tserface

On 9/19/2023 at 12:05 PM, Tedferg said:

So two people on Plus and only one orders a la carte pizza, the other person has a beer and does not eat pizza - are they still charged for two credits? 

It’s sounding more like, if you have Plus you don’t get two meals you just get to go to the restaurant twice.  It’s totally misrepresented in their description.

It says,

NEW 2 casual dining meals per guest

kind of ambiguous.  

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

So, you could have shared if willing to pay $8.50 for the one pizza and not use a credit.  Or, order two pizzas for $17 and share the flavors.  OTOH, use a CD $15 credit and tell them hold the App and hold the Dessert.  And then you cannot share unless the partner is ordering as well. 

 

Pretty absurd it seems as they are saving food items (pennies I suppose).  I guess they just don't want to see a couple end up with 4 free "meals".  So, I see some logic in their thinking.  It would be simpler perhaps if they just gave each person on Plus a $30 credit for Casual Dining.  But that would be advantage guest and not Princess. 

 

I think you are correct that 4 a la carte pizzas (2 per person) would be reasonable way to go.  Or, 2 prix fix meals or 3 mains a la carte in Plus package.  Even so, would still have the sharing issue.

 

I am just getting this more muddled, aren't I?  It's just weird and I suppose the bigger issue is folks who get stiffed with nothing extra on a long voyage.  I think I like my Standard Fare better.  😉

 

 

Seems like no way out for the light lunch diner other than to leave money on the table - or at least appear to on paper.  If you can take away the extra slices to another location, I suppose you salvage some value for later (but no way to reheat the slices at another time).

 

I still don’t see the difference between sharing 4 meals from the Plus Package or eating 4 meals.  I think if you get 4 meals included you should be able to use them however you want.  It just seems petty to make people use the credits when they aren’t eating the meal.

Yeah, I know, it’s only $14.99, but it used to be included.  You’d think they could be a little flexible and not add insult to injury.

12 minutes ago, Insomniacs said:

 

 

Here is an update.  Sadly it is not good news. We are currently on board the Majestic Princess on a 10 night Alaskan cruise and we have the Princess Plus package.  We went to Alfredo's yesterday and were told that with the Plus package we could not share a "single" 3 course meal that is included in the package.  As long as both of us are in the restaurant we would be charged one meal each against the package.  So two people in the restaurant, order one casual meal to share, counts as using 2 or our 4 causual dining credits.

Thanks for the update.  Not what I was hoping to hear.  So, I guess we’ll have to get two even if don’t use one… otherwise, they’ll probably double sell it.

4 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I understand the not sharing part above, but if 2nd person orders a pizza a la carte and 1st person orders the full meal, Princess has no business charging guest 2 a cover charge versus $8.50.  I don't see how they could do that and would speak to a mgr if necessary.

 

Take away the Plus and they cannot charge $15x2.  The bill is $15 + $8.50.  Guests need to be treated equally.

Apparently Princess can do whatever they want.  They’re obviously not doing this for the benefit of the customers.  Doesn’t surprise me that they’d even steal one of the included meals if you don’t use it.  I was just hoping they might be fair for a change… alas!

Thanks for the reminder.  It’s easy to forget…

2 hours ago, memoak said:

The big deals for some people appear to be the $5 per call charge for room service and the 2 casual meals. Unless you are sailing in a ship with a pizzeria it really doesn’t matter since all other casual meals already had a charge

Yeah, I didn’t think of that.  For $14.99, one time charge, you can order from app or TV so calling seems kind of like extra hassle.

Seems to me if, for a 7 day cruise, one paid $50/day instead of $60, the $70 saved covers the new perks … mostly…

$14.99 x 2 = $29.98 ($30)

$14.99 ($20)

$14.99 ($20)

$70

It’s actually $70 savings on a 15 day cruise since the benefits are the same as a 7 day even though we pay a daily rate now.

