Cruisemeister2002

9 minutes ago, KaiBlue said:

@Cruisemeister2002 Wow - that's some crazy mix ups by Princess!  We tend to book non-cruise ship excursions and I'm leaning toward doing that again on this cruise.

 

Everyone - thank you for all of the suggestions.  I am currently using the new app - but will have to uninstall and reinstall if it's not working in a few days.  When we booked this cruise, it was under the old app but I have since deleted that.  Sounds like the excursion issue is happening for others and not just me.  I've tried both Edge and Chrome with no luck but will also have to try clearing out the cache which i haven't tried yet.  Thanks for all of the suggestions.

 

I didn't use a travel agent because frankly, I haven't felt the need to in many many years. I have an excellent current rep for Carnival and also had one for Royal but haven't cruised them in awhile.  I am a hands-on planner for our land vacations and didn't see the need to use a TA and get a person in the middle of the equation.  

We tend to book direct now with P&O or currently Princess. In the UK their main office is in Southampton for them both. Excursions I log on to the Princess website and book them. Normally we don't book that many excursions through the cruise line. I think we have 11 ports of call and have booked four excursion. We docked in New York a few years ago, got a taxi to where the water taxi's take you to the Statue of Liberty and then on to Ellis Island, we then returned, walked through Battery Park, got another taxi to Macy's apartment store then another taxi back to the ship and save 50% on what P&O were charging for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. They were restricted time wise, we had as long as we wanted.

41 minutes ago, Bgwest said:

Cancel and rebook. EZPZ. Especially if you’re using a travel agent. The only downside is, of course, losing some OBC from the original booking.  

If however, your OBC consists of a future cruise deposit and Shareholder OBC, then you lose nothing as those will be reapplied to the new booking. 

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve done this. 

I did this on a P&O cruise and although I lost my deposit I managed to keep the same cabin and pay £800 less.

I haven't come across this situation. I know in years past you could be on a ship, same grade cabin and find hardly anyone is paying the same fare. We have booked a cruise for later in the year and for the same grade cabin the fare is now £1200 more. The excursions available seem all over the place, one time they are $10 to $30 more expensive, then they are $10 to $15 cheaper. Whether this is because they want to fill a coach I don't know. 

The only problem, if you can call it that, is an excursion we had booked for the first day in New York which was actually an evening excursion around the City with an hour in Times Square to shop or whatever ended up being switched to the second day. All very well you may think except that the ship sailed for it's next port of call at 18.00 hrs and the excursion starts at 19.00 hrs until 23.00 hrs. Doh. We also recently had two ports of call taken from the cruise one in Maine and the other St.John's Newfoundland and replaced with two in France. One we had an excursion booked, but I am not sure where the payment has gone as I think it came out of our OBC but that amount hasn't changed. The two new ports of call despite these changes happening getting on for two weeks ago still have no excursions available.   

Just now, Torfamm said:

There has always been a minimum amount set for each category in the bidding process. It varies from cruise to cruise. Sometimes the minimums are higher, as seems to be the case for your trip. You must bid at least the minimum for whatever categories you are interested in.

O.K. thanks. Must admit was a bit staggered at the huge jump in what we would have to bid. But then the cruise we are taking is currently around £1200 more than we are paying.

2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

It's not a complaint if you are suggesting ways they can improve their passengers enjoyment.

Agree wholeheartedly. If somethings not right it's a pain in the butt to have to queue up at reception and on a cruise we had last year on P&O Ventura a 35 night cruise every day for the first 17 days we were at the reception desk. We aren't cereal moaners, it was that things that should have been sorted were not. The day before our cruise we received via email that we had been upgraded from an inside to sea view. Great. But we then had to take all labels off our cases and reprint. After travelling most of the day to Southampton we were met with huge queues, the ship was five hours late into port. Got to our cabin and the door cards were someone else's. I had paid for a Celebration Package that included flowers, Champagne, Champagne flutes in a presentation pack, bathrobes and slippers, two Speciality dinning and two facial/massage appointments. I had contacted P&O a few day's prior to cruise to make sure they would be in the cabin. Also part of the package was a formal photograph in a frame. No photographer on board, no frame. Nothing. That's why I agree that if something isn't right complain there and then. You can always write to head office when you return home.

Sometimes it doesn't take much to confuse me but this morning I received an email from Princess with regards to upgrading on a forthcoming cruise. It had a link which took me to the grade of cabin I currently have and then a series of sliders beneath each type of upgrade available. My confusion surrounds this as I originally expected to be offered the chance to upgrade five day's after I had made the final payment and that the amount I bid was at my discretion therefore if I wished to upgrade from my inside to say a balcony I could bid £200 per person. What amazed me was the cheapest was £720 per person for a sea view. Is this something new ? or will I still be able to bid what I feel is reasonable. After all if they have cabins available surely a reasonable amount, but not a full price upgrade is still of advantage to Princess. Or am I being silly. 

