vjmatty

23 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

All true.  But people should take note of one inconvenience (which may be set off by the cost savings) if buying Premier once you get on board.  Premier entitles the guest to 2 Specialty Dining credits.  If one makes reservations for those dinners before they get on board, they will have to pay up front with a credit card to secure the tables.  Once on board, and after purchasing Premier, those tables become "free" and you will have to ask for a refund . It won't happen automatically upon your purchase of Premier.  So that will cost you a trip to Guest Services and a wait for the refund.  Alternatively, one could wait to book their Specialty Dining once they get on board and after they purchase the package.  There will be no charge to the credit card, but dining times may be limited or sold out.  This only applies to Premier and not Plus since Plus does not include Specialty Dining credits. 

For us that’s easy….I’m a vegetarian and hubby doesn’t care much for seafood so we’d wait, and then just book the specialty restaurant on lobster night and a late port day. 

2 minutes ago, ggo85 said:

Here’s how I see X now marketing to its highest paying customers:  We’ve removed the free gratuities.  We’ve removed the OBC. We’ve removed the loungers and footstools.  We’ve increased prices significantly.  

 

 

 

All to enhance your cruising experience!

4 hours ago, GK95 said:

Anyone with a trip planned should investigate the sale pricing. My travel agent said she was told by Princess that it goes through the end of June. We're scheduled for a holiday cruise at the end of 2025, and the TA was able to cancel our original booking and rebook us in the same cabin, saving us almost $1400. Lost our $200 OBC promo with the original booking, but I have stock so will get half of that back. 

Honestly between Plus, independent excursions and military/shareholders OBC, I almost find it a chore to spend any extra OBC from promotions. Probably because I’m not a gambler and don’t care for the jewelry on board. 

14 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

Yes, we're well aware that it would be a re-booking. Done it many times. Our TA almost always gets our original cabin back for us.

It’s not hard to do as long as the category isn’t waitlisted. 

1 hour ago, TRLD said:

As far as I can tell there have been few if any comments about cutting tips if service is bad.

 

There have been comments about cutting or removing CA as a matter of practice, even when service is good, as some have proposed.

 

During the over 600 days that I have spent on Princess ships I have seen very few cases of what I would consider to be poor service. Certainly a very small number compared to the number of cases of very good service.

 

If I encountered such poor service that i felt the need to remove the CA I would probably not return to that line.

 

When I do encounter poor service, I indicate the issue and the name of the employee on the survey, just as I do for those that go above and beyond.

 

One reason why I continue to cruise with Princess is over the more than 600 days I have encountered hundreds of employees performing excellent service, where as I can count the number providing bad service on both hands.

I should have been more clear…. I was talking about restaurants. One of the posters here in the restaurant industry mentioned that tipping should not be tied to quality of service. 

13 minutes ago, asctony said:

How deplorable! If this is the way a  major Cruise Line operates, why cruise with them? Where will it stop?

Some people get them, some don't, ask and you may get them, etc.

Is this the way to do business? 

Celebrity is sure causing a lot of adverse PR.

SMH

This definitely brings the phrase “consistently inconsistent” to a new level….not only among ships but even individual staff members on the same ship. 

So for those of you comparing crew appreciation to the restaurant industry and saying servers are supposed to get tips regardless of service quality….are you suggesting that the restaurant server who 1) brought me my drink after my meal, 2) screwed up my order by serving me meat and then 3) brought a 9 ounce glass of wine when I ordered 6 is supposed to be given a full tip, because she may have given excellent service to the table next to mine?  Or are we allowed to factor in things like incompetence, rude service and/or being forgotten, ignored, etc. 

On 6/2/2024 at 6:28 PM, MacMadame said:

I don't either. But I am being asked more and more for tips in more and more places and even I, a generous tipper, am getting fed up. I tip the people I've always tipped and leave it at that.

 

Some people are so cynical. I can be cynical but I understand how things work and that Princess would get in trouble if they did what people accuse them of with crew appreciation. I am going to assume they prefer not to get in trouble. Because I am cynical. 🤣

I’m much more cynical…I see counter tipping as one rung above “round up for charity” that’s been showing up on every single checkout screen lately. 

According to people on the site that shall not be named, passengers are getting loungers when asking for them on Edge class ships. It’s become my go to question when I see them in balcony pictures. 

29 minutes ago, FLAlaska said:

Agree with you. Dad always taught me that he who holds the money wins. Never give someone your money until you absolutely have to.

Mine too….of course he also had some bad habits like not paying his mortgage until the last day of the grace period, using the same logic lol

38 minutes ago, dog said:

I am losing money on the exchange US to Canadian.

No more pre paying for me after these Star cancellations.

I stopped prepaying after Covid as well. Much as I like the convenience of monthly payments, it’s easier to just put the money aside and make a couple installments in the weeks before final is due. 

16 minutes ago, dog said:

Frustrating, isn’t it?

Once they split my refund up onto 2 different credit cards.

I’m chasing about $175 & a FCD- waiting.

Yes I’ve found that if you’ve ever put any amount of money on more than one card for a booking, cruise lines can and will randomly refund to any or all of those cards. It can be hard to track your money especially if any of those cards are canceled.

