skynight

I don't know the exact answer. But, I would think that any shoreside purchase using medallion pay would go directly through to the credit card on file with Princess. If the purchase went against your onboard account's OBC then Princess would actually have to pay the vendor for your purchase. That does not sound like something Princess would do. From what I read there is a small percentage of OBC added to your onboard account for each purchase.

If you book a cruise on board you will receive the benefits of an FCD, $100 deposit plus the OBC for each person. Those deposits then become subject to the passage contract cancellation policy as well as the terms and conditions of any promo. Examples: If you book using a promo that has a non refundable deposit then you are subject to lose the $100 if you cancel. If you cancel inside the cancellation window then you lose whatever the passage contract indicates. If the deposit is refundable and you cancel outside the widow then the deposit(FCD) will be placed into your Princess account. If unused after the one year expiration you will receive a check in the mail. It is possible to request a check earlier, but with Princess' current customer service it may take some effort. What I do is just purchase the FCD's. I then wait until I'm home to think through what I wish to do while I'm not under the pressure of an on board sales person and not on a cruise high.

Vacate the cabin by 8am as others mentioned. Everyone disembark by around 9:30 to 10:00.

That's easier.

Suggest. Drop your luggage and non driver at terminal 2. Driver drive over to the mid port garage and park. Take the intra port garage shuttle back to terminal 2 and meet up with the non driver. Just in case you can't locate a shuttle take a taxi back to terminal 2. Minimum fare. When you disembark your car will be there at pier 21.

I would recommend that you write a real paper letter addressed to John Padgett , President of Princess Cruises and mail it by USPS. He is in Santa Clarita. I would explain the 1 1/2 hour time on the phone and the customer service person hanging up on you. This is not the way to run any business, especially one that is in the customer satisfaction/vacation business. This will not solve your current problem but may make you feel better. I would not use e-mail, text, chat or any kind of electronic method to send. These messages never reach the office you intend. FYI: I had a simple change of address that I could not do on line by myself. Princess' program doesn't allow it. I emailed Princess. After a few months of no reply I wrote a letter. Received notice of change in about two weeks.

FYI. On the Grand Princess, the poster's ship, most side cabins on deck 10, caribe deck, are standard balcony category cabins categories B1, BF & BD. The interiors are the same as balcony cat. cabins on any deck. Yes, the balconies for all side cabins on deck 10 are 9ft deep half covered. Standard balcony cabins do not have any interior sofas, just a desk chair. B1 cabins are called 'premium'. This only refers to the location on the ship, closer to mid ship. The word has nothing to do with the interiors. There is no such category labeled deluxe on the Grand Princess. There are also 12 mid ship full suites on deck 10. .

I heard there may be a concierge phone service, and maybe a special gathering with some ship's officers. Don't know for sure.

Disembarkation. You can select any time you wish. If you happen to receive a disembarkation time you don't like then just visit passenger services. Early walk off begins around 7am. It's available to everyone. You wheel off all your own luggage. If you want that just ask.

No current menu. The Sun Princess has not yet sailed. No experience on what they will offer. On other Princess ships passengers in full suites are able to order room service from the full DR menu. Assume it's the same on the Sun. Others can order items from a select menu. Many are no charge. Some have charges. Be aware of the layout of your cabin. Some cabins are lacking enough chairs and a table to comfortably dine in the cabin. Room service meals can arrive warm, not hot. I personally am not a fan of room service for the evening meal.

You will receive all the full suite benefits which includes the special full suite breakfast in Sabatini's, one of the best benefits, Reserve Class walk in prompt seating dining each evening and lunch on sea days. Specialty dining on the first evening and many other benefits. If you call the dine line your call will have priority. Enjoy your cruise. As others have stated there is no special lounge for full suite passengers on the Grand Princess.

My priority is the cabin size and layout, not the balcony. Cover is very very secondary. If you are worried about people looking down at you place that into the back of your mind. It really does not happen. To look down from deck 10 you have to actually stand at the rail and look over. If you are concerned about cover from the sun well don't concern yourself. Balconies are either sunny or shady depending on the direction of the ship and the position of the sun. The cover has very little to do with it. If you are concerned about rain, don't be. You are not using your balcony during rain. In December expect cool weather for the first two to three days going and the last day sailing north from Mexico. Not really balcony weather. If you want Reserve Class then you must book a Reserve Class mini suite which are all on deck 9.

Yes Deck 5 Piazza area

We purchased tickets on line for maybe around 10am or so entry. We easily had enough time to get there. The museum is maybe a few hundred yards across the channel. You really can't walk. To get there the taxi has to go across a major highway overpass where walkers probably are not permitted. We grabbed a taxi that was sitting at the pier and were there in just around 10 minutes. We arrived shortly after the museum opened and were allowed to proceed into the display areas immediately even though our ticket time was for a little later. You will have no problem with time if the ship docks at 7am. Most days the museum opens at 9am. After visiting the museum we walked down to the City Hall area. This took maybe 30 minutes. We looked around there for a while. When we visited there was a shuttle from the City Hall area to the Princess ship. We took the shuttle back to the ship.

