LIVE from the STAR PRINCESS - March 9th-24th, RIO to FT LAUDERDALE

[stansthos]

Carolyn, glad you had a great time. Looking forward to your review. Pia, I am so glad you are doing this, so I can see what I have been missing. Jennifer

[Toto2Kansas]

Say hi to Murray and Ro from John and me too!

 

We made it back this afternoon from Rio with only minor problems --- some scary turbulence on both the GIG-DFW and DFW-RDU legs.

 

There was something unusual (to me) that happened on the last night of the Santiago to Rio cruise. After we returned from dinner, there was a letter in my cabin mailbox saying that I had a credit balance on my onboard account and that I needed to go to the Passenger Services desk to withdraw that amount. In the past, a credit on one person's onboard account (e.g., mine) was applied to the balance in the other person's account (e.g., John's), if they were both being settled to the same credit card. Not anymore. :confused:

 

I went down and stood in the Elite/Suites line behind some people who seemed to be going over every item on their statement and a poor lady whose cruise card no longer worked to open her cabin door. When I finally got to the desk, I was told I could *NOT* withdraw the credit for cash *AND* I could not apply the credit to John's balance. However, I *COULD* have charges moved from John's account to my account, which I asked them to do. I was told the reason for this was that Princess has a new accounting system. From now on, I will have to charge some of the wine to my account to make sure I use up all my onboard credits instead of letting John put the wine on his account all of the time! :)

 

To compound the aggravation, when I went back to the cabin and checked the revised statement against my spreadsheet, I discovered that we had been charged twice for the same bottle of wine, once at dinner on March 6 (when we actually drank it) and again at lunch on March 9 (last day of cruise). Naturally, this was the most expensive bottle we had ordered during the entire cruise. So I had to go back to the Elite/Suites line (which was now much longer). I was told that the problem could not be resolved until the charge slips from the dining room were turned in after 11 PM, at which point I might or might not have to come back down to the Passenger Services desk to look at the slip. They said they would call me once they had the slips. :(

 

Naturally, I loved the idea of staying up late when we wanted to get a good night's sleep before our all-day tour of Rio and the late-night flight home. Passenger Services called me a little after 10 PM to say the charge for the second bottle had been voided. :)

 

Anyway, the morals of this tale are (1) make sure that each of you uses up all the onboard credits in your own onboard account and (2) get a printout from passenger services so that you can double check the charges and make sure that all of them are valid.

 

Despite this last-minute aggravation, this was another fantastic cruise with possibly the best stateroom/dining service we have had in 29 Princess cruises. We were happy to see some new dishes on the dining room menus and a new wine at the "Grapevine" wine tasting. We also enjoyed excellent private tours, thanks to recommendations from other Cruise Critic members. I will be submitting a review in the next week or so and posting the link on the roll call and on Pia's "live from" for the Santiago-Rio leg of the cruise.

 

I hope all of you have a great time on the Rio-FLL leg and no problems with your onboard accounts!

 

Carolyn

Carolyn, We ran into this same problem on the Royal last week. We normally just use my card, and I sign for everything (he always forgets his glasses). I went down and got print outs during the voyage and the final night onboard, and they showed my debits subtracted from his credits. But the last morning onboard, they had charged my credit card hundreds, while his hundreds of dollars in credits just went poof, as they didn't combine the accounts. And I had shopped for jewelry that final night, just to eat up his remaining credits (but since I signed for them on my account, I was charged for the purchase). He actually had more credits left than I had charges. I fought for an hour at the desk before they finally issued me credit slips for the difference. I would have understood this if it wouldn't have shown the accounts combined during the voyage, but what a surprise that final morning. :eek:

What bothered me the most is that we both own our stock, but the stocks credis are always issued to him (since the stock credit is only issued to one of us).

Still waiting for those credit card refund slips to be applied to my credit card, but if they are not, I will fight this one. Mainly as I enquired at the desk during the cruise just to make sure they hadn't changed these rules, and I was told they had not, plus they did issue me credit card refund slips for the difference. I feel a war with princess may just happen in the next couple of weeks if these credit receipts I have in my possession are not applied to the credit card. :( At least now I know it wasn't just me............what a way to end a cruise that final morning, with a war at the purser's desk.

