New to Princess

[andyandsue]

These are very good tips, thank you! We are also first timers to Princess.

 

Can someone tell me how the priority tender tickets work? Will the tickets be waiting in our room since we booked an excursion (a cabana on Princess Cays) or do we have to track the tickets down?

 

We are buying the soda and more card... our teens will drink their weight in mocktails and soda on a cruise-just because they can and I suppose it's fun. :D

 

Does Princess offer a "drink of the day" special? I've never heard of a cruise that doesn't but worth asking. My DH and I aren't big alcohol drinkers, but we will bring a bottle of our favorite wine for the cabin and enjoy a cocktail or two in the evening. The drink of the day is usually fun.

[stevea20]

Can someone tell me how the priority tender tickets work? Will the tickets be waiting in our room since we booked an excursion (a cabana on Princess Cays) or do we have to track the tickets down?

 

No, tickets for the tender will not be in your room, excursion or not. In your Patter will be an announcement where to go for tender tickets the morning you arrive at Princess Cays, usually in one of the DR's. When your entire party is ready to go ashore, go to the indicated place and pick up your numbered ticket. Then just wait for your number to be called and follow the directions to the tender. Remember, Elite members have priority over all else.

 

The earlier you get there, the shorter the wait should be.

Edited March 28, 2015 by stevea20

[Cruisin' Chick]

These are very good tips, thank you! We are also first timers to Princess.

 

Can someone tell me how the priority tender tickets work? Will the tickets be waiting in our room since we booked an excursion (a cabana on Princess Cays) or do we have to track the tickets down?

 

We are buying the soda and more card... our teens will drink their weight in mocktails and soda on a cruise-just because they can and I suppose it's fun. :D

 

Does Princess offer a "drink of the day" special? I've never heard of a cruise that doesn't but worth asking. My DH and I aren't big alcohol drinkers, but we will bring a bottle of our favorite wine for the cabin and enjoy a cocktail or two in the evening. The drink of the day is usually fun.

 

Your tickets for your booked excursions should be in your cabin when you first board. If not, ask your cabin steward. If your excursion is for a tender port, your ticket for your excursion also serves as your tender ticket -- but you need to be at the place listed (maybe Princess Theater) at the time listed on the ticket with everyone in your party. You'll be escorted to the gangway to board your tender.

[rdsqrl]

. . . Does Princess offer a "drink of the day" special? I've never heard of a cruise that doesn't but worth asking. My DH and I aren't big alcohol drinkers, but we will bring a bottle of our favorite wine for the cabin and enjoy a cocktail or two in the evening. The drink of the day is usually fun.

While Princess does indeed offer a "drink of the day," unfortunately they stopped discounting the DoD some years back. Still fun to see what they're featuring, though -- I've discovered a few drinks I never would have considered just by how good the description sounded! One nice thing: just recently, they've begun having two "happy hours" during the day on most of the ships, where it's a 2-for-1 deal on anything, including wine bottles. These seem to take place between 3-4pm and then one later in the evening, like 10-11 or 11-12.

 

I think you'll find even the non-discounted Princess drink prices to be pretty reasonable -- certainly their martinis are 50% less than I pay here on land.

[caribill]

Can someone tell me how the priority tender tickets work? Will the tickets be waiting in our room since we booked an excursion (a cabana on Princess Cays) or do we have to track the tickets down?

 

 

No, tickets for the tender will not be in your room, excursion or not. In your Patter will be an announcement where to go for tender tickets the morning you arrive at Princess Cays, usually in one of the DR's. When your entire party is ready to go ashore, go to the indicated place and pick up your numbered ticket. Then just wait for your number to be called and follow the directions to the tender. Remember, Elite members have priority over all else.

 

The earlier you get there, the shorter the wait should be.

 

andyandsue have booked a cabana on Princess Cays and that does come with priority tendering (to shore only, must wait with everyone else for the return to ship) that does not require going to a designated area on the ship to get a numbered tender pass.