On 5/22/2024 at 4:20 PM, Interestedcruisefan said:

That's not confrontational at all

 

Worth saying though that  in real terms the pricepoint for cruising now compared to 2002 will be SO MUCH lower it's actually hard to believe at a time when the rest of the things we pay for in real terms in the world have increased so dramatically

 

And my other point is on our recent cruise with  Princess we had to pay gratuities of 16 us dollars per person per night (standard room gratuities). It's more for more expensive rooms. 

 

Which we don't have to pay on P and O of course

 

So thats 176 pounds for the seven nights for 2 people

 

I think the chocolate and biscuits and toiletries cruises provided each night would likely only account for less than 6 pounds of that cost? If that?

 

And come to think of it we didn't actually get any biscuits or chocolate any night on Ruby Princess in our standard rooms?

 

We did get our room cleaned in the evenings though as often in the mornings I would work on my laptop in the cabin

 

So maybe  biscuits and a chocolate only applies to higher standard cabins?

 

We didn't get ANY biscuits or chocolates of any kind left in  our cabin morning or night last week AT ALL?

 

(Ps assuming my wife didn't keep stealing them all. Lol)

 

Which I've just checked and she assures me we didn't get any at all

 

No tea or coffee making options in the cabin either? No idea if they normally offer that on Princess ?

 

 

Don't know if Princess have biscuits but P&O always did. We would eat the occasional ones, but if you put them in a draw with your clean clothes they would put another packet in it's place so we would on a long cruise have a decent bag full which we took home and issued them out to the Grandchildren, As for tea and coffee making facilities apparently those sailing from the UK have them ? The biscuits were for all grades of cabin, as we tend to have an inside cabin on long voyages where the cruise is September or early in the year as the likelyhood of being able to sit on a balcony crossing the Atlantic is pretty remote. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 hours ago, Cloudyrain said:

I have always thought the current P&O offerings are pretty good, and think they are so much better than they were 10 years ago: maybe I am easily pleased 😂

 

As I said I have been able to pre-book dining (speciality and MDR) at various timings throughout the cruise so that's helpful. The rest of it, I will just cross my fingers and ignore the cold-soup options (which I don't like, and American cruise lines seem to love 😂)

I don't wish to be confrontational but myself and wife started cruising back in 2002 and whilst they always say your first cruise is the one you remember the most we have had many excellent cruises with P&O since. However I believe the reverse is true of what you say with regards to cruises getting better. When we first cruised ladies had toiletries in a little P&O bag to greet them in the bathroom. You had a turndown every night with a chocolate on your pillow. The biscuits you were provided with the tea and coffee were better than now. Things like tours of the bridge and galley were free. You had chocoholics tea one afternoon where the display of cakes and pastries and an ice carving were wonderful. It was laid out buffet style and you helped yourself to as much as you wanted. Tea and coffee was served at your table. Menu wise if you didn't like anything on the main course you could ask for a steak. These were much better than the things dished up now. The first cruise we even had a guy giving information over the tannoy system about the port you were entering and the daily paper had port information in them.

17 hours ago, satxdiver said:

How do you now claim OBC for your 100 CCL shares on Princess. In times past we sent an email to Princess (forgot the email address) to make a claim?

I use a stock and financial service Company where I have a Stocks and Shares ISA (These are UK savings schemes where you can invest up to £20,000 tax free) You can also buy individual shares such as CCL. I had 100 of these, informed them when my holiday was due. They then contacted P&O at Southampton (Also where Princess headquarters UK is) and they applied the OBC. I know cruise lines have to be contacted each time as like myself an individual may decide to sell the shares.

In 2022 I bought 100 Carnival shares for £700, early 2023 we had a 35 night cruise so £150 onboard spend (P&O Ventura) got back of the cruise and a few months later the share price hit £13.40 so I sold making £600 profit. Not that I am a shares wizard or anything like, but that was a good deal to me. We didn't intend taking any more long cruises, but have decided on one last long one later in the year as I am retired and my health and age are against both myself and wife as far as long cruises are concerned as the cost of insurance is restrictive and has gone up from being in the hundreds to being in the thousands.

 Have never had a problem selecting a cabin. When you access the cruise line website and book whenever I have looked it always say's " Let Princess or whoever decide later you cabin location or select which cabin you require now" It will then ask if available they will upgrade you. So you can say yes upgrade, or no I want the cabin I have booked. How this works in relationship to bidding for an upgrade I don't know but would imagine that the more that bid the less chance of getting upgraded without bidding.

