Stands with a Drink

 

Thanks again Mixer Dave. I understand your sentiments exactly. We went to a wedding this past summer and wore what we thought were formal clothes. Most other guests had on jeans and no ties. We felt over dressed with a suit and nice dress. It sounds like, no shorts in dining room ever. Pants with button down shirt for casual evenings and step it up a notch on formal nights with dress shoes, ties, slacks, etc.

There are a million threads on this question and I will answer by yet again quoting the Princess website.:

 

Formal

When formal nights are held, please observe the dress code in the Traditional Dining and Anytime Dining venues for the enjoyment of all our guests.

 

Evening gowns and cocktail dresses for women

Tuxedos, dinner jackets or dark suits with a tie for men

 

The same would apply for teens. My boys wear jackets, slacks, shirt tie and dress shoes. I wear a cocktail

 

dress.

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I'm sorry my question seemed to have upset you. I looked through the "millions of threads" before I posted my thread and honestly I had a hard time finding ones that pertained to Princess Royal attire. I did find many that involved what nights formal dining would occur. I also looked at the log in site on Princess Cruise and didn't find anything. After seeing your post, I was able to find it on the Princess website under questions and answers. You alerting me to that was helpful. I'm sorry to have bothered you. It was my mistake.

And now for the reality of formal nights. No shorts in the MDR. For men a nice pair of pants, dress shirt and tie will get you into the MDR with no problems from the staff. For women you are correct. There are huge number of threads on this subject and you will never see any agreement on them. Sit back, grab a drink and a snack and enjoy what comes next.

Thank you. This was helpful.

Even though many people will post that on formal nights at least a suit & tie are mandatory Princess does allow the guys to be dressed as casual as a shirt, tie & slacks and still be seated in the DR.

They have become much less formal over the last decade & let their passengers feel comfortable dressed casually, within reason.

Even the tie has gone by the waste side.

Thank you, this was helpful. I'm concerned about "tuxedo" and full "suits" for my son and husband.

I used to wear a Tux every formal night and a jacket and tie every other night but when you look around you these days in the dining room you nearly feel overdressed so I don't do the tux anymore, just a dark suit and although I get free laundry and pressing I don't even send it any more, partly because the first formal night is often the second night and the laundry doesn't come back in time.

So I attend formal dinner in a slightly creased suit, but with a nice tie. And still feel overdressed.

Another thing that stopped me feeling formal nights were special was when Princess had burger on the menu as an option on formal nights. Really????? On a formal night??????[/quote

 

Thank you, this was helpful.

First time going on a cruise (Royal Princess) What are the dress expectations for formal night? Men: Shirt and tie with pants? Are dress shorts for teens too casual? Can my teen wear a nice dress shirt and pants without a tie? Are dinner jackets necessary? In my head, what I would wear to a wedding would be appropriate...however, the last wedding I went to some people were wearing jeans and dress shirts. Women: I'm thinking for, a simple dress with accessories.

What you are referring to is the tip that is charged automatically to you on board account. I believe it is $13.50 for a inside cabin and a balcony cabin. Suites are a little more.

 

This money goes to your cabin steward and dining staff, along with the people behind the scene that help make your vacation so wonderful. While it is automatic, you can increase it or decrease it. Just go to the front desk. I suggest you wait to do it until you see the service you receive. With over 40 Princess cruises, we have never felt the service warranted a reduction. Sometimes we give extra the last day to some of the staff.

 

As to your son, he will be getting the same service in the cabin and in the dining rooms. So the tip would be the same.

Thank you for the helpful response. The wording was confusing for us and it is good to know that we have control over it. I'm sure the service will be exemplary but have had bad experiences in the past when gratuities are automatically added.

Unfortunately this is a very touchy subject on CC. Yes it will be added to your stateroom account daily if you do not prepay and it can be adjusted while onboard. However please either prepay or leave the auto-tip on during your cruise. The tips are divided between your cabin steward, wait stafin the dining room AND all those behind the scenes that provide service during your cruise.

 

 

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Ha, yes, I see I have unintentionally touched on a sensitive subject. We have never been on a cruise before and are trying to figure everything out.

In order to simplify the tipping process Princess will automatically apply a daily charge to each guest's folio. The charge is $15.50 for suites, $14.50 for mini suites and $13.50 for all other stateroom types. The charge is per person, per day.

 

These tips are distributed to all crew member who work to provide for your needs on your trip. ( the exception is casino staff, kids club staff and spa personnel. Additionally, purchased beverages will have a tip automatically added).

 

 

The tips are discretionary and you can go to guest services to have them removed or adjusted if you desire although we always leave them on because the crew works very hard and the auto tip does make it easier for us.

 

 

As for pre-paying, that is a personal decision. Some like to pre-pay so they have a smaller folio at the end of the cruise on the other hand sometimes if you have a lot of on board credit to use you may want to hold off and have the tips deducted from the OBC.

 

 

Hope this helps answer your question.

Thank you. This was helpful. This is our first time on a cruise and to be honest it is a little overwhelming. We have no problem with tipping but were confused by some of the wording. We didn't understand how something could be an automatic charge yet also be discretionary. Thank you for explaining about the pre-pay option as we didn't understand the benefit of that.

We are trying to figure out the "discretionary gratuities". It seems that everyone in our group (including our teenage son) has the option of a pre-paid gratuity. Is this a mandatory fee? It reads like it is mandatory but then uses words like "discretionary" We are wondering if it is a mandatory fee but is giving us the option to pay before boarding? Do we have to pay the set amount indicated for our son? It seems like a lot of money for a young teenager to pay. It also seems to be used just towards our room services with bar services and other services having other tip options. It works out to be $95 each. I don't mind tipping but $300 for room service seems a bit high.

