fishywood

If your upcoming cruise will not have the Medallion then the Ocean Compass app will have no functionality. You will use the existing Princess@Sea to message your companions. Which was already pointed out to you on one of your innumerable other threads:

Even if you were on a Medallion class cruise you should not be downloading any of the apps until sometime after final payment. If for some reason you are this extremely curious about a feature that will not exist on your cruise you should consult the sticky on Ocean Ready at the top of the Princess board to learn all about it:

9 minutes ago, Steve551 said:

Where did you get that I was complaining? I was offering praise of the service.  I have cruised from many different ports but this was the first time I had been offered this service, free.

Where did you get that I was directing that statement at you? I did not quote your opening post [yes, I did highlight a brief three-word clause]; I only was offering a general statement to clarify some facts. 

30 minutes ago, dianedebuda said:

So as for getting a pair of decent seats for the production shows, sounds like it'd be better to go to the first showing and dine later.  Right now we're set for traditional dining 'cause being a first cruise, seems like an should do experience.  Feeling like our current early choice may make getting seats difficult.  Guess we could change to late option yet?  But the sound of our growling stomachs would probably overpower the show's volume.  😀  OMG, I'm complaining about another reason to snack.

The show that is by far the most crowded (requiring showing up 40-45 minutes in advance for a decent seat) is always the one geared toward early sitting diners.

Nights when the shows are 8:00 and 10:00 (after dinner for both seatings) the 8:00 will be far more packed than the 10:00.

Nights when the shows are 6:30 and 8:30 or 7:00 and 9:00 (pre-dinner for late seating, post dinner for early seating) the first show is your best best, the second will be where the crowds are.

And on the increasingly rare nights with three shows at 6:45/7:00, 8:30 and 10:15/10:30, you just need to avoid the middle one.

So switching to late sitting may make it more flexible to get to the less crowded show time. Which for those who prefer to eat late (either traditional or ATD) some nights will be before dinner, some nights after. But may also exclude you from a second evening activity that is run only once at 8:30-ish. 

Port Valet is offered for no charge by the Port of Seattle Port Authority. A quasi-government agency technically not part of the City of Seattle government.

EZ Check is the Princess program offered at Port Everglades in Ft Lauderdale. It is not free ($25 per person, not per bag as is often erroneously stated on here) and while available for eligible domestic flights from both FLL and MIA it does not include as many airlines as in Seattle, though is good for late evening flights on disembarkation day (cutoff times are fairly early in Seattle). 

As to why it is not offered "in more places" there are laws prohibiting such programs in California. So complain to Sacramento, not Princess.

The sodas will not be in your cabin

A voucher for however many 6-for-5 deals you purchased will be. You would then call room service and specify which cans to deliver. (And good luck getting through to them on embarkation day unless you are in a full suite).

Since the exact same deal is available onboard there is absolutely no advantage to pre-paying. (ETA: other than being able to use your home currency as opposed to $US)

Zumba is considered a dance class offered by the entertainment department, not an exercise class offered by the fitness center. If there was none on your particular cruise it is likely due to the certified instructor having just left the CD's staff,  or being sick or injured at the time.

When you noticed there was no Zumba offered on the first sea day, did you inquire as to why? Your query would have been forwarded to the CD or ED and you may have received a personal reply as to the reason. Not much you can do about it once you have disembarked.

When I boarded Golden Princess in Whittier last year check-in did not start until 12:30. Those of us arriving on the train that stops at Whittier shortly after Noon were greeted by an empty room (other than the security guards we startled awake). But I was the second person* in the priority check in line so was onboard a few minutes after 12:30. Dropped my carryons in the cabin and headed for Deck 6 where the Club Class section of the MDR was open for all comers. Other than the people already eating (I presume the B2B passengers) only a couple others showed up before the doors were shut, though I didn't catch the time. On both my Alaska cruises lunch hours in the MDR (sea day/glacier day/late port day) waffled between 11:30 to 1:00 and Noon to 1:30.  Essential to check the Patter each day for the exact times.

*(I would have been the first person in the priority line had the staff not escorted to the front when check in began an overwhelmed elderly couple shepherding their two pre-school age grand- (or maybe great-grand) children who appeared to have had six bowls of Froot Loops with Red Bull for breakfast. Not a complaint--I would have done the exact same thing)

5 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Just checked our bookings.......

The term water shuttle  is listed on (itinerary) all of our booked cruises where applicable.

The earliest being this October at Princess Cays.

OK I dug deeper into my own booking for next month.

