sloopsailor

Would you prefer during daylight hours when you might be walking about the ship? Would you prefer to have doors suddenly being closed in front of you so you couldn't get to the buffet as quickly as you wanted? 4:00AM will disrupt far fewer people's movements about the ship.

Currently, reservations can only be made for Allegro and Concerto dining rooms. Symphony does not appear on my Medallion app for reservations.

On our last princess cruise in 2018 we put a luggage tag on the 12 pack carton and it was delivered to our room with the rest of our luggage. Not sure if they still do that.

I wish they would stop perpetuating the "Formal Night" fantasy in their dress code FAQs. If they aren't enforcing it, why continue to create so much needless worry about what to wear. It would eliminate so many of these "what to wear on formal night" threads. Princess is doing no one any favors by sustaining this pointless fantasy.

That's where customer service reps are.

Not everyone on the left coast. We renewed our California driver's license two years ago when the old ones were about to expire. We had our paperwork ready, paid the usual renewal fee, and the REAL ID license was processed in less that 20 minutes at our local DMV. We received them in the mail about 10 days later.

There was a recent story that made worldwide news of people who were refused boarding even though it was one of those "closed loop" itineraries. They were denied because some countries on the itinerary required passports. They were told from different sources that they did not need a passport and ended up losing all their money spent on the cruise when they were refused boarding. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2902852-guests-denied-boarding-due-to-passport-requirements-at-port-everglades/ I would never chance going out of the country without a passport. Too many things can happen to cut the cruise short and having to come home right away, which will require you have a passport, or days waiting to get one issued to get home. At about $16 per year for your first passport that will last 10 years, it's one of the least costly things you will spend money for on your cruise. And one of the most valuable things you will bring.

How about Royal? Does it have the same lights?

Not interesting at all. Just typical. Many of these brand new members who immediately post their gripes are just trying to demonize a company by flooding social media with negative rants that have little similarity to reality but exhibit a massive amount of entitlement. They spread their anger, hoping the target of their wrath is harmed, and disappear. They are not interested in advice, just interested in available outlets they can use to cause as much negative harm to the company as they possible can.

Yeah, right! Are you sure it isn't being held by a stowaway? Or a mannequin? I really doubt Princess management would allow an on duty crew member looking like that to represent the cruise line. SMH.

That shouldn't make a difference if the crew member is honest and values his job.

True. On most lines all cash tips must be immediately surrendered to the purser'. Those are held until the accounting is done to reconcile all passenger accounts. If a passenger removes or reduces their gratuities, the cash tip amount will be used to offset the money lost. If the passenger keeps the auto tips in place, then the cash tips are returned to the person it was given to. Failure to report those tips can result in disciplinary action such as demotions or even termination in extreme cases.

Never mind. I have become bored trying to push this rope uphill.

And not only would the final fare be more than the base fare and gratuities combined, the crew in the tipping pools would also be penalized since many are from countries that only tax income from salary but do not tax income from gratuities. They would also end up paying more in taxes if salary and gratuities were combined leaving them with even less income. In the end, no one wins when gratuities are rolled into the base fare. Especially those who would no longer be able to stiff the crew by removing or reducing the gratuities to a "fair" amount, whatever the heck that means. 😕

As has been mentioned already, for cruises leaving from certain European countries, as well as Australia and New Zealand, the cruise lines have been forced to roll the gratuities into the base fare to counter the proclivity of your brothermen removing them. You have read all the comments on this thread, so YOU DO KNOW how this works since it has already been carefully explained. That you continue to ignore those explanations by STILL commenting that the staff must be working for nothing baffles me.

I think SantaFeFan critiqued your argument perfectly. You were wrong in several areas that were pointed out. In tipping cultures, as on many of the cruise ships we all sail on, supplementary tipping is the BULK of the wages they receive. Coupled with the small base salary, for them it is a living wage. Most come from third world countries where the cost of living is lower than in your and my countries. So for them, they are making good money. Many are able to save up to start their own business after several years working on cruise ships. They wouldn't keep coming back if they weren't making an income that meets their needs. The sacrifices they make are enormous - long work days, little time off, months away from family and friends. I respect their work ethics and admire their dedication to reaching their goals. Thank you for not removing or reducing the gratuities. I commend you for that. It's refreshing to hear from a Brit that actually respects the customs on board many cruise ships. 👍

I watch all of the shows on cruise ships I can find on History Channel, Science Channel, etc. - literally dozens over the years. Most of them show a "week in the life of" a specific ship. Those that did mention crew quarters have shown small two-person crew cabins, some with bunk type beds and some with side by side beds. Several YouTube videos posted by crew members also showed two person cabins in similar configurations. None shown were four person cabins. Not sure if that is the standard, but in those cases that is what was shown. Also, none had windows.

It's amazing how facts actually matter in a discussion.

Not sure I understand your comment. I booked through a TA and his price was almost $2K less than Princess and I got all the Plus benefits. Even with recent price drops on our cruise coming in March, I still am paying almost $1K less than the current price on the Princess website.

And it would be PR suicide to raise the prices of drinks and then force the purchasers of the previous plans to pay out-of-pocket for the increased cost of those drinks because the old plans don't cover the increases.

Yep, too many people from your countries don't understand that being a respectful traveler is to not impose your cultural norms on the local customs of the places you are visiting. Makes you people look like unpleasant tourists.

Thank heaven most of us are generous instead of cheap. I am grateful I live in the US and not in one of those cheapskate countries that don't think twice about stiffing those very people who work hard to make their cruises noteworthy. I'd rather be a pleasant person instead of the likes of someone here who has arrogantly decided, in their favor of course, to tip what they deem to be a "fair amount" instead of the cruise line's recommended amount - which is the actual "fair amount".

But that is countered by a fifteenth of the tips from all passengers on all ships will go to "your" ship, hopefully making the end results similar as if all tips were kept within each individual ship.

Why do you think it is "mean"? They have increased the price of the Plus and Premium packages and included the "enhanced benefits" for those people who are paying more. If you didn't pay for them, why do you think you should get them? Just be happy that the price increase of the drinks is covered by your original price you paid and you don't have to pay out of pocket for the difference in price that the drinks now cost.

Agree, definitely more. With TD, if all but two people at that table dined elsewhere, then the entire table was unavailable to anyone but the 2 remaining. This is especially wasteful if it is a table for 8 or 10. And if the entire table were to dine elsewhere that night, then an entire table would be left empty because it was assigned only to those people and couldn't be used by anyone else. TD is a very inefficient way to manage table utilization. DMW offers much more flexibility and improved utilization.