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What to do immediately upon boarding?

Lilygraduation

By Lilygraduation,
in Princess Cruises

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Lilygraduation

Lilygraduation

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I'm sailing on the Regal starting May 21st. I haven't cruised in awhile, but I missed a few things the last time I cruised. I was careful to read the daily notices, but I missed some on board activities such as behind the scenes tours and demonstrations. They were full by the time I tried to register. I know I need to sign up for internet as soon as I get on board, but what else do I need to sign up for right away? Can I register for everything from my room? How do I find out about Chef's Table and tours of the bridge? Some one mentioned a scavenger hunt when you get on board.

Thanks in advance for your help

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elliair

elliair

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You should have already signed up for Chef's Table when you made reservations for your cruise. It fills up fast and is probably already booked. you can also sign up for the specialty restaurants prior to boarding and have it already booked. You must pay for it prior to boarding. Go to the Princess Cruise site and go to Specialty Dining Reservations. But the first thing we do when we board is go to our cabin and drop our valuables and carry ons off then we head to the buffet for lunch. In your cabin you will have all the papers for treasure hunt, sales, massage, etc. For the whole cruise you will be bombarded with sales pitches. We don't participate in those things so we just fill up our garbage can with the ads. Waste of paper IMHO. Be careful that you don't throw any excursion tickets away if you have booked them. If you like wine, you can order a wine package up on Lido during the first day on board. It's usually a good deal. Have fun on your cruise!

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moki'smommy

moki'smommy

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You'll get a better price on internet if you purchase it in advance. And unless you need to use it right away, that's not a priority. You might want to sign into the intranet system so you are getting ship info to your phone.

 

My priority is to sign up for anything that you didn't do in advance--specialty dining, excursions, or whatever. But excursions can now be booked in advance using OBC, so that's easier to do before boarding. If you sign up for specialty dining in advance, you have to pay for it at the time...so can't use OBC in that case. We were not very successful in signing up for specialty dining right after boarding. There was no one at the restaurant when I walked over and the DINE line had a recording that essentially said "call back tomorrow." Ditto, room service didn't answer so we couldn't request to exchange the mini-bar for coffee cards till that night. I was actually surprised at how much I couldn't do!

 

There is a sort of scavenger hunt thing where you get a card in your room and visit each of the sites on the card, getting it stamped at each location. You then deposit it in the specified location for a "must be present" drawing that is usually held on day 2. You can attend a drawing in the spa on day 1--check time in the Patter. OUR sign up for "escape room" was a couple days after boarding, but others have reported that on embarkation day--again, check the patter. Glance thru the junk mail and determine whether you wish to do any of that stuff. It is normally trash to us.

 

What we do--drop stuff in the room and go to lunch. Then arrange whatever. Get thermal suite pass if desired. Make any spa reservations or excursion reservation that you need/want. Go to the library while there is a good selection available.

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neverbeenhere

neverbeenhere

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Do all the ships offer the Chef's Table? I have never noticed it before for specialty dining options. What do you get if you do the Chef's Table and what's the cost? Thanks!

 

Not all cruises will have a chefs table.

 

Cost is around $100 per person

 

You get food, wine, and a cookbook AND a good time

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geoherb "Live from...." Rare

geoherb

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Sign up for the Chef's Table, Ultimate Ship's Tour, and Sanctuary if you want to do them. Check out your table assignment if you have traditional dining. Eat lunch (we prefer the dining room). Unpack. Go to the muster drill. Relax.

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JF - retired RRT

JF - retired RRT

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They were full by the time I tried to register. I know I need to sign up for internet as soon as I get on board, but what else do I need to sign up for right away? Can I register for everything from my room? No How do I find out about Chef's Table and tours of the bridge? Someone mentioned a scavenger hunt when you get on board.

Thanks in advance for your help

We signed-up for the Ultimate Ship Tour and Chef's table at Passenger Services. Do it right away, if you want either. The spaces are very limited. At the same time, if there aren't enough signed up, they'll be cancelled.:confused:

There are no tours of the bridge unless you sign up for the Ultimate Ship Tour. The UST is offered on one of the last sea days.

The Chef's Table is offered once (sometimes twice). Approx. $100 if you drink wine and $85 if you don't.

Both require close toed shoes. The CT has a tour of the kitchen (shoes) and the UST takes you to places on the ship that require them.

There are lots of threads on CC about both tours with lots of information.

