booklady26

I've had the same issue for several weeks. I opened an in-private window and it works just fine.

On 7/21/2024 at 9:05 AM, Lady Arwen said:

 It seems Princess is going in the direction of Carnival and RCI.  That’s just not for us anymore. 

So is Celebrity with very few cruises more than 7 nights and numerous 3-4 night cruises from Florida with many now stopping at Coco Cay which is nothing but Royal's big water park. According to many posts on the X boards, their shorter cruises are nothing but booze cruises.

We had been very loyal Celebrity cruisers (Elite Plus status) but have now put them at the bottom of our list due to the brand erosion and extremely high prices with very little value for your money when compared to other mass market cruise lines. Their new President came from Royal and it's the feeling of many that she's trying to "royal-ize" Celebrity. Even NCL rates higher for us!  

Princess is now at the top of our list. We sail late fall to early spring and love 10+ night cruises so we don't see too much of what's been described on this post. Passenger demographic is definitely older and not very rowdy or unruly.

16 hours ago, duchess7 said:

I have similar cruises booked on both Celebrity and Princess.  I booked before April 23 which is when Princess announced it was changing the Sanctuary structure.  (that's a whole other issue for another time).  It was actually called Reserve Collection Mini Cabana suite.  

 

When did you book?

I booked it in July 23. I believe they changed from Reserve to Sanctuary in 2024, because cabana minis on deck 9 were still Reserve when we booked. We didn't want deck 9 because the "balcony" just has a gate that separates the "balcony" from the shared deck space with other people.  No privacy. We're on deck 10 with a private cabana and balcony.

We are Elite Plus and have considered X to be our favorite cruise line for many years. We do not stay in suites on any cruise line except for MSC's Yacht Club. We live in Florida and cruise 4-5 times a year to the Caribbean and don't want to spend mid 5 figures on vacations every year.

We have bitten the bullet and have paid the increased prices that all cruise lines are charging because we love to cruise. We have always felt that Celebrity offered a great product for what they charged. However, they no longer offer good value for the money. Their "always included" no longer even includes tips. Their "premium" drink package is a joke. On our last cruise in March my husband's favorite single malt scotch was no longer on the premium package and the wine selections are also dismal. They haven't changed their MDR menus in years except for giving you fewer choices than you once had. The entertainment on S-class ships has also not changed in years. The specialty restaurant prices have increased so much that I won't even use OBC to book them.

The shrinkflation has gotten to a point where we have been looking at other cruise lines, such as Princess, which offer better value for what they charge, even though those prices have also increased.

Case in point. We are booked on the Ascent for a 7 night cruise in December (not a holiday cruise). Cost for a sunset verandah is $4,107 with AI and non-refundable deposit. We will only book SV's on E-class ships because we don't like the infinite verandahs. Tips were still included in AI when it was booked. I also purchased the beverage package upgrade and specialty dining at Eden and Fine Cut last August using OBC during a very good sale and before prices were increased. Total cost for these add-ons was $340. Total cost is $4,447.

We are also booked on the new Sun Princess in November (not Thanksgiving) for 7 nights. We are in a cabana mini suite, which is a new cabin category which includes a private cabana with it's own TV, couch and table between the stateroom and the full size balcony. We have also purchased their "Princess Premium" package which includes REAL premium beverages (including husband's scotch!), tips, unlimited wifi on 4 devices per person, 2 specialty dinners per person, unlimited casual dining (sit down pizzeria, Irish pub, sushi, etc. normally subject to a $14.99 cover charge per person), unlimited digital photos and a few other little perks. The total cost for this is $3,690 with a refundable deposit. Granted, this was a freaky thing where the cost of a standard balcony was the same price when I booked it. Even if we booked the balcony, it would still be a better deal than the Ascent.

It's not about how much is charged, but what you get for your money and Celebrity is sorely lacking in value. 

2 hours ago, mrell345 said:

On the app it is easy to change between reserved cruises when you have more than one in order to do dinner reservations. 

