Griller

8 hours ago, masterty said:

You spend too much time in your cabin. Get up and out in the AM and return in the PM. Get the package and enjoy. The best seats, movies, and views are not found in your cabin or from your balcony. 

That's harsh,

7 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

After my fourth failed attempt in trying to purchase these cards online I called Princess again and the second rep that I spoke to was Sheryl.  I did ask for Portia but Sheryl said she could help me. 

 

After taking my billing and credit card info, she also got a rejection.  Put me on hold for awhile and she found out that once a credit card was rejected, you could not use that card again for the giftcards.  So now I gave her another credit card and it went through for two giftcards at $1000 each.  But now she says another department has to do my $50 bonus cards and I will have to wait for them to notify me.

 

I did this around 9am this morning.  Still waiting now at 6pm. 

 I had 3 rejections on my same card which Portia then subsequently successfully used for a purchase of 4 gift cards .

So I would say that they were not correct telling you that  the same card wouldn't work.

I had to use the same card, its my Sam's Club card and gives me 3% cash back on travel.

Its the same ole same ole.

Speak to 4 employees on the phone at Princess and get 4 different answers. 

if you get one you like then get it in writing.

After 3 failed attempts online to order gift cards I called today and in one call the duration of which was 1 hour 6 minutes I  was on the phone to 3 different Princess ladies. the first one told me that it was not possible to buy them on the phone, I persisted and she transferred me to someone else who knew nothing  about it, she transferred me to a helpful lady who relayed all my info to someone called Linda who went to lunch halfway through before finishing the job.

The helpful lady then found Portia who fixed it all in 5 minutes.

I had previously mentioned Portia but they could not find her in an internal phone directory.

Hopefully that's it  now, not that we have the 4 cards and/or bonus cards yet of course.

Is it really worth the aggravation?

Of course you may all board at the same time, just get in the regular line not the priority boarding line.

On ‎5‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 2:20 PM, denmarks said:

 

Princess gives the following OBC:
From your 21st to 31th cruise - $25 onboard cabin credit
From your 32st to 41th cruise - $50 onboard cabin credit
From your 42nd to 51th cruise - $75 onboard cabin credit
From your 52nd cruise on - $100 onboard cabin credit

 

That seems like nothing. I would like to see a free cruise periodically. Maybe for each 20 cruise credits.

If a US passenger's  cruise is on an AUS$ ship is it still the same number of dollars or inflated by the exchange rate?

We also noticed that and just avoided those areas.

  Going to be somewhere like that on every ship if you look hard enough.

On ‎5‎/‎4‎/‎2019 at 1:21 PM, Sea Hag said:

I've seen it said many times that the coffee in the MDR and buffet on the Royal is brewed from grounds, not made from syrup. We were on the Royal, and my husband asked specifically about that. We were told that all the coffee in the MDR and buffet is made from syrup. Guess it just matters who you ask.

I have seen the crew refilling the coffee machines in the buffet on Royal P. with a big bag of ground coffee.

its not a secret or hard to see, the machines  are in plain sight there and its obvious. No need to ask anyone.

I don't think those machines could use syrup.

6 hours ago, smelmel said:

Yes & no - my first order went through w/o any problems 🤗 My 2nd order not so easy - 🙁 I received an email that order was denied - charge was posted to my credit card but charge was credited - I then placed another w/a princess representative & I received an email w/$1000 gift card but not the promotional $50 gc - another phone call being told it could take up to 3 days to receive it - I wasn’t buying that - after 2 more phone calls it all got straighten out - speaking to the right person, Sarah in customer service, was what it took. Good luck!!!

Could I ask  if you noticed how the sale was described on your credit card account - Princess Cruises? or Gift Card? That would make a difference on our Sams Club credit card - 3% cash back or 1% cash back.

5 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

 

ROFLMAO.  Never had a steward named Stewart.  Had a "con see air" named Stu one time.

 

Aren't they all Stewart?

Like George on Pullman sleepers?