19 hours ago, memoak said:

We never use the app since we always order at the bar or MDR. I have often seen bartenders question who the drinks are for if one person is ordering multiple types of drinks. Also if you were to do this in the MDR there would be questions since they can see who has packages and who doesn’t. Your suggestion only really works on the app not out in public

I really cannot understand why any cruise line questioning who is drinking what. Does it matter as long as the limit isn't exceeded and if it is you get charged anyway. As I have previously said I have purchased the Plus package for myself and wife as you cannot have one package under the rules. But then why not. Again if you exceed the 15 drinks per day you pay. I realise why the rules are so because the cruise line want's to make as much out of you as possibly that's why in many cases sea days have been extended and ports of call cut. Yes they have to feed people on sea day's but the take from shops and alcohol outweighs the extra food costs. Cunard used to do a twelve day round trip to New York. Four day's out, four days back Southampton and four days in New York. You won't see any cruise line crossing the pond in less than five days now and last year on Ventura after missing our first port of call Burmuda it was ten days before we reached Freeport Bahamas. The return journey from Port Canaveral was six days to Ponta del Garda and then a further three to Southampton. 

I do feel sometimes there's more concern as to whether a passenger is maybe bending the rules to suit themselves than there is to what a cruise line charges against what a customer pays for a package and doesn't use their full entitlement. I know it's up to an individual to decide whether to pay the extra for a package as to whether the upside is better than the downside or in other words they are getting their monies worth. I for instance have taken out a Plus package for an up and coming cruise. I know I won't use the two gym sessions, I know neither I or my wife will consume two of the desserts per day. That's my choice and i accept the cost. What I cannot understand is how some would deem it a no,no, to take advantage of the system if they could get away with it as with someone getting drinks on their package and then giving them to someone not on the package. I am aware that those in the same cabin, like myself and wife both have to be on the package therefore there's no way of bending rules. Does anyone for one moment think Princess or any cruise line thinks about the poor passengers who pay for their $15 x 15 drinks or those paying for their $20 drinks that if they only have two drinks in a day that they would be concerned that the passenger hasn't used their allowance. Of course they wouldn't. The bottom line is all that matters. 

8 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

A further possibly final comment on food quality comparison.

We had afternoon tea in the buffet the other day, and as well as warm freshly baked scones, they had genuine clotted cream as well as jam, and we also had a couple of the sandwiches, and desserts which were delicious. The P&O chefs should take lessons from Princess in how to make edible pastry.

We watched the wait staff in the buffet today and were impressed with how efficient they all were, ensuring tables were cleared quickly, and the tea, coffee and juice service is also very efficient, and the orange juice is stronger and sweeter than the watery stuff provided on P&O.

 

You will have gathered from my posts that I am far more impressed with Princess service and food quality standards than with P&O, but rather than bore everyone with a final update, I will be happy to answer any specific points you might have.

 

I presume you are on Sky Princess ? What are the cabins like compared say to Ventura. Have you had what some seem to describe as these awful deserts (The ice cream one's with all the toppings) We are on Sky Princess later in the year and have taken up the option of the Plus package. If you have also got this what is it like regarding choice. Some say the wine is from boxes and it's not that good. Also we come under the Elite tier which as you probably know includes mini bar, free laundry, shoe polishing, afternoon tea in cabin, canapes on formal nights, priority boarding and shuttle ship to shore. If you are Elite, how did you find these. Thanks.

On 5/17/2024 at 8:55 AM, latebuyer said:

I'm looking at booking a cruise 40 days away but i'm concerned excursions will book up. Is it the case excursions often book up early?

We are on a Canada/USA cruise later in the year from England and I have been booking excursions when they appear on the Princess website. Unfortunately one we had booked we have been informed that the port of call will no longer be in the itinerary and has been substituted by one in France. To get back to your question I have found that of the four remaining excursions booked they are now between them $120 more. So I am glad we booked them earlier. It may seem strange that we haven't booked excursions in all ports but many we have been to before and done most of the excursions or as with New York did the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island on our own which saved us 50% on what the cruise line charged. We had as long as we wanted in both places, even took in Battery Park and a cab to Macey's appartment store.                                      

On 5/13/2024 at 10:14 PM, david63 said:

Another one that I find confusing is the use of the term "dress shirt" - means something totally different in the UK to the USA

I have a bit of a wicked sense of humour, but I never intentionally try to offend. One guy on the Princess part of this forum, an American, was saying that he doesn't use the free laundering of shirts as they came back stiff. After writing a reply, I decided to delete it as a) I didn't want to offend and b) I wasn't sure his sense of humour was the same as mine. The deletion was as such " Perhaps before you send your shirts to be laundered you should take the ***** tablets out of the pocket, that's why they are coming back stiff"

15 hours ago, Ranchi said:

Agree. The desserts are truly awful. After we were refused simple gelato instead of one of our two daily desserts we requested ‘Godfather’s but hold the sauce, nuts, cream, biscuits etc.’ (Jack Nicholson did it with more style in Five Easy Pieces.) Worked for us. 

