JeffM1

Definitely

We did not get upgraded on our last cruise and they did not let us know until literally the day before sailing.

It really doesn't matter. They are trying to make the most money for Princess they can. They don't accept the first bid that comes in, they wait to see what comes in over time, and even then they sometimes counter offer trying to get it up more. My last cruise we did not hear back on our bid until 24 hours before the cruise.

Don't know for sure, but our best guess is that they have cancellations, right up to the day of sailing, and they are just sitting on some bids in case someone cancels. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it 🙂

We were just on the Discovery, and during that bidding the Club Class Mini suites were broken into different bidding categories, so you could bid on mid ship minis without bidding on forward facing minis.

As I mentioned previously, we did not get our bid rejection letter until just one day before sailing. We just got home from completing the trip last night. But unless you think Princess might be just a little slow with their emails, this morning I received an email telling me that the excursions on the cruise (we just completed) are filling up fast, but there is still time for me to book a tour if I hurry!! LOL LOL

On our cruise leaving today you could not buy anything above a balcony for the last month or two, yet on the bidding you could bid on every category up to and including the Sky Suite. So my guess is that they are covering themselves for last minute cancellations.

We are OK too. We normally don't bid as we usually travel with another couple (family) so if one got upgraded and the other did not, we'd have a problem. They had to cancel so we thought we would give it a try. Oh well... drinks on Princess (I have plenty of OBC)!

So it is one day out from sailing and my bid on the bidding site always said pending even 30 minutes ago. Just now got emails saying our bid was not accepted 😞 😞 . Did your bid get accepted?

Well you are correct. I went back and reread the post by "I object 2" and he did say the cabin number in his app was showing pending, not his original purchased cabin. That IS different from my case. I went to the bidding site and my two bids are still showing as pending. But in the app it is showing my original purchased cabin. My app is not showing pending. So maybe "I object 2" is getting lucky.

We felt exactly the same when we bid. I hope you are right!!!!

LOL we are in the same category, same cruise as you, and placed bids on the same two types of cabins. We have been "pending" for a month, and still haven't heard anything more.

So we are 1 week out from our CA coast cruise on the Discovery. Ship appears to be virtually sold out. We are in a mini suite and I placed two bids for cabins above ours about a month ago, and as of today I have heard nothing. My bids still show as pending, and all cabin types above ours are still available to bid on, up to and including the Sky Suite. Each day I check a couple of times (OK maybe more) and still nothing. Pretty sure when the cruise is over I will still be checking and I will have to go to Princess Bidding Rehab to get clean!

Welcome to my world, LOL. Pretty sure it is part of their master plan!!

And we will be on the same ship as you two weeks earlier and we've heard nothing. Oh well, I'll tell them to make sure your room is clean! 🙂

Don't think so, it's doing various CA coast crises all October.

We are on a CA coast cruise leaving two weeks from today. Placed two bids about a month ago and so far nothing. Both bids still pending, and all room categories above ours all the way up to the Sky Suite are still available to bid on. I guess we'll see...

Sailing in exactly three weeks from today. We have placed a couple of upgrade bids and so far have heard nothing, and the bidding for all cabin types above us is still open. Anyone have a RECENT updates on how close to sailing they have been letting people know if they were successful or not? Thanks!!!!

That is a good question. We did have Princess Platinum Protection, but that never came up, they never asked about it, and they made it sound like the FCCs were standard procedure since you really were not able to take advantage of most of what the cruise had to offer during your confinement. From what I've read in the past, it is not tied to insurance. Now cancelling your cruise before departure due to Covid is a completely different situation.

We were on a 15 day Emerald Panama Canal cruise this past April, 2023. Wife and I fully vax'ed and boosted. Tried to be careful, flew to ship wearing masks. Regardless, about a third of the way through the cruise wife got Covid, I did not. Lots of people coughing on the ship. Went to Medical center, nurse said wife was the first case this cruise and offered Paxlovid if we wanted it. Then doctor came in, when we told him nurse said we were first case on board he just rolled his eyes! Clearly many had it and just did not report. We asked doctor about Paxlovid his answer was we were welcome to it, however it really only helps shorten hospital stays, and doesn't do much for those who don't need hospitalization (his words). So wife opted against it. She was feeling better by day three but confined for 5 days. They said don't take any more tests, even if you are symptom free because you can test positive for weeks and if they know you are still testing positive, you will be confined for additional days. Wife was confined for the 5 days then was able to leave the cabin because she no longer had any symptoms (fyi she tested positive for 3 weeks after we came home). GREAT treatment by staff, dining delivery, room service, etc., they even sent flowers! Only good news is because of FCC's we received for her confinement, our upcoming CA costal cruise was 50% paid for by the FCC's they gave us. Good luck to all.

LOL, LOL, so true!!! Thanks for the info!!

Hi all - We are platinum and we are not doing either the Plus or Premier packages. Normally we would purchase the wi-fi 4 device package pre cruise through the app and get our 50% discount. However this one trip I happen to have a large amount of OBC. If I wait until I am aboard and purchase the wi-fi package so I can use my OBC, I know I will still get my platinum 50% discount but my question is if I purchase wi-fi as soon as I get on board will it be the same price as if I prepaid it through the app or do they charge you a higher price once you are onboard, even on the first day? Thanks in advance for your answers!!

Hi all – We are experienced cruisers (platinum of Princess) but we are first time on Disney, four day Mexico cruise roundtrip from San Diego 11/2/23. We are taking our adult kids and our grandkids ages 2 – 8. We got stuck with second dinner seating and waitlisted for earlier seating. We just don’t see some or all of the grandkids making it until 8:15PM dinner, meaning their parents could not go either. When I checked I was told the buffet has not reopened for dinner since Covid, and most walkup food is breakfast and lunch only, so I was told there was always room service. Do any of you know if we stand a real chance of clearing the waitlist for earlier seating and if not are there any other dining alternatives I am missing? Thanks!!!

We were on the Emerald in April LA to FL through Panama Canal. Wi-Fi was VERY slow. I was on the ship in 2019 just after the MedallionNet Wi-Fi was installed and it was fabulous. It truly was the "best Wi-Fi at sea". Very fast, you could use VPN, you could upload large files (sent our pictures to the cloud every night), etc. The issue now is that they are including Wi-Fi as part of the drink packages so a much larger percentage of the passengers are using the Wi-Fi, so the system just cannot handle it. You can still check your email, do basic web searches, etc., But they appear to be blocking VPN, and we literally could not upload our photos at all on the ship (had to wait until we were in a port and then connect to local cellular). Did not try streaming but I doubt it would work. Supposedly CCL is upgrading to Starlink, but I haven't seen it yet. Sure hope it helps, because the best Wi-Fi at sea has become the worst Wi-Fi at sea!

Ombud - Do you know this for sure? I served in the military and I own stock in my name. If you are correct I would go through the work to transfer the stock into my wife's name, but just wanted to be sure before I go through the hassle. Thanks!