AE_Collector

We boarded Royal Princess at Vancouver on May 2. Two ships were boarding that day. Not that much different than in the past but the bottom line is everyone (both ships) is in one long lineup for port security and then US customs. So the times selected in order to spread the crowd out means nothing. Masks required here but I would say 3-5% couldn't be bothered even in a long crowded lineup. 
 

Once through this there is an “ArriveCan completed” check that you get through in a couple of minutes if you have your QR code printed or saved in your device. They aren’t confirming the details, just that you appear to know about it and have done it. This tripped me up for 3-4 minutes along with many other people. But then we were on to the Princess checkin area where the wait was just a few minutes and it was time to board. BUT, we were boarding Royal Princess that had been at dock for several days preparing for her firsts cruise in 26 months. So no wait for disembarkation to complete and we were onboard by noon, probably just over an hour after arriving at the port. There may be priority boarding at this point once there is a wait to board but this part of the wait is minor compared to the wait to get to checkin. But all things considered, it wasn’t bad.

I think the $ goes up by $5/day if purchasing onboard. Not 100% certain though. Also, if you are Platinum or Elite level pre purchase price is cut in half for either plan.

Before Covid changed everyone’s life, Princess was just starting a program to seriously reduce the amount of garbage created while cruising and was to convert almost completely to reusables. This was very welcome news to us as we quite often simply won’t treat ourselves to something that comes in disposable packaging. I can only assume that this environmental program may have stalled at least to some extent with Covid getting in the way but will find out firsthand tomorrow on our first cruise back since Covid began.

Yes I usually try to get on the phone with them ASAP to try to head them off before the standard package arrives. Sometimes I am successful and other times no so much. I guess being “free” we aren’t supposed to whine about it but it just seems like it would save everyone some unnecessary effort and get things off to a smoother start.

Yes exactly @Steelers36. Numerous years ago there was a big push to have the cruise details written onto the card when received preventing the free coffee/tea/hot chocolate if card was used on a future cruise. We did the 29 day Sydney to LA cruise (a single point cruise, not several added together) and then stayed on for the next cruise, 3 days LA to Vancouver. No cruise pointed out how ridiculous it was to have the elite minibar handed out one at a time per cruise. Both minibars up front would have prevented us from having to stretch one for 29 days only to receive the next and have 2 1/2 days to use it. We swapped the second one to Coffee cards for the future and had to get the Room Service manager approval to NOT put the cruise details on the card which we appreciated them doing but the whole thing seems like they could make it work so much better if they REALLY do appreciate us for our loyalty. Of course I’m sure many of us have repeatedly asked that we could pre-select the minibar contents before the cruise but that continues to go nowhere as well.

10 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I wish.  I have never heard of this actually happening.  What year was this if you recall?  Could have been something specially done on a particular ship.  It seems logically possible, but supposedly not done in practice.

I have never done the half and half but thought I recall hearing that it was easily done a number of years ago… maybe 2015-2017 or so. But I could be wrong.
 

We had a great deal going when coffee cards were actual cards. Of 42 cruises I think only 6 or 7 have been single cruises, almost anywhere we go that isn’t a Vancouver round trip we do at least 2 and sometimes 3 back to backs. Initially we had bought a couple of coffee cards so when boarding a back to back cruise we get the minbar set up to our preference and at the same time use our purchased coffee cards. Usually the one minibar is all we need to get through two cruises. Second part of B2B we get swapped minibar to coffee cards which went back into stock to use on a future sets of cruises. Thus we had minibar and coffee cards (mostly for the specialty coffee punches) for the entire trip. This all came to an abrupt end when they moved the coffee cards onto your onboard account/medallion. Just one tiny example of a change that likely affected very few but eliminated a small perk we got for being at Elite level and regularly booking back to back cruises with Princess. All they need to do is offer to issue both minibars at the beginning of a B2B to solve this but that wasn’t do-able the one time I asked.

Doing some last minute planning for our first Post Covid cruise that we board here in Vancouver on Monday May 2. We did a LOT of Princess cruising between 2010-2019, 42 cruises / 425 days. During the process of booking this cruise I quickly realized how much had changed and/or how much I had forgotten.

So the Elite Mini Bar:

I will assume that not much has changed, 10 alcohol and 10 non alcohol items included. Items can be rearranged within the alcohol and within the non alcohol categories by calling room service. Complete minibar can be swapped out for two coffee packages and there was also the ability in the past to swap out everything to all water or possibly swap out everything to just one bottle of wine I think?

Here is what I am really asking about here today. In the past I think they would swap out to 1/2 minibar (5 alcohol and 5 non alcohol) along with one coffee package. Has anyone heard of them doing this combo since the return from Covid? I’m guessing this may ultimately be “at Room Service managers discretion” unless it is included in the instructions of possible Elite Minibar swaps. I was successful in the past at getting 8 (not 10) alcohol items swapped to one of the 375 ml bottles of alcohol that Room Service supplies after getting the Room Service Managers approval. The basis for this was that there is NO RUM available in the Elite Minibar. The “No rum available” thing always amazed me. What alcohol goes with the Caribbean more than Rum and what alcohol goes with life at sea and the Navy more than Rum. But, that’s a discussion for another day.

