califTraveler

Having just gotten off the Discovery Princess as a first time princess cruiser we learned a lot including that all three dining rooms have the same menu. Go to the dining room closest to your cabin. And when you go to the World Market buffet try to remember where your table is. Chairs and carpet are a slightly different color on the port & starboard sides. Bring something like a bag or hat to save/mark your table. On embarkation day one dining room will be open at 11:30. It was Skagway on the Discovery Princess. Buffet will be very crowded. They hold back some reservations for the specialty restaurants which can be reserved once you are onboard. And you can use shipboard credit rather than your credit card which you have to use if you book before boarding. We were told to go to the Italian restaurant on embarkation day between 12-2PM to book the three specialty restaurants and the desk there was very helpful and set us up at the day and time we wanted. And if you do your WIFI once onboard you can use shipboard credit. Many staff members will greet you once onboard and assist in purchasing WIFI. We bought it before boarding and had to pay with our credit card. Got only one device for $150 and it was very easy on the app to switch between our two different cell phones and iPads. If you were in the military Princess gives you $100 shipboard credit.The Princess web site can assist in doing that. The machine that looks like an ATM machine next to the customer service counter is able to show you after tapping your medallion and tapping on your name, your folio/account balances and the machine can print it for you. Saving you having to wait on the customer service line. Oh and the bathrobes after being washed so many times come in one size extra small. You have to order them thru the app. Bed configuration is on the same app. Boarding passes were able to be printed and also were on the app 11 days before sailing. Picking up our medallions at the port took 1 extra minute at check in. This avoided the anxiety of waiting for it to arrive at your home before you left for your cruise. If you need assistance ask upon arrival at the port, wheelchairs and attendants were available. And you will be taken to a separate area for xray scanning of your carry on. And if there is an elevator you will be taken to it. No blue/green lines if you need assistance there is a special disability lane .Find your roll call and ask questions. Princess cruise critic members will gladly share their knowledge and we found the cruise critic roll call for our sailing very helpful. Enjoy your travels.

Booked Crown Grill prior to our cruise and my credit card has a pending charge. Assuming the credit card goes thru prior to boarding the ship. Should I have waited to book the specialty restaurant until I get onboard so I can use ship board credit to pay for it?