insidecabin

1 hour ago, ProfMHC said:

You shared a thought process identical to mine! That’s why I played the should I/ should I not game for a bit. Finally decided that it could be a soft opening and attract loyal Captain’s Circle folks to give positive feedback on media sources.

There was an UK offer that was 50% on a selection of cruises including the plus/premier fares.

UK fares include taxes and fees the price you see is the price you pay.

Some dates the total fare(inside) was close to the full package cost.

Once you factor out the tax/fees and CA there is not a lot left for the cruise fare.

What surprised me was the Med Sun Princess cruises were included through to the transatlantic.

I have noticed that both Princess and NCL(probably others) have behind the scenes discounts to select passenger.

Good to reward loyalty.

This helps reduce the general public discounts(especially late) maintaining the higher prices which over time resets people's expectations at higher levels

If we get a Star offer would be all over them Oct/Nov is one of our cruise windows.

One thing I learned about any suspicious miss price is NEVER post on any social media call a TA or the cruise line if you can book on line.

Alerting the cruise line is the fast route to cancellation

(Same applies to anything the systems alert to unusual booking levels)

Few years back there was a solo suite misprice on the UK site, looked like a decimal point issue result 90% reduced.

It was available on line for 6 weeks before it got changed.

I was surprised they did not sell out.

Maybe not many check solo rates for suites

I passed on the find to a few other people 

Everyone got their booking honoured.

7 minutes ago, sandancer said:

This is our first time to Dun Laoghaire. Could you please explain how use the Dart from the cruise port. My husband will be in a wheelchair or using a Rollator. Do you think this will be a big problem?

I don't know about access facilities at the stations.

Try

https://www.dublinpublictransport.ie/dublin-trains#:~:text=Nearly all DART stations provide,being Greystones%2C Killiney and Sutton.

Sometimes the first few tenders don't get enough to fill as they go before the first tour and those with the tickets don't show.

 if it is one of the no Dart dates it is not clear what people will do.

Sunday Dart starts 9:20 should be less demand for early tenders.

16 hours ago, TRLD said:

Considering that Princess is only a couple of months into its first try at a class based system, not surprising there are changes taking place. Celebrity had a few issues when it first went this route as well. I expect that it will take a year or so before we get to an approximation of the final product. 

 

One thing is pretty certain. One is not going to get a class based suite product for anything close to what Princess used to sell its suites for.

The issue I see and why Haven & Yacht club are successful, you need everything exclusive behind the magic doors, cabins, restaurants, lounge, bar, deck...... you don't have to go far to get access to everything, restaurants are steps away from your exclusive lounge and bar..

RCI and Celebrity tried to patch up older designs to provide the facilities to try to compete and it took time

Why Princess did not take the opportunity to go ship in a ship  with a brand new ship is surprising, MSC and NCL are on multiple iterations of the concept while princess is patching up old designs to try to get more exclusive(more $)  like others did years ago, what we have is a private sun deck with a lot of suites below it.

On 1/7/2022 at 6:09 AM, caribill said:

 

None of this is inside the Medallion. All the Medallion has is a reference ID. That ID is sent to the ship's computers which have the information you mention.

That's my understanding as well.

Princess have given many the impression that the medallion is somehow smart and core to the whole medallion experience.

They could go back to cards and the only thing that gets lost is the extended proximity ability.

All actions could go back to tap.

3 hours ago, fruitmachine said:

https://edinburghtrams.com/
You want to get on at St Andrew Square (about 2-3 minutes walk from Edinburgh Waverley). 
But if the stop before Waverley for your train is Haymarket, then get off there.  The tram stops right outside this much smaller and more easily navigated station. https://maps.app.goo.gl/9x5B3sUKshbnu1vt7

The end of the tram line is Edinburgh Airport.

To go to royal yacht they need to route to Newhaven not the airport

1 hour ago, 555 said:

Last cruise my wife didn't use the Wi-Fi for one minute & I used it sitting around the pool for maybe 10 minutes a day to read my local news, which is a complete waste of time even at home.

It's hardly something we feel is a need, especially when on a ship with so many other things to do. 

