way lower than mine. We then headed to the theater, thinking the Adele tribute show started at 9:00, but we were wrong. It didn’t actually start until 9:30. So, we headed up to the buffet for some early late-night snack. We both got some fries from the Kids’ Corner and munched on those. My husband grabbed a brownie and some cookies to drop off back at the room.

 

The turnout for the Adele show was pretty nuts. There were people just standing in the aisles. The singer did a fantastic job. I was skeptical because Adele is Adele for a reason. It was going to be pretty hard to do her voice any justice, but this woman nailed it. The only thing I didn’t love was that she talked a lot between songs about stuff I really didn’t care about. I would have preferred less talking and more singing. During one of her long monologues, I lost my husband, as he got up to head off to bed.

 

After the show, I went up to Slice for my late-night pizza, then back to the room for bed.

 

Day's Drinks:

 

2x Champagne & Chambord from Good Spirits

Champagne & Chambord from Take Five

Golden Gorse from O’Malley's 

Coffee w/ Bailey's from International Cafe

Vodka & Ginger Ale from Ocean Now

Double Vodka & Ginger Ale from the Casino

French Martini from Crooners 

Mango & Strawberry Daiquiri from The Mix

 

Do they "charge" you for two drinks when you get a Champagne and Chambord? 

17 hours ago, JGmf said:

 

I was on the Enchanted last month, and then April before that.  Same excellent, smooth, and efficient embarkation for me too.  I remain very impressed with both Princess and the port operations in FLL. 

 

As you know @JamieLogical, it's a far cry from the clunky NYC embarkation experience with NCL.

Ditto in June...easy peasy!

On 7/29/2024 at 7:26 PM, dog said:

I would go in the personalizer and press the cancel button on the excursion. Refund goes to credit card or if you paid with OBC back to your account.  Then phone to cancel.

This is what we do too.

12 hours ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

I went back and read their post, and I think they meant that Elites can get on early and get to the Sanctuary first to reserve a spot.  But we don't get on the ship first anymore.  I think we have to pick a slot like everyone else.  Am I correct?

IF any are available!  Our last cruise on the Enchanted was a B2B and those who were on the first part (we weren't) had the Sanctuary booked up by the time we got on at about 11:45.....there were 2 afternoon spots available with a less than stellar location but we wanted to try it for the first time so we took those 2 spots.

On 7/22/2024 at 5:52 PM, Its the journey said:

Herein lies the rub, for Princess loyalists ( and I consider myself one).  

 

Previously the sanctuary was a much loved and appreciated loyalty perk.  Yes, being elite wouldn't guarantee you a spot, but it helped quite a bit and being able to get a place in the sanctuary definitely inspired me to chase loyalty levels with Princess.

 

If they take that away, they offer very little loyalty rewards that anyone will chase.

 

And if they want to compete with Royal, Royal will be a tough one to take on.  Great loyalty perks, I have many friends who are completely "loyal to royal" just to earn another free drink.

 

This is a real issue to me they are taking away something very attractive that was tied to loyalty and making it just about money.  Will this impact loyalty? 

 

People on their first cruise will no longer be plotting how to obtain  Elite to have a better shot at the sanctuary.  

 

Will they care less about loyalty to Princess?  After all why chase perks when they are easily taken away.

 

Or can be purchased, no loyalty required 

May I ask when the Sanctuary was a loyalty perk? If being elite wouldn't guarantee a spot how was it a loyalty perk?  I'm confused.

On 7/24/2024 at 4:54 PM, Thrak said:

 

Yes, they got the drinks next door at Take Five. Sadly, they have now trashed Take Five by removing the band area and adding slot machines. It's now a smoke-free slot machine area with the bar. I'm disgusted and disappointed.

Not only was there no bar in the casino on the Enchanted in June but Take Five was closed as well.  And there were only a very few people taking orders.  It was my least favorite casino so far.

23 hours ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

Fully understand that the truth is the truth.  There are many old time Princess cruisers that are happier than pigs in mud that there have been so many screw ups with the implementation of the Sphere Class.  Many of them will never step foot on a Royal Class ship yet alone one of the two Sphere Class ships.  Princess has certainly made multiple mistakes and hopefully beyond the change in the date of the first sailing the start up with regards to the Star goes much more smoothly than the nonsense with the start up of the Sun.

why would they be happy?

