dreaminofcruisin

1 hour ago, HMSDingy said:

Can you choose glasses on the regular wine list or does it have to be only on the Plus selections. 

You can choose glasses on the regular wine list.....IF they are sold by the glass. Unfortunately, the ones sold by the glass are a very limited number. If you find one by the glass you would like that is above the $15 limit, they will just charge you the difference plus 18% (tip) of the difference, so usually just a few dollars total.

I think 'officially' Princess states you can bring on up to 12 cans at embarkation. However, I would be really surprised if they stopped you from bringing on a few cans that you pick up at a port stop. (Bring a small backpack with you off the ship.)

33 minutes ago, CenTexan said:

First time to have Plus package. I have never used the Ocen Now feature in Princess app on previous cruises.

 

So if I am in the theater waiting for a show, should I flag down a waiter to order drinks - or just do it through the app?

 

What about for sitting at the pool?

 

Thanks.

Our last few cruises we haven't seen any wait staff in the theater. Sometimes they set up a little portable bar at the entrance. We usually either pick up drinks on the way to the theater, or go get our seats and DH goes out and gets us each a drink....since we usually have to show up 30 minutes early at a minimum anyway.

6 minutes ago, HMSDingy said:

Ok but the wines on that 2024 list that I found have many wines that are sold here in Montreal. For example the list has an Attems Pinot Grigio at $11 per glass. That wine sells here for $20 and there's also a Mionetto Prosecco sold here for $18 also at $11 per glass. I've had the prosecco before and it's not too bad. 

Where have you seen this list that has Attems Pinot Grigio?

I haven't seen that on a ship in a long time....

7 hours ago, 90scruzer said:

 

 

While we on the chat may agree that 20 seems "old enough", Princess has always had the policy that someone in a cabin must be 21 at least for as long as I remember.   Formerly had to do the same thing, ie. split the children (and us) between rooms, or sail in same room.   It's cramped in a regular balcony, but doable (although it may be that no room capable of sleeping 4 people is available).

Here's from the Princess website:

Age requirements
Guests under the age of 21 years must travel in a stateroom with a guest 21 years or older who shall assume responsibility for their care during the cruise. For family groups booking multiple staterooms, the minimum age for each stateroom is 16 years of age, provided they are traveling with a parent or legal guardian. We are unable to accept group reservations for student or youth groups that do not conform to our minimum age requirements. Each guest agrees and warrants that he/she will supervise any guest in his/her care at all times to ensure all policies, along with all other rules of the Carrier and ship, are strictly adhered to by all guests under their supervision.

https://www.princess.com/en-us/faq/pre-cruise#prepare-for-your-cruise

If someone is doing a 'Live From' on the ship you will be going on and they post the Daily Events paper aka Patter, that would likely give you a good idea of the activities that might occur on your cruise. If it's the same itinerary, likely very similar. If it's a different itinerary, at least it will give you an idea as the ED and CD seem to do the scheduling.

55 minutes ago, memoak said:

I don’t understand why your TA put the minors in separate cabins. At those ages and proximity of staterooms that should not be a problem. You should be able to move people around. If you are taking a plus package you have more options that way. Is your agent a TA or a Princess CVP ?  I would think a good CVP should be able to straighten this out in advance. You can always get your medallions reset for different staterooms but if you have packages you may also be able to save some money on rearranging people 

This is spot on.

Your sons are old enough that you should be able to book them into one stateroom and you and your DW in the other. That way if you book a package, you only need to do it for yourself and DW. Regardless, you can have guest services make the medallions for all 4 of you have access to both staterooms if that is what you desire.

11 hours ago, Hillmom said:

Currently on the Sapphire Princess 24 days into 32. I'm a red wine drinker. Lest you  think Snooty red wine drinker, I'm talking grocery store and Trader Joes. The wine by the glass does not rise to that level. I guess this also applies if you're thinking you can order by the glass without the package. 

