Cruise Junky

I used to cruise a lot, but I haven't been on one for about 20 years. I'm going on Princess in August. Let me get this straight. You have to PAY for ORANGE JUICE with breakfast???????????

No, you can get juice with breakfast, but I was using Celebrity's pricing for both cocktails and booze package. On Celebrity you have the option of freshly squeezed juice rather than that concentrate stuff. That is $4 at breakfast.

No longer any discounts on the Beverage Card http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=36534971&postcount=3

 

HAL is now rolling out a Beverage Pkg http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1814886&highlight=beverage+card

Wow, Princess can't be far behind having drink packages. I think Princess is now the only mainstream line without one if HAL is rolling them out.

While I don't and won't buy a package, I believe any alcohol package should require every adult in a cabin to buy the package. We know people share soda and coffee cards, even though they shouldn't. Sharing an alcohol package would be a nightmare! :D

There is nothing wrong with sharing a coffee card. They're not unlimited, they're a limited amount of punches.

We'd be interested in drink packages. Seeing as we pay around $40 each night for a bottle of wine in the dining room and I buy a coffee card, it wouldn't be hard to spend the rest.

Cappucino upon waking. $4

Fresh orange juice with breakfast $4

Bottled water x 2. $6

Glass of wine with lunch. $8

Two beer by the pool or a margarita. $ 10

Pre dinner martini $10

2 glasses of wine with dinner $ 15

After dinner Cappucino $4

That's over $60 and I haven't hit a show yet

I'm looking at booking an April 2014 TA. The schedules were just released. The prices are ridiculous compared to the previous three I've done when there was no 123 promo. I have seen the prices for some cruises bumped up to "include" the promo...IMHO.

 

When does the 123 end? So I'll look again at the cruise I want to take.

The current Promo doesn't cover April 2014, so I doubt there is any price increase to cover the 123 promo.

I have seen two dates for expiration of 123 . . . end of March and April. Which is it? If April could I use it for a late april 2014 TA I have in mind?

Paul

The first time it was offered it was end of April, this new offering is end of March.

Does anyone know if the 123Go triple play promo for captain's club members will resurface again, too?

Judging by Cruise Critic's article on this on Facebook today, I'd say yes.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5272

Wouldn't it be extremely dangerous for multiple people to be lifting someone into a tender? No wonder they stopped this.

Depends who you ask. A quick Amazon search brings up a 750ml of each as exactly the same - $29.99

In Canada Cointreau is GM's cheap substitute. I'll ask for GM :)

Since the 123go promo has started, it has not been reported and confirmed anywhere that the Martini Bar is still serving small martini's to satisfy the clientele that only have the Classic package. If you drink Cosmos, I believe that you can get a regular sized Cosmo with the non upgraded ingredients. So, instead of being made with Grey Goose and Cointreau, it'll be made with Absolute or Stoli and Grand Marnier.

Wouldn't the high end one be made with Grand Marnier and the cheap version made with Cointreau? Certainly hope so.

From someone that hasn't sailed on an S Class yet, I can say yes, the life boats have certainly put me off. I'm very used to Princess Balconies with a clear view of the water. We're in a 1A on the side of the hump for our Hawaii Cruise.

Was this booking perhaps made during one of the "non-refundable" sales Princess has been so fond of lately?

They said the booking was on Royal, would they be putting her on sale already?

Hi from another Doug; well done you are one of the lucky ones. What you have said above proves the point I made earlier.

 

I now almost feel sorry for all those North Americans who think they got a bargain, and all those not on Cruise Critic who also will think they got a bargain. The saying " if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true" comes to mind.

No need to feel sorry for us. Some do our homework on pricing and know exactly what the cost was before the promotion. My cruise price didn't move. There are also websites that track cruise pricing so anyone can openly see what the prices were on any given date. Don't get me wrong, some went up...but a lot stayed the same.

Lots of good info on this thread....Thanks

 

Does anyone know if they have Ceasars on board?? A Canadian drink.:confused:

I did some searching for that question a couple of weeks ago and there were lots of reports of Caesars being available. :)

We are booked on a cruise this June - we booked it July last year and paid our deposit - our balance is not due for another couple of weeks , which is 4 months out. I had to pay our airfares then and there on the spot - so don't have a problem with paying Viking 4 months out. Seems reasonable as if we withdraw (oh so unlikely) then they have time to find a new passanger

I wouldn't have had an issue with 4 months in advance. When we were looking the price went up quite a bit if the cruise wasn't paid in full within a few weeks of booking.