[caribill]

Still waiting for those credit card refund slips to be applied to my credit card, but if they are not, I will fight this one. Mainly as I enquired at the desk during the cruise just to make sure they hadn't changed these rules, and I was told they had not, plus they did issue me credit card refund slips for the difference. I feel a war with princess may just happen in the next couple of weeks if these credit receipts I have in my possession are not applied to the credit card.

 

You may have a wait for this to occur. My experience has been it can take up to two months before you will see the refunds when you check your credit card card account online at home.

 

It seems that refunds are processed manually at Princess HQ sooner or later even though if you owe Princess money it will likely be posted before you reach home on disembarkation day.

[Pia1913]

Friday at sea. Rocking a bit, but no rain. Hot and humid as anticipated with 7:00 AM temp at 79.4.

　

The Patter is loaded with activities today; it’s either feast or famine. At 9:00 is a Captain Circle presentation, followed by Joe May’s port talks at 9:30. Also at 9:00 is the first of probably two or three “up to 75% OFF” junk sales in Capri diningroom. They’re certainly in a hurry to get things moving on this leg. At 10:00 we have our CC Meet and Greet in Skywalker’s and 10:30 has an art history lecture in Explorer’s. I imagine this is a preface to the first art auction at 2:00, though I’ll never know for sure.

　

　

Afternoon offerings are the movie “Easy A” at 1:00 and John Maxtone-Graham’s first lecture “The Only Way to Cross” at 3:30. Our CC group was planning to do a “slot pull” at 3:00, but we may have to postpone it. Depends on what the group decides at the meeting. It’s hard to get a time that everyone agrees to and tonight is formal night so we need to finish our activities a little earlier than usual. Don’t know the numbers yet for most traveled or lunch cutoff. Will let you know when I know.

　

　

Tonight in the theater is Destination Anywhere, in Vista a “mind blowing” magician (yeh, sure) and late in Vista the movie Solitary Man. MUTS is showing Knight and Day and Explorer’s is still doing Brazilian ballroom dancing, followed by Blankety Blank Gameshow at 9:30 and Heat #1 of Princess Pop Star at 10:30.

 

Hi Toto: Been wondering why you haven't popped in. :)

 

Re: final balances. I try to plus in each account, even with a $2 balance. I also don't want them to carry over. Start each leg anew.

 

 

Breakfast time.

[cboyle]

Carolyn, We ran into this same problem on the Royal last week. We normally just use my card, and I sign for everything (he always forgets his glasses). I went down and got print outs during the voyage and the final night onboard, and they showed my debits subtracted from his credits. But the last morning onboard, they had charged my credit card hundreds, while his hundreds of dollars in credits just went poof, as they didn't combine the accounts. And I had shopped for jewelry that final night, just to eat up his remaining credits (but since I signed for them on my account, I was charged for the purchase). He actually had more credits left than I had charges. I fought for an hour at the desk before they finally issued me credit slips for the difference. I would have understood this if it wouldn't have shown the accounts combined during the voyage, but what a surprise that final morning. :eek:

What bothered me the most is that we both own our stock, but the stocks credis are always issued to him (since the stock credit is only issued to one of us).

Still waiting for those credit card refund slips to be applied to my credit card, but if they are not, I will fight this one. Mainly as I enquired at the desk during the cruise just to make sure they hadn't changed these rules, and I was told they had not, plus they did issue me credit card refund slips for the difference. I feel a war with princess may just happen in the next couple of weeks if these credit receipts I have in my possession are not applied to the credit card. :( At least now I know it wasn't just me............what a way to end a cruise that final morning, with a war at the purser's desk.

I'm sorry to hear that someone else had this same problem. It sounds like your husband was not given a letter that last night about his credits.

 

I had gotten two printouts of our account during the cruise and both of them showed my credits being subtracted from John's debits. Because of that, I was really confused when I got that letter the last night. I almost blew it off because the previous printouts showed the correct amount to charge to my credit card. I'm glad I didn't ignore the letter or I would also have had to fight with Passenger Services on disembarkation morning to get refund slips.

 

John and I also jointly own Carnival stock and the shareholder benefit credit always shows up on his account. The small gift from Captain's Circle ($25) also shows up on his. The credit I buy with points from our Princess credit card always shows up on mine. We each get our own Future Cruise credit and any credit from our travel agent is split 50-50.

