sgvcruiser

Just want to update. I DMed Princess through their Instagram page (not my preferred method of communication, but I'm desperate), included my Captain Circle number and mentioned I wanted Route Sector Change. A customer service rep called me in less than one hour! My request is submitted and he mentioned that it would take about 2-3 weeks to be approved.

Thank you @Cruise Raider & @david63 The lingo is what we are looking for. @karatemom2 This is the exact same route we are planning to do. Good to know that it has been done before.

I need to ask permission to disembark early on my European cruise next year, but I couldn't find information on who to contact at Princess for this. Someone mentioned customer service, yet I can't find the customer service email anywhere in their website. I called customer service and the email(s) they gave me were all wrong. 🙄. Can't believe how complicated this turned out to be. Anyone who has done this, can you please share who I need to contact? Thank you!

Possibly too small for 20+ days..Typically 5k for 7 days cruise. Having said that, you might want to check in your Princess account.

It's not about how much money you put in. It's about how much point in comparison to the length of the sailing. My first sail with HAL, I walked away with winning, only put $300 to start. My CBS offer was ocean view + $500 which I used for 14 days Norway cruise this summer. I get about 4500 points ($600 lost) and received $700 free play CBS, no free room - which I expected since it was a 14-days sailing. From what I see, the baseline is about 5,000 points per 7-days sailing to receive a CBS offer with a free room. You will see email offer starts showing up later assuming you set your preference for email contact. Try logging in to your account every few days and do a mock search. Simply click "Plan A cruise", then "Find A cruise". Don't put any filters, instead simply sort based on Price. Click through a few pages, any cruise that came up as $100 is a casino-comp cruise.

Wow! Definitely learned a lot before the sailing even start.

Just saw that HAL is cancelling Rotterdam Panama Canal cruise too. We are scheduled for Volendam this xmas, hopefully no cancellation. Is there anyway to find out if the ship is scheduled or just wait for the email?

Thank you for all the answers. Just want to figure out how late I can arrive. 😅

It's on Majestic. So embarkation is set at regular 5 - 6 pm limit?

I'm looking into this short trip for May 9 next year. My question is since the ship does not actually leave until 2 am next day, do they allow "late" embarkation until 7 or 8 pm? Thanks!

Agree with Muggo11. In general, the slot are tighter. Sometimes you might get lucky, but most often not. I play to get the most points so I bet smallish ($1 - $2) and I make sure to round up my points before moving to next machine. My aim is to turnover my money at least 10x, if not winning. Majority of times, it's only 4 to 6 times.

You go to cashier, ask to buy some chips, "beep" your medalion - etc. The biggest problem I find on table playing is the way they keep track of your points. Of course you also have better odd of winning something vs slot. RoxieVegas is correct too. I think cruising is the only place where you can gamble using your credit card line since everything is charged to your room. You have to be careful with your budget if you don't want to end up with a shock at the end of the cruise.

Core offer is not connected to any particular sailing or special event thus have more flexibility to use. It's based on your overall play vs one particular sailing (CBS). You can use the free/discounted room up to 3x per offer but the free-play (if any) will only apply to the first one. If by any chance, you have to cancel the first cruise you will loose the free-play. It seemed to me that it is issued after the previous one expired or after you use it all. I like the core-offer because it allows me to book far ahead and/or high-demand ittn (like the launching of the Sun Princess) even though mine is only free-inside plus $100 free-play. The sucky part, unlike CBS, it takes longer time to get better offer.

The basic: 1. Beep the medalian to the machine reader 2. Put in your pin (mmyy of your birthday - you can change it later) 3. First time - charge the amount you want to play into your room, or insert cash 4. If you charge your room, it might ask for your pin again 5. Press cash out when you are done playing this machine, the money will go into your casino account. When you go to another machine, follow step 1 and 2, then you have the choice to pull money from your casino account or charge it to the room. IMPORTANT: On last night of sailing or when you have enough of getting fleeced 😅, go to the cashier and tell them you want to cash out. They will give you whatever money you have left in your casino account. Last: Princess does not charge fee for charging your gambling money to your room account.

It more depends on which line/ship style you prefer. Celebrity, Holland and Princess are considered luxury lines, more or less direct competitor. RCL and Celebrity are famous for giant big ships and transparent casino point system. NCL, RCL and Carnival are more family oriented with amusement park practically built into their ships. Holland tends to have smaller ships and older median age. Their European routes casinos tend to be empty. Literally. EMPTY. I have not done RCL/Celebrity since I don't like their point system that expired annually - but I stand corrected on that. As for Holland/Princess/Carnival, my target has always been 6000 points minimum for 3-4 sea days (smaller budget than yours). I always receive CBS offer for free inside stateroom. I also like Princess core offer that allows me to book years in advance for practically any available sailing less than 15 days.