SCX22

Right but shareholder's and military OBC have no bearing on the cruise fare. Doesn't matter what the cruise fare was, it appears on the folio as long as the award criteria is met. Also for the type of OBC you speak of, passengers have been known to cash out at the casino.

That's fine, but am I inadvertently making the pool smaller by making the CA pool smaller for wages and bonuses by paying my CA with promo OBC? What I can't wrap my head around is promotional OBC isn't real money; it's Princess Cruises currency which has a one to one exchange rate with the US Dollar, that only exists on shipboard folios for use while on the ship. How does this get put in the pool if it doesn't exist as real money? Princess can't pay their crew with OBC, they have to pay them in US Dollars.

Should be no delays in getting off if the ship is on time. No tendering (that I'm aware of) in Napoli. The question is where will the ship berth? Costa and MSC have priority in Italy (both are Italian) and have access to the main berths. In Naples, Stazione Marittima is is the main cruise port. Overflow pier, where Princess can potentially be berthed, is Molo Carlo Pisacane. The piers are a 10 minute walk from each other (through an industrial area) and a continuous free shuttle to Stazione Marittima is usually provided by the port authority. Confirm with the excursion operator the exact pick up point. Allow for extra time if having to shuttle to Statzione Marittima, which can be quite the zoo of people if there are 2 cruise ships berthed there to begin with. Molo Carlo Pisacane is my preferred berth because it's a closer walk to to the historic city center.

Theoretically, the Medallion is like LoJack. There are instances, though, when it doesn't work, like if a passenger leaves it in their cabin and is elsewhere on the ship. The story behind this is purely anecdotal from a crew member on a cruise that I was on. There was one instance where a woman couldn't find her husband, but the Medallion was showing in her room and despite attempts to find the husband, he didn't show. Ship's company declared him missing. Everyone had to report to their muster station and tap their Medallions; this part isn't anecdotal and was a pain. Wife eventually found husband herself without his hearing aids, as well, roaming somewhere on the ship.

I guess so. I've only experienced the promotional kind of OBC. To me it doesn't make sense to buy OBC and have your money kept captive with no interest. There are some who buy the AARP GCs and have them converted to OBC once onboard, but even then the face value of the GC is still more than what was paid. (This is anecdotal because I'm not part of that demographic yet.) I don't care so much about the shore excursions, onboard retail, or spa services. These are third party companies, and when it's a company to company exchange of money, you better believe everyone is getting paid exactly what they should be. My concern is the waitstaff and cabin steward crew appreciation on ships. My side gig is as a restaurant partner. Wage theft via tips is a huge problem in this industry. Because point of sale systems have gotten so sophisticated, many times the waitstaff rely and trust the statistics generated by said systems, which itemize their chits of customers served, which also detail the tips they earned and any overtime. Theoretically, its foolproof, but there is so much room for error and fudging tips to the detriment of waitstaff. It's more common an occurrence than people think. Unless waitstaff are keeping duplicates of their chits and doing a check and balance with what the POS is generating, this practice is easily concealed. Most waitstaff don't bother because they are too tired to even care and only start to noticed when it's too late, if at all. On a cruise ship with auto CA (and I don't have problem with this system), the crew doesn't get such statistics. Not saying that they do (but my post above did insinuate) and one poster has already said they don't withhold CA paid solely out of promotional OBC from the pool, but it's an easy way commit wage theft since there was no exchange of the customers money. In California, you can't leave your tips with a restaurant GC. You have to leave them in cash if your restaurant GC covered the entire bill because theoretically money is on a GC, it money held by the restaurant that issued it and can't technically be considered a tip; employers can't tip their employees, only customers can. Reason why I brought it up is because there are some shorter cruises when the CA that I owe is covered completely by promotional OBC. Was thinking about giving at least the cabin steward something, but I guess I don't have to.

I get that part. The crew gets a minimum wage and they freely accept this as part of their contract. But in instances were CA is paid fully or in part with OBC, how does the cruise line account for that? The cruise line isn't a central bank that can print money. Does the cruise line shoulder the costs? For example: Assuming a passenger didn't purchase anything on a cruise (no wi-fi, no drinks, no shore excursions, no duty free, no gambling, no spa, etc.). The only thing itemized in their folio to pay was the CA. If the CA due at the end of a cruise is $100 and the person had $100 OBC in their folio as a stockholder benefit which wiped out the $100 CA balance, where does the cruise line get the money to pay the CA? The passenger didn't fork over money, it was covered by the OBC. Does the cruise line shoulder the cost of the CA that was listed in the folio that was not paid by the passenger's money, but with shareholder OBC?