 

Our Christmas present to ourselves was a little (fits easily in the onboard safe) netbook computer. John put a freeware spreadsheet on it (Gnumeric) so I could keep my cruise expenses up to date. I only put the items that are not canceled out (i.e., I omit laundry and internet charges/credits) and only have one entry for all our combined daily auto tips. That made it easy to spot the overcharge for the wine when my balance didn't agree with Princess'. The netbook is also great for downloading our e-mail so we can answer and compose e-mail offline; it is sent automatically the next time we go online. I also kept a journal on it, which should make my review faster to complete this time. :)

 

Carolyn

[cboyle]

Toto2Kansas, I started a thread at

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1376428

 

and put links to your and my posts on the new policy about combining debits/credits from stateroom accounts.

 

Has anyone else had this problem? If so, please post your experience to the above thread and help warn others.

 

Carolyn

[Maryandi]

What could be the solution, in the short term ? If I have credits and John does - use up mine (or his) and then just use 1 persons card after that ?

 

This is a real snafu in their system.

 

Thanks for bringing it up ! M.A.

[Woobstr112G]

Friday at sea. Rocking a bit, but no rain. Hot and humid as anticipated with 7:00 AM temp at 79.4.

　

The Patter is loaded with activities today; it’s either feast or famine. At 9:00 is a Captain Circle presentation, followed by Joe May’s port talks at 9:30. Also at 9:00 is the first of probably two or three “up to 75% OFF” junk sales in Capri diningroom. They’re certainly in a hurry to get things moving on this leg. At 10:00 we have our CC Meet and Greet in Skywalker’s and 10:30 has an art history lecture in Explorer’s. I imagine this is a preface to the first art auction at 2:00, though I’ll never know for sure.

　

　

Afternoon offerings are the movie “Easy A” at 1:00 and John Maxtone-Graham’s first lecture “The Only Way to Cross” at 3:30. Our CC group was planning to do a “slot pull” at 3:00, but we may have to postpone it. Depends on what the group decides at the meeting. It’s hard to get a time that everyone agrees to and tonight is formal night so we need to finish our activities a little earlier than usual. Don’t know the numbers yet for most traveled or lunch cutoff. Will let you know when I know.

　

　

Tonight in the theater is Destination Anywhere, in Vista a “mind blowing” magician (yeh, sure) and late in Vista the movie Solitary Man. MUTS is showing Knight and Day and Explorer’s is still doing Brazilian ballroom dancing, followed by Blankety Blank Gameshow at 9:30 and Heat #1 of Princess Pop Star at 10:30.

 

Hi Toto: Been wondering why you haven't popped in. :)

 

Re: final balances. I try to plus in each account, even with a $2 balance. I also don't want them to carry over. Start each leg anew.

 

 

Breakfast time.

 

Pia;

 

Sounds like an enjoyable time. Have a great day onboard.....:):):)

 

Bob

[Toto2Kansas]

Toto2Kansas, I started a thread at

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1376428

 

and put links to your and my posts on the new policy about combining debits/credits from stateroom accounts.

 

Has anyone else had this problem? If so, please post your experience to the above thread and help warn others.

 

Carolyn

Carolyn, great idea, as I am sure there will be more that find the new system very frustrating. No, we did not receive a letter that final night, or we could have gotten this all straightened out then instead of taking over an hour the final morning. The way some of these credits are applied, that are in both names, such as the return credit from the Captain's Circle, stock credit etc, this new system just does not work. With both entitled to the credit, giving it to only one and not combining accounts at the end is going to cause major problems IMHO.

After thinking it was all straightend out that final morning, as we were disembarking the ship in Papeete to head to the airport, my hubbys cruise card dinged in the machine telling us to go to the purser's desk (again). We told them we were not going, it was all straightened out that morning (or so we thought). Now I am wondering if they are going to apply the credits at all. But I kept everything to prove we were correct, from the read outs during the voyage, to the credit slips. I guess it's going to take a while to find how this plays out in the end. The entire thing is totally ridiculous because they did not alert the passengers on the Royal to the change (in fact, the pursers staff onboard didn't know which way was up for most of the cruise with this new software they are using), or we could have taken care of that ourselves onboard by using his card more, instead of mine. :eek:

[amistad]

Pia, I have enjoyed your 1st thread and I am enjoying this one as well. I am going to be on the April 3rd sailing on the Star and opted for Anytime MDR, do they seem to be having long waits for this, we are a family of 5 traveling and just curious as to what you have witnessed. I am also wondering if we will look out of place on the formal nights, we are planning on going to the Crown Grill for one and dressing smart casual, the rest of the night will we stick out like a sore thumb? Thank you for doing your live thread.

