Mud_Shark

It used to be that movies were held back from your cabin TV if they were going to play them on MUTS (except for the daytime old ones like Princess Bride and Mrs Doubtfire), and then they would afterward appear on your TV listings for view.  But on our last cruise on the Royal, quite a number of them were available on the TV before they played on MUTS, and all of them were available after they previewed on MUTS.  Maybe they just hold back the most recent, but there some fairly current ones that were available from the start.

1 hour ago, Torfamm said:

Having the correct medallion color and level showing in the app can be helpful to get in the priority line at embarkation, when tendering, entering the PE lounge etc. If the level shown is incorrect pre-cruise, it’s worth making a call to me. Especially if it’s that many sailings.

The only issue I had was standing in line at the Elite/Suite line of the Guest Services line.  Wondered if some were staring at me for being in the "wrong" line, but no one said anything and the officer took me with no questions.

My wife is more prone to sea sickness than I am when the ship rocks.  Usually, the sideways cabins are better for her, as the rocking is felt more up and down than sideways (unless the waves are pounding from a cross wind), and she feels it is more easy to take from a sleeping perspective.

That said, she is usually fine either way after a day or two.  And generally, seas are less unsettled in the Caribbean than in the pacific, so it is a bit less of a concern for Caribbean cruises for us.

Yes.  This happens if you book the cruise before you have achieved the next loyalty level.  We were one cruise away from Elite and booked 7 cruises over the next 2 years.  Even though for 6 of them we had advanced to the elite level, the summaries still called us platinum in each one.  Then, when booking cruises after we had achieved the new level, the summaries reflect the correct level.

All it means is your medallion will be the wrong color, but you will receive the benefits of the appropriate level you have actually attained.  We never had a problem with the things like free mini-bar and discounts for excursions etc that were tied to our new level.  Everything worked fine.  Just had grey medallions for a bunch of cruises.  I guess you could ask at guest services to get a new sticker for the medallions, but we never bothered.

Yes, often.  When a fare is marked "new bookings only", to get that price you must cancel and rebook.  Seems rather cumbersome to me.  If you have any reservations for transfers, excursions, internet, etc, they all cancel and you must re-book them under the new booking.

But, CVPs are very good at doing this.

Yes - has happened to me several times.  Once because the entire excursion was reserved for a large group on the ship.  The other two times, so that the excursion could be reposted at a higher price (Grrr)

Our cruise also is beyond the stated 85 day time that says bidding will open, but it has not yet.  So will just wait....

All 4 of these ships are Australian ported this winter, so it does sound like the IT department has not adjusted for their new itineraries for next year.  Does not actually sound like an increase in Spec dining but rather a mistake on translating from one currency to another.

Agree it will likely be Brooklyn, but there is a water taxi stop right there at the port (less than 5 min walk).  The water taxi will take you over to Manhattan (near financial district) if that is where you wish to go or stay.

The princess call center is the single worst thing about Princess, and it is close to driving us away from the line (and on to other types of vacations).  I now use a CVP in order to avoid the call center, but I hate to bother the CVP with all the fare changes that Princess post along the way (usually have to re-fare a cruise 2 or 3 times as the fares change).   I prefer to do things myself, but simply will not call the call center anymore.  It is aggravating and a waste of time.  What you hope to accomplish just gets all confused with wrong answers and wrong directions.

I bought my wife industrial ear plugs for jack hammer operators.  She uses them in the theatre.  They are not obvious, as they fit right into the ear.

Yes, couple glitches for me on these newly posted sailings.

1st - Deposits are not $100 when you go to book them - despite the header claiming such

2nd - The fares are posted saying  "CAD" and look quite reasonable, and stay looking reasonable until the final step in the booking process when they change to a higher amount.  Appears that the fares are errantly displaying in USD (though stated as CAD) until you go to book, then they convert.  Makes the cruises look much cheaper than they actually are.

Wave season has become much ado about nothing.  Back in the day, there may have been some deals, but it is just another fake sale these days.

Frankly, I never "get" the stories some claim to tell or unfold.  Too artsy for me.  I just like the songs.

4 cruises - no change or slightly higher pricing.  1 cruise, $75 Per person less - so I went ahead and re-fared that one!  🙂

Haha, like others, we have been on many Princess excursions and for the most part, found them to be pretty reliable with their timings and return to the ship times.  So we booked two excursions in one port last year for the first time, with 90 minutes in between, thinking this would be perfect.  Port was Aruba and the first excursion was a catamaran snorkel trip.  Well, wouldn't ya know it....  Well into the trip, we have snorkeled at our two stops and by our accounting, should be heading back around a certain time, and the captain says, "since we have a little extra time, I am going to take you out to a scenic view of the coast for a while".  I asked him "weren't we supposed to be back at the ship by 1130?" (this is what the excursion said), and he responded, "No, we will be back at "our" dock at 1130, where you then get the bus back to the ship a bit later".  Hmm, sounded a bit tight, but ok, it was only about 45 min back to the ship from where we boarded the catamaran.  But we were late getting back to the dock, the bus was a bit late leaving to bring us back to the ship, and the traffic was slow.  Net result, we missed our next excursion by 5 minutes.

Just a bunch of bad luck, but not sure I would do it again. Just stressed us out a bit.  Don't need that.

Okay, but the title says "using OBC for both passengers", so that sounds like they both want to attend excursions together and he can pay for his with OBC, but wants to find a way to also pay his wife's excursion as well.

1 hour ago, startedwithamouse said:

Make the reservation for you, then change it to her name when your board. 

I don't really understand this.  How would you reserve two tickets for yourself (assuming you and your spouse are doing the same activity together)?  The system doesn't let you do this as far as I know.

You have to call Princess (and hit the button for excursion purchase).  Ask them to use your OBC to purchase two tickets for the excursions you would like.  I and others have done this multiple times.   

Alternately, if you have a CVP, maybe he or she could do it for you if you ask them.

And lemonade.  Tea/coffee available at all meals.

(milk in the morning)

Not the Majestic, but we had a balcony cabin on Enchanted that was 3 rooms down from the Trident Grill on Lido deck.  It was perfect.  Loved the easy access to everything.  When a deck party was ongoing, you could hear the singing from our balcony, but it was not overpowering and never an issue in our room.

Just looking for clarification - it says for all paid beverage items.  Wasn't this always the case?  If you bought a drink without a package, were you not automatically charged a gratuity as well?  I assumed we were, so if not, I guess I have been stiffing the servers for the past few cruises.

If you arrive early (like one of the first two water shuttles or so), there are some loungers available under shade (kind of roofs with no walls that cover maybe 8-10 loungers).  There are several of these "shade buildings", but they are snapped up fast.

It looks like PC now also rents shade umbrellas (same price as clam shells).  I guess the benefit there is that sometimes clam shells get hot because they block the flow of air.

Last time we used them, lockers were $10 per day.  But we tend not to use them anymore and just kind of develop a rapport with our neighbors in the next beach chair and ask them to keep an eye on our stuff when we are away and offer to do the same for them.  For the most part, it is a relatively safe beach from petty crime as there are only passengers, ship staff, and beach workers there.  No guarantees of course, but other open public beaches have higher theft rates.

We were directly over the catch by Rudy or something like that.  It was majestic Princess.