azbirdmom

11 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

I am always willing a targeted survey to request no smoking at all in the casino.  We used to have a reprieve on formal nights and during a Covid spike but no more.  

+1.  Since the closure of Churchill's the smoking is out of control in the casino in some cases spilling out into the atrium.  And that's because they seem to be looking the other way when non-gamblers who smoke light up in the casino and no one says anything to them.  Maybe if they hear from enough of us they may actually do something about it.

3 hours ago, dickinson said:

Thank you.  You are right... it was not a complaint.  Just wanted to know what others were served because I got what was expected (while in my room quarantined but ordered off MDR menu) but dh eating in MDR got something different.  It was just a simple question.

No need to explain.  Cruise Critic is filled with questions that folks ask about all facets of cruising.  Some of those questions may not interest folks and the vast majority will just move on to look for topics that are more appealing / meaningful to them.  For whatever reason some feel the need to question others about why they post.  At the moment my post should be #24 on this thread so there are definitely folks who do want to talk about this.  And I still scratch my head wondering how someone in the kitchen can possibly cover something with a bone with sauce and cheese.

2 hours ago, dickinson said:

My piece was definitely chicken.  Dh definitely had a bone.  The assistant restaurant manager checked with the chef who said it is always made with a bone.  Frankly I think they must have run out of boneless for some reason and I was one of the lucky ones.  Dh says his was covered in sauce and cheese but was white meat.  He didn't see any wing.  The assistant restaurant manager was supposed to check to see where mine came from but never got back to us.  

 

Oh, and dh just reminded me that when he got a bone he sent it back and the new plate also had a bone.  That is when they checked with the chef.  We don't remember if we have ever seen chicken parmesan on a previous cruise.  

That's really odd.  You don't melt cheese all over something with a bone in it.  I've only seen chicken parmesan on the menu in the last year and it's not there on every ship.  As I said before they had a different chicken dish on Italian night, mostly it was filled with ham and cheese with a light gravy on top so you could see the bone.

I had chicken parmesan in the dining room this year and it was definitely boneless.  They used to have another chicken dish on the Italian night MDR menu that had a bone but when it's been chicken parmesan it's always boneless.

55 minutes ago, DiRonT said:

In a suite you will get at least 2 bottles every day replenished by your room steward.

Right, which is why I didn't order water for that cruise, only for the one before it when we are in a mini suite.  You can also grab water bottles from the suite concierge lounge on Royal class ships.

It's been a bargain at that price for quite a while now so a price increase wasn't that much of a surprise.  But $7.09 to $24 is quite a leap.  Glad I already have water ordered for my December trip.  We will have the package but it's less of a hassle to just have them in the room - or it was at the old price.  And I didn't order them for the cruise after that as it's a suite and it's easy to get them.

Yes that happens frequently to me.  Sometimes I can do it on the website but if not I call (or book onboard).

35 minutes ago, memoak said:

5 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

The casino will take up roughly half of the lounge space.  There will be seating and TVs in the bar area too.  But no more jazz.

I assume there will be bar seating as well can you confirm that ?

Actually I misunderstood what the OP was posting.  I thought that they were talking about the Enchanted was making the same changes that happened on other ships.  Except I had forgotten that the Enchanted already did take over half of the lounge space last June.  What the OP just heard is that the rest of the space will be converted to casino space with just the bar itself remaining - the rest will be slots.

1 hour ago, vakamalua said:

Just off the Enchanted.  We were told by an officer that the remaining lounge space of Take Five will be converted on the Enchanted & Discovery to more slot machines leaving only the bar to service the casino.  Very unhappy about the demise of Take Five; was great quiet place to hang out during the day & to listen to great music in the evening.  Theremaining  glass cabinet display of Jazz memorabilia looks so sad in there.  Looks like every square inch of Princess ships will soon have to be revenue generating or face the chopping block...

I didn't catch the fact that the refit already happened on the Enchanted and that they were taking it even further by putting in even more machines.  That is sad for those who want a quieter space to listen to music.  As a casino player I like having more non-smoking options but taking away space that can be used by all when there is precious little lounge space on the ship stinks.

7 minutes ago, grimace95120 said:

Does anybody have an inside purview of when the retrofit supposed to happen?. Just curious if the work will be happening on my cruise starting the 21st? thanks

Ps I'm kinda sad, would have loved to sit and listen to jazz at night with a martini in hand...sigh 

I know it's happening on the Discovery in October.  Not sure of timing for Enchanted, it hadn't happened when we were on her last May.

ETA:  Happened on Enchanted in June 

The casino will take up roughly half of the lounge space.  There will be seating and TVs in the bar area too.  But no more jazz.

17 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

I don’t know when you’re sailing however on Discovery Princess the BSLM noisy deck 7 space in the Piazza became the Catch (my favorite SD) which has swapped venues with the better Sabatini’s location by the GSD. I don’t know if this change is being planned for Enchanted but that’s a possibility.

 

Yes it's the same on the Enchanted.  Sabatini's now is way too noisy when there is a band playing in the Piazza.

Happened to us prior to our July cruise on the Discovery.  There's some kind of a glitch in the app, the hostess onboard seemed to know about it.  We went to Sabatini's soon after boarding and had our pick of times for the week.

24 Kt Margarita

I also will have one Dirty Banana per cruise.  Yummy but sooooo filling.

1 minute ago, Coral said:

How come I always agree with you?

