AE_Collector

10 hours ago, Coolmama_1 said:

We were on that cruise too. When we got back on our bus at the end of the tour in Sitka, they were calling for all available drivers to come to the port . We also heard that the Ovation had 4000 and apparently, the port was unaware(?) so they said that they were coming in at that time. People were trying to walk to Sitka. It was crazy!

Fortunately our tour was early and we were on our way back to Royal Princess by noon. As we got closer there were more and more people walking towards town on the side of the road. I wondered if they had any idea how far they had to walk! The last 1/2 mile to the ship we also saw people walking back to the pier who likely had given up and turned around. Then we could barely fight our way through the mob to get back to our ship. Seemed a little ridiculous to have a ship of that capacity somewhere like Sitka. But then again our ship had 3600 capacity though only 1600 passengers on board.

The 42nd cruise we just did and first for us since Covid was the cruise that we would have stepped up from $50 to $75.

I’m not that impressed with the 50% off internet perk. We pushed through to get 5 cruises behind us so we would get free internet beginning with our 6th Princess cruise in 2009. We just did our 42nd Princess cruise, almost triple the number of cruises needed to make Elite and had to and now we have to pay for internet again.

Seems reasonable to me to ask that shareholder info not be submitted more than 90 days out. I’ve heard people on these very forums asking if they will get away with buying shares, submitting info and selling shares all before sailing. Good way to get this perk canned for all of us. 
 

And yes, anyone wondering should I or shouldn’t I…. Other than the April-May 2020 time frame when Covid shut everything down, CCL shares are as low as they have been once again. Buy and hold and you will do okay. I bought 200 in 2010 at $30, they almost hit $60 and then I bought another 200 in 2014 when they sunk to $35. They used to pay a nice dividend but that disappeared 2 years ago and could be awhile yet before it returns. 

My opinion is that things are in turmoil and everyone needs to just go with the flow. If one excursion being cancelled is going to ruin the trip it is probably too soon after Covid (still during to some extent) to expect everything to be as it was before Covid.
 

We ere on Royal Princess in Alaska May 2-14 and there were some cancelled and some reduced capacity excursions. Exact reasons weren’t given and there are likely several,different reasons. But lack of man power by excursion operators is bound to be one of the reasons. There was something about an excursion at Juneau that involved a boat to Sitka that was shut down due to the entire boat crew having Covid. some of these problems are going to happen last minute. 
 

In Sitka the new cruise pier is at least 5 miles out of town and you should have seen the mess with the shuttles from pier to town when the ovation of the Seas tied up beside us. We only had 1600 passengers but rumour was they had 4000. They will sort these problems out eventually but best to remain flexible and enjoy the holiday rather than getting bent out of shape. JMHO…

No lineup for customs leaving the ship. Usually is only a person collecting the customs paperwork that you are given in the ship but we disembarked Royal at Vancouver on May 14 and the ship had collected our customs forms onboard. Our previous day was victoria though so if Vancouver is your first Canadian port things may not be done the same way.

Okay the statements arrived in my email early this morning. We disembarked Saturday May 14 so 4 days over the weekend for statements is good. I’m just happy to hear that they are now emailing them out, I think that is new since restart isn’t it? Or maybe it had started just before Covid as part of their paper reduction and overall environmental improvements onboard initiative. Our last cruise prior to this first Post Covid cruise for us was October 2019.

Statements are almost correct, only 2 mystery charges on my wife’s account, both for $3.54 from a bar which has to be coffee or specialty coffee. I had a coffee card and she didn’t. Quite often I would get a coffee or hot chocolate and a specialty coffee at the same time which I gave away (to her). Maybe slightly pushing it but I figure the specialty drinks are included up to 15, are bought and paid for, use them or lose them so I can do that. Everyone will have their own opinion and for the most part I’m not one to take advantage or exploit loop holes. But  I am also used to the past with free coffee cards from Elite minibar swap out that we could “legally” use the punches on several different cruises in the future. Their electronic devices pick up your medallion and I find they then either said your name back to you or asked your room number to be sure they had the right medallion. I see now two times they must have picked up my wife’s medallion rather than mine and asking the room number didn’t resolve the issue that she doesn’t have the coffee card on her medallion. Just throwing that out there, no way on earth I am trying to get my $7 back!

<heading off topic here now>

I spent 13 hours over 4 phone calls (mostly listening to music) in the month before the cruise trying unsuccessfully to pay them more $ for a cabin upgrade that was a total waste of 13 hours of my lifetime. After being cut off at the 3 hour mark on call number four I said that’s it, we’re in an inside cabin this time even though there are lots of better cabins sitting empty (ship was less than 50% full) that I was willing to pay the current advertised price difference for to upgrade to. I know this has nothing to do with anything, just pointing out why I’m NOT calling them about anything less than ~$100 billing problem!!

