wallyj

Yes, appears most ships have changed to his ‘lunch’ menu with only a few items changing. I did see recently from a live, a ship was using the old menus, but I know Sapphire, Emerald and Discovery have switched. I agree, I looked forward to certain lunch menus in the past. On my recent 18 day Sapphire down to So. America, I did not go to MDR lunch on sea days as much, having Premier helped as I would do Alfredo’s and Sushi instead.

So as to not get any crew in trouble, I will not name the ships, I know of at least 2 ships recently that allowed sharing of the sushi, so one person would order the ‘set’ menu and another passenger would be able to sit and share the meal. One even allowed you to get the sushi platter to go, hope this policy (sharing and Togo) will be adopted on the other ships.

One deck below is Savoy and Vivaldi, the only difference is the decor. You might find waitstaff/decor to your liking in one of the dining rooms, which would sway your preference.

Since you have a TA, on board, Princess can not help you since your TA owns the booking now.

It validity of Princess FCD’s has not been 4 years for quite some time. It has been 2 years and was recently reduced to 1 year as of early April 2023. FCD’s purchased before the April 2023 date will still have the 2 yr expiration. Unless you call to have the expiration extended, the refund should be automatic to the credit card used to purchase the FCD, so if you think you will still possibly cruise, you can have it extended instead of refunded. I do not believe the OBC earned from using a FCD has changed.

The $15 upcharge is if you want the pre fixe 3 course menu. With Standard cruise fare, a visit to Alfredo’s, you can choose to order the $15 menu or ala carte where the non specialty pizzas should run $8.5 and I believe as of Dec 1, 2023 will also have an 18% gratuity added. Some Alfredo’s/Gigi’s have a few specialty pizzas priced at $12. Ordering a pizza on Ocean Now previously was ‘free’, but I believe after August 2023, will show a fee of $8.50 plus gratuity.

In my experience with a SD gift/promo, you are given the ‘experience’ not the value/OBC to be used. Please report back if you experience otherwise. It can get confusing with the different package limits, so I can see where you might think you were given a limit of up to $29 to spend on a SD. I think a similar situation is the 2 SD with the Premier package. Your travel summary will show a reference ‘value’, but you are not awarded/posted this amount as OBC if you did not reserve in the APP pre cruise.

@Ombud, I assume you are making a joke as the amounts shown in the travel summary CAN be considered for reference purposes only. You were ‘gifted’ a SD and the $29 value at the time is listed. Are you thinking since the cover charges have increased, you will now be responsible for the difference? I am pretty sure you will NOT be responsible for increase in cover charges or a gratuity. I am assuming Princess has decided it is too much trouble to program a check to revise travel summaries when gifted SD from a past promo shows an old ‘value’.

@adamio360, thank you for your detailed review. On Royal Class ships, the locker/changing rooms for the fitness center are not obvious but do exists on that floor and area. A review of the deck plan or asking crew should have identified it’s location. Signage definitely could be better as the first time I sailed on a Royal class ship, I thought the same, no locker/changing rooms and do I need to go back to my cabin to shower? There are toilet, locker and shower facilities, one space for men and one for women.

I believe the ‘key’ is if you booked and paid for SD before December 1, 2023, then you will not be subject to the new gratuity fee. If you are gifted a SD then the cost is zero, so 18% of zero is zero. What reservations are you specifying you would go to GS for a credit? Are you thinking you want to cancel, if you are subject to the new gratuities L

You get ALL of the mains, The nigiri is a protein on top of a ‘rice ball’ that is about 1 inch. The roll is 8 pieces and your typical sushi roll size.

@spunks, even without Plus or Premier, morning coffee delivery is still no charge ordering via the ‘hang tag’ only. If you do not have Plus or Premier, and CALL room service, there will be a $5 room service fee. No Plus or Premier and want to use Ocean Now, you have one time fee of about $15.

You will find each ship might be offering slightly different choices. On Sapphire it is the set menu in post #3, NO substitutions on sea days at Vines/Alfredo’s. When I was Majestic, early October, choices were as in your quote above, but I think they have now charged to the ‘set’ menu in post #3. On Discovery in late October, package passengers could customize the ‘set’ menu from post #3, so I could ask for 5 shrimp nigiri(believe it is only 4 pieces now) and have California roll instead of the Spicy tuna roll. I recall a recent post where passenger said on a Royal class ship, with package you could only get the ‘set’ menu as in post #3, no substitutions allowed. It appears ships are moving to protocol that if you have/use package, your choice it the set menu, no substitutions.

@JF - retired RRT, did you not get the memo, Future Cruise Deposits are only good for 1 year now as of Early April 2023. If you purchased FCD before April 2023, you still have 2 yrs. You are still able to extend, if you contact Princess before expiration date.

Yes, it has been reported that shareholders OBC is converted to AUD at 1 for 1 where $250 USD becomes $250 AUD which for US citizens is an unfortunate exchange. This is an unfortunate quirk/protocol for down under sailings for non Aussies.

I believe with the increased number of passengers, even some Royal class ships have moved breakfast and sea day lunch to the aft dining room , but kept Reserve class guests at their usual dining room. Sapphire has always used the rear International dining room since the mid ship dining rooms are half sized from original design.

You do know anyone on board a Princess ship can buy FCD’s for any past/future passenger, so you only need to know someone sailing on Princess but any excuse to book a cruise works for me. I added future passenger as I bought a FCD for my niece’s fiancé when she just did a refer a friend, so he had not yet sailed. The person on board will need to pay for the FCD’s, so this is done knowing you will be re paid.