We find on most of our cruises the times we can get a decent data mobile signal is sufficient for our internet needs(In port and 1-3 hours arriving/leaving)
Data is cheap(£1-£2 15GB unlimited calls/txt in UK) for us in the UK/Europe and for the times we need non covered areas there are SIMS available for the £10-£20 with enough data.. 

On 4/23/2024 at 6:41 PM, Elevatorman said:

They are fobs very much like the ones we use in our condo building where we live,  they unlock gates and elevators. Our picture comes up on security computer so no intruders can enter our building,

on the ship they identify us and open our cabin door, And carry our passportnfo and account. It’s amazing

Thay don't have any information on the Medallion.

In simple terms they are an active RFID with an unique ID that has longer range than a passive RFID like in a cruise card

That ID is used to do the things that happen.

6 hours ago, TinyG said:

This I am the most excited for is the closet, so open and accessible. Tired of little cabin doors to side, you can never see what's in there.

 

Today excursions opened up to book. Are these refundable?, I would guess yes. I wish they had tours for the RMS Britannia, I guess we will venture on own for most of these ports. We are very good at rail lines, busses and HoHo busses. Does Princess have shuttles into Edinburg? With it being 45 mins away, I think I would have buy the excursion to be on my own.

 

Will they let me know about hotel & airfare, like you can book. Or do I wait for the 330 days?

Edinburgh.

Look up x99 cruise bus(30min depending on traffic).

£12(2024) and includes an all day transportation ticket.

(Princes on your own $100)

Once in the city take the tram to Royal Yacht area.

On 4/23/2024 at 9:28 AM, Lady Meer said:

Which country do your parents live in, if it’s the UK it could affect their travel insurance.

We are resident UK with UK insurance.

None of the insurance we have used have rules you must book your travel only in UK.

One rule is the travel starts in UK and ends in the UK.

When the app plays up if it does not resolve, uninstall and reinstall has worked for me.

Our drink consumption is biased which does mean on sea days where the 15 limit is a lot easier for me to hit  we have had to make sure that I keep head room on my account if the OH goes off to bed earlier than me, got caught hitting 15 in Skywalker early morning,

I understand the app now shows your count so easier to keep an eye on, making sure you don't get them allocated to one. 

Same here I do mass searches sort on price, on TA is all cruises lines.

Then free out the short ones and look for something I like.

Being able to switch to solo rate for the search is very useful.

There was a solo misprice(UK) a few years back that got bargain suite rates on a few cruises 

Also remember if a couple and there is zero solo supliment you can book 2 cabins(eg a balcony with cheap inside opposite) with different experience, if one is a none drinker go standard and the drinker goes plus or  premier.

(Double your Elite bar setup)

1 hour ago, 555 said:

That's the key. 

Going after mid morning & you're asking for a 20 minute wait in line. 

Unless it is urgent I find mornings are best as you don't have the 4/5... beer head talking when  you go late.

On 4/5/2024 at 3:45 PM, F355c5 said:

Exact same thing happened to me, e-mail stated out bid on vista suite,.

Next day bid accepted, Strange

There may have been 2 available someone did bid more than you but you were second.

The lack of transparency allows this sort of attempt  for more money.

As said tips when done are at much lower levels than US.

Cards are used for nearly everything now.

We break bigger notes down fairly quickly even for smallish spends use a big note.

We get a better rate using a multi currency card and local ATM over change before we leave.

Even at home in the UK I change anything £20+ down into 10s 5s ASAP and like a selection of £2&£1 coins.

$tips will be a pain for locals they will still stay thanks with a silent cus. 

Hotel prices in Southampton are very variable through the summer weekend rates can be quite high.

Especially boat show week.

There are some adiquate more basic central options, good for a single night, that can have good rates.

Ibis, Premier inn, Travelodge(we use this when cheap as near pubs and restaurants)

Princess mainly use 3 terminals at Southampton and occasionally they have to use one of the other two.

A couple are walkable from some hotel options, taxi/Uber from most hotels <£10.

To check which terminal your cruise will use  the following, sometimes they change so check closer to travel date.