While onboard I took the time to explain to Captains Circle Rep and Future Cruise Sales person that it isn’t good to make the person who books all our Princess cruises (me) dread the thought of having to ever call Princess again for anything…ever, even to book another cruise. The Future Cruise person did apologize on behalf of Princess and said he wished I had come to see him in the first couple of days rather than last couple of days as he would have moved us to a balcony at no charge considering what I had been through AND that it was our 42nd Princess cruise. I told him that I appreciate that but even though we have no problem changing cabins after we have settled in, it was way too late to resolve this at the time we boarded. We DID enjoy the cruise however! Enough said….

A scenario I have seen is no :”Suite/Elite” line when there are too many Elites on board. (That helps control the lineup of Elites complaining about laundry taking 3 days to come back!)

Just found the end of cruise survey in my Spam folder. They were sent out at 3:51 AM several hours before we disembarked. No statements yet but will keep checking inbox and Spam folders. 
 

Thanks for input everyone.

Okay so for the statement at least, it’s possible that a weekend versus weekday could be different. We disembarked Saturday morning so I will see if it shows up on Monday. Good to know they are emailing them at least.

How quick are the emails showing up? We disembarked yesterday morning and nothing yet. And no post cruise survey yet either. Before Covid the Post cruise survey was usually in your email box just after midnight of the day you were disembarking …so before you had disembarked.

7 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Same issue...different question.

Got our emailed statement. The last item was "Referred to Corporate Finance $77.03". It was in the charges column.

Never seen that before. Anyone know what it is?

TIA

Could you have had a $77.03 credit balance so they put $77.03 charge on your account to zero it onboard and referred to finance to issue a refund?

Just home yesterday after the 12 day Alaska round trip from Vancouver on Royal Princess. Our first cruise in 2 1/2 years and Royal Princesses first revenue cruise in 26 months.
 

I took a quick look at our account in the medallion app around half way through the cruise and didn’t think to check again at the end. And no paper statement was received overnight on the last day. Part of the printed paper reduction presumably which I’m in favour of. Or did we just miss finding a delivered statement? Is there any way to get this info online now that the cruise is over or does Princess email it after in conjunction with the credit card being charged? In our case we always buy a bunch of OBC before the cruise and then the surplus gets refunded afterwards as long as we didn’t use it all up. It’s nice to have a rough idea where we stood at the end.

I assume what is being referred to here is the Captains Circle Loyalty Benefit that was $25/cabin after 21st cruise and stepped up in $25 increments topping out at $100 at 52nd cruise. There certainly are other OBC items available but they rely on the person cruising taking the initiative to do Future Cruise Deposits P while onboard or purchasing 100 shares in Carnival Corp to receive the Shareholder Benefit. Also the military service credit is available to some.

I had always hoped that the Captains Circle Loyalty credit would be eliminated one day by rolling it into a new Elite Plus level maybe at 50 cruises or better still by days only at 365 days (I always liked the 1 year at sea implication of that) or maybe 400-500 days. This would have gave them an a way to potentially still have a level that’s received “free internet” and maybe even free laundry with a guarantee to get it back the next day at that level!
 

We are just over 400 days now so it would still be something for us to shoot for in our future. In our early cruising days the free internet on your 6th cruise with Princess played a big part in us settling in with Princess after a couple of other cruises on other lines. Now having to PAY for internet for the first time after receiving it for free for loyalty for our last 35 cruises on Princess is a little annoying. But yes I admit it is considerably better internet than it used to be.

Loyalty and rewards programs are hot the last 10-20 years … what business doesn’t have one? I feel that Princess should have a higher level to shoot for. Yes it seems silly but I’ve heard a fair number of “we made it to the top here so may look at some other lines more now” comments. There really doesn’t need to be much costly bling in a new higher level, they just SHOULD HAVE a higher level to push those that look at it that way to keep aiming for more days with Princess. That’s why I think whoever is in charge of the loyalty stuff at Princess is dropping the ball a little. As always, JMHO .. I know there are others who it means nothing to.

5 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Yet actually very little of the "autotip" is now dedicated to the people give you that great service on board.

 

The tip pool is now shared among all the Princess ships. So of the $14.50/day autotip, a dollar or less each day actually goes to staff on your ship.

So this math is because there are maybe 15 ships in the fleet? Looking at it this way does the ~$14 from those ships that would be shared BACK to the ship that you are on get lost in the mail? Balancing things out across all ships may result in a very small extra amount to one ship compared to what the passengers left but saying that $1 or $14 goes to the crew on the ship you are on is ridiculous. I think $1 is $1 to crew members, they don’t need the serial numbers of the bills traced back to where they came from. And the reason for this “sharing” is so that crew in areas like UK that more frequently do cancel gratuities don’t get stiffed.

5 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

I see. Everyone has the discretion to use their own common sense but if their common sense doesn't match up with yours, they really don't have any. Hmm ...

