azbirdmom

12 hours ago, dpalmquist said:

Confusing since I have never seen this on my other Princess cruises.

They've shown "Dress to Impress" on other recent cruises of our's.  But they don't say anything about what this means on the Princess website nor do they give passengers any advance notice about this in the pre-cruise emails.  Everything continues to show 2 formal nights for a 7 night cruise.  So I think you can safely expect that most people will have Smart Casual attire as that is what they packed although there may be some more on the Formal side.

4 hours ago, colsky said:

I was slightly concerned when I watched a YouTube reviewer the other day, who said that, if you pre book specialty restaurants on the App, then you have to pay for them at the time (even if they are covered by your Premier Package), and then go to guest services once onboard to have them refunded. 

I guess this is a classic example of not believing everything the YouTube bloggers say.  I've seen a lot of bad info given on those, so much so that I don't bother watching them any longer.  We've had Premier for our last two Princess cruises (last December and the next coming up in a little over a week).  For both we were able to reserve our specialty dinners without paying.  At check out you should see a $0 charge.  The app has been known to act up at times but for us there has been no problem making our reservations in advance.

They work great!  We were actually gifted our's from strangers we were chatting with as they were disembarking a ship we were about to board in Sydney Australia!  At first I thought the one I had was malfunctioning as it wouldn't hold the Medallion but a trip to the Ocean Navigator desk yielded the tidbit that you need to put it in a certain position in the wristband.  They are very sturdy and I use it when we were in port.  On the ship I use the clip.  By the way the small fit me but was a bit tight.  I ended up using the large one as my husband wasn't interested in it but a medium would have been perfect for me.

41 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

We got the last 4 tickets for a private excursion to Hobbiton!

We went there with Zealandier in December.  Such a wonderful place even if one isn't a huge Lord of the Rings / Hobbit fan.  Hope you enjoyed it.

Just now, FancyPants21 said:

Me too 🙂

 

It will be my first cruise since they introduced Catch on Sky.

 

I sail in 10 days so I suppose I'll find out 🙂

 

Thanks for everyone's input/comments 😄 

Are you on the Enchanted?  We are and made our reservations a few months ago, just one left to make onboard and that's our first night complementary specialty dining 😉

1 hour ago, reedprincess said:

FYI - in case you were unclear, there's no refunds for unused specialty or casual dining. 

 

"What if I don’t use the specialty dining or casual dining meals included in my package?

The specialty dining credits are available only for your current voyage, are non-refundable if not used and cannot be redeemed for cash" .

 

https://www.princess.com/en-us/cruise-deals-promotions/plus-premier-cruise-packages

 

Good luck demanding some type of refund..

 

Failure to use is very different than being denied use of a specialty restaurant which is what the OP was asking about.  You can't just say I'm not going to use this or that and get a refund as everything listed is part of a package.  But if Princess promises 2 specialty dinners and wasn't able to fulfill that I would definitely be at GS asking for a refund.  Now fulfilling it may mean that you get a reservation at 9 PM at a restaurant that isn't to your liking, that's the breaks.  But no room at any specialty restaurant for you would warrant OBC.  Up to you if you don't want to go down that path if it happens to you.

8 minutes ago, voljeep said:

totally disagree, sorry ...  IF I make a pre-cruise attempt to book specialty dining with the Premier Package (which we have in October) and not able to ... then try to book onboard, and can't for "any restaurant at any time, please try to do a walk-up and see if anyone has cancelled"  you better believe I will seek the compensation for being denied, as it was a main reason from booking Premier over PLUS.

+1.  Unlike other "perks" included in the Premier package these have fairly significant values on them.  It hasn't happened to us yet but if I wasn't able to use the two specialty dinners because the venues were full I would definitely ask for a refund.

The Royal Princess added slots and a poker table to the Double Down lounge next door and it's supposed to be non smoking all the time.  We were last on the Royal last December from Australia and the whole casino was non smoking.  Loved it!

28 minutes ago, jkadventures said:

It is frustrating when a cruise line has a very restrictive policy on bringing personal wine onto a ship, and then is inconsistent on its enforcement. Princess’s alcohol policy clearly advises that bottles purchased during shore visits will be held by security until the end of the cruise. I certainly wouldn’t want an expensive purchase stuck in a closet so it can cook for a few weeks.  

It's been our experience that the closet is saved for hard liquor.  They seem to be more tolerant of wine brought onboard at ports.

8 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Have picked up in port numerous times.  Never more than a few extra seconds.  The clerks who checked us in walked to a nearby table and retrieved our medallions.  Not worth a call or stressing out IMO

The OP didn't seem stressed and we all have different opinions.  IMHO if you pay for a service you ought to get it.  The phone call probably took 2 minutes.

11 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

We were booked on the first wine tour bus of the day at 9:30.  We would highly recommend this company for tours into the wine region.

+1.  We were very happy with the HOHO experience.  Did you make reservations for the tastings or just wing it?  We made a reservation for Wither Hills as we had been there on a Princess excursion on a prior cruise and just loved their Sauvignon Blanc.  It really is a great way to go,

5 minutes ago, JFO23 said:

Thank you! Appreciate that advice. 

You're welcome!  By the way I just looked at the app and when I click to check the Medallion order I get the same pop up message to pick them up at the port even though we have them already.  I do think something is wrong in the app or there's something amiss with the Medallion shipping process or all of the above!