[Pia1913]

Trivia; yuk! Our team; yuk! Back to our regular shenanigans. We lost Carolyn and John and gained Ro and Murray. Yesterday lost by one; this morning lost by one. Sounds familiar, huh? Did we really need those prizes? Decks of cards. Definitely not!

 

　

Very small turnout at our Cruise Critic meeting. No officers; no staff. Not even one. I don’t know if they were invited; wasn’t my responsibility, so no info available. We also had no real response to the slot pull, so that was removed from the so-called agenda. Some roll calls are just better than others and this was not one of the better ones.

　

Very lazy afternoon for us. Hung out on our balcony, drinking wine and nibbling on popcorn. The skies remained overcast, the weather probably in the 80’s, but no rain and the seas became calm. A quick visit to the casino netted me a win of 15 cents. I know……….big spender. Hey, I was at this machine for ½ hour with an initial investment of $10 and then walked away with a profit. Lots of entertainment for no money.

　

New news re: most travelled. Actually, old news. We are number 4, as usual. Luncheon will be on the 14th and cutoff is 320 days. Sometimes they do the luncheon, wine tasting and CC party all on the same day. Fortunately, this cruise all different days.

 

Amistad: you will be fine in Crown in casual clothes. Tonight is formal night and we're not dressed either. Capri diningroom seems less crowded than Portofino

 

 

Time to think about dinner. See you in the AM.

[Pia1913]

Trivia; yuk! Our team; yuk! Back to our regular shenanigans. We lost Carolyn and John and gained Ro and Murray. Yesterday lost by one; this morning lost by one. Sounds familiar, huh? Did we really need those prizes? Decks of cards. Definitely not!

　

Very small turnout at our Cruise Critic meeting. No officers; no staff. Not even one. I don’t know if they were invited; wasn’t my responsibility, so no info available. We also had no real response to the slot pull, so that was removed from the so-called agenda. Some roll calls are just better than others and this was not one of the better ones.

　

Very lazy afternoon for us. Hung out on our balcony, drinking wine and nibbling on popcorn. The skies remained overcast, the weather probably in the 80’s, but no rain and the seas became calm. A quick visit to the casino netted me a win of 15 cents. I know……….big spender. Hey, I was at this machine for ½ hour with an initial investment of $10 and then walked away with a profit. Lots of entertainment for no money.

　

New news re: most travelled. Actually, old news. We are number 4, as usual. Luncheon will be on the 14th and cutoff is 320 days. Sometimes they do the luncheon, wine tasting and CC party all on the same day. Fortunately, this cruise all different days.

 

Amistad: you will be fine in Crown in casual clothes. Tonight is formal night and we're not dressed either. Capri diningroom seems less crowded than Portofino

 

 

Time to think about dinner. See you in the AM.

[brownblonde]

Say hi to Murray and Ro from John and me too!

 

We made it back this afternoon from Rio with only minor problems --- some scary turbulence on both the GIG-DFW and DFW-RDU legs.

 

There was something unusual (to me) that happened on the last night of the Santiago to Rio cruise. After we returned from dinner, there was a letter in my cabin mailbox saying that I had a credit balance on my onboard account and that I needed to go to the Passenger Services desk to withdraw that amount. In the past, a credit on one person's onboard account (e.g., mine) was applied to the balance in the other person's account (e.g., John's), if they were both being settled to the same credit card. Not anymore. :confused:

 

I went down and stood in the Elite/Suites line behind some people who seemed to be going over every item on their statement and a poor lady whose cruise card no longer worked to open her cabin door. When I finally got to the desk, I was told I could *NOT* withdraw the credit for cash *AND* I could not apply the credit to John's balance. However, I *COULD* have charges moved from John's account to my account, which I asked them to do. I was told the reason for this was that Princess has a new accounting system. From now on, I will have to charge some of the wine to my account to make sure I use up all my onboard credits instead of letting John put the wine on his account all of the time! :)

 

