Steelers36

The Caribbean sector has always been pretty good with internet as it lies within the prime band for the good satellites.

I think it is fair that the App has improved a lot since the initial release. That said, it does not deal well with booking dining for multiple-linked voyages if anything happens along the way. It does not deliver on the promise of same table and waiters. And I believe that the repeating data corruption issues for guests such as lack of access, lost CC Member Level, etc,, are inexcusable after almost 2 years in production. I can also say that as of later last year when I was last using the App, that it mostly functioned well - except for DMW - and I considered myself lucky we didn't have data corruption and didn't have any lingering serious issues in 2022.

I understand where you are going with this, but in line 2 above you state that all cruise lines are doing the same thing - raising prices and cutting services. If this is so, then it follows there is no place for otherwise loyal customers to turn to in order to avoid this trend.

I am not so sure that is an official thing and may have slipped by scrutiny.

Perhaps, but they are charging a lot of money for them if guest has to pay. Otherwise, I agree that it is costing them relatively a lot to provide to package owners. Think about how quickly one can get a glass of wine or liquor at a bar compared to preparing one of these concoctions.

To your thread topic title, the mark-up from the actual USD cruise fare has been 35% for sometime now. If a desired cruise is included in the promotion, a Canadian can end up paying 74% of what an American pays when looked at in USD.

Par for Princess. The website doc never seems to match real life in a timely manner.

My thinking is that some supervisor on the ship read about the cancellation of the swap for the old coffee "card" package and figured it was universal. It is 150% (more??) absurd to suggest guest cannot swap alcohol and non-alcohol in their mini-bar allotment for alternate choices. That is a whole different beast then swapping for some other perk or service around the ship. One outlier ship does not a rule make. The same sort of thing was going on a year ago in regards to MedallionNet when the Princess App was not giving 50% off a point-of-sale to eligible guests and they were SUPPOSED to receive the 50% as Refundable OBC and one or two ships were not doing that correctly.

Which ship? The waterfall was carried out in October/November in Europe.

Have to disagree. We cruised on four voyages last Fall and managed to get a 4-top for us and our friends at a set time and it was not at 5:00pm. If a guest can book a table for 6:30pm each night and be seated, it ought to be possible for it to be the same table each night. Now, there might be a challenge is every guest wanted the same thing, but they don't, so it is possible. That said, I think some ships have personnel that are better at delivering this for guests and some ships either not doing so well or didn't care to. As we sit here in March 2023, IDK if the situation has improved, but many guests have reported success in having a table blocked for them.

This is not exactly true. DMW offers a set of times and the guest doesn't just pick a random time. The only situation where a dining time would be random assigned is if the guest is a walk-up. Otherwise, DMW is offering booking times every 20 minutes. I do realize they are somewhat theoretical in that a guest may not be immediately seated upon arrival for a reservation - depending on the res time and the flow throughout the DR.

Add your travel friends as Travel Companions in the Princess App. You just need their Booking Number. They can add you as well. All dining reservations are now in the Princess App under DineMyWay (DMW). You can also access DMW functionality in the web version of the Princess App. Add your travel companions to your dining party and then book using DMW. You are now booking a party of 4. Use the option to book for the entire voyage and select DR and Time slot with PRIVATE seating. This will result in system looking to book you a 4-top (IDK if it will block a 6-top and keep two seats empty). Now, despite Princess marketing BS, DMW does NOT guarantee you blocked into the same table each night. You should ask the DR Mgr or a DR Host (they work the on-ship version of DMW) and they ought to be able to block you into the same table for each night. Be nice and be persistent/persuasive if you get resistance (remind them that Princess has promised to provide the TD experience with same table and waiters if necessary).

I wouldn't want to see a cruise line I like eliminate what Princess calls Standard Fare. We would never go and vacation at an all-inclusive resort. We'd just be subsidizing other guests' bar tabs.

We have always liked the general atmosphere on Princess ships and the crew has always been great. They have had some interesting itineraries to pursue for longer voyages. I hope they can recover from the Covid woes and improve in ways that suits us. They have to get new IT resources and fix that damn App. So, we have always enjoyed our times on the ships, but lately it has not been fun off the ships trying to get on a ship. Still, they seem to offer good value for us in a cruise voyage and I hope they maintain the guest-friendly wine policy.

No doubt this is a major factor in them making big changes and attempting to appeal to younger set of new customers.

Similarly, the Plus and Premier Beverage packages (sold in Cruise Personalizer) make no sense at all, and I am of opinion they are only there to support PCL's marketing claims of what a savings great deal the Plus and Premier Cruise Fare options are.

I think it seemed things were over-ridden or changed at Purser's Office??? I also seem to recall that the FAQ's indicated guests who purchased Plus package when it was $12 drink limit would receive a $15 drink limit price on their cruise. They just wouldn't get the new add-ons - the desserts and fitness classes.

At the least it makes the Zero-Alcohol package a very poor deal to select.

That wasn't what his statement was about. Not talking about Plus cost. The $66 was a round number for how much the new Zero Alcohol package would be for two people.

Oh I really like that story and have never heard it before.

Do your kids read lips?

Not much insight really as I have just read about it. The answer to your question is to try the upgrade process and see what the min/max range of offer is and then see if it is worth the cost to get into a mini. That is a big jump as you are bypassing Deluxe Balconies in doing so. So far, it seems a lot of folks have been successful with bids in the low end of the scale.

Oh darn. Correct on SD's. Prices went up but Sabi's is $5/cheaper. So you were correct.

One thing for certain is that the 16th alcoholic drink should be billed to the onboard account.

No matter what I or anyone else posts as a Princess policy/rule, without fail there will be someone who has had an exception to it for one reason or another. I'd say you got lucky. It's nice if a guest can get an exception on a rare occasion, but that CVP shouldn't be circumventing the system on a regular basis IMO.