Ken the cruiser

Beautiful pictures and being able to take a video of that breaching Humpback whale must have been an awesome experience! So glad to hear you are having a great time and that the internet is working for the most as you cruise around the Peninsula!

Yes

If you launch the “old” app, it should give you the option to download the “new” app.

When we made Elite after our last Princess cruise in Nov, we had to contact our TA to have our upcoming January booking updated with our new Elite Loyalty status. Just curious if your January booking reflects your current status, especially if your Loyalty status was upgraded to Platinum after you booked your upcoming January cruise?

FWIW we will be on the Sapphire for 30-days on a B2B starting Jan 20 and will be posting to a Live From thread.

When we booked our recent Flora cruise back in Dec 2021, the same "sale perks" were going on then as well. We took the "Free" Air option and booked through Celebrity Air. We even upgraded to Delta Comfort+ both ways and it only cost us an extra $480 total, and that was from our regional Alabama airport to Atlanta with a direct flight from there to Quito. They initially tried to route us through Dallas and Miami before flying to Quito. But when we told the rep about the flight combination we found, he had to check with his supervisor and was later given the green light to proceed. Just remember to book your RT flights as soon as possible to get the best rate. As far as the cruise price going down, our Sky Suite with Balcony actually went up $1,700 pp within a year of us initially booking it. So, I wouldn't hold my breath that the price is going to go lower. But you never know ...

We just made Elite on our last cruise and are quite tickled with the new Elite perks we now get on top of what we were already getting, plus the Military OBC we both get for being veterans, the Shareholder OBC for being CCL stockholders, the 8% AARP Gift Card discount we can apply towards cruise fares as well as once onboard, and the 8% off the cruise fare we get for booking the cruise through our TA. I'm not sure any line we cruise with can even come close to topping the overall perks we now get when we book a Princess cruise.

Just curious, but what would be the motivator for Princess to add an additional tier above Elite?

We were there on the Diamond Princess this past July and the temps ranged in the high 80s most of the time, with the dewpoint usually in the high 70s to low 80s. Yes, it was hot and humid. But we were on excursions at each stop and inside most of the time, so not a big deal. But then, we're from Alabama where hot and humid in the summertime is the norm. You can see my Live From thread for that cruise in my below signature area.

Not sure if this makes a difference, but I downloaded the new App on both my iPhone as well as my iPad and am not experiencing any timeout issues. I will note I did log on to the app on each device with a booking number, as logging on with my Princess Personalizer credentials has never worked on either the new or old apps.

My DW's check-in status is "All Set" as she has the CC assigned to her on the booking with me as an authorized user. However, on my check-in status, they want me to fill out the shoreside info (which she never had to), so I simply clicked "Continue Later" as I have no desire to ever use that onshore service. Hopefully, they will add the option to "decline" in some future version.

We still have the same login (failure) issue using our Personalizer credentials as we did with the old app. However, we were both successful logging in to the new App with the booking number of our upcoming cruise, so all is good. One thing we did notice is that only the information of the booking number we used to log in with shows up. On the older version, all of our upcoming cruises were also listed and could switch to them if we so desired. OTOH our booked excursions are listed whereas on the old app, they were not.

Yes. In addition, we've seen couples, including ourselves, also seated at a table initially set for 4 if there were no 2-tops available.

Sounds good. Maybe we’ll have better luck with version 2.0, whenever it’s finally released. But until then, we’ll keep using one of our booking numbers. The only time we actually have to enter one is if we log off the Ocean Ready app, which we rarely ever do.

Are we missing something here? Do you have to create a separate userid/password, other than the one we use to log into the Personalizer, to log into Ocean Ready? We have special characters in our standard Princess account passwords, but have never been able to log into Ocean Ready using them. We have always had to use the Booking ID login process, which works seamlessly.

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We agree totally!! We won't book any cabin that does not include Reserve Dining.

The simple answer is no. You have to be booked in at least a Reserve Collection mini-suite in order to dine in the Reserve Dining Room.

I am sorry your expectations weren't exceeded on your recent cruise, whereas for us they have continually been on the various PCL cruises we've been on since cruising started back up. All I can say is that it is amazing the difference in experiences one encounters on one of their longer 14+ day itineraries versus one of their shorter 4-7 day ones, especially if they are conducted during school breaks or over the Holiday season.

I see you just got finished cursing near Elephant Island and are heading towards the Antarctica Peninsula. That's great news about the Starlink service cruising around the Peninsula, as I plan on posting to a Live From thread on our 30-day B2B that we will be embarking in San Antonio on Jan 20.

Have you checked out the additional perks provided with their new FAS Plus package for an additional $49 pp/day, if you booked your cruise with the FAS option and there are 2 people in your cabin?

We are in our 70s and Elite+ with Celebrity and have moved on from them as well due to their latest price increases, to include the 20% upcharge for booking a refundable deposit and ridiculous All Included costs. As far as NCL goes, we went on an awesome 38-day Middle East/Africa B2B on the Jade last year (see Live From in my below signature area) in an aft-facing Club Balcony (mini-suite) where we got a free bag of laundry on each leg. However, we also learned early on that NCL and Celebrity do things differently with regards to booking options. When it comes to NCL, here are some comments. - You cannot pay your Daily Service Charge (gratuities) with nonrefundable OBC. When we found out the DSC could not be paid using nonrefundable OBC, our TA instead gave us a rebate check (cash) for booking the cruise through them. - Do not assume because you get free "beverages" with their Free AT Sea (FAS) beverage package (as long as you pay the FAS beverage gratuities charge when booking the cruise) that you get unlimited bottled (boxed) water and Starbucks specialty coffees/hot chocolate for free. - The "free wi-fi minutes" are just that, by the minute. If you want to upgrade to unlimited minutes, there is a significant upcharge, especially for the second person in the cabin. HOWEVER, they recently came out with their "Free At Sea Plus" package for an additional $49 pp/day, which for us checked all of the boxes we previously had issues with, and then some. Norwegian's Free at Sea Cruise Deals: Free Open Bar & More (ncl.com) The bottom line when booking with NCL, as their cabins are very reasonably priced when compared to other lines, you need to take the time to do the math. In our case we cruise now mostly with PCL. But if the itinerary is just right, we have no issues with booking with NCL with their FAS Plus package.

We have never been successful using our Princess Personalizer login credentials when logging into Ocean Ready. As @mtnesterz mentioned, we always have to scroll down and login with our Booking Number along with the name listed on the account and the applicable birthdate. When we use that option, it works every time. And once logged onto the App, we can see all of our other bookings listed under the Profile section.

Thanks! Unfortunately, I have nothing to add regarding the wine list options, other than to note that all I drank on the cruise was Italian Moscato, which BTW was quite tasty and in abundance. In addition, the Celebrity app doesn't work on Galapagos cruises, so you won't be able to find the list there either.

If I might ask, as I can't seem to find it anywhere on the Crystal website. What perks do you get at each Crystal Society level? Right now, we have 5 cruise points with a future cruise booked worth 2 points. I know, we're just minions at this point, but it would be nice to know what we can look forward to once we reach the next level, which I'm guessing is 10.