remydiva

Our recent 14 day cruise had two formal Nites and two ‘Dressed to Impress’ nites. The second Dressed to Impress nite was subtitled ‘White and Gold’ theme. I had clothing options to partake but noticed as others have, the number of passengers who dress up at all for formal or ‘dressed to impress’ is waning.

Wow I had no idea.. so much behind the scenes! I guess I’ll never know for sure as I’m not phoning back.

Thanks I did search prior to posting and couldn’t find anything. needless to say I am NOT phoning back.

I just got a phone call message from the promo dept wanting to “fill me in on all the new exciting additional perks to the Platinum and Elite loyalty program. AND they’d really like to talk to me about our recent cruise” ( I’ve gotten 4 emails in the one week we’ve been home asking me to fill out the post cruise survey) Sounds like a sales gimmick as it was not from my personal cruise planner. Anyone else get this phone call?

Same with me. After 6 sea days on TA when wifi likeky would have been spotty at best, we just found wifi at bars and cafes at the ports. I did buy ‘till end of cruise’ wifi package which , as discussed on another thread, seems to be cheaper than the per diem rate. I got the last 3 days for $22.50 ( elite rate 50% off the $45 rate ) to check in airlines and print boarding passes.

Thank you. We just took a couple of empty bottles with us and refilled ( I brought a small funnel too) from glasses of water at buffet or pool. This would have been a good option as well.

You can order water ahead? Is a case 6 bottles or the costco sized 24? Is it delivered to your room?

I know they have special drinks only at P&E HH as a lady we sat with ordered some blue martini thing that was only available during that time. But don’t know if it was a special price. The whole P&E is run differently now. No card in your room telling what appies are available or special drinks on west dates. Just a letter ( which our steward never left for us; I had to check at CC loyality desk several days into cruise to see if they even had it anymore) that said where and when it was plus the Grapevine tasting,

I do realize that and explained it further in a later post. To clarify , we pay the daily crew appreciation AND tip extra to those who go above and beyond,

I agree …I thought it was odd number given my 50% discount. I checked on Weds nite and clicked ‘till end of cruise’ ( cruise ended Sunday morning) and it was $30. I checked next morning Thurs and it was $22.50 and lasted till we got off ship Sunday. I think you’re right that a multi day rate seems lower than per diem.

Kept automatic crew appreciation AND tipped steward extra. I never remove some or all of the crew appreciation as I know that automatic daily added tip is how all staff ,including those behind the scenes, gets tips.

“This analysis is a fundamental life skill that should be acquired early in life. Do these same folks go on Facebook or NextDoor and ask “Should I buy a home?” or “Should I start a family” Thanks for the laugh!!

Agree with you.. do the math. I also tipped our room steward separately.

Just back from 14 day TA on Regal. We got the basic fares only vs paying $60 US pp per day to get included tips, wifi and drinks. For us, it was absolutely the right choice. here’s why.., I’m Elite; hubby is Platinum so we got one minibar set up. I customized it to suit our drinking habits. Swapped out sodas and whiskey we don’t drink ; for more beer, gin, Pellegrino and tonic for my G& Ts. I even got limes from bar to keep in fridge so it was very civilized! I forego needing wifi as we checked our emails when in port having coffee or wine at local cafes. I did buy a ‘Till end of cruise’ wifi package to be able to check in and print boarding passes for last 3 days so as Elite it was $22.50. I drink 2 glasses of wine most nites.. one at HH and one with dinner. Three nites I had a nite cap. At Captain Circle nite, drinks were ‘free’. I bought a bottle of wine the first nite at Crown Grill and took rest back to the cabin to supplement the mini bar options. Hubby had total of 4-5 drinks/ beer over 14 days in addition to mini bar offerings. Our total bill was under $900 US to cover tips at $16 pp per day, drinks, additional Crown dinner added on board, and 3 day wifi. vs Plus package at $60x 2x 24= $1680. absolutely the right choice for us. your mileage may differ 🙂

