spunks

Agreed that it does not mean abandon ship.... But that begs the question as to why they want the passengers gathered? I submit that they only want you gathered because it is a very strong possibility

Agreed that it does not mean abandon ship.... But that begs the question as to why they want the passengers gathered? I submit that they only want you gathered because it is a very strong possibility they will call for abandon ship

The last night of our Nov 12 cruise on the Symphony, the emergency warning horn goes off at 10:30 pm....you know...7 short one long.. We were in bed, and that was quite a wakeup....there was no warning, and no explanation....none during the ,5 minutes or so we were getting dressed and gathering our pills and such. After 5 or 10 minutes or so a voice comes on the intercom saying...disregard the warning.. We never heard another word,..nothing Has anyone ever had a similar experience?

This wont help the OP, but The epicenter for the best Texas BBQ is Central Texas. I guess there may be good BBQ in Galveston, but I never heard of it. And I have never even seen beef ribs in any BBQ place in Texas. You have to keep in mind that BBQ styles are a very regional thing and what one person likes another may not care for. But the best advice I have seen on this topic is....get the brisket... Doug

Thanks Ken

How many cruise points per night does a single traveler get in a junior suite?......asking for a friend.... Thanks Doug

Princess had a wonderful free restaurant that made very good stone oven cooked pizza and very good ministroni soup....now it is $15.00 to get in....they even charge $15.00 to log into the App which you use to order anything. RCCL has a loooong way to match Princess for penny pinchedness... However, if you get their $60.00 a day drink package you can go to Alfredo's twice per cruise. If you get the $80.00 per day package you can eat there every day... Doug

what has been taken away recently?////hmmmmm Oh yeah, Platinum and Elite no longer get free internet.....wait! that went away about 4 years ago....ok, How about all free room service?....No, all but breakfast went away several years ago as well...... The only thing they recently took away is free coffee delivery....Rats!...Let's see....OK...I have it....stacking benefits for OBC?...Sure as heck, you now have to pick between getting Stockholder benefit or Veterans benefit!...Loyalty bonus!....yep, now you no longer get any OBC for cruising over 20,30,40 or 50 times with Princess....Free laundry for Elites!...still there for now, but it now takes 72 hours for return. The main thing that has been taken away from me on Princess is my desire to sail with Princess.

funny thing.....on a TA Ft Lauderdale to Barcelona about 6 or 7 years ago on the Vision there was no lobster ever offered in the dining room....but in the buffet there was a huge round tub filled with Lobster.....eat all you want!...go figure...but it was only for one night.

of course it is an Elite benefit! Tell me one person that was ever eligible for it that was not Elite. You are somehow saying it is not an Elite benefit even though only Elites were eligible for it. That does not even make good non sense. ....and I am completely mystified how you can think hanging out a door hanger is in ANY way accecptable? How do you know what time you will wake up the next day?

I think it is a damned shame that people would consider removing tips to get at the cruise lines. as for the idea of starting over with loyalty points mentioned above....we are close to top tier with RCCL as well

I am not trying to tell Princess how to run their business......I am merely explaining why they may no longer have mine. I find it curious that there are people on here that are minimizing my issues with this new policy while proclaiming these issues do not mean what I think they mean. I have been loyal to Princess for over 60 cruises. I simply wish they were loyal back.

OK...here is our look at the differences between RCCL and Princess: It used to be that RCCL was always cheaper than Princess, but Princess allowed us to "stack" OBC benefits so that the money usually came out about the same....i.e....being a military veteran would pay something like $100.00 , being a stockholder of CCL stock paid $100.00..having cruised over 50 times with Princess paid $100.00, plus any TA given benefits...so a total of $300.00 plus on a 7 day cruise. This is onboard credit that could go toward tips, drinks, etc or even specialty restaurants. RCCL would only give a stockholder benefit, and even then if you did not have any discounts....plus 1 Princess! Princess gives a one time mini bar setup of 8 little bottles, 2 bottles of beer, 2 Perrier and 6 soft drinks per cruise no matter how many days the cruise. RCCL gives 4 drinks PER DAY at any bar for Diamond, 5 per day for Diamond plus and 6 per day for Pennical.....plus 1 RCCL The sad thing is that within the last year Princess has done away with the over 20-30-40-50 times cruise bonus....gone. Next they took away the benefit stacking. You can now take EITHER the Vet bonus or the stockholder, but not both.....minus 1 Princess. Princess does still allow unlimited free laundry service for Elite members( 15 cruises), but they now take up to 72 hours to return it. RCCL allows a small bag of laundry per cruise for Diamond Plus...plus one for Princess No more free internet for Platinum and Elite for Princess..RCCL gives 2 free days internet per Diamond Plus member in the cabin. ..Plus one for RCCL....internet is Voom starlink...very fast plus another for RCCL Princess has been reducing benefits ....RCCL has not Doug

