skrodle

Hi there- Wondering if anyone can help me. In Cabo and Puerto Vallarta we booked day resorts through Princess... I am wondering if anyone has booked these on their own, outside of the ships shore excursions, or has any recommendations.

For La Paz and Loreto, there is none offered by the ship, I found several great hotels in La Paz, but not seeing any that offer day passes.

If anyone has any recommendations for these 4 ports... that would be AWESOME

commissions are part of the whole deal...whether buying a house, a car or a cruise. However, as noted in other posts the rate of commission cam be effected by How often the agent or agency books the specific cruise line..their are sales goals or tiers.. More sales volume more commission.

 

Second What category cabin are you booking an inside or a suite. Higher end cabins generate huge profits for the ship and they pay larger commissions because there is more"pie" to share.

 

And third, what is the dollar or price of the cruise . Sailing on cruises under 1000 pp will find little to none bargain power. In fact, the agent booking the cruise may make almost nothing and accepts the booking to generate a higher sales volume in order to earn a higher return on future cruises . However book a $10-20,000 cruise and things are much different.

 

Beware of people who tout getting 12 to 15% off... because that is not real. If they are getting that then the agent is quoting very inflated prices to make the customer feel good. How much should you expect.? In reality about 8to10% off the lowest price. There is no way a cruise line direct booking will do that .

 

So shop for an agent, when I lived in Hawaii, I used an agency in Detroit and Texas. I booked cruises with them for over a 10 year period, always for 2 to6 weeks . What I asked for and got was a very low fare, around 5% under the cheapest advertised price plus an on board credit and a 60/40% commission split. Since that is not allowed, it was done after the cruise was underway and I got a thank you check/ rebate/ in the mail from the agent.

 

Bottom line.....don't bother to get discounts of any degree when sailing the short 7-14 day cruises.

However, when you get to the $7-10K level start demanding not asking. This is business you don't get what you deserve you negotiate for it. If the agent balks...walk.... no different than buying a car... I mean would you walk in and pay full sticker price on a car? I hope not.

There are plenty out there who are savvy business people They know to give is to get in the long run and are willing to look at the long term big picture...

I whole heartily disagree with this post.

Yes, commissions are part of the price, but you could either be paying that commission to princess, or pay it to your TA.

Your "beware of people who tout 12-15%" is just plain wrong. The TA is not quoting anything that is different from the website. Website shows a $1000 per pax cruise, my TA will generally quote 10-15% below that. She is not giving me any "inflated" price just to make me feel better. My TA is a high volume Princess TA that makes her money by booking LOTS of cruises. By booking lots of cruises she makes more commission and is able to give more back.

I also have an upcoming cruise that my TA had group booked on, so she splits the cost of the free room among all of us traveling plus her discount, so thats how she can get upwards of 15% off what I initially booked off the website.

Princess allows TAs to discount cruises, so there is no need for her to "send me a check".

And why would you not get a discount on a 7-14 day cruise? I just got off a 4 day cruise that was HIGHLY discounted by Princess in an unadvertised fare, turned it over to my TA and she took off another $50.

And to "demand" a discount, thats just plain rude. If I was a TA I would fire a customer that demanded anything.

We were just on the crown and visited every bar, the official 50th chocolate cocktails are in Wheelhouse. While there are some chocolate cocktails in Crooners, they are the ones that have always been on the menu.

The ones in Wheelhouse are amazing, but they are $12 so no included in the all inclusive package. I had two of them as desserts and they were fantastic. It was hard to choose which ones I wanted

To the person who said that I said that before, may I say that whilst I may have said something similar ONCE on a thread about Coral, unlike that person, it was my first contribution to this thread.

 

As I said, I expected to be shot down. I was not wrong.

I think they mistook you for me, as I had made that point about 6 pages ago. I have sailed on Island/Coral twice and only been in the universe lounge once (cooking demo)... so no love lost...

Does this mean that we can book with a TA before the release? Or, just get itinerary info from TAs?

according to my TA, bookings begins 3/12

I don't know where you got that info, there are NO lifeguards on Princess cruise ships

my POINT exactly, they are considered entertainment attractions, and therefore require a life guard on duty, since Princess does not have life guards, they have chosen to disconnect them. I was on Crown 2 weeks ago and the sign said they could not run them currently due to a law (or some verbiage) like that. The law requires them to have a lifeguard on duty.

