Steelers36

Actually, when people used to elect TD at a larger table size than their cabin needed, I think it was understood you had fixed tablemates for entire voyage. That doesn't mean everyone would stick to the scheme for full voyage, but it was the expectation I had wondered. We were on Island in early Nov (Coral is the other one). Both DR's were offered from the get-go. IDK whether because it was a single voyage we had booked, but I had FAR less issues with DMW for this trip. CC dining is on Deck 5 now. We were able to secure same table and waiters for the voyage on Deck 6 (party of 4 from 2 cabins). In fact, we ended up at same table we had for 2 mths in 2018. Coincidence.

Welcome to my world. LOL. Yes, MedallionNet is broken out and offered for each segment of your full voyage. Doesn't affect pricing, but also means you could have single device one trip and 4 on another, etc. Some points consider on DMW. When you elect a Shared table, you have no input nor information on what size of table is being allocated. In fact, it may not even be the same size each night. Also, there is no guarantee that anyone else the System randomly assigns to your table is interested in the same thing as you. Nowhere in DMW do guests get to indicate whether they want same table and waiters for the entire voyage. Or I really mean same Tablemates. The feature option to book for the entire voyage is a time-saver. That said, there is no full-voyage delete, so you will have to delete each individual night if the need arises. As far as I can tell and understand, the System is not necessarily assigning the same table just because this option is used versus individual bookings. All it is looking for is open inventory space at the selected time slot. You did not mention the ship, not that I know what is going on on all the ship by any stretch, but it could be some changes are happening that we guests are being kept in the dark about. It is impossible to know if some shared table inventory is being kept back or it was a temporary situation you encountered. You can always keep trying an re-book dining if you see something more attractive. You mentioned "both dining rooms". It seems that often one of the DR's is held out of DMW. In our case, it was the one having Club Class. With one DR held out of the system until voyage underway, it can be used to handle walk-ups or on-board requests. CC Dining does not take up the whole space of a mid-ship DR, so they can use the remaining space to seat regular guests. In at least some cases, they are going to use the aft DR to handle a lot of the Private same time requests or more of the Traditional type requests (my sense of things). I do think that at least some - if not most - of the DR mgmt teams are trying to accommodate guests who want same table and waiters. This works especially well for Private party tables. I observed both a mixed group at a large table remaining the same in composition and arrival time. I also observed a larger table being filled around the same time, but with random guests. I think all you can do is setup the best thing you want in DMW and then get with DR mgmt for your preferred DR once on board and discuss what you want. They may well accommodate you there or suggest an alternate DR. What they cannot help you with is if all tablemates you start off with are looking for the same thing, or whether some are transient on that night and will be doing something else later. But, you might make a connection with one or two other couples and then maybe DR mgmt can keep you together. It is extra work and effort in the system to put different groups together. You might try - if made a connection - sharing booking numbers so you set each other up as Travel Companions. Then, see of you can setup a new res with your newly created dining party and either ask for Private space or Shared. Now, your dining party is locked in together. This is like a self-serve option with less help from DR mgmt. OTOH, a good DR host, who can work their system, can put your cabin numbers together at a particular table. Good luck.

One of the major problems IMO is that the designing stage was not nearly long enough as they got so much wrong. Also, the testing stage was woefully inadequate. The debugging and fix phase has turned into the longest of all.

Yes, but not in advance of your voyage. Also displayed on in-cabin TV's and posted at the DR entrances.

The TA has nothing to do with setting up arrival times or ordering Medallions. It reads to me like either one of two things: (1) you are unaware of the Princess Medallion App, or have not set it up for your cruise. or.. (2) you are using the MC App, but are unaware that the App contains both Medallion ordering function with options and allows you to select an Arrival Group (& time). Suggest you get familiar with the MC App. It is where you make dining reservations. Or did your daughter setup dining for all of you? And you do not need to ask a TA about arrival times - you can call Princess and use the phone option tree to get connected with someone who can help you with the MC App (it is just called Princess App now in the Play Store and in your phone). Finally, Arrival Time/Group doesn't have any meaning in reality as you can just show up at your convenience for check-in processing.

Depends on which terminal you are sailing from and returning to. Check out the link @capriccio posted above. (The super-convenience mentioned in Post 2 only happens if you depart/arrive at Terminal 2).

Sorry you are in this situation, but you are not a newbie here on Princess Forum and this topic has been frequently posted about. Also, as others have mentioned above, the FCC details in your Captain's Circle Profile definitely include the expiry date. Bonus FCC is going to be lost, but actual money you paid is not lost as the FCC can be cashed out to recover your deposit or cruise fare. During Covid, we could all earn some bonus FCC if we didn't take our money back. It was also clearly stated by Princess that if we wanted to take a refund anytime, we would lose the bonus.

