PRINCESS Sweet Pea

Yes, thank you so much! Wow! Based on another current thread. Can anyone here who is on, or has been on the Regal tell us how they thought the beds were?

It isn't a win win for those who are booked, can not get their planners, and are just disregarded by the main Princess number, because planners are spending every moment of their time trying to make their quota of call-backs and new bookings. Of course everything is tracked. I know that. That is not the problem for me.

jeno, that doesn't suprise me. When the best food on a cruise is fettucini alfredo and, the not always onboard creme brulee, well, that says a lot. Most other lines are not having such major food issues, staffing issues, customer service issues, Covid issues, etc. It is clear that spending years and years with the excuse 'well, this is on a cruise ship' is basically a lie. I have had a decent Prime Rib, but even that is not always the case. I don't want to spend a full week or more on a cruise ship, because I feel like that is when Covid and flu can really spread. We have a shortie booked. And, especially on a short cruise, I expect the menu offerings to be pretty limited and not so good. We are thinking about trying Crown Grill, eating at Alfredo's, and other options to the main dining room. I hope that the post I have been seeing about possible updates to the menus and recipes is true. But, then again, new and improved is not always better.

Yes. So tru.... We now have found two TA' that we would use. Including one that actually had our cruise on a hold with the fare and perks that Princess 'couldn't see'. And that we should have been able to book. We are definitely done with Princess Customer Service.

Yes,... Geocruiser, Until you might actually need their services...

What would be amazing is if the Princess Planners actually responded to booked cruisers phone calls. Not acceptable. : ( We missed out on $200.00 because of this. Haven't been able to get a response from the planner that 'contacted us' to make the booking for MONTHS. But, they seem to have all the time in the world to SPAM or Pfish. I have absolutely no respect for how Princess is doing business now.

Check deck plans. It really helps to go over the deck plans. That video shown is one of the mid-ship bump-out cabins that does have a larger balcony. These are the ones to look for if you want a bigger balcony. But, for me, I wouldn't want to be up there right under that Sea Walk. Standard balconies on the Royal and Regal are very small. The newer ships do have some larger balconies. If you look at the very front of the ship, on some decks, there are balconies that do face forward, not Port or Starboard, or Aft. And while the ship is underway these balconies can not be used. And after dark, the drapes must be closed so that the lights being on do not affect the Bridge.

Be careful about Princess customer service and the Princess Planners. The one that contacted us was more than happy to make the booking immediately. Then, absolutely NO response from her, at all, since. This is a real problem right now. I happened to do some research, and found a TA with one of the big online agencies, that was able to help us, even put a new booking on hold, with the price and perks that were offered by Princess, but that we were told by Princess that they couldn't give us. We will now use that Travel Agent, and will not use Princess planning services or try to work directly with Princess at all.

I believe they are standard gift cards. But, here is my warning. Do not use them to pay for your cruise until final payment date. My husband made the mistake of using cards to go ahead and pay for our upcoming cruise, then they added the $100.00 per person credit. We could not, and STILL can not get in touch with our Princess Planner. Totally nonresponsive. Could get nobody at all at Princess to help us. And would have to completely cancel and rebook, but Princess is basically holding that money hostage. They will only refund it back to gift cards, and it could take weeks or months. Princess has these payments, in their hands, and would not do an in house transfer. If you have to make any changes at all to your booking, you don't want to have to deal with the problem with having used gift cards. We have sailed with Princess before, but after the way they are now treating loyal cruisers, and with the total absence of any customer service, we have no further respect or loyalty at all.

We hate lugging around way to much luggage. And, my husband is my pack-horse!!! Hahaha! But, I can't do just a carry-on in most cases. For a cruise, with needing everything from a more dressy night or two, to shorts, swimsuits, flip-flops, dress shoes, walking shoes for sight-seeing. With both cold and warm weather. The two of us split one LARGE suitcase, along with carry-ons.

Yes, this is what I understand about the many different 'Rate Codes'. This seems to be the bottom line. If you don't have a TA or Princess Planner who is willing to go to bat for you, you are just plain out of luck. Again, we KNOW that we can keep the lower rate we had, and get the $100. promo. We had put an actual Hold on the cruise with a TA with one of the biggest online travel/cruse agencies. So we know this can easily be done. But, Princess will not make this right. They were kind of holding our payments hostage, so that we couldn't cancel and book the hold. We have sailed Princess before, and I am looking forward to being on the Regal. But, I no longer have any respect for them as a company doing business. No respect or loyalty at all. That, along with the fact that we are told to contact our Princess Planner, and we gave up on that after weeks and weeks of getting no response, at all. Just dead air.

YES.... I have posted a little about this earlier here. In our case, we are not Canadian. But, we had the cruise booked at a lower rate, that then they tell us that we can not re-book and get the promo. We KNOW that the rate we had booked is still available, and that it can include the $100., because we had a TA to actually put a booking on hold. Princess just lies and tells us this can't be done. Even though we had a Hold that shows that it can easily be done. I think the Canadian thing might be a factor that you can't get around. But, there is no way to know for sure unless you can get another person in Canada to make the booking and it includes the $100. Once you have a booking, I think the system knows this, and will just not offer you those rates. Is your final payment soon? Have you paid a lot down on your amount? We weren't able to do anything about our situation, because Princess is kind of holding our payments hostage. But, I might be able to help with some info. Do you have to book thru a Canadian TA? I don't know anything about those requirements. I can say that if you can find a TA that will be able to give you the better rate with the Promo (some are better at knowing how to do these things) then make the booking, or bookings, thru them.

