Lorabelle

3 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

As long as you're gambling, I don't think they'll care how much you drink.

True enough!  LOL   But let's say I had 15 drinks in the casino, then went to see a show and wanted a cocktail.  If they're counting the casino drinks, I'd have a problem.  (Although, realistically, if I had 15 cocktails in the casino I probably couldn't even WALK to the theater to see a show.  Ha!) 

I doubt this would ever be an issue on our cruise, but my travel agent brought this up, and did not know the answer to his own thought.  LOL

We are going on a casino VIP sailing, where we are offered free drinks while playing in the casino.  We also booked with the Best Sale Ever package, so we have free beverages with our fare, available anywhere on board the ship.  I know there is a limit of 15 alcoholic beverages per day.  Since the casino offering of free beverages is independent of our beverage package, would the drinks ordered and consumed in the casino be marked against the daily limit of our beverage package?

I can't imagine going over the limit anyway, but I just thought it was an interesting situation and wondered if anyone else has had an experience to know how this is handled.  

In my experience, all the places on Stone Island that I have been to, readily accept USD.  Be aware, though, that they don't have to adhere to official exchange rates, so you may end up paying more for your tab if you are paying in USD than you would if you pay in pesos.  As much as 10% or more.  

If we know we are planning to do restaurant beach days at all the ports on our Mex Riviera cruise, we will buy pesos in advance from our bank.  There is a fee, but it is typically offset on our first port.  Or if you are traveling with a group, you can all place one order together to save on fees.  

I  have used them several times over the past 10 yrs or so.  In both Cabo and Puerto Vallarta.  Everything was as described, meeting up with the tour was simple.  I would recommend them if they have something you're interested in.  

Also, just wanted to add that if you are in a mini-suite, that is not considered a suite as far as earning extra suite benefits such as priority boarding.  

15 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Maybe, maybe not.

Each ship handles it differently.

No way to tell until onboard.

I plan to ask when I get onboard.  Does anyone know who would be the best person to speak with about this?  Do I just go to CS, do I call Room Service?  I'm not sure who handles this perk. 

If you don't mind doing all the planning yourself, I also recommend doing it all on your own without going through the cruise line.  We have done our own Alaska tours 4 times, and it's wonderful to have the flexibility to do things the way you want to do them and spend time in places you want to spend it.  

We traveled by car once and rented RVs the other 3 times.  We much prefer the RV method, but we are RVers to begin with.  However, the RV companies are very good at going through the rigs with you and making you comfortable with it before you head out.  It will take a lot of research to figure it all out,but if you enjoy the research, it's a great way to go.  Visit the Alaska board here, go to TripAdvisor and read up, and if you have access to AAA, go and get their maps and tour books.  

I do think doing the land first is a great option.  The land part is pretty busy and then it's nice to get onboard the ship and relax a bit more.  Plus, you'll get the longest flight out of the way at the beginning of the trip, and not have to deal with it at the end of a long vacation.  

We will also be receiving two of these for an upcoming cruise.  However, we don't drink wine.  Does anyone know if they can be traded out for something else once we get onboard?  We would gladly trade for coffee cards, mini bar setup, even a couple of cocktails at one of the bars or a plate of chocolate strawberries.  They really are of no use to us.  

My travel agent said he inquired with Princess and they told him that they could not be traded out for anything, but I know the answer could be different once we get on board, so just wondering if anyone else has tried. 

Thanks everyone!  

I have been reading that you can't bring water bottles onboard, not even empty ones.  Wondering if the thermal hydroflask stainless bottles are permitted.  Brought onboard empty, of course.  We have ordered water for the room, but I like my water very cold and use a hydroflask daily to keep it at the temp I like.  

6 hours ago, voljeep said:

booked direct thru Princess or do you have a middle person you have to go thru ??

 I booked through a TA. 

6 hours ago, voljeep said:

booked direct thru Princess or do you have a middle person you have to go thru ??

 I booked through a TA. 

37 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

If you refared, then you are now considered to be booked under the new sale.  They allow the casino discounts to be applied in these situations and for new bookings as well.

