rheathslc

50 minutes ago, theliterateleprechaun said:

As of 5pm tonight, Ruby Princess has BOTH stabilizers deployed!!!!! Whew. 

Hooray!

What Princess really ought to do is charge folios for the drinks on days they have to per whatever laws are in effect, but then comp each folio that has a package for that amount after the fact. They're already getting the package money. If they don't do this then imo they're just using the new laws as an excuse to squeeze more money from guests.

2 minutes ago, So_Tweetie said:

This is new in my understanding - when I was on Regal last November I was told that you could upgrade to a package on day 2 and it would be pro-rated, but that the crew appreciation and any drink charges from embarkation day would remain. I agree that a discount is warranted on embarkation/limitation days if Princess cannot figure out a better method. 

That's what I thought! I told him that in my reply but have not heard back yet. 

9 minutes ago, coopco said:

We just made Elite but also had a suite on our last cruise (so we could make Elite) and the minibar was set up but I wasn’t sure if it’s different out of Galveston. My husband prefers rum and Diet Coke and it took over a day to get the minibar swapped out so that won’t help too much on the first day waiting to get to international waters. So that’s why I’m thinking buy a small bottle. We always get Plus so I honestly can’t remember if we had the bottle in the room the last time I bought one (before drink packages). I’m thinking I can just bring a bottle of wine but that was the beauty of Plus. I don’t need to haul around bottles of wine, bottled water, and Diet Coke anymore! Our next cruises are out of Galveston and San Francisco. I knew about Galveston but will be interested to see what happens in California.

Since we get the package I don't bother bringing wine but I'm thinking I'll bring a bottle on my next cruise even though I'm flying in late the night before so I will have to buy the bottle in Utah where it is more expensive. Unless I can get bottle of wine somewhere in the San Francisco financial district after midnight or before 9am.

20 minutes ago, latebloomer56 said:

Agree as it is a Carnival holding and Carnival out of Manhattan has the package for six days of a seven day cruise because the package can't be used that first day. We sailed at 4:00 from Manhattan I'm sure we were well away from NY within a few hours but you had to pay on your cabin charge until the next day. Not sure if that started at midnight I was in bed.

Are the Carnival packages drinks only or do they include the other things the Plus and Premier do as well? My CVP told me the Plus and Premier package cannot be pro-rated because they include so many other things. 

Which I get. But in that case a discount on days that drinks cannot be include would be better than nothing. 

8 minutes ago, memoak said:

As far as I can tell the west coast issues are on for the unlimited alcohol permit package. It does not look like plus is an issue. However descriptions on the Princess website do not speak to any of this

2 minutes ago, rheathslc said:

I noticed that. But the page also says that the terms apply to both the old and new Premier unless otherwise noted. So what about the "old" Premier. That's what I have for my upcoming cruise.

Not to mention I can imagine that if Plus and Old Premier guests get package drinks covered in CA embarkation ports but new Premier guests do not that's gonna lead to some seriously angry folks.

5 minutes ago, memoak said:

As far as I can tell the west coast issues are on for the unlimited alcohol permit package. It does not look like plus is an issue. However descriptions on the Princess website do not speak to any of this

I noticed that. But the page also says that the terms apply to both the old and new Premier unless otherwise noted. So what about the "old" Premier. That's what I have for my upcoming cruise.

@theliterateleprechaunthere is much consternation in various quarters about some language about the packages that people have noticed in the last day or so.

Since your next leg is out of San Francisco would you mind checking on this and reporting back?

People want to know (me, I'm people) if we really are going to have to pay for drinks while the ship is in San Francisco. 

11 minutes ago, coopco said:

While you are in port the first day, will you have your minibar set up if Elite? We just made Elite so I’m not sure if it’s there when you get to your cabin or if they don’t stock it until you reach international waters. What if you buy a bottle of booze for the cabin from the website? Will it be there when you get to the cabin?

Oh good point! I am Elite now. My next cruise will be my 2nd at Elite so I didn't think about the minibar. 🙂 But we also had it in a suite before and yes, it was there when we were first allowed in the rooms. If you try to get into your cabin before the announcement that they are all ready it MIGHT not be there yet. 