Terry

10 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Yes, this was addressed in a previous posting. I acknowledged that I was mistaken. My only excuse was that previously there was no Ruby level and I hadn't updated my (granted inefficient) mental database with the new information. It used to be the case that the insurance upgrade only happened at the Platinum level.

 

I don't mind being corrected yet again. I posted incorrect content and am (seriously, I'm not being snarky) happy to be corrected for the benefit of others who frequent these boards.

Ah sorry about that then. I had gone back to read the last 5-6 pages of this topic to try to see what I can learn before boarding and did a bit of a scan for a correction to this info but didn’t stumble upon it. At least I haven’t forgotten everything I knew in our 2.5 year absence from Princess and cruising. Which Royal Princess Alaska cruise are you doing in May? We are boarding Monday for the twelve day round trip with a couple of new Alaska ports. Originally it was to be on Pacific Princess when she was to return to Vancouver in 2020 after a ~5 year absence here but that won’t be happening now!

On 4/24/2022 at 12:02 PM, Thrak said:

 

Princess Vacation Protection has two levels. When one becomes Platinum they get the higher level of insurance at the cost of the lower level.

Correct me if I am wrong but the more deluxe insurance kicks in at Ruby Level, on the 4th cruise not at Platinum on the 6th cruise. When Ruby level was new and they shoe horned up it in between Gold and Platinum levels (Gold previously was for 2nd through 5th cruises) the only additional thing that came with Ruby above Gold was the better insurance. Thus I always assumed that was why the added Ruby. I always thought “if I were in charge I would have made Ruby 4th to 7th cruise. That would have cut Platinum from 10 to 8 cruises making that a little easier to get through and made the steps a bit more logical. 1st is Blue, 2-3 Gold, 4-7 Ruby, 8-15 Platinum & 16 & Up Elite. But of course I would have added an Elite Plus years ago now too.

I believe you can see your onboard pre-purchases if you log in to what we used to (may still) call the cruise personalizer. I always pre-purchase Onboard Credits to my account which I can see online so that should be similar to anything else pre-purchased including the internet package.

For someone (me) with 42 Princess Cruises under our belt, getting this first “Post Covid” cruise booked has sure been a nightmare. Of course some of this stems from us having done 8 times the number of cruises to get a free internet package yet we now have to pay for it.

Is this how it works, purchasing before boarding is less expensive than once onboard? If so I better decide and get it done as I will skip it completely when I learn that it is now even more expensive to purchase onboard. I know that Platinum/Elite get the package for half price. Is the “one device” plan now $10 (before half price reduction for Platinum/Elite) per day based on number of days of the cruise? And $15/$7.50 if purchased onboard? When they say “one device” is that one online at any given time or one device gets registered and that is the only device that can be used? And I know that for $20/$10 a day there is the 4 device plan.

I know that the internet is vastly improved for the most part and some of our last several cruises in 2018/2019 we’re on ships that had the new internet “system” in service. It’s just that we really don’t need always on internet service, I was fine with the free per minute packages in the past but agree they didn’t work well along side the new always online packages they were selling. 
 

Terry

6 hours ago, MissP22 said:

That idea has been recently discussed on CC but almost everyone who replied seems to think it's an unnecessary level to add. 

 

My thinking is that most people who responded will probably never attain that level & their afraid that the benefits of the lower classes would have to pay for that upper category. ❓

Yes I recall some discussions about this several years ago and basically saw the same type of response. In my mind, loyalty programs obviously work, one only needs to look at the ever increasing number of them across almost every sort of business. Sure, I could argue that they should ALL go away and prices be lowered across the board but that isn’t going to happen. If a company is doing the loyalty program thing, having a relatively easily obtained top end that NEVER gets another level added for people to aim for just seems like a mistake to me. 
 

In the past discussions, the loyalty perk was mentioned like it was an additional level. Fair enough except apparently it is now gone. This would have been the Ideal time for them to make the reductions they have recently made while adding a new higher level that retained at least some of the existing perks for whatever number of cruises or days at sea this new highest loyalty level started at. 
 

The free laundry for Elite guests is great but our last couple of years on Princess as Elite has been getting somewhat frustrating with how often laundry has been “three days” which occasionally was only two but just as often turned into four days. The relative ease of attaining Elite on Princess means this is only going to get worse which means their inevitably are going to be changes to this perk as well. The only solution is to limit the amount of laundry somehow or move it to a higher level. Unfortunately if they go the same route they did with internet it is going to turn into half price laundry for Elites. Since a laundry price list already exists it would be so easy to just give each elite person in a cabin a laundry account credit based on the number of days on the cruise. Exceed the amount and you simply pay the overage charge. All it needs to be is a reasonable amount of laundry rather than unlimited. The problem with the perk at the moment is the unpredictability of how long it will be to get your laundry back which diminishes the value of the perk.

 I haven’t posted on here for years and our last cruise was October 2019 after so much cruising the last 10 years, almost exclusively on Princess. Just now starting to re-learn everything I forgot. 
 