When I was on the Crown in November, I wanted to use the Swim-against-the-current lap pool. I attempted to do so, but the button wouldn't turn on the machine. When I asked about it, I was told it was being removed after that cruise and that they were being removed fleet wide. I just checked and Princess is still advertising them, at least on the Crown and the Emerald (just happened to check those 2). Does anyone know if they are still on the ships, and if so, are they working?

from what I understand, they are considered an entertainment attraction and there for require a lifeguard to be on duty.

we were on this sailing and saw them filming this... i got pics of Ted, and was super close to getting a pic with him!

the only other con I could think of is that you cannot make payments on your cruise fare through the princess website, you must make them through your TA. Its only a minor inconvenience, esp if you are splitting the fares between a couple cards.

Also my TA makes final payment a week before Princess just to make sure everything goes through as she does not want it to be auto cancelled on actual final payment day. But I guess thats a good safety net.

But Ive said it before and will say it again, I will never go back to not using a TA.

I book online directly through the princess website and then have the TA take it over, that way I can pick the cabin I want if its one I think may sell out.

Whooo hooo... leave tomorrow on the Crown for 4 days!!! So excited, we will be in Vista Suite E732... Ill be sure to report back :)

we found being a suite passenger that we could get anytime dining reservations for anytime without a problem. We had a friend in an inside cabin and were able to make the reservations for 3 with no problem.

Also as a suite passenger you can order the main dinning room food to be delivered to your room if for some reason they cant get you a reservation

if you're doing all the work, why the TA? i haven't used one since our good friend retired long time back...

 

IMO you don't need a travel agent. period.

in this day of the internet and being able to do every thing myself, I was always under this impression. That TAs were so "my parents" kind of thing. It wasnt until I became a user here that I was turned on to the idea of a TA. I had one once that I had to use for a work thing (incentive trip) and they offered no service so I didnt feel the need to use one ever again.

This Friday I leave on my first of 3 upcoming cruises booked with a TA and I am so happy. She is a high volume discount TA and probably has 1000 clients, but when I call or email, I am treated like I am her only one.

Out of anything I have taken away from Cruise Critic was a great TA and that you need one.

I am always conflicted about this. I like the auto-tip and not having to think about tipping, and think auto-tipping is an equitible arrangement for everybody. But the cabin steward is a more intimate relationship (you know what I mean) with them in your cabin, cleaning up after you, and making your bed and all. I've tipped some and not others. They generally do a great job and I'm thinking I'm more inclined to be generous if they have made my cruise better. I don't know about $50 (unless it's a suite) but $20 seems about right. :)

Be it $5, $20, $50, $100... whatever it is, I am just so happy when I hear that my fellow passengers give a little more to the stewards. It is an intimate relationship, especially on the 7 day or longer cruises, you really get to know them. I think the gesture of a little bit more is so appreciated by them.

Just wondering what other have given (if any ) for an additional cash tip to your cabin stewards?

 

We gave $50 for our 5 day cruise.

Im right in line with you, for all they do, $10 per day is usually what we tip. The $11-$12 per day auto tip is shared with so many, that we feel the stewards deserve more.

HAL has a different approach to buffet and room service dining. Their buffets are open for just 2-3 hours each for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For instance, if you get back onboard at 2pm, the buffet isn't open so your choices are pizza, grill or room service. Dinner in the buffet closes up tight at 8pm. I was once served a chicken entree after an almost 45-minute wait just before 8pm and it was still raw in the middle. I brought it up to be cooked more but was told I was out of luck... the kitchen was closed.

:)

Ah... makes a lot of sense... I am still learning so much about other lines... :) I miss on Princess before the 24 hour international cafe when they had the Cafe Caribe open 24 hours and it was menu service from 11p-6a..

I have two TAs that I work with, I will often book online myself, they put it out to the two TAs to see which will give me the better price. They are both aware of each other, and it usually comes down to if one has a Group booked on that sailing or not. I get EXCELLENT service from both my TAs and now have booked 3 cruises through them and have had all them discounted significantly.

