caribill

So, insides starting at $200/day/person and balconies starting at $300/day/person. At these prices the ship is the destination.

And that is exactly what Princess is moving to with the introduction of the new Sun Princess, the first of the Sphere class ships. o Basically first class with the super-duper suites o Basically second class with what are now Club Class cabins (some mini suites and the full suites) o Basically steerage for the rest of us

For that situation, a bid would only be able to get accepted if someone cancels their booking in a category there are bids for.

A big advantage of the Grand/Crown class ships in this matter is that the entire deck is covered, so you can walk around the Promenade deck even if the weather is not perfect.

Shows the importance of continuing to watch pricing after you have submitted a bid.

Since they have one or two international news channels, I am 99.9% certain it will be available live on board. However it starts at 11 AM London time. Depending where the ship is, that will be 2 AM or 3 AM on board when it starts.

Actually, the person hired for this has been promoted to be President of Princess Cruise Line.

It is my understanding that TAs who set up the cabins for "group" bookings do not reserve specific cabins. It is more a number of cabins than it is specific ones. When I have booked a cabin with a TA who had "group" bookings available, I was able to pick any cabin in any category (even a GTY) without any restrictions because the TA had only certain cabins available.

True, but these upgrades came before the bidding system started. In the future some of these may still occur before final payment if some cabins are selling well and an upgrade could make one of those cabins available for sale again.

The person really limited in food choices is one who follows a vegan diet. So many of the foods that are OK for vegetarians and gluten free diets contain milk or eggs and are thus not suitable for vegan diets.

Assuming the children had their Medallions with them, the bartender can see pictures of anyone near the bar and can access info about the person to determine if the person ordering has a package or not. No need to actually present the Medallion if the system is working.

Much depends on why you cruise. Is the ship the destination or is the itinerary the most important factor? Displacement of the Seas type ships are usually the destination. But: o They are limited in what ports can accommodate them, so the itineraries are not as varied as what is possible on smaller ships. o They usually are in ports at the same time as other similar size ships. This makes for overcrowded ports, often with the number of cruise ship passengers outnumbering the local population. Not everyone is the same, but we cruise for the itinerary, preferring to visit places we have never been at before or places where we want to explore the area more than we did on past visits. We do not mind cruising on older ships without all the modern wow factor venues if we can experience places and sites we have not been to before. (But we do enjoy the larger balconies and the wider Promenade deck on those older ships.) A cruise which just goes to St. Thomas, St. Maarten and an overcrowded private island is not our cup of tea. We also have no need to visit "popular" ports such as Cozumel and Belize City ever again. As one example of a Princess itinerary we liked was one on the Pacific Princess which was cancelled due to the sale of the ship & the pandemic. You will not see the following ports on many (any?) of the current Princess itineraries. A partial list of the ports on this cancelled cruise that started in Sydney, Australia and ended in Yokohama, Japan included o Townsville, Australia o Alotau, Papa New Guinea o Manila. Phillppines o Hualien, Taiwan o Ishigaki, Japan o Kagoshima, Japan That is just one example of the many unique itineraries that Princess used to offer when they had ships with less than 2000 passengers.

A TA web site cannot post discounted prices for Princess. You need to ask for a quote to find out what the TA price would be. There is no reason that a competent TA cannot at worst meet any price you can get from Princess directly (other than special rates such as Friends/Family or casino) and the better TAs can beat any Princess price. The discounts/amenities that TAs provide come from several sources: o Many TAs set up group bookings for each sailing. Then the TA gets a discount which the good TAs pass on to customers and the not-good TAs use to increase their bottom line. o TAs get commissions on each sale. Some give some of that discount back to the customer to prvide a bigger discount. o TAs with the group bookings get amenity points for each reservation. These amenity points can be used by the TA to add OBC to the booking or give a casino credit or provide a wine or buy a specialty dinner, etc. However, they can instead be used for the benefit of the TA, for example, adding to the TAs commission.

Normally the port charges for a missed port are put on the onboard portfolio as refundable OBC. A couple of times in the past we have received a check over a year later instead.

Are you boarding on November 12? If so, the ship has just returned from Europe and there may be a required Coast Guard inspection before new passengers can board. This could delay the normal starting boarding ti

That is not the direction that Princess has been going since the current Royal Princess started sailing in 2013.

They still exist so Princess can claim how much $$$ you will save by purchasing the Plus fare or Premier Fare. Many travel agents imply in their wording that if you book the Plus fare, you are getting a free beverage package.

Rules that cost them $$$ are more likely to be enforced than rules that do not involve $$$.

