karatemom2

Oh yes, my mistake. I was remembering 24 since we ordered 2 last time for our 14 day cruise. And yes, still a good deal.

Well for every scenario there is another scenario! Take my calculation for 2 Elite cruisers - not big drinkers, don’t like coffee. 24 pack of water delivered to room ordered prior to cruise. $7 (let’s just call it $1 day for 7 day cruise) 20 Diet Cokes to replace Elite mini bar - free 1 device WiFi w/ Elite discount $12.50 Glass of wine with dinner - $11 (yes, I’m basic) Two cocktails at Elite lounge (2 x 8) - $16 Couple of sodas or water in addition to what we already have - $6 Gratuities for 2 - $32 Total actually spent for two - $78.50 Package price for two - $120 This would be a sea day. Likely less on a port day as we prefer to dine and drink in port to fully experience our time there. But apparently I’m “dumb” and “cheap” and “tiresome” for pointing out that the magical Princess packages don’t add up for everyone. Silly me. I can’t believe I’m so ridiculous as to not want to hand Princess an extra $300 per week of our cruise for all the fabulous benefits I’m not using. Really, I need my head examined!

You will get a new medallion and lanyard each cruise. I purchased the bracelet for mine and reuse that as I like the convenience of wearing it in my wrist.

Really? Because I replied to a post just today on this very forum that basically said anyone not purchasing a package is only not doing so as they plan to stiff the crew by not paying gratuities. So yeah, people opting out do get kicked around as well. I think people get too precious about these topics when it is just a discussion of why some like it and some don’t. I do agree that it is completely ingenuous and a knee jerk response to claim packages aren’t very cost effective for many people. They certainly are. But it’s equally as ridiculous to infer that they are so cost effective that one must be daft not to invest, or incredibly cheap, or must not want enjoy a relaxed cruise without worrying about what your purchasing, etc. Trust me I have seen all of that as well. I’m not insulted but I will sure as heck rebut that train of thought. For those that really find the packages a great benefit that’s awesome. I say hip hooray! Everyone should choose what’s best for them. But what some of us who find them not worth our investment may find frustrating is the incessant push from Princess to make people feel they are necessary. Not true for many and if people come here and ask I will share my opinion and personal experience. There is no ill will intended to those who absolutely love them, even if they imply I’m cheap and plan to spiff the crew because I know better and will happily point that out at any opportunity and whenever I choose regardless of how tired anyone is of talking about the subject.

I'm afraid you might be confusing the fact that they don't list specific days with thinking it is an everyday schedule. It is not. Afternoon tea in the dining room is only served on sea days now. Just one of the things that has changed with Princess over time, probably because there was just not enough demand on port days when most people are out and about, so they couldn't continue to justify the food and staffing. Lunch in the main dining room is no longer offered on port days either.

We did it a couple of times. I think it was only offered on the Royal Class ships and I believe we paid $25 per person. You did get the higher end loose tea selection which was nice, but I haven't seen it offered on any ship recently. I'm still a big fan of the regular afternoon tea - best I've every had on the Sky this past summer sailing out of Southampton. It felt like they stepped it up a bit, maybe because of all of the Brits onboard!

I'm not really sure what you are talking about, but it is not San Francisco in June. Just take a peak at the averages for June in 2023. The highest temp on any day for the entire month was 68 with 18 cloudy days and 12 sunny days. And once you get out of the Bay heading up the Pacific Coast in open waters, it can be quite cool and windy. I've done the San Fran to Alaska cruise 6 times, and I can assure you it was never in the 90's to 100's at any point along the way going or coming back.

Where are you seeing listed differently? Is it on a Princess site? On the Enchanted Princess information page on the Princess web site, it just lists Afternoon Tea as one of the dining options but does not specify the days it is offered so just curious if you could be looking at something that is dated? Afternoon tea was served daily once upon a time, but that has not been the case for awhile now as the ships have transitioned to just serving it on sea days.

I don't think it works like that. When the price goes up, it's across the board and any subsequent changes are subject to the new pricing structure. Same thing when the price goes down and people benefit from that. If the cabin was suddenly $1000 less, you would want the full lower price, not just the difference in category pricing. Your best bet is probably to stick with what you have and perhaps bid on an upgrade when you have that opportunity.