 

It's confusing so I will repeat again:  what Princess isn't allowing is for anyone to add an amenity package (i.e. $25, $30, or $40 per day) to a previously booked cruise that had a casino discount applied despite their language indicating combinability of this sale with casino discounts.

 

If anyone is able to successfully add what I've described in the second paragraph AND keep the amenities of their original booking, please post here for the benefit of the rest of us.

Yes, if anyone is able to make this happen, PLEASE post here.  I am considering doing a refare on my casino discounted room, but it would be much better for me to be able to do an add on code and keep my initial perks as well as add a few extras.  So, I've been holding off on the refare.  Of course, I'm at the mercy now of what will happen to the room rates as I am waiting.  If they go up too much, a refare may not be a good option for me either.  

I keep thinking that they will allow it at some point, I don't see the logic in not allowing it, they are getting extra revenue on something that has already been booked.  

3 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

That makes no sense.  If you outright booked a new cruise today, you would get the casino discount on the entire fare into which the cost of the perks are embedded.  So why would you you not be able to add the buy-up only at 100% of the quoted fare?  Doesn't Princess wind up ahead?  I guess I should stop applying logic to this situation....

I totally agree with you!  They stood to get an additional $60 per day from us for a 14 day cruise by allowing us to do the add-ons.  With our casino perks, we are already getting free drinks while playing in the casino, so the only drinks they would be forking out extra would be other cocktails/coffees we may have around the ship.  Honestly, I had to think long and hard as to whether it would even be worth the upgrade because of the fact some of our beverages are already comped.  But we decided it would be nice to have, so we were going to do the upgrade.  Now I need to re-crunch numbers to see if we want to pay the additional fare to refare the trip, as the rate has gone up if we change over to this sale.  Plus we will lose some shipboard credit and a few other things.

14 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

 

 

The fine print at the bottom of the first page of this document that is still out on the Princess website makes it clear that this promo IS combinable with casino discounts.  https://book.princess.com/pdf/onesource/pc/sales_marketing/PC_BestSaleEver_TA_Flyer_R3_jq-updated.pdf

 

I am wondering how long it will take for all of the conflicting info to be clarified but this is as poor of a roll out as I've ever seen from Princess.

As it was explained to me by my TA, (if they got correct info from Princess. That's debatable!), is that the sale IS combinable with a casino discount, just as the original sale we booked under.  (The Cyber Sale).  What is NOT allowed is to do the add-ons with the casino discounts.  So, we can refare our cruise to the Best. Sale. Ever. and still use our casino discount and the perks that come along with it.  But we will lose our Cyber Sale perks.  We cannot keep the Cyber Sale perks and apply just the add ons because we have the casino promotion.  

1 hour ago, pompeii said:

Have we been able to determine if this promo is combinable with the casino discount?  Several posts back (couldn't find it just now)  seemed to say yes, but historically promos with drinks packages didn't combine with the casino discount.  Before I spend a bunch of time on the phone with Princess I wondered if anyone with a casino discount was successful in adding it.

My TA tried to do the add ons for us as we are sailing with the Cyber Sale and also casino discount/promotion.  It was a no-go.  Our only option is to refare, which will increase the cost of our trip.  However, we are still crunching our own habits and the costs to see if it's worth the extra fare to gain some perks, but lose others. 

6 hours ago, Torfamm said:

I just called and was told we are not eligible for the  Gratuities and Beverage Package add on because we had a casino discount applied to our Cyber Sale fare.  Anyone else have any experience with not being able to do an add-on to an existing booking?

 

Refaring is not going to save us anything on the cruise we have booked for December, 2020

I have the same situation.  We can refare to the new sale and lose the perks we had with our old booking, but we cannot add on the extras either due to booking with a casino promotion.  So, we would stand to lose our shipboard credit, our specialty dining, the wine (which we don't drink and would gift to someone onboard anyway).  Plus with our casino promotion, we get free beverages while playing in the casino anyway.  Would be nice to have free beverages throughout the ship, though, and for times when the casino is closed.  

Now, we need to sit down and crunch some facts and figures to see whether we should stay with our original Cyber Event package, or change over to the new one.  