Back from 14 day TA on Regal and agree with the barking seals comment. We wore N95 masks at all times except outside on loungers or in our room, A pain but even with 5x vaccination, we are seniors and hubby is higher risk. Very few others wore masks of any time. As cruise went on, more and more coughed.. some very ‘juicy’ coughs. We and one other couple actually left our group ‘happy to share’ table one evening when a very sick looking woman was sat with us ( table for 10) and actively juicy coughed then handed bread basket, butter dish etc. The unmasked lady who coughed in her hand and openly coughed over the keyboard at Internet cafe on last day as others were printing boarding passes was a prime example of not taking even minimal precautions to protect others. I took CoVid test kits and meds with us. We tested negative once home and laid low for another 5 days. In spite of WHO declaring the covid ‘emergency’ is over, it and RSV are here to stay. Remember the ‘good ol days’ when we only had to worry about Norwalk?!

Thanks for reply.

Planning our umpteenth cruise and 2nd on Uniworld but I've forgotten how I arranged air travel first time. No where on their site does it give info about them arranging air travel. For those of you who have done so recently, can you share if it was easy, good prices, too many stopovers, etc. Also, travel cancellation insurance...does Uniworld have their own product? TIA

Sure! for Ireland we used “Ireland Chauffeur Travel “ ( not sure if we can post web links here) … together we planned itinerary and style , they booked all accommodation and we had same driver/guide for the full 10 days in a private Mercedes Sprinter van. https://www.irelandchauffeurtravel.com/ for Italy we used Dragonfly Tours. They too helped us plan itinerary based on our interests, time and budget. They booked all accommodation but we used fast trains to get from city to city. They arranged for driver to pick us up at train station and provided us with guides each day, https://www.dragonflytours.net/

I noticed that a couple who sat with us in a group first nite sat at same table for two every nite after . Concerto dining room Regal Princess They likely had table at 530-545 as were already seated when we showed up at 6 pm to be paraded around the dining room to end up seated near kitchen most nites. wonder if tipping in cash helps great tables become more readily available?

Sounds perfect! The never ending art auctions .. ugh! Good riddance!

Agree with others this is an interesting thread! here’s my two cents —/ just home from our 20 th Princess cruise of 4 th TA ( different ports each time) and feel we need a change. As others said, not only has product changed over the years, but so have we as we age. Too many people, too many lines, not enough enrichment opportunities, too many ‘health/ wellness ‘ promos (7-8 every day from acupuncture to teeth whitening) to push sales etc. The demographics in both age and ‘style’ has changed and eroded imho. Princess Elite perks all but disappeared so staying for loyalty alone not the deciding factor. Itinerary, shipboard experience, food and demographics of fellow passengers now more important. We also have 2 RCCL, 3 Viking river cruises, 2 Uniworld river cruises and 4 land tours — two with private chauffeurs which were amazing. So like others here, it’s time for a change and I will look into Oceania as a possible option. I have Orkney Islands on my bucket list and see they have a cruise that includes that so it might be a good test run.

When I got air flight info confirmation , both the Delta and the West Jet booking numbers showed. this info was also included in email confirmation Flight Information This confirmation reflects an updated air schedule due to an airline schedule change. Please contact the airlines directly to reconfirm your flights. Please verify that the spelling of names shown on this notice match the identification presented at the airport check-in (i.e. Passport). Seat selection and special requests can be made directly with the airline or via the Cruise Personalizer at www.princess.comor by calling 1-800-774-6237. Online check-in can only be done on the airline's website.

I think it might also have to do with if you booked ‘flexible’ vs ‘non flexible ’ since you can change the flexible ones right up to being ticketed at no charge.

Really? Guess I don’t know enough of who does or does not have an ‘agenda’. Thought it was just a comment. I just thought this was a safe place to post questions and get info.

I can assure you that after 20+ princess cruises nothing is ever my ‘one and only experience’. I don’t ask for, nor expect, perfection when travelling. Not sure where you got the notion that jsn55 or I would never cruise Princess again. We were just replying to original thread topic of our Dine My Way experiences after restart.