Exactly. People can be very understanding when they are given the unvarnished truth, treated with consideration and respect, and accorded the minimal notification time that one would reasonably expect given how far in advance Princess MUST have known that the ship would not be ready to host these initial voyages. It is the abject lack of concern, consideration and honest communication that is truly the biggest issue here. It is poor form and shows a real lack of leadership.

It's not everyday. In our experience it will be every sea day at 3 or 3:30 p.m.

We have done this cruise a number of times, and even in June you can expect the weather heading out of San Francisco and up the Pacific Northwest Coast can be cool. I would never classify it on any of our trips as warm - even in the nicest weather conditions. There have been some trips where that passage has been downright cold and windy - definitely not pool weather. There is an old joke attributed to Mark Twain, who apparently said: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco". This unfortunately has some truth in that it can be quite cold and foggy. Just prepare for it to be cool and be pleasantly surprised if it is warm!

Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. What a terrible disappointment this must be. My daughter and her new husband did a honeymoon cruise in the Med on Enchanted last August and I can only imagine how stressed and upset they would have been in similar circumstances. It sounds like you are already in Europe, so I hope you are able to come up with some alternate plans and make the most of your time there together and salvage the trip. No matter what, I hope that you are able to come up with a Plan B make some wonderful memories and not let this unfortunate turn of events detract from starting your lives together. Congratulations on your marriage!!

You do not need the package to buy WiFi. It can be purchased separately, either for a single device or multiple devices. There is a place in the app to purchase that in advance or once you board.

Are you seriously implying that people who don't buy a package are "stiffing the crew"? Last I checked at $44 more per day than gratuity for Plus, or $64 more per day for Premier, there are many, like myself who don't find it cost effective and that has nothing to do with not paying gratuities, something I and most other non-package partakers would never consider and it is quite presumptuous to assume otherwise. In fact, with the money I save by not throwing extra money away on package perks I don't use or want, I'm happy to tip extra! I have at most one glass of wine per day - maybe an occasional $8 cocktail in the Elite lounge. DH gets complimentary drinks in the casino, and usually for him that is a bottled water. We buy WiFi at half price as Elite for one device. We have significant onboard credit with casino perks and stockholder benefits, and always get comped at least one, usually two meals in specialty restaurants, again thanks to our casino host. Why on earth would I pay MORE for a package then I use to increase my onboard charges over what I would pay just buying what I want as I go because Princess is aching to get more money in the coffers up front and take advantage of those who really don't end up using all the "benefits". I am the first to say that the packages are great for those who are able to fully enjoy the benefits and I hope you drink as much top shelf liquor as you can get your hands on to stick it to Princess and make up for those poor folks who are getting shafted. But please do not assume that those of us who don't fall for this particular money making scheme are somehow stiffing the hard working crew that most of us appreciate so much!

There is no one way to cruise Alaska - no one size fits all. My advice would be to take whatever opportunity works best for your budget and abilities. If that means an inside cabin on a roundtrip Seattle itinerary - do that. Any chance to go to Alaska and experience it, do it however you can best manage and make the most of whatever you choose. That is likely to look a little different for everyone. The only thing that I would encourage anyone to do once they narrow down what they can afford to do in terms of time, travel and budget, is to compare the options available within that window and try to pick the itinerary with the longest port days and if possible with Glacier Bay, especially for a first time cruiser. If a one way way works for you, great. If you can add in a land tour, wonderful! But if you can't, do not let that deter you from going at all. In many cases, your first cruise to Alaska will not be your last. That certainly proved true for us and we have been many times now. Try to find the best fit for you that offers the maximum chance to spend time in Alaska and don't delay until you can make it the "perfect" trip.

It is frankly amazing how tone deaf Princess is being on the impact of this last minute disruption. I happened to look at the Princess Instagram page that features the "exciting" announcement of delivery of the new ship. Of course, many people are commenting on their disappointment about their cruise being canceled. Crickets in terms of any response to these comments. But anyone responding with excitement is getting a gushing reply from the Princess content moderator. It's quite a stunning way to manage your social media presence in the face of crisis. Like the people who have been severely disenfranchised and inconvenienced simply do not exist!

