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Not sure how much of your drinking will be of the alcoholic kind, but remember that the Plus Package has a cap of 15 alcoholic drinks in a 24 hour period. He'll only be able to make 7 trips to the bar for alcoholic drinks in a day if the drinks are all charged on his tab, taking one drink for you every time. The bar tender will mostly charge both drinks on your husband's package, unless some sort of rapport is established with the bartender beforehand. Not a problem, then you can go get him drinks at the bar!

The food on board Princess is glorified banquet hall food meant for nourishment, not for a Michelin star experience. It's mass produced like banquet food since the crew has to feed thousands of guests and crew. There's flavor and appearance but it's certainly not worthy of Michelin stars. Most passengers are impressed because they don't eat at a fancy sit down restaurant or buffet every night when they're not cruising. Have the expectation to run out of a particular food item(s) in the Princess post-pandemic cruise experience. Not sure if it's because the ship's budget for provisions is not enough or if it's a supply chain issue or a combo of both. The ship ran out of of orange juice, cream, and melons on the last 5 days of a Hawaii cruise. In the Caribbean, the ship ran out of the cheap champagne to make cocktails. In Europe, the ship ran out of hashbrowns and could only order scrambled eggs towards the end as to ration the eggs that were left. I think there are geographical differences as well. The Horizon Court buffet on the Royal Princess out of San Francisco didn't have as much offerings as the Regal Princess out of Fort Lauderdale; one side of the buffet was exclusively ramen during dinner on the entire 15 day voyage. The F&B Director told me that this was as a result of the higher food costs in California and Hawaii where the Royal sailed in the Fall and Winter.

The Medallions are the same regardless of whether you get them shipped to you home or pick them up at the port. The only difference is if you want to customize the image on the Medallion. If you are happy with the color of the Medallion corresponding to your Captain's Circle status, then by all means pick-up them up at the port and save the $10 in shipping. The Medallions at the port are actually made on board the ship you are sailing on in the weeks preceding your embarkation date. The ship has a surplus supply of these and the lanyards; the crew laser print your name/ship/sail date on demand. That's why it's easy to get a replacement at Guest Services if you happen to lose your Medallion. The process takes less than a minute.

It all depends on how many people from the U.S. are booked on the cruise and had their Medallions delivered to them. Remember, the Medallions are only shipped to U.S. addresses. There was quite a long line at Medallion pick-up when I boarded a Southampton departing cruise as the majority of the passengers were Brits and had no choice, but to pick up their Medallions at the port. It also depends on how organized the port agents are. Sometimes there is a long line to pick-up Medallions, sometimes there isn't. The agents, are mostly seniors working part time, and their eyes don't work as well. The writing on the bins and baggies used to organize the Medallions are quite small. If your Medallion is misfiled in the bins, it will take longer to find, as the agent has to shuffle through the nearby bins. If your Medallion is missing from the bins, then you have to wait until Guest Services can make a new Medallion for you and for a crew member from the ship to hand deliver a new Medallion to the pick-up area. As far as boarding, get a group closest to "1" or "A" so that you can get on the ship first. The sooner you have your Medallion, the sooner you can get a boarding group assigned to you. Having Captain's Circle Status helps, but some passengers lie to get an earlier boarding group. Remember, Princess sometimes issues the wrong colored loyalty status on the Medallion (if this happens, Guest Services can do a swap out) or some people have the image customized, there really isn't a way to verify status just form the Medallion at embarkation. The Elite and Platinum perks are really only loosely enforced at the port. This really only matters if you arrive before boarding; the groups are called quite quickly as soon as boarding commences. This point is really null and void after they are done calling groups. Once, they are done calling boarding groups and getting the initial crowd boarded, approximately 30 to 45 minutes after boarding commences, it's a free for all to get onboard. Lots of variables can change your experience at embarkation. You are correct in that you should book onboard experiences as soon as you board to better have your desired times available to reserve.

Not sure about your destination but as a general rule... For flights within North America (U.S. Domestic, Canada Domestic, U.S. to Canada, and vice-versa), the fare does NOT include a checked bag in the fare. For international LONG-HAUL flights, the fare INCLUDES one checked bag in the fare. EZ Air typically does not book you into the lowest fare bucket on long haul flights. My flights booked through EZ Air from the U.S. to London Heathrow on United included one checked bag in the fare, which is stated on the United website when looking up the reservation. You can always check your baggage allowance on the airline's website using the airline specific booking reference EZ Air provided to you.