wallyj

Sapphire and Diamond are unique because there is only one entrance to the Santa Fe /Reserve class dining room, opposed to most other Princess ships that will have a Reserve class entrance AND a separate non reserved class entrance which are usually the port or starboard side entrances for these venues for those not familiar with Princess.

I was on the Sapphire this past July. Only a portion of Santa Fe dining room is used for Reserve Class. Non Reserve Class passengers are allowed to dine in this venue which will be the same menu as all the other MDRs on the ship. I believe the new Sun and Star will have a dining room explicitly ONLY for Suites, not sure if Reserve Class will have entry to this Suites only venue.

It is easy to confuse Ocean Now with Room Service since Princess allows Ocean Now orders to be delivered to your cabin so it is a kind of ‘room service’ . If you do not have a package and want to take advantage of Ocean Now ordering, there is a one time $14.99 activation fee. If you use your stateroom Phone to call room service to order food or other items and do not have a package, there will be a $5 service fee for EVERY call.

I think you meant to quote the OP, not my reply, as for my upcoming March 18, 2024 Sapphire sailing, the International dining room DOES appear as a choice to make a reservation.

I recall reading recently if you do not have the Premier package which should automatically ‘activate’ your door for the Princess Prizes game, you need to go to Guest Services to OPT in and I thought I read the cost was now only $10/day. Previously you could OPT in by touching your door panel, but I think Princess got too many passengers not realizing the ‘costs’ to play the game and assume once you OPT in it is for all remaining days in the cruise. As the game is sponsored by the Casino, it is only active while the Casino is open. When I have Premier, I am more conscience to look at the door panel to see if I have won a prize, but I have only seen the messages ‘better luck next time’ or ‘game closed’. I believe there is a list on Princess.com what the list of current prizes are and the odds of winning said Prize. I seem to recall it says a 7 day cruise is awarded each cruise? Also I remember when the game was first introduced, the ship made it a big deal with a presentation in the Piazza on the last day with the Entertainment Director opening a suitcase with envelopes of 5 prizes? I believe the top prize at that time was $5000. I think that amount was suppose to vary depending on the number of players? It appears if you win one of the ‘top’ prizes, someone will try and find you on ship. An acquaintance currently on the Sapphire saw his account was credited with $250 OBC, so we assume it was a prize from Princess as he has Premier, but no one from the ship called or notified him to let him know he won a prize.

I have a booking on the Sapphire for March 18, 2024 and when I check dine my way to make reservations for MDR, the International dining room is available as one of the choices, so my guess is it is too far out or a glitch, but you are so far out. I suggest you check again, later, especially since rumor is a NEW Princess APP is supposed to be released on Dec 1 and the current one will only be valid till end of January 2024?

With the one device plan, you can use multiple devices, just only one active at a time, so unless you BOTH need to be connected at the same time, you can easily ‘share’ one plan so you can possibly only need to buy 1 WiFi plan if you are not going to buy Plus.

I believe this is the protocol with Princess when you want to ‘add’ gift cards to your booking that is not going towards the cruisefare. The OBC account is funds/promos from your travel agent or other promos from Princess, shareholders, military, etc. It is these funds you are able to use pre cruise towards shore excursions. You will be able to use ALL of your onboard services account onboard as previous posters have noted for ANYTHING including daily gratuities, shore excursions, WiFi and the Casino. What you have done has really only saved you from going to Guest services while on board and having them apply gift cards $ to your Folio. There have been instances where the on board system to connect to gift cards is not working and passengers could not get the gift cards added to their on board accounts, so you have that glitch to not worry about. You were misled/misinformed if you thought your gift cards could be added pre cruise to your account and be used to book shore excursions, WiFi, prepay gratuities. This has deviated from the original topic as your issue is not a problem with AARP gift cards, but how they are applied to a booking pre cruise if not being use towards cruisefare.

I think you are on the wrong forum. I believe Cagney’s is the name of the Steakhouse on NCL?

@KEG306, the Island Princess has very limited Casual Dining. I think the only option is a pop up limited menu Alfredo’s in Sabatini’s during lunch on Sea days? No International cafe. Its size allows passage thru the old/original locks. For 2 passengers that would be an additional $560. Do you see getting that much extra value for your 14 days?

Your question/thread will probably be moved to the General Princess forum instead of the Roll calls for Discovery Princess. Princess does not offer early/ late traditional dining. All MDR’s are anytime which on Discovery is Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan. All serve the same menu, except if you are Reserve Class which offers an off menu item daily, sometimes 2 off menu items.

I know they were giving can soda as included in Plus or Premier packages when we were on the Majestic sailing Sydney to LA last April, so at least 8 months ago, do you consider 8 months ago ‘new’? Cans I have seen are Coke, Diet Coke, Caffeine free versions, ,Ginger ale, Sprite and Diet Sprite or Zero instead of Diet. Believe it depends on where in the world being supplied, as Diet is not available in some places but Zero is. Fanta orange soda. The description on the Princess website states ‘fountain’ soda for both packages, so it has not been updated, surprised? When the packages were first introduced, it was fountain soda only.

The APP when ordering your Medallion should recognize you have the Premier package and automatically include in your order the ‘included/free’ accessory. It is currently a ‘clip’ in an exclusive color(royal blue) to the Premier package. If you go to the Princess website and review the packages, when you scroll down what is included with Premier, it shows a stripped clip. You can order any other accessories, but you do not receive any discount or credit if you do not want the ‘clip’. I believe on the ship at the Ocean Front location where you can purchase Medallion accessories, similar clips in different colors are priced about $8 to give you an ideal of the value of the included accessory with the Premier package.