If you have time, can you not put it simply? Really interested in this. So the cruise lines shoulder the costs of CA paid by OBC? Tour operators have recourse because if they don't get paid they have sense that they can terminate future services. Crew really has few labor rights, again this is due to registry of convenience of ships. And these are listed as bonuses, so there's no obligation to pay.

Something else as food for thought... Some passengers use their OBC, all or in part, to offset the crew appreciation that is due. Some passengers use their OBC, all or in part, to offset the Plus/Premium package charges, which are inclusive of CA, once they are onboard. OBC comes out of thin air and nothing is paid to the cruise line. So are the cruise lines really pooling together the CA for these type of scenarios when there really wasn't any money, in full or in part, paid for crew appreciation.? In other words, are the cruise lines shouldering the costs of CA in these scenarios or are they shorting the pool? It looks legit on passenger folios, in terms of credits and debits, but is it legit in the backoffice?

There was a "White and Gold" themed party that was put on as an event during the restart, but I think that went by the way side.

If you plan on riding the cable car to the top of The Rock, I would make this a priority in the morning because the lines midday can get very long. If you don't care about your transport method, taxis will abound that offer tours of The Rock. These will take you to the top observation level and make stops at St Michael's Cave, etc. The last year the taxis were 40 Pounds per person, not really negotiable because The Rock is a preserve (because of the macaques) and charges per person admission. The Spirit of the Rock Distillery is near a taxi rank (by Holy Trinity Cathedral), so you could do the Princess excursion to the distillery, ask to be left behind, and take a taxi tour of The Rock. Would not recommend taking the Cable Car midday because it can be up to a 2 hour wait for the ride up and not fun when it's hot. The ticket booth for the Cable Car is a 15 minute walk from Holy Trinity Cathedral, past Trafalgar Cemetery.

Since you have Premier, MedallionNet (the Wi-Fi to browse the Internet) is included in your package price. You already paid for it, so you might as well use it. The Medallion shipping is included in the Premier package, so you can order it pre-cruise and have it shipped to your home. The Medallion, is an object that looks like an Apple AirTag that will act as your cruise card.

Never do the round up for charity thing. It's how companies donate to charity to seem charitable using your money, but they take the credit.

The Medallion is the circular object that acts as your cruise card. You don't have to order pre-cruise. If you don't order pre-cruise, a Medallion will be made for you arbitrarily and you'll have to pick it up at the port during check-in. If you do order it pre-cruise, you have the option to pick up at the port (free) or shipped to you ($10 shipping or included as an amenity of the package fare). If you live outside the USA or Canada, you have no choice but to pick up at the port. MedallionNet is the onboard Wi-Fi/Internet. This is totally optional and is dependent on how connected you want to be. Princess used to be a discount it on top of the Platinum/Elite discount if purchased pre-cruise for the entire voyage, but this is no longer the case. Some one can correct me if I'm wrong, but you have until the 2nd day to purchase MedallionNet for the entire voyage, after which your only option is to purchase it by the day.

IMO, it's better to wait to purchase MedallionNet once on the ship. Princess no longer discounts MedallionNet packages if purchased pre-cruise, so the price will be the same as long as you purchase before the entire voyage cutoff, and OBC, if you have any, can be applied.

But, remember, that Princess is trying to attract new, younger blood cruisers to it's brand. In the next few years, much of their focus is on the Caribbean and they are even cruising out of Port Canaveral. The Caribbean is a relatively cheap destination to cruise to and most younger folks really love the short week long cruises there. To me, it seems like the old blood cruisers are preventing Princess from attaining their full potential. You have brands like Virgin Voyages, which is relatively new to the market, which are doing such a better job at presenting an adults only cruise experience. I say adults only because even though Princess touts a great kids program, on most cruises, there are only a handful of kids. Also, from a business standpoint, RC is doing so much better based on their stock price, because they took the leap to innovate on the cruise experience. Not for everyone I know, but from a business standpoint, the decision was stellar.

