TN-Mountains

On 3/20/2024 at 1:42 PM, dleahy4444 said:

Hello just found this old post of your. I’m hoping you can give me some info about the view from your aft balcony as your ship approached and left Iceland? I’m going to Iceland this summer and booked an aft balcony but it was at a premium price and I’m wondering if a regular balcony on either side of the ship would be just as good. I can still change and get my money back, if the upgrade isn’t worth it for Iceland, since it doesn’t go to the fjords in Norway 

My initial thought was you should keep the aft balcony, but I went back through all my photos of Iceland and it looks like I only have one or two from the balcony.  (I have a ton in Norway!)  Most of my photos of Iceland were taken while on shore.  If it is a significant savings I would probably opt for the regular balcony and use the extra money to splurge on shore excursions. If the costs are similar, I'd keep the aft facing balcony in a heartbeat!     

1 hour ago, startedwithamouse said:

Interesting. We preregistered on the app, and didn't have to complete any paperwork last month on Discovery Princess.

Hmm.  I don’t know why they made us fill out paper copies then.  I wonder if it had something to do with the rollout of their new app???  Our cruise was right before Christmas (19-23) so we were still using the medallion app…maybe they were already transitioning IT “stuff” on the ship & we’re having issues??? 

On 1/30/2024 at 12:05 PM, Piemur617 said:

How many kids are allowed into Camp Discovery? And how many staff are there to supervise?

I don't know.  There were at least 2 staff members each time I picked up my son.  They kept the door locked and pushed a desk in front of it.  When parents arrive for pickup/drop off they open the door to let the kid inside or get the kid's number for pickups.  Parents sign them in/out but never go inside after embarkation day.  They wait in the hall while staff retrieve your kid.   It felt pretty safe to me and I'm typically extra cautious because my son has ADHD & high-functioning Autism.  He doesn't sit still just because someone tells him to.  In his mind, if there is a door it is meant to be opened.  

I haven't looked into the Sun Princess, but I took my kids (13, 12 & 10) on Discovery Princess last month.  It was their first cruise and it was a short one (4-days) with one sea day.  They all had fun, but it was different levels of fun.  My 12-year-old loved the kids club and my 10-year-old hated it.  My 13-year-old refused to go to the teen club by himself.  It kind of sucked that he couldn't join his siblings in the younger club.  My 10-year-old would have enjoyed it had her oldest brother been there too.  That said, they still had fun doing other things outside the clubs.  

10 minutes ago, roxievegas said:

do the on line registration, using the adult that is currently assigned to the same cabin.

once on board, the first day, go to the camp, fill out the paperwork and add others that are allowed to drop off or pick up kids.  We traveled with our grandkids, and the parents and us were allowed to drop off and pick up.

If I recall correctly, if you add everyone's booking number to the APP, you can give pickup/drop off privileges to all the other adults in your group directly from the App.  We are a family of 5 so we had 2 cabins and had to do this. At least that is how it worked with the Medalion App.

I think 13-17 is a big age range too.  My introverted 13-year-old refused to even check out the teen club.  He preferred to hang with me or sit in the cabin playing on electronics.  My 12-year-old son loved the club for his age, but my 10-year-old daughter hated it.  On the bright side, my 13-year old took my 10-year old to see the production show so their dad and I could enjoy some adult beverages & dinner that night.  I doubt he would have done that back home. 🙂

I don't know the answer to your questions but preregistering was a waste of my time.  I still had to fill out paper forms for all 3 kids on the first day of the cruise even though I preregistered through the App.  This was last month on Discovery Princess.

This is from the FAQ regarding Cruisung with Family & Kids:

I find the App to be a little less intuitive when it comes to travel companions, so I used the web version to register my kids.  Once you login to manage your booking, click on the  “check-in” tab. There should be a “youth and teen program registration” link under your child’s name.

11 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

There have been multiple instances of members posting where they only found out about an "upgrade" was when they checked their online summary and saw the cabin had changed. 

To add to this…sometimes they don’t “upgrade” you, but they still change your cabin.  This is what happened to me.  In my case there was no email or other notification regarding the cabin change.  I found out when I tried to take advantage of price drop.  Even though they kept me in the same cabin category, the cabin was a downgrade from my perspective.  I had booked a not-so-obstructed, obstructed balcony and was placed in a there-is-a-reason-for-the-discount, obstructed balcony. I couldn’t get my original cabin back because Princess decided to include it in a group of cabins designated for COVID isolation.   I ended up canceling the cruise and booking a different one.  I forgot about trying to save money by booking a niche cabin and spent an additional $3k for a deluxe aft facing balcony.  I really showed them!  😂 

On 12/1/2023 at 11:11 PM, californiagirl said:

My three children haven’t cruised on Princess since August 2003.  I booked a family cruise yesterday and all three had their CC numbers and cruise credits intact and recognized.  None of my kids had the same address, phone numbers or email as in 2003.  My daughter has a married name as well.  Call back and ask to speak with a supervisor, you were given incorrect information.  If you don’t want to deal with the outsourced call center, then call 800-901-1172 and ask for a Princess Cruise Planner.  You should get immediate help.