If the price goes down, or if a higher category had a price drop and you upgraded, BEFORE the promotion ends on January 27 then you should still have the package if the new booking qualified.

 

However, I'd think that if you changed to a lower price or upgraded after January 27 when the promotion ends then you'd be switching to that new pricing structure which would not include the package and you'd loose the package.

 

Same thing as the changes to our existing booking for 2014 we made to get the package: We accepted a price increase and lost an OBC. So our "free" package wasn't free at all it was just a good deal for us compared to what we had. If they lowered the price and/or added OBC in a deal that looked even better we'd switch to that and give up the package.

Thanks. I'm happy with what we paid for an 1A but would love to try Blu. I just won't look at any Aqua pricing for the next year ;)

Can anyone offer any insight in to what might happen to the drink packages should the price go down or if a higher category had a price drop and we wanted to upgrade...do you think we'd keep the packages?

Thanks

And they're definitely eligible for the 123 Promotion. Last Saturday we booked a Hawaii cruise on the Solstice for April of 2014, and got the free Beverage Package. :D

See you onboard :)

Well now I'm really confused. On the X site, when I click on the link to show me all the Limited Edition (repositining/transatlantic/transpacific) cruises qualifying for this promotion, the Solstice cruise in Hawaii, in April of 2014, is NOT listed.

 

So I callled Celebrity. Before I could even finish asking my question, she interrupted to say "Yes, it's included - ALL cruises through April of 2014." (Which of course isn't true, because Expedition cruises are not included. But perhaps when she heard me say "Solstice" she knew it wasn't an Expedition cruise).

 

I hope she's right, but I'm still not sure. Next step will be to chat with the TA I guess.

It was there Friday. We're thinking of that one too

UPDATE: it's back under the Australia/New Zealand link

Not to complicate things but my TA said I could upgrade on board (so I can use OBC). Also the locked thread from celebrity regarding this promotion indicates you can add premium to your account per-cruise and just not pay the subsequent invoice that is generated. Once on the ship the upgrade will be posted to your onboard account.

It does say you can pay it onboard, but it doesn't say you can upgrade onboard. It still refers to saying you want to upgrade during the promotion.

Finally getting the Hawaii to Vancouver cruise back! Yeah

From what I understand, the Pacific Princess is going to be redeployed to the South Pacific/Tahiti area in 2014...

Yes, she is. Her journey to Sydney is available but the rest of the world cruise is cancelled.

It's Déjà vu all over again.

 

Last year about this time there were several cruises cancelled for March-April of this year with the same type posts from very disappointed cruisers who had been booked on those itineraries.

 

The cruises cancelled last year for 2013 and cancelled now for 2014 involve cruises at the end of the announced schedule, a schedule that was issued about two years before the cancelled cruises. If I remember correctly, most of the cancelled cruises last year were done so the ships could get to Europe earlier in the season than previously planned.

 

It appears that as Princess works on the following season's schedules, they often revise the tail-end of the current schedule.

 

To me, the way this is done is very poor public relations. Yes, the cancelled cruises are over a year away, but that does not diminish the disappointment of those who booked on those cruises and were excited to be on them. Because these cruises are so far in the future, Princess does not feel the need to offer any compensation (discount on an alternate cruise, some OBC) for this disappointment. True, the booked passengers on these cruises are not out any money, but it is still a negative experience that does not enhance Princess' reputation in their minds.

 

The lesson to be learned is if you book a Princess trip for the end of the announced schedule, don't be too excited about it as it may get cancelled "due to deployment changes" or "for operational reasons."

Very true. I think I've had two cancelled because of moving to Europe early. And I'm silly enough to be thinking about Emerald's last Caribbean cruise...think I might hold off on that a while

It would be great if you could.

I wonder if that would work though. We looked at upgrading onboard a while back and was told they will refund you the amount paid for the Classic and then charge you the price for the Premium...I'd worry that if I didn't actually pay anything for the classic, they'd be no refund. I'm sure somewhere earlier in this thread it was stated you can't do it onboard.

http://www.culinarytoursofparis.com/montmartre-tour.html

Here's the link. (I think). I'm bookmarking this for our trip - thanks