MacMadame

Our 35th is next month. I never thought I'd be married that long let alone for 50 years. For one thing, I thought we'd be dead before the 50th. 🤣 But now it's only 15 years away and I'm not anywhere near death! 🤸‍♀️ 🤸‍♀️ 🤸‍♀️ Anyway, I intended to work until 70. Then I got laid off last Fall. I thought I'd be back at work by now but right after that a bunch of tech firms also had layoffs. So the market was flooded with people with my skill set right around the holidays. I'm still getting callbacks but the interview process for software developers has changed a lot since I last looked for a job and I find myself freaking out at what they call the "coding interview" and not getting past that point in the interview process. I'm starting to wonder if I'm too old for this sh*t (to quote Detective Murtaugh from the Lethal Weapon franchise). So I think I might be involuntarily retired. Thank goodness I've already saved up the money for our Panama Canal cruise. 😄

For my first cruise (also to the Caribbean), I booked it on a whim about 20 days out from departure. I, too, was treating myself. For the next two, one was a honeymoon and one was a 10th anniversary so I booked them as part of planning for those events. So maybe 6-9 months out? But all of that was before cruising became so much more complicated. For our Panama Canal cruise, first I researched the best way to see the PC. Then, I researched which ships and itineraries I was interested in and how much they'd cost. Once I found the cruise I wanted, it was 17 months out. I would have been happy to go a bit earlier but I wanted that cruise and was willing to wait. In your case, it seems like you are flexible about when to go and are going to a popular destination with tons of options, so I say, find a good TA, start planning, and see what cruises and timelines pop up. Good luck!

I can see that, if there is something you will do because it's included in the package but wouldn't do it if it's not included, you might want to assign it the value to you. But if you aren't going to use it no matter what even if it's included, then it doesn't have a value. And if you are going to use it, whether it's in the package or not, it has the value that Princess charges you even if you don't think it should cost that much.

Can you get a cabana for half a day?

Yes to all of this. Including the sleeve! LOL I love buffets because I can have a bite of everything and don't have to pick one thing. This almost always requires serving myself as servers just don't understand what "a tiny bit" or "just a bite" means.

But the balcony on Princess doesn't have a couch and it does on RCI. So the direct comparison is a balcony on RCI and a mini-suite on PC. Or Oceanview on both. Do both! 😄

They do sometimes have cruises where they invite a lot of "media' including YouTubers. So maybe not *no* normal other guests but I bet it's enough to stand out and possibly even be annoying. 😄

The Caribbean Princess is going to be refurbished in Fall of this year so it will be a pretty fresh ship in March '25. Also, the Reserve Dining room has upgraded service and included menu items not available to the rest of the passengers. I mention these things because reviews of the ship and the food are impacted by them.

They aren't.

This is great information but YIKES that's early. Our son is picking us up at the port and there is no way he'll be up by then. 🤣 Oh well, I've wanted to visit the Walt Disney Family Museum for a while now. Maybe we'll have him pick us up there. 😉

I'm paying for my cruise with Princess gift cards. I can only buy a certain number per month so I'm buying them as I go. If I was paying with cash, I wouldn't do that but I want that 8% discount!

I've been following the "Ultimate" World Cruise and the people I follow report that they are getting cuisine inspired by wherever they are as well as the normal fare. So I think there is going to be more variety on a WC that does that (which I think is most of them?) vs. a normal shorter cruise. Though the cruise I am taking next year says they do food and events based on where the cruise is going. I guess to distinguish it from their cruises that go to other parts of the world?

My understanding is that it's the immigration officials who check those things at embarkation. And even they make mistakes as happened when a bunch of people were let onto a cruise with fake visas and got stuck later on not being able to get back to the ship when they tried to use them.

What can I say? The older I get, the earlier I eat. I haven't become one of those people who eats at 4:30 pm though. Yet! 🤣

The whole point of a fleet-wife pool is to make it fairer for all the crew so staff you don't see who help the people we do see get tips and so crew on ships with majority low-tippers don't get punished vs. crew on ships full of us tip-happy Americans. (Yes, we're crazy.) So maybe it used to be that way or maybe it's that way on other lines but it's not that way now according to Princess (and people who have talked to crew about it and reported back). Is it double-dipping? I can see arguments either way. But I don't see it that way. I see service charges on stuff that I used to tip as I went. i.e., I used to give the bartender a tip for each drink ordered but now there is a service charge so I don't have to. I see crew appreciation for everything that is included. It replaces the tips we handed out to our cabin steward and our staff in the MDR at the end of the cruise. So I don't see an overlap there.

Yes, but I'm not. There was apparently a window when anyone could make reservations but it's closed. It was probably a bug, tbh.

The 18% does not go directly to your server. It goes into the gratuity pool. And the Crew Appreciation charge (which also goes into the pool) covers more than servers. It also covers your cabin steward, bartenders, and other hospitality staff. It goes into the pool. The pool is used to pay part of the crew's compensation (as when Princess went to a pool system, they also raised wages) and to pay bonuses. Princess doesn't specify if these are bonuses only to high performers or bonuses that are more generally spread around. I am guessing the former.

Except the only opinion that counts is Princess'. 😄 I thought I read here that if you came on board without having made your SD reservations, you'd get a card with two reservations for random days/times and then you need to change them if they don't suit. Or am I confusing a suite benefit of some sort? 🤷‍♂️

Also. It didn't say anything we didn't already know. 😄 My reservations are still there. I will check tomorrow which is when I think they were supposed to start canceling them. What I am wondering is whether or not I will be able to make new reservations as I supposedly wasn't supposed to be able to make them the first time. (I haven't made the final payment.) Note: I know no one here will be able to answer this. I'm just speculating.

My very first cruise was a NYE one but NYE was embarkation night so a lot of people were jet lagged or tired from traveling so it was much more subdued than I expected. But that was decades ago so maybe they try harder these days. 🤷‍♀️

Crew appreciation is combined with the service charges (the 18%) and that creates a pool that is used to give the waitstaff (and others) bonuses and compensation. [According to the Princess website.] It's a big pool and money doesn't go strictly to those who served you by how much came from each source. It may not even go to staff on your ship as the pool is ship-wide. So the MDR is covered by the crew appreciation and the specialty dining is covered by the service charge so you don't have to tip anyone over and above that unless you want to.

You are not being charged an extra 18% for service in the MDR or buffet. It's only for items not covered by your fare. i.e., Specialty dining, drinks from the bar, casual dining.

They didn't say anything in the Press Release about priority so I am choosing to believe that it will be first-come, first-serve. 😉 Did it provide any new info not in the Press Release?

Are you not charged the 18% or is it covered? I had assumed it was covered by the package but would appear on the folio.

Which the computer can cancel in a few minutes once they write the script to do so. 😄 If they have a "just show up" option, wouldn't people who decide not to show up for their traditional dining time one evening, just go there? (Like if they get back late from a port and miss early dining.) I think it's in Princess' best interest to let people switch. Otherwise, they will have trouble planning especially for Traditional dining. If they don't, a ton of people will show up to the "just show up" dining room once they figure out that the option they originally picked wasn't working for them. I think