 

The priority tickets (or whatever they are called) should be in your cabin. If they are not, ask at the shore excursion desk.

 

On the day for Princess Cays, just go to the deck (there will be signs) where the tenders are being loaded and get on the end of the line that is there.

Edited March 28, 2015 by caribill

[silverbird]

Now that you have all this wonderful information, I would like to request that you do a "live from" or a follow-up report on your experiences on-board your first Princess cruise. Was the information helpful? Where did you eat? Did you like the food? I love to read about the reaction of first-time Princess cruisers.

 

Thanks in advance. SilverBird

[andyandsue]

Thank you for all the info! Didn't mean to hijack the thread from the OP...

 

A few drinks a day is all we'll be buying so 2/1 is a great deal and I'm a martini lover too, so that's not to hard to swallow (pun intended!)

 

Thank you clearing up the tender ticket issue, as I was reading the replies I realized there was some conflicting info. We did reserve a cabana to serve as home base while we are on Princess Cays. Our children are older so they can come and go as they please and we'll have a spot to put our stuff (we have our own snorkeling gear, etc) and to eat for the day.

 

I will do a follow up review, I always post a review after our cruises. children's facility reviews are harder to come by on ship like this so I can at least review the teen center. I do hope there are some teens on this trip other than my kids! The roll call is looking very adult because the trip immediately following is I think 16 day, transatlantic full of adults.

[jasbo49]

A few stray thoughts:

 

For me, the coffee card is one of the best things about Princess. I don't know of any other cruise line that has one (though there certainly could be one). I find most cruise line coffee (MDR, buffet, whatever) to be little more than hot, dark caffeine -- no real coffee flavor. With the card you can get the espresso drinks and some actual brewed coffee.

 

You might want to play if by ear as far as where you eat breakfast. We usually mix it up a bit, because the MDR can take well over an hour if you end up at a big table with lots of people ordering lots of things. We had an MDR breakfast take two hours on our most recent Golden cruise, so on a day when we want to hit the shore for exploration, the buffet makes more sense. That or a quick grab from the IC.

 

While Princess has some plusses, you might miss a few things. You won't get towel animals, you won't find real hand towels in the public rest rooms, and you won't get an ice cream counter with 6 or 8 choices of real ice cream like you do on X.

 

Jim

[caribill]

children's facility reviews are harder to come by on ship like this so I can at least review the teen center. I do hope there are some teens on this trip other than my kids!

 

On Princess at least, the teems will go the first evening and make new friends. For the rest of the cruise they will often spend most of their time with their new friends around the ship on activities they enjoy and end up spending very little time in the teen center itself.

[caribill]

 

You might want to play if by ear as far as where you eat breakfast. We usually mix it up a bit, because the MDR can take well over an hour if you end up at a big table with lots of people ordering lots of things. We had an MDR breakfast take two hours on our most recent Golden cruise, so on a day when we want to hit the shore for exploration, the buffet makes more sense. That or a quick grab from the IC.

 

 

When we need to get through breakfast in the dining room in a reasonable amount of time we ask our waiter to bring our food as we are ready for it, not when others at the table are all ready for their next course.

[andyandsue]

Interesting tips and suggestions.

 

The whole towel animal thing to me means they are not catering to younger children. Not an issue for us, our teenagers don't care about towel animals anymore but I admit on our first cruise with them 5 years ago the towel animals were a hit, but they were still much younger, especially our DD. I am hoping the teen club is a hit with them being that I am under the impression (no towel animal, no water slides, etc) that Princess is catering to an adult crowd. Now on the flip side, that could work in all our favors (teen section has it's own hot tub!) because if Princess IS catering to an adult crowd, on the new ships they may make the kids and teen areas really great so as to actually have the kids want to be in the kids areas... LOL

 

Is coffee in general free or is there a charge for just a regular cup of coffee?

 

As a general rule we always eat breakfast in the buffet every morning. It allows us to get up and go casually and we love to eat on an open deck if available and then walk around, no long breakfasts for us!