17 hours ago, MissiCruzs said:

Tried the casino for a little bit but it's way too smoky.

That's sad to hear.  We will be onboard in two weeks, same itinerary as your's!  Have a fantastic cruise.

We are on a cruise on the same date.  Our app showed "in progress" along with some gibberish.   I called Princess using the prompts until I got to Ocean Ready, then a few more prompts after that.  The rep I spoke to said she could see that it was packaged that day with no tracking or other information.  Two days later the Medallions arrived, no email or other notice.  First time that's happened.  I'd suggest that you call them and ask what's happening.  If you paid shipping or have the most recent Plus or Premier packages you shouldn't have to wait in line at the port.

We were scheduled to go to Israel and Egypt on Celebrity last October.  It would have been our first Celebrity cruise but they were the most attractive option to get to a couple of the remaining options on our bucket list so we were going to cheat on Princess.

Last May things were flaring up in the region while one ship was in an Israeli port and another was enroute.  The one in port scrambled to get their passengers back on board and cancelled their other port stop in Israel.  The other one was rerouted.

Within days things were back to normal but our final payment date was fast approaching.  We discussed pros and cons of making the final payment but ultimately the thought of paying a premium price for a cruise that could turn into another Mediterranean cruise sealed it.  We cancelled, losing the deposit.  (Well we lost $100 per person and they set up the rest as FCC to be used in a year but realistically it won't be used.)

I continued to follow the roll call for a while and sure enough the week before embarkation October 7th happened.  I watched as folks were deciding what to do.  Some cancelled, some lost $$, some went but weren't happy about the substituted ports, others went with the flow.  While horrified at the events that happened in Israel last October (and after) we were glad we made the decision we did to cancel.

If you're a go with the flow type of person then stick with it.  If the destinations are important to you then I'd suggest that you not put any $$ at risk on this cruise unless and until things settle down significantly.

6 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

Wow, they provided a lot more information to you than what we got in December!  We did use the priority service through the concierge to get on the first shuttle out of the port so we could catch the Wine HOHO that we had pre-booked.  Lines can be very long for the shuttles.  Enjoy your day there.

Pretty easy to do.  I uploaded my statement last fall, waited a few days for it to process, redeemed my perk.  That was the most difficult part of it.  Two days ago I booked another cruise.  That night I went into Stockperks, entered the booking number and a couple of other fields and submitted.  No new brokerage statement was required.  And within 24 hours the OBC was displayed on our booking.  So much easier than the old fax / email process.

On 4/7/2024 at 9:50 PM, LACruiser88 said:

We then took an Uber to Westfield's Bondi Junction Mall for a shopping safari!  This mall is huge with 6 levels and no where near the crowds of the downtown Westfield's Mall.

I had to search your post as I was fairly certain you had been there.  Such awful news today.  Prayers to those in Sydney.  😞 

One other thing to watch for is not getting the Elite discount on services.  After getting a massage I noticed that the receipt had the full price and I pointed that out.  The massage therapist basically said oops, I'll process an adjustment.  Instead of reducing the charge she increased it, basically a $40 swing from what I expected.  I noticed that the next day and went back to the spa to get it fixed.  You really do need to stay on top of this stuff.

It was a hoot.  I agree it would be wonderful if they brought it back.  There's so much talent on the ships.

38 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

This morning, while at breakfast at the Harmony Restaurant on Deck 5, the waves were smashing above the windows!  The staff were joking that the windows were in need of a good washing! 🤣  🌊🌊🌊

Sounds like the Tasman sea is living up to its reputation!

50 minutes ago, Kelly Ha said:

This program is still going because my parent's have a cruise scheduled for May 11th and they just received this email.

Would you mind sharing a screen shot of the email, minus any identifying info about your parents (names, cruise booking #)?  I'd like to send it on to my CVP who is still working on this.  Having that would be helpful.

11 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

I am currently on the Princess Enchanted.  I did not receive an invite, since I was curious (for next time), I ask the Suite Concierge who gets invited.  He said it was a random selection process.

 

Earlier someone mention that they were able to call their PVP and get invited, which seems to contradict what the Concierge said.  

We will be on the Enchanted on April 27th in a full suite.  Per my earlier post our friends who are also in a full suite were told by Princess that the Go lounge was a pilot and they are no longer offering it.  Would you mind asking the suite concierge if that is accurate?  Our CVP is still looking into this for us, he had never even heard of the Go lounge!

1 hour ago, memoak said:

You can add plus packages after final payment and even add it on embarkation day. So why not be able to cancel it ?

I really can find any reason to not have plus 

From a logical standpoint I completely agree with you.  It's just that Princess is treating this differently from other add-ons and there is nothing I can find in the Passage Contract nor the standalone cancellation policy that would indicate this would be treated differently than fare.  Which is why we need to hear from someone who has actually cancelled one of these packages.

1 minute ago, memoak said:

I would consider plus as an add on like spa or excursion and as such you should be able to cancel without penalty 

Do you have recent experience with this?  Spa and excursions don't show up as part of the cruise fare like Plus and Premier do.  And the insurance premium isn't applied towards amounts paid for spa and excursions either.  I'd really like to hear if someone has cancelled it while "in the penalty" period and gotten 100% of it back within the past couple of months.  Hoping that is the case!