2 minutes ago, JennPVMX said:

Burros can be doable, depending on the day. Some days the beach is good and there are plenty of loungers on the beach fairly close to the water. Other days the beach isn’t great and and the chairs and tables are farther back, super close to the restaurant. Their frozen drinks are very good! 🙂

 

Last time we were in PV, the Red Onion - La Cabolla Roja- was closed and I believe changing hands. I hear it has reopened under new owners, and hear good things! If you get dropped off at the Sea Monkey, you can just walk down the beach and see what looks appealing, crowd/beach, etc. it’s my favorite way to spend a day in PV for sure!

Yes, that's just what we were talking about doing.  After looking on Google Earth, it looks like there are restaurants one after another.  Hoping to find the one with really good chilequiles for breakfast, and the good margaritas and nachos for lunch!  Haha!  Have been cruising Yelp this evening looking at food pictures and now I'm starving!  

I think we may go down toward Langostino's to start, they have breakfast and my beloved chilequiles.  Then we can meander back toward The Sea Monkey, stopping at other places along the way till we head back to the ship. 

Thanks for your input.  I have been doing a bit more searching using Google Earth, and I put Langastino's on my list of places to look into.  Not looking for upscale on this trip, but I did look at La Palapa and it looks very nice.  We just want a casual spot where we can swim a bit, eat and have some adult beverages.  I also looked at Burros, a review on Yelp mentioned that you could hang out at a table all day if you wanted to.  It appears to be in between Langastino's and The Sea Monkey, would you happen to know if the beach is OK in that area?  It's next to La Cebolla Roja if that helps any.  Google Earth won't let me get closer to the beach than the walkway that runs in front of the restaurants.  

Hubby and I would like to find a casual restaurant/bar on the sand where we can claim a table for several hours.  We would buy lunch, and several drinks, while enjoying the atmosphere and taking an occasional dip in the ocean.  

Anyone have any recommendations for places that would allow us to camp out in their establishment in that fashion?  I was thinking maybe The Sea Monkey would be such a place?  Are there others that anyone has any experience with?

We are not looking to just hog up a table without ordering drinks and food, and we always tip well. Thanks for any suggestions! 

Has anyone done this tour?  

My question is mainly regarding the pricing on the Princess website.  The tour is offered at 2 different times.  One is from 9:30 AM to 2:30 PM.  The other is just one hour later for departure at 10:30, arriving back at 3:30.  However, the price is $10 more for the later excursion at 10:30.  Our preference would probably do the earlier tour, and have more free time afterwards, but are we missing something?  Is there a reason that the later tour would be more expensive?  If there is a good reason to do a later time, then I will definitely consider it, even though the cost is more.  

I don't think I've ever seen an excursion through Princess being charged differently for the exact same tour, but just a different excursion time. 

Also would appreciate any feedback you have on the actual excursion.  We are interested mainly because of the mini speed boat part, and I have not been able to find a local tour company that offers anything similar. 

Can't help you with the cost of getting there, as we were there as part of a longer island tour. The admission to get in was $5 US each. There was a bar there, but I don't know the cost of drinks. There was also a food stand selling just a short menu of turkey sandwiches, burgers, chips, etc. The sandwiches and burgers were about $10-$11. I think they may also have had hot dogs, but I don't recall the cost. That said, I would think you would need to plan for at least $20-$25 per person for admission, lunch and a beverage or two. Plus whatever the cost of transportation to the beach.

I didn't look at the prices of the chair and umbrella rentals, we just put our towels on the sand.

We didn't purchase anything, but I was told that they only accept cash right now.

Thanks for your response. I did email Gail, but haven't heard back from her yet.

The info is appreciated! Just want to know what to expect so we can decide if we'd rather do the all day plan or the pay as you go.

We are interested in visiting BeachLimerz in December. I have a question about the BBQ lunch with the day pass. Is this served throughout the day, or only for an hour or two? Is it served buffet style or do they bring you a plate?

I'm just wondering if we were planning to be there from 10-4, if it's possible to get a small plate of food at, say 11:00 AM, and then another small plate later in the afternoon? Or is it just a one time eat and you're done?

No, that's fine. Thanks for the info! :)