New to Princess - questions

[debnjoe1438]

Hello, just booked my first princess cruise, and I have a few questions please. Looking at the app on line under personal information, (not seeing this on phone app) Dine my way: What is the difference book/create a dinning plan and make reservations? Under create a dinning plann would I have to do this for each day?

 

I have booked without the princess plus or premire. What would I use the medallion for in this case?

 

What is "casual dinning"

 

What is the "blue line"

 

Can I pick up the Medallion at the port?

 

Stock perks - is using the app easy? How is this done?

 

Any information you could give me about the Caribbean Princess would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

[memoak]

Regardless if you have a package or not the medallion gets you on and off the ship, opens your cabin door and acts as your cruise card for charging goods and services. 
 

There are 2 lines at the port green line = you have your medallion. Blue line = you are picking up your medallion

 

Casual ding are venues not complimentary but not considered specialty dining. These venues usually charge $14.95 for a 3 course meal and are usually open for dinner   

Edited March 15 by memoak

[Thrak]

Caribbean Princess: If you eat in the buffet try going all the way to the back - past the main offerings - to the Planks/Steamers area. (Those two venues are only open for dinner.) At breakfast that is where you can get fried to order eggs, made to order omelets, etc. At lunch they tend to have a build your own Ramen and build your own burrito stations.

 

At least that's how it was on our last CB cruise. Check it out. If I'm no longer correct you have lost nothing but about a minute of time. If I'm correct it is a much better choice at breakfast and, depending on one's taste, can be a much better choice for lunch.

[PMGS247]

Caribbean Princess, casual dining ($15 upcharge):

Vines wine bar offers a large charcuterie board, which doesn't sound like much but is quite a bit of food for 2 people

Planks & Steamers are open on alternate days, dinner only, and reservations are highly recommended, so plan ahead if you wish to try them out. As Thrak indicates their space is used as additional buffet space and I agree tends to have the best food selections in the buffet.

Edited March 15 by PMGS247

[drew2d]

New to Princess as well figured I'd piggy back on this with a question of my own.

We booked ours with Princess Premier. When we're making specialty dining reservations it's still asking us to pay for them at the add-on price. Is that normal? I figured it's either because we haven't had to pay the full amount of the cruise yet or they will do a refund once they go to charge you but it's one more thing to keep "track" off when we're paying for the reservation now in March but our cruise isn't till July...

[MTNest93]

4 minutes ago, drew2d said:

New to Princess as well figured I'd piggy back on this with a question of my own.

We booked ours with Princess Premier. When we're making specialty dining reservations it's still asking us to pay for them at the add-on price. Is that normal? I figured it's either because we haven't had to pay the full amount of the cruise yet or they will do a refund once they go to charge you but it's one more thing to keep "track" off when we're paying for the reservation now in March but our cruise isn't till July...

It should not be charging you when you book.  Try logging into your app with your booking number instead of your user name and password, it seems to work better this way.  The App will "charge" you for the dinners, but then show a credit and zero due to when you check out.  Hope this helps!  Our 1st cruise was on the Caribbean last summer and we absolutely LOVED the Crown Grill and Sabattini's - she's an older ship but still quite beautiful and relaxing!

[MTNest93]

1 hour ago, debnjoe1438 said:

Hello, just booked my first princess cruise, and I have a few questions please. Looking at the app on line under personal information, (not seeing this on phone app) Dine my way: What is the difference book/create a dinning plan and make reservations? Under create a dinning plann would I have to do this for each day?

 

I have booked without the princess plus or premire. What would I use the medallion for in this case?

 

What is "casual dinning"

 

What is the "blue line"

 

Can I pick up the Medallion at the port?

 

Stock perks - is using the app easy? How is this done?

 

Any information you could give me about the Caribbean Princess would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

If you can get time in the Sanctuary - do!  You'll have to run up there as soon as you embark to try to reserve loungers or a cabana.  That was our favorite part of our cruise on the Caribbean last summer.  Also know that the pool by the Sanctuary (Lotus Pool) is not part of the Sanctuary and can be used by anyone without an additional fee.  It is an adult only spot with padded loungers on either side.  There are not a lot of loungers, so head up there between 6-6:30 am if you want to get one on a sea day.  We did this and ordered breakfast through the medallion app which was brought right to us while we waited for the pool to open.  There are hot tubs there too and you can use the facilities in the spa locker room (bathroom, sauna).  Enjoy your cruise - she's a beautiful ship!

[jean-lynd]

If you want to book the same time in the same dining room for every night you can do that in one step with the "Book Dining Plan". If you use the "Create New Reservation" you will need to choose your time and dining room for each night. We did it each day because one day we have an excursion that gets back a little later and one day we want to eat a little earlier. You can always change your reservations if things come up to change your plans. I hope this helps!