To compound the aggravation, when I went back to the cabin and checked the revised statement against my spreadsheet, I discovered that we had been charged twice for the same bottle of wine, once at dinner on March 6 (when we actually drank it) and again at lunch on March 9 (last day of cruise). Naturally, this was the most expensive bottle we had ordered during the entire cruise. So I had to go back to the Elite/Suites line (which was now much longer). I was told that the problem could not be resolved until the charge slips from the dining room were turned in after 11 PM, at which point I might or might not have to come back down to the Passenger Services desk to look at the slip. They said they would call me once they had the slips. :(

 

Naturally, I loved the idea of staying up late when we wanted to get a good night's sleep before our all-day tour of Rio and the late-night flight home. Passenger Services called me a little after 10 PM to say the charge for the second bottle had been voided. :)

 

Anyway, the morals of this tale are (1) make sure that each of you uses up all the onboard credits in your own onboard account and (2) get a printout from passenger services so that you can double check the charges and make sure that all of them are valid.

 

Despite this last-minute aggravation, this was another fantastic cruise with possibly the best stateroom/dining service we have had in 29 Princess cruises. We were happy to see some new dishes on the dining room menus and a new wine at the "Grapevine" wine tasting. We also enjoyed excellent private tours, thanks to recommendations from other Cruise Critic members. I will be submitting a review in the next week or so and posting the link on the roll call and on Pia's "live from" for the Santiago-Rio leg of the cruise.

 

I hope all of you have a great time on the Rio-FLL leg and no problems with your onboard accounts!

 

Carolyn

Do i understand correctly, that you had registered 2 different credit cards??

 

If on our July Princess cruise we register one credit card anything I or my husband signs for won't come off of our total credit that each one has received from Princess.

 

Thanks for a reply

[C-LAD]

Say hi to Murray and Ro from John and me too!

 

We made it back this afternoon from Rio with only minor problems --- some scary turbulence on both the GIG-DFW and DFW-RDU legs.

 

There was something unusual (to me) that happened on the last night of the Santiago to Rio cruise. After we returned from dinner, there was a letter in my cabin mailbox saying that I had a credit balance on my onboard account and that I needed to go to the Passenger Services desk to withdraw that amount. In the past, a credit on one person's onboard account (e.g., mine) was applied to the balance in the other person's account (e.g., John's), if they were both being settled to the same credit card. Not anymore. :confused:

 

I went down and stood in the Elite/Suites line behind some people who seemed to be going over every item on their statement and a poor lady whose cruise card no longer worked to open her cabin door. When I finally got to the desk, I was told I could *NOT* withdraw the credit for cash *AND* I could not apply the credit to John's balance. However, I *COULD* have charges moved from John's account to my account, which I asked them to do. I was told the reason for this was that Princess has a new accounting system. From now on, I will have to charge some of the wine to my account to make sure I use up all my onboard credits instead of letting John put the wine on his account all of the time! :)

 

To compound the aggravation, when I went back to the cabin and checked the revised statement against my spreadsheet, I discovered that we had been charged twice for the same bottle of wine, once at dinner on March 6 (when we actually drank it) and again at lunch on March 9 (last day of cruise). Naturally, this was the most expensive bottle we had ordered during the entire cruise. So I had to go back to the Elite/Suites line (which was now much longer). I was told that the problem could not be resolved until the charge slips from the dining room were turned in after 11 PM, at which point I might or might not have to come back down to the Passenger Services desk to look at the slip. They said they would call me once they had the slips. :(

 

Naturally, I loved the idea of staying up late when we wanted to get a good night's sleep before our all-day tour of Rio and the late-night flight home. Passenger Services called me a little after 10 PM to say the charge for the second bottle had been voided. :)

 

Anyway, the morals of this tale are (1) make sure that each of you uses up all the onboard credits in your own onboard account and (2) get a printout from passenger services so that you can double check the charges and make sure that all of them are valid.

 

Despite this last-minute aggravation, this was another fantastic cruise with possibly the best stateroom/dining service we have had in 29 Princess cruises. We were happy to see some new dishes on the dining room menus and a new wine at the "Grapevine" wine tasting. We also enjoyed excellent private tours, thanks to recommendations from other Cruise Critic members. I will be submitting a review in the next week or so and posting the link on the roll call and on Pia's "live from" for the Santiago-Rio leg of the cruise.

 

I hope all of you have a great time on the Rio-FLL leg and no problems with your onboard accounts!

