Elitein85days

No problem putting his laundry in with yours. It's acceptable to include those booked in the same cabin. Just make sure you put your name and sign on the laundry slip.

 

You can request your clothes folded or on hangers. Your choice.

I disagree that this benefit can be extended to anyone in the cabin. It's an individual perk for reaching elite status and no where does it say you can share this benefit.

I doubt your cabin steward would ever say anything, but my opinion is that you're breaking the rules.

On our upcoming cruise, booked awhile ago, we decided to do traditional dining. We usually do Anytime Dining but wanted to try Traditional again because of the Club Class dining coming in December.

 

Our TA requested a table for 2. On the Princess site under our booking it says "6pm dining confirmed". I would hate to think they would ignore our "confirmed" 6pm dining? I think I'll make a copy of our "confirmation" on the Princess website... it might come in handy!

I always choose 6pm dining and it's never ended up actually being 6pm. Almost always gets changed to 5:30 or 5:45. Out of 19 cruises 6pm has never been the time printed on my cruise card.

It won't matter if you have a printout, they'll schedule the dining times to best fit their kitchen needs.

I have to ask is it just me or is boarding a ship with Princess in Civitavecchia always a nightmare? We cruised out of there with Costa in 2010 and didn't have near the problems we did on the 23rd of July. There was no signage. No Princess reps to tell us where to go. It was a pain. We took the train into town and walked to the port. We went to the port information booth to find out we had to take a bus to get to another bus. WHAT? When we arrived at the second bus line we had to ask which line. No one told us what was going on. There was no shade, no water and zero customer service in 94 degree weather while we waited 20 minutes for our bus. The bus driver refused to let anyone on the bus until all of the passengers had loaded their own luggage as he stood off to the side. All of the port employees where just standing around chatting. No one made eye contact. No one asked us which ship we were going to. It was bad. When we arrived at the ship the bus driver opened the door and just sat there playing on his phone. My husband opened up the doors to our luggage. He was tired of waiting around for someone who obviously didn't care if they did their job. If this would have been my first Princess Cruise I would have been completely put off with the cruise line. I just thought I would ask if it's just me or is it always this bad.

Omg. You were in a foreign country and you discovered that everyone wouldn't just cater to your every desire?? Shocking!

Let's see:

1. Do research before so you know the layout of the port.

2. You know it's 94 degrees so bring your own water.

3. Bring an umbrella to provide your own shade.

4. Pack your bags so you can carry them yourself. Why should the bus driver load and unload 50 people's bags? Just cuz he's the driver doesn't mean he can carry your bags let alone 49 other people's bags!

Another poster said they paid good money for the cruise. Yep, you did, but that doesn't include shaded bottle water and hand holding service at the port. That costs extra!

I could go on and on about people's entitled mentality, but even a little preparation on your part would've made your embarkation much easier.

You let every group book individually with their own credit cards...

 

& the biggest +++ for many one credit for another cruise - double credit if solo & triple if solo in a suite :D

You could get elite status by booking 5 one day cruises solo in a suite.

But at the price of a suite you'd probably never get enough value out of the benefits to be anywhere near worthwhile.

Thanks to everyone who responded.

 

The wife and I had mentally made a list of stuff that might not be available for a one day cruise.

 

Bingo - Don't think so

Art Auctions - Nope

Pub Lunch - Nope

3:00 tea - Not sure

Shows - Yes

Captians Party - Nope

Ship Tours - Don't know

Tour Desk - Don't know

Formal Night :D - Thank God no! (And I'm an Atheist)

Sales Pitch for Diamond International - Why in the world would you want this?

Wine Tasting Party - Nope

Ice Carvings - Never seen one on a one day

 

So, we will see how close our ideas are.

 

Bob

We've done quite a few 1 day cruises. See my answers above.

 

(Btw, this insurance does not cover terrorism or acts of war.)

Be very careful of this line. It's in most policies as an exclusion. I'd be very surprised if any policy with this exclusion covered any trip to Turkey.

Can you elaborate on bus between Seattle and Vancouver? I tried researching it and buses I found did not allow luggage. Train was an option but times inconvenient as morning train too early for disembarkation and afternoon (late) train put you in Seattle late night. Our cruise ends in Vancouver and we are considering a few days in Seattle post cruise.

Chris

Check out the Bolt Bus (http://www.boltbus.com). The go from Seattle to Vancouver. We use them all the time for cruises. BUT they don't pick up or drop off at Seatac airport. You'd have to take a shuttle, cab or uber from the airport to the Bolt Bus's pickup/drop off point in Seattle.

