Steelers36

Be careful here. If you have selected the entry level GTY option, the required deposit is non-refundable. For a sample 10-night voyage to Caribbean next Winter, I noticed it is only $49/pp extra to book an Inside where you choose the location. You can also do these as GTY. I would recommend that you book with a Refundable deposit in case plans change because you get money back right up to Final Payment (FP) Date. ETA: Yes, it is the same $49/pp for your voyage.

Right, PCL will only have that pricing when doing some sort of promo. Otherwise, there is a SLIGHT price difference as you move up the ladder in letters, with a larger jump to the IA.

This is a bit awkward in the reading. A guest can elect to move to another available cabin in their category through PCL or TA, depending on who booked with. Yes. But, when you mention seeing another higher category, you would have to pay an upgrade cost based on current pricing to move to one of those. You may be offered chance to bid for an upgrade, but those will be to a higher meta-category (not more insides). You mentioned tight budget, so I presume you wouldn't be bidding.

It used to be easy for later arrivers pre-Medallion and the recent changes to Green/Blue. You do have a point in your second paragraph. If I am not going to Sanctuary, it isn't so critical to arrive early, but it is nice to get settled in (assuming can get into cabin) and at least be on in time for leisurely lunch.

NO, I don't believe so. Cannot charge to cabin account either. I presume you are asking about FCD's. They require CC AFAIK. Guests do not purchase FCC - it comes from Princess from cancellation refunds or other recompense to a guest.

It is quite clear in the T&C's if you review the drink packages. The limit of 15 per day (6am - 6am) is only for beverages containing alcohol. You could have a coffee, soda, or mocktail every 10 minutes. BTW, your breakfast juice is free. Just ask for a large glass if you don't want to ask for multiple small ones.

Nothing. If you enjoy it, do it. If not a guest's thing, that's fine too.

Forget about having to be in the cabin. I guess it is doable, but how do the other lines log people onto the ship? Without a Medallion, guests are not able to "ping" into the security system and register on the ship. Checked-in - yes - but not necessarily on board until all the muster check-ins are done. Why not just go back to the old system? The novelty of Medallions has worn off. Old system would make loyalty guests happier. New guests use the regular line. Re-institute the priority lines on entry and check-in. EVERYONE picks up Medallions at the port. After all, it only takes a few seconds. Then the individual shipping and timing is gone. No need to order Medallions (they could still try to upsell accessories thru the App and ship those). The ship will still get loaded in time. So, someone is going to say what about the lost benefit to all the Plus and Premier buyers? Well, I could say that PCL added some features without increasing price. I could say PCL often removes features as money savers. I could say that any guest ordering up-sell accessories would get free shipping if on the packages and otherwise pays $10 to get the items. Or even give a small discount to the package folks - 5% for Plus and 10% for Premier. IMO, the new way is just bad news for long-time guests if you aren't among the early arrivers.

I recall seeing another thread in this forum about Bob Wood and I looked it up. No good news - the thread was mostly about trying to figure out Covid testing which is redundant now. The poster that was hoping to hear from others about Bob Wood tour experience had no responses at all. The Bob Wood website has no information about specifics on cruise tours. For whatever reason, they seem to be a non-communicative organization and I am guessing you get meet-up info from Princess near or on arrival in Australia. Sorry, cannot help you more - we did our own land tripping when we went to Australia (combination of flights and driving and public transportation - the latter when in Sydney).

Going to disagree - although I have not flown there myself. Several airlines service Eleuthera from FLL. Another option is flying to NAS and connecting. Once landed, you could take ground transportation to the Princess compound and presumably gain entry with ID, etc. So, it can be done, but IDK if the ship accepts delayed guests there.

Congrats on beating the System!! This is exactly what I expected would happen by going your route. You get Medallions and are Green and good to go. Stupid App be damned.

I don't disagree with that suggestion and at least some ships have been doing just that by having one DR not appear in DMW pre-cruise. They may direct walk-ups there as well. I don't know all for a fact, but evidence and reports suggest this has been in practice by at least some DRO's (Director Restaurant Operations). IDK if it is an HQ thing or coordinated, but for a long time there would often only be 2 of 3 DR's offered in DMW.