19 minutes ago, slavigne5577 said:

That would be fine with me, but I don't know how to change it.

I don't actually know either. 😬

I just know others have done it. Don't worry about it. I'm sure that if this is actually happening on CA sailings we'll know about it soon.

6 minutes ago, cruisinsince75 said:

90 minutes roughly.  If we leave at 3:00pm drink between 4:30-5:00.  We will bring two bottles of chilled sparkling wine to have in the meantime.

But that's not including the time after you board and before the ship leaves port. I'm often on board before 11:30 and usually have several drinks before the ship casts off. So it's more like 5 hours. 

And the new language says that Princess will not offer any refund or comp for times the package is not in effect.

One more reason I won't sail on Discovery again. She's a beautiful ship but the spaces I love most across the fleet are either missing, being removed, or are substantially less appealing than on other ships. Even other Royal class ships.

This is off topic but another big reason is that the Adults only Retreat Pool is barely deeper than a kiddie wading pool. I love the Retreat on Royal and Regal and the Hollywood Pool on Majestic. And the Lotus Pools on the older shops. The one on Discovery is pointless.

1 hour ago, slavigne5577 said:

How does Princess Plus work while in port in Galveston? Can we use our package to get drinks while in port?

Would you be willing to change the name of this thread so that people who are sailing out of ports in the other states listed in the policy will also see it?

We might get better info that way.

1 hour ago, So_Tweetie said:

You will not be able to use your package until the ship reaches international waters. Princess also will not serve you sparkling water, soda, or any other non-alcoholic options without charging you for the same timeline. They give everyone with a package a $25 OBC "for the inconvenience of sailing out of Galveston". I made the mistake of upgrading to Premier on embarkation day when the ship was delayed in leaving port for a few hours. Definitely do not recommend that! 

 

Before people blame Texas for this policy - Princess does NOT strictly follow Texas law on this issue. There is no restriction of service for non-alcoholic beverages by TABC and Royal Caribbean somehow manages to honor packages from the moment you board. 

I saw your video review of that whole debacle. Truly ridiculous that Princess can't figure this out.

This just came up on a group for my Nov 27th sailing out of San Francisco for 5 days with a LONG day in San Diego. Which would mean we would be paying for a package AND drinks on two out of 5 days. That is ridiculous. Does anyone have any experience with this since the new Premier package took effect?

I will cancel my packages if that's the case. 

1 hour ago, theliterateleprechaun said:

Well, that was a rough night and morning! We've sailed around the Cape and weren't seasick, but the past 10 hours have been 🤢🤢

 

 

 

 

I don't see any movies under the stars listings on the Patter. Are they showing anything on this leg?

3 minutes ago, theliterateleprechaun said:

This is a 4-day Pacific Coastal B2B with a round-trip Hawaii from SF. I'm not surprised they cut out the cocktail party. It's lots of work for such a short cruise. I'm sure they'll have the cocktail evening on the Hawaii cruise. I think this is a nice gesture from Princess! 

Ohhh! That's right! I forgot this was a B2B and thought it sad that they wouldn't have one on the 16 day.

In that case a very nice gesture from Princess!

6 minutes ago, theliterateleprechaun said:

September 26 Patter

 

 

 

✨️Well, this is exciting mail! What would YOU choose?✨️

 

A free specialty dining meal is nice but how sad to not be able to have the event. Especially as one of the top MTGs.

Congrats and Enjoy your meal!

1 minute ago, theliterateleprechaun said:

@rheathslc Our ship is the only one in port and it's been docked since yesterday morning. It makes ALL the difference. 🤩 Customs was a breeze. You'll be surprised next time. 

Good to know! The first time was Labor Day weekend with 3 ships in port. The border crossing was bad to start off so we were delayed even getting to the terminal. Then the line to get through customs took about 2 hours. And the line got even longer after we got in. It was horrible. I don't know how they got everyone on board in time.

