Elite member who has not been on for 10 years.....Questions

[WAVTAM]

Doing the Island Princess on East coast run. Package booking.

What are the specialty restaurants as we are given two free bookings.

Drink package is given and see drinks up to $15 per drink. Is there a daily limit.

Does that limit go against the Juice bar and coffee bar also.

Have access to free fitness classes. Examples being what?

Get premium desert. What is that?

Does one get Medallion on check in.

 

As Elite do we still get free laundry, high tea service and bar set up in room?

[skynight]

Some answers. The plus fare includes the beverage package. This includes unlimited non alcoholic beverages such as sodas, specialty coffees, standard juices after breakfast hours, bottled water and so on. Ice tea, lemonade, standard coffee, hot teas are no charge for all. Juice bar is specialty blended juices, not standard breakfast juices.  The package includes up to 15 alcoholic beverages/pp/day menu priced at $15 or less which is around 90% of all drinks on board. Some wines and other special spirits are more. If you purchase an alcoholic beverage in excess of $15 you are charged the difference + 18%.  The package does not include bottled wines. There is a discount if you so order.

If you are Ocean Ready then you are green lane and the medallion will be mailed to you about 2 weeks prior to boarding. If you are not Ocean Ready then you can pick up the medallion at the pier. You become Ocean Ready by completing all the pre-boarding information on the Princess App or on the PC web version.

Yes for the laundry, mini bar. It could take up to 3 days to get your laundry returned unless you are in a full suite. 

I would guess a fitness class might include something like spinning. I've never done this.

You can search for photos of premium desserts. From what I have seen they have limited value. A 10 year old may enjoy them. 

[mtnesterz]

Well stated by @skynight.

Adding you can scroll down to the bottom of this page for a look at the dining options.

https://www.princess.com/en-us/ships-and-experience/ships/ip-island-princess

Edited February 12 by mtnesterz

[voljeep]

2 hours ago, WAVTAM said:

What are the specialty restaurants as we are given two free bookings. PREMIER

Drink package is given and see drinks up to $15 per drink. Is there a daily limit. PLUS

Looks to me like there is some confusion

[skynight]

"What are the specialty restaurants as we are given two free bookings."

You don't actually mention it in your posting, but I have interpreted that you indeed have the plus fare since you mention alcoholic beverages up to $15. 

Specialty restaurants are not included with the plus fare. Two specialty restaurant  meals are included with the premier fare. If you have the plus fare then you will have to pay for specialty restaurant dining. Specialty restaurants available on the Island Princess are the Bayou Cafe & Steakhouse @ $39/pp and Sabatini's Italian Trattoria @ $35/pp. Make reservations in the app. There is a charge when booking.

Included with the plus fare are two casual dining meals. The Island Princess has no dedicated casual dining restaurants.  The Island has Alfredo's and the Salty Dog. These are both pop up. There are no pre-cruise reservations for them. 

[Hlitner]

A few things have changed in the past decade.  The Medallion technology is now fully implemented and having a working Smart Phone to use the Princess App can be valuable.  With the app you can make/change reservations, order food/drinks to be delivered to your location, etc.  In fact, there are mornings when I get to the International Cafe only to see a long queue for coffee drinks.  I will sometimes just find a seat (in the atrium area) and order my cappuccino on the app and just relax.  In a few minutes a waiter will bring my coffee.  I practice "queue avoidance" and this is one great example.  

 

As to the alternative restaurants, be aware that because of the packages there are now many folks who get those included meals.  This can create a high demand for reservations.  I cannot speak to the Island, but on our recent Sky Princess cruise (2 weeks in Dec) most of the alternative restaurants were fully booked before embarkation!  We had to really scramble to get reservations for the wonderful seafood venue, and it meant taking 8:30 (or later) time slots (the only thing left).  Fortunately, DW and I do prefer to dine late.  For folks who want to dine at the prime times between 5:30-7:30...many were simply out of luck.  In fact, there was one evening when  we wanted to use one additional free meal in the Crown Grill and there were no open reservation slots for the remaining week of our cruise.  We stopped at the restaurant and chatted with the manager who agreed to sqeeze us in if we would be around the entrance at 8:30.  He finally sat us near 9pm (the venue was still packed) and we did not finish dinner until aroudn 10:30!  This was OK for us (and many others who were still eating) but it just shows how reservations can be problamatic on some voyages.  

 

I should add that the 2nd week of our cruise had a large Porsche owners group aboard, and these folks like the finer things in life including the better alternative restaurants :).   Truly an enjoyable group of folks (we made many new friends).  

 

Hank