PescadoAmarillo

The weather isn’t helping either. 😆

Since the OP is so far forward, could it be a Family Suite? They are actually a mini suite connected with an inside cabin and can hold up to 8 people.

It used to be that bookings were only linked for dining purposes, not for cabin proximity purposes. While it can still be done, I’m not sure if it has any value at all with DMW.

As Elite members who do lots of B2Bs, I don’t think B2Bers OR Elite members were moved into that cabin, not purposefully. That’s not the way the system really works. In fact, I think the Princess system DOESN’T work, and that’s why it overrides the no upgrade flag and moves guests into what it believes are better locations (mid ship, lower).

Unfortunately, Princess “upgrades” bookings even when they are marked no upgrade. Happened twice to my husband on the Ruby Princess out of six cruises. We were notified neither time, it discovered it in the Medallion app. I spent hours on chat trying to get his original cabin back. One time I could; the other time, even though his original cabin was available when I started the chat, two hours later it was gone before they could escalate the issue (seriously?) to get him moved back into it.

It makes sense to me. Princess seems intent on bestowing benefits that provide a more personal experience on their increasing bigger ships to just premium stateroom categories, but MSC offers the Yacht Club experience to some inside cabins. It’s not a radical idea.

Having never done it, I would think that CC would be worthwhile for the dining situation alone. I am beyond frustrated with DMW. However, I believe I dislike showering in the bathtub in mini suites even more. So, for us, it wouldn’t be worth it. Now, if they sold CC dining benefits with inside through balcony staterooms…THAT would be well worth it to me.

Very clever and well done.

My husband just disembarked the Ruby after several solo cruises. What the restaurant manager on that ship did was have a singles and solos table in the dining room for breakfast and lunch. People got to know each other and enjoyed checking in each day. They may have had dinner together also, but my DH liked to have dinner alone. That is when he would text me and send pics from his day.

Hi @miagirl! I love your avatar pic. It’s just perfect! We were on the Ruby for extended cruises when contractors installed this system in late 2019. We watched them over several days make their way down the corridor on Riviera Deck, working on a few cabins at a time, so we knew what was coming, but nothing could have prepared us for our lights taking on a life of their own. The worst was the one in the hallway. I’d be going into the safe and the light would shut off, and it was dark in our inside cabin and I was on crutches at the time. Luckily, the guys were still working down the hall, and I implored them to at least give me 60 seconds to do what I needed in the safe and they did. Since then…we cover the sensors with duct tape until the final morning of the cruise.

DH cruised 154 nights on Princess in 2022. I embarked on a 15 night cruise and left after 5 nights.

And if it does, you can probably get it, unless it is for new bookings only. Again, pre-paying final payment does not affect these things.

Remember the “with what speed do you want to dine?” question? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I think because that cruise is also available as a logical booking which is 27 nights.

No, just that one, plus any international fee.

If the cruise begins or ends in the US, all charges are in USD. If you are on B2B cruises with one sailing out of Australia and one out of the US (or Canada, I assume), Princess converts your onboard statement from one currency to another (in a way that is so convoluted that me, an accountant, and a friend, a high school math teacher could calculate that the end result was correct though we couldn’t see how they got there). When I last cruised out of Australia, there was an Australian surcharge for credit card usage, separate from any international charge on your credit card.

When my hard contact fell down the bathroom drain, and I had to go down to the basement to get a pipe wrench (blind, without contacts), try to open the drain pipe, was unable to turn it and had to call him on the ship whereby he told me to try turning it the other direction (which worked). And then again when I sliced my hand and had to drive myself to urgent care for stitches, keeping it wrapped in a towel and pressed against the steering wheel on the way. Aside from that…. 😆

When you add them one at a time, you must make reservations one at a time.

My husband just returned from 71 nights on the Ruby. I make all his app reservations for him. It took him three cruises to get a TD equivalent. On two of the cruises, the dining reservations in the app disappeared.

People might want the flexibility of ATD, but they dislike what they have now, which is a long wait in line regardless of reservations in DMW. People who seems happiest are those who manage to turn DMW into anTD experience. This has always taken us at least one cruise (in a series of B2B cruises), giving us the opportunity to meet with the Restaurant Manager and letting him know we want stability in our dining situation. But not everyone has the opportunity to do multiple cruises in a row, and they shouldn’t have to face standing in a line every night to have dinner. And then there’s the app…I’ve lost count of have many times reservations I’ve made for DMW disappear, requiring me to make reservations again with more limited (land later) times required. That the situation hasn’t been fixed in 18 months tells me it’s not going to be fixed anytime soon. And if it does, it will be rolled out as a great new feature.

Thank you for that information. Do you recall how much the transfer to Hobby was? Or were you going to IAH and were on a bus that stopped at Hobby first? DH asked at the ShoreEx desk, but on the cruise prior to this one, and they said they didn’t offer a transfer to Hobby. He is itching to return to the Ruby (too much snow on the ground here), and would use the Princess transfer is burn some OBC is it is offered. Thanks!

Just a suggestion…we know the cutoff date for the card we use to pay for Princess cruises. We pay for cruises in the weeks before final payment, after that final payment date. That gives us, on average, a 15 day cushion. Making final payment does not affect the refundability of a cruise. With rare exceptions, the cruise can be cancelled without penalty until final payment date even if it’s been paid in full.

I would personally not be comfortable traveling outside the country without a passport regardless of legal loopholes. If anything happens to the ship (ie a shipwreck in Nice, France, but it could easily happen in the Caribbean), the cruise ends and you’re finding your way home from a country where a passport is required to enter the US. Ditto visiting a China without a visa. You may have a flight out of the country within the required timeframe to go without one, but then Shanghai gets fogged in, the port gets closed and you miss your original flight and can’t get another one booked within that timeframe. These things happen. They’re not advertised but they’re as much a part of the travel experience as the social media pics. It’s prudent to be prepared.

Just a guess, of course, but I suspect those might be the very seats that will be reserved. They are obviously the most popular seats, with people arriving an hour ahead of time for production shows.

This is exactly how it works, or how it can work, if you (or your TA, with your permission) authorizes it on the booking.