caribill

Here is an old report of our Connoisseur tour in Alaska, It might answer many of your questions.

Maybe for a "nominal fee" of $14.99 you can obtain a working app.

I do not know the roll out schedule. But it was introduced on the Island Princess in June and had already been on several other ships by then. By the way, whether it is Starlink of the older technology, be aware that the satellite sends the data to a ground station and when you sign on to a web site, you are considered as being located where that ground station is. So if the ground station is in Lagos, Nigeria (as it was during part of our recent Princess cruise), the web site you are going to will think that is your location and any sign-in from Lagos might be considered to be an illegal attempt to gain access to your account.at that web site.

Good question and the answer is yet to be determined. It may depend if the B2B was one booking or two.

The Medallion will not switch to the new cabin until close to the time the ship is ready for new passengers. If you need access to both cabins before that time in order to move stuff, they can give you a cruise card that will work with the new cabin that morning. You will need to pack all of what you have in the bathroom and what you have in drawers and on shelves. Besides the luggage, they only move what is hanging in the closet and what is on the floor of the closet. You do not have to stay on board that day unless you want to. You can leave this ship anytime once disembarkation has started and return after embarkation of new passengers has started.

If a high number of passengers are delayed arriving in Los Angeles, Princess might delay the day of departure for the ship.

And they do make these decisions, by relying on what the cruise company's website said was included at the time they made the booking.

Actually, my invoice does not say in any way, shape or form that any "free" food is included with the fare. Not even eating in the main dining room is listed as free. So as far as the invoice is concerned, there is no included food with the cruise. What food is "promised" is what is on the Princess web site when the cruise is booked.

You could be right.

OK, many posts saying that if you do not want to pay for room service or Alfredo's Pizza, you still have other free options. But what would be your reaction if Princess instituted a nominal $9.99/person charge each time someone ate dinner in a main dining room? Would your reaction be "that is OK since you can still get a free dinner at the buffet and free food at stands near the pool on the Lido deck?"

But everyone that did not get a package does not get everything that they paid for if room service delivery is not free and sit down pizza is no longer free.

Sounds like desserts.

Our cruise ended June 28: 6:50 and 6:55 AM for terminal 2 7:00 and 7:05 AM for terminal 3 7:10 and 7:15 AM for terminals 4 &5 Quite different from what you had

I would not believe where it says it could ordered up to 13 days pre-cruise to be mailed out. It takes longer than that from when they mail them out until they arrive.

Not always that easy. Was on a Princess cruise in a very crowded Explorers Lounge. A waiter would come around and take drink orders, but the time from wanting a waiter to appear and when the waiter could actually deliver the beverage was close to an hour. Yes, you could walk up to the bar, but they were servicing all of the multiple waiters' orders before a walk up customer could order, so walking to the bar was not an option. But, if you ordered with the app, the drink came from a different area of the ship and arrived much faster than using a waiter in that lounge or walking up to the bar yourself.

Yes, when I book a flight, I almost always do it via the Internet. But if I have to make changes to that flight, I get a human on the phone to make sure it goes the way I want it to.

You must live near a cruise port and not have to deal with last minute air fares.

You can 100% book your cruise online. But you need to know what you want: Itinerary, ship, type of cabin, optional packages, etc. Quite different than knowing you want to book a flight from NYC to San Francisco on United. Even a novice flyer can figure that out online,

True. Yes, if I buy a roll of paper towels this month it may have less pieces than the roll I purchased last month. But I can use all the pieces on that month-old roll without sending extra money to the manufacturer. I get to use what I paid for, With the Princess changes, you do not get to use what you already paid for.

If I call an airline, 99+% of the time I will reach an agent who thoroughly knows or can access quickly information about all procedures, flights, seating options, etc. It is extremely rare that the initial agent cannot fully answer any question I have without having to contact a supervisor. And the agent speaks a language I understand. If I call Princess, I may reach someone who has no idea what I am even asking about much less how to get the correct answer to my question. And many calls end up being serviced in a foreign country with agents that have accents I can barely understand. For Princess to go to 100% direct booking, they will have to greatly increase their staff count and fill all positions with people who have cruise industry experience including even actually having taken at least one cruise. And the first time cruiser will have to contact a number of cruise lines to get answers to questions he/she may not even know to ask.

That is great if, for example, four people in a family are together and the designated orderer can place the order. But remember that the app's promotion is that you can use it anywhere to order and have it delivered to where you are. So if one person is at a pool area, another in the casino, another at trivia and another watching entertainment in the atrium, only one of that family can actually place an order and have it delivered to where he/she is. The other three will have to do without until they get with the one person who is the designated orderer. More likely scenario: all four will pay that nominal $14.99 charge.

How about if Princess gives you $14.99 every time an order never appears or when it arrives is not what you ordered?

Don't forget its a "nominal" one time $14.99 charge and it is for each person in the cabin that orders via the app. Pretty soon all those nominal charges for a number of things add up to what some might not consider nominal total.

Right, the customer always decides. Experienced cruises like yourself decide on a cruise and then contact a TA. But inexperienced and first time cruisers will contact a TA to get advice on what cruise would the best fit them. There is a difference between a TA saying "I think you will enjoy Princess for your first cruise" vs. saying that "RCI is the best fit for you."

By Princess? or by the customers?