 

Online using web browser version from my PC it defaults to the earliest reserved cruise and there does not seem to be any way to change to any of the later cruises.  Has anyone had luck with changing this ?

Scroll down to the bottom of the page on the web version and you'll see an option to log in with your booking number. Enter the number of the cruise you want, your name and birthday and it'll bring you to that cruise. I just did it this morning.

11 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

I think the long term viability with this for Celebrity will depend on customer feedback and potential sales impact as RCCL and Celebrity have two opposite primary targeted demographics - families and adults respectively.  CocoCay is very much developed for families with children.  That may wear thin over time with Celebrity passengers, especially as they will be docked there mainly with kid filled RCCL mega ships. 

 

 

I completely agree. RCCL does a great job for their target demographic, which is families and younger people in general. But Celebrity's demographic is different. Much has been said about the new CEO trying to "Royal-ize" X, but I'm not sure it's going to work. She seems to think that what works for Royal should work for X. Based on the numerous daily emails I get from X, they are really pushing short cruises which stop at CocoCay, which leads me to believe they are not as popular as they thought they would be with X passengers. I don't even like being in a port like St Thomas or St Maarten when a Monstrosity of the Seas disgorges 5-6,000 passengers. If I were to take a cruise which stops at CocoCay (which is not very likely) my idea of a perfect day would be to stay onboard. 

I was able to make both main and specialty dining reservations this morning. This might just be for Platinum and Elite CC members, as it still 6 months away. 

Okay, I know NCL charges sales tax even on beverages ordered on a drink package while docked in US ports. It's not the couple of bucks on my room charge that annoys me, but just the fact that they collect it when their competitors do not. It seems very petty to me.

Anyway, we just came back from a great week on the Escape. There was a Guest Advisory note in the Freestyle Daily on the day we were traveling from Puerto Plata to St Thomas which stated the following:

"Norwegian Escape will navigate through Puerto Rican territorial waters this morning. To comply with local regulations an 11.5% sales tax will be added to food & beverage items between 7:30a-8:45a."

We didn't even visit Puerto Rico. Are they kidding????

Did they really report every coffee sold in Starbucks that morning to the PR government along with the tax payment???

We're CC Elite and could always make reservations as soon as we book without waiting for final payment. In January, I booked the Enchanted for March 2/2025 and made reservations the day after I booked for both MDR and specialty. Final payment isn't due until December.

I booked the Sun in July 2023 for a November 2024 sailing and I'm still not able to book 

Have any other CC Elites been able to book the Sun for sailings beyond this spring or early summer? 

On 2/9/2024 at 10:34 AM, Dawnya00 said:

OP- I might be one of the people in that elusive 7:30p MDR reservation slot every night. 🤪

Everyone- I have been debating this selection though as I have no idea when entertainment/shows occur? On NCL, we had to reserve seats for shows so I knew when to get dinner in. 

What time will Reflection have a comedy show or magic show or game show entertainment? I don't see a lot of recent reviews that shares the daily schedule so I am clueless. Help! I would like to be able to switch my reservation while I have 75 days or so. 

Generally, shows are 7 & 9 PM. We always make our dinner reservations for 7 or 7:15 and never have a problem getting a decent seat at the 9PM show. No show reservations are taken, but I don't recall the last time a show was SRO.

We were on the Joy a few weeks ago. My husband had the PH 2 nights with our dining package. No surcharge.

We were on the Joy the week that Footloose stopped. You still need reservations for Elements which should not be missed. The Beatles cover band performed in the theater the first and last nights and were quite good. They also did 2 shows in the Cavern Club, which is tough to get into because it's so small. The magician who was featured in Elements also did his own show. Although I'm not a fan of magicians in general, his performance in Elements was really fascinating and I'm sorry we missed his solo show.

The only disappointment was the tribute to Sir Elton John. I knew we were in trouble when we entered the theater and saw an empty stage with only a keyboard. How can one do an Elton tribute without a piano??? The singer was good but to me it was just a guy singing Elton songs with a "modern" twist. Not at all what we expected and were disappointed. My comment was "we passed up the Beatles Sgt Pepper show for this????"