I was on the Royal Princess a few years ago in a standard Balcony and had the special ‘Breakfast’. Felt the balcony was too small, so had them setup inside. It was tight.

I was pleasantly surprised on my Discovery sailing at the end of October. Went to the Gelato bar and was told with my Premier pkg, it includes as many scoops of any Gelato! On this Royal class ship is where they prepared those Premium Sundaes and have the 3 Premium Cakes. Will be on Enchanted next year with Premier so will definitely look to see if they have the Banana splits and if they will be covered with the package. Thank you for sharing your experience.

Please clarify. When you used your Princess Visa card to pay for your upcoming cruise, have you received and paid that billing statement? Points earned are not usually credited till the billing statement is generated and it should clearly show points earned for each individual transaction. For a $1113 transaction on Princess, you should earn 2226 ‘points’ toward redemptions since you are suppose to earn 2x points. I get the feeling your points earned have not been credited yet since you state you are receiving message no purchases from last 180 days eligible for statement credit. Call your credit card company and hopefully they will be able to clarify what points you have and should earn and how to redeem for statement credit.

The language/text on the Princess website states you are NOT allowed to share. I think this is in reference to casual dining, such as Alfredo’s where 2 passengers want to ‘share’ one casual dining credit, as one Pizza would be plenty for them. A recent thread shows a passenger was told NO sharing by the server, but the Manager said it would be ok, just make sure the check in person knows your intention so the billing would reflect only I credit used. I am not sure this policy is being enforced the same on every ship. YMMV. In the case of sharing a dining credit where you want your 2 credits from Premier package to cover yourself and another passenger, I have not had a problem when I had Premier and having my second credit used towards another passenger dining with me, as I travel solo often and will invite a guest to join me on occasion.

Your question is not clear to me, but see if this answers your question. I am traveling with a friend in a separate cabin. I have Premier and my friend has standard. Since I have 2 specialty dining credits, I can go to specialty dining 2x by myself OR once and take my friend as my guest and it will use my 2 dining credits. On board, inform when you are making reservation, you want to use one of your dining credits for passenger without credit. Princess considers child pricing up to age 12, since you have daughter aged 10 booked in your cabin, this may be why you are getting child dining credit ‘value’? You may want to consider changing your booking so 13 year old is on your booking, so you should get dining credits for 4 adult pricing? Princess does not care if you decide to swap on board, who will be sleeping in which cabin. Go to guest services and have them program your medallions to be able to access the ‘other’ cabin. I assume you booked one adult in each cabin because of your children’s ages. I believe most cruiselines will waive this rule if you are booking connecting or adjacent cabins, if your plan is eventually to have all the kids share one cabin. Princess or your travel agent should be able to book this/revise for you. Since you have 2 kids age 12 or under, having 2 child dining credits is ok. Another family or in another year, you might consider this booking strategy.

On my past few cruises in the last few months, Princess has signs encouraging passengers to buy a ‘Plus’ or ‘Premier’ package and on day2 remind passengers it is the last day to be able to buy or upgrade Plus to Premier. Why would a passenger buy on day2 if Princess is going to charge them for day1 ? I am almost certain if you buy on day2, you do not pay for day1, but do not have first hand knowledge as the one time I did buy on board, I did it on day1.

The APP is supposed to recognize you have the Premier pkg and your first 2 specialty dining reservations should have been zeroed out, meaning it will show the normal cover charge, but then show a credit so your total due is 0.00. This was what happened when I made my reservations for my sailings on the Emerald, Majestic, and Discovery in the past few months when I had the Premier package and made Specialty dining reservations on the APP, pre cruise. I have heard of reports where the APP does not recognize you have dining credits and wants a credit card for payment. Make a copy of your charges/credit card statement to show you were charged so they can be refunded on board, they may issue you refundable OBC as that is probably easier than trying to issue a refund to your credit card. Also verify your booking indeed shows you have the Premier package, it can be found in the Travel Summary of your booking in the cruise Personalizer. When you go into your booking on the website. Look for Boarding pass and Travel summary, click on this link, then click Print Travel Summary, scroll down and you should see the amenities connected to your booking.

For those that may not be aware, the swirl roll is usually only made on the 2nd Formal/dress to impress dinner. It is one of my favorites, I believe it is onion seed/Gorgonzola. One time, I ate late and was told they were all gone.

IIRC, I believe my TA said 48hrs before sailing? I believe the manifest has to be sent to Homeland security for US departures? This is the reason I believe no more ability to show up on Embarkation day and see if you can sail last minute.

I asked a steward earlier this year as one ship had an old supply they were distributing. It was relayed, sooo many are left by passengers, it was seen as a huge waste. The bags are made of plastic, and when exposed to UV, eventually deteriorate quickly.

Hours of operation will vary for the Bars that serve alcohol while in port, but when they are open, alcohol is available to be ordered and consumed. There are some ports that require Princess to collect a ‘tax’ while in port, but not for Oz or NZ.

Hi @chamima, i am being a little picky in terminology. See post #274 and I believe that is the the menu that they are serving at Vines for sushi on the Sapphire or very similar. What you were served is NOT called sashimi as that is usually just a raw protein without rice, what you called sashimi, is called ‘nigiri’ which is usually a protein or item on top of a rice ball. FYI, on the my Discovery sailing last month, I was able to customize my nigiri selection, one time I requested all shrimp, another time, as I do not care for salmon, 3 shrimp and 2 tuna nigiri.