Well that might actually get my attention! 😂 Although given our overall lack of consumption of alcoholic or coffee beverages and the great casino perks DH gets I doubt even that would make them worthwhile for us. For others, that might be enough to make it more attractive. I do believe the statistics Princess is throwing out though in terms of the percentage of people buying in - clearly they are very successful in selling the packages and it obviously is profitable for them so the push will continue. I will note that it seemed to result in my getting a number of freebies on our recent cruise as I think the crew assumption when they are busy is that “everyone” has the package. I often like to pick up a bottle of water or can of Diet Coke on the way back to my room. I just assumed I was being charged - but looking at my folio on the last day it was clear in most of those instances they just handed me the beverage and didn’t even check to see if I was a package participant!

Well they definitely have done that with the WiFi with the recent price increase that all but erased the 50 percent Elite discount when they raised the price by 65 percent. It’s the slow chipping away of perks. Clearly that was an overt effort to push people into packages.

It really depends on the tour. Some types of tours may be able to expand capacity by adding buses or guides - but that is a big if. Other tours that are more niche - like a boat tour in Alaska for example with very specific capacity - can’t just add extra passengers. We have waitlisted three times for Princess tours and never been successful. One was a horseback riding tour, another a boat tour and the other a kayak trip. All of these types of tours clearly have more limited capacity then a tour where you could perhaps just fill up an extra bus. So keep that in mind as all tours are not created equal where adding capacity is concerned. Also, I am finding even with tours that remain open, Princess raises the prices as it gets closer to the sail date. So, if there is an excursion you really want that you can only access through Princess book early.

We are thinking about trying this with our casino benefit. We generally get a free inside and pay to go up to a balcony. But we are considering sticking with the free inside on our next booking and then bidding on an upgrade. How did it work for you?

Mount Robert’s tramway might be a good plan b. There are some nice hiking trails at the top. Generally you can get same day access at the Salmon Bake as well which we enjoy. Food is good and it’s a really pretty area with a waterfall. You can also go to Mendenhall and hike to Nugget Falls.

I see most are discouraging Anchorage but we really enjoyed our time there when we visited Whittier. We rented a car from Avis and drove along Turnagain Arm which was beautiful. We stopped and spotted a couple of Beluga whales. We visited the Earthquake museum and Alaska Native Heritage Center. We grabbed some Reindeer hotdogs for lunch and then took a short hike along the Tony Knowles trail and spotted a moose. On the way back to Whittier we made a brief stop in Girdwood. We parked the car back at Avis around 6:30 pm and left the keys in the drop box and we were back on the ship for dinner by 7 pm. It was a great day!

If people love the packages, more power to them. I'm sure there are many people who find it a great value and get a great benefit. What I am really starting to resent as a long time Princess cruiser is the ever increasing pressure from Princess to make people, especially new cruisers, feel like they HAVE to get the package. This recent raising of the WiFi costs is good example of trying to strong arm people into packages and I'm having none of it. I fully resent that they are further devaluing my hard earned Elite WiFi benefit - the slow chipping away of a benefit I have really enjoyed. I do still need the WiFi for work and family connection, but in the future, my DH and I will probably just share one package and trade off on the device. There is really never a need for us both to be connected at the same time anyway and beyond the cost, I'm just protesting on principle! But back to the package - I think it is sad that some people like the OP feel that their cruise can't be enjoyable and fun without shelling out all that extra money up front for the package which may or may not end up being cost effective. It's all about the way it is being marketed - like you are seriously missing the boat if you don't buy in which is absolutely not the case for lots of people who just don't really fully utilize all the perceived "benefits", especially on a longer, port intensive cruise where there may be a number of days where you spend the majority of the day off the ship. It all is a really personal decision, very much based on how you like to cruise, what benefits you receive for loyalty levels or even casino perks, how much you value the "specialty" dining, alcoholic or coffee beverages, etc. It's hard for people new to cruising to really know so of course they will feel pressured to partake - regardless of whether it really makes sense for them or not. But it appears Princess is going to continue to make it a priority to push these packages as hard as possible - because they are most definitely making a ton of money on them. That says a lot about the "value"!

Honestly, we felt it was worth every penny. I went into it with a completely open mind, determined that I would try every drink and dish placed before me and excited about the experience. I can say without fail, everything served from food to wine was absolutely amazing, even the one dish that was definitely outside of my comfort zone. It was delicious! The story telling, visuals, smells, service and attention to every detail was something truly special. It was a very memorable evening - on New Year's Eve for us, no less - for our family and I'm so glad we did it, as pricey as it was!