  I'm not a big drinker so 15 drinks is ridiculous. There is a Zin at Vines that qualifies under plus, but it is only available there.  Also pours are (generally) VERY .... tight, stingy, small. Also you must arm wrestle for a decent wine glass.  Apparently guests steal them....sigh.

Now I am quite liking the coffees and waters Plus includes, and ymmv...but wine drinkers be advised. 

I'm a white wine drinker and agree also that Princess selections in Plus are pretty pathetic.

Regarding the small pours....since it sounds like you aren't likely to hit 15 anyway, you can always ask for a 'double' when you order a glass of wine. They will 'charge' you for 2 drinks, but you will at least end up with a decent pour.....

25 minutes ago, no1racefan1 said:

We took this excursion on our first cruise in 2006. I spent so much time out on the platform taking pictures! You're supposed to take turns so everybody has a chance to be outside (it's small) but hardly anybody else ever wanted to go out there, so DH and I spent about half the ride out there. It's so cool!

Do be careful and hang onto your phone/camera when outside. We took this excursion in 2004 and one thing I remember about it was there was a woman who accidentally dropped her camera while on the back of the train. All of her trip pictures were on it and of course she was devastated as it was gone.

😮

3 minutes ago, CRUISEWITHH said:

What is the benefit of using AARP gift cards?  Are they discounted if you buy them from AARP?  How much of a discount can you buy them for?   At target I get a 5% discount when I make a purchase.  Is there any other way to get discounted gift cards?

8% - if you buy a $500 gift card, you pay $460

It's thru AARP rewards, so for the Princess gift cards, you need to join AARP Rewards (free), but you don't need to join AARP.

19 hours ago, glhman52 said:

My question is regarding the AON Princess Vacation Protection policy. Does anyone know, if one must disembark due to a listed medical condition, and being US citizens, and we disembark in a US port, is the $941.00 one must pay our US Government to disembark as per the VSPA covered under our policy? Have been getting either “Don’t know” “Not sure” etc… Because ALL cruise ships are registered in foreign countries, we, as US citizens HAVE to pay these fees to be “allowed” off the ship. 

2 hours ago, glhman52 said:

As it worked out for the folks involved in this “hypothetical” It was indeed the immigration team, All wearing flack vests, multiple handguns and multiple officers from immigration which received the payment at the time of the departure.  Along with multiple crew members going through customs, they were also required to be present at the immigration office on board and after all others were processed, they were then questioned, charged $941.00 per person to be enabled to exit ship IN a US port( Hawaii).  

This is pretty confusing. I'm not sure what the "listed medical condition" would be that would require one to leave the ship early. It sounds like it was not considered a medical emergency, but more a decision based on a medical condition? I think there is enough information missing here that it is difficult to understand why they would have been charged unless the ship personnel did not think it required disembarkation. If it truly was an emergency, one would think it would follow logically that the fine would be waived....

but then I am making assumptions....

On 4/22/2024 at 2:55 PM, CenTexan said:

Thank you, Skynight. And 555.

 

One extra question - if both of us are on Plus, can I pick up drinks for each of us? If I have her medallion? (Bet not!)

15 minutes ago, Aggie83 said:

You don't need to have her Medallion to order/pick up the drinks for the two of you. However, if you are approaching the 15 drink limit on your account, then start ordering via the other Medallion.

Princess is much looser than some other cruise lines regarding use of the package. There is also no 'waiting period' between buying drinks. So, you can pick up 2 drinks that are just for you if you want them. I don't know if there is actually a limit to how many you can order for yourself....you just have to stay under the 15 for the day. There are reports of people ordering something like 4 beers on their app to be delivered to their cabin....no problem. Just as Aggie83 notes, it's a lot easier to hit 15 if you are ordering for both you and a spouse and they are all charged to you. So, be sure to keep track on the app.

