jrzebird

I am shocked that there are lines attempting to sail.  They should be ashamed.  I just heard on the news that the Caribbean, Central and South America have the highest ever new cases.  I found it very down-heartening to hear this.  Do I want to sail again?  Of course, we all do, but I have been out of work and barely out of my house for over 3 months, so why would I think it is safe to step on a ship where they can't contain norovirus, let alone this killer. Viruses (or virii, if you will) don't announce themselves. They sneak in, strike and leave.  You may think you're doing everything you can, and I'm sure the cruise lines are doing just that, but the odds are far too great, IMHO.  I just hope I get to sail again.  In the meantime, PLEASE wear a mask to protect me and I'll do the same for you, wash your hands like they taught us on the ships and safe distance.  Stay well.

Maureen

On 12/2/2018 at 8:50 PM, Colo Cruiser said:

Why would you need them with the unlimited package?

Seriously, just do the unlimited pre-sail package.  I LOVED the unlimited.  I was also on the 11/1 Regal sailing, and we weren't supposed to have unlimited, but we did because it's still a Medallion preview cruise (and I believe it still is).  I used my free minute package and forget to turn off the internet and thank heavens I also had the Elite free package.  All I did was go to the Internet Cafe, and talk to the Internet guy.  All fixed.  One of my friends sailed on the CB and used the Elite package and only got a limited number of minutes.  He bought the unlimited offered.  Once you have unlimited, there's no going back, IMHO.

Maureen

Last year, on the Regal repo from NY to Ft. Lauderdale, there was a priest on board who offered Mass a couple of times.  They also had someone hold Shabbat services on that cruise.  In all of my years on Princess, that was the first time for me to have a service on Sunday.  HAL has one almost daily.

Maureen

Last time on Princess they carried a German N/A. They ran out half way thru the cruise. It was good when available

I haven’t had a drink in almost 45 years but about 40 years ago I discovered one called Klausthaller, from Germany. It was awesome. However I gave up even the non-alcoholic beer. Was this the brand on Princess? Can’t believe I remembered the name.

j

 

 

 

Ahh! Thank you so much. After a lifetime of bad eating, wrong lifestyle choices, I waited until I got into my 60s to become a gym rat. High Cholesterol and blood pressure,, Type II diabetes and a desire not to continue to be sick and tired of being sick and tired...I did a lifestyle change. I have at least 17 people on my Roll Call to participate in Chair Aerobics classes on my 49 day S.A. Grand Adventure in Feb.

 

 

 

Ramona

Good for you Ramona !

Maureen

or else it could be that there will be no internet available at all !!! ;p;p:cool:

 

 

 

or else, yeah..

Like last year. Horrible.

Yes they do. And double days!

 

Maureen

I misspoke about the days. I was rushing to answer and forgot to think. Sorry.

Does Princess give double points on cruises when travelling solo? Last time I travelled Princess, we were two persons in the stateroom.

 

 

 

Celebrity does give double points when travelling solo and paying the same as two persons in a cabin.

 

 

 

Just wondering as I have a 22 day cruise on Princess and travelling solo. Thanks.

Yes they do. And double days!

Maureen

Have them contact you by E-mail and check your E-mail as often as you feel the need to.

Perhaps calling the Princess home office and letting them contact the ship would be a good place to start. I recall that Princess includes a number for emergency contact with the ship but I’m not sure where. Could be in all the info with your personalizer or your boarding pass. I’ll check it out tomorrow.

Thanks so much for the quick reply!

I plug my toothbrush into the socket in the main cabin if it needs it. My electric toothbrush only needs to be plugged in every 2 or 3 weeks to be charged. If yours has to be plugged in to work I’d suggest picking up a battery operated one for the cruise. I don’t think the plug in the bathroom was made for anything but a shaver.

Maureen

old and new pics attached.

 

 

 

on the main page of cruises and pricing there is no .00

 

 

 

if you click on the cruise the .00 is there. ive never seen any cruising priced other than at .00 so it seems weird to keep cents on some pages but not others

They really didn’t omit the cents, they replaced the unneeded .00 with nothing. Much neater and much easier to type. That’s my humble opinion.

Maureen

the site looks so much more plain without the cents on the pricing. now they are just like all the other lines. it just looks freaky now. :confused:

I don’t know and didn’t notice. You mean that instead of charging 10.99 for something it’s now 11.00?