Thank you so much LAcruiser! We are so looking forward to being on the Regal. I a loving all of your great info and the Photos are just amazing! Thanks for posting the 'Officer Board'. I wonder how the food is onboard, and if the Head Chef will still be onboard when the ship gets back to Florida. That is something to see that barrel chair. You are in a larger cabin, right? We will have a regular balcony unless we are upgraded, or bid. I wonder if any of you onboard could give a good measurement or estimate of the little side-footstool table on the regular balcony cabins?

It would be great if they were 18 inches! I think they look smaller than that. 18 inches would be good.

We will have one of the regular sized balconies on the Regal. Which, I know are pretty small. Anyhow, I think all the balconies on the Regal have the square little side table on the balcony. Is anybody sailing who could give a measurement or close estimate of the size of that table? I know it sounds like, who cares! But I am wondering if we can somehow set that up as a more dining type table.

Ohhh my!!! This is why we are still hesitant to book a cruise other than a shortie. More days onboard gives it more time to run thru the ship. I would rather be positive after leaving the ship than quarantined onboard for days.

Did Princess not assign you a Planner and have them contact you. Even when we call Princess, they will not really even try to answer our questions or make this right. They say, contact your Planner. It doesn't matter if a TA is Princess or another agency, I think there are good ones and bad ones. We also called the main customer service number of this online agency, with a question, as our TA was off at the time. Got thru and got great service. When an outside can get you the rate you know you should get and the perks that you know are offered, but Princess will do everything they can to tell you 'Can't do that'... and not do what they should, or make it right. That says a lot.

It is funny with Princess. They will say 'Kids Sail Free'... and that actually means that extra people in the cabin are free. Isn't really limited to kids. But, in this case, I do wonder if by saying 'Excursion', they now have the system set up to know what is Excursion and what is not. Might have to wait until January to find out.

Well, this won't. help us anyhow. You all can count me in with those who are just done dealing with Princess. I am reading other post about past cruisers not being able to access the rates and perks that they should. And, I know that this is just nothing compared to some other stories here. But, we do not have a Princess Planner who will even return calls We have tried for weeks to get her to respond. I know, for sure, that we can book and get the rate and the 100.00 per person credit. Have a travel agent who has a booking on hold with all of this in place. Princess will not make this right. They will not let us cancel and refund to our Princess cards in any reasonable amount of time, so we can't book with the TA and use these cards. They are holding this money hostage. One of the reasons for this cruise was to go ahead and use up these Princess cards. We just don't want these things hanging around, waiting to book with Princess again. They also will not forward this to another Princess Planner. We even forwarded the absent planner that we had a screen shot of this other TA booking. NO answer. Dead air. No willingness by Princess to make this right. We have enjoyed sailing on Princess before. But, like some have said, our patience and loyalty can only go so far. Dealing with Princess is just a nightmare.

Okay. That would be great! I began to wonder when I saw it listed like that!

We have put a hold on a cruise, and it appears that Princess might be able to tell what kind of credit this is, and limit it to Princess Excursions. So, it doesn't look like it is showing as usual Onboard Credit. That is okay for. us, as there is actually one that we would book. So, I pulled up this HOLD, and it is specific in showing this as an 'Excursion Credit'. It also shows the small Onboard Credit that came with the booking. But we have no other Onboard Credit that would be showing. It is just showing 'Excursion Credit'. I know that some people have wondered if this was like any other Onboard Credit, or if it was ONLY for Princess Excursions. And most replies have been that the Princess system doesn't recognize the difference. But looking at this booking on hold, it looks like the system does know the difference. I don't know if others here would have both regular and 'excursion' credit, so that would definitely show how the system is doing this. I hope some others might tell what theirs looks like. Because Some people might be disappointed if they can't use this onboard.

Thank you so much! That info above is very helpful. If it is possible to have the amount put towards another existing booking, then that would be the best way to go about it. I think we do have all of the card info. A couple were actual cards, and a couple were just E-certificates. I will have to check.

We have had a discount when logged in... booked with the lower rate. Now they offer the additional $100.00 per person credit, with no fare change, but that discount disappeared. They took that away. Nice job Princess... NICE. Increase the fare for loyal cruisers only.

I hate to ask this here! But, if we were to cancel (possibly to re-book) our cruise, how would this work? We have paid for most of the cruise with several Princess cards that we had got with a discount. Also booked an excursion wth a credit card. How would this refund be made? Does anyone know if there are long delays and waits for Princess refunds right now?

I pulled up a Princess cruise and the notice at the top, which should show any restrictions, said ALL are welcome on this sailing. Princess has no requirements or protocols in place. So, who is checking? Very confusing.