Having sailed on RCCL 4x, Celebrity 1x, and a 3-star Mariner on HAL, I think the only thing I wish Princess did was offer the dining room menu via room service the way HAL does.

 

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Pam-

I have never been on HAL so I am curious how their galleys are up in relation to the rooms. For Princess, the Room Service Galley is separate from the MD galley (From my memory its like aft on Aloha) or something random like that. And just doesnt have the capacity to put out the food from MDR. When we were in a suite and ordered dinner in our room from the MDR menu it took FOREVER... It was nice to have, but it was a very long wait.

The Brisket and pulled pork are AMAZING... I am true BBQ fan and I was really impressed. I was bummed that I discovered it only on day 6 of a 7 day cruise...

Really good.. and great late night after dinner snack... or dinner when you get back to the ship (we were in Victoria and got back on the ship at like 9pm)

No there is nothing positive that can be found. No matter what spin you put on it the changes are draconian, bad for cruising, detracts from the cruise experience and insults the passengers and treats them like garbage. It is a disrespectful act to loyal passengers to do this.

 

If Princess does not care about what passengers think why should we care about promoting them or putting a positive spin on poor choices.

 

There is no way in hell I am ever going to blow sunshine up their way and make everything appear great when it is the contrary.

he said it!!!!! He said it... oh thats my new favorite word

I booked because of the new aft suites as well. L721 in fact with my mother-in-law next door in the vista suite. Might be the same cruise. Maybe we can meet up for a martini on our draconian wrap around balconies.

I am L722 on April 23, 2016 FLL to LA... and yes.. that would be nice! :)

My favorite place on any grand class ship is the lotus pool forward.

1) its adults only... no screaming children

2) its often nice and sunny there, but with some overhang if you want shade

3) most blue cards think its part of the Sanctuary and that you have to pay to use it

4) its hidden, so most people dont get to step 3

I have spend many of my sea days here reading a book and taking naps, the loungers are actually nicer than those by the other pools

You could book it tomorrow after boarding and then transfer it to the TA.

yes, book with the Future cruise consultant on board and then transfer to your TA later. They can sometimes get you better than advertised deals and if you work with a discount TA they can still do a takeover

Since they don't appear to be adding any more lifeboats, they can't be increasing the passenger capacity that much. What's likely is that they're reducing the number of third and fourth berths, making the majority of cabins double (or single} capacity only. That'll being in more revenue, since 3rd and 4th passengers usually pay lower prices, but won't increase the overall passenger count as drastically as the number of new cabins would indicate. .

You are the first to bring this up and that totally makes sense... They could not add 200 more PAX and not add more life boats. If this is the case and they are reducing 3/4 berths the whole argument of more PAX and less space is moot (its just same pax, less space)

Hope you don't expect to go to a show without getting there an hour in advance, and are looking forward to a jammed Horizon Court, humongous waits for the MDR, overstuffed hot tubs, and a cave-like gym.

 

Ah well, you can always order room service and watch TV in your comfy suite while the folks down in steerage fight one another for the last deck chair.

10 cruises and I've never seen a show, so thats not a problem, never been to a gym not a problem, its a panama canal cruise no need for a hot tub, as a suite guest i can make reservations for MDR, and i generally dont eat much at the buffet... havent found a problem yet...

and all this griping about the removal of public space, i have felt on so many cruises that so much space is wasted on the cruise ships. Take the Crown/Ruby/Emerald, the Adagio bar is ghost town 100% of the cruise and is a beautiful venue, many of the lounges and bars are frequently empty... and if I have to hear one more person complain about the "on the bayou" show being cut... ugh..

its basic business that they are having to remodel the Island. If they can increase the ship with 10% more births or increase prices by 10% which do you think would be easier? Customers would not stand for a 10% price increase...

And you should be excited.

 

But your new corner aft suite replaces a nice public area where any passenger who paid for the Sanctuary could be to view the canal passage.

But if you look at the new plans, on deck 16 they have vastly expanded the sanctuary and made it much larger on a single deck rather then split between 16/15. I dont think they would have killed the sanctuary as it is such a revenue producer for them.

this is the kind of thing that everyone is jumping up and down about and not waiting to see the final product... Its just like when the Grand removed skywalkers... I am sure there were people crying about that too.