MustangGT

Does anyone know if the scones are available at HC or IC ???

I know there is not a formal Afternoon Tea... Thanks Ann

Yes, we have seen scones in HC during Tea Time on other days but haven't gone to the HC on embarkation day. We avoid that zoo :D

That's a possibility however only a month in advance I would expect them to have already tested their options & decided if there will or will not be a fee. It's been speculated that it will be like Ocean Seafood Terrace or Kai Sushi with a price for each plate. However I see no reason for not telling us if there will be a cost & if so what that cost would be only a month before implementation.

 

At least SHARE disclosed there would a "nominal cover charge" and SHARE begins after the Salty Dog. I think Princess needs to fully research changes before disclosing them to passengers particularly for a change only a month away. They're being vague about SHARE pricing and even worse they have not disclosed whether there is a fee or not for the Salty Dog.

 

I think they should have tested pricing options before promoting the implementation of this change instead of promoting the Salty Dog without disclosing any pricing structure.

Remember - this is Princess. Even if they published if there will be a charge and how much that will be, many cruisers will find it different on their particular cruise. You know that consistency is not a Princess strength :-)

I agree with others, my British Pub experiences have never included "small plates."

I guess I must be cheap. There is no way I would tip $5 - $10 per day or even, as someone else said, $10 up front and another $70 - $80 at the end of the cruise. I leave the auto-tip in place so the steward is already receiving a tip. If the service was good I will tip an additional $20 at the end of the cruise.

 

I do excellent work at my job and I don't get tips. I find tipping in the US to be totally out of hand.

We are in the same "boat"

We do not tip when we meet our steward and our requests are minimal - a top sheet, egg crate if needed and robes. During our cruise, we rarely see our steward - they are so busy!

At the end of the cruise, we will tip $20-$30 depending on the service. If I was High Maintenance, I might feel differently :) Should add - we always keep the Auto Tips on too!

here is a link to the roll call tool

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/rollcalls/

Thanks Vickie! I did see that link at the top of the Princess forum page.

It looks different than it used to appear. Guess I'm a creature of habit!

I did not see a link in the sticky. Using a laptop so I am not using an app.

So, we have a sticky for Roll Calls but no link to get to them?

It states several times in the sticky to click a link but I don't seem to be able to do that.

Anyone else having an issue?

Thanks!

HA - Of course I was being facetious. In fairness to me, it was more that even having had $625 or so of OBC, we went through that and amassed another $649, so (besides the daily tips x 2 and my penchant for having a cocktail or two daily, my companion bought a painting), when we got the form/request for FDC, I was just loathe to have them tack on another $100 or $200 to the ever-burgeoning tab. Additionally, I figured my next cruise would be in another 10 years, a decision with which I've made a serious downward adjustment.

Actually, the FCDs don't go on your shipboard tab - they are billed to the credit card you have on file. Glad you liked the cruise so much that you are ready to go again! Welcome to the cruise addiction club :)

My problem with saved cruises is when I click to check availability, I get this message -

The page you are trying to reach is unavailable or may no longer exist.

I then have to start all over under plan a cruise - can't check available cabins under my saved cruises. :(

Aggravating!!!

Not every building had a laundry room but they are close enough that I just had to go to the building next door - no problem! I agree you might want to pick a time everyone will be busy doing other things. I know many people say, "Why would you want to do laundry on vacation?" but I like not having to pack so many clothes. I like to get up early and get it done. With the rest of the day free, I'm happy!:D

From what I have read, you may be disappointed with the balcony size on the Royal. The Caribe balconies are not larger on the Royal as they are on other class of Princess ships. We love the larger balconies on the Grand Class ships Caribe deck.

Love:

Adagio's (missed it on CB)

Explorer's Lounge

Skywalker's

Walkable Promenade

Emerald is a close second to my all-time favorite - Island Princess

but now that they have changed the Island, Emerald might have taken

the top spot.

If you can live without the balcony - check out the Window Suite prices. Full Suite benefits and depending on where your balcony/mini suite cabin would be located, the Window Suite could be less.