6 hours ago, BamaVol said:

We tend to sit at the bar when drinking and every bartender has warned me “you know this is over your $15 per drink Plus limit, right?” If I ordered something that was even just $1 over. And the $1.18 always shows afterwards in my folio.

 

Unfortunately, in Vines it’s always way more than $1.

That was my experience also in the past.

However, on my past 3 cruises when ordering wine over the $15, none of the bartenders mentioned it. With wine, I was generally ordering it from a menu, so I knew anyway. DS was ordering different gins with his gin and tonics and went over on one. The bartender didn't tell him. Fortunately, none of these overages was a big deal, but I could see that some alcohol might be expensive.....

However....DO check your folio daily to be sure some accidental charge didn't get on there.

You can do this on the app and I think on your t.v.

We had a large bar charge on one cruise and I couldn't figure out what it was. I went to GS and they said it was for 4 LARGE bottles of water (like 2 liter? size). We had picked up 4 small bottles of water and apparently the bartender pushed the wrong button. (Large bottles are NOT included.)

Also, on our last cruise DS (an adult) was taste testing (various) gin and tonics and it turned out there was one gin that was over the $15. The bartender didn't mention it, so he got charged the overage. Not a big deal....it ended up being about $3....just good to know....so keep an eye on your folio.

Wow. Good for you.

If you want the OP to see it, it's best to tag them:

@linaka625

2 minutes ago, coscab said:

On cruisedeckplans it shows something that looks like a swinging door outside  B535, cant figure out what that is, any idea

That is likely a fire door.

I keep seeing comments about towels....and some of it seems a little confusing...just to state this succinctly:

YOU MUST BRING A BEACH/POOL TOWEL FROM THE SHIP. THERE ARE NO TOWELS AT PRINCESS CAYS.

At least, that's what they told us on the Sky in February.

🙂

49 minutes ago, TinyG said:

 

I have a good feeling I will not want them doing the air, it was hard enough to hand the booking over to a TA, I will also look at the hotel part. We were fine rolling our bags over from the Holiday inn, the very bumpy parking lot over to the terminal. We were lucky not to have gone that far. Now, as few years later I'd be ok being dropped off. Hubby liked it, me not so much.

 

We always use EZ Air for International Business class flights. You can often save a bunch over booking them directly. We usually book them as soon as they are available (about 300 days out) at the Flexible fare. You can then keep watching the prices/miles and as you get closer to your date, you can always cancel/change the flights if the price decreases or there are better options. Even if you are going through a TA, you can control the flights yourself online in your Princess cruise personalizer. If you want to see what it looks like, without logging on, go pick a similar cruise for this year, pick the "Flight Quotes" tab and you can see what your current options would be. However, likely at this point it will be more expensive than if you booked at 300 days out.

It definitely depends on where the ship docks in Southampton. If it's at the Queen Elizabeth terminal, that is a really LONG walk, so you would definitely want a cab then.

Yes, usually if the price of your cruise drops, you can call and ask for a re-fare...though if you have a TA, they would be the one doing that at your request. Know that often you might lose some benefits that came with it when you booked (sales that included OBC or something) and end up with whatever the current benefit is. Always ask.  If you do book EZ Air, be sure and ask whether or not you will be able to keep the flights you have booked (I think usually you can if you re-fare), just in case that would be a pricing difference you would want to be aware of.

Welcome to Princess! I hope you enjoy your cruise.

There were 8 of us on our last cruise, all had Princess wrist bands including the 4 year old and the 7 year old. They worked great and were very convenient. The ones the kids had are just the smallest size (that a small adult might use), but even those could be adjusted to fit. I have one that has now been on 3 cruises and it is still holding up well. It took me a few cruises to buy one (used OBC). Now, if I wear it out, I'll immediately buy another one. It's just so handy. 

However, I would wait until you get on board to buy one. That way you can try it and be sure you like the fit.

37 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Yes.  Linking bookings obviously should require all parties to agree.