19 minutes ago, Oxo said:

What about one person going into the place and order a takeout for one. Then taking it to the open area where you have tables and then share it with the other person?

Or are they no allowing takeout? 

On our last cruise they would deliver pizzas anywhere on the ship using Medallion.  Of course, then the pizza was free so there was no accounting.  Princess has opened a can of corner cases to figure out.

18 minutes ago, Insomniacs said:

 

This was exactly my question too.  I think if you both have the plus package you should be able to share a pizza/meal.  Even before the changes we would not want 2 pizzas. I guess I will know soon enough.  We board in 2 days and I will find out.

Yeah, please report back with your findings.  Frankly, it makes perfect sense that you could use your two meals for whatever you want, but, as usual, Princesses rules are kind of ambiguous.

Have a blast on  your cruise!!!

8 hours ago, wallyj said:

 

You can order a $14.99 set menu and share too, as long as you are not using a dining credit from a Plus or Premier pkg.

 

Sharing is restricted if you are using a casual dining credit from Plus or Premier, same principle as you are not suppose to share ‘drinks’ from your package.

What if you both have Plus Package?  Do you have to burn two credits if you only eat one meal to share?  It’s already kind of unfair that you only get two visits on a 15 day cruise and same on a 7 day cruise, but pay the same daily rate on either.

Just trying to understand the changes and maximize our options.

What’s the difference, really, between sharing a $14.99 meal or using one of two of your $14.99 credits?

I can totally understand not sharing an unlimited part of the benefit like drinks.

To make it worse, since we only eat enough for one of the meals, we will, essentially only get two visits if they make us use two credits each visit.

It seems like if they give you 2 meals you should be able to use them as you choose.

For example, I get 5 free drinks per day on RCI cruises and I can use them however I want.  It’s a finite number that they give us as the perk.  Similarly, if I’m Elite an Princess they give us a minibar setup and we can let anyone use it.

When my wife and I got to Alfredos we always share the pizza.  I wonder if we go there now and share a pizza, appetizer, and whatever normally costs $14.99 if we'll only be charged for one?  There's no way we could eat 2x of everything they give you for a lunch.

1 minute ago, Abercrombie2019 said:

I think leck57 might be quoting Australian dollar prices.  Last time we went, Sabatini's was $35 USD and Crown Grill was $39 USD.

Ah, cool then.  $35 is still a good deal for Sabatini's in my opinion.  It makes me happy that Princess is still keeping some things affordable.  On our last cruise bingo was like $39 a game and it was 2x that last time we were on an RCI ship.

1 hour ago, Harrisonkid said:

As a long time E+ I still enjoy Celebrity and so sorry that so many of you don't. I have always found Cruise Food (regardless of cruise lines ..of which we have tried many) to be Average at best...but always love meeting many new people from various parts of the world....sounds like some of my great conversations will have less people involved but that started with suite only dinning as well as Specialty Restaurants years ago ...cheers

We are long time Celebrity cruisers as well and lament some of the things we've lost through the cut backs, but we still enjoy Celebrity cruises.  We are just also enjoying other cruise lines now as well since we don't have the same incentive to stay as loyal.  So, we look at price, itinerary, specials offered, etc.  We find Celebrity and Princess to be pretty comparable.  It used to be that Celebrity offered more than Princess, but not so much any more.  That doesn't mean we're saying no to Celebrity. It just means we look around a lot more these days.

Obviously, Celebrity is still filling ships and making $$$ or they wouldn't be cutting back on quality and features and raising prices so quickly.

3 minutes ago, hcat said:

so happy to know that..guess I forgot .. We are planning to book another X cruise. 

 

But now the big question is do we book now, with mandatory " all in"  knowing we do not need the wifi,  or after Oct 4th  a la carte.

 

.It will be a Concierge Class cabin. We will add daily grats and Classic bev. 

No way to figure it out..We feel X  is playing with us!

