Times Prince

We have a recollection of a steep driveway to get from the pier to where the chair lift is. Does anyone recall if there is some sort of service (peditaxi, golf cart) that can be hired to get up the hill?

Often there is an announcement that the particular type of ballroom dance will be featured in a venue. For Ruby Princess and her sister ships that venue is typically the Wheelhouse Bar, where there is a small dance floor. You might have to request the type of dance from the band. Club Fusion may also include ballroom dance using recorded music with some variety in types of dance music, usually scheduled early evening.

It has been a long time, but the Christmas cruise we were on had Formal Night on Christmas Eve, but Dec 25 Christmas itself was definitely a smart casual, befitting a family celebration with lots of young people.

I keep hearing the complaint that the mini-bar is useless. However on a recently booked Panama cruise, approximately 1/3 of the people were booked using the Standard Princess package, so for that 1/3 (around 1,000 passengers?) the mini-bar remains a useful perk. Don't assume that because you don't use a feature that others don't either. However if it was a choice system, ours would be 1) laundry 2) wi-fi minutes 3) mini-bar 4) High tea service in cabin 5) Loyalty OBC 6) shop discounts

I don't understand your problem. Didn't you and your wife experience the same cruise and didn't you discuss and agree what was best/worst about it? If so, wouldn't she have submitted those great comments, cited an outstanding employee, or mention the thing that irked you both? I had a similar thing happen, but agreed on tips and +/-'s before we even left the ship.

Actually my current PVP was as helpful and cooperative as she could be within the restrictions of not knowing about the OBC. My missing OBC was not related to any sale or offer, but was given to other cruisers on my Roll Call coincident with a cancelled port causing misconceptions. It turned out to be a general OBC for all cruises out of Galveston where drink packages had been purchased. That general issue should have been communicated within the PVP community. Sorry to hear about your moving on from Princess after many years of good experiences.

A different view: We have used a TA from a large franchised agency who used to always get us a discounted fare plus a modest OBC. However before 2020 her ability to offer discounts and OBC was diminished by some changes by Princess which apparently reduced her commission and ability to discount fares. The amount of discount usually was in the ballpark of the cost of taxes. OBC often came out of her commission which she could no longer afford to offer us, but used to be at least $25/person. We've had a couple of cruises now where the Princess sale offer was good enough for us to book direct. One CVP came and went with no real assistance. But this year we have a new CVP who is at least keeping us informed of cruises and Princess offers, however we have not yet booked a new cruise through her. We had a question about an OBC which appeared for other people on our upcoming cruise, but not for us. We had the same response as the OP - Customer service was worthless, the CVP could only escalate, escalation professed no knowledge of the OBC, and all anyone could tell me was that my booking didn't show the OBC, which was my original complaint. (Note: I since found out here on Cruise Critic what the OBC was for). But I believe that Princess Customer Support has a major lack of people who know the complete picture of what OBC was offered, and under what conditions - i.e. a subject matter expert. For special offers I used to always capture a copy of the original terms and conditions of the offer so I could address issues should they arise, especially where OBC is involved. I suggest that for everyone and all it takes is to inconvenience some electrons to store an image of the offer on a computer.

I can envision some similarities as HAL and Princess Cruises are both part of Carnival Corporation, which also owns Carnival Cruises, Cunard, P&O, AIDA, Seabourn, and Costa. While each line has their place and clientele it is possible some economies of scale are accomplished through using a core set of software, food and fuel sourcing, etc.

Sprite Zero is the "diet" lemon-lime drink available. I've never seen diet root beer onboard ship.

The Medallion App which is currently used tor setup and documentation for the cruise has the ability and requirement that one scan in passport and Covid vaccination card. It is recommended one brings the actual documents, but the scanned in information is sufficient for boarding. At present only a few countries require Covid vaccination or, if not vaccinated, a very recent monitored negative Covid test. This could change. You will find that in many cases there is no distinction on board between passengers once outside of your cabin. Club Class does get a separate dining are in the main dining room. Otherwise there is no "class system" apparent. Do join in a roll call for your cruise here on Cruise Critic. And book excursions as early as you can.

Often, EZAir is less expensive for "Open jaw" travel than if booked elsewhere, as some airlines treat your flights to and from different airports as one way flights. I don't know if that is what you are experiencing, but it could be a factor.

Not on the app on my phone. I have reservations and it says it will cancel if I even look at other options for reservations.

Princess used to say on their web based cruise personalizer that one can choose a date to celebrate a birthday or anniversary which occurred within +/- 30 days of the cruise. IDK if their policy has changed but they don't seem to have a place in our profile for actual dates.