They're inexpensive and good quality clean buses and you can bring luggage for no charge. Free wifi too on the bus if that matters.

None of the Curtis Stone dishes appeal to me. I think Princess should dump him and bring some more "normal" or "traditional" dishes. Especially a beef dish.

Excursions go late, they end early, you chose not to go on the 2nd day. I don't see how that's Princess's fault. Maybe you should pay extra because you got a longer first day.

Life is not perfect and you chose not to go the 2nd day. There are consequences to your choices. This one is that you forfeited the 2nd day of the excursion.

Your line of "I spent $3,000..." just makes me think you'll never be satisfied with anything princess offers.

Since you have the drink package start at the top of the menu and go down! If you don't like it, get another! That's the beauty of the package.

I have never, ever signed my card.

The casino will make you sign your card if you use it to get money at the table. They've made me do that on every cruise. I've never had to sign it for anything else though.

Princess confiscated our power strip on our last cruise. They gave it back at the end. First time they've taken it.

Every cruise I've been on it's been in US dollars. I have been on one strictly in Australia so that might be different.

Interline rates, sailing as a travel agent and possibly casino rates are about the only rates that do not qualify. The vast majority of pax are not affected by these limitations.

We have always gotten our shareholders credit applied even when booking casino rates.

A WS is a full suite. :confused:

Yep. It's a full suite, but without a balcony. We've stayed in one a few times and it's a great way to experience the full suite benefits at a cost not much more than a mini-suite.

Only you can answer your questions. You know your health and circumstances better than anyone. Insurance is a waste of money if you don't use it, but then of course anyone who doesn't have it and needs it, tells of the horror stories of not being adequately covered.

So you have to decide if "well over $1,000" is worth it, but no one can help you with that decision.

I learned something new today! I thought that if you wanted sodas for your fridge etc (aside from the soda packages) you would have to bring them on the ship with you.

 

long story short...

 

While on the phone with Princess buying our drink packages yesterday, we learned that you can buy 6-packs of sodas through Princess. It is $10 per 6-pack. Not exactly cheap but I don't mind paying for the convenience.

 

I do think they should put that on the website so that you can purchase them easily though...as it is now you have to call to be able to order it.

 

Sometimes you just aren't in the mood to meander all over the ship for something to drink. :p:cool:

At that price they're hopefully saving people from drinking that junk!

We booked 13 cruises with our casino discount. A couple were actually booked beforehand and had the casino offer applied to them and we got a refund on the difference.

Thank you so much. Do you have experience with being in suites on Princess? For example, it says complimentary mini bar set up, are you able to customize that at all? Neither my husband nor myself drink alcohol. It would be great if we could substitute the alcohol for water or soda.

Use the search function! You'll find many answers to your questions.

You'll get your allotted Internet minutes due to you elite level, but nothing more for a suite. The unlimited wifi perk for suites went away years ago.

Update:

I had already taken the Upsell offer when I posted. I just wanted to get some opinions. I think it was a great Upsell offer.

Got an upsell offer to go from our currently booked obstructed ocean view (OZ category) to a premium balcony (B1 category) for $249 per person. There 2 of us in the room so it'd be ~$500.

I checked prices. We paid $759 per person for the OZ room (had a casino discount applied to get that price). Current price of the B1 category is $1,889 per person (no idea if our casino discount would apply to this price and if so, what our price would be).

What are people's thoughts on this offer?

This cruise is a family obligation, a wedding we very much wish to attend. Looking forward to the scenery but have little desire to see yet another city so will likely remain on board when in port. The cost of this trip is already nearly three times what we have ever spent on a vacation so adding expensive tours while in port is out of the question. Frankly, just hoping to get to the end of the boat ride without having a panic attack. Appreciate that all you folks truly appreciate a cruise, but we hope to survive it.

It seems with your attitude already that you've decided this will be an awful experience. I think you're going to hate every aspect of the cruise because it doesn't seem like a cruise fits your travel wants and needs.

If you don't want to see a port there isn't any obligation to get off the boat.

Is the wedding on the boat? If not, cancel the cruise and find another way to attend the wedding.

I thought I heard that after my 20th Princess cruise I would receive some OBC every cruise. Is this true, if so how much?

 

 

I am getting close to elite status(11 cruise credits)... The lounge benefit is the opportunity to buy drinks for $ 5 each plus canape'. Free wine or beer? How about free soda pop?

Go to princess's website and it'll tell you all the benefits for the different captains circle levels.

Yes you will eventually get additional OBC. It starts at $25 and goes up to $100 per cruise.

But basically the answer is no to all of your questions. Almost nothing is free.