bjkTX

4 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

 

I am trying to wrap my head around the team and staff meetings that accompanied this rollout:

 

• "You make the special dessert using gelato.  And then you adorn it with all the other crap.  If you run out of the other crap, but still have gelato available, the people who purchased the Packages should be told "No, we don't have any available.  Please come back later."  But you should serve gelato to the next person in line who does not have a Package.
• Likewise, if you run out of the special serving glasses, you should tell the people who purchased Packages that you cannot serve them the special desserts at this time, and ask them to come back at a later time.  But you should serve gelato to the next person in line who does not have a package in whatever glassware you have available. 
• And if a person with a Package says that they do not need any of the extra crap and do not care about the fancy glass, and all they want is the exact amount of gelato that comes with the special dessert, served to them in whatever dish or bowl is handy, you must tell them that you cannot do that.  But when the next person in line without a Package asks for that exact same thing, you should serve it to them"

 

Did I miss anything, because I'm pretty sure this sums up the rollout, and suggests that these Team Leaders and the people to whom they report do not listen to the words that come out of their own mouths.  I'd love to see the case study from a Business School that establishes that this is a good business model.

It's kind alike the dining schedule on our Christmas cruise.  All you with reservations line up on the left, those without line up on the right - then they alternated letting one in from each line.  By the time we got in it was 20 minutes after our reservation, but for those 20 minutes people without reservations were being seated.  Makes sense to someone.

I decided a few days ago to just order the darn medallions and if they charge me the $10 as it indicates on the form so be it - I'll deal with it.  It's been 6 days and the charge hasn't his my credit card.  Don't know if they don't charge until it ships but it could be it shows up on the order - but doesn't actually get charged.  We'll see.

1 minute ago, lvpet said:

Being my first cruise in a long time, I have a couple of questions.  I have purchased the princess plus pkg, so crew gratuities and drinks are covered.  Does Princess charge additional gratuity on drinks to my account?  If I have a drink sent to my room, is an additional tip expected?

Thanks.

Tips on drinks are included with the Plus package - no extra needed.  Tipping room service - I always do, but I don't think it's required.

6 minutes ago, bafinegan said:

Wondering how far out are the medallions shipped and where are they shipped from?  We are 46 days out from our cruise. I just got notifed of something being shipped from Hunnington Beach, Cal.  I havent ordered anything recently....

We received ours 10-14 days before our last two cruises (Sep & Dec).

7 hours ago, Tedferg said:

If you are Platinum or above, I think you can do them before final payment.

I booked our dining times last night for a Nov 2023 cruise we just booked - I had already booked them for our Feb 2024 cruise.  We are Elite.

21 hours ago, Tedferg said:

I have never used these GC and it seems somewhat 'fiddly' to me, these errors only reinforce that feeling.

I have used them to totally pay for our last two cruises and I have purchased enough to pay off our next cruise.  Nothing "fiddly" about it unless you don't trust AARP - and who doesn't trust AARP...... 🙂

Hell - I can't even figure out how the Medallion app is supposed to work - if anyone wants to steal it from my phone let me know if you get it to work!!! 🙂

I looked at several last week that showed the same price for Premier and Plus - so I asked my TA to verify and she came back and said yes, Premier was available for the same price.  I didn't book any of them and will have to settle for just two specialty deserts a day on our next cruise.

They seem to be doing good in crediting the Shareholder credit at the moment.  I applied by email for a Feb 2024 cruise a month ago and it showed up online 2 days later.  I emailed another request last Saturday for a Nov 2023 cruise and it showed up on Monday.  Some things are working - for now 🙂

15 minutes ago, HiCCCs said:

This raises a good point to discuss, if people are willing.....what are the pros and cons of mailing it to your home vs simply picking it up at the port. I have always had it mailed to me....but wonder what the steps are and if there are long delays picking it up at the port???