On almost all Princess ships the muster is held in inside lounges and locations on deck 7. On a few ships deck 6 is also used. Your location is shown on the inside of your cabin door. You can show up early and will be located in a space reserved for wheelchairs.

 

Tip: If your cabin is on one of the lower decks, 8, 9, 10 maybe even 11, you may find it difficult to get a wheelchair on the elevator as everyone fills them up coming down. Suggest you place yourself earlier in one of the open areas on deck 7 making it easier to reach your muster station. You will find it difficult to return to your cabin after the drill, elevators are full.

My experience has been that the elevators are disabled for muster. Most go at least 15 minutes early and I believe passenger services can give you some help if you go when you first board.

I suggest you call at&t and ask them. They know what your plan covers. Things are changing on Princess. I don’t know what ship you’re on but many, if not all, of the ships now have medallion and WiFi for Platinum and Elite is free and fast, at least for now. They have very reasonable plans for those who aren’t eligible for free. No more counting minutes or logging on and off every time you want to check mail. They also have a phone plan you can buy. Again, find out from at&t and when you board, talk to someone in the internet area.

Hoping it’s still free in October & November?

 

I may pre-purchase the Unlimted Plan just to be sure I can get it at a reasonable price if it isn’t free.

 

Long Live FREE Internet!

I’ve decided not to waste my money to buy it now. I’m Elite so if it costs me, which I highly doubt, it will be a lot less than the old way of minutes and lousy or no connections.

Maureen

Is Unlimited Internet Free on the Regal Princess for Platinum & Elite?

So I have been told by many who have sailed. I’ll know for sure on 11/1 when I board.

Maureen.

Speak with the maitre'd or head waiter early in the cruise. You should get what you need. It will not be one table, could be two or three close together.

I do the Halloween repo on the Regal every year. We do a lot of group dinners and never have had an issue, until last year. We had quite a large group and reservations. When we told them we had arrived they said that they couldn’t seat us because they changed the policy and would only take groups of 5. It was infuriating. A few of us stayed but most left.

Someone else has a thread about birthdays, and I just posted the same thing!!! Only I got someone who had way toooooooo much coffee make a snarky response.

 

Wah!!! Wah!!! I never got a coloring birthday card! I'm going to write Princess a long letter and tell them I'll never cruise with them again because they're stingy handing out birthday greetings! WAH!!! WAH!!! sniff, sniff. /snark

Lol. You had to start it. [emoji508][emoji13][emoji851]

Today my partner celebrates his 40th birthday. It was very nice for him to receive an e-mail this morning from Princess wishing him a happy birthday.

 

 

 

However, the little gift they included left us both bemused.

 

 

 

Was it a discount off a future cruise?

 

 

 

A complimentary bottle of wine perhaps...or a discount off a spa treatment?

 

 

 

No they sent him a colouring in book which he can download.

 

 

 

How exciting.

 

 

 

Has anyone else spent their 40th birthday colouring in their Princess picture books?

I only celebrate every 4 years but all I generally get from Princess is a card. Your partner must be very special. Say thank you and move on. And, a very happy Birthday [emoji512][emoji322] to your partner.

Maureen

Since the OP posted in the Carnival forum it must be presumed she's sailing with Carnival. Most debit cards may be used as a credit card but that doesn't change the nature of the holds or what happens if your account is overdrawn because of holds.

I’m actually using Tapatalk and didn’t realize it was a Carnival board. I have no idea how that happened. I apologize.

You should be able to prepay the auto-gratuities, but the only factor preventing you, that I can think of is you would have to prepay for the entire cabin. If it's a case of you not wanting to pay for your fellow cabin mates then recoup the payment directly from them prior to cruising, then my suggestion is to purchase cruise cash in an amount the is just a bit lower than your expected auto-gratuities. Auto-gratuities for a standard stateroom is currently $12.95/passenger/day, for suites it's 13.95/person/day.

Also NEVER use a debit or a prepaid credit card for any cruise or resort charge to room accounts. Instead when you do your online check-in indicate you will be doing a cash based account. The test charge done by the ship or property is recorded by the bank or card issuer as a hold that can last as long as 10 banking days (up to 14 calendar days) and can easily put you in an overdraft situation.