Maybe I've been doing it wrong all these years?

Gifts of appreciation?  More to pack to take home at the end of their contract - or  just dump?

What I have found every hotel employee on a cruise ship wants more than anything else  is MONEY!

Although in an apparent exception to the rule cabin  Stewart on Royal P last cruise asked me to get him a fridge magnet at every port around South America since he could not get off.

Only ones I can ever remember is Oscar who is totally crazy in a great way, and that was when he was on Pacific Princess when you have to walk past him on entering as there is only one dining room and no anytime dining.

And similarly  the now-retired Bruno Bogazzi who was on Ocean Princess for a long time - liked a drink and was notoriously bad tempered on occasions with the crew when they messed up. Another great character.

The others ? Who were they? I don't know and don't want to know.

11 hours ago, MissP22 said:

The medallion is not serviceable.

If it fails, they just give you a replacement.

I took my Medallion apart and found it had a very commonly used  lithium CR2032 button cell in it.

  2 for $1 at $Tree

1 hour ago, paul929207 said:

I have never tipped him

I wouldn't either, in nearly 80 Princess cruises  they have never done anything for me, they don't even come around to the tables asking if the dinner was OK,  because quite often these days it isn't and there is nothing they can do about it anyway.

Most ships I've been on recently the Maître D'  mostly hangs out in the fixed dining on Deck 6 aft, and is rarely seen in the other dining rooms.

You do see him at the Chef's Table but you already paid heavily enough for that at $115.

3 hours ago, Husky61 said:

The juices were never free, because they are included in the cruise fare you purchase.😃

And its a matter of debate if the OJ should be classed as juice at all, the concentrate containers it comes in is labelled "cocktail" and contains a lot of sugar which was never in oranges.

Certainly its orange in color......

5 hours ago, skynight said:

  Orange, apple, cranberry, prune, grapefruit, pineapple, maybe others, are available at no charge during breakfast hours. After breakfast there is a charge. Regular and chocolate milk also available. I don't remember seeing hot chocolate packets on our recent Emerald Princess cruise, but it is available in the buffet all day on Royal Class ships.

There is a charge for the "good" hot chocolate prepared at the International Cafe. This is included with the Soda & More Package. Individually hot chocolate at the I.C cost $1.77 for regular and $3.54 for a large.

.

I never saw chocolate milk available on Princess in the buffet, at least not the cold variety, on the Royal class ships there is hot chocolate available 24/7 in the buffet.

And as far as two different sizes of hot drinks at the IC we were told on Royal Princess recently that the large ones were finished.

Does anyone know if other ships have large cups still, or was it just a temporary cup supply problem on Royal?

Whew! Narrow escape!  We nearly  booked the June 18th  Norway cruise next month and as we live in the US we would have had high non refundable air fares when our cruise  was cancelled. It was a really good deal considering what was included.

When I say we nearly booked it I mean were just about to book and then  we read  reviews about some aspects of the ship being a bit iffy, like passengers being antique ( so are we really)  , noisy cabins and the food being somewhat variable, and some tours being rather rushed.

So we booked Royal Princess instead. Different but we hope more reliable.

We are really sad to hear about the engine trouble, hope they fix it, we already cancelled a Transatlantic on another small ship last year, Sea Dream 1, after reading  it had to be towed back to dock  after some  problem.

You can leave all your passports and credit cards etc in the cabin safe.

Every time I have cruised from Barcelona a number of passengers have not been able to board because they had their passports and credit cards stolen.

That means staying in Barcelona until a replacement passport can be obtained and rejoining the ship at another port.

If you're lucky...………...

We just had C203 on Royal Princess and this is above the theater stage.

Never again.

The bass drumming was the worst, boom boom boom.

And of course until the last show ended so went on quite late as well as the rehearsals.

Passenger Services didn't even want to come listen. They just moved us up a deck which was much quieter.

Stewart said nobody ever liked C203 and kept moving out. Probably the same on Regal and Majestic.