Terrific, but I am quite certain someone intervened in the ship system on your behalf

I believe you did have an answer in post #2381. There is still the ATD concept, but PCL doesn't use the terminology anymore. You can interpret ATD as booking for whatever time suits you based on availability. You can be a "walk up" as well and be seated as requested table type comes available. This is how the old AT worked. There is still the possibility of TD experience - at least in terms of a private table with same waiters. DMW cannot do this alone - the guest must request a table be blocked for them for the entire voyage in same location with same waiters. As far as TD at a shared table goes, this is virtually impossible if you are expecting the shared table to have the same group of guests each night. You can certainly book same time and have same table, but your tablemates are likely to change each night unless the group decides they want to stick together and all ask the DR Mgmt to block them in.

Release addresses session timeout issues and Blue/Green Lane inconsistencies. Hard to say exactly what they consider "inconsistencies".

Okay, I hear you. In this case, you arrived at the terminal well after general boarding had commenced. In this case, all checked-in guests simply proceed onto the ship by the time you arrived. Many have reported a very short extra time to be handed Medallions. I would think in FL that most guests already have Medallions. I have read many reports where Green Lane was longer than Blue Lane. All this said, I do not like the new system anymore than most people. Fine to have a Green/Blue divide - although I think the real purpose is to push guests into packages or to pay for shipping. It took forever to add Canada and around that eventual time, they claimed to be going to add UK and Australia shortly. Well, shortly in Princess land can be a very long time. My guess on their side is some bloke in the Ivory Tower figured the check-in process is so smooth now, it would not matter much about priority boarding. And, let's remember that priority boarding still exists - as long as one is checked in prior to start of boarding time. All we can do is complain with collective voices and try and convince HQ that you are being harmed by not getting processed through the terminal faster. If they have enough complaints in writing, perhaps they will redesign. The VP Sales stated guests can go in whatever lane they like, but IDK if that works in real world. After all, she is in sales and was being made aware this new way could affect check-in timing. If it makes you feel any better, by the time you arrived, the top things that get booked right away on voyages from FL would be gone anyway (e.g. Sanctuary). Some additional advice. Book your own hotel and taxi to terminal. Princess is NEVER going to get you there in time to be in the lounge waiting for boarding to begin. It also costs a lot more the way you did it.

I highly doubt that. When did you arrive for check-in? Had boarding already commenced? I notice you are from UK, so likely not been to FLL much?

What is this dramatic increase? Perhaps you are talking about the one last year?

You are all wrong. It's advanced AI.. HAL 9005:

It doesn't matter. You are on the ship ahead of anyone joining on future segments and worst case is you can book the day before turnover or no worse than before anyone else gets on board. It will be the same process for anyone already on the ship. Just ask at the Sanctuary reception how they are booking. If you are doing WC on Island, there is VERY little shade.

Post on the new thread (a sticky) devoted to the new App. You are reporting a common issue.

<deleted - point already covered I see>

Not sure where you got the number, but it worked for me. The agent said they are open 24/7. However, at least at the time I called (~9:30pm SAT), it was definitely an overseas location. On BA, I have read about that seat selection surcharge. Last Fall, I had switched an EzAir booking to a BA/AA combination and did not have any seat charges for Business Class. The AA portion was the overseas leg from LHR and it was a codeshare with BA operating. I am very wary of using BA, but the deal was just too good to ignore.

@suzyed, yes, cancel everything you ordered extra and get those refunds in process. Strip it back to the cruise fare alone and then cancel the cruise via the TA. FCCs go back to your account. If you described it wrong, and you meant FCD (but I don't think you did), well those also go back to your CC Member Profile fairly soon as long as they have not yet expired. If your actual deposit was FCDs, they are returned to your CC Member Profile in relatively short order. However, if they have since expired, you will get a refund to form of payment of the FCDs. If you intend to use the FCDs on a new booking, it is imperative for you or TA to get the expiry date extended BEFORE cancelling the cruise booking.

You can call Princess, but may as well talk to a brick wall. Guests who have booked with a TA cannot do anything with Princess in terms of their cabin category, location, or pricing. If you are not past final payment date, why not cancel and re-book the cabin you want? You could dump the TA after canceling as well and book direct with a CVP if you prefer to deal with Princess. Your TA either doesn't know what they say or is too inexperienced. TA's can definitely do this self-serve in POLAR. Knowing POLAR is pretty basic for a TA selling Princess.