CruisingWalter

As someone else mentioned, you cannot 'share' the drinks package. If they see you purchase a drink and hand it to another member of your party, that party can have a drinks package automatically added to their stateroom. The drinks package is only for the use of the people who purchased it. All cruise lines are rather strict on that. The only cruise line that does it differently is Virgin Voyages who uses a Bar Tab system that does allow the cabin to purchase drinks for anyone. For the WiFi, one person can be logged in under each account on a single device. If you have a multi-device package, everyone would have to login under the same information. There is no 'leniency' on the WiFi. If you pay for 1 person on the WiFi at a time, that's all that can access it, you have to log out for someone else to be able to use it. With an 8 month old, not much. While Princess is technically family friendly, without the water slides and all the other activities that attract large families (see Royal Caribbean, Carnival, NCL) Princess has fewer options for the kids, especially under 3 years old. You will not be able to take the child into any of the pools because they don't have a child wading pool on the ships. Most of the bigger family friendly lines have a small wading pools, Princess does not. The kids programs and the babysitting program starts at 3 years old according to the FAQs. The kids programs are supposed to be really good according to friends who have had their kids in the programs. On Royal Caribbean recently I noticed two RCCL employees walking babies in strollers as part of a babysitting program. But Princess doesn't have anything like that to my knowledge. https://www.princess.com/learn/faq/onboard/cruising-with-family/ With the beverages, as far as I can see there is no limit to the beverages that can be brought on board as long as they are cans, however you're generally required to bring them via carry on or carry them on. All checked luggage is scanned and if you pack the beverages, they'll open up your luggage and toss the beverages. $200 OBC is actually not all that much. 🙂 You can use it for everything on board same as you would cash. Some cruise line do allow you to pre-use OBC before you come onboard but I believe Princess you have to wait. To purchase the Princess Plus or Princess Premiere package you have to do that pre-cruise. Onboard you can purchase things individually like the WiFi and Drinks Packages. Definitely have your travel agent check to see if there are any restrictions on bringing an 8 month old into a specialty restaurant before you make any reservations. For instance on Disney Cruise Line most, if not all, of the specialty restaurants are adults only on the original four ships. In the Princess family FAQs they don't mention any of the specialty restaurants for dining with family. Princess is a fabulous cruise line, but definitely skewed more towards adults and young children, not so much babies. You WILL have crew members doting on the child throughout the ship though. Welcome to the wonderful world of cruising. Princess was our first three cruises and we've now sailed 8 different cruise lines over almost 20 years. We'll be on the Sky Princess in February. Every cruise line is awesome and every cruise line has its faults, none of them are perfect. Princess is one of the better overall experiences in terms of ships, food, entertainment and food. If you have not already, align yourself with a good travel agent. A good one is worth their weight in gold when it comes to planning, booking and assisting you after the booking through to the end of the cruise. We've never booked without one and they cost you absolutely nothing. Especially when booking cruises with families, it's good to have their insights. Princess is an awesome cruise line, but with your 8 month old, it might have been more enjoyable for you to book on a cruise line that is better suited for and have more options for children that young. Since this is your first cruise, you may not have known what all of your options were with Princess. Again, a wonderful cruise line and you'll have a great time onboard. Prior to going on your cruise, search YouTube for a Discovery Princess Ship Tour. There are dozens of them and you might have to start a few before you find one you like. But they give you a good sense of where everything is on the ship and what it really looks like vs. the deck plans. We usually watch them as part of our research before booking and then we'll watch it again right before we go on the cruise. I hope you and your family have an amazing time on the ship!

Sky Princess Caribbean Feb 25 Virgin Voyages Valiant Lady Caribbean Thanksgiving Nov 18 We'll be adding at least one each from Celebrity & MSC this year, probably more. We kind of 'go with the flow' with the cruises. FYI, for those thinking about Alaska 2024, considering going in 2023. Prices are going up, sometimes significantly, across all the cruise lines in 2024 over 2023.

Did you use a travel agent for the cruise? If so they have a BDM or Business Development Manager who is a direct contact to call. That would be your best bet at this point. I hope it all works out!

VPN can be restricted on cruise ships. I tried to use a VPN on Symphony of the Seas and it didn't work, but Royal Caribbean, Carnival and others have stated VPNs are not supported. While NCL does support VPNs but only on their premium internet package. As Princess is a part of Carnival, my assumption would be the official policy is VPNs are not supported, but your mileage may vary

In general the boarding itself does not start until 1 or 1:30 but VV does have a really nice terminal to relax in while you wait for actual boarding to start.

We're on Sky Princess February 25. First time on the new class of ship, honestly can't wait!

