wallyj

I understand you want to surprise your wife. As you have not sailed with Princess before, I am not sure Carnival spa’s work the same, but probably because they are all run by the UK company Steiner and usually operate similarly. it is very likely on embarkation day, the Spa will be having ‘spa tours’ to introduce passengers to the facility and do a quick introduction of the services offered. There will be a ‘raffle’ for spa vouchers later that day usually around 5-5:30. You must be present to win and lately the prizes have been two $100 vouchers and two $150 vouchers . At the end of the raffle, the spa manager will then probably offer all attendee’s of the raffle a special that must be booked for the first couple of days. It is usually a combo massage/facial with a retail value of $299 that the manager will offer for around $169. The catch is you will need to book that night for either the first or second day. The spa usually automatically adds a 18% tip/gratuity to all services. You can enter the raffle by going just before it starts or going to the spa during the first few hours of embarkation. It should be listed in the ‘patter’. The spa also usually has discounts if you book a treatment on a port day instead of a sea day. They also usually offer a rolling discount if you book multiple treatments, like 10% off 1st treatment, 20% off 2nd and 30% off third treatment if you book all at the same time. Would you feel comfortable going to the ‘raffle’ with your wife and if you do not win any vouchers to then book the manager special?

@doog442, in the future no need to wait in line at Guest Services, the Medallion APP should have your account details and most ships try to have a working kiosk where you can print your current account statements. If you do not get email with your final statement details within 2 days of disembarkation, call /contact Princess.

Would you mind explaining why you want to cancel EZAir at this late time? It would be surprising you would be able to get better air on your own at this stage and you do know you are subject to EZAir cancellation fees which are probably a few hundred, but get verification. Your timing seems off a bit as EZAir would have let you make any changes up to 45 before your flight or cruise for free, whichever is sooner since many opt to fly in a few days early of embarkation. Have you even priced what flights are available if you want to do on your own now as your last sentence seems to imply you have not. I have never cancelled EZAir within 45 days, but I recall you do not get refund/cash but future cruise credit to use towards air in the future. If cancelled before 45 days of flight, you would get refund back to credit card used to pay for flights.

@Ourusualbeach, thanks for your feedback and @esper10, be aware there are exceptions, especially if booking solo.

No, I got reduced OBC for booking a solo cabin at Next cruise in Jan for a 4 day Feb Navigator sailing and have not reached 340 points yet. When I asked as the Next cruise promo materials state $25 , they said because $25 is double occupancy and as solo it is reduced. I was booking a Royal ‘sale’ fare, but a publicly available fare. It was a GTY fare, but I do not remember if it was one of those special fares where Royal was not charging 2x double occupancy rate.

The OBC may also be reduced from these amounts if booking solo.

Princess Prizes is linked to the Casino. Door entries are only recorded, if the. Casino is open, so not while in port or hours when the Casino is closed This detail was not explained clearly when Princess Prizes was introduced. On the July 12 Prizes presentation on the Grand, one guy won 2 prizes, one was the Grand prize of $5000. it appears not that many have opted for the Premium package or to pay 20/day for entries?

Just got off the Grand Princess yesterday July 20. A feature on the Medallion APP is Crew Call Chat and Princess actually promotes the use of this feature. Please be mindful of the time of day and ‘urgency need for your requests’. This is a different feature than using the APP to order food, drinks or items like sunblock from the on board shop. My stateroom steward did leave his contact info on Day1. He was always available during morning hours and evening during turndown service in the hallway. On the Grand, evening turndown was assumed unless you requested to opt out. Our passenger counts were on the low side at about 1500-1600 for both NB and SB Vancouver to Whittier. Believe normal double occupancy is about 2600 for the Grand, so crew did not seem overwhelmed.

Hello @getting older slowly, just off the Grand yesterday. The midship staircase only has public/passenger access to decks 4-7, any higher is crew only. Access to higher floor via elevators. This being midship there are 6. The 2 glass elevators are on their own controllers , meaning you need to press each call button to activate. Club class dining is deck 6 Da Vinci starboard entrance, suite breakfast is held at Crown Grill, which is deck 7 forward of the atrium. Yes, One5 is the location of the Platinum, Elite, Suite lounge for ‘happy hour’ and snacks, evenings 5-7, except usually the evening of the Captain’s Circle party.

Yes, I disembarked today. I did the NB and SB starting July 6. Weather was mostly cool and overcast, but Glacier Bay on the SB leg was spectacular. Sunny and nice. Ketchikan we got some rain in the afternoon, but they do measure their rainfall in feet not inches. I thought the entertainment crew were great and SB, they did 3 production shows, British Invasion, Stardust and Sweet Soul Music. If you have any specific questions, let me know.

