roxievegas

We prepay for the gratuities if we do not have the princess plus package. We give our cabin attendant $40 - $60 at the end of the cruise - we are not slobs, we keep our cabin clean and tidy, so we expect fresh towels, toilet paper and kleenex, - service once a day is fine for us and we like to be left alone, put all paperwork under the door and do not knock everytime you want to give us something We give the room service $3 if we order something small, and $5.00 if we order lunch or dinner. Our next cruise is a casino VIP and we get free drinks in the casino only, we then tip $1.00 - $2.00 for each drink received. We do not tip extra to the food servers in MDR as we eat there only two or three times during the cruise - we check the menu and if it is not to our liking, then we go somewhere else. As with any topic on tipping - do what you are comfortable with and what you feel is right for you. happy cruising.

the cost of booking an interior and bidding for a balcony is way less than booking balcony in the first place. We are bidding $300 total to upgrade to mini suite, but if we had booked the mini suite in the first place it would have cost us $700-800 more. We did not have the option of bidding on a suite, would love to see what they would want for that. But normally our bid options are Deluxe Balcony, Premium Balcony or Mini Suite.

We have taken two cruises so far this year, both free balcony and plus package, booked last year. We are leaving at the end of July for our last cruise and it was a VIP cruise, free balcony, some free play money and no plus package. We are going to wait until we get back from this cruise to see what offers we get, If they do not include a balcony or the plus we will not book.

the bid is per person for the cost of the cabin for the whole cruise ie: if the bid is at the low end of $80, your final cost if accepted is $160. we are currently in a balcony and have a bid of $150 pp for a mini suite. If accepted we will be charged $300 to our credit card and assigned a new cabin.

We have used EZAir twice and had a few bumps a long the way, mostly flight changes and fighting to get on the best flight, time and shortest layover. Once our flights were booked, I monitored them weekly to make sure that they were not changed, cancelled or disappeared. Due to the air cost, flight times, delays and the possibility of problems, we made the decision to only cruise where we can drive to the port (L.A, or San Diego) or get a direct flight to San Francisco, Seattle to catch the boat. We have had a bucket list cruise to Japan on our list, but the 14 hr - 20 hr flight time (with layover) is not going to happen. We are too old and the cost does not make it worth it.

if you don't drink more than one or two alcohol drinks per day, it is not worth getting the package. currently we are booked with no plus package. We will pay the gratuities before we go (price $203.00) for 7 days, and order a case of water ($7.00+ = 12 bottles) for our room. We do not do pictures, desserts (would like to have the gelato, but not the new sundaes), exercise classes, or pay restaurants, so we only will be paying for coffee from international and soft drinks for my husband at dinner. We are platinum and get discount on wifi for one device. package plus would cost us $840 total, hard to drink $600 in alcohol for us.

I will get an email saying that the balance due has not been paid. I ignore it. The casino department pays it and I have never had a problem. If you are worried about it, call Princess, but they will inform you that it is the responsibility of the casino department. The $200 is given back to you as a OBC - can be used for anything. I would also contact Princess, because it is $200 not in pounds.

If you gamble and want to earn enough points for an offer at the end of the cruise, you need to gamble your "budget" prior to the last full day of cruise. ie: ship leaves on Saturday, returning on Saturday - gamble Saturday thru Thursday. If you gambled enough (earned enough points) you will receive an offer on Friday morning when your steward cleans your room. on our last cruise, I had 4,700+ points, my husband 4,200 points - we both received the same offer a free interior cabin, with drinks, wi-fi, and crew appreciation included and $150 in casino free play. offer is valid up to 12 days on select Alaska, California Coast, Canada & New England, Caribbean, Europe, Mexico, Panama Canal sailings only. You have 7 months to go and you have to book with 45 days from the date of the offer ie: our offer was dated 04/22 and we had to sail before Nove 18, 2023 I believe that if you get over 5,000 points you will get offered a balcony. My husband had all balcony offers for last year and we took 7 cruises on those offers. I normally get the interior cabin offer.

did you achieve your goal of getting an offer for free mini suite for your next booking with your gambling points you earned ?? are you finding the offers less or more than before

sailing in 2022 we were able to upgrade once on board at guest services - from balcony to mini suite for $280 total & on the next cruise $300 total. This was half the price if we had called and upgraded (before bidding was started) I am not sure that the price is more expensive, I just don't think that they will be able to upgrade you with this new system of bidding in place. would be interested to see if anyone has done so