Thanks Sandra, that is helpful. I hadn't heard of the HOHO so I appreciate you sharing the link. At quick glance that looks like a worthwhile option.

Does anyone know the name of the Port in Mykonos? I'm using google maps to look at beach locations. Kind of nervous because we are going to go it alone (no tour) at this port. Just want to do beaches: one in the morning and return to ship for lunch; one in the afternoon.

We are not world travelers so I'm trying to figure out everything ahead of time.

What are the best beaches? If we get a taxi to take us to one do we make arrangements with that same taxi to pick us up at an arranged time? Or, will there be taxi stands at the beaches?

Hi; In Port of Kotor, we are not interested in going on any paid tours. We want to explore on our own. Does the tender dock right by the city or is it a drive away? I'm hoping that we can dock (by tender) and be only a short distance to city center to explore on our own by foot. Does anyone know anything about this port?

Thank you both for replying. We've already decided NOT to get the AIBP. We don't drink that much alcohol and it's too rich for our blood anyways ;). We still need to figure out the Soda and More package. It may be a good deal for our teenage son. Also, thinking we could add our own alcohol to mock-tails or mixers. It sounds like it would be a better deal just to buy a bottle of alcohol or wine and keep in our room. Buying soda and bringing it on board is also an idea that did not occur to me. Thank you for the heads up on the included gratuity charge as well. We appreciate your help.

As others have said, one package wont do the trick. You might get away with it but you will feel guilty the whole time. We typically do not buy the drink package on Princess and I'll explain why.

 

A drink package for 2 people on a 7 day cruise would be ~$785. ($1127 for 10 day, YIKES!)

 

Bring your allotted wine on board:

For starters, you can bring one bottle of wine each. (not much I know and we typically have this gone the within the first day or so). Any additional bottles will be charged a $15 corkage fee (still better than $40-50 per bottle). But we typically stick to 2 bottles. There is a 50/50 shot you can get wine on board at ports as well without the corkage fee (don't count on it though).

 

Bottles delivered to your stateroom:

Next, with Princess you can order a variety of alcohol through room service or pre-purchase online for ~$17-25 per 375ml bottle (note that these are to "consume in your stateroom"). You can bring mixers and such with you and back on board at each port. Lets assume you use 1 shot per drink, you get roughly 8 drinks per bottle. Your room steward will keep your ice bucket full. :)

 

Daily Discounts:

Take advantage of the buckets of beer during the day and also the various happy hours which are buy one get one for $1 (this includes mixed drinks).

 

If you are keeping track, the drink package is ~$56 per pax / per day ($112/day):

You each can buy one bottle of Absolut vodka or JD for ~$25 EACH DAY. (Half the price of the package right there), a bucket of beer ~$25 and a glass of wine each at dinner and still be under the daily package price.

 

Add it all up:

Our final bar tab for the week is $350-400 for 7 days (if I don't have a drink before noon, it's not vacation). On average we will bring our allotted wine, purchase two bottles through room service, a bucket or two of beer by the pool on sea days and 2-3 glasses of wine/cocktails each night. Our methods do not cheat the system, maybe stretch the rules with the "consume in your stateroom" from time to time, but we are still purchasing various over priced drinks daily and enjoying ourselves.

 

DISCLAIMER 1:

If you enjoy specialty coffee or drink a lot of soda... buy the package. We do not.

 

DISCLAIMER 2:

I'm not saying do not purchase the drink package ever... we have purchased the drink package on other cruise lines because it made sense. The one thing I do like is being able to order whatever you want, whenever you want and knowing it's already paid for. Beer got warm? Get a new one. Want to try a cocktail you've never had and hate it, nothing lost.

 

DISCLAIMER 3:

If you do buy the package, be sure to order a bottle of water with you drink (why not, it's included and you will need to stay hydrated right? :))

Thank you. This was along the same lines as I was thinking. Super helpful.

Thank you fishywood. Your information is useful.

Thanks for the link Clarea. I was having troubles but think I have it figured out now.

Hi; This is our first time going on a cruise. I am confused about the drink packages.

One package is for non-alcoholic drinks including pop, coffee/tea, orange juice, virgin cocktails, etc. I forget the price of this unlimited package but it's per person per day. My question is, are drinks included with your meal? For instance, can I get a tea with my breakfast or do I have to pay for it? Do drinks only cost if they are not at meal time? Is there an advantage to getting this drink package? I am surprised by this package because I would have thought non-alcoholic beverages would be complimentary. I have concerns that every time my teenage son wants to get something to drink that we will be charged for it.

Do we get a complimentary glass of wine or alcoholic drink with lunch or dinner?

Thank you.

Hi; This is our first time going on a cruise. I am confused about the drink packages.

One package is for non-alcoholic drinks including pop, coffee/tea, orange juice, virgin cocktails, etc. I forget the price of this unlimited package but it's per person per day. My question is, are drinks included with your meal? For instance, can I get a tea with my breakfast or do I have to pay for it? Do drinks only cost if they are not at meal time? Is there an advantage to getting this drink package? I am surprised by this package because I would have thought non-alcoholic beverages would be complimentary. I have concerns that every time my teenage son wants to get something to drink that we will be charged for it.

Do we get a complimentary glass of wine or alcoholic drink with lunch or dinner?

Thank you.