Currently in Grand Princess, boarded July 6, seems like individual lotion tubes are gone and now have on bathroom sink, dispenser for liquid soap and separate dispenser for lotion, says Eucalyptus and Sea salt for lotion and blue color Liquid Eucalyptus and Sea Salt for hand soap, I did not ask if bar soap was available, in the shower is shower gel and shampoo/conditioner in 2 separate dispensers. Elite amenity did have a tube of conditioner, 2 qtips and a nail file.

Hi @montgomeryfamily, the current ED is Tim Donovan

Yes, minimum if not buying for voyage is 1 day, cost on board is $20. If you are platinum or above you get 50% discount so only $10.

Yes, @montgomeryfamilyCorrine is still on board for about 4 to 5 more weeks. Today we docked at RRA(railroad aft) the farthest but they have a shuttle. Holland America ship at RRF and both ships you can walk on dock so no tendering. @mvaldes140was that you that won the 2 Princess prizes? Congrats and assume your flight made it on time but I hear you were rushed to the port to get checked in at Vancouver.

Hi @_1nc0gn1t0_, I am pretty sure on your 3 day cruise day3 is port day in Ensenada so NO specialty restaurants will be open but Playmakers should be open to use UDP.

Hi @Senga, thank you for the update and happy to see all is good and promises kept.

Hi @lx200gps, thank you the updated screenshot. it HAS been updated since I last checked. The date says June 24, 2022, but I know the website was not when I last checked in early July as I was hoping the language would be updated to ‘days’ instead of the ‘48 hours’ as I could have had a little less stress of being able to have 3 days instead of ‘48 hours’. It appears Canada is reinstating ‘random testing’ effective July 19, on arrival, but you do not have to test immediately? Something about they are trying to track variants?

Did you book May of this year? Best Price Guarantee up till 48 hours before sailing ended as you needed to book by March 31, 2022 and Sail by September 2022, if I remember correctly. If you are still before final payment then Yes, you should be able to refare, make sure you are comparing same category and GTY or pick your own cabin fares.

I thought I saw, coming to Royal ships soon will be the introduction of Starbucks coffee at Cafe Promenade and you WILL be able to use your D, D+, or Pinnacle drink vouchers. Are you D or above level? If so, you would probably will want to enjoy the coffee machine in the DL instead of the free drip coffee at Cafe Promenade, otherwise for their specialty espresso based drinks, they have the professional machine for coffee drinks for a fee.

Hi @YORKI1, I am currently on the Grand and I boarded on Wednesday July 6 in Vancouver. If you look at the Princess website, you need to scroll down a little as they have specific differences if you are embarking in Canada. Yes, it does state 48 hours instead of 2 days. I took it as 48 hours from check in which for me was 10:30 am, not expected ship departure time. I did my antigen test at about 11am on Monday, July 4th. I do not think the person checking my test result really paid attention to the time, but YMMV, but know you do not have to wait till 4pm or after the Monday before you embark on Wednesday to test. I would say anytime after 10:30 am on the Monday would be fine as official check in started at 10:30, but I showed up at 10:10 and about 100 passengers had already checked in, so they started early, and they were not checking what boarding/check in group you had on your medallion app.

Hi @LACruiser88, I know you did not elect to take the replacement cruise for the canceled April SYD/LA sailing, but Princess has decided to reinstate this sailing and it is back on and was available for booking as of yesterday 4pm pacific time, in case you want to reconsider.

FYI, I was informed we will have on board the most traveled passenger with Princess who will be sailing for 4 weeks and will celebrate 3000 days with Princess. Of course, she will be #1, and I heard she is staying in a suite. For those that may not know, when you are #1, suite breakfast in the specialty restaurant is a perk extended to you being the #1 passenger on the voyage.

Hi @Senga, Kimberley just called me and said she just audited her records and confirmed she promised you a future cruise discount. She told me you should see it within 24 hours. Let me know if it does not show up.

I think I saw on the RCL website when you want to see the benefits of each level, there is a footnote regarding DP340 stating not available on summer sailings and holiday sailings

You still need to be aware of the ‘lower’ possible fares offered by a TA. On some of my recent bookings, a TA F&F fare was a subtle that was lower than the published RCL fares, but these TA F&F fares would NOT be combinable with shareholders, so it can depend on your individual situation and what other OBC you might want to be available to you.