wallyj

@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.

I think it will depend on when the OP cancels if after final payment and thus in penalty windows of increasing amounts of cancellation fees. I would ask if there is a chance you might cancel, see if you can have the FCC put back into your account NOW, as you seem to have already paid the required ‘$800’ deposit, so it appears your FCC is actually excess deposit amount? When was your FCC granted and applied to the booking? I had a booking where I used a FCD for the initial deposit. A few months later, Princess finally processed my Covid quarantine FCC and when they posted it to my account, it then automatically was applied to 2 future bookings. Is this similar to you, which would explain why you have $800 deposit and your FCC on your booking?

@trbarton, I believe most readers were confused by your comment using ‘bar code’ whereas it is a QR code. When you arrive at the terminal for checkin and if you already have your Medallion, your Medallion is scanned/read and your passport verified. If you do not have your Medallion, you go to the blue line for pick up and passport verification. Again, the QR code is not scanned/used. I have yet to see any port personnel scan the QR code on the APP or anyone on the ship ask to see it.

The new Gratuities are for food and beverage ‘charges’ for Standard fare passengers or Plus who have used up their allotted Casual dining experiences. Non package passengers have always been charged the going gratuity rate for beverages, so it appears Princess is just being consistent with adding the gratuity to food purchases like the casual dining and specialty dining where it was previously included in the cover charges. As there is no ‘charge’ to the suite passengers for their first night specialty dining there is no gratuity to collect. This is consistent with the wording that Premier package passengers will not be charged a gratuity for their 2 specialty and unlimited casual visits.

Hi @Thrak, I just logged into AARP and had no issues. Went to rewards and Princess gift cards were there to purchase. Earlier on Thursday, yesterday, I was able to purchase 2 $500 Princess gift cards in case I find a cruise to book as I am boarding the Sapphire Princess later today, at San Pedro port. Email with gift cards arrived very shortly after completing purchase on AARP. I had no problems logging into AARP earlier about 12 hours ago and about 5 minutes ago, so I think the problem may be with your account? My friend who was on a Mexican Rivera cruise last August, tried to purchase gift cards while on board a Princess ship. The AARP website did not let him, I think it knows you are on a foreign/non U.S. server? I wonder if your many attempts to try to login flagged your account? Hopefully others will posts if they are having issues, but my guess is it is just you. I accessed using my iPad.

Are you saying you have the booking # or your loyalty/Captain circle number? Princess should be able to locate your Captain circle number based on your name, birthdate. I have not heard your number will be purged if you have not sailed after a number of years.

If you are going to purchase WiFi for 1 device, it is per person, but both in the cabin do not need to purchase if you both do not need to be ON at the same time. You can share ONE plan. You will login to the WiFi using your cabin number and birthdate of the person with the plan.

Just off the Discovery, I believe you do not get access to the Enclave with a treatment, but the Spa manager on Day 1 had some specials that included access to the Enclave for either 1 hour before OR after your treatment. No access to Enclave if you have a hair service.

Princess booking options are ‘standard’, ‘plus’ or ‘premier’, so at the time of booking you can include either ‘plus’ or ‘premier’ packages and your cruise fare will reflect the ‘added’ expense for their inclusion. If you book a standard fare, you have the option of ‘upgrading’ to the plus or premier packages and pay the respective per day rate. You can also add the plus or premier packages on Day 1 or 2 of your sailing at the prevailing package rates. Plus fare currently will usually reflect an increase from standard fare of $60/day per person and Premier should reflect $80/day. Not sure what you mean by ‘lower Oceanview cabin’ ?

The steam and saunas that used to be in the respective changing rooms by the fitness center were removed/converted with the last Emerald Drydock. The same change was implemented for the steam and saunas on the recent Ruby Princess drydock, so it appears to be a pattern/plan for this class of ship.

People have reported non paid upgrades still happen, probably fewer than in the past before the bidding system. Upgrades within a category such as going to a better location for the same ‘meta category’ still seem to happen, going from interior to Oceanview are higher are rarer but still happen. I know a passenger who is booked on upcoming Sapphire Dec 1, 2023 sailing, was upgraded from booked interior to a balcony, he did not bid to upgrade, it was a complimentary upgrade from Princess and was booked within the last few months. This is not common, but shows, complimentary upgrades still exists.

So I checked with future cruise about a sailing on the ‘list’. It was 30% off the Princess.com rate AND Plus is also being discounted 30%. Unfortunately, the starting rates are already high for this 7 day Mexico sailing in early January next year. The previous ‘list’ only had CA Coastals as the Mexico sailings did not need to be discounted.

Just boarded Discovery today 11/25. Received a list about 3/4 of a page. Sailings on list are supposed to be 20 or 30% off, so better than nothing. Have not studied list yet, but as @Cajuntravelerposted #2, they received 30% off a January 2024 sailing.

The 50% off on board booking promo DID expire at the end of October 2023. While I was on the Discovery Oct 21-28 sailing, the future cruise folks relayed they were told it was not going to be extended as previously and will end at the end of the month. I believe @Cruise Raiderstayed on for the following sailing, and confirmed it was not extended. Currently have friends on the Sapphire and there was mention of a new promo but details not clarified, but was told lead time would only be sailings within the next 30 days or so. @Cajuntravelerpost #2 seems to be relevant.