I am concerned about "how theoretical?" My wife has diabetes and previously with Anytime Dining often the wait time delayed our meal past when she must eat and the buffet became our only option. I've booked a 6:40 time for an upcoming cruise, hoping that the 5 PM early diners will have cleared out by then, but if there is a significant delay there may be issues. What have been your experiences with delays? Also, there was no option for "share a table" when I booked it. Is that something they offer you when you arrive, even with the scheduled time for a 2-top?

FYI my House of Representatives Congressman just posted "Don't forget to check your passport’s expiration date now. Standard processing is between 8-11 weeks. Expedited processing is between 5-7 weeks." ---------- We recently renewed our Passport. Sent it in by US Post on 26 Oct. and received our new passports, 15 Dec. That's a 7 week turnaround, not bad for regular handling. I wouldn't count on that still being the case.

pre-covid, the buffet offered theme nights, of which the Bavarian was our favorite (schnitzel, bratwurst, apfelstrudel, etc). I agree with people about pre-ordering Indian food. We had tablemates order a dish then not show up for dinner - the dish was outstanding, and I don't usually like curry. They missed a good meal.

Better check the date for your cruise that's in your signature. We're at sea on 4/23. Our experience is that Norovirus is brought onboard by new passengers, especially after a deep cleaning such as occurred on March 5. Personal hygiene and minimizing contact with potentially contaminated surfaces is key to avoiding this illness. Have a safe journey!

Princess and every other cruise line has always known who their high margin customers are just by looking at their stateroom account. Demographics - you gave them that information when you registered for the cruise. The new information they can glean is how many passengers stop at the included entertainment venues, and whether they can reduce those or retain their value. Let's face it, the time for paranoia about being electronically tracked is long passed, especially if you use any kind of a smart phone, or website. We are being tracked.

I would be surprised if ship's security didn't have the capability to take a photo at embarkation.

The Carnival Corp Shareholder Benefit states: "Only one onboard credit per shareholder-occupied stateroom." It has in my case always been applied to my name, as that is first on the share certificate. If the 2 occupants of the cabin don't have linked accounts, then the benefit should only apply to the one shareholder. I have no idea what happens if both occupants in unlinked accounts are eligible for the benefit. The military benefit is "applied to the folio of the veteran or active duty personnel's stateroom" and "is valid for a maximum of two military personnel per booking." Again, if accounts aren't linked the benefit should not show as being shared.

The original report from CDC on the cruise ending March 5 indicated that Princess was performing the following actions: Actions: In response to the outbreak, Princess Cruises and the crew aboard the ship reported the following actions: Increased cleaning and disinfection procedures according to the ship’s outbreak prevention and response plan. Collected stool specimens from gastrointestinal illness cases to send to the CDC lab for pathogenic identification. The following cruise was noted as being delayed while Princess performed a deep clean of the ship. If there was any Norovirus on following cruises it would have been brought onboard by new passengers, who contracted it traveling (air, hotel, restaurants). In our experience there are always new cases, but not necessarily sufficient to trigger a reporting threshold. So for YOUR cruise keep on being consistent with your personal sanitation as recommend by the ship's doctor, and chances are you will have a safe, enjoyable cruise. That's what we plan to do.

The referenced url states "one liter will be duty-free under your returning resident personal allowance/exemption." The last time I disembarked at Galveston, CBP inspection stations were followed by a desk asking you to report ANY alcohol for Texas taxation with a sign citing a stiff $$$ penalty for not reporting. Carnival Cruises makes the requirement clear: "The tax is applicable to all liquor and tobacco that enters the state of Texas via the cruise terminal. Therefore, all purchases made onboard and on the islands, will be taxed upon debarkation in the cruise terminal. These duties will be in addition to whatever taxes may be imposed by US Customs." Texas Tax Declaration: The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) | Carnival Cruise Line If the bottle was gifted to me by someone, I didn't "purchase" it, but it does enter via the cruise terminal. Is that a loophole? Not that I care , but just curious.

I agree it doesn't make a lot of sense. It seems a clear case of government overreach.

The 21 days to process is a standard reply. I got the same and it took 1 business day for the credit to be applied. Also don't expect an email response. Look at your booking online under the Payments section, scrolling down to Credits. Good luck.

Texas law outlaws unlimited drink packages, so ALL cruise lines out of Galveston are limited to charging drinks by the serving until the ship is in international waters. Texas also requires that liquor served while still in Texas waters be purchased in Texas, so many of the brands available normally on the cruise are not available. As mentioned above Princess offers a $25 OBC to people with drink packages for them to be able to purchase individual drinks per Texas law.