In our experience, lowly Elites still, the biggest problem with the internet perk is it's the slow version of the internet so it takes almost no time at all use up the included minutes (I think 90 for us).  At least with the AI (whatever that stands for these days) is it's unlimited.  Sometimes if I wanted to upload some pictures I can just leave my iPad in my room doing it until it gets done and it doesn't really matter if it took 2 hours to do it.

Of course, for people that just want to download a few emails it works OK... so long as they can figure out a way to only get the actual emails they want.  Fortunately, these days, most pictures and other content in email are optional until something is pressed or clicked so that's helpful.  But, there's also so much spam that doesn't get caught that it's kind of maddening.

I started using a web based email for traveling and that also helps since it doesn't really have to download anything like the iPad email does.

11 hours ago, the penguins said:

If only passengers would stop using "All Inclusive" in the headline and text it would be a lot less confusing 

X offer is All Included not All Inclusive.

The classic package includes beers, wines, cocktails, speciality teas/coffee/chocolate and water up to a price point. You can download the list (it changes and is based on availability). If you order something over the price you just pay the difference and the tips on the difference - for most pasdengers this is cheaper than upgrading to the Premium.

Don't "All Include" and "All Inclusive" kind of mean the same thing?  To be fair, I think X came up with the original All Inclusive definition and tried to change it to Always Included so they could redefine what they were going to always include or decide not to always include those things any more and include other always stuff instead ... it's no wonder people are confused.

All we can do it take one cruise at a time and decide on each cruise if it's worth it to us to pay the price for what we get.  We can't count on anything being the same next cruise.

At least Celebrity is not like Princess where they take stuff away *after* someone's already booked with the understanding they would get it.  Like X doesn't say, "Oh, now you have to pay for tips because we changed our  minds".  They tend to only change it on future bookings which is fair since, as I said, we can make our decision based on each cruise and the offerings at the time.

Saying "All Included" or "Always Included" or "All Inclusive" is kind of dumb since none of those things is true, and, really never has been.

7 hours ago, leck57 said:

 

I just booked Sabatini's last week for a cruise in Feb and it cost $47 per person. My last cruise 12 months ago it was $35 pp. I think the cost is starting to get beyond the value point.

Wow, when we went last fall (October-November) on Island Princess we went twice for $25 a night.  So it's almost doubled in price is less than a year.  Dang.  Another good love gone bad ...

We love Sabatini's and Crown Grill.  On our cruise last fall Princess still had pretty good prices for specialty restaurants (about 2/3 of what other cruise lines charge) so it's still a reasonable deal.

Add me to the list of people who like the Medallion and the Apps.  I have apps on my phone for 3 cruise lines now and I like all of them.  I also use ShipMates app as well.

I also love the new tech on the ships like tag-a-longs and being able to play a pick up trivia game in the hallways.  We've had a lot of fun with this feature.  We've also used the delivery features and I love that I can see, approximately, where my wife is on the ship if I'm looking for her, or her me.

I figure if people don't want to use the app or Medallion they should be able to cruise without it, but I can't figure out why anyone would not want to use them.

These days, we're mostly carrying our phones around to use as a camera and book reader anyway.

5 hours ago, the penguins said:

Your suggested "inclusions "would reduce choice and increase costs

Excursions: we never book X's excursions.

 Speciality restaurants can seat around 30% of passengers so charging everyone makes no sense. 

WiFi: we don't need WiFi included and doing so would also penalise Elite and above by removing one of the perks.

Drink tips: should be paid by those ordering the drinks - the more you drink the more you pay. Pay by the drink or book a package - your choice.

 

Including things someone else already has doesn’t penalize the person who already has the benefit.  Elite and above would still get internet, and, perhaps more and better internet if it was included.  This assumes the new price isn’t substantially more for the added benefits.