I must have really missed something in my research because Princess' advertising and brochures never reflects the older demographic that's on their ships.

Nothing wrong with your viewpoint. My viewpoint, however, is that the ship should be the destination because on a cruise vacation, vacationers spend more time on a ship than they do on land. I feel nowadays if a cruiser cruises for the ports, a they are potentially setting themselves up for disappointment. There are increasing numbers of missed ports for one reason or another. The cruise lines indemnify themselves by stating in the cruise contract that they aren't liable for missed ports or route deviations. Climate change is affecting the weather and in turn ships' ability to arrive/berth/moore/operate water shuttles at ports. There are many places that are crying foul over cruise ship overtourism, which are limiting or completely banning cruise ships. Absolutely, ports influence cruise decisions, but despite one's best planning, sometimes it doesn't pan out as planned. I still think age has something to do with it. If you cruise on a luxury line like Viking or Oceania cruises, the demographic is overwhelmingly senior citizen. The ships are too quiet. Many of the loyalists to these lines will say that they are too busy immersing themselves in port so which is why they don't need a lot of activities on the ship. The reality is they are old and tire easily. Been on Viking Ocean once; never again!

4 device plan is $44.99 per person per day. Platinum and Elite get 50% off, which brings the rate down to $22.50 per person per day. Just note that this method only works if your loyalty status is correct in the App. For those whose loyalty level is in correct, the corresponding 50% discount for Platinum and Elite will not reflect.

This is why I feel sorry for the Ocean Navigators on the ship. Without fail, there's a long line of passengers at Ocean Front the first few days of the cruise with these types of problems.

Not saying there aren't night owls. What I'm saying is that they're aren't enough of them. Few people at a bar isn't really a fun time for me. I'm looking for a nightclub/nightclub concert kind of experience/atmosphere, which RC has. The closest I ever got to this experience on a Princess ship was on a Sky Princess sailing out of Southampton to Spain, France, and Portugal during the UK's Easer Holiday. The crowd was overwhelmingly British and the ship didn't start to die down until midnight.

Long story short: If you don't purchase an Internet plan, the only thing, data wise, that will work is the Princess App and the Princess website in your browser.

To preface my statement, I'm in my 30s. One of the things I find boring about Princess is the lack of participation in the night life. The ship usually dies down by around 9:00 p.m. There are a few stragglers in the Piazza and those attending the late show, but it's too quiet for me. On RC, there's usually some very well attended attended event going on until midnight. It's really no fun when there's only 10 or so people at an event. This is due in part to the crowd almost always overwhelmingly leaning towards the retired, semi-retired, or close to retirement. It's great when the crowd leans European because even though, they may be old, they stay up. Alaska seems to also be an anomaly to this because of the numerous families. It's subjective, but the music on Princess isn't really my cup of tea. It's always instrumental, 50s, 60's, 70s, and 80's. I wasn't even born yet. When music from my generation is played, the lack of participation again rears, and it goes as far as passengers complaining to play something else. Again this boils down to the demographic. I guess majority rules (get the trivia pun?), on Princess ships.

Re-faring the cruise and re-faring the air are two completely different things. When you re-fare a cruise, it can, but not always, wipe out the EZAir portion. When you re-fare EZAir because of a price decrease, it has no bearing on the cruise portion. As of recent, you can re-fare the one-way segment of the EZAir, but from my observations, this leads to higher fares; it's better to re-fare the round trip.

There are some excursions, which are marked as "on your own," in it's name that are basically just transportation and a local guide that will take you to a place, give you a brief orientation, let you explore the place on your own for a few hours, and take you back to the ship. In Vigo and A Coruna, there's Santiago de Compostela On Your Own. In Cadiz, there's Seville On Your Own. Both places are about 2 hours from port each way and you get 4 hours in town on your own. Used free OBC to pay for said excursions so I didn't care. TBH, sometimes I prefer the on your own with Princess excursions because inevitably, you get some slow pokes who take forever to get off and on the bus or can't keep up with the group. If using my own money and not OBC, I try and book excursions independently.

No idea about your situation. But, I would be careful about your child attending the the comedy shows. Some of the comedians poke fun at this stuff, which your child could potentially take offense to. There's at least a two comedians where the gist of their joke is how to proclaim a "man overboard" in today's world when you have to be politically correct in terms of gender references.