13 hours ago, peterde said:

My upgrade price for my December 23 cruise held at 18.99 for the entire year. It finally dropped down to 13.99 today. I call CC to cancel and reorder and asked about the CC 10% discount. He said it wasn’t available. I didn’t think it was a sale as it now said onboard price is 15.00 and 5% off made it 13.99, but he said the CC discount wasn’t available. 15.00 is much more inline with the difference between classic and premium packages anyway. 

I just had the same conversation about the CC discount. They would not apply it to the reduced price, not even to the "undiscounted" price of $15 pp/pd. They quoted me the same $400.80 including 20% gratuity with a 15% CC discount that I had originally had and cancelled to get the lower price. I just booked the upgrade directly in the cruise planner for $335.60 including grat but without the CC discount. It's still cheaper than what they wanted to charge me including the discount. Go figure.

Speculation only, but I had read that Royal Caribbean was turning their little used jazz clubs into enclosed casino smoking areas. Maybe Princess is doing the same thing? I wouldn't mind that. I always find Princess casinos to be too smoky. Their casinos are too small to have designated smoking/non-smoking areas with no separation. The smoke just drifts all over.

I also find it interesting that a number of posters on this thread love Take Five. I have rarely seen more than a few people in there at any time, whether it's early or late in the evening. 

18 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

The limit no longer applies. As you suspected, the upcharges are the same as with the SDP.

Thanks, Keith. I'm so glad to hear that since the choices up to $35 are really limited since the ala carte prices have increased so much. Couldn't even get a decent steak in Cagney's if that were still the case!

Is there still a dollar limit on the entrees for the Latitudes dinner? The NCL app says $35 but the website no longer mentions any limit other than the fact that upcharges may apply to some premium items, which I assume are things like lobster, filet mignon, etc, which are shown on the menus.. 

I booked a cruise with the Princess Premier package on 3/30 and I have been unable to make specialty dining reservations or order medallion shipping without being charged to my credit card. I even tried the online version and had the same problems. I know from other posts that this has been an issue for many people.

Well, I did my daily check of the medallion app this morning and saw that the dining credits included with the Premier Package are finally available. I was able to make 2 specialty dining reservations as well as order medallion shipping without being charged. The only thing I could see that still needs fixing is that under "packages" it only shows what's included in the Plus Package not Premier. But since I had the specialty dining credits, I'm thinking that this is just another "glitch" that needs fixing.

Thank goodness our cruise isn't until December so there's plenty of time to get the app working properly before then.

10 minutes ago, brisalta said:

 

The web based app is at https://oceanready-personalinfo-ui.prod.ocean.com/

Remember to select the correct language at the top of the login page.

Thanks for this. I was able to log in with this link, however, the same problems still exist for me. It still wants to charge for shipping medallions and specialty dining is not an available option.

I've had problems since i booked my December cruise on 3/30.  Being Elite, I could make the MDR reservations, but the app wanted to charge me the cover charges for specialties even though I have the Premier package. Now I get the "no reservations available" message.

Tried to do the web-based version and get a message stating "this booking has already been claimed", so I can't access that.

Besides the dining fiasco, the app does not show any of the packages included with Premier. It's directs me to purchase wifi, beverages, etc. And it wants to charge me $10 to ship the medallions, which is free with any package. It apparently doesn't recognize that the Premier package was purchased.

Tried calling Princess, they couldn't help. My TA told me that I wasn't his only client experiencing problems and that Princess told him that I should wait until the bugs are fixed. 

I noticed that there was an updated version of the app available last week, so I deleted the app and reinstalled the update version. That's when I started to get the nothing available message. 

My guess (and it's only a guess) is that Princess realizes that the dining reservations system is completely messed up so they've just shut it down until it's fixed. What a mess!

I too have this issue with the app. However, I did not book any specialty restaurant reservations because I saw that they were going to bill my credit for the charge. The same is true for the medallion shipping charge. We purchased the premier package when booking and it's confirmed in the Princess  travel summary but the app does not appear to be aware of this. We have 2 dining credits and free medallion shipping. among other things with the package, but when I go to the "Packages" section, it tells me that I have none purchased. 