 

As an aside because I was booking so many people at once I asked for a new PCP.  I knew there were many elements that made it more complicated to book.  (My prior PCP has been useless.)  I LOVE my new PCP!  He was very detail oriented and made suggestions I hadn’t even thought of.  

I hadn’t thought about it until I read your post, but I had a different name, address and phone number after all those years and the still found mine.

9 hours ago, palolake said:

Yes you could do that.  But if you cancel the cruise, you will lose out on the money you paid for Princess Plus.  It makes no sense to me why they don't refund that part but they don't. And that's why it's included in insurance. 

My experience shows this isn’t always the case.  I purchased the standard fare on a 14-day cruise and added the insurance.   Anytime I checked upgrade prices prior to boarding, they always included an increase in the insurance premium.  I upgraded to Premier onboard (day 1) with no increase in insurance premium.  We received a $10 pp discount as a refund for the shipping costs.  I have another cruise (4 day) booked for this month.  I booked the standard fare and added insurance.  A few months after booking I upgraded to Premier.  This time my insurance premium didn’t increase.  I’m assuming my new cruise fare was still low enough ($770) that it was covered under the original  $39/$59 insurance premiums.  My 14-day cruise cost 10 times that.

2 hours ago, upsmanclt said:

 

https://www.princess.com/en-us/cruise-deals-promotions/plus-premier-cruise-packages

 

10. Can items in Princess Plus or Princess Premier be shared across guests in the stateroom, even if 3rd and 4th guests don’t have these packages?
For the Princess Premier package the following items can be shared across all guests: Wi-Fi for 4 devices per guest, the digital photo portion of the Photo Package and reserved theater seating. Free shipping for Medallion® devices and accessories can also be shared across all guests in the stateroom when shipped at once to the same address. Casual Dining or Specialty Dining meals cannot be shared with the 3rd and 4th guests in the stateroom.

 

This is interesting. My daughter and I have the Premier Package, but my husband and boys do not.  When I made reservations for specialty dining for an upcoming cruise, I added all 5 of us to the reservation.  It used all four credits and I only had to pay for 1 person to secure the reservation.  I hope they let us keep it this way and don’t charge for all 3 of them once on board.  I don’t mind paying for my husband, but my boys (ages 12 & 13) are EXTREMELY picky eaters and still eat kid size meals.  I don’t mind burning credits on them to try/experience something new, but I am not paying an additional $30 on them.
 

@sad549s, here is a link from a couple weeks ago where I asked a similar question.  There are reports of others being able to share.  I guess we won’t really know until we get onboard.

Definitely call and speak to someone else.  Unless this is a recent policy change (last 12 months, or so?), it is not true.  When I booked a cruise last Dec they found my Captain’s Circle number and my last cruise was in 2008.  They were able to find my husband’s number too.  All of our previous cruises show up in our accounts.  As someone mentioned upthread, try using an old email address to login to their website. If that doesn’t work try contacting the Captain’s Circle department directly.

On 11/25/2023 at 9:16 PM, deliver42 said:

The best I've seen on Princess's website is 50% deposit. The rest of it is garbage.

Yeah, the sales on the website are like furniture sales...they have one every week, but the overall price is usually the same, they're just shifting around the perks.  For instance, I had been tracking the price of a 4-day cruise for 7 months.  During that time, they advertised 2 or 3 sales.  The price of the cruise was essentially the same the entire time.  One sale appeared to be $200 cheaper, but you lost the $200 OBC with the prior sale.  In the end, that $200 is needed for crew appreciation so it all comes down to whether I preferred paying it upfront or waiting until onboard.  The only slight exception to this was for the 3-person cabin.  The overall price dropped $150+/- when they added the kids sale free (or 3rd & 4th sale free) promotion.   

The half-off promotion I was referring to in this post, is the one they were offering while onboard the ship.  They are (or were) true half-off discounts. I was able to book a balcony for 2 people for $800+/- inclusive of port fees & taxes.  That was half-off what I could have booked the balcony for on Princess.com.  In fact, it was a lot less than the cheapest interior cabin I had been tracking for months.  

On 11/25/2023 at 5:34 PM, wallyj said:

Just boarded Discovery today 11/25. Received a list about 3/4 of a page.  Sailings on list are supposed to be 20 or 30% off, so better than nothing. Have not studied list yet, but as @Cajuntravelerposted #2, they received 30% off a January 2024 sailing.