Even if you use a TA, Princess will talk with you about anything that does not involve cruise pricing and cabin changes. This covers everything from EZAir to Covid rules to using the APP to booking (and paying for) shore excursions and specialty restaurants...and more.

My favorite part of the press release: "Princess Cruises, the world's most iconic premium cruise brand"

Since you were using a TA, I assume you sent the E-mail to your TA. What counts to Princess is when the TA actually cancelled the booking, not when you requested the TA to do so. So, did the TA cancel the booking on September 2 (a Friday) or did the TA wait until after the holiday weekend and cancel on September 6 by which time you may have been in the penalty period?

But against the rules for the package: Packages may NOT be shared, are NON-transferable and NON-refundable. Shipboard management reserves the right to add additional restrictions and revoke or cancel the Plus Beverage Package at any point during a guest’s voyage for any reason with or without a prorated refund. Additional actions may be taken if guests: Provide beverages to other guests or do NOT comply with the terms, conditions and limitations of the package

Before the bidding, before the offers that arrived to upgrade for a fee, Princess often gave out free upgrades. For some reason, many customers decided random "free" is not good enough and practically begged for Princess to offer upgrades for a fee. This of course ended up with Princess giving out significantly less free upgrades. And now, with the bidding system, customers are in a frenzy to want to pay Princess even more $$$ to upgrade, likely at pricing higher than when Princess sent out the upgrade for $$$ E-mails. (Possibly in some cases higher than if the customer had booked that upgraded cabin in the first place.) This should mean even fewer free upgrades. I do not understand the thinking that paying more $$$ to Princess is better than getting the random free upgrades that used to be given. But as long as customers insist on paying more $$$ to upgrade, Princess has less reason to give out what used to be free.

a) It says you should normally receive the invitation to bid directly, so usually no need for the big box agency to forward anything to you. b) If eligible, you should also be able to see it in the Personalizer even you do not get an e-mail invitation

It was from a TA flyer that someone posted the other day. No. Here is more from the Princess web site: Program is not open to general public and is only open to guests that PCL has selected to participate. The Program is only available to PCL guests ("Eligible Program Guest" or "Guest"), which guests will be determined by PCL in its sole discretion. Some Guests will also receive a Program email invitation from PCL. Invitation and eligibility as a Guest may not be transferred or shared. Selection of Guests will be in PCL's sole discretion Individuals deemed Eligible Program Guests for one cruise does not guarantee that such guests will also be Eligible Program Guests for future PCL cruises, if any. In addition to the official Program email, guests can check to see if they are Eligible Program Guests by accessing the Program landing page website (the "site") via links on princess.com or via the Cruise Personalizer on princess.com to see if they are able to submit a bid. If the Program does not show as available on such page or the guest is not able to submit a Bid, then such guest is not eligible for this Program. PCL will select the exact cruises, dates, and stateroom categories that will be available for the Program, all in its sole discretion (each eligible cruise, an "Eligible Cruise" or "Cruise"). Not all cruises, stateroom categories, or bookings will be selected for participation, regardless of availability. PCL shall determine, in its sole and absolute discretion, the Eligible Cruises that will be available for the Program. For each Eligible Cruise, upgrade Bidding will be available for Guests starting five (5) days after such Cruise's final payment date and ending three (3) day before the Cruise's departure date (the "Bidding Period"). Throughout and after the conclusion of the Bidding Period, PCL will compile all then-existing Bids for the various stateroom categories for the Cruise and may accept a Bid from a Guest for each available upgrade room (the "successful Bidder"), taking into consideration multiple factors and items. PCL will review Bids based on highest positive revenue impact, but reserve the right to consider and review other and different factors. All Bids will be converted to USD at the time they are considered. All determinations as to which Bid (if any) is accepted, who the Successful Bidder is (if any), and what is considered in accepting a Bid shall all be determined by PCL in its sole and absolute discretion. Successful Bidders are subject to verification. The highest Bid may not be accepted and Guest that places the highest Bid for a stateroom category is not guaranteed to be the Successful Bidder. Once a Bid is accepted, the Guest is legally bound to complete payment for the price stated in the Bid. If a Guest's credit card does not go through, is declined, or cannot otherwise be charged, PCL may (but is not required to) reach out to the Guest for an alternate method of payment or may disqualify the Successful Bidder and return the Guest to their original category, all in its sole discretion. No changes, refunds, or cancellations will be permitted after payment is made, PCL cannot guarantee a specific cabin number within the upgraded category and the cabin position will depend on space availability and are at the sole discretion of PCL. PCL reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to decide whether or not to accept a Bid, and PCL makes no representation or guarantee that any Guest will be upgraded regardless of whether or not cabins are available in the category for which a Bid is made.