15 hours ago, Ranchi said:

Agree. The desserts are truly awful. After we were refused simple gelato instead of one of our two daily desserts we requested ‘Godfather’s but hold the sauce, nuts, cream, biscuits etc.’ (Jack Nicholson did it with more style in Five Easy Pieces.) Worked for us. 

I am quite surprised by what you say. Not that the desserts are awful, but that you were refused just ice cream. As I have now booked a cruise on Princess I tend to visit their section on this forum rather than P&O and the general feedback seems to be that if you just ask for one or two scoops of ice cream with no fancy bits on top then they will gladly accommodate you. There does though to be different ideas from one ship to another and also possibly one member of staff to another which can be confusing.                            

18 minutes ago, fedexretiree said:

While we are talking about disgusting things here I should have also mentioned in my thread ......please dont poop in the pool either!

This actually happened on this cruise.

 Not sure how it could happen but it did.  

 Even the comic mentioned it at his show.

 I never ever swim in a public pool for many reasons but this topped the list!

Don't know if you ever heard this one but in the UK we had a spate of restaurants having an area where you were allowed to smoke. This wasn't a completely separate room divided by doors, just an area in the main restaurant. Sir Paul McCartney said "Having a smoking area in a restaurant is like having a peeing area in a swimming pool"

Must admit looking forward to our Princess cruise later in the year. After having been a loyal P&O customer for many years suffering the affects  of an horrendous 35 night cruise onboard Ventura last March/April where they couldn't get anything right I have switched allegiance to Princess. As with every cruise line reports vary, but in the main seem to be o.k. with Princess. We are also partaking in the Plus package which allows 15 x $15 drinks per day which includes juices, water and speciality coffee, two desserts per day, two gym sessions, two casual dining . We are also Elite tier, which as with P&O gives 10% off purchases, free laundering, mini bar, wine tasting, afternoon tea in cabin, priority boarding and ship to shore tendering (But not shore to ship)  .The ship is medallion class therefore cabin access via medallion, delivery anywhere on the ship of drinks , food and goods from shops. Ability to bid for upgrading cabin after final payment made although I believe this is getting a common thing throughout most cruise lines.  Also by the time we embark we will be able to have set dining times which they are reintroducing, along with anytime dining and walk in. 

What makes people so dirty ? Is it really too much to expect people to observe a modicum of cleanliness when eating. Do what you wish in your own home, but don't expect others to put up with dirty habits. In some ways it doesn't surprise me as even in foodstores/supermarkets hygiene isn't taught properly to staff. Frozen goods are left in shopping isles because someone is told it's time for their break so allowing food to defrost. Whenever I take anything from a freezer compartment I always make sure that the contents are not all stuck together. A sure sign they have thawed and then been refrozen. At catering college food hygiene was my favourite subject. Place cooked meats above uncooked in your fridge. Buy something you already have in your larder place the old where it can be used first before the new. Most of food handling is common sense. Sadly some seem short of it.          

We cruise on Sky later in the year, I understand that once the final demand is settled a few days later a passenger is contacted with regards to bidding for an upgrade. We are currently inside. Anyone ideas as to the sort of money to offer for a balcony upgrade ?

We are Elite and enjoy the 10% off goods in the shops. It's good to wait as although I am not totally familiar with Princess I presume they have as with P&O day's where they have sales of goods and there's bargains to be had. Plus of course any other spending you do also gives you 10% off. We have gone for the Plus package, this will be our first cruise we have taken up such an option therefore I would hazard a guess that when onboard we won't be spending anywhere near what we have in the past. As for laundering I doubt I will have much use of this service. Maybe a couple of dress shirts. The desserts look interesting although I doubt we'll get through two a day. There's also the two casual dining we get in the package and a mini bar comes with Elite status which is o.k. as we like a drink prior to going to a bar for a pre-dinner drink. I hope I haven't confused you by mixing Elite status and the Plus package which of course are totally separate.      

As far as I am aware the new system doesn't kick in until after the 14th of September. Therefore I'd be amazed if Princess cancelled dining arrangements for those cruising before then. Also I believe that no arrangements can be made until final payments are made.

I cast my mind back to a P&O cruise I took last year. First time ever I gave our cabin steward a £5 tip (around $7.5) as I thought he was very good. Although I had prepaid service charges. Bad error I am afraid he just got worse the longer the cruise went on. I preferred the old system of tipping those who personally serve you, but can understand that if everyone onboard just tip their cabin steward and their dining waiters that many staff miss out although they are still serving us in the background.