justafem

WOW! That's a CONSIDERABLE difference. I wonder what's going on? There's NO way port fees and taxes DOUBLED +

A couple people have mentioned on FB they don't have the low fares either. Use Hubs account maybe? I logged into hubs and a couple of friends accounts and they had the low fares. BUT I logged into another friends account and she didn't.

All on the Royal Jan 6, 2023; 10 day Mexican CA coastal $249 pp Jan 31, 2023; 10 day Mexican CA coastal $249 pp Feb 25, 2023; 5 day CA coastal $99 pp April 11, 2023; 5 day southern CA coastal $99 pp April 16, 2023; 7 day southern CA coastal $149 pp April 30, 2023; 7 day northern CA coastal $149 pp For these fares, you must have cruised with Princess before AND you have to book them WITHOUT princess plus or premium. You can add princess plus or premium after booking. If you book before Oct 31, you'll get an additional $200 per room 'excursion' credit. Excursion promotion might have been extended. From what my online TA told me, the 'excursion' credit is regular onboard credit. I guess I'll find out. I'm doing a B2B of April 11 and April 16. Added princess plus after booking and we're good to go. Already had the Jan 31 already booked with a casino fare, so it didn't get any cheaper.

Yup, penny slots, but I think the minimum bet is 75 cents to $1. I've found playing the quarter slots at max of 3 quarters pays better. Smoking is now every night in the casino, on about 2/3 of the casino floor. There's no smoking at the table games. Min bet is normally $5 at the table games.

None of the onboard credit is 'supposed' to be used in the casino, but it's been a loophole to use it in the casino for as long as I've been cruising. All I know is I now have almost $700 in onboard credit to use in a 10 day cruise, where we already have princess plus. I see using the casino loophole in my future.

Baked Alaska is always the featured dessert the last night on every cruise, not just Alaskans. We call the American night, 'back to reality meatloaf'. Always always the last night. And avoid anything called taurine, ewww.

$70.79 drink package $15.00 gratuities $10.00 WIFI $95.79 total for one person to get the same benefit that the plus package offers. So even if the second person doesn't drink anything but the free items included in the cruise fare and doesn't use the internet, just the additional cost of gratuities at $15 would make the cost $110 per day for the 2 people. It's worth it.

We went to the gastro-pub in April on the Ruby. I won't go back. There was only 1 other table seated at the time. We waited 15 minutes before drink order was taken, then it was another 15 mins for our food order to be taken. 20 minutes waiting the cold cheese and breadsticks, 30 more for the food to arrive. Then we sat and sat and sat, waiting for dessert. All together it took over 2 1/2 hours for mediocre food, poor service and our drinks were never refilled. For a couple dollars more, we can go to Sabatini's.

Personally I cruise. Doesn't matter what room, doesn't matter what ship, doesn't matter what itinerary. I cruise, a LOT. You can stay home! I'll cruise!

Thank you so much! I'm on the Royal in Jan and 2 times in April.

Can anyone tell me the smoking areas on the Royal?

That's my question. Can I use on-board credit to pay for ez-air? Lots and lots of onboard credit, flight is cheaper than anything I can get myself. Thanks!

I've found that I can add princess plus or princess premier after booking. There are some really cheap cruises right now, without PP, but the price becomes much more if I add PP during the booking. I frequently travel solo and it wants to add the PP for 2 people. So I book base fare, then pay for the PP from my account page. Works for me!

I'll probably do the casino trick. Great, just remembered I also have $400 in casino cash. This is going to be a cheap cruise. I'll leave with money!

Terrine. anything with terrine in it is BLECHHHH! There used to be a couple of items I didn't care for, but after cruising other lines, I'm sold on princess (just call me cheerleader) I've been cruising carnival lately, trust me when I say food can be...boring. Ok, more like boring, repetitive and bland. Hubs and I have decided that when HE can cruise, we'll go princess. When it's just me on my own, I'll go carnival because of the price.

Free laundry was the only reason I ever wanted to be elite! Stayed in suites several times and loved loved loved that perk. Took me 9 cruises to get free laundry all the time and I'm going to use it!

I just had this promotion added to an existing cruise. My TA told it it's onboard credit. Regular old onboard credit, which can be used as normal. She had to call princess to add the promotion. Basically telling them, I was before final payment and it would be foolish for me to cancel that booking and immediately make another to get the credit. So now I have $560 in onboard credit, with another $100 to be added for stock on a 10 day cruise. What am I going to do with almost $700 in onboard when we already have princess plus? There's no way I can eat specialty dining every night, they'll have to roll me off the ship. I also have $400 in casino cash. This is going to be a GOOD trip!

Put it in both your names. Really easy to do, a simple online form. Otherwise, nope. At least they shouldn't.

Yup yup yup. Tried to see if there was a price drop yet and all cruises out of SF on the royal are "unavailable"

I did a 'booze cruise' in May (4 days), then did an Alaskan in June and again in Sept. Hubs and I have decided we like princess more, BUT at the price, we'll sail carnival. I've personally decided, when it's him and I, we'll go princess, when it's me, on my own, I'll go carnival. Yeah, the price difference is that much.