The drumming even made the walls and bed vibrate in harmony. Terrible, we were on 49 days, we tolerated it for the first week but it got to us after that when we realized the drummer had only one rhythm and was at every performance.

And be VERY cautious about pickpockets and luggage theft in Barcelona, its one of the worst places for it, they are exceptionally good at their trade.

I have warned people about this before, others have said its no worse than anywhere else and they have got robbed.

On ‎4‎/‎26‎/‎2019 at 2:43 PM, compozer said:

You are correct, we are subsidizing the people who go down the last morning and take the tips off.   Have you noticed the long lines??     I remember being down there one time when a vocal person from here who said it was terrible to take them off, was at the desk asking to have her tips removed.    It is time everyone pays their share.          And then,  there are the people who love anytime dining because they can get a different waiter every night and never have to tip them.                       We like to get to know the staff and they go above and beyond so I am happy to reward them but it is starting to really add up especially since we do long cruises most of the time.    Extra's at Sabitini's for breakfast, club class, room steward,  room service several times a day,  the bar and now it will be $33 a day.   

 

Maybe we should all start asking to have them taken off.  That would get their attention.      

Thanks for the suggestion, as it meets with your approval then it must be OK, I will take them off starting on the next cruise.

On ‎4‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 12:18 AM, ceilidh1 said:

Alfredos is BETTER than specialty dining and FREE!

If you don't want to sit down for the Alfredo's pizza its the same pizza selection on the Pool Deck pizza place but only a limited choice every day. Always Pepperoni and Margaretha and then a Special of the Day.

We go our Uber from San Pedro to the airport very easily a couple of weeks ago, about 5 minutes from booking it.

Be prepared to pay a bit extra as there will be high demand when the ship docks so surge pricing will be in effect.

Cost us $56 to Burbank Airport, when we asked for an estimate the previous day it came in at $45.

Interestingly the Uber we got also had a Lyft sticker in the windshield, I have heard Lyft might be cheaper but have never tried it.

On ‎4‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 7:10 PM, partybarbie said:

Well, being the "little housekeeper" that I am.  I wash the wine glasses, with hot water and soap, then put them back next to my bottle of wine.  I can't be bothered to call room service for new glasses every day.

 

I agree with the comment about putting the card in the door.  If that card is missing, it's easy for your cabin to be missed for turned down.

 

To the OP,  please just have a brief, polite conversation with your cabin steward.  I agree that some stewards are better than others, but they should at least be meeting the minimum requirements.  

Yes we wash our own wineglasses as well, and we always use the do not disturb sign/ makeup cabin sign.

In fact we have the do not disturb on the door most of the time, just have Stewart in a couple of times a week for linen change and vacuuming.

Other than that we dump used towels in his cart and grab a couple of fresh ones every day or two.

Most times they are happy about this as its one less cabin to service every day, occasionally you get one who is worried by it in case their Supervisor finds out and chastises them for some reason.

We generally book longer cruises, 28 to 49 days so its pretty much  like being at home for us rather than a once in a lifetime vacation. And we just like as much privacy as we can get, a butler would be a nightmare for us, fortunately they never come with an inside guarantee cabin.

I believe they are meant to be made with Bombay Gin, Grey Goose Vodka and Cointreau.  They are good. All booze!

A while ago they also changed from decent 20 year old port to cheap sweet tasteless Ruby.

And they started using generic melon liqueur instead of Midori in the Japanese Slipper.

And they think we don't notice?

We just had 49 days on Royal Princess, our 75th Princess cruise,  and did not order one drink.  Vote with  your wallet.

Was this lady at the door of the dining room quite tall with a very short hairstyle and glasses from Eastern Europe?

We just had 49 days on Royal and tried to avoid her,  seemed like she might have been an MP in a former job.....

Our favorite head waiter ZaZa  came on board Royal just before Los Angeles, she is such a nice welcoming person, nothing is too much trouble, I think they may have assigned ZaZa to run Alfredos now.