On the Travel Itinerary page in the cruise personalizer it does read "Water Shuttle"

But if searching for and viewing the same cruise on the website I could only find "Tender Required"

You have to wonder if this change to less-specific language was actually prompted by some dolt complaining to Princess when a shoreside craft was used rather than the ship's tenders. While "Tender" by definition more or less means you will be riding in a boat to shore (smaller than the actual cruise ship) "Water Shuttle" is sufficiently vague that Princess could engage anything from a private vessel to a fleet of jet skis if the mood strikes them and still meet the letter of the itinerary.

4 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

St. John, USVI

Mayreau, Grenadines

Virgin Gorda, BVI

Rangiroa, French Polynesia

Huahine, French Polynesia

Bora Bora, French Polynesia

Moorea, French Polynesia

Easter Island, Chile

I pulled up the cruises the OP lists in their signature and both on the splash page for that date and the detailed itinerary you click through found "Tender Required" as the only note on those ports. Was it changed to "water shuttle" in your cruise personalizer or on your booking summary? Because I see that term absolutely nowhere on the Princess website.

No cruise ships on any line offer reserving of seats.

Two-count-em-two cruise lines offer pre-booking for shows on their largest mega-ships.  Which only guarantee admission, not any specific seat so the need to arrive early in order to sit where you wish remains.

I don't understand why so many people believe this very limited practice is found industry-wide.

Treat it as five couples who coincidentally all happen to be on the same cruise. 

If the plan is to have one person (or couple) in charge of all the arrangements, pass.

If the other four are asking you to be the person in charge---don't for one second thinks that puts you at the advantage. Run away as fast as you can.

This is how lifelong friendships or family ties sink to the bottom, never to be recovered.

5 minutes ago, shanecindy21403 said:

I just got off the CB closed loop out of Fort Lauderdale it was myself and my 2 minor grand daughters. I had to have their passports and a notarized letter. I actually asked at check in if I could've used just birth certificates and notarized letter and was told no longer allowed with minors.

Odd because both the FAQs and the Passage Contract state that minor children are required to have passports rather than the usual WHTI-compatible alternatives only if they are travelling with just one responsible adult. Two or more, birth certificates should still be fine per Princess' own official policy.

Admittedly it is more complicated as Princess is not consistent as to onboard currency.

Sun and Sea Princess are exclusively $AU even on cruises not beginning/ending in Australia or NZ.

Some ships that spend most or all of the year in Asia/South Pacific/Australia regions do switch to $AU for cruises beginning or ending in Australia or NZ, but back to $US when elsewhere.

And some ships that only spend the down-under Summer in Australia/NZ  but return to the western hemisphere the rest of the year do stay with the $US as onboard currency.

OP needs to narrow down which ship there are interested in and find out its onboard policies before crunching their budget.

It is true for residents of Australia and New Zealand.

But if you are able to pay the cruise fare in $US then the normal rules apply. You will be charged the daily service charge in whichever the ship's currency is ($US or $AU). So if you are on a sailing with the onboard currency is $AU you may wish to pre-pay the DSC in $US through the cruise personalizer so that part of your budget is not subject to the exchange rate.

1 minute ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Does not matter, the father is not with them.

That would be solved by mom bringing proof of sole custody, or a notarized letter from the father with permission to take them out of the country. Passport otherwise not necessary unless there is only one adult in the entire party. Reason for the requirements cited above is that if the sole person responsible for the children has to be medically evacuated the kids can immediately be put on a flight home to another relative.

27 minutes ago, bonship said:

My divorced daughter was told, adamantly, by a Princess agent yesterday that her three small children needed passports to get on ship .    

Did your daughter make it clear that she is not the only responsible adult relative in the party? If she was the only one then passports would be required. Just be sure you all check in together and there should not be a problem.

3 minutes ago, voljeep said:

Just curious - what does ONE parent have to do with birth certificates or a passport

See the FAQ excerpt posted by indygirl99 above. (She beat me to it this time 😁)

Rather than go into your cruise personalzier,  just find your cruise via a regular search, click on 'cruise details' and then 'flight quotes.'  If there are seats left on your flight it will be one of the available options. To be extra safe just be sure you are not signed in to your account.

1 hour ago, clo said:

 He has been on one cruise and one complaint he had was that he couldn't pay for, say, drinks with cash.  

Every cruise line I know of allows you to put a cash deposit down at the purser's desk in lieu of registering a credit card. Then make purchases as normal using your shipboard account.

If your acquaintance is so controlling to the point of wanting to pay cash out of pocket on a transaction by transaction basis I can only think of one (besides an insane level of OCD) reason...

Royal and Regal have a separate venue for Gelato. They offer blended drinks and crepes as well. None of which are included anymore in the Soda, Coffee, or PBP packages.