A cash based account has no deposit minimum, is fully refundable if you over deposit, and easy to deposit to. Some cruise terminals even allow you to make th deposit during the physical check-in process, otherwise you can use a S&S kiosk or the guest service desk on board the ship. Since you prepaid as much as you were able to, just deposit enough to cover the auto-gratuities, if you did not do the cruise cash bit, plus a bit more for the stray sales tax or VAT charges on drinks while in port. You have until the second day on board to make the deposit in cash before your on board charging privileges are suspended.

If op is sailing Princess, the daily gratuity is $13.50 per guest for all cabins except mini suites and club class, which are $14.50 and suites, which are $15.50. The prices you quoted are from a couple years ago. I strongly recommend that OP PAY THIS AHEAD.

My sailing buddy gives them a charge card but then pays off any charges in cash almost every day. This may be the answer to Ops quandary.

I don’t think they actually submit the bill to your credit company until after the cruise so paying off your charges every evening is a great solution. Using a debit card is strongly discouraged. I can use my debit card as a credit card. Perhaps you can too?

Maureen

hi all!

 

I was hoping somebody might be able to help me understand these new coffee cards on princess. I called princess, and the customer service rep I spoke with said that brewed coffee and tea is always complimentary, and that the coffee cards are only needed for specialty coffee and hot chocolate. I’m confused, because when you go into the personalizer to purchase a card, it says one is needed for brewed coffee and tea as well. Can anyone on here tell me which of these is correct? We are sailing on the royal princess if that makes a difference at all. I understand that some things could differ between different ship classes.

 

 

 

Thanks for any advice on this in advance! And I look forward to reading more and posting more on here leading up to our first cruise!

Welcome aboard. I know you will love Princess.

There is a lot of confusion right now because they are transitioning from cards to Medallion, where everything will be electronic, thus changing how several things are done. Some ships have it, some don’t.

The person you spoke to was wrong and right. In the international Cafe you will need a coffee “card” which you purchase, for a set amount of specialty coffees and unlimited BREWED coffee and specialty teas for the duration of the cruise. You can get all of the coffee and tea you want in the Horizon Court or in any of the restaurants during a meal. These coffees are formulated from a syrup base and disliked by many. I personally find them perfectly acceptable and even more so over the last few years. But I do love my cappuccino or latte after dinner and you can order those from your waiter.

Hope this helped a bit. I figure that once I board the Regal on November 1, it will all be clear, maybe. Whatever, we’re cruising!!!!

Enjoy your cruise and please write back and let us know how much you loved it.

Maureen

We prefer cabins near the elevators/stairs for the convenience. There is never any noise from the elevator machinery. The only time we book a cabin farther from the elevator lobby is on cruises that are more likely to have a high number of incompetent parents who failed to teach their children how to be considerate, quiet, and not block elevators and stairs.

To the OP: been in many cabins across from the elevators. Never a problem. I love that I can get to the elevator in a few steps. Relax and enjoy. Turn on your tv or the music if you are super sensitive or fear you might be bothered. Or bring ear plugs or sound blocking headset for your own music. I’ll bet you never use them but, you’ll feel more at ease if you bring at least earplugs.

To nukesubsailor: first, thanks for your service. Second, my son was also a nukesubsailor. He served from 1982-88 and was stationed out of South Carolina, once he finished all of the various schools.

So, one of the elite perks WAS to be able to change your mini bar for TWO coffee cards. NOW, that there are no longer "cards" will you have 15 coffees "credited" to your ships card? Which expires at the end of your cruise, AND no one can any longer sell them. Do I have that correct?

This has been my question. I don’t drink but I do enjoy a cappuccino for breakfast and with desert. I usually give my second card to my roommate or Roland. Right now I have 2 half used cards and 2 never used cards. Hopefully I can get them to honor at least one. Or I’ll probably treat myself a few times and drink regular coffee the rest of the time. I will miss my specialty tea but I might bring my own.

Walkie talkies don't work well on the ship...metal walls everywhere blocks the signal.

 

The ship intranet allows communication with your friends on the ship. Sign in information is in the first day Patter and at the internet center. Each person has to have the appropriate code for the friend. It's like IM only no beep or anything to let you know you have a message.

 

I don't know anything about hot spots.

And there is no charge for intranet. I don’t know if Ruby has the fast new wi fi yet. My opinion of walkie talkies is, please don’t. They are loud and annoying to those around you. Princess at sea and/or medallion will work great.