Reasonable explanations: FCDs are refundable. You are turning non refundable into refundable. FCDs when used are considered cash and are then subject to the passage contract refund policy. Again you are turning non refundable into refundable. The purchase of an FCD is physically done on board a ship, but the transaction is really between you and the home office. The transaction is separate from the ship's accounting income/expense system. OBC is really just that for on board expenses. A better question is why can't you pre-book specialty dining using OBC? This is indeed an on board expense.

At table games you can ask the dealer to charge $400 to your on board account. Unlike some cruise lines there is no percentage charge for buying chips or charging play to your account. That charge will net against any credit (OBC) balance. You will then receive chips. The basic rule is that no matter if you play the tables or the slots you really have to play some. One hand is not some the way I look at it. You risk being locked out at the cashier if you don't play.

Believe the previous post is correct. I also think you can request a special order from slice. Not all Princess ships have Alfredo's. Ask once on board.

You can charge casino play to your on board account. If your account has a credit balance from OBCs then the casino play will net against that balance. You can not use the casino as an ATM.

I have the same issue. I can't get the program to accept to mail the medallion. I am in the U.S. I just gave up.

To me it appears that this area would be the back kitchen food and beverage storage areas for the Salty Dog Grill, The Mix bar and Slices Pizza. These venues are open from mid morning until mid to late evening. I would think there would be lots of activity in that area including moving of supplies, some dish and serving utensil washing, things like that. I would think the frequent activity might cause some noise issues in cabins directly below. I never actually stayed in one of these cabins, but I would avoid booking them.

Last resort, you can write the information on the luggage tag or have a luggage tag attached at the pier. I just went to my next month's cruise and selected Luggage Tag/Travel Summary. The tags came up correctly. I did this on the PC web version. I don't have any ability to print from my phone.

When in the North American market you can not remove the crew appreciation if you have the plus or premier fare. You can only remove the daily gratuity charge if you have the standard fare. Not certain, but believe that in the Australian market the basic fare includes gratuities, or in other words salary amounts for the crew, which also can't be removed. In that market the plus and premier fares only adds the beverage package, wifi and the other benefits.

Crew Appreciation covers all cabin stewards, food and beverage waiters in all dining venues, bartenders, room service and others that you may never see. For spa service a % service charge is added to the bill. You may or may not have the same DR waiters for the entire cruise. Even though tipping is covered through the daily Crew Appreciation I do like to provide some additional tips to certain staff that I see throughout the cruise. For me this includes the cabin steward, perhaps MDR waiters if I happen to get the same ones throughout the cruise, maybe a lounge waiter that has served me in a lounge that I frequent. I do this at the end of the cruise. Some people enjoy sitting at bars and do throw a few $$ to the bartender as they drink. Some give a few $$ for each room service delivery. Remember you are already paying $14.99/pp for room service and Ocean Now. Cash if king, the way to go. All extra tips should be in cash. You can ask for some envelopes at passenger services. I normally place cash into an envelope, and write a thank you note on the outside. You normally never tip ship's officers or cruise director staff. If you go to passenger services and ask to add additional gratuities they will gladly do this. Be aware that additional gratuities handled this way go into the fleet wide crew appreciation pool and never really get to the person you intend. Strongly recommend against it.

I'll answer this way. It's usually better to purchase Future Cruise Deposits (FCDs) for $100 each and then wait until you get home to do more research when not under the influence of the on board seller as well as not being on a cruise spirt high. Normally cruise costs and promos on board are no different than you can get once home. FCDs are individual. When purchased in your name they are for you, no one else. For example, you can not purchase one for a sister that isn't on board. FCDs are charged directly to your credit card and are fully refundable if not used. If you do book on board you can get some benefits. You can assign the booking to your Travel Agent and then receive any additional benefits the T.A. may offer. You only pay the $100 deposit as if you had an FCD and receive the corresponding OBC. Any deposit required for the booking is charged directly to your credit card. You can not use your on board account nor any OBC in your account.

Your on board account will start with a $100 credit. Any on board expense is added to your on board account as it occurs and nets against the credit balance. It's a simple debit/credit automatic system, expense by expense. If you still have a credit balance at the end of the cruise you will lose it if the OBC is non refundable. If it happens to be refundable OBC then you will receive a check in the mail for the balance 4 to 6 weeks after you disembark. If the refundable OBC balance is $25 or less then you can ask for the cash at passenger services on the final day. You can easily spend $100 on a tour, in one of the shops, spa or casino. The only on board expenses that you can not charge to your on board account are Future Cruise Deposits. These are charged directly to your credit card.