We love Princess, well actually we've sailed 8 cruise lines so far and we don't hate any of them. We're headed out on Sky Princess in February, our first time on the newest class of ship. Honestly can't wait to sail Princess again, it's been about 4 years since we last sailed on Crown Princess.

Why would I mind? 🙂 Feel free to share with anyone who needs to see it to really how GREAT that food really is! I may have to book another VV cruise because waiting until November to eat onboard again may be too long.....

We've been on four cruises now since the pandemic and the only cruise that even remotely showed any 'issues' was the Carnival Mardi Gras being painfully understaffed in F&B. It was honestly hard to watch how hard the few crew members they had were working when you knew they were working near 20 hour shifts. We've sailed NCL Escape, Carnival Mardi Gras, Virgin Scarlet Lady and Symphony OTS. We just sailed the Symphony of the Seas on Dec. 17 and had an awesome time. We were actually impressed with the improvements in the Windjammer since we last sailed Royal on Mariner. The diversity of food, especially the Asian and Indian at breakfast were awesome. Food taste is still very subjective and the buffet will be more bland because they cut down on salt, but overall the Windjammer was impressive. Solarium Bistro was great too for a buffet. Main Dining Room was ok, not great, but they are rarely great. Princess still has the best MDR at the moment. We really enjoyed Hooked, Wonderland, Izumi and the Chef's Table was 100% worth the price of admission. El Loco Fresh was meh, BlueIguana on Carnival is much better. Dog House was fun. Park Cafe was great. Playmakers wings are fantastic. That onion ring tower reminded me of Dairy Queen flavor, but the horseradish sauce is great. The drink pricing is right in line with everyone else, though VV's pricing is a bit lower on the cocktails. The crew was fantastic, customer service was as expected, though there were long lines many days, but that has been a trend on all cruise ships. I have no idea why so many people have to line up so much every single day. We may have to go once over the course of a cruise. Overall, we were really impressed with our first Oasis Class sailing, now planning our first Quantum Class. Reading through comments throughout CC (not just this forum) there are some folks who seem to have 'rose colored glasses' remembrances of how 'things used to be.' In some cases they are right and in other they're a bit off base. But the fact of the matter is times ARE different not just for the cruise industry but for the entire hospitality industry. Over 30% of crew members who used to serve on cruise ships found land-based jobs that they chose to keep instead of returning to the cruise industry. The volatility that came with the shutdown and the realization that they could lose their job in an instant was a shock to many. As the cruise industry continues to rebound, cruise line jobs are not as sought after as they once were, same with many hospitality jobs. As I said, Carnival was the most painful and obvious example of crew shortage. VV had the best crew and hands down the best food (not to mention it's all included). But if there is a crew shortage on Symphony of the Seas it was not obvious as a consumer and the service and food we received was great. I have about 35 TikToks from the ship on my feed. Full food review coming next week to my YouTube channel. 🙂

1. My friend is an alcoholic (no jokes here), she is not a messy one but will drink solid from 11am to bed so I need to consider drinks. The heavy port days will help here but still, there is no drink package, understand the bar tab deal etc. Are the drink prices really that reasonable? How much for a bottle of nice wine or champagne (not the top brands but nice)? The Cocktail prices I have seen don't really seem that much lower than other lines or perhaps I am out of touch on their pricing? Drink prices are reasonable and if you book through Jan 31 you'll get a $300 or $600 Bar tab included with your cabin. Under 7 days $300, Over 7 days $600. That's per sailing so a back to back will not count as a longer sailing. If you friend really likes to pile on the drinks, pre-purchase additional $300 bar tabs prior to the cruise and VV adds $50 to $100 to each purchased bar tab. It is a 'use it or lose it' proposition so purchase wisely. 2. The pool situation is deplorable, I like to swim or relax in the pool not sunbake around it, however with the itinerary we would be on it's not a deal breaker. Are they as bad space wise as they look? You're not going to swim that's for sure. The pools are terrible other than for laying about. The only time to use the pools when nobody else is around is early in the morning, in the evening, or during port days. Celebrity (and any other cruise line) wins for the pools but especially Celebrity. Their pools are outstanding, especially the Solarium pool. This is the one aspect of the ship that VV really messed up on, but we forgive it because so much else is right. 3. Can all Rockstar rooms have two singles or are they all standard king? The beds do not split in the suites. 4. All the photos I have seen have shown little to no people. Possibly intended to show more of the ships. What has it been like on board atmostphere & people wise. the biggest ponder at the moment is....How do you book yourself a back to back when you can't choose your cabin. I did a couple of tries and didn't come up with a match so far. Any secret I am missing? To select a cabin you need a travel agent or call VV. You cannot select cabins online. As for the vibe onboard, one of the crew members called it "Summer Camp for Adults." I think that's a pretty good description. The vibe is fun and light onboard, surprisingly quiet most of the day. It's very much like a Celebrity vibe. Absolutely lovely, beautiful ships, awesome crew, amazing food. The pools are terrible, the net is an awful idea, but otherwise, the ship is near perfect. Here's my Scarlet Lady playlist that really covers most everything about the ship. I went into our cruise expecting to be a "one and done" with VV. Now it's my current favorite cruise line, even with the terrible pools. We'll be on Valiant Lady for the 8 night Thanksgiving cruise this year. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8wFV2tZMxXq3Lbmd6VbXJdMNQEzc8SqH