For the past few days, when I try to "book" specialty dining, I get a pop up message that says there are no reservations available. I find it very hard to believe since our cruise is in December. We are CC Elite and can book these anytime.

I called the medallion help desk who had the same issues when they went to book items manually for me. Supposedly they were going to escalate the issue to IT but that was 3 weeks ago. I have logged out of the app and logged back in. I have even deleted and reinstalled the app. Nothing. 

I called my T/A who said that several people are having issues and Princess has told him that they are aware of these issues and the "glitches" are being worked on. They told him that his clients could go ahead and book what they want and then visit guest services onboard to request a refund. I don;t think so.

I have sailed on 2 medallion cruises in the past year and have had no issues. This is really annoying because there is no other way other than the app to book these things. I just hope it gets straightened out well before my cruise as I don't want to have to spend my vacation time arguing with guest services about these problems which are the company's doing not mine.

We booked a cruise with Princess Premier. Not only am I being charged for medallion shipping, but when I went to make specialty dining reservations, it wants to charge my credit card for the dining fee instead of applying the dining credit. It's also asking if I want to purcahse a wifi package, which is included in the Premier. I don't think the app is recognizing the Premier package that was purchased.  

I called Princess on Friday and after a very short wait of just a couple of minutes, a very nice gentleman tried to help and he was stumped as well. The booking does show the Premier Package included but he was having the same problems I was with the charges. He sent a ticket to escalate the issue and took my phone number and said he'd call back when it was resolved. This was only Friday afternoon, so assuming it wouldn't be worked on over the weekend, it hasn't been 24 hours yet. 

I'm sailing on the Silhouette next week. I was checking the X app this morning to see if there were any changes or updates to the daily planner and MDR menus. The first night's menu still has the pork chop, spaghetti Bolognese, etc, but it also now has "Aged Prime Rib of Beef". That's the first time I've seen it since I first started checking about a month ago. I know that the menus are subject to change up to boarding and frequently do. But the fact that the rest of the menu is the same except for the addition of prime rib makes me wonder (and hope) that maybe enough people complained about it and Celebrity actually listened. 

Anyone else noticed this about their upcoming cruises?

10 minutes ago, Lastdance said:

Shareholders seem to be pretty content, as stock is in mid 70’s now!

In January 2020, right before covid turned everything upside down, it was selling for over $130 a share. $75 is still a long way off those highs. CCL and NCL are even worse, at about 25% of their pre-covid highs. Investors hear cruise line executives say how strong bookings are and they expect companies to be making a profit, but they aren't. Therefore, there is a lot of pressure on the cruise lines to raise prices and cut expenses. 

But I wonder if this is going to backfire on them. My husband and I are avid cruisers. Next week, we are our taking our 84th cruise vacation. This one happens to be on Celebrity, but we've sailed on numerous lines. For the first time in many years, we have no cruise booked after this one. I think the prices are absurd and the "upscale" experience is being severely eroded. After looking at the MDR dinner menus for our upcoming cruise, it looks more like diner food. Charging for an additional lobster tail is something I'd expect of Carnival or RCL. Frankly, I've never ordered more than one and sometimes I choose something else entirely, but that isn't the point. It's the dumbing down of the experience that bothers me.

I'm sure we are not the only ones who are rethinking where we will spend our vacation dollars (or pounds or euros).

5 hours ago, terrydtx said:

That has all changed this year based on reports from current passengers, 

I was on the Sky Princess 3 weeks ago and had prime rib, rack of lamb and surf & turf with filet mignon and lobster tails in the MDR. I told my husband that we should have ordered more lobster while it was still free and a couple sitting next to us chimed in and commented that wasn't it terrible that Celebrity was now charging for extra lobster! 

Unlike most other casinos (land based or on a ship), Princess slot machines do not issue tickets when you cash out. If you're lucky to have money left, it goes into your account. You can cash it out at the cashier window at any time.