Do not count on receiving the pre-cruise price on board - even on embarkation day. As for the new pricing coming next Feb, Princess has not announced what the on-board cost will be. Who knows? Perhaps they will maintain the same price. (Note that when new (current) MedallionNet plans were announced, Princess never did publish the pricing. They had to be asked for it and it took a couple of contacts to get it clarified. And then wait for confirmation from guests booking or going on a cruise).

It's about that time....

Now remember, one person divides the dessert and the other picks their half. When my brother and I were kids, you can bet that last piece of pie was cut as accurately as if a laser was used. 😉

Are they actually going in a single direction?

I thought if you were in Australia and booking with Princess, the Crew Incentive is baked into the fare. Or, is that just for cruises that also originate in Australia and not the ones for other places in the world?

The last time PCL increased Crew Incentive (it was Gratuities then), I didn't pre-pay since the voyage was somewhat in the future and I thought the crew deserved the increase. It was well publicized and discussed here at the time. PCL was going to be paying the crew the new amount at the effective date, even if guest had paid the old rate. It's a personal choice, but I would likely let it go rather than have PCL pay without me paying. Either that, or I would give the difference to my steward and waiters on board. Maybe that last idea is best. Anyone who is taking advantage of pre-paying Crew Incentive at current rates, why not take that extra $3/cabin/day and give it to Stewart and your waiters?

You can still create it by request and is quite easy for a Private group. More difficult for random strangers to be kept together at same table every night, but it has been done.

Okay, I do recall that now, but have it a pass.

No doubt the survey is skewed as those who are most unhappy with the new pricing or not interested in the packages, may tend to vote. I think it would be more illustrative if the survey asked what package have you been booking under? What do you foresee booking under going forward? My conjecture is that there won't be much slide (loss) from those who are booking Premier. $5/pp/day isn't going to make a huge dent in someone spending those extra big bucks. And they do get unlimited extra goodies thrown in and are really getting a deal since the $5 doesn't necessarily even cover the fixed cost increases for MedallionNet and Crew Incentive, notwithstanding the desserts. So, a Premier Fare booker isn't going to change course IMO. I think there will be loss from the Plus to Standard with it going from $40/pp/day to $60/pp/day in a relatively short time period. I think that is where the change will be and "somewhat" less people are going to take on the Plus (at least if they give it some thought). Perhaps not if they are just shopping between lines and PCL is still competitive. It is true that $4.00 to $6.50 of the latest $10 increase is going to Crew Incentive and MedallionNet (the range is recognizing some get a discount and some don't). So, only a portion of the latest $10 is attributed to drinks and desserts. Maybe I am wrong and many will call it a wash and not change habits.

As usual, Princess IT is behind the 8-ball in updating the website to document the latest changes. Perhaps they are waiting until closer to the effective date because folks can still book under the old pricing until around mid-December.

They were doing it on the ISLAND last month. Not sure if it was on the REGAL. We went to the PL (held in Bayou) on a lark as part of a group and I wasn't expecting much based on my last experience in 2018 or 2019 (not sure which ship), but it was pretty good. In all, I was more impressed with the food prep on Island than Regal in Oct/Nov timeframe.

Your BIL got taken for a ride.

Hmm.. have to disagree. Unless a recent policy change I missed? The only way to earn the associated OBC from a FCD is to use the FCD as the initial deposit. After that, it is just a down-payment towards the balance and no benefit accrues.

Both of the value propositions as presented by Princess above are artificially inflated by using the huge price charged for each drink package. But no one is likely to ever buy one since they are a ton more than the cruise fare package rate. As always, the guest needs to consider their own habits and drink spend versus the difference in total package cost ($60/$80), less the fixed costs like crew appreciation, MedallionNet, an ice cream treat, a photo package, cost of playing the gambling door open game, etc.

The 180 spin on your note is that it was a screaming bargain to get 4-devices for the price of two. Now it's about 4-devices for the price of 3 - actually better than 4-for-3.

In practice, you will most likely find those held seats will be opened up a couple minutes before showtime. I really doubt they are going to keep a row of prime seats open for an entire show if not claimed.

I am re-doing the math for us as Standard Fare bookers based on the new pricing posted by @Shelly97060 above. Crew Incentive = $32/day total. MedallionNet = 2 single-device packages = $15/day total. (We get 50% discount and I am assuming the new prices quoted in the agents press release are the lowest to be offered). Leaves $73/day for drinks and treats PER DAY. Still not for us. Not by a long shot. Still, I hope it suits and attracts a lot of customers. I have not done any comparisons, but I have read several posted that indicate Princess was offering its fare packages at better than the competition. So, maybe they have room to catch up.

On the MedallionNet. The cynic in me wonders if the huge increase in the 4-device plan (and 50% in the base plan) is a response the the really bad level of response and throughput on many of the ships in several locations. If they cut down on the number of connections, it gets better for the masses. Like couples might share a plan, or they will no longer buy the 4-device plan (it has cost the same as two single-device plans, so was convenient to have up to 4 connections). The cynic says rather than improve the internet speed and throughput, let's just squeeze out a bunch of connections as see if that helps.