We loved it on the Discovery - had a scoop everyday,instead of getting dessert in MDR after dinner, We tried a premium dessert once - not impressed, so switched to just getting the gelato. They had five or six different flavors and also had two or three sorbets.

we have bid twice balcony to mini suite - bid $300 (total) which was the weakest bid possible next was balcony to Deluxe - bid was $80 total which was $10 over the weakest bid possible we won both of those our next cruise end of July we have a bid again balcony to mini suite $300 total weakest bid possible. won't know until closer to the start of cruise

We had the chocolate cake from the Gelato area using the 2 desserts from the plus package. My cake was hard, no flavor and the frosting we as hard and waxy. My husband got the red velvet cake and his was better but not by much - This was on the Discovery.

You can get various answers to how much you have to gamble. One, not how much you gamble - it is how many points do you earn during the course of the cruise. My husband and I both play slots, we have a budget for the trip and we try to play some each day. If the cruise is a Saturday to Saturday, the casino will give you a "come back and play" card on Friday morning given to the steward to leave in your room. this card will be based on the number of points you earned on the cruise. Our last cruise we both had over 4,000 points, and both received a card with a "free inside cabin, $150 free play and free wifi, drinks and gratuities (it is not worded "plus package") I have read from others that over 5,000 will get you a free balcony. My husband last year mainly gets offers for the free balcony and we booked 7 cruises getting the free balcony, but now all the offers are for free inside and then we would have to pay to upgrade. We currently have one cruise booked for the future - for end of July. This cruise is with a free Balcony, no free wifi, drinks or gratuities, but we are getting $1,000 free play between us. You do not earn points playing with the free play money.

we had free balcony on casino offer, upgraded to Deluxe Balcony for $80 total july we ar eon a casino VIP offer free balcony have a bid for a mini suite for $300 total - wont hear back until closer to sailing

depending on the "extra cost" - we like to spend time in the casino, I get to spend more time if I don't upgrade, but still love the mini.

We tried one on the first day. After that we just had a scoop of Gelato.

Our last VIP cruise, we had a badge/tag/card/ that you wore around your neck that said "VIP drinks". You can order drinks from the bar in the casino or the server in the casino and receive alcohol, soft drinks, water. We would get surprise gifts in our room. Chocolate covered strawberries, princess logo items (package cubes for your luggage), beach mats, it varies. We are not big drinkers, so getting a drink while in the casino was enough for us - plus we could take a bottle of water back to our room every night.

Deluxe on Discover is a "love seat" not a sofa. The cost is higher for the mini suite, but the bathroom is soooooo much better. I would love to try a "suite" but pocket book will not allow it.

We were on the Discover, April 15 - April 22nd My husband got a cough once we were home and has been coughing, sneezing, etc for the past two weeks. Now he has given it to me. We have not tested for covid - just the hacking cough. We have another cruise in 84 days and will wear our masks more.

Our last cruise in April we were notified two weeks before the cruise that one of our bids had been excepted. We were in a balcony bid on a deluxe, premium balcony and mini suite. Our bid for the deluxe was accepted, did not care for the deluxe.

We are going on our final cruise for 2023 in 85 days, so put in a bid. Currently in a Balcony on the 14th deck bids available club mini suite mininum bid $275pp highest $60pp regular mini suite mininum $`150pp highest $425pp premium balcony mininum $65pp highest $185pp I decided to go with a mini suite bid of $150pp - all mini suites on the Emerald are located on deck 8 and all of deck 9 is minisuites except for 4 suites. we like having a bathtub and my husband likes the couch. probably won't get it with a lowest bid possible, but I will see how long it takes to reject and then will go with a bid for the premium. will post our win or loss

Just got off the Discovery. We had booked a Balcony, given the opportunity to upgrade to Deluxe, Premuim or Mini Suite. I did a minimum bid on all three and we got a Deluxe for $40pp. We wanted to try a Deluxe or Premium because you get a "sofa" (actually a love seat) and my husband wanted something better to sit on than the chair or just the bed. After a week in the room - he hardly used the sofa and said that it was not worth upgrading. He did not find it comfortable. We will now only go for a mini suite or keep what we have. We have a cruise end of July and I will be bidding for a mini suite - will come back and report what they are asking for next week.

If I had won the $50,000 I would be saying it was a great cruise. I only won $250

We are on Emerald next. We will not return to Discovery unless they change the itinerary When we completed our evaluation I asked them to bring back the Alaska cruise round trip out of LA, we were going to do that, then covid hit and they have not put that back on their list of cruises.