(Our Regal soon is out from QE2 back to Ocean)

https://www.southamptonvts.co.uk/Live_Information/Shipping_Movements_and_Cruise_Ship_Schedule/Cruise_Ship_Schedule/

When using LHR we like the National Express bus as our budget option.

41 minutes ago, FancyPants21 said:

If that happens near us on our next cruise I will be saying something to them and complaining to the management. I have no issue with vloggers providing they are consider of other passengers when they film. There are some good ones... Ben and David for example... Emma is pretty good too.

Ben and Dave have been caught out for being intrusive in MSC Yacht club.(not handled well)

They made claims in their we are upset vlog that if you look at previous vlogs were stretching their credibility and they could not get their story straight.

A bigger issue with a lot of vlogs these days  is to be super considerate a lot of the filming shows a near  empty ship which is often far from the reality of that ship.

21 minutes ago, memoak said:

Sorry but when I walked past the Crown Grille at 5:30 it was at least 80% full at 7:45 it was less than 20% full. I have still been able to get reservations on a same day basis and always have

All those 5:00-5:30 will have blocked out 2hr of most reservations leaving later times.

Our upcoming plenty of 8pm on most days.

We have done a 5:30 CG is just starting by the time we leave it's filled up steady stream of arrivals and tables clearing as they finish

Table availability on a walk past is not a representative measure of how busy.

On most cruise lines capacity of a restaurant is driven by galley and waiter capacity.

(Fixed dining mass production galley is the exception)

They just can't fill every table at 5:30 and produce the level of service required.

(Also no slots till 7:30)

To enable the wide range of times and galley throughput they stagger and limit each slot.

Once the booking system is at capacity(no availablity on app or reservation line) what I have noticed on quite a few lines/ships is if you schmooze the host they can often squeeze you in as long as you are flexible on time and day.

Now there is premier it may be harder as they probably have more to squeeze in but many of those will be the ones that used speciality anyway.

"only a little bit more"  that's relative.

Looking at our upcoming cruise the deal was good(very) so we have an obstructed balcony in a good location.

Considering the options for this one

Base fare for an inside in a decent location aft.

The balcony upgrade was 12% premium over the base fare

(over a midship inside it was just 3%)

to add plus was 75% premium

to add premier was a 97% premium

If we add the full cost of the CA to our base then doing the balcony and adding Premier was 80% premium(still very reasonable), that's nearly another cruise. 
 

If we were mid ship mini people the uplift to add premier over mini with CA)  would have been 45%

for the penthouse it was 18%

I suspect most experienced cruisers have a fairly good idea of their normal cruise habits to work out the value of any package over the PAYG totals without an in depth spread sheet.
 

As said some items may change value depending on cruise eg. Internet on a Europe cruise has little value to us as we can get enough roaming data for £2 and it will work for enough hours to do us(sometimes on sea days), a transatlantic with loads of sea days it's worth something.  

We do some trips boozy and some with heavy use of the paid food options(some both) which swings it towards the package, with premier the main benefit is 2 meals that has diminishing return on length of trip and we don't always fancy them anyway on short trips.

For now I work on

Full price plus and premier do not work for us.

Half price Plus is a no brainer and premier is a maybe. 

If the offer is somewhere in the middle(like premier for plus) I would have to think about it.

Sit  at the table, some use their vouchers and some do a la carte.

if not that hungry just pick the cheapest item on the menu.

At food republic and sushi it is easy to forget to order those extra items if one person does all the ordering if the server notices have a cheap item in your mind(order them last). 

Once the food is on the table they don't care(as much) who actually eats it.

Day of the week may make a difference, 

We have arrived US on  Sunday and they had 10 agents to work the whole ship,  they like their breaks.
The ship still kicked everyone off into the baggage hall which was packed.

When princess 3 dining room ships had 

1 very early(5:30) fixed followed by anytime

1 2xfixed dining

1 anytime.

This used to work very well, there were enough doing the very early and 2 fixed  to keep the anytime demand down and the peak overflow for anytime could refill the early dining as people moved on.