we never use the card because we wake up at different times. One day it might be 6AM one day it might be 7:30 am...so either they wake us up or we wake up and have to wait an hour. This is a very simple concept.

No...I had a free cruise, but did not have a free drink package. I had VIP status which meant I could get drinks in the Casino when it is open. My complaint is that things that I liked about Princess which included coffee ( plain old black coffee) delivery each morning,,,, occasional meals at Alfredo's. .free internet and such are now gone. This makes Princess cruises not worth the effort for me, even for free passage. I can get the same benefits on RCCL ( well....actually much better) with less trouble. The free laundry and Most traveled guest luncheons with the Captain mean less and less to us.

we were about to book a 27 day Casino comped Cruise with VIP thrown in, That meant unlimited free drinks( of any kind) as long as we were gambling.We read about the new policy changes today and quickly took that cruise off the table.....It is pretty bad when you decide to quit on a free cruise with free drinks in the Casino.....As to the person that asked if we got the Princess Plus included with free cruise offers.....we have not gotten that in about a year. I think they switched to this new VIP thing instead. Doug

Frankly.....Princess at one time had the best loyalty program at sea. They would have been bypassed by others even if they kept up all the perks they used to have.However, since they keep taking things away they are not even in the hunt anymore. Sadly, they discovered that reducing perks was great policy for the bottom line. They now think of the most traveled guests as extra expense that they do not need anymore. Blue buttons buy more and spend more than black buttons.....simple as that.

I have it on good authority that Princess will soon replace the "Sea Witch" logo on the front of all ships with a new Ebaneezer Scrooge logo you heard it here first.... Doug

Another thought....We were certain it could not get worse when Princess turned over their menus to Curtis Stone, but it appears we were wrong. Our benefits have been shrinking over the years, but this is outright insulting. Doug

We play trivia with this couple that have over 1700 nights on Princess. They are the most traveled couple on every cruise they take....They do not drink.I am going to have to reach out to them for their thoughts.I suspect they might not be pleased ....interesting times....

we have 60 cruises and over 600 maybe 700 days on Princess and we are just about fed up.We no longer get free internet , and what we pay for is not even as good as the dial up of the first days of the internet. We do not pay for the package as we cannot justify the high cost. What pisses me off to the highest extent of pisstivity is now getting charged for Alfredo's. I also get coffee delivered every morning and do not know if we will now be charged for it (plain old black coffee). If we do.....we will drop Princess.....Flat! We find that we much prefer RCCL anyway, but Royal is still behind Princess in itineraries offered., so we still book Princess, although not as much. We still have several Princess cruises booked at which we will voice our displeasure with the current guidelines.at the 40 most traveled guest luncheons. Doug

Can someone tell me what are VIP benefits? We have several offers but they do not tell what the VIP benefits are Thanks Doug

We were on that last cruise to Barcelona in 2020 when she was to be amped. When the world stopped she could not get that amping done.I seriously doubt that those parts were allowed to just sit around somewhere waiting to be used. Storage costs would be over the moon. As for what will be done with her....I have never met anyone who was "in the know" that was really "in the know" I also doubt that whatever was going to be done would just be done the same way.....it might be obsolete by now... Doug

The problem with using a TA is that you do not own the booking( you just get to pay for it) the agent owns it.I doubt RC would even talk to you about it because they are not allowed. TA's can be useful to many people but there are drawbacks to them. Good Luck Doug

Don't feel like they are picking on you there in the UK. We are trying to set up cruises for 2024 ( we took 18 in 2022 and will have 15 this year if all goes according to plan) The sad truth is that RCCL is pricing themselves above our acceptable range. We like to do 4 or 5 TA's a year, but now even if we can find a reasonable cruise, the airfare home is ridiculous. Not since the days of covid have we felt so trapped at home. Doug