CruizinSusan70

NCL Prima and Viva

We primarily cruise for the ship these days and we are new to Princess. We spent 14 days on the Discovery to the Mexican Riviera and the California Coastal in April of 2022. We will be spending 14 days on the Majestic in a few weeks to Alaska for the first time. We have a reservation on the Enchanted in August of 2024 doing a 14 day repo cruise from Ft Lauderdale to Brooklyn. We will be booking two 14 day cruises on the Sun for the fall of 2024 and the winter of 2025 while onboard the Majestic. The passenger increase from the Royal Class to the Sphere Class is only 640 passengers, but the ship is over 30 K tons larger. It seems like many loyal Princess cruisers are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Many are passionate about the smaller ships and would never cruise on the Royal Class let alone the Sphere Class ships. We, on the other hand loved the Discovery and are looking forward to our two other upcoming Royal Class cruises on the Majestic and Enchanted, but are really salivating over the Sphere Class. The Sphere Class will raise the bar for Princess similar to how the Excel Class raised the bar for Carnival. Those at the opposite end of the spectrum won't like it, but it doesn't matter since they will never cruise on the Sphere Class. Our favorites are the Sun and whatever it's sister ship will be named. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_AS7wwY408 Above is a link during the construction process for a group of cruise YouTubers that were invited on the Sun Princess while under construction.

OP...the ship you're thinking about is a Royal Class ship that was the second in that class and is 9 years old. If you like to imbibe, the Plus package that Princess offers is the deal maker versus the dynamic pricing policy of RCI, which can be a deal breaker. 60.00 a day for drinks, grats, & wifi is great compared to the majority of their competition.

We thoroughly enjoyed it for our 14 nights on the Discovery last year in April when it was down on deck 5. It's in the same location on the Enchanted, where we will spend 14 nights in Aug of 2024. Not looking forward to our 14 nights on the Majestic where it's much smaller adjacent to Alfredo's where Bellini's used to be. It's where we did 90% of our alcohol consumption.

How about chair hogs, smoking on balconies and smuggling liquor on board via rum runners? 😉

I fully understand, but it's always nice to hear convoluted logic

Since it's a dessert, I would assume the truffle would be chocolate. Don't think mushrooms would be good with ice cream, unless it was possibly a craving by a pregnant woman.

Three of us asked the same question and got no response yet. Curious minds want to know how some can deprive those that serve us while we cruise a portion of their salary that we pay through our gratuities.

It's a new ice cream company founded by Tyra Banks that has a truffle hidden in the ice cream called a Smize Prize. Simple Google search

Why do you reduce your gratuity to 12.00 a day?🤔🤔🤔

We cruised on the Discovery for 14 days last April with no charge. My cc confirmation was on Sunday and email confirmation from Princess showing 10.00 charge came today on Monday. We have the Plus package. Minor nuisance.

Thanks

Good luck with your decision and have a great cruise. If you're not going to buy things independently, go for Plus and enjoy yourself.

There is no free delivery of Medallions these days. My cc just got charged 10.00 so it'll be a guest services stop late at night when there is no line to get my refund. And the only exercising we will do are 8-12 ounce curls at Good Spirits at Sea. 😉

You just need to be realistic that your "deal" is a one time thing because it was your daughters first booking with Princess and someone at Princess's marketing department hooked her up with the comp for you. It has nothing at all to do with the volume of business that her agency does with Princess. Agencies can kickback a portion of their commissions as either OBC or through a discount or possibly as free gratuities. But even if her agency was the number one selling agency in the country they would not be in business very long by giving out 700 or more in perks on each booking. There's a sliding scale that they can kick back depending upon the type of cabin, the length of cruise and their volume with Princess. Just be prepared for a substantially less of a perk on any follow up cruises.

That's the exact same procedure that we have encountered on our B2B's on Carnival, Celebrity and RCI. The one time we did it in San Pedro on the Discovery we had to go back out onto the street and back through security with all of the new cruisers. That was a pain.

She did not bring up wifi so neither did I. I think she is better off by spending the 600 in OBC on tips, hot chocolate, mocktails and her fresh squeezed OJ each morning. But, she can't have alligator arms and just get water.

If you truly believe this, I have some oceanfront property in Kansas that may interest you.

Ten alcoholic drinks per week is 520 over the course of the year. I like to do my yearly intake of 520 when we are on vacation. If I have 7 a day over 70 cruise days, I still have another 30 to consume. 🤣

I will assume the package was 50 a day last July when you booked. Even so, an agency can't give you 700 in OBC for a 7 day sailing unless you're staying in one of the top suites on board. I will infer since it was your daughter's first booking with Princess you lucked out and got it comped. I certainly would not hold my breath expecting you to get a now 840.00 perk comped on a follow up booking in the future.

At home our daily consumption is usually Coke Zero , Pepsi Zero or iced tea. Our alcohol consumption at home is practically zero. But home life is home life and vacation is vacation and they are located at opposite ends of the spectrum. While on vacation, we like to imbibe. We primarily cruise the Caribbean, rarely get off the ship and enjoy each evening at Good Spirits at Sea when on Princess.

600 in OBC can get you a lot of hot chocolate, mocktails and a fresh squeezed OJ each morning. Don't get the plus, get what you want to drink and even after factoring out tips, your drinks won't break 45 a day. Just don't have alligator arms and enjoy your vacation.

I will infer he or she could be a friend of Bill W and that is why their opinion is the way it is.

Have to infer that you're certainly not staying in an inside cabin if you're getting a 840.00 perk on a 7 day sailing.

You do realize that you spend more time on the ship during your cruise than in any port? On a typical Caribbean cruise, you may hit 5 ports for say 8 hours a day from 8-4. I'll go one further and say in Alaska it could be 6 days at 10 hours a day. So it's very easy for a couple that imbibes to get their money's worth. If I drink 4 drinks a day and my DH drinks 5 and the drinks are 10.00 each, we've reached the 90.00 break even point. And most of our drinks are more than 10 each and my DH drinks more than 5 a day on many days. And coffee, soda and WiFi are now gravy. You're obviously a teetotaler so you think that drink packages are evil and you'll never buy them. You're certainly entitled to your opinion. On the other hand there are many who cruise for the ship and like to imbibe while on vacation. At 40 a day, the Plus package was fantastic on our 14 days on the Discovery last year and our upcoming 14 days on the Majestic in Alaska in a few weeks. We have another 14 day sailing for next year on the Enchanted and will be booking two separate 14 day sailings on the Sun soon for 2024 & 2025. All of them will have the Plus package included at 60 a day. After factoring out tips, the drink package at 44.50 a day is cheaper than Carnival, Celebrity, NCL and especially RCI. Trust me, we go into this with our eyes wide open, we know the cruise lines make money off of us, but the 60.00 Plus package on Princess brings us value. It doesn't bring value to teetotalers like yourself.