UT-Volsfan

We have sailed on 3 TAs and our 4th is next month. Last two had over 1,000 Elites on board and had several changes to benefits. Free laundry service took 6-7 days, no priority tender service, and no reserved lounge on departure day (claimed did not have a big enough venue). Do not have very many youth on a TA.

Saw this on USA Today website. "Princess is not stopping in Israel at this time and is adjusting Island Princess’s “Mediterranean and Israel” sailings in November accordingly, a spokesperson said in an email. “As soon as the itineraries have been updated we will send notifications to affected guests and their travel agents,” the spokesperson said."

When we have done it, we have received instructions for the move on board about same time luggage tags are distributed to departing guests. We were told the cabin steward supervisor would come by between 0800 and 0830 with a carry and move us to our new room. Anything on hangers would be moved that way and hung in your new closet. Remaining loose items we were asked to place in our bags (packing cubes are handy to keep items sorted) and moved on the cart. Our move was completed very quickly and we left the ship to explore the port while folks were still departing. They should also set your new cabins to respond to your medallions. You will also receive an In Transit Passenger card. This allows you to reboard the ship at any time (no waiting to reboard with the new passengers).

Do you have the Plus or Premiere beverage packages? What we saw last month was that you could typically order a couple of cans at a time. Then take them to your cabin. If you don't have a beverage package, don't forget there is a $5 fee added when using your phone to order from Room Service.

Cruise Diector is David Frost. I believe the captain we have will be departing mid Sept and do not know his replacement's name.

Currently on the Grand Princess, which implemented the changed Plus and Premiere packages on Aug. 19th. Reviewing our online charges today saw a charge labeled Null for $14.99 for each of us. Went to Guest Services and was told it was for our visit to Alfredo's on the 20th. We booked the cruise in June with the Plus package, so 2 visits should have been included. Took a few minutes, but finally got the charge removed. So just wanting to caution people to check their bills carefully. The computer system obviously hasn't caught up with the new business rules.

We are on the Grand Princess and the new coffee is onboard here. Definitely better than the old syrup system.

We are on a B2B now on the Grand Princess and start the 2nd part tomorrow in Whittier. We received printed instructions on what to do 2 nights before the end of the cruise (the In Transit cards were also included). Also had a small get together this evening to go over the process and go over the new package changes that are effective Aug. 19 on the Grand. They will make your existing Medallion able to open your new cabin door on morning of turnover. As others have mentioned, a steward or supervisor will come by to move you that morning. Leave clothes on hangers and pack loose items from drawers and toiletries.

As mentioned by another poster, we try to select the cruise where the Hawaiian Ambassaors on board are Leialoha and Tiki Dave (Elua). They are very entertaining throughout the cruise. Elua posts their schedule online. You should be able to find it here on CC or with a Google search.

Take a look at this article on Cruise Critic describing the International Cafe and the ships it is currently on. Afraid you are correct, it is not on the Diamond. https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/international-cafe-on-princess-cruises-a-simple-yet-satisfying-cruise-cafe-concept

Post restart, it has been hit or miss getting Moscato. Some ships have had it, but others have not.

Thanks for the correction. The casual dining venues are "Vines, Salty Dog Pub, O’Malleys, Ocean Terrace, Planks, Steamers, Alfredo’s, and GiGi’s".

Alfredos, which used to be free, is now becoming a pay venue like the Crab Shack. With Plus, you get to dine at these locations twice during the cruise off of the 3 course (appetizer, pizza, dessert) menu. You can also dine there ala carte if you want to. Some couples say they plan to split an order at Alfredos, so they will eat there 4 times during the cruise. If you liked the Crab Shack, you will now get to eat there twice for no extra cost.

Here is a link to various beverage prices available thru the Ocean Now app, including some of the wines. Will be more selections available to order at Vines and varioys dining rooms. https://profcruise.com/princess-oceannow-beverage-menu/

Agree. How you order an item determines if you get charged or not. Guest Services will have plenty of Irate passengers. Have not seen anything about getting wine glasses, but since those come thru Room Service I guess we will order plenty of them for a single $5 RS charge. We are booked on the Grand sailing Aug 12 for a 14 night cruise. Appears the changes go into effect on Aug 19, halfway thru the cruise. Curious to see how they handle that, since other posts indicate services/fees are good for length of cruise. Since we sail with free Alfredos on Aug. 12, I wonder if they will keep it free on the 2nd week for passengers with Standard fare?

Also from the Princess FAQ: Will I still be able to order breakfast for delivery through the doorknob card I find in my stateroom? Can I continue to order housekeeping items like ice buckets or bathrobes with no charge? Breakfast ordered for stateroom delivery by placing the card outside your door will continue to be complimentary and no additional fees will be charged, regardless of whether or not you have Princess Plus or Princess Premier package. The same is true for housekeeping items ordered either by telephone or through your stateroom steward. For guests on a standard Princess Package, housekeeping items ordered using OceanNow will incur the one-time $14.99 OceanNow delivery access fee.

Appears the August 12 Rollout date is not fleetwide. On the Princess website there is a FAQ and it gives implementation date for each ship.

I don't believe so. In the webinar they said the $5 room service charge was for picking up the phone and calling room service. If you order a drink thru the App and only pay Standard fare, then the first order would be the price of the drink plus a one time fee of $14,99 to activate the app for that cruise. If you order a beverage from a Princess employee at the pool, then I believe you only pay for the price of the drink.

Calling Room Service with the Standard fare will now cost $5 per delivery to the room.

I agree. If their sales people have that attitude, then they do not understand a pretty good size segment of their target audience. Also thought it was interesting to see the TAs earn a 12% commission on selling the Plus package, and 15% when selling the Premiere. Had not seen those numbers before.

If you had the $60 per day plus package already booked (the $60 plus package was first offered Dec 14), then per the webinar you do not have to upgrade to receive changes.

The best Elite benefits ranked in our opinion: 1. Minibar setup for each voyage segment. We typically trade ours in for the 20 cans of Diet Coke since the coffee cards are no longer available. 2. Laundry. Nice to send clothes out to be pressed or cleaned on a larger cruise, although on cruises with many Elites we have experienced 7 day wait to get clothes back. Will definitely use on our 28 day cruise this Nov and save on packing. 3. Half off wi-fi. We use this frequently unless we get a bargain on the Plus package. 4. 10% back on shore excursions. 5. Priority tenders. Good to not have to wait long to board a tender to go ashore. 6. Platinum and Elite lounge. We get some appetizers before dinner and is typically pretty quiet, because not a lot of people attend. 7. 20% discount in onboard shops. Not as good of a benefit since they no longer allow the discount to be taken on sale items. If you enjoy Princess and the itenerary, then you should book the cruise. Definitely would not take a cruise just to get the Elite benefits.

Back in June the shows in the theater were at 7:30 and 9:30, except for one show that started at 7:15.

It depends on how far out the cruises are. We booked a 28 night Med and transatlantic cruise departing in Nov. while on the Island Princess and only has to put down a $100 deposit for each of us, then make final payment by 120 days before the cruise. The booking automatically transfers back to whoever booked the cruise you are sailing on when taking advantage of the 50% off sale. The onboard sale at 50% off included cruises departing thru August, all transatlantic cruises thru the end of the year, as well as individual 2024 World cruise segments. They also added some other cruises to the list before our cruise was over.

In their description it shows it does not have surge protection. "Non surge protection feature makes the extension cord strip a necessary for cruise ship trip as carnival cruise line(and many others) ban surge protectors from their ships due to safety concerns." Have cruised with this for over 4 months at sea and never had an issue getting it onboard.