Well where would common sense to wear a mask kick in then? Checkin for customs at Vancouver was a solid 1 hour lineup up of bumper to bumper people zig zagging back and forth through the building. Large TV screens showing Masks Required as this isn’t under the control of Princess. Yet there was probably ~3% of people without masks on or they were wearing them under their chin. Sure, maybe someone medically can’t wear a mask but do these people search each other out and get married because they were always a couple or a group of 4 people together except in one instance I saw.

14 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

I like that!! Base fare w/grats, "Best Value" with grats, wifi, etc, and "Premium" with all those extras.

With so many Plus Packages including grats it just seems like time to do it across the board. Most or all of celebrity cruise prices also include grats now I believe (?) so even more reason to just do it. And adding gratuities to the base fare would allow the to keep the plus type add-ons lower priced instead of them going up.
 

And yes as you eluded to, a “Basic Plus” type package with gratuities and maybe internet (not certain about a specialty meal or not) but WITHOUT the big ticket item (alcohol) could interest us. I don’t even look at the add-on packages with alcohol because that isn’t an important item for us on vacation. We do drink a little but nowhere near enough to justify a package including almost unlimited alcohol and we don’t even want to consider that on a cruise holiday. 

12 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

That's because the gratuity is shared across the ENTIRE fleet so those that choose to leave their gratuity intact particularly in the US are supplementing the cruises that don't require gratuity. 

I don’t agree with this statement because it is only the additional gratuity charge to the passenger that isn’t required in that area (Australia/New Zealand). The crew still gets their share of the gratuity pool (as opposed to a higher rate of pay working in these areas) but Princess adds the $ to the pool on behalf of the passengers on these cruises. Some ships come and go from these areas during a crew members contract. So nothing in other areas is being supplemented by those of us who consider the auto gratuities a part of the cost of the cruise. 

On Royal Princess 12 day Vancouver Alaska round trip. I have to say I am overall impressed with most passengers for wearing masks in the public areas. I have done numerous tally’s and repeatedly land in the 60-70% range. I don’t count people sitting where eating or drinking is happening but do count people as they arrive at these locations. But of course there are those who I have never seen wear a mask in any location. To me the relaxation of rules isn’t an indication that all is clear now but is a return to people being given the discretion to use their own common sense and there are a few who don’t have any to use. Everyone knows the risks are higher on cruise ships and no one wants the cruise scrubbed half way through. Crew are 100% wearing N95 always. 

Part of the problem is considering the gratuities as “tips”. In my opinion it is really a significant part of their pay no matter what it’s called. To the extent that they wouldn’t likely be here for the base salary the receive if there was no extra income from the gratuity pool. A cruise line mentioned like P&O is paying a higher wage if the6 actively are discouraging tipping. In the case of Princess operating in Australia, on average a higher cruise fare is charged Australians and then Princess kicks in to the gratuity pool on those cruises. But yes, competitive pricing of cruises could lead to the scenario mentioned where a North American paid a higher fare plus had gratuities added. Just like I may pay less for the cruise we’re on than you paid.

I really wish that with all the changes Princess would go to gratuities included in the base fare price as P&O appears to be doing. 

37 minutes ago, capriccio said:

Princess had sommeliers when we started cruising with them in 2007 but by 2010 (or so) they were gone.

That’s about what I thought as well. We started in 2006 and they were around for our first couple of years, maybe until 2010.

8 hours ago, Happiest when cruising said:

60.00 would have been very close to amount he would have spent,  if he had left the crew appreciation on, depending on his cabin level choice. Of course, the difference is that it isn’t shared with the other crew. 

Except presumably there were two people at $14.50 a day so $120 total versus the $60 cash left. 

4 hours ago, scooter6139 said:

 

Part of Discovery's Sampler.  Was a 4 Night/5 Day out of Vancouver -Ketchikan-Seattle.  Basically a repositioning cruise to get it set for the Alaska season.

Nothing new. We did a Vancouver Ketchikan Seattle 4 day on Princess in 2009. The PVSA requires a ship going from say LA to Seattle to do summer Alaska cruises must also go to a foreign country. So they do a LA to Vancouver and then they do a Vancouver to Seattle. But they also generally want to do 7 day cruises that start/end on a weekend thus they may do a 3, 4, 5 or 6 day cruise to get into that routine.

I am looking at the 10% credits on my account but don’t know how to tell if refundable or not. Presumably would be refundable but I see no distinction via the medallion app about any of our credits which include both refundable and non refundable credits.

23 minutes ago, Pstcrik said:

Yes once you complete ArriveCan online it gives you a QR code on the screen and emails it to you as well. I think it is needed ultimately only for Arrival into Canada so if boarding in Vancouver with no other Canadian stops on the cruise it likely isn’t needed at boarding. If you are coming to Vancouver from the US for a cruise you will need an ArriveCan completed for arrival to Canada before the cruise.