Thanks.  Not as sweet as 50%, but 20-30% isn't bad if they have an itinerary you like and are already considering.  Can you post a photo of the current list?  

19 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

It was still available in October 2024 (Caribbean Princess).

 

I thought I took a camera shot...oops...not this time.  Many Caribbean Cruises.  Nothing of interest for me.

 

Suites and Reserve Club Class are rarely available.  

Thanks.  We don’t book Suites or Reserve Club Class do that wouldn’t be an issue for us. 😉 

21 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

I doubt it as the threads are silent on that for some time now.  Look at Drop 'N' Go offers and know the situation before sailing.

Yeah, I haven’t seen a thread in a while, but  I haven’t been checking the boards daily.  I wasn’t sure if I just missed them.  Drop N Go isn’t as easy for us since we need 2 cabins near each other.  I know the onboard offers are usually for cruises within 90 days, but we booked a December cruise at 50% off back in June.  What made it sweeter was once I was home, I was able to purchase the premier package at half off too!  

12 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

I'm just curious - Has anybody bought any AARP gift cards while onboard through their wi-fi and applied that as OBC?  One could then take their device down to the passenger services desk and apply the cards to their current account.  Would that work?

Yes, my husband did this twice on our last cruise.  The first time it was processed quickly.  The 2nd time it took a while for my husband to receive the gift cards and then it took until the next day for Princess to credit them to our account because their systems were down. 

Are they still offering 50% discount for onboard bookings?  If so, does anyone have the current list of eligible cruises?  Our next cruise is a short one.  I don’t want to waste valuable vacation time in the Future Cruise Office if there isn't a great deal on a cruise I’m interested in booking.

36 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

I think I understand this.  You and your daughter each have 2 dining credits thus, the $39 for that fifth attendee.  
Per protocol, and I asked this very question recently, you really aren’t supposed to share the dining credits but in reality, they are pretty flexible, as long as one of you shows up.  
The question really comes into play if you completely give them up to someone else not in your group.  
 

Yeah, that is what confused me...I didn't think we were supposed to share!  Thanks for clearing that up for me.  It is only a 4-day cruise, so I like the idea of using all 4 of our credits in one meal!  It makes advanced planning much easier!!! 

59 minutes ago, wallyj said:

Your question is not clear to me, but see if this answers your question.

 

I am traveling with a friend in a separate cabin. I have Premier and my friend has standard. Since I have 2 specialty dining credits, I can go to specialty dining 2x by myself OR once and take my friend as my guest and it will use my 2 dining credits. 
 

On board, inform when you are making reservation, you want to use one of your dining credits for passenger without credit.

 

Princess considers child pricing up to age 12, since you have daughter aged 10 booked in your cabin, this may be why you are getting child dining credit ‘value’? You may want to consider changing your booking so 13 year old is on your booking, so you should get dining credits for 4 adult pricing? 
 

Princess does not care if you decide to swap on board, who will be sleeping in which cabin. Go to guest services and have them program your medallions to be able to access the ‘other’ cabin. 
 

I assume you booked one adult in each cabin because of your children’s ages. I believe most cruiselines will waive this rule if you are booking connecting or adjacent cabins, if your plan is eventually to have all the kids share one cabin. Princess or your travel agent should be able to book this/revise for you. Since you have 2 kids age 12 or under,  having 2 child dining credits is ok. Another family or in another year, you might consider this booking strategy.

Thank you, this answered my question!  I was confused by the dining credit because I didn't think we were allowed to share food/drinks obtained with the Premier or Plus Packages. It was also strange that they counted my 10-year-old daughter's credits towards both an adult and a child.  I'm not complaining about that, it just took me a second to figure out what was going on because I was expecting our credit to be $117 (2x39 +2x19.50).   I was worried it was another IT glitch.  🙂 

As for the 12-year-old...When I make the reservation in the app, it appears only those "under 12" will be half-price.  It is weird that this doesn't align with their kids & teens program where the 12-year-old will be with the younger kids.  Oh well, I'm not going to lose any sleep over this...just mentioning it in case someone else is wondering about the age cut-off.  🙂  

We are a family of 5 booked in two cabins.  The kids are 13, 12 & 10.  Mom & daughter (10) booked the Premier fare, so we each have 2 Specialty Dining Credits.  Dad and sons have the standard fare.  When I try to book specialty dining for the 5 of us, it shows a Dining Credit of $136.50, so they are giving us credit for 3 adults & one child and only require $39 to secure the reservation.  This might be a silly question, but does that mean we can share our specialty dining credits once onboard, or are they just letting us use them to secure the reservation? 

On 11/7/2023 at 11:10 AM, Amy G said:

I finally got an email this morning allowing me to bid-to-upgrade. 

I received an email too.  Two weeks ago, it said my rate was ineligible to bid for an upgrade, but now it is eligible.  

yes.