 

Thanks for sharing and caring! 🥰

To me the pro of getting it delivered to your house is you don't have to get in some line at the port.  It may be quick, or it may not be - but this is something they forced on us, gave it to us for free (shipping) now decided to charge us unless we bought a package - and now their system can't tell the difference.  On our cruise in Sep/Oct and one in Dec the medallions were shipped to us, we got to the port, walked in and never quit walking until we got to our cabin.  I realize it's not going to be a huge inconvenience having to go to a desk and getting the medallion - but it's one more inconvenience that isn't necessary.  Right now I would guess the number of people picking up the medallions at the port is small - but if they don't fix this I would guess the numbers will increase substantially - not because it's $10 - but because of the principle.

20 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

 

I just came out here to see if anyone else had experienced this.  I have the new Plus package on a cruise booked about a month ago.  Last night I tried to order the Medallions for this cruise and was confronted with the $10 payment screen at the end of the process.  I stopped as I wasn't sure if this was just something that always appears but then there's $0 charge actually made.  The screens before it showed the $0 charge too and the Plus package including the "Medallion Shipping" wording is shown under packages so all is well.  This cruise isn't for several months so I think I will wait for things to settle down.  But the last thing that I would do is go ahead and charge it and expect for it to be rectified onboard.

LOL - I came here for the same thing.  I went to order the medallions last night and it kept adding the $10 shipping.  So I wanted to re-verify we had the "Plus" package but by then the Princess site went down for maintenance - so I figured that was the problem and it would be fixed...silly me.  Then I checked again this morning and the $10 was still listed.  So now I have to make a decision - do I wait awhile and see if it gets fixed, go ahead and pay the $10, or cancel the cruise in protest!!! 🙂

I did a review of some Alaska cruises I received an email about - most were in the next 3-4 months.  One of the things I noted was on a 14 day cruise the mini suite was only $100 more per person (total for the cruise) and the price with "Premium" was the same as with the "Plus" package.  I sent my TA a note asking her to verify what I was seeing - and asking if she could tell what cabins were actually available since they were all "Stateroom to be determined later."  She verified the pricing was what it showed on the website and gave me a listing of the available balcony and mini suite cabins.  All (or most) were way forward which we don't prefer so I dropped it - but it was interesting and it'll make me check out more of the last minute deals!

18 minutes ago, rnr4thatsme said:

How is Princess doing muster drills these days?   Back to in-person or check in at a station/watch the drill online?   We are sailing on the Discovery Princess at the end of April.  

Our last two cruises (Oct & Dec) we were required to watch a video in the room and then go to our assigned muster station at some point just to swipe the medallion to show we found it. 

7 hours ago, Don-AnneLaguna said:

 

bjkTX ,  The invitation to bid is for an upgrade to one of four classes of cabins, upgrade to { obstructed balcony(starts at 100/99, obstructed delux balcony(starts at $150/pp), standard balcony(starts at $200/pp), and deluxe balcony(starts at $250/pp)}. I had an inside cabin far aft. I was upgraded to a deluxe obstructed balcony for $100/pp, occupancy 2, far forward.

 

You have to agree to accept the new cabin immediately, no problem, I just booked the cruise, I didn't have a great location before, now have an OK location at the other end of the ship. I'm happy.

Thanks!  Sounds like you got a great deal!

On 3/8/2023 at 9:36 PM, Don-AnneLaguna said:

On two previous Princess cruises  booked through Princess, we had a bid invitation to upgrade and it was accepted at a minimal cost.

 

If I book through a TA, do I I get the same opportunity and chances for acceptance???? The cruise is 120 days out.

Hope you don't mind a related question as the bidding thing is new to me, and our next cruise is 11 months away 🙂  When you received your "invitation" was it for a particular cabin or category or just the invite to join in the bidding?

Love it!  I am glad this is getting more attention - although it's one of those things you probably should keep quiet before it gets so popular they do away with it 🙂

4 hours ago, FSA1112 said:

I'll be cruising on Emerald Princess for the first time in June 2023. I'm an F1 fan and would like to watch the F1 Spanish Grand Prix live while onboard, if possible. Just wondering whether anyone knows how good Princess TV live sports coverage is, and whether I'm likely to be able to watch that F1 or not. I know they provide Sports 24 on some ships but that service has a premium channel Sports 24 EXTRA which Princess might not carry. So I'd pretty much be relying on Princess having it on their "Special Events" app or having an ESPN channel. Does anyone know? TIA

We were on the Emerald last Fall and I was amazed at the selection on the TV compared to the last time we cruised - along with a much larger TV.  There was a sports category and while I didn't pay much attention to all that they had, it seemed like they covered pretty much everything important.  I hope you're able to watch your event.  If the Emerald had a "Sports Bar" kind of place we didn't go in it - but that's another possibility if it's not on the room TV - I know we used to go watch things like the Superbowl there.

