iamaqt2

I'm missing my tagalong. It was really fun to customize and watch it compete at Games under the Stars.

The biggest and most glaring difference between Celebrity and Princess IMO is in the MDR. Celebrity has dedicated wine stewards who quickly learn your favorite wine and rarely leave your glass empty. And their servers aren't harried by this task. Princess expects your servers to take your wine or beverage order and bring it back all while trying to get food orders taken and delivered to multiple tables. It might be 20-30 minutes before that glass of wine shows up. I find the quality of food on Celebrity to also be slightly better. For the night owls Celebrity also offers more evening activities after 9 pm than Princess. My personal favorite is the Silent Disco. But Princess has better enrichment lectures and the 24 hour International Cafe.

I always book Lido deck forward.. one pro tip I've learned over the years.. during peak elevator use, go up to go down. As far as the crazy lady on the scooter goes, I've always given priority in the elevator to people with mobility devices. If the doors open and they're waiting, I'll exit to let them on. But this lady would certainly make me rethink this courtesy.

Yes. Booking one person and then adding another later does work. I've done it several times. The only thing I would caution is that if the ship fills up it may not be possible due to capacity limits.

The 200 is non-refundable AND non-transferrable. I tried to change my booking to a different sailing and asked if I could transfer my deposit. They said I would lose the deposit, so I'm staying on that sailing and booked a new sailing.

Thank you all for your excellent mathing skills and advice. I hate to have my friend buy a beverage package that will get little use, but the math really is sound here. Appreciate you all taking the time to lay it out.

Hi guys, hoping you can help. I currently have a solo cruise booked with Princess Plus. But I have a friend who wants to join me who drinks very little and is happy enough with the included cruise beverage offerings. But she also wants wi-fi. I want the beverage package because I do enjoy multiple adult beverages throughout the day. So, math wise, I'm hoping you can help me out. Am I better off to drop my Princess Plus so she doesn't have to pay for it and book a beverage package for myself and pay wifi and gratuities separately, and let her cover her gratuities and wi-fi? Or would it make more sense to price out her gratuities and wifi, and offer to cover the cost difference on the cost of her having to pay for Princess Plus? This would be a 7 night cruise.

Can't speak to the ships, but my hospital is seeing very high levels of RSV and Influenza A. Covid is making the rounds too. So community spread is high at the moment. Use your best judgment on precautions for yourself and enjoy your cruise.

How hard is it to rent a cabana on a port day? We're on the Discovery New Year's cruise and don't care to go into Cabo. Thought we'd make a day of it onboard.

Still waiting also. Princess sure flubbed this one.

See you too!! Gonna be a great cruise!

I'm booked on the Discovery 10 night Mexican Riviera for New Years 12/28 sailing. Booked in an inside. Bid 50 for Oceanview, Bid 80 for Obstructed Balcony BW and bid 95 for Obstructed Premium Balcony DW. Those were all minimum bids. Received the denial emails for oceanview and BW today. 2 hours later got the acceptance for the DW in the exact cabin and location I wanted. Talk about winning the upgrade lottery!

Where are you able to enter your gift cards to redeem them for OBC? Because the only options the website gives as a payment method is Credit Cards or Pay Pal.

Most of the ships buffets have an Indian or Filipino selection each night. It is constantly changing and almost always delicious. I always seek this section out whenever I wander into the buffet.

Just got off the Live Chat to see what's taking so long. They ask that we wait another 24 hours as it's taking quite a while to get the emails out. Not sure how that's possible as they've had our info for quite some time and it just needs to populate an email list, but that's their story.

Yes there is. Jan 31, 2023

No matter where you purchase the cards they're all managed under a contract with Blackhawk Network. Princess has zero control over their gift cards

Princess adding boarding times to try to alleviate crowding at the pier. But those are suggested times, not set in stone. No one is going to ask you what your assigned boarding time is. Just go straight to the terminal and wait to check in. You should be onboard by 1130 so plenty of time to have a nice lunch with your friends. The MDR opens at noon, or you can have pizza, pasta, salad at Alfredo’s. There's also the bustle of the buffet if you'd like.

I have to say, I'm pretty disappointed with how Princess rolled out the follow up email. I've been waiting all day and still haven't gotten it even though I submitted and was verified almost immediately after they offered it.

Nope.. Just went through the wringer trying to add the 3 cards I have to my account. I originally called the casino dept whom I'm booked through. They couldn't help me so transferred me to Princess customer service. Princess customer service told me they couldn't do it and it would have to be done through their Onboard Services department, so they transferred me. The Onboard Services department told me this can't be done pre-cruise and must be done once onboard at Guest Services. At this point my frustration was off the charts, so I reached out through the chat function, and they gave me a number to call who handles the gift cards. Turns out this was a 3rd party who only manages the gift cards for Princess, and has zero affiliation with Princess other than that. In fact the lady from the gift card department was adamant that Princess says you can purchase OBC through your personalizer on the website with these gift cards. I told her that was not a payment option on their website. She insisted Princess says it is. So I dig some further digging. Turns out Princess will not let you add gift cards as OBC precruise. Per their website: "The Princess Cruises Gift Card may also be applied toward the guest's onboard folio account once the cardholder embarks a Princess Cruise line ship for their cruise vacation experience. To apply a Princess Cruises Gift Card to your folio, you must present your Gift Card to the Passenger Services Desk onboard your cruise." So while you can use it to purchase a cruise, if you want to use it for OBC you're going to have to go stand in line at Guest Services and hope you get an agent who knows how to redeem these.

Still waiting for mine. Is it a special link to a list of available cruises? And if you're checking, how is the pricing working out?

Still patiently waiting for my email as well. Came here to see if anyone had recieved it yet.

Thanks for the review! We're boarding Discovery for New Years!

The cruiseline "recommends" not booking flights earlier than 11 am for domestic and 12 noon for international.

I like to pack washer and dryer sheets. Super lightweight and takes no room. Another pro tip after having done this quite a few times.. throw all your dirty laundry into your carry on and just roll it to the laundry room instead of trying to schlep a mesh bag. Then fold it, pack it in the bag and roll it back. Works like a charm.