We sailed in a Window Suite earlier this year and it was awesome!

Tracie -

I am so very sorry to hear of your loss. Even though I only know you from your posts and your wonderful 'live from' threads, my heart is sad for you.

Many prayers that your memories will comfort you.

If OP takes another Princess cruise before Alaska, she will be Platinum on the Alaska cruise. Assuming her husband is sharing her cabin, he will be allowed to embark/disembark with her. As for the Elite/Platinum/Suite nightly lounge, I can't see them denying his presence as they are in the same cabin!

OP - have a wonderful time in Alaska! It is spectacular!!

We are booked on the Royal Princess for next spring. Just to see for myself, I went to my Cruise Personalizer to check out the Beverage Packages for my cruise. The description for the Unlimited Soda and More has a disclaimer that shakes are not available on Ocean and Pacific Princess.

So, as a customer, what other due diligence is needed on my part to find out that shakes are not included on Royal?

I'm not interested in purchasing the package but have to disagree with those who have said the OP didn't read the terms of the package.

After deborahjo's post, I did hit "select" and still no warning that the shakes would not be available. Glitch?

FYI - bar service will have an auto-tip on it. No need to add an extra tip even though there is a line for it. If you get service you feel goes above and beyond, all tips are welcome! We typically tip our cabin steward a little extra at the end of the cruise.

Happy Sailing!

As a philatelist (stamp collector), I have found it to be a lot of fun to track down the local post office from port to port and mail things out. I often pick up some local stamps as souvenirs. Post offices can often be the hub of the community and are generally off the beaten path. This has provided me with lots of little adventures, opportunities to use different languages and some special, reasonably priced souvenirs to bring home.

Another thing we recently found was that some of the Post Offices in port will stamp your passport. We like that as we rarely get stamps in the passport anymore.

We have not been able to get stamps from the Pursers Desk for some of our Caribbean stops. We like to mail postcards to our Granddaughter so we hunt down a post office in port. Our experience has been about 60 - 70% chance of her actually getting them but we still try.

Take it! You won't be sorry! Enjoy Alaska!

We have done both Partial and Full transit. I find it interesting that the 10 day itinerary above states "Full Transit" when it is a Partial.

We preferred the Full transit as it gave you the complete experience from one ocean to the other. Many will say do the Partial and do an excursion on a small boat through the Pacific side locks. It's a personal decision. We loved the sea days so the 15 day was great. Have to admit that after a 15 day I felt our recent 7 day cruise was way too short:D

We waited 10 days or so after our last cruise to get ours. Just when I was about to give up, it was there!

Just to clarify - no laundry facilities on Fiesta Deck. The Window Suites are on this deck.

Another piece of advice - be sure to check the iron before you use it. I've been unfortunate enough to use an iron with some kind of gunk on it which meant a stain on my slacks.

I do love that Princess has laundry rooms! I like to pack light:)

I am one who has complained about how hard it is to track pricing on "Saved Cruises" but persistence did pay off!

I checked the Memorial Day Sale pricing and noticed our fare went down $50 pp. called Princess last night and got an even better deal! For some reason, I got a reduction of $100 pp. not looking that gift horse in the mouth!

This will be our first Inside so I'm determined to pay as little as possible. Going to be quite a change from our last cruise in a Window Suite! :D

I think Princess puts these rates on newly released sailing for the next year 2016.I got $500 less mine is a long cruise.Nearer sailing dates there is no passenger discount..

We have booked our last 3 cruises when they opened up and no discount for Past Passengers. Guess we take popular cruises that don't need to be discounted :)

Not just Holiday cruises. The past several cruises we have taken did not have a Past Passenger price. Disappointing :(

I have experienced the same circumstances and this is what happened to me.

They will be considered in transit on turn around day.

They will have one cruise card for the entire 20 days.

1 bottle per person per cruise.

They need to tell the Captains Circle host to add the extra cruise credits to their cruise history.

Thanks for the reply!