 

Carolyn

 

I have a question regarding onboard charge statements -- In the past we receive a final statement in our stateroom mailbox on disembarkation morning. On our last cruise, no statement and we assumed they missed our cabin. Now I understand they have discontinued this practice. Is that one reason for the long lines at the Passenger Services desk the day before? Is this practice fllet-wide or only on certain ships?

[mema4]

Hi Pia,

I have following along everyday. I can't wait to hear each day's adventure.

alice

[mema4]

Hi Pia,

I love your descriptions of all the events. I am following along with you.

alice

[socaljo]

I have a question regarding onboard charge statements -- In the past we receive a final statement in our stateroom mailbox on disembarkation morning. On our last cruise, no statement and we assumed they missed our cabin. Now I understand they have discontinued this practice. Is that one reason for the long lines at the Passenger Services desk the day before? Is this practice fllet-wide or only on certain ships?

 

We received a printout on our final morning last month on the Golden. And it was accurate! :D

[shipmatesforlife]

　

Very small turnout at our Cruise Critic meeting. No officers; no staff. Not even one. I don’t know if they were invited; wasn’t my responsibility, so no info available. We also had no real response to the slot pull, so that was removed from the so-called agenda. Some roll calls are just better than others and this was not one of the better ones.

　

New news re: most travelled. Actually, old news. We are number 4, as usual. Luncheon will be on the 14th and cutoff is 320 days. Sometimes they do the luncheon, wine tasting and CC party all on the same day. Fortunately, this cruise all different days.

 

 

Hi,

I was reading your interesting posts. It's always nice to hear what other people encounter on their cruises. I have a question. We are sailing on the Star on 4/13/11 and I am trying to contact someone on the Star to set up a Meet and Greet. Do you know or would you be able to find out who I could contact and their e-mail address? Princess knew nothing and I wasn't getting any where on the CC board either. So I am turning to a fellow "Star Princess" cruiser for help.

 

Thanks a lot. I'm sorry to hear you didn't have a lot of participation at your CC events. I was hoping to do a cabin crawl.

 

I'll look forward to your response. Thanks again and ENJOY!!!!

[Phyljim]

Hi,

I was reading your interesting posts. It's always nice to hear what other people encounter on their cruises. I have a question. We are sailing on the Star on 4/13/11 and I am trying to contact someone on the Star to set up a Meet and Greet. Do you know or would you be able to find out who I could contact and their e-mail address? Princess knew nothing and I wasn't getting any where on the CC board either. So I am turning to a fellow "Star Princess" cruiser for help.

 

Thanks a lot. I'm sorry to hear you didn't have a lot of participation at your CC events. I was hoping to do a cabin crawl.

 

I'll look forward to your response. Thanks again and ENJOY!!!!

 

Not currently on the Star, but was recently. Surprised you did not get an answer on the CC board, but who you need to contact is:

Berda Davis

Star, Grand

(661) 284-4451

bdavis@princesscruises.com

Enjoy your cruise.

And I will continue enjoying Pia's cruise, and looking forward to reboarding the Star 8 Dec.

[rdsqrl]

Pia, as always, I'm enjoying your Live From immensely. Thanks for sharing your cruise with us once again.

How did you get popcorn as a snack in the middle of the afternoon? Did you forgo the coffeemaker this trip in favour of a microwave oven? Seriously, I love popcorn and if it's available during the day, I need to know that!

[Pia1913]

Good Saturday morning and welcome to Salvador. Weather remains hot and humid; today’s forecast is that temps may reach more 90 with accompanying humidity. At 7:00 AM temp is already 84 with humidity of 87 and a blazing sun. HOT HOT HOT!!!! The port is a first for us and Princess has not offered any tours. I printed an information sheet before I left home, so we’ll get off and wing it and find out what there is or is not.

　

Nothing happening on board today except an afternoon movie “Going the Distance.” Tonight in the theater is a pianist; Stephen Kane, followed by the movie “Dinner for Schmucks.” In Vista is the magician from last night and MUTS is showing West Side Story.

　

We almost watched a MUTS movie last night, but it started to pour around 8:00 and that was that. So, against better judgment we decided to look into the theater and catch Destination Anywhere. Won’t do that again. They have changes a few things, but for the worse.

 

RDS: took a few bags of popcorn back to cabin the night before :)

　

Check with you later.

