kywildcatfanone

Judging by what I am reading on the Sun Princess, they are making more things "pay if you want", particularly room types. They are moving to the airline model of "you want that seat in main cabin, you still have to pay more than the advertised price".

So to be clear for me, the Sky and the Enchanted have the retreat area with the cabins, but the Majestic does not, and instead has an indoor pool in that location? Is that right? Just trying to make sure when I'm looking at ships, I know which has which.

We are considering Equinox this fall. How is it? What is the cost for basic and premium? If premium is as slow as these speediest show, how slow is basic? Can you even do email with basic?

Majestic and Enchanted are like the Sky, right? They at least have the retreat pool, even if it's in a hole, and was a terrible change from Royal/Regal. I haven't been on either of them, just the Sky.

Wow, so no retreat area for adults anymore? You have to pay for the sanctuary to have an adults only pool. That will keep me off that ship then.

Princess deck plans seem incomplete. Is there an adults only retreat area with a pool on this ship? I did find on one website, a forward pool on Deck 17, but it wasn't labeled as an adults only retreat area? One thing they got right on Royal and Regal and messed up on newer ships was the retreat area.

Zero harm in asking if they don't offer it to you. For me, they offered it first thing before even telling me the other swap options. She said it was to pay for my coffee for the cruise while this was affecting people on upcoming cruises. Like I said, probably won't last all that long. They should have left well enough alone. I have now been able to cruise packageless, and know how to do it so that it works for me.

Yes, on the Regal March 26th. I called to exchange for coffee package and was told it was discontinued 3 weeks before, but if I wanted they would do $50/pp as a goodwill gesture while adjusting to this removed loyalty perk. I would expect that not to last too long.

We were quickly offered $50/each OBC as a goodwill gesture. Not sure how long that will last. This was 2 weeks ago on the Regal.

I doubt that coffee card with 15 drinks and unlimited brew cost them less than $5/customer. All these packages cost them pennies on the dollar, which is why they are huge cash revenues for them and they push them so hard.

If there is anyone else within 10 feet, they have to ask because it' too time consuming to look at your picture.

Anywhere between 15 days and 60 days has been my experience.

I stated that on my recent cruise I didn't use it at all, but there is nothing wrong with using it. I was responding to the comment that it's really only needed at then of a cruise unless it's a long cruise. Many people also avoid airport luggage charges by using carry on only, therefore less clothes and more laundry.

It's a perk for loyalty. Also, I might not be going home right away. No reason not to use a perk that is offered, especially when they are being taken away regularly now.

The Regal was full last week. I missed having it not so crowded from our cruises last year.

We didn't use the laundry service on our cruise last week. But when else do I have laundry to clean except the end of the cruise?

I'm sure they are paying pennies for their drinks based upon their volume. Drinks of any kind of a cruise ship, like hotels, etc, are just cash cows. Anyway, as I posted, I can go packageless, bring what I want on board and it doesn't cost me much. Now if they start charging me for ice......

Yep. The "goodwill" OBC they offered us was refundable, which surprised me. On another side note, we went "packageless" on this cruise because we consider the prices of the packages outrageous now. It worked out great for us. At least at FLL, they do not seem to check what you bring on. I had two cases of coke zero in my carry on, and a case of water and coke zero in my checked bag. No issues. I assume had we wanted more, we could have done the same for my wife's bags. I thought they would at least open to check to see if it was alcohol, but they didn't. My drink package cost me about $15 for the week.

Was that me? I posted about my experience last week on the Regal. I called room service after boarding, the mini bar wasn't in the room yet, and she immediately told me that they didn't do the exchange for coffee anymore, but offered me $50/pp goodwill OBC to pay for our weekly coffee or we could exchange for the other options. She told me they were doing this currently because of the complaints of elites with that perk gone. We took it. Side note: If you don't have the drink packages, check the prices you are being charged. in the Pastry Shop coffee bar, they only had one size drink available, and it was supposed to be $3.75, which is $4.13 with gratuity. For two that would be $8.26 for two. Every day for the first 6 days of the cruise, I was charged wrong. Most of the time, they charged me $10+. I went to passenger services to ask if it could be corrected. He tried to call the Food and Beverage manager, but never got an answer, and ended up refunding all those charges to me. I told him I just wanted it corrected, but he said they had received many complaints about it. So, check your charges to make sure they are right.

On the Regal this last week, the prices were $3.25 and $3.75 for most drinks.

Just off the Regal today, and they were installing starlink equipment. No idea about rollout time frame, bit the equipment was being installed. No idea if it will be better service.

Nope. If it's applied, you are good to go.

We have quit going to the DR for dinner because of the quality, and the time it takes. We are on now, and at least last night, the buffet had many good options, including Prime Rib, Pork Loin, Roasted Chicken, Ham, and Mahi Mahi.

I will go ahead an add this here, since it's already being discussed. They should offer a non alcoholic package with and without coffee along with the alcohol packages. You could do wifi/tips/soda packages for $25/day; and one with coffee for $30/day. That would at least be somewhat reasonable instead of a drinks only package for $30/day, and you still have to pay separately for wifi and gratuities. Here is what we decided to do this week. We'll see how it works for us for the whole week. We brought onboard our Sams Club tumblers (think Yeti) that hold ice for days. We packed 3 packs of our sodas and water(coke zero and sprite zero, and water). I had one in a checked bag, and the other two in my carry on. All were fine, no issues out of FLL. They rarely check anything that I have seen. I go pay for a coffee because my wife wants one, so it's $7.50/day so $52.50/week for both of us. If I want more, I just get coffee in the buffet. Fill out cups with ice, and take water or sodas to the pool or meal location and have that. I think that will work for us. Will see how it goes for the whole week. If that works well, will cost me about $75 for the week. If we don't want that we have the tea or lemonade they offer.

It's beyond disappointing, it downright makes me angry. Also the fact that you can't trade the mini bar for it anyway. I will say this though, I boarded Regal yesterday, and called room service. The mini bar setup was no in the room yet. I asked about the exchange for the coffee package and the lady was quick to tell me it was discontinued on Regal 3 weeks ago. And she immediately offered me $100 goodwill OBC ($50 each) so we could pay for the coffee. I was quite surprised at how quickly this was offered, but she said since the change, it's the biggest issue room service is getting on embarkation day. While I'm not happy with the change, at least for this cruise, they satisfied my frustration with this perk removal for loyal customers. I assume this is a temporary resolution and not permanent for those who call about it.