We have always had a refund for port fees if we didn't make it to a port - hopefully it'll catch up with you.

4 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I had a recipe.  Pretty much a good white bread recipe.  Make balls, dip in butter, roll in sugar/cinnamon, stack in a bundt pan.  

 

You can do a cheater version with Pillsbury rolls.

We do the Pillsbury version - my one job is to pop the can open and cut each roll into 4 pieces and shake them in a bag with sugar/cinn - not dipping in butter.  It's been a family tradition for years at Christmas.  As a military family we did without a lot several times during Christmas - but not the Monkey Bread!!!  Kids are grown and gone - but now they make their own.  I can't believe the IC had it!!!!

We have a "Alaska Inside Passage Travel Guide" booklet we bought in 2004 on our first Alaska cruise.  It has fold out maps and one page maps although the booklet is only 5x8.5".  It's sitting in the bottom of a bag full of cruise "stuff" - so if you'd like it I'd be happy to pass it on!

I have always ordered roses from Princess, and noticed on our last 2 cruises (after a 3 year pause) they were no longer offered on the website.  On our cruise in Oct I didn't get any flowers but when our Christmas cruise was coming up someone told me my TA could order them.  She did, they were in the cabin when we arrived and the price was reasonable.

I did screw up however.  With the new larger TVs on the wall, that leaves the top of the wall unit the TV used to stand on empty - the perfect place for the flowers.  Not.  The temp that close to the ceiling got to the flowers and they were wilted in 2 days.  Lesson learned.

6 minutes ago, Neilyboy64 said:

Can you request an earlier disembarkation as the train is 09.15 or is there some sort of order ?

Thanks

A lot depends on when the ship docks!  They normally try to start getting folks off ASAP - and the earliest way is to do a self help disembarkation where you carry your own bags off instead of having them piicked up the night before.  Those folks are the first off as soon as the ship is cleared.

On 2/25/2023 at 2:17 PM, lennythenose said:

Yay!  Switching from Chrome to Firefox DID fix the printing problem. 
 

I bought cruise tags from Amazon. Lots of options but something like this. Definitely get the ones with the metal rings and reinforced holes. Learned the hard way that the ones with just plastic holes tear too easily. https://www.amazon.com/Princess-Cruise-Ship-Luggage-Holders/dp/B07XPDM4B1/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=2NRTL7A6V7U0L&keywords=princess+cruise+luggage+tag+holder+2023&qid=1677356092&sprefix=princess+crui%2Caps%2C152&sr=8-3

I have been using the holders with the plastic loop for years without any issues.  But a recent cruise spelled the end for one of them and I could tell the others weren't far behind (the loops) - so I bought some like the ones shown here and used them the last 2 cruises and love them.  Much easier to deal with connecting the metal rings than the plastic loops.

So we get the advanced notice on the 2024 Canada/New England cruises today - with no prices....

On 1/3/2023 at 5:07 PM, bjkTX said:

We booked a 14 day Caribbean cruise in August for Feb 2024 at what I thought was a fairly high price.  Now with two major sales behind us - one being "The best sale ever" the price is up about $2,000 from what we booked for!  I had anticipated, like always, the price would drop $1,000 or more by now - not looking likely.

Just for grins, since we have done this same 14 day cruise twice before I pulled out our folders and looked at pricing.  We had/have the same aft facing corner premium balcony on all three.  Based on the price we paid at booking the cruise in 2024 is $1,200 more than when we took it in 2018 (both with the Plus Package) and $2,500 more than the 2011 cruise (without the Plus package).  And as I indicated in the original post the price has gone up over $2,000 since we booked - so it is $3,200 and $4,500 more than the previous cruises as of today.  Not insignificant...but we're still booked 🙂