PMGS247

Enjoying the review. A couple comments on the check-in process... 1. Platinum priority embarkation doesn't have any impact on the security screening or the blue lane/green lane. Only after you've gone through security screening and medallion pickup and/or check-in with medallion will you experience priority boarding in the form of the platinum/elite lounge or if boarding's already begun getting right in line without having to wait as part of a boarding group. You mention someone else going straight through security; I'm very confident there was more to the story as to why it appeared they were able to do that; it wasn't status. 2. Interesting note that blue lane came back to bite you this time. I watch this topic a lot and this further confirms my perception that while more often than not blue lane is barely any longer, there is more risk of more noticeable delays. Green lane's always safe from that perspective. If you end up with the premier package again and can get them shipped as part of the package you might as well. If it doesn't make it in time you just go to blue lane anyway.....nothing lost.

Libraries that existed on older ships definitely lost their luster over the last decade or so, usually being mostly empty shelves and a few board games that were probably missing pieces. Not something Princess put much effort into keeping up. On the plus side for readers, something DW experienced on a recent Enchanted Princess sailing, is that the Internet Cafe had a small set of book shelves intended as a book exchange "take a book / leave a book" type of spot. What really brought it to life though was the fact that they made "book exchange" an event in the app & on the princess patter at a designated time slot every day in the internet cafe. My wife brought along books specifically with the intention of exchanging at this event. DW quickly figured out on board that people weren't showing up to the "event" at the designated time, but having it on the patter drew enough attention to it that people were actively participating and taking/leaving books every day.

Enchanted in April (Premier package) and Discovery last April (Plus package) - No interest in the giant premium desserts advertised so on both cruises I ordered regular 2 scoop gelatos a couple times throughout the week and was not charged for them. Never added any sauces or toppings. The experience with this does seem to vary a little bit from ship to ship based on everyone's different experiences but that was mine, and from what I've read it does seem to be the most common. Most accounts of people believing they had to get the advertised desserts or be charged were based on asking crew members / guest services. Seems the crew is very often inclined to play it safe and tell you you have to get the advertised desserts if you ask directly. Having observed this I just don't bother asking. In both cases I was half expecting to be charged and my intention was to watch my account and if I was charged, to roll my eyes and then immediately move on with life. Despite what they say, in practice, just going up and ordering a couple scoops of gelato seems to almost never actually result in a charge to the account. The person's story in this thread saying it happened to them is one of the few if not the first I've actually seen of its kind. Part of why i threw in the fact that I didn't add any sauce or toppings to my gelato....perhaps that's a line of distinction....but it's way more likely that it's just typical inconsistency. They may eventually crack down on this as well, so may be a sign of the times. Both my experiences were earlier.

I don't disagree, but it's a fact that the power does remain in the hands of the passenger to short change the crew or not. I think it's a garbage move on behalf of the cruise line to put passengers in this position but regardless of how you want to use the word "blame", it is still a fact that the passenger has full control and their decision to remove these charges will come out of the pockets of the crew. Want to discuss how it's a bad system and they should change it? A fine topic to discuss...but has no bearing on the fact that the immediate impact of someone removing a DSC takes funds away from the crew. If they shift to a system where they pay a proper base wage, (A) I'll be the first to celebrate it, but (B) the base cost of cruising will go up to cover it. You're paying it either way, but in the current system you have the option to opt out. I personally don't think you should, even if you disagree with the concept of the system.

Halloween was embarkation day for me on the CB last October. It was a good time and nice way to start the cruise. Lots of people dressed up, ship was decorated. Halloween party in the piazza that night.

Yep...while I deleted the rest of the quote to save space this post sums it up perfectly. The system stinks, but it is the system, and if you know how it works, you realize removing the DSC is just short changing the crew, even if someone were to exactly replace their removed DSC with cash tips. It is a method by the cruise lines to hide costs so they can advertise lower cruise fares only to tack on these more discreet costs later. It's doubly bad because it hides costs from the end customer and the only people at risk due to the fact that it's semi-optional are the crew. The system does stink. But the conversation of what the system should be and how to get it changed is completely separate from whether you should or should not remove your DSC while you're on board under the current system. Like other cruise lines that don't use the DSC? Fantastic....sail with them.

When you get close to the cruise the app & travel summary will show a boarding window but it'll probably say something like 10:00am - 2:00pm which is the entire boarding window and everyone gets the same.

I mean as pointed out numerous times, the degree to which someone needs to consume up-charge beverages varies form person to person but it's very common for the other inclusions to reduce that amount to what I would call a very non-"major" portion of the $60/day. To clarify I don't really care if people get it or not, but Princess's packages are both more complex but also better deals than your standard drink package on another cruise line where it's $85/day and you need to have 10 drinks to justify it. If people brush it off because they "don't drink much" they may end up short changing themselves. Just saying it's worth a self assessment, even to someone who doesn't drink a lot.

Agreed. In OPs example they do not have access to the Elite discounted wi-fi pricing, but yes, access to cheaper wi-fi might leave you a larger gap that you won't utilize enough coffee/soda/alcohol to justify. Elite discount 50% so that's like a $13 impact. It's one additional alcoholic beverage basically. Probably not likely to change the result for most people, but for some, sure.

Honestly it's the right call for most people. Where it's not the right call are: People who remove gratuities or don't use or share wi-fi AND they don't drink much. $60/day is low for a stand-alone drink package compared to the rest of the cruising industry so just drinks alone it's not that hard to justify it, but when you factor in the other inclusions it really is the right thing for most people. Not judging it any way and not saying they don't exist, there's plenty of people who's vacation style doesn't justify the $60/day, but it's safe to say it makes sense more often than not. If you plan to pay your gratuities and would purchase wi-fi anyway, you only need to get usefulness out of about $20 of premium coffees, sodas, and alcohol per day for the package to make sense. With on-board prices as they are $20 isn't much. A lot of people get this out of just coffee/water/soda before even factoring in a single sip of alcohol. If you take out wi-fi and/or gratuities it's a higher bar for how much you need to drink to justify the package.

Yep definitely works. I've never heard of being charged for sodas but it is definitely cans. One point of confusion in surfing the internet for this topic is that Carnival drink package does not work on Princess Cays. Given there's actually a lot more Carnival ships going to PC throughout the year than Princess ships, there's a lot of user created content and people's first hand accounts that would lead someone to believe drink packages don't work there. Not sure why such a difference exists between Princess and Carnival, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's always been like that as long as I've been cruising.

Yeah both the website and the app can be glitchy. I usually have better luck with the website but nothing's a guarantee. Contacting the TA is a good call.

You should be able to order immediately after booking. It won't ship until the last 2-3 weeks before your cruise, so it really doesn't matter if you order a month or 12 months in advance but I'm not sure there's a limit to how far in advance you can put in the order. App has been particularly buggy recently so if you're having trouble it's more likely just the app being its usual buggy self.

No seems like that ended sometime around the turn of the year. 80’s night seems to have taken its place.

That's odd that it doesn't give the opportunity to buy the packages. It should. That's a customer service call.