Hmmm, let me guess 😁

5 minutes ago, TRLD said:

The TA did also did not inform them that they had a minimum commision amount if they refared. There was no notice given to the OP until after they refared the second time. It only appeared after the fact when the TA held back some of the second reduction.

 

I book directly with Princess and easily find and get refared without a TA and get the full value of the discount.

 

The OP did not indicate that the TA gave them any better price or any other discount beyond the web site price. If the TA gave them a better price or OBC and then reduced that amount as the fare dropped then i could see that. 

 

But it this case it does not appear to ge that since the reason given by the TA was that it impacting their commission.

Unless you know more than what the OP mentions in this thread none of us know how the TA couched this to the client.  Let me phrase this differently.  Based on my dealings with my own TA I get an initial price.  It is lower than the Princess fare (sometimes as much as 8% less).  Subsequent changes in the Princess price require new calculations to yield what the TA expected to be paid for their efforts which means that the drop in price for the client won't be equal to the change in the Princess price from what it was originally and what it it now.  The client is still paying less than the Princess price.  Otherwise there's no discount which is what it would be if you booked directly with Princess.  In other words if you book direct and the fare dropped $500 that's how much your price would drop.  The same person who booked with a TA who discounts would not see the same drop, but the total amount that they will pay for the same cabin will be less than the person who booked direct.

Just now, TRLD said:

Then they should inform the customer of that upfront. Instead of not doing so and keeping some of the discount on the backend.

That's not how math works.  If you're keeping X the same dollar amount then the discount percentages cannot stay the same as the Princess fare goes down.  The OP did not say that the TA guaranteed that the commission percentage or dollar amount would remain the same if refarings occurred.  I would be very shocked if they did.  The OP is still getting a discount which they would not have gotten had they booked directly with Princess.  As I mentioned before if they can do better with someone else they should go for it.

22 minutes ago, TRLD said:

If the customer calls the TA and tells them which cruise, cabin etc.

 

Then notifies the TA of the drop in price. Really not that much work.

 

I could agree with you if the TA was doing the monitoring and notifying the customer that there was a drop they could take advantage of, but that did not happen in this case.

 

The TA work was basically a phone call in each case. Based upon my own recent refares 5 to 10 minutes each (a lot better than the long on hold times of last year).

What you're missing is that the TA may have already determined the lowest amount of commission that would be acceptable for the amount of work they were doing when they quoted the discounted fare.  If the client subsequently refares why shouldn't they be paid the commissions that they originally included in the pricing?

After reading your update I went to read your live from on the Jewel.  Startling to say the least.  As much as we hate the cutbacks on Princess if we experienced anything close to what you did on your NCL cruise we wouldn't return either.  Thanks again for sharing all of this with us!

First of all congratulations on finding a TA who does rebate her commission via discounts.  Not many do anymore, especially after what they dealt with during the worst of the pandemic.  And Princess is one of the rare lines that allows them to discount.

While it really depends on the amounts of $$ in play, my TA will mostly maintain the same dollar amount of commissions that was in the original offer as she reprices.  So I never get a dollar for dollar benefit from the price drop but I'm still doing better than if I booked direct.  I think this is fair.  She agreed to do the job for me at an amount lower than what the cruise line was willing to pay her and the fact that I've now found a lower deal should not impact her monetarily.  In addition many TAs may be a franchisee and may owe a full, undiscounted amount of commission to the company.  At some point it isn't worth it to them.

I remember a couple of years ago I called my TA on a particularly challenging day.  She works hard, seemingly 24X7.  In any event she shared that she had just gotten off the phone with another client.  They were arguing over the same issue that the OP is.  Basically she ended up telling the client that she's making a total of $30 on the booking and has already done multiple repricings and solved a multitude of issues for them too.  She reached the point of telling the client that if they don't think that she's worth $30 she doesn't want to do business with them any longer.  And I said good for you!

So to the OP if you can do better go for it.  But I have to side with the TA on this one.

We are on the same cruise.  I was hoping for a while that we were going to San Juan instead of Amber Cove but nope, it's just a bad map.  Interesting though that they did manage to correct the map to show Freeport instead of Nassau.  Until a month or so ago we WERE going to Nassau but the old "port congestion" prompted the port switch.

55 minutes ago, t&atravel said:

@azbirdmom  Once logged in, I scrolled to the bottom of the page and selected “cruise ports and hotels”.  That’s it. FYI, it looks like yours if I’m not signed in.  The URL is different than what shows on your screenshot.

 

https://www.princess.com/learn/cruise-destinations/cruise-ports-and-hotels/

 

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to explain.  I also had used that link at the bottom of the home page and still no go.  Sounds like the finicky Princess webpage likes you and is fussy with me and others!

Thanks for sharing!  We last cruised Alaska in July but I always love reading the experiences of others.  Keep enjoying your cruise!

10 minutes ago, Coral said:

I would book independently.

We pretty much always do that but I like to check what Princess is offering.  The only time it made sense for us to book with them was when we twice cruised out of Houston.  Their deal which always includes transportation was quite competitive for the short time they sailed out of Houston.  Otherwise we've found that we can do much better booking our own hotel.

4 hours ago, t&atravel said:

@BamaVol  I am able to see hotel pricing on the website while logged in.  Here is the price it shows for the Weston.

Where exactly did you find that?  I had also noticed that the prices disappeared a while ago.  I'm definitely logged in and see what I show in the screenshot below.  I also show the link in the website so that you can see that I'm in the "Destination" section which is where I've always checked the hotels and pricing.