sloopsailor

22 minutes ago, Musky Ike said:

4:00 AM what a great time to test something that makes noise.😒

20 minutes ago, DHP1 said:

I guess you will be awake at 4am.  It could be worst, they could ask you to leave your room and go to muster station. LOL  But seriously, why 4:00AM.

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. 

On 1/14/2023 at 2:50 PM, realnice46 said:

Is there a preference between the Allegro, Symphony and Concerto dining rooms. Do you have a particular preference?

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. 

12 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

What is important is that Princess has joined the majority of cruise lines with a less formal attitude.

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.

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Why?

That's where customer service reps are. 

3 hours ago, jeromep said:

For those of us on the left coast, our drivers licenses are no longer REAL ID compliant (unless you pay your state a lot of money for an "enhanced" drivers license), so a lot of us are having to get passports and/or passport cards just to fly domestically.

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.

4 hours ago, swdke said:

Birth certificate okay for cruises out of Galveston?  Or are passports now needed for all cruises?  It's for a Western Caribbean cruise, depart and return Galveston.n thanks.

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?

28 minutes ago, spingal said:

Interesting that the OP has disappeared!

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. 

24 minutes ago, brisalta said:

That is a photograph of the check being held by a crew member.

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. 

20 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

And from what I hear some crew are big-time snitches when they see someone keeping cash tips that should have been pooled.

 

When I tip MDR waiters and stewards in cash I usually say "Here's some extra for you" ("extra" as in beyond my autotips) but not sure that makes a difference. 

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

57 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

It depends.  On some lines if a pax pulls autotips and tips in cash, the tippee is supposed to turn the cash tips over to be pulled... the theory being those cash tips would otherwise circumvent the pooled tips for crew that are not passenger- facing, or at least as routinely pssenger facing as stateroom stewards and MDR waiters at assigned dining.

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. 

24 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Just clarify this for me.  I book a Princess cruise in the UK. I pay the Princess Plus fare, so, in effect I have paid the gratuities. The autotips are then shared amongst eligible crew members throughout the fleet. 

Are you saying that these eligible crew members still have to rely on discretionary tips over and above the autotips to make up the bulk of their salary ?

 

 

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

1 minute ago, cr8tiv1 said:

By rolling the crew appreciation into the base fare, the taxes and insurance will also be based on the higher fare.  I'd prefer to give the government less and pay for the gratuities outside of of quoted fare.  I do keep my "suggested".

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. 😕

42 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I still find that hard to believe.

Whilst I see more tipping when cruising in the US than in Europe, the amounts given in the main do not appear to be sufficient to make up the bulk of the crew wages.

And, as I mentioned earlier, rightly or wrongly,  when cruising in Europe, the amount of additional tips (over and above the autotips) will fall considerably.  By your reckoning, on European cruises the staff will be working for nothing. 

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.

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

You miss my point. 

Various crew members, as you point out,  will get a share of the autotip pool. That obviously supplements their salary, and of course I would never remove the autotips. 

The point I was making is that supplementary tipping to individuals is not in itself a living wage.

You have totally musconstrued my argument. 

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. 👍

18 minutes ago, candy4040 said:

As far as room and board go - my last room steward said that they have four crew members in one cabin.  I didn't see it so I can only go with his statement.  

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. 

21 minutes ago, SantaFeFan said:

 

I hate to burst your fantasy bubble, but you are so wrong on so many things with that statement. 

 

You said "The vast majority of the customer facing crew do not get tipped. Those waiters working in the buffet for example."

 

Wrong! Those waiters working in the buffet can be seen later working the MDR, and vice-a-versa. Tomorrow they may be working the poolside grill, or the International Cafe. They are all from the same staffing pool and will work a variety of venues, all with a percentage of the gratuities. Same with room attendants, who share their gratuities with the support staff that makes their jobs easier, such as the laundry workers. Room attendants can be seen cleaning up public areas when they are not cleaning staterooms. 

 

The crew all work for a base salary. It isn't a high salary, but it is a guaranteed salary. They also get room and board as part of their salary package. This amount is not enough to live on, however - by OUR standards.

 

Note that not all of the crew are included in the base salary/gratuities programs. Typically only those working in the "hotel" side of the ship are included in this program. Officers, entertainers, accredited mechanics, and other higher level staff sign a contract at a full salary with no part of the gratuity programs, much like on a typical land based company. 

 

The gratuities that responsible passenger pay supplement that base salary for hotel staff, increasing the final income to acceptable levels. Without the gratuities, the crew will at least get the base salary, so they are not, as you claim, "working for nothing". 

 

Most cruise lines that are based in Europe, such as P&O and MSC (for European cruises only), roll the gratuities into the base fare for exactly the reason you mentioned - Europeans don't tip well, and the staff gets stiffed. Many US based cruise lines do the same when home porting in Europe, again because too many Europeans refuse to tip and the hotel staff suffers.

 

In May 2019 P&O did away with gratuities (SOURCE: https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/PO-Cruises-to-end-gratuities-in-2019) because too many of the locals removed them, so people did not want to work on their ships because of the lost wages they suffered. To attract employees, P&O had to switch or they would not be able to find enough people to run their ships. It's simple economics. 

 

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

4 hours ago, justafem said:

Yup.  I normally book through 3rd party online TA's and it always has that wording.  First time, I was concerned, but nothing to worry about.  Same package, same benefits, it's just the TA gets extra credit (because you're price is higher).  

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. 

13 hours ago, memoak said:

I think everyone who has the “old” plus plan will still get everything but the “NEW” items. There is no way they will try to differentiate between 2 plus beverage packages

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. 

2 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

The end result is not similar because several countries such as Oz and New Zealand are not tipping cultures so they expect Americans to compensate. Everyone does as they see fit and it should be left at that. It's not our business what crew gets. If they are unhappy why would they spend years in their positions?

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. 

1 hour ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

Because most passengers don't stiff them on tips, at least on a slightly more upscale line like Princess.

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". 

46 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Whilst I never reduce autotips,  I do feel that it is wrong that the tips are shared, by some unknown formula,  throughout the fleet. I would prefer it, if my tips go just to the staff on my particular ship.

The end result is probably the same for the crew members, but it seems wrong that only a fifteenth of my autotips will go to "my" ship.

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. 

2 hours ago, Suite Susie said:

Does this mean that we won’t get the enhanced benefits, that they are now selling. Seems a bit mean, if you’ve booked early. 

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. 

57 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

More.  They're able to turn over the average table more than twice a night.  And on any given night they know some people will skip the MDR, but they don't necessarily know which people; with DMW either those people won't make a reservation in the the first place or if the make a reservation then no-show they can give their table to someone else after 10 or 15 minutes.

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.