As it stands I’m still deciding among this sailing, the Sun, or RC’s Odyssey for next fall’s transatlantic. RC has the benefit of returning to NY instead of FLL, but we’re already doing the eastbound on Odyssey in the spring and the itinerary is almost the same.

The more I read here and look at what ships have them and which ones don’t, I think they’re just phasing them out because they don’t want to maintain the expense.
 

For example, Infinity in March was loaded with loungers…we had two on our aqua aft balcony… but Infinity also hasn’t been stateside in years so it’s not on Miami’s radar right now. On the other hand, newest ship Ascent, when you look at the pictures and videos on cruisedeckplans, have no loungers on those huge sunset verandas except for maybe one cabin I saw had them on deck 9 or 10.

Everything in between seems to depend on which ship and which staff members you ask for a lounger. If it were truly a safety issue they’d all be gone immediately. This varied experience tells me it’s not an emergency, and safety is just the script given to customer service. 

3 hours ago, dides said:

It also has you lying on a bed in line with the direction of travel which is my other half's requirement - he needs to be facing forward lol

 

That might depend on what side of the ship you’re on…..it looks like port side means bed near bathroom faces forward, but starboard side is the opposite. 

4 minutes ago, capriccio said:

 

 

We reserved 15606 instead of 15608 specifically because we like the sofa next to the balcony.

 

The deck plans shows

 

Same here….and in my case not just a preference for looking outside from the couch, but my bladder requires the bed near bathroom lol. 

1 hour ago, tothemall&beyond said:

 

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think this is only for the standard minisuites. I believe the cabana mini suites do indeed have either couch or bed right next to the balcony. 

6 hours ago, Esprit said:

It's not cheaper for us in the UK. I'd get less Shareholders OBC too. 

For the sake of two additional specialty dinners it's a balls ache to achieve! 

Yes that would be true for military OBC as well. I think the last time that breaking it up worked to our advantage was when we had booked as two 14-days sailings instead of a 28 day. 

2 hours ago, Pixelskaya said:

I would upgrade from Plus to Premier in a heartbeat if you got 2 specialty meals per week. But they give you 2 specialty meals per booking and I’m doing a 2-week cruise so, no.

Is it possible to book it as two one-week sailings as a b2b? Then you’d get double the dinners and sometimes the fare is cheaper. 

On 5/15/2024 at 4:13 PM, elaine5 said:

I know the is a RCCL forum, but there is an Aug 19, 2026 15 day Princess Copenhagen-Boston TA that stops at Scotland islands, Ireland, Liverpool, and Nova Scotia. Bookings open May 26.

Yes Princess releases their schedules for transatlantic and other European sailings much earlier than RC or Celebrity. Their entire 2026 schedule has been out for a couple of weeks. That being said, they’re also known for frequent itinerary changes but I guess that’s kind of unavoidable when you have such an early release. Fortunately, because of the frequent $100 deposit promotions, and refundable being the norm without charging a higher fare for it, it’s easy to book and then change your mind if RC or Celebrity comes out with something better.

2 hours ago, FiftyOnePlus said:

 

We are on now with kids.

There is nothing for them to do.

Previous cruises they've been on (Princess)  they have loved the kids club and I couldn't keep them away. Now they don't want to go.

 

Park 19 is not open and not expected to be for "some weeks"  (what they said yesterday)  and there is only one pool worth going to and that's at the back.

 

Kids are having a very expensive week in the pool!

Never this ship again!

On another thread I mentioned a few weeks ago that this would be a problem when school vacations started for the summer.  I really hope for all parents’ sake that the “few weeks” projection is an accurate one. Rolling into July without Park 19 will not be pretty. 

6 minutes ago, bajathree said:

I just seems odd to me that someone who says they research the "rules and forums" and posts a very very detailed account of their experience would have not kept track of their username or password.

If it weren’t for Face and Touch ID, I’d be in trouble.  In fact, that’s probably why so many people don’t know their passwords. It’s like not knowing phone numbers because of speed dial and contact names. 

20 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Agree.  Yes, it gives you a guaranteed spot to sit, but it's not in a prime location:  your back's to the ocean, and you're a deck above the pool.  If you want a nothing-special seat in the shade, you can find them away from the pool area -- try far forward.  

I can’t remember what ship it was but I have seen people turn the sunbeds to face the ocean. Haven’t ever booked one though. 

8 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

I noticed a few people doing that lately. Sometimes they are making up the story to stir things up,  or they have been banned.  I do have a friend who has been on 40 cruises and when he has a booking he creates a new account because he does not post in between bookings and he forgets his username and password. He finds it asier to sign up for a new account. 

Good point. It’s not necessarily something nefarious. 

19 minutes ago, c-leg5 said:

I don’t think you can make a blanket statement on the basis of one port.

 

Lots of ports offer cycling excursions or have cycle paths. 

I’m not a fan of cycling myself but some of the reactions on this thread are incredibly pearl clutchy.

I get that we’re a tough crowd on this site but jeez people, unclench…. this is still a site about cruising, remember? Happy things? Yikes. 

24 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Sorry OP. Don't bring a bike on a cruise. I 100% would not want anyone riding a bike on the paths on CocoCay. You may think that it is "safe", but everyone else that you are running over... not so much. 

Running over people on a bicycle? What a bizarre statement.