SantaFeFan

And now your story is that they are charging you for two drinks? Interesting how the story has evolved over the course of this discussion. You continue to miss the point. It is not whether you have all of your allotted drinks that matter. It's the actual pours for each drink that matter. The bar tenders have no idea whether you will end each day swilling down as many drinks as you can in another bar to meet your allocation. They can only pay attention to each of your drinks individually. And you are not getting more or better pours than is allocated for EACH drink. As many people here have carefully and accurately pointed out, the cruise lines - and the people who work for them - do not randomly pour larger and better pours just to reward someone who tips well. The employers don't care about how large your tips are. They care about the bottom line - managing the amount of alcohol that is used up each day. But, if it makes you feel better about your tipping habits to live in a fantasy world where you get bigger and better pours by tipping more, then by all means have your fun with that imagination. Just be aware that the bar tenders are playing you for bigger tips, and you are naively going along for the ride.

Some people think that money is the solution to everything. That is one of the main problems with society these days.

A cancelled specialty. It is no longer on Princess ships.

Then you would agree that the Carnival Corporation owned cruise lines that have their headquarters in the US (Princess - Santa Clarita, CA; Carnival - Miami, FL; Holland America - Seattle, WA) are allowed to follow US cultural norms and the lines that are headquartered in the UK (P&O - Southampton; Cunard - Southampton) are allowed to follow British cultural norms, correct? Then as an American, I should follow the cultural norms on those "US" lines when cruising on them and follow the cultural norms on those "British" lines when cruising on them, and you as British should do the same, with neither one of us complaining or trying to avoid or ignore the cultural on any of them? Does that seem reasonable?

Not all of us think it is fun to have to dress up. I wore suits or jackets and ties for my job and never thought it was fun. Now that I am retired I have zero interest in dressing up like a funeral director while on vacation. Now those suits and jackets are used for appropriate events - like funerals.

Sorry, I don't know. I live an hour from the port, so I'll be bringing it from home in the car.

There is a series on HBO called Avenue 5 about a space cruise ship 40 years in the future. Hugh Laurie and Josh Gad are two of it's actors. https://www.hbo.com/avenue-5 It is thrown off course and must spend years in space trying to get back home. The first season was funny and filled with witty banter between the characters. The second season, now in place, has lost much of it's fun factor and I stopped watching it. It will have to get back home without me.

Life long American here. Since I already paid the tips either as pre-pay or included in a package, I rarely tip additionally. While I believe pre-paying tips is the correct thing to do on ships where tipping is the norm, I only tip additional if a specific person has given me better than expected service. I do the same in land based US restaurants if the tip is automatically added to the bill as is sometimes done for larger groups. In those circumstances, I have already paid the normal tip in the total of the bill and I only tip a little extra if the waiter was especially attentive. Tipping once is enough in most cases. AND, I also wish we would get away from the tipping culture we now have. BUT, as long as it is still in place, I will NOT penalize the people serving me because I would prefer it not to be in place. It is not their fault that tipping is the norm.

Incorporated in Bermuda, but US owned. Carnival Corporation owns Princess, and the Princess headquarters are in Santa Clarita, California. As an American-based company, executive control of Princess Cruises was transferred to Carnival's American operations when it merged with Carnival Corporation on April 17, 2003.

Yep, when in Rome indeed. A policy certain foreigners ignore. For their own benefit, obviously. When I travel in foreign countries, I don't force my American cultural ways on the locals. I do my best to be a respectful guest in their country and follow their cultural norms. I am disappointed how many of those people don't reciprocate when they visit the US or cruise on a US owned ship.

I wonder how phabric knows that the people who had Plus did not receive a refund? Did they send a questionnaire to every stateroom?

Tipping on the first day is counter productive. I have never tipped anyone in advance and have always gotten better service than I needed. I am not one of those prima donna types who flash their money around to buy someone's attention. I leave the auto tips in place and have never been disappointed. I also occasionally tip extra if I feel someone went above and beyond to make my stay memorable. But never before hand. I don't believe in bribing people so that they owe you better service. I prefer to reward people when that better service is given without demanding it.

Agree to disagree. As my wife always tells me: "If I agreed with you, then we would both be wrong." 🙃

That is not "my experience", but actual company policy. I am only passing along that the Hotel Manager closely monitors the alcohol used on a daily basis, and larger than approved pours or better brand swapping is not happening. The bartenders could get fired for doing that. As US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan so succinctly put it: "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts."

Nope, not happening. The pours are carefully monitored and any imaginary "better" pour or imaginary "better grade of Scotch" isn't happening. You may have convinced yourself that you are special, but the cruise line doesn't care about that and will have a talk with bartender if he breaks the rules and gives you, or anyone else, more than they are supposed to. The drink pours and brand are very well monitored and by evenings end the hotel management will know who is helping you steal from the cruise line and will take appropriate action against that person.

The big picture is not forcing people to pay more for something they don't use.

By raising the fares, everyone on the ship would be forced to subsidize the few who use those food options. Why should everyone else pay more so the few can still have their extras? For the MDR, I have no problem with charging extra for 3rd or more entrées. How many people actually order that many? That is entirely unnecessary for the majority of passengers, so it would only affect a very few. Raising the fare to accommodate those few would penalize everyone else, so I don't agree. As for free ice cream only 11:00 to midnight, that is not a big deal. How many people actually get ice cream outside of those hours? Again, why should the rest of the passengers subsidize those people. And increasing the cost of the specialty dining? So what? It's not included in the first place, so only people willing to pay extra would be going there, so the increase shouldn't affect very many people. Forcing everyone else to subsidize their nicer dinners is unfair. I wouldn't want to pay higher fares to subsidize the few who use those food options. Not on my "nickel/dime".

My wife often says "I could agree with you. But then we would both be wrong."

If you click on the blue text above the price at the bottom of the 2nd package option a pop up window will open with the details of what the package includes. Then click on the blue text "Full terms and conditions ..." to open up yet another window with even more details of what is included.

I don't mind comparison comments about other lines, but when the other line becomes the focus, that should be taken to that line's forum. And I have no idea what person you are referring to. That is a soap opera I am not interested in.

That is simple. I come to the Princess forum on Cruise Critic to read about Princess. Not Virgin, not Carnival, not NCL, etc. If I wanted to read about those cruise lines, I'd go on those boards. Just like if you went to your favorite opera and instead ended up having to listen to a rock concert, I think you would have a complaint or two.

Just checked the update out. I like it better. Seems to be more intuitive and easier to move around in.

I agree. I didn't know Princess had adult only ships. That's a new one on me.

Looks like an adults only version of Carnival. Interesting that many of the activities seems like they are for adults to act like children. I guess I am too much of an adult for Virgin! 🤪

It's a long going show called "Days Of Our Cruises".