I had heard rumours that the free internet perk was gone with the medallion introduction. We were in Caribbean Princess just after it became the first ship to fully convert to medallion and I have to admit, what a mess the free internet by the minute was. Printed instructions given out made no mention of loging in and out just played up the benefits of the new medallion internet. The lineup for help at the internet cafe stretched half way around the ship.
 

Our first push to get to Platinum back in 2009 was to get free internet to make it easier to ensure nothing at home had derailed. Now at over 40 cruises on Princess we are about to start paying for internet again? I really thought that by now they would have come up with an Elite Plus category so that eventually internet can be free for some again.

The Loyalty Perk is gone too? I assume that is the $25/50/75/100 credit that we just completed our last $50 cruise in 2019 and we were moving on to $75 for our next cruise.
 

Since the Shareholder Credit is still in existence, have they finally fixed the loophole allowing two shareholders with different last names to claim the credit while no matter how many shares a couple using the same last name own, they only get one credit per cabin? That never seemed right to me.

Still looking forward to getting back on board sometime soon, we really have missed to interruption to our world travels. But I have to admit to feeling a little depressed about some of the changes and I haven’t even mentioned the loss of our favourite ship, Pacific Princess. 

Fantastic show by the crew on the boat bringing us back to PV as well last time in 2015 I believe.

Terry

Have had it refunded in Canadian and in US in the past. It may depend how much $ and how much difference there is from their rate to current bank rate. Most recent in October was refunded in US but our $1.30 rate were pretty close to bank rate then. Was $450 US.

Terry

And doesn’t have nor ever had OBC associated with it to the best of my knowledge. Is used when you get a better rate than the other parties can get.

Anything odd with EZ Air online is resolved by having a service rep do it for you by phone I believe. The program is just not able to handle all the possible variations.

The numbers represent both disembarking and embarking passengers so a 3000 passenger ship like Emerald Princess is 6000 passengers. There may be additional passenger numbers included for some crew as well.

Now isn’t this just perfect, larger cruise ships will wind up in South Van or Richmond instread of being dropped right downtown so that they can watch the oil tankers go by! Get the tankers (hot local debate) out of Burrard Inlet to Richmond or Roberts Bank and I’ll support the pipeline.

As most of you who follow my post know, I am one who takes it as it comes, makes lemonade, adds a little vodka and has a party.

Well, I’d have guessed a Tequila rather than Vodka but point made,... carry on....

Terry

Bwahahahahahaaaa.... I like it! I have to wonder how many people will be scratching their heads over that answer. :cool:

I very rarely read any posts here anymore...I just check in every two or three weeks to see if I happen to see anything new that is BIG! But, if not and I see an opportunity to express my opinion in an existing thread about not properly tipping crew :) I can’t restrain myself and try to motivate people to be more generous. So, even though I am hardly here anymore.... I got it!

Look ... pay tips in CASH ... solves a lot of problems for a lot of people.

And worst case gets a few crew members fired for tempting them to slip up and not report it to Princess. I’ll stick with auto-gratuities and a little extra $$ in envelopes for most of them for the amazing service they provide month after month.

When the sale of the Ocean Princess was announced, Princess simply cancelled all cruises taking place after the sale date.

Which was only two Cruises, a southbound (west) and a northbound (east) Panama Canal Cruise.

I do not tip, anywhere. My contract is with the business owner.

Yet oddly Cuise Citic brands you as a “Cool Cruiser”! Go figure.

The contract with the business in this case states that gratuities will be added to your bill so cancelling them is arguably breaking your contract.

Sorry....not cool.

PLEASE just find a way to include it in the total cruise price. Or at the very least make cancelling gratuities much more difficult possibly coming to a bit of a reduction if one department didn’t provide the level of service expected. It is rediculous to just remove a passengers gratuity requirements completely.

Very slowly I believe more and more people are cancelling or reducing gratuities because of the increases lately and because “if he dies it then I’m doing it too” mentality. It makes me sick that people of a first world country would be so cheap and self centred to not pay the crew properly.

Further, the cruise lines have to account for everything, they aren’t adding it to their profit, they arent funding the officers retirement, it is divided amongst very hard working crew who still aren’t getting rich even if everyone does pay their share of gratuities. Why the gratuity sharing over all ships in the fleet irks passengers so much is beyond me. Unless you honestly believe that you tip much more than the average, the crew who serve you are likely gaining, not losing through this sharing of gratuities. Get over it!

Many people think cruise pricing is similar to the way a jug of milk is priced at the grocery store. It isn’t.

Your comparison would be valid if the price of the 2018 cruise was from 1 year ago maintaining the “year and a half” before the actual cruise date comparison but it isn’t. You are comparing the price of two similar Cruises, one 6 months away and the other 18 months away.

Prices change constantly with the end game being to have the ship sold out about one or two weeks before the sailing date. Sell it out too soon and they discounted too much at some point. Fail to sell it out and they didn’t discount quite enough.

We virtually never book a cruise before final payment date for this reason.

AE_Collector