Bgwest

20 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

Yes, you will get 3 mini-bars.  Usually on the 1st day of each sailing.

This 👆🏻

100% correct. 

2 hours ago, 1025cruise said:

Not necessarily. Some cruise lines are blocking Wi Fi calling. Not sure if Princess is one of them.

Princess does NOT block wifi calling. 

Just now, Cruzinforpeace*** said:

Love that sneaky packaging!

😉

Absolutely agree on purchasing FCDs once on board. Best deal at sea.
We always keep at least 6 each “in the bank”. 

Available on Amazon 

10 hours ago, Bgwest said:

I had these confiscated on another cruise line several years ago. 
Long story short, I grabbed them back and still travel with them. 
The photo shows my current workaround. Haven’t had a problem since. 

On 1/19/2024 at 6:25 AM, xcell said:

You are in the YC -- does it matter?

 

 

Yes it does. A lot. 
Inside or balcony?

On 1/11/2024 at 6:06 AM, blordos said:

The photo is of no importance. At the check-in desk in the terminal the staff will take a photo anyway. This photo will attach to your cruise card ( internally )

This 👆🏻

We were extra careful to get really good photos before we left home. What was the first thing they did at checkin after scanning our passports, yup, they took new photos of each of us. 🤷🏼‍♂️

1 hour ago, laudergayle said:

Please report back.  My under is that it added st the end of the cruise…before disembarking.  So you should have at least s $50 per eligible person in charges to get full advantage.

Hope so. We’ll see. 
And I will report back. 

1 hour ago, Esv104 said:

Was there a special email address you used?

Nothing special. Used the same email as in post #7. 
But it is MSC. Good Luck!!

We are in YC presently on the Seascape. We are using the included wifi package that is provided. Our thought was to try the basic and see if it works satisfactorily. If not, then we would buy the upgrade. 
I should also mention that this is a Caribbean cruise. 
This is a screen shot of the performance we’ve been getting. Obviously, we’ve stayed with the included wifi package and have not upgraded. 

Same here. After a month, I sent an email to MSC. They replied in a few days and fixed the issue. 

On 1/30/2024 at 7:49 AM, mackfam said:

Currently on board Seascape. I booked this cruise a year ago and I haven’t received the $50 voyagers OBC. I plan on asking about it today but just wondering if anybody has had any luck getting it added once on board?

We are also presently on board Seascape. I have been to Customer Services twice since we boarded on Jan 27. 
The reply I have received is that they have to contact “shoreside personnel“ to get this OBC added. 
Seems like they’ve decided to make the customer work for it. Or perhaps, hopefully forget about it. 

7 hours ago, Até said:

Cruiseplum.com 

 

If you create an account you can see historic prices on specific sailings.   

Sir/Madam, you continue to amaze!

Thank you!!!

On 1/30/2024 at 7:56 PM, rideev said:

Just got off of a cruise last week.  Prior to getting onboard the ship, we had breakfast in our hotel.  The host that sat us did a wonderful job.  My wife mentioned that he should work on a cruise ship, he said that he did.  We talked for a little bit, then he had to go back to his job as others were coming in to be seated.  After breakfast, I went and had a little conversation with him.  I wanted to talk to him about the tipping on the cruise ship.  I asked him if I took off the auto gratuities if he would know, and if it would affect his pay.  He stated that he would know, but it would not affect his pay.  His pay was a set amount.  I then asked him if I gave him cash did that go into the tip pool or did he get to keep that.  He stated that he got to keep it.  He stated that he would recommend that I take off auto gratuities (or now, service charge or whatever) and just give the money to whoever did a good job.  He stated that the cruise line just uses that money to reduce the cruise lines payroll as he is on a set contract with a set pay.  I did not remove tips on that cruise as it was short and we had already prepaid those.  However, I will be doing this in the future, and will be giving the full amount, plus some, to the staff that earns it.  Our last cruise we had a great wait team and a useless cabin steward.  The cruise before that we even had a maitre d that went above and beyond and got us an orange souffle in the middle of the cruise.  You know, that one they have on embarkation day lunch in the MDR.  It was special as they only made a couple just for us.

 

I wish that the cruise line would do away with the auto gratuities.  But that's just me.  If they need to charge more, then so be it, charge more and pay your staff what they are worth.

 

That being said, tipping is an individual decision and I wish all businesses would do away with it.  Pay your people what you need to pay them and charge the price you need to charge.

 

On a land side note... One of the guys I play pickleball with has retired from the restaurant management business, and now has gone to work at a resort as a part time waiter.  I asked him about the tipping business and how that works, and if he gets the tips, etc.  He stated that he prefers that customers give him cash, as he keeps all of that.  If they tip by Credit Card, then the business usually keeps 3%, then the rest goes in the tip pool.  

Yours is such an outstanding and thoughtful post that I encourage you to keep a copy of it and repost it in each and every tip tread that comes along

Bravo!!!

On 1/16/2024 at 8:15 AM, MissP22 said:

Considering all the newest charges that Princess has instated recently, I believe your prediction is about to become reality. 😪  

 Could it be that the Bean Counters have determined it’s actually more cost-effective for them to provide elite tokens than for them to actually do elite laundry?

On 1/21/2024 at 12:45 PM, Paula_MacFan said:

They had a table after security where they took out every can from the sealed boxes and checked them over, then taped them back up. It was quick.

Never, ever on dozens of Princess cruises have I heard of this being done. Perhaps this is something new. 
Would really like to hear from others on this subject. 

On 1/31/2024 at 8:29 AM, Lady Arwen said:

I actually agree with you,  When Princess saw their guests showing up to the MDR dressed for a backyard bbq they said “We can feed these people anything and they won’t even notice if it’s subpar”.  So I guess we know who to blame for the decline in quality.  

Has nothing to do with economics, eh?

Edit

That's why God made 👇

24 minutes ago, Moondogy said:

Us lowly platinum level get the discount too  🤣

I’m glad you pointed this out. It’s good to carefully read what is written by others. 

2 hours ago, mtnesterz said:

The longest had Dress Code in the title and started January 14th this year by wannagonow123 and closed by cjskids with 340 posts Feb 8th after a post from Bgwest. Twenty four days.

😀

1 hour ago, Torfamm said:

The odds of everyone complying with the requested dress of dark suit or tuxedo on formal nights is pretty low, especially on sailings from North America.

As it should be.

14 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

If it is impossible to transfer OBC to someone else, can I use the "casino trick" to cash it out? Or do I just have to spend it on purchases?

14 hours ago, reedprincess said:

You can spin once or twice then cash out, or just cash out.  Take the receipt to the casino cashier and voila - you have cash in hand.

 

And just like that POOF, it will be gone one day. 
 

(And there are no “receipts” involved.)