[andyandsue]

On Princess at least, the teems will go the first evening and make new friends. For the rest of the cruise they will often spend most of their time with their new friends around the ship on activities they enjoy and end up spending very little time in the teen center itself.

 

That's how it was on our other cruises as well. Even in the 'tween category at the time, they find friends and go off to activities. But now that both my kids are teens so they can hang out together in the same age group, and they have their own hot tub... that's a first.

 

NCL Teen/'tween centers were good, but the water slides and other options were better so the center was hardly used. NCL grouped the 12 year olds with the 9 year olds and my DS wanted no part of that and our DD was 2 months away from being 9 but had to play with the 5-8 year olds and wanted no part of it either. HAL teen and 'tween center was horrible, as soon as I saw it I knew nobody was spending time in there. I am hopeful this time with them together and a hot tub, foosball and air hockey they might like it more.

[shredie]

The teen hot tub is fun to watch, all the posing and preening going on. :) It always make me sooooooo happy I'm not a goofy teenager any more. ;)

[andyandsue]

The teen hot tub is fun to watch, all the posing and preening going on. :) It always make me sooooooo happy I'm not a goofy teenager any more. ;)

 

You couldn't pay me to be a teenager again... unless I had the looks I had back then, but with my brain now! :D

[bigchid]

I'm another one who likes the made to order omelette at the HC. Normally very little wait other than for it to cook. Had one every morning on our recent Panama cruise. Sometimes they also offer steaks to order at that station.

Coffee in HC is free, but not brewed, I can handle it. :)

Edited April 1, 2015 by bigchid

[timetravler]

Here is a tip for the summer solstice. It gets rather cold in Norway. We did this cruise last mid June. I wore a jacket and scarf every day especially when you get above the Arctic circle. Perhaps you won't be as cold as we were because we live in California. But never the less, be prepared for cold and of course rain. That cruise was the most scenic cruise I have ever taken. Enjoy

[andyandsue]

I'm another one who likes the made to order omelette at the HC. Normally very little wait other than for it to cook. Had one every morning on our recent Panama cruise. Sometimes they also offer steaks to order at that station.

Coffee in HC is free, but not brewed, I can handle it. :)

 

Omelet at HC sounds perfect!! But wooooah--- coffee is free but not brewed? What kind of coffee is free? Instant?

[Shogun]

Hi

 

I see our friends from California required a jacket and scarf,

 

while those of us from Scotland did not even pack a jacket or sweat shirt,

 

t shirt every day.

 

But then again its summer time here and it will be below freezing tonight and its snowing.

 

yours Shogun

[Shogun]

Hi

 

The coffee is made from a liquid concentrate, you get used to.

 

yours Shogun

[andyandsue]

Hi

 

The coffee is made from a liquid concentrate, you get used to.

 

yours Shogun

 

 

No. No I won't get used to it... :eek: How much do they charge for a coffee? It can't be more than $1.50-$2.00? I've never been on a cruise where the coffee wasn't free. Bummer.

[Shogun]

Hi

 

This coffee is free, however buy a coffee card and you can get speciality coffee like cappuccino ec, however coffee card also gets you limit less brewed coffee which is good.

 

yours Shogun

[LabGuy64]

aND YOU CAN GET A CARD ON EBAY..USUALLY FOR ABOUT 25.00..WITH FREE SHIPPING...i DID FOR MY APRIL CRUISE

 

 

The main points have been answered, but here are a couple of my favorites:

If you decide to buy a coffee card, call Princess and order ahead of time. You will save a couple of $$ (or pounds;))

 

If you manage to get on the ship before 1:30PM on embarkation day, drop off your carry-on in your room, read the back page of the Patter (also in your room) and go the the MDR that is almost always open for lunch (on occasion it is closed - no one here seems to know why)

 

The adults only pool that is near the spa and Sanctuary is FREE and very quiet. Most think it is part of the Sanctuary and assume they can not go there. Not true.