Crown, Emerald, and Ruby sell scoops of Gelato at the International Cafe. But none of the other creations found on the Royal-class ships.

1 hour ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Smoking sticky at the top of the man page.

That particular sticky--in both its thread title and opening post--is maddeningly vague as to its purpose. It was formed by a former board host to consolidate the admittedly excessive number of threads at the time when Princess revised its smoking policy seven years ago. In my eyes it does not definitively appear (or not appear) to be the designated place for ongoing discussion.

If our current host wishes all smoking questions to be posted there my gentle suggestion would be to revise the thread title (to something like 'Single Thread for all Princess Smoking Questions') and/or edit the opening post to bring it up to date rather than refer to seven year old changes as 'new'. 

From what has been reported, Emerald Princess has been offering the per-day rather than the per-minute plans for quite some time now. But as enumerated on the Princess website, the MedallionNet system upgrade will not go online until August 3 this year: https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ocean-medallion/medallionnet/

I just wanted to make that clear in case you are conflating the two different concepts of (1) type of plans and (2) the upgraded system into a single event that was or will be rolled out simultaneously. Not the case on Emerald. I am assuming your bigger concern is the performance aspect so hopefully someone onboard very recently will chime in.

(welcome to Cruise Critic by the way)

@PaperSniper4 Grand Princess is scheduled to go "Medallion Class (sic)" in March 2020:

https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ocean-medallion/

Princess MedallionClass Ships: Caribbean Princess® | Regal Princess® | Royal Princess®
Coming soon to:  Crown Princess® (7/24/19), Sky Princess® (10/12/19), Ruby Princess® (1/27/20), Grand Princess® (3/29/20), Enchanted Princess®(6/15/20), Emerald Princess® (8/16/20), Coral Princess® (10/16/20), and Island Princess® (12/20/20).

But there is no date given for when Grand will get MedallionNet internet service:

https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ocean-medallion/medallionnet/

MedallionNet is currently available on: Caribbean Princess®, Coral Princess®, Island Princess®, Regal Princess®, Ruby Princess® and Royal Princess®ships.

Coming soon throughout 2019: Crown Princess® by July 12, Emerald Princess® by August 3, Sky Princess® by October 27, Golden Princess® by December 20 and Enchanted Princess® by June 19, 2020..

...even though Grand is currently offering the per day plans rather than the per minute.

.

I haven't been on Grand lately but was on Island (prior to MedallionNet) and Golden last year and connectivity to the ship's WiFi intranet was much more reliable than in the past, even compared to Royal Princess the year before. No dropping from either my phone or netbook and much quicker sign-ons when I did access the world wide web. So I would not expect any issues with either WiFi connection (to access Princess @ Sea and all its included features) or internet access (at least for simple tasks as e-mail and airline check-in). 

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

 

You still need to adjust body clock to comply with ships clock.  If you normally go to bed at midnight, then every day when they advance the clock an hour, you split the difference by going to bed at 11:30 new ship’s time.

But if the clocks are advanced midday rather than when you are sleeping, if you then go to bed a half hour earlier than normal you have lopped 90 minutes off your day. If you wanted to split the difference (lose 30 min sleep and 30 min wake time) you would go to bed at 12:30 rather than midnight and get up at your normal hour. Hopefully with a normal appetite for breakfast each morning. The one eastbound TA I sailed took eight days to get from Miami to Ponta Delgada, losing an hour's sleep on nights 1, 4, 5, and 6. But I still was up in time for breakfast in the MDR each day. So I sure hope if I ever take another one they advance the clocks during the day.

It starts about 6:30 AM and continues with the color tag groups at more or less the same pace as any other turnaround port. Disembarkation times are bunched together at specific intervals because transportation from Whittier is tied to the tunnel opening times each hour. So whether you have booked a tour, airport transfer, or private transportation--be on time. You still will have plenty of time for breakfast onboard; no need to be alarmed at how early the ship is alongside (last year on Island Princess we arrived before midnight). The late evening arrival is for sorting and shipping the luggage as virtually all of it will be claimed at either ANC airport or the Egan Center in Anchorage--or sent along on a post cruise land tour--rather than at the pier.

Two and a half weeks before embarking is cutting it pretty close. Plenty of people have lengthy travel plans in advance of their cruise so they end up penalized by having to go through old-school check-in at the pier. And will they have a spare Medallion in the proper color at the ready given that the records show it was received pre-cruise?

So since I sail two weeks after the OP I will be watching my e-mail closely. And as I gave a different e-mail address for the Medallion (one set up for alerts on my phone) rather than the one I have on my Captain's Circle account (an ancient Yahoo address for all my travel junk mail) I wonder which one they will send notice to.