[shipmatesforlife]

Not currently on the Star, but was recently. Surprised you did not get an answer on the CC board, but who you need to contact is:

Berda Davis

Star, Grand

(661) 284-4451

bdavis@princesscruises.com

 

Enjoy your cruise.

And I will continue enjoying Pia's cruise, and looking forward to reboarding the Star 8 Dec.

Thank you for the information. Keep on enjoying!! We can't wait to get into the "sun" country.

[cboyle]

What could be the solution, in the short term ? If I have credits and John does - use up mine (or his) and then just use 1 persons card after that ?

 

This is a real snafu in their system.

 

Thanks for bringing it up ! M.A.

 

That would be a good way to do it!

 

Carolyn

[cboyle]

Originally Posted by cboyle

There was something unusual (to me) that happened on the last night of the Santiago to Rio cruise. After we returned from dinner, there was a letter in my cabin mailbox saying that I had a credit balance on my onboard account and that I needed to go to the Passenger Services desk to withdraw that amount. In the past, a credit on one person's onboard account (e.g., mine) was applied to the balance in the other person's account (e.g., John's), if they were both being settled to the same credit card. Not anymore. :confused:

 

I went down and stood in the Elite/Suites line behind some people who seemed to be going over every item on their statement and a poor lady whose cruise card no longer worked to open her cabin door. When I finally got to the desk, I was told I could *NOT* withdraw the credit for cash *AND* I could not apply the credit to John's balance. However, I *COULD* have charges moved from John's account to my account, which I asked them to do. I was told the reason for this was that Princess has a new accounting system. From now on, I will have to charge some of the wine to my account to make sure I use up all my onboard credits instead of letting John put the wine on his account all of the time! :)

To clarify, there were two people in C502: John and Carolyn. Both John and Carolyn had OBC in their shipboard accounts. Both of those shipboard accounts were registered to the SAME credit card.

 

John charged enough on his Cruise Card to use up all of his OBC and ended the cruise with a debit (balance owed to Princess). Carolyn did not use her Cruise Card enough to use up all of her OBC and ended the cruise with a credit.

 

IN THE PAST (apparently before March 2011, from posts I am seeing) Carolyn's credit would have been used to offset part of John's debit before the final balance was charged to the registered credit card.

 

HOWEVER, it does not work that way anymore because of Princess' new accounting system. If Carolyn had not gone to the PSD and had charges on John's shipboard account moved to her shipboard account, John's ENTIRE balance due would have been charged to the registered credit card and Carolyn's credit would have been LOST.

 

Do i understand correctly, that you had registered 2 different credit cards??

 

If on our July Princess cruise we register one credit card anything I or my husband signs for won't come off of our total credit that each one has received from Princess.

 

Thanks for a reply

No, I had only registered ONE credit card; both my and John's accounts were to be settled to the same card.

 

The new policy is that the items you charge on YOUR Cruise Card will be charged to the credit card SEPARATELY from the items your husband charges on HIS Cruise Card. They are NOT combined before being charged to the registered credit card.

 

If your onboard account shows a credit at the end of the cruise and your husband's shows a debit, your credit WILL NOT be used to offset his debit. His FULL debit will be charged to the registered credit card and your credit will be lost.

 

You EACH need to use your respective Cruise Cards often enough to use up your INDIVIDUAL OBC.

 

You could also ask the PSD to move charges form one account to the other to use up the credits, but that seems harder to me than just using both Cruise Cards.

 

I have a question regarding onboard charge statements -- In the past we receive a final statement in our stateroom mailbox on disembarkation morning. On our last cruise, no statement and we assumed they missed our cabin. Now I understand they have discontinued this practice. Is that one reason for the long lines at the Passenger Services desk the day before? Is this practice fllet-wide or only on certain ships?

We did get a final statement in our cabin the last morning.

 

The lines at the PSD are always long on the last day for many reasons - people who want to pay in cash, problems with incorrect charges, etc. This new policy of not combining statement balances before charging to the the registered credit card will only add to the lines.

 

We received a printout on our final morning last month on the Golden. And it was accurate! :D

 

Lucky you!

 

Carolyn

[1 HappyCruiser]

Two questions come to mind

• If the couple selects to pay off their tab using cash what would happen to any extra credit in the account? I assume they now wouldn't refund any of it.
  

 

• If paying by a single credit card, how does Princess now charge the the CC account if both people have a debit. Would it be two separate charges or do they now combine the as in the past & submit it as one charge?