Last minute cruises on VV are fine. Dining Reservations are always available onboard as well. Suites are near impossible to get close to sail date anyway as they regularly sell out first. But VV is the one cruise line you really don't need a suite to get that 'suite experience' since so much is included. And right now you're going to get that $300 or $600 bar tab for booking in January. Many travel agents have a referral link that allows you to get some additional Sailor Loot (OBC) as well. The status match is not an instant thing, you may be better off just booking and applying for the status match at the same time. Celebrity is totally the vibe of VV, at least it was for us. If you enjoy Celebrity you'll most likely enjoy VV. Except for the pools, Celebrity totally has the better pools, as does Princess. I have a full playlist on my YT channel from our Scarlet sailing, here's my overall review and food tour links. https://youtu.be/-R0imB73ajg - Review https://youtu.be/pBolzKvXjMU - Food Tour

Sorry for the tardy response, Regular Rockstar it's one round. Not that you can drink much more than than in 4 or 5 days. MegaRockstar it's replenished.

Tips are definitely not required as they are included in your fare and as others have noted, they are among the highest paid crew in the industry. Plus they get free WiFi and they're allowed to eat in the same restaurants we do. They are a well cared for crew and it really shows in their service. We were going to leave a tip for our RockStar agent but he said 'no need.' As others have suggested, you could always ask the person if there is something you could offer in lieu of cash either from the ship itself or on shore.

As far as I know, all of the ships have been coming into the Old San Juan area. Cruise Timetables doesn't make a distinction and shows four ships in that day. Carnival Mardi Gras, Carnival Spirit, Valiant Lady and the Viking Sea. If anything, it's possible the Viking Sea might choose the alternative port because she's a small ship. I would expect Valiant to come in to Old San Juan based on the image of her in Port recently. That's definitely the Old San Juan pier area, we docked on Mardi Gras there last March.

International Cafe is supposed to be 24 hours. Coffee and snacks in the Piazza

At least on Scarlet Lady, they literally did not care during the day. People can just follow in Suite Guests and hang out all day on Richard's Rooftop if they want. It was only during the free champagne cocktail hour they checked the bands.

Check the booking that was emailed to you. That's how you check your invoice from most any cruise line.

My wife went all mocktails our week on Scarlet and RAVED about them. She said the 'bloody mary' was one of the best she's ever had, regular or mock.

I found this image of the Draught Haus menu from Scarlet Lady online.

Not sure exactly what kinds of beer, but the Draught Haus does carry Growlers that you can take around the ship. They were quite popular on our Scarlet Lady cruise. They're heavily insulated and according to the bartender we met, she said they keep the beer cold for hours.

They will most likely allow her there during the day because it's barely used. They do check the wrist bands during the champagne cocktail hour and will escort people who have red bands out of the area. But otherwise if she walks in with you guys, they most likely won't say anything. We had the Cheeky Corner Suite and we were in the Rooftop for maybe 20 minutes of the entire cruise. It's not that great of an area unless you absolutely worship the sun.

Actually Virgin has one of the better booking engines in the cruise industry, super easy peasy to use. Booking through or transferring your booking to an Agent would have helped your situation. Getting price reductions is one of the things they do best. And with all the specials going on these days, rebooking is your better option. On the insurance, the VV insurance is not good at all, there is very little cruise line insurance that's worth buying. We always buy third party insurance. Much better coverage and it's usually cheaper or under $100 more than the cruise line's insurance.

Suit yourself.

In Miami the lot is open early. We parked shortly after 11am and took the Virgin shuttle over to Bayside Marketplace. Good place to hang out, have some coffee and enjoy views of the ship across the harbor.

As others noted, pricing is exactly the same as online, but you do get good OBC offer and a discounted deposit. Right now through January 31 they are running one of the best deals they've had with the 60% off second sailor and $300 Bar Tab under 7 days and $600 Bar Tab for over 7 day sailings. VV is definitely different, especially the food and entertainment. I have a multi-part vlog on YouTube that includes a cabin tour (Cheeky Corner Suite), Food Tour, overall review and more from our Scarlet Lady cruise this past July. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8wFV2tZMxXq3Lbmd6VbXJdMNQEzc8SqH The vlog might be helpful for you.