I know better now but I can't help that my birthday is around Labor Day. 😁

We were actually supposed to be on the Diamond for a B2B for her first two cruises back in service after the restart. They canceled those less than a month out. We had to scramble to find a replacement and I was adamant about cruising for my birthday which left us with limited options. So it was the Royal out of Vancouver to Alaska on Labor Day Saturday. We flew into Seattle on the morning of (also a mistake I won't be repeating) and took the Princess transfer to Vancouver.

8 minutes ago, theliterateleprechaun said:

We are in an inside cabin on Baja deck

I'll be in an inside on Baja deck in Nov! Looks so clean and not worn out at all. 

Bummer about the lack of USB ports but I have my plug with multiple outlets and ports so I'll survive. 🙂

12 minutes ago, theliterateleprechaun said:

 

You have no idea how excited I was to have a dry day for our journey to the ship! We took the 15 minute seabus from Lonsdale Quay to the Waterfront. 

 

 

 

A 5 minute walk and less than $4 from door to ship. It's good when it's a dry embarkation! As I type, it's pouring. Early bird gets the worm.  

 

 

 

View from the seabus at 9:30 this morning.

 

Embarkation was a breeze. 

 

 

We were the 5th and 6th passengers to board. 

 

 

 

WTG, Princess! Another stellar embarkation. ✨️ 

Yay! So glad you had that experience. Our first time embarking in Vancouver was a nightmare. Mostly due to getting through the border and then again having to go through U.S. Customs before boarding which I did NOT expect and I swore never to sail out of Vancouver again. Of course I DID and the 2nd time was much better. But that was mostly because we didn't have to go through  Customs that time.

27 minutes ago, kad56 said:

 

I'm a newer cruiser - started cruising after covid. And I don't get the negativity, because I'm having a great experience. And I find that reviews are much more negatively passionate than other reviews I look at. If I got on tripadvisor or booking.com, I'm pretty confident in the reviews, and I'm pretty sure I'm getting an average somewhat objective metric. Cruise reviews are INSANE! For the most part I've had a great experience on cruises, and some of these reviews sound like people have been jailed then tar and feathered against their will. I don't get it. Maybe the prices are too high and people's expectations are too high? Maybe too much has changed since COVID?

I feel like a lot of those passionate complaints I read are due to people not reading the cruise documents carefully or availing themselves of the copious additional information the cruise lines provide. I read every official document I can get my hands on. And while YT videos and social media reviews can be helpful and enjoyable they are not a substitute for reading the fine print. 

I personally have very little patience with people who cannot be bothered to do basic research when they are spending so much money on a trip. And of course they are still entitled to their opinion. What is actually upsetting is when those people mistreat the hard-working crew over their own ignorance/laziness or misunderstanding.

On 9/17/2024 at 9:21 PM, rheathslc said:

 

Another update: I checked at 1:03pm mountain time and the app showed 59 days. So sometime between 12:15 and 1:03 it rolled over.

And I found something that I think may be a clue. This shows that the "Arrival Time" on day one is 12:30pm. So maybe 12:30 Pacific Time is when it will change each day. I will test this theory tomorrow.

 

I know probably very few people, if any, care that much about this but.. 

I have not had a chance to confirm the validity of my theory until today.

Just checked at 12:39pm Mountain Time and the days had changed from the 51 that was showing this morning to 50. So I think it's safe to say that my app countdown is changing over at 12:30pm local time.

What's still confusing is that 12:39 Mountain Time is 11:39 Pacific Time which is the time at Embarkation port for my cruise. So did it change at 12:30 local time or 11:30 port time? The app also showed 10:39 as the current Ship Time. I find the Ship Time especially odd given that this ship, the Ruby, is actually in port in Vancouver right now for day 1 of a new cruise and should be on Pacific Time.

🤷‍♀️

The mystery continues. I'm going to try setting my phone's time zone to Central time and see how that affects the process. 

Happy embarkation day @theliterateleprechaun!

24 minutes ago, TBfrPH said:

We're booked to go on her again in about 6 weeks

You must be on the sailing right before mine! Mine leaves Nov 16th. 7 weeks and change. 🙂

I can't wait!