@Catherine Claus, what type of EZAir ticket did you book? Flexible or Restricted and when is your cruise and flight? EZAir books fare classes that may have ‘restrictions’ especially with code share flights as you are on Lufthansa equipment but with a United booking. You need to understand the fare class EZAir booked you current tickets and any restrictions that are associated with that fare code. Within every fare(economy, premium economy, business and first) there are various rate codes within each category. Are you eligible to cancel your current EZAir bookings with no penalties? If you booked flexible fares you can cancel, refare your air upto 45 day before cruise or flight which ever is sooner. Does EZAir offer business class for the flights you are currently booked? When I was considering a DL economy ticket on EZAir and I wanted to be able to use an upgrade certificate I had. When I initially booked my flexible EZAir booking then called DL to see if I could use my upgrade certificate, they said my EZAir was booked in ‘z’ fare class and to be able to use my upgrade certificate, I needed to be booked in at least ‘x’ fare code, so I call EZAir to see if they even can offer ‘x’ fare code. Of course, if available, ‘x’ fare code was substantially higher, so I choose to stick with the less expensive ‘z’ fare ticket. Letters listed are for example only. Sounds strange someone is telling you one of the four is eligible to upgrade, unless that one person may have status with Lufthansa or United? It sounds like you current air bookings are booked in a fare code that is not eligible for upgrades, so it would be unlikely you would be able to upgrade at the airport. How are you proposing to ‘upgrade’, using miles, certificates ? EZAir may not have a contract/agreement to sell ‘business’ fares for your particular flight even if on the United website you see business seats available for purchase. In short, airline ticketing and fare codes can be complicated and even more so when you are dealing with a code share.

Unfortunately, each ship has decided how to enforce the packages, as there are differences and I expect further changes and inconsistencies. I had Premier Pkg on the following ships in the past few months after the roll out of casual dining options became effective for that ship on Majestic, Discovery and just recently Sapphire Dec 1-19. Majestic just introduce Ocean Terrace at The Catch during lunch hours on Sea days in early October. Majestic does have an Ocean Terrace, but it is a bar space only. The original iteration of the Ocean terrace menu gave you choices and you could mix the various roll options. I have not been back on Majestic since, but it seems Princess is now trying to standardize the included price fixed menu to the above fixed choices for Ocean Terrace. While on the Discovery in late October on a 7 day voyage, Ocean Terrace allowed me to customize my nigiri selections to any combination of the included ‘types’ so I then opted for 5 prawn nigiri. I believe you now only get 4 pieces of Nigiri instead of 5. They also let me order any maki ‘rolls’ so I decided on California roll instead of the spicy tuna roll. Since Ocean Terrace on Discovery makes the sushi to order at the venue, is why I believe they were more flexible of what was allowed to be ordered with the packages. Now my latest experience on the Sapphire as they have introduced Ocean Terrace at Vines on Sea days, and then towards the end of the sailing moved service to the extra dining Alfredo’s space that was not being utilized. When that space is filled, they will use available Vines seating if needed. On the Sapphire these spaces are next to each other and it makes sense. The Sapphire has one ‘set’ menu, as mentioned in the quote, no substitutions or customization, as the sushi is prepared probably in the galley for the Vivaldi dining room. I will be back on the Discovery in Feb 2024, so I am curious if they will allow substitutions like I did in October with the package or will I be subjected to my package choice of having the ‘set’ options only and will be charge ala carte for any deviations.

@Steelers36, I just verified with internet manager/ocean navigator on Sapphire. When u purchase the 1 day plan, it will be 24hrs. from your sign up time.

@Iwork2trav, Pay rewards is when you use your Medallion to pay for purchases with ‘selected’ shoreside merchants that have signed up to accept Medallion Pay. You can decide if the price you will pay at this particular merchant, it worth the probable mark up /pricing required for this merchant to participate in Medallion pay. When I upgraded to Premier in the cruise Personalizer, it took a few days before it recognized I now have dining credits. As your cruise is next week, you might have to wait till you board to make your specialty dining reservations, else try calling Princess directly.

Actually, I believe it IS 24hours from when you sign up for the 1 day plan. Does not make sense if you signed up at 8pm and the plan would expire at midnight. I will go to the internet manager on the ship and verify as I am currently in the Sapphire, but I believe that last time I did a one day plan it was 24 hours from the time you signed up.

Yes, it is ONE per stateroom, so if 2 person sharing stateroom, only one person is supposed to be able to use. On Discovery last month, casino cashier said they needed the ‘printed’ coupon and to go to guest services to get it printed if you only had digital copy. This week on Sapphire, they accepted coupon on my IPad, so it seems YMMV. Same with Platinum Studio coupon, you cannot have both do separate sittings, either do one solo or both passengers in the same picture. When I travel with a cruise buddy, if both want to do platinum studio, we flip a coin.

First, you need to know if you made a ‘refundable’ deposit as Princess has now introduced/expanded ‘non refundable’ deposit options on many of their sailings. If you make a deposit on a sailing and do nothing, after the final payment date, you are subject to cancellation penalties and they are should be outlined on your confirmation/cruise summary.

If you use a TA, under payment you will see that message, You might have possibly seen payments if you booked directly with Princess THEN transferred to a TA. Once your booking is with a TA, for all payment info you need to go thru your TA. My TA sends me an updated confirmation/invoice when they process the final payment. You should be able to request this from your TA.