On 9/6/2023 at 5:40 AM, awfw said:

It would not surprise me if this did become a rule, but when someone becomes a no-show at the MDR it should be easy to move diners from the "no reservations" line to fill the spot unlike at the specialties.  Also, Celebrity could be happy that you might decide to go to a last minute "pay" restaurant such as Sushi on Five or the Porch that do not require reservations.    

It's still a little rude to not show up and not cancel the reservation; if you have the chance to.  I mean, how long should the keep the table available for the people they think are coming?  While the are keeping a table for reservations they might not be allowing someone else to use that table.

I think this is especially true if you reserve the same table after your first night like many people do.

On 7/4/2023 at 7:13 AM, Cruise Raider said:

The only risk, albeit small one, is if the package price increases before you sail.  I see that another cruise line, I believe it wasCelebrity, just announced they are raising the gratuities.  In my experience, one line starts it and the rest follow.   
But, we’ve purchased it onboard and it’s been super simple and you can use your OBC.  Crew members get credit if they sell you the package or the upgrade to premier.  So, while it’s really easy to do on the app, it’s nice to give credit to one of the crew members instead. It helps them out and won’t cost you anything.  

This is a very good point.  These prices change all the time and, depending on how far out your cruise is, they could easily raise the price any time.  This is especially true if people are accepting the new prices and features and starting to sign up for Plus because it seems more tempting.

I don't hate, but I think you are very lucky and I feel a little jealous 🙂

10 hours ago, oddly excitered said:

Just back from my first celebrity cruise after several on royal. I was not blown away by any of the experiences over royal.

We did eclipse out of Vancouver and had a very nice time but my expectation for celebrity was too high. Entertainment was good, but less than royal, Alaska cruise so plenty of kids but somehow, they seemed better behaved than on royal. Food is subjective and we don't do specialty but always dine in the dining room as opposed to buffet, we found it very similar. 

I like the more open feeling of the royal ships, never done oasis class, mostly quantum class.

Basically, I think they are becoming more similar than not these days and we booked our next trip on royal as soon as we got off the ship!

I agree with you.  I often see people say the food on Celebrity is better, but on our recent Celebrity cruises, comparing with Royal, I think the food is about the same.  The MDR is a little quieter on Celebrity, but the quality of the food is not much different, if any.

The entertainment totally depends on the ship and cruise director.  Royal, of course, has some interesting things like skating, diving/water, and other shows with specialized theaters (like Cafe 270).  I absolutely love the Aqua Theater shows.  Celebrity just has the normal theater shows, but they get some good talent (magicians, singers, other).

For me, the biggest difference is, for kids, there's tons more to do on Royal.  That doesn't mean Celebrity doesn't have good kids programs, but Royal has so many fun things like arcades, carnival type rides, slides, flow rider, etc. that Celebrity doesn't have.  Now that some Celebrity ships are going to Coco Cay there will be some water sports, at least, but it doesn't compare.

For adults only (when we don't go with the kids) Celebrity works much better for us.  Celebrity also has some longer itineraries and it's obvious they are sailing as much for the destinations as they are or the ship.  On Royal, the ship kind of is the destination so you get a lot of same itineraries.

Just to add to all of the refreshingly direct and civil answers about cruise line favorites 🙂

Be sure to check itinerary and price.  We've found that Royal cruises are getting way more expensive for similar or not as good itineraries.  Royal has a better family factor and lots more to do for kids like arcades, zip lines, rock climbing, carnival rides, etc.  Celebrity has none of that, but pretty good kids clubs.  When we go with our grandkids we go on Royal, but we often do a Celebrity cruise the week after to decompress.

My all time favorite ships are the E-class (Celebrity), but the S-Class are a close second.  So, if you're adulting, definitely consider Celebrity, but if you are going with a family with teens or younger Royal will be more fun for them.

We loved it, 2 times, on our Norway cruise.  The food was wonderful and the dessert even more so.  The service was great, and, at the time, the price was $25/each which, we thought, was pretty fair.

Crown Grill, if the ship has one, is also quite good, but completely different.  We like doing both.