leck57

Maybe I'm just too pedantic 😐

It's only baked in to the fares for Australian based cruises. I have cruises booked in Europe and Asia and have taken Peincess Plus. For us CA is not part of the Plus package. We either pay it in advance, have it added daily to our ship board account, or visit customer services on board and have it stopped.

Oh no. Get the popcorn out - the tipping debate round 2376886 is about to start, just as soon as our friends in the US wake up.

Find a new doctor.🍷

Both great ships. Celebrity and Princess are more alike than different in my opinion. I certainly wouldn't pay extra for Concierge class which I did once. Aqua class maybe but not Concierge.

OK, thanks for replying. It's still there for me.

Might be wrong but I'm guessing you are not from the US. What they call entree is what we call the main Course. Apologies if my assumption is wrong.

Sorry for my dumb question. Where in the App does (or did) show what Package you had. When I click on the "Payment Methods and Packages" heading it just took to a page with a link to the Personalizer, where it showed what package I had purchased. I'd not previously seen it on the App.

I recall this was a problem a long time ago and I think I had a similar issue the very first time I entered info (thank God it carries over and you don't have to do it again). I am testing a memory that has consumed much alcohol since that time but in my case I think it was the format I was entering my mobile phone number. I either had to ignore the first "0" or it was something to do with the Country Code (in our case here it is +61) Another option is give the App a miss and use the option on the Personaliser where it states on the first page of your booking to use a web friendly version if you don't have a compatible device. Might work and save a bit of frustration.

We have a similar problem although not with dining. If I even try to look at cruise ship excursions for our second cruise the App keeps showing excursions for the first cruise. Of course they STILL haven't fixed the problem where I see the little exclamation mark which indicates I haven't chosen my Medallion wearable. I have done it and have the confirming email but the App says otherwise.

It's been revealed that there were less than 10 Covid cases and less that 10 gastro cases. Our media down here is just scum and love to jump on stories like this, especially after the Ruby situation a few years ago.

I get you Dog. I think a few people need to go back and read posts from a few pages back. I agree that it seems that CA now just goes in to general revenue that pays for everything, including wages. I refuse to pay the staff wages. Raise the cruise fares if need be, but it would be more transparent. I have never removed auto grats in the past but will be doing so now based on what I have read here. I'll tip certain staff in cash on board. However it is clear that if we remove CA it makes no difference to what the room stewards, dish washers or whoever get paid. Some seem to get a warm feeling by paying the CA but if it just goes to general revenue it may well be paying bonuses to the IT staff who quickly deal with problems with the Medallion App.

Agree. We in Australia would generally struggle to get the survey done within three days as it can take at least 24 hours flying just to get home from any place in Europe. Doing a survey the day after you get home while getting over the return travel is not the highest priority.

Not much to keep you occupied for more than a day or so in Southampton in my opinion but would definitely recommend you catch the ferry over to the Isle of Wight and spend some a day there. Plenty to see over there and very easy to get to by frequent ferries. If your husband doesn't want to drive there are a few day tours from Southampton you can also book.

We've stayed in Leonardos which was pretty good. Breakfast great but their in house meals for dinner were not too good. However heaps of restaurants within a few minutes. For our cruise from there in July we are trying the Holiday Inn this time which is not as expensive and gets good reviews. Both are close to the port although with bags it may depend on what dock you leave from as to whether you'll need a taxi.

I thought with the bidding process you were at least upgraded to the next category such as Balcony to Deluxe Balcony. Like you, I thought you'd get upgraded to Deluxe and get a sofa. I certainly wouldn't bid for an upgrade that was just a same type of cabin in another location.

I agree with the comment about sales. It is usually "up to 50%" and most cruise offered it is 10% (and usually on a fare they had jacked up anyway). Celebrity are worse as they have a sale with 40% off all passengers now down here but when you start looking, for example a14 day cruise for balcony is around $8000 which is ridiculous. You take the 40% off and the price is still higher than you'd usually pay. Most cruise lines should be done over for misleading advertising. Unfortunately the smaller ships like Azamara are still quite expensive but the lack of activities due to the smaller passenger number, would bore me to tears at this stage of my cruising life. Perhaps they'll be quite suitable when I'm in my 80's.

I agree. We just had Paul McCartney here. He is 81 and his concert was louder than anything I've heard on a Princess ship. That aside I do wish the Piazza itself was a bit quieter especially through the day.

I would think the insurance increase would be minimal. Yes, it is a downside but I would have thought, only minor when you consider the overall cost. Then again, I often read where people have paid thousands for a cruise and write pages about a $10 increase.

Hmmm. Just to clarify, again, our Plus and Premier packages DO NOT include crew appreciation. We either have the prepay option or they are just added to our onboard account as they always have been. No change for us. I know you are likely correct in the way Princess' bottom line is determined but it doesn't sit well with me the my CA payments are just paying the crew basic wages. An alternative line of thinking could be that Princess just bake the CA into all fares and start a marketing campaign that all cruises are gratuity free and di away with this bs. My next cruise for example is 22 days and if they added the roughly $450 pp gratuities into the cost I wouldn't really notice. My fare cost is about $8000 per person so would another $500 deter me. Probably not.

Go in to Settings> Apps> select the Princess app and it should have the version there with other details. That's where it is on my Samsung devices so try your Samsung first perhaps.

So it really shouldn't be called Crew Appreciation, it should called Staff Wages as that is what it is. Don't see why I should pay the staff's wages. They should stop playing this game and just bake it in to all fares as it would be more transparent than what most people believe CA is used for now when they pay it.

Now that it appears the CA is not going to the staff I have no guilt in removing it when I board. Of course I'll tip as I go but it probably won't be to the amount I've removed.

It's strange how we interpret things differently when it's a keyboard response as against face to face where you can quickly clarify. To me it was quite clear that you said we get Plus for $65 and CA is baked into the fares. That is clearly not the case. Regardless, I really respect your posts and advice that you give and a bit of different interpretation will not change that.

Not strictly correct I think. I'm going on a Scandinavian cruise next year and have Plus, which for us never includes CA wherever we have booked to cruise. I will be charged CA or it's on my Personalizer to prepay it (almost $1000 for the two of us). So it's definitely not baked in to the cruise fare for cruises outside Australia.