I don't recall ever getting the card for the "treasure hunt" in our cabin. We're usually offered the card as we walk thru the door to enter the ship.

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Lucky TGO

Lucky TGO

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I don’t think you can sign up for the chef’s table online. I was told you call the dine line.

 

Have you ever tried to call the dine line when you first get on the ship? That’s a joke you probably won’t get someone to answer until the second day of the cruise. :rolleyes: I never heard of anyone being able to sign up for the chef’s table on line also.

Tony

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PrincessLuver

PrincessLuver

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We signed-up for the Ultimate Ship Tour and Chef's table at Passenger Services. Do it right away, if you want either. The spaces are very limited. At the same time, if there aren't enough signed up, they'll be cancelled.:confused:

We finally got to do the UST on the Regal and it was well worth the price and was so informative that it really gave us a whole new insight to cruising and what goes on behind the scenes. You definitely will get you money back in the swag that they give you after the tour.

 

Went first thing to Passenger Services Desk when we boarded and were lucky to get on the list!!

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Grego

Grego

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Seems like it's always a different process with each voyage with respect to getting your special reservations taken care of. Sometimes there is staff to handle the dining reservations, and then at times not. This is one thing they could always make sure to have someone to do this for the specialty dining requests as soon as persons start boarding. Instead, they spend more time trying to hit you up to go to the wine tasting.

 

Anymore, we just take our time putting away anything brought on board in our carry on luggage, then visit the buffet, go back to the cabin to see if possibly there was any checked luggage delivered and if not, then explore the ship even though we know most of them by heart. Back to the cabin if there is luggage and we have time before the muster drill then we get everything put away and then try calling the dining room hotline.

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skynight

skynight

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Posted
I'm sailing on the Regal starting May 21st. I haven't cruised in awhile, but I missed a few things the last time I cruised. I was careful to read the daily notices, but I missed some on board activities such as behind the scenes tours and demonstrations. They were full by the time I tried to register. I know I need to sign up for internet as soon as I get on board, but what else do I need to sign up for right away? Can I register for everything from my room? How do I find out about Chef's Table and tours of the bridge? Some one mentioned a scavenger hunt when you get on board.

Thanks in advance for your help

-Go to your cabin, drop your stuff, place valuables into the safe, read the Princess Patter, watch for "activities" that are really sales talks.

If you want the ultimate ship's tour (which may include a bridge tour) go to the passenger service desk to sign up. There are no separate bridge tours, the bridge is not generally open to passengers.

You can pre-purchase internet mins. in the cruise personlizer or purchase on board. You get a few more bonus mins. if pre-purchased. You can actually purchase internet mins. anytime during the cruise, no big rush.

Chef's Table - Sign up at passenger services. I believe it is $110/pp on the Regal.

Specialty Dining, Crown Grill or Sabatini's you can make reservations by calling the DINE line. It will probably be busy. You can also visit the restaurant. Pre-reservations can be made in the cruise personlizer, but you must pay at the time you make the reservation and the charge goes directly to your credit card.

If you plan on taking ship's tours these can be pre-reserved in the cruise personlizer. They must be pre-paid with charges going directly to your credit card.* You can go to the tour desk once on board and purchase tours that are still available. Tours purchased on board go on your on board account.

You can not do everything from your cabin.

 

*Anything you pre-purchase in the cruise personlizer goes directly to your credit card. The one exception are tours. If you have OBC the cost of the tour is subtracted from the OBC and the balance still due, if any, is charged to your credit card. Anything purchased on board uses up OBC first.

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geoherb "Live from...." Rare

geoherb

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We finally took the Ultimate Ship's Tour in February on the Regal and enjoyed it a lot. Thankfully we had a lot of onboard credit that covered the cost. I made the mistake of going to the passenger services desk after we ate lunch. We ended up on the waitlist. Fortunately, they had enough people to do two groups. We were in the second group, which was nice since we could linger a little longer on the bridge at the end of the tour.

 

I tried to sign up for the UST on a previous cruise--but it was not offered that time. It was the first time we drove to Fort Lauderdale for a cruise. You'll definitely need room in your luggage to pack the stuff you get after the tour. Thank goodness we drove down in February so that we did not have to worry about overweight luggage.

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SailinC2C

SailinC2C

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Unpack and head to Alfredo's for lunch! We were on the Regal in March for the first time and fell in love with Alfredo's. Our only charge was for the sangria! We went back another day (and had more sangria) :D

 

 

Ditto!!!! Except switch the Sangria for a bottle of Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc!

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