I've been on 5 princess cruises and 3 carnival cruises this year. Carnival is much cheaper and there's always another cheap cruise right around the corner, while princess takes planning, tricks and jumping right on that deal to get a better price. Princess has the plus (and premium) program, carnival doesn't. I would never consider getting the booze package on carnival or princess at $70 per person per day, while traveling with hubby, but we always get plus. Food: Princess seems to have better dining rooms, the food, atmosphere and service are exceptional. Carnival seems to have lesser food quality, servers are more like cafeteria workers (very large areas) and dinner service seems to take a LONG time. I was actually told on carnival to keep my fork for the next course, which isn't the thing on princess. Carnival has better lunches, more variety, broken down into restaurant types. Princess has the buffet. Carnival's menu is unchanging other than a couple items. Princess's changes daily, with a small 'always available' section. Everything in the dining room is available in the buffet on carnival, doesn't seem to be a difference in consistency between the venues. Princess has a noticeable consistency differences IF they have the same items available. Most of the items are free room service on princess, carnival now charges for almost everything. International cafe is a great bonus on princess, no such thing on carnival. Dining closes at 9 on carnival, after that it's sandwiches (until 11) or pizza until 4. Princess, buffet closes at 11, international sometimes open 24, sometimes until 1. Entertainment: Princess comedians tell the same 'shower curtain' joke, every show, every comedian, every ship. Carnival's comedians seem to be funnier, more current and more profane. Shows are shorter on carnival. Production shows are about equal on both lines, but IMO, the stage changing heights, 3-D shows and guest interaction are much better on carnival. There are always guest speakers on princess, carnival is minimal or nonexistent. Trivia seems to happen at least once per hour, all day, every day on carnival. Princess has trivia 2-3 times a day. Rooms: Carnival anything over an inside have a couch. Princess, no couch unless mini-suite or above. Beds are about the same comfort on both lines Princess has a vast library of on-demand and LARGE TVs. Carnival has small TVs and a rotating schedule. Balconies seem larger on carnival. Other things. I thoroughly enjoy the drink stations on carnival. That's something I miss when on princess. Alcoholic beverages seem stronger on princess. Medallion is great (when it works). I can order almost anything to any location and it's there (most of the time) before I could grab it myself. Then again, I've ordered drinks to have it say it was delivered and I never received. Later found it in my room or never found it. Embarkation and disembarkation is a cluster on carnival. No idea what the issue is, but it's always disorganized. Carnivals staff seems to genuinely want to engage, crew are encouraged to chat. Princess seems less chatty. Bar service on carnival seems slower. Princess offers better benefits the higher you advance. Pax on carnival are friendly! I rarely notice the 'better than you's'. There's less bragging. More 'hi ya's' and everyone is just happy to be on vacation. I'm sure there's more I'll think of after I hit submit, but these are what I've noticed.

For us, we utilize the heck out the plus, but don't think we'd get the value out of the premium. Difference is $25 per person per day. For that, we can eat specialty dining every night or not and get a photo (we have stacks of photos, probably not going to get any ever again, that $99 unlimited photo package was the bomb!). Hubs only drinks 1-5 cocktails the entire trip, but he loves his coffee and nonalcoholic drinks. While I love boozing while cruising (and I only drink while cruising, figure that one out). He probably drinks 5 specialty coffees a day and at least 4 nonalcoholic drinks. While I drink 2 coffees and 6 boozes. That's not counting the unlimited bottles of water. It's also great for the middle of the night, when international is closed, so we order (free) through room service. Hubs doesn't use internet, but I do. Just hubs coffee habit would be $30 per day and his mocktails are another $20, so it's worth it for him. My booze is $70, coffee $10. More than worth it for me. Then add the prepaid gratuities. Don't get me wrong, before plus, we made due with coffee cards and paid our gratuities. But we don't have to, so why.

I thought I'd have an issue with an inside after our experience on the Grand Princess 2020 Hawaiian hell cruise in an inside. But did a 10 day Alaskan last month, inside and didn't have any issue. I kinda like the darkness. Really. Best sleep I get and seems to make hubs snoring less. Take a change, try it. If you hate it, never do it again. But if you can live with it, it opens up worlds of cruising opportunities.

I'm not to elite or ultra status yet, but was thrilled to get my offer of a free room, modest casino cash, drinks and onboard credit. Hubs really despises me spending money in the casino. But when I book under a casino rate, he's always amazed that I get them so cheap. Point in hand. I paid $800 for our upcoming 10 day Alaskan with all the benefits previously mentioned. A friend of mine booked the same cruise, same room category and it was $3500, with no drinks. So IF I spend 2-3 grand, it's exactly the same cost. And I'll get more offers.

Up until May of this year, I'd exclusively cruised with Princess. I was shocked to be charged tax on a package I'd paid for on carnival. I asked about this on my next princess cruise. It was explained that princess doesn't actually process the drink purchases until they get into international water. I guess it's about how the cruise line wants to utilize the labor.