FWIW,  there are two easy ways to link bookings.

#1 on my mobile phone have a call to Princess with both of us on the call.  Princess can then link them.  We have also called and said we wanted to link with another booking number and the other party did the same.  Worked fine.

#2 even easier.  Go to guest relations once on board and have them do it.  This does not work for linking dinner reservations.

I hate the Princess app and it hates me.

#3 - Use a CVP and have them do the booking if you are booking multiple cabins. They can then set up the link for you. Since I was paying for all 3 cabins (DD and family in 1, DS and family in other), she automatically linked them for me.

12 minutes ago, fedexretiree said:

And doing that 60.00 on the 1st day on board you get wi-fi gratituties casual meals with that too....correct?

Yes.

The only risk is that the price COULD go up between now and when you cruise.

1 hour ago, doghog said:

Received the same Email yesterday. Made reservations (time and restaurant) for DMW for our September 2025 when I booked the cruise. Reservations for all nights are still showing in the app. Called a spoke with OceanReady agent and was advised the reservations won't be cancelled. I'll keep a close eye on the reservations so no surprises. 

1 hour ago, LHARTWICK said:

Thanks for this info. We sail in DEC 2024, and the app allows me to go ahead and reserve our dining times.  If they get cancelled and I have to start over, so be it.  Either way, I've never gone w/o food on a cruise!!! 🙂 

Pretty sure the OceanReady agent is clueless....

The email we received yesterday stated:

'To support these changes and the transition to the new system, main dining reservations that you may have already made will be cancelled.'

13 minutes ago, riggins said:

Thanks! At least I'm not crazy! 😉 We've sailed half a dozen other cruise lines and never encountered this, so I wasn't sure if I was just getting bad service reps or if it was a Princess thing.

 

Paying the balance separately isn't a big thing, but what about booking dining and excursions? How does that work? Obviously for dining we want to sit together. And for excursions, if I book me and DH and then log in as my kids and try to book the 3 of them, do I risk a chance that now the excursion is full and there isn't room for the 5 of us? 

Use the app for dining reservations. You can link the other cabin's people by adding them using their booking number. (You can actually set up dining reservations with anyone on the ship as long as you have their booking number.) Then you should be able to pull them in to a table for 5 or whatever. For excursions, you will need to use the cruise personalizer and do them separately. I suppose there is a small risk it would get full, but as long as you do them close to the same time, it should be ok. Usually when you go meet up for your excursion, as long as you are together as a party, you will end up on the same bus. The excursion tickets will show up in each cabin separately, so be sure the other cabin is paying attention to them..... 😉

21 minutes ago, bladerunner6 said:

I think these changes are great- there are options to please everyone.

At least on paper......we'll see what happens when we all actually try and get the type of dining we desire...... 🙃

8 minutes ago, riggins said:

Hey All! First time on Princess and I can’t for the life of me figure out how to link our two reservations. I booked online - one cabin for me and DH and one cabin for our college aged kids. I need to be able to pay the balance on both, book excursions, etc. for both cabins. I used the chat feature to ask and was told that linking wasn’t possible and I had to login as my daughter to manage that reservation. Since that seemed nuts, I called and the agent said no problem, put me on hold, came back and said it was done, but I don’t see the kids room on my Cruise Personalizer. Am I doing something wrong? 

Unfortunately, this is sort of correct. You can link them on the App by using the booking numbers. Each cabin will have a separate booking number. You'll need this to make dining reservations, etc. However, to make payments, etc., you do have to have a logon for at least one person in each cabin to use to get at the cruise personalizer. The only way around this is to have a travel agent or a CVP (Princess cruise vacation planner) do it for you. I just was on a ship in February with 3 cabins that I was paying for, so did have to logon to each one. It's kind of a pain, but once you know that's how it is, it's not too hard.

You're right though...it would seem like there should be an option where one person can manage multiple cabins.