Gettingwarmer

You also were given the wrong info., our booking is also against a FCC and we have retained the OBC and the lower deposit and still have the same booking ref. Clearly you need to think about changing your TA, try the major one near Chesterfield in future.

Again this is true. We have had price drops on cruises with FCC and retained OBC as it was still applicable at the time. You would only lose deposits if it were within 180 days and FCC are only small anyway. Salad Muncher might also be within the 180 days and liable for a lost deposit

If the current offer from Princess for your cabin grade would equate to a reduction of more than the £160 your TA quotes, then you are being given the wrong info.

We have a cruise booked in May last year for May this year and Princess has met 2 price drops via our TA, reducing our total cost by over 40% (our booking includes 3 children where the current offer is only £99 each which is why the reduction is so high). However you might lose out on OBC if the current offer is not as generous as the original.

Check the current offer again and get back to your TA if you think you are being short changed.

This is correct. I might have misread your post. If the reduction you see on the website for the same class of cabin is a lot more than the £160 you are being told, query it. You would most likely lose the difference in OBC but it may be worth it. Is the TA making a charge for the alteration?

Thanks for your response. We are travelling early July 2014. Surprisingly I have just received a call from my TA. I have been told they will change the booking if I require with a total reduction of only £160 BUT they would take away my OBC of $285 and reduce it to $100 but would also include a framed photo ! I think they are actually telling me that I should cancel and re-book under different T&Cs rather than just passing the reduction on to my current booking. So much for their Price Promise....this price reduction was offered on the Princess Website for the cabin almost next door to ours!

When you booked you had a certain price with an OBC of $285. Now the price has reduced but under the new offer the OBC is only $100. You can't pick the best out of the two deals. The new offer is the 3 for free offer which includes the photo.

If there is a genuine reduction in price with no change in OBC they will honour the reduction before final payment.

Someone posted that if you booked two cruise segments as one cruise, the captains circle host could make sure you get credit for both segments. I haven't had to do that.

 

When we did our back-to-back cruises on the Ruby last month, I did not see the option of booking it as one 8-night cruise. I see the options for combining 4- and 5-night cruises into 9-night cruises with this spring's cruises. Unfortunately the dates don't work out with DH's spring break from teaching.

Yes that is true, we have done that. You can do it on board or phone the Captain's Circle afterwards. Sometimes the longer cruise is cheaper than the two separate cruises but you have to take into account any on board credit you might get.

Thank you everyone of the information. I am so looking forward to my cruise on Ruby Princess, especially with this latest blast of arctic air:eek:

This will also be my first cruise where some of the passengers on board will be part of a back to back. I wonder how different it will be when we get back from the 4 day. Some leaving, some getting off then back on, and a new group starting.

Just curious, how does Princess reward loyal passengers? Is it number of cruises or number of sea days? Would those on the 9 day be getting the most for their booking or would it have benefited them more to book the 4 then 5 day?

Captain's Circle Rewards. Both on number of cruises or days. If you do a lot of short cruises you still gain Elite quicker.

https://book.princess.com/captaincircle/jsp/memberShipBenefitsForProspect.jsp

But there are still people on here claiming that you cannot turn your chair to face out over the ocean, when you can. I know you can, I did it.

Yes but sitting like economy on an aircraft? I haven't seen photos showing chairs facing the ocean with any decent legroom. In fact I don't think I've seen photos with chairs facing the ocean on standard balconies at all. The inside of the Royal atrium looks great but some mistakes have been made.

That is a clever bit of information tri****at and very useful.

Thanks very much

I am not sure why you had the problem paver? The last two cruises I had dropped in price and they changed the promotion over to my cruise. According to my contact at princess it's policy now

Yes this correct, being a 2015 cruise should have proved no problem to apply the new prices and OBC etc

Do they have draught beer onboard and if so how much a pint.

No draught beer at all.

Thanks for the review... why were your mini-suites taken away??

See

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1952297

See below

I can not get in using Princess main website address. http://www.princess.com.

 

I can get around it if I google princess cruises and choose from the selections offered under the main heading. Trying to get the home page no matter how I try to access it, Bookmark, Google even clicking the logo at the top left I get this "The page isn't redirecting properly" Anyone else have this happening to them?

 

Kinda strange.

Yes, can't get through, says "This web page has a redirect loop"

I wonder if the second stack is to blow the soot from the first stack over and above the aft balconies (see the Princess forums for soot deposits)

Soot problems caused by MUTS (Movies under the Sky) screen. Should not be a problem on P&O ship.

Princess are talking about P&O ship on their forum.

The British tip, just not so much as the Americans.

The photos you show are of the crew pool

When we sail Celebrity we just order extras when we place our meal order e.g. my son really likes the sirloin steak (available on the every day menu) but it is served with jacket potato so when ordering we just ask for a plate of fries on the side and always a get a huge plate full. We also ask for a dish of extra veg at the time of ordering so no need to wait. Can you do this with P&O? Surely that would solve the problem?

We ask for extra vegetables on Princess at the beginning of the meal if we think they will be required, I'm sure you will be able do the same now on P&O.

I never saw the point in silver service, the veg they served never seemed to go with the dishes, which always had sufficient veg on them anyway. What is a better idea is to do what RCI do, and have the extra items available on the menu on request.

Hands up al those like me, who have been offered cabbage with curry , pasta dishes etc? Many times!!

Should I change my name? From Silverservice

I agree with both of you. Vegetables (often cabbage and diced carrots) put unappetisingly on your plate is best discontinued and plated food with appropriate vegetables a good improvement. It takes a lot of time serving the vegetables and P&O waiters always seem the most overworked to me.

Unless you get one of the mid ship minisuites (MA category). Those have bigger balconies.

You can also get deluxe balcony staterooms mid ships with the bigger balconies.

I enjoyed your review, especially as we are booked on the Royal in February. The size of the balcony continues to be a recurring theme (problem) on the Royal versus other Princess ships. We had booked a deluxe balcony but have already upgraded to a mini suite as the balcony seems a bit bigger and we like to spend late afternoon and evenings on the balcony.

The minisuite stateroom is larger than the deluxe balcony but the balcony size is the same.

Loving your review. Great that you are showing that you can get around London by bus, and you can see so much more from there as you pass by.

Looks like I get what I hoped for. Just found this info on the PO site.:)

 

Which restaurants are reserved for freedom dining?

 

Azura's freedom dining restaurant is The Meridian Restaurant.

 

The Ligurian Restaurant is Oceana's freedom dining venue.

 

Ventura's freedom dining venue is The Cinnamon Restaurant.

 

On Arcadia, freedom dining, available as of 15 December 2013, is in the upper tier of the Meridian Restaurant.

 

As of 18 May 2014 Oriana will offer freedom dining in The Peninisular Restaurant.

 

On Aurora, freedom dining will be available as of 19 December 2014 and will be in the Medina Restaurant.

 

Sue

Well looks like I will have to give freedom dining a try or give up on Oriana, don't want to sit in the restaurant at the back. Thanks for information.

Don't know which one but hoping for the middle restaurant as this is the one we prefer and we have booked freedom for our Xmas 2014 Caribbean cruise.

 

Sue

I'm hoping the other way round.

Anybody know which dining room is going to be Freedom and which is to be Club on Oriana?

Call me simple. I want good food, good service, nice pools, comfortable pool and deck chairs, a nice balcony, a promenade deck, some string instruments in the lobby for entertainment and and I am happy. I want to feel like I am on a ship and enjoy the view of the sea as much as possible.

 

All the new features on the Royal that people keep listing, I have no interest in.

I am so with you on this, exactly what I want.

Looking forward to it. Wonderful report.