[debnjoe1438]

Thanks to all who replied. Your assistance is appreciated. One more question, can you bring soda on board?

[jean-lynd]

You can bring on 12 cans per person. Must be cans - no bottles. I hope this helps!

[debnjoe1438]

1 hour ago, jean-lynd said:

You can bring on 12 cans per person. Must be cans - no bottles. I hope this helps!

Thank you, good to know

[cr8tiv1]

Get to the theater 30 minutes early for good seats.  

Explore the ship from top to bottom (not necessarily on the first day). 

 

Bring a refillable water bottle for lemonade (love this stuff).  Tea/coffee/milk/lemonade are free in the buffet and MDR.

 

You will be fine without Plus or Premier.  FOR ME, it is just a convenience.  Each passenger is allowed one bottle of wine.  You can purchase 12 (500 mL bottles of water for $7.08.  Cheaper than the ones they sell individually.  If you bring water onboard...it is suppose to be in cans.  Water is very safe to drink on the ship without purchasing water.

 

The aft pool and seating area is wonderful.  

 

Try to avoid mid-ship elevators.  Be aware that Deck 5 and 6 do not go from bow to stern.  Use Deck 7 as your thoroughfare.  Or walk out on the Promenade to avoid the crowds, especially after the theater lets out.

 

 

[Mark_K]

While each person can bring one 750ml bottle of wine for free, you can bring additional bottles by paying $20/bottle.  

[KKB]

On 3/15/2024 at 1:57 PM, debnjoe1438 said:

Hello, just booked my first princess cruise, and I have a few questions please. Looking at the app on line under personal information, (not seeing this on phone app) Dine my way: What is the difference book/create a dinning plan and make reservations? Under create a dinning plann would I have to do this for each day?

 

I have booked without the princess plus or premire. What would I use the medallion for in this case?

 

What is "casual dinning"

 

What is the "blue line"

 

Can I pick up the Medallion at the port?

 

Stock perks - is using the app easy? How is this done?

 

Any information you could give me about the Caribbean Princess would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

Appears everything else has been addressed.

 

Stockperks--if you own 100 Carnival shares, you will get OBC (varies depending on length; 7 day is $100). Stockperks was fairly easy to use--I did not submit any personal info (blacked it out on the screenshots). Mine are in ETrade & I think I had to choose a different firm...but it worked well & was on my account w/in days. Much faster than when we had to email a request.

 

If you are going to use Wifi on the ship, Princess Plus is the way to go. Wifi is $25/day; Gratuities $18+/day--that means for $17/day you get sodas, specialty coffees, mocktails, cocktails. 

DH's aunt & uncle cruised w/ us in 2022 & didn't think it would be worth it--"We just don't drink that much" I talked them into it & they realized it takes very little to get value from it!

[debnjoe1438]

4 hours ago, KKB said:

Appears everything else has been addressed.

 

Stockperks--if you own 100 Carnival shares, you will get OBC (varies depending on length; 7 day is $100). Stockperks was fairly easy to use--I did not submit any personal info (blacked it out on the screenshots). Mine are in ETrade & I think I had to choose a different firm...but it worked well & was on my account w/in days. Much faster than when we had to email a request.

 

If you are going to use Wifi on the ship, Princess Plus is the way to go. Wifi is $25/day; Gratuities $18+/day--that means for $17/day you get sodas, specialty coffees, mocktails, cocktails. 

DH's aunt & uncle cruised w/ us in 2022 & didn't think it would be worth it--"We just don't drink that much" I talked them into it & they realized it takes very little to get value from it!

Thank you, appreciate the information. Well, along with not drinking miuch, we wouldn't get a wifi package. If we did use wifi, yes I agree it would be worth it, and I'd get my money's worth in speciality coffee. 🙂

 

[memoak]

19 minutes ago, debnjoe1438 said:

Thank you, appreciate the information. Well, along with not drinking miuch, we wouldn't get a wifi package. If we did use wifi, yes I agree it would be worth it, and I'd get my money's worth in speciality coffee. 🙂

 

To is the WiFi is one of the most important things on a cruise. We usually take cruises with 5-6 days at sea at a time and really want to stay in touch with the outside world 

[debnjoe1438]

5 minutes ago, memoak said:

To is the WiFi is one of the most important things on a cruise. We usually take cruises with 5-6 days at sea at a time and really want to stay in touch with the outside world 

We figure in case of emergency, the kids know the the phone number to the cruise line 🙂 If we are someplace where we can call home, we will. We cruise mostly with NCL and one of our loyality perks is X amount of wifi minutes. (I don't remember how much). At anyrate, we use very little of the wifi we have had available.