On 7/23/2024 at 6:56 PM, Thrak said:

 

We sailed on Discovery Princess in April and there was no bar in the casino on that ship at that time.

There was no bar in the casino on the Enchanted in June.

14 hours ago, trbarton said:

What do others think about the wrist band holder that I suggested?

 

Here’s what mine looks like. Since it’s always on my wrist I never have to remember where it is or to take it with me. I have removed it & put it into my pocket when I’m dressed for the Formal Nights. 
 

 

 

I like that because it seems there is no metal on it....I'm allergic.  Where did you get it and does it come in other colors?

On 5/27/2024 at 3:41 PM, JF - retired RRT said:

How would the casino or Princess know that you're cashing out your ROBC? We do it all the time. The trick is to play the slots for 5 or 10 minutes before you cash out. Yes, you'll lose some of that "free" money, but who cares?

Shhhh!

On 5/27/2024 at 10:49 AM, Coral said:

This is insane. It has to be wrong.

It's insane....so probably right!   Sheesh!

On 7/27/2024 at 12:10 PM, voljeep said:

we booked the UBD for $110 total for 2 people for the SUN P in October - shows on Travel Summary as paid.  Not sure if we will be charged the 'extra' 18% once on board?  but if we do, that's the tip. . works out the same as the $20 we are planning on.

 

How do we break that down between the 2 people who serve/go get of food drinks?  or do they do that between themselves?

See which one does most of the work and tip him/her...or split if they split the work.
DH says if you give the whole $20 do it in front of the other one and he may be more likely to share it.  Or just give each $10 and be done with it.
Actually, if I remember correctly, the gratuity may be included so you can decide if you want to add anything extra.

On 7/11/2022 at 10:21 AM, FritzG said:

The bottom picture is the one we use.  We got a package of 4 from Amazon.   DH mostly kept his in a pocket, but I hooked mine to the strap on my little purse, and it worked out great.

I like the beaded necklace...very nice!

On 7/16/2024 at 4:50 PM, Nolafan said:

@Indiana Robis 100% correct- Princess is now taking your $ - for us it was $100 per person- for pre booking the Chefs Table. You will receive a receipt and it will show in your Travel Documents as pre booked and give you a date. 
 

However, once onboard they aren’t “ honoring “ the reservation. We are currently on the 16 night Iceland British Isles cruise on the Caribbean Princess and we still haven’t gotten confirmation on what night our Chef Table is, we have been given the complete run around from every Department on this, and the most frustrating thing about it is that every staff member keeps trying to up sell us to the Wine Maker Dinner for an extra $50 per person telling us that they can guarantee us a night for that but can’t guarantee that we can get in to the Chef’s Table. When we tell them that we pre paid for it, show them our receipts and our Travel Summary all that we are told is we can upgrade to the higher level of wine maker’s Table or get OBC.

 

Talk about run around and frustration!!!’ 

The Chef's Table is not $100.  It may have been on some ships 10 years ago but is now typically more and has never been available to pre-book.   As some others have mentioned, the Ultimate Balcony Dining is around $100-$110..maybe that is what they booked for you? 
The Winemakers Dinner is very nice although not as elaborate as Chef's Table.  
Good luck with whatever you choose.

On 7/16/2024 at 4:22 PM, Indiana Rob said:

Hi y'all,

 

We are sailing the Crown to Alaska this Saturday out of San Francisco.  I had read that you either needed to go to guest services, the dining room manager or dial the DINE Line to get a reservation at the Chef's table.

Today I went to the Princess homepage on my computer (not the app) and clicked "chat" in the bottom right hand corner and made my request.  It was very easy.  The agent even asked me which night I would like, so I selected the first formal night to make it a little extra special.  I do not know what the standard protocol is but am simply offering my recent experience in case others were wondering.

Happy cruising!

Hmmm?  What was the charge?

7 hours ago, Kay S said:

Yay!  Now I have the opposite problem where I want to go from private to shared, but "not available."  😄  I think I'll wait to get on the ship to straighten it out since its about 10 months out.  But boy, is that good news for you!

Thanks!  And wishing you good luck as well!  It seems you should have better luck switching from private to shared since there are typically more shared than private available.