geoherb

If you fill out the support request at the bottom of the contact page (https://book.princess.com/captaincircle/customerCare.page), you will receive an automated email reply saying that Princess has received your communication, including the details you wrote.

I like to send out items every couple of days instead of trying to send too many things at once. But if you need extra bags and slips, just ask your cabin steward for more.

On my February cruise, a lot of passengers missed flights to Fort Lauderdale--even the ones who had booked flights a day or two before--due to a winter storm and the consequent flight cancellations and delays. One woman on our roll call wrote about how Princess was going to fly them to catch up with the ship in Costa Maya. But then the plan changed when she updated us that they could not do that flight due to Covid regulations in Mexico at the time. They missed the whole cruise. That said, I booked the air for my cruise next month through EZair. I'm on the first direct flight to New York the morning of the cruise. There are several other direct flights with the same airline that would get me to the ship on time plus more than a dozen possibilities with the same airline with connecting flights. I also looked at the number of flights from New York to the next two ports (in Canada). I'm hoping if there is a problem, EZair will live up to the late-arrival protection: "Rest easy that you'll make your cruise if flights are delayed or canceled and get home if you miss flights because of your cruise or transfer."

I sent a letter in January. I followed up in May with the online customer service form. I have yet to hear back from anyone.

It was listed in the Patter. See the top of the right-hand column:

They had it in a different form on my Regal cruise in February: in the buffet one day at lunch. I did not eat anything, but it looked good.

I noticed this a couple of cruises ago and started playing down my bank until the amount of change was 20 cents or less.

I've taken three cruises since the restart last summer. In August, I received the items after asking my cabin steward about them. He apologized that they were out of the gold bags but still delivered the spray, the sisal mitt, conditioner, emery board, and shower cap. When I asked in December, my cabin steward told me they were by request. I received the gold bag with a sisal mitt, emery board, lotion, linen spray, shampoo, shower gel, and shower cap. No conditioner. No lip balm. In February, my cabin steward said they did not have the bags. He said the only items available were the sisal mitt and shower cap. I declined. My neighbors in a suite said they got more items but never detailed what.

You can order it more than once.

It is too bad that Princess isn't equipped to offer a confirmatory PCR test for someone who tests positive with the rapid test. I know I started feeling bad on a Thursday and did not get a positive test until three days later. I still canceled all of my activities, not wanting to spread the virus to others if I had it.

I had Princess Plus on my last cruise and still enjoyed having the minibar items. I drank the beers even though I could have easily ordered more from room service. I brought home the mini liquors and use them in cooking. It's too bad they were out of Courvoisier that cruise.

You can sign up by calling the Dine Line on your phone or by visiting passenger services. It's $115 per person on the Royal and new ships that have the "Lumiere" tables for it. It's $95 per person on the older ships. It's $15 less if you do not drink wine.

We were one of the lucky couples who both have an A at the end of our numbers. Our numbers are close but not adjacent. Our last names are different. The good news was that we both received loyalty credits in the good old days.

Platinum means you've sailed on Princess for 50 days or have five cruise credits. Most people get just one cruise credit per cruise. Solos get double, full suite passengers also get double, and a solo in a full suite gets triple. If you get to the port before they start boarding, having priority boarding is great. There's a separate area for Platinum folks to wait in most terminals. There's another area for Elite and suite passengers. They'll start boarding the Elite and suite passengers first, and then the Platinum. It's great to get on the ship ahead of others if you want to sign up for the Sanctuary, Chef's Table, etc.

It's interesting to see the changes being made. I was on the CB in December. I had an order form for a new selection of canapés. They were delicious. On the Regal in February, they delivered cream puffs on formal night afternoons. They were pretty bad.

Most of the time, Princess ships will adjust their clocks to match local time. You will need to find out from people currently on the same itinerary to see if they do so. The one time that we were on a ship that did not change to match local time was on the Island Princess on a partial Panama Canal cruise. The ship stayed on Eastern Time in Costa Rica instead of moving to Central Time. I guess they decided that passengers did not want to move ahead an hour, back an hour, and ahead an hour on subsequent days.

Booking the Princess transfer to Heathrow was most convenient after our British Isles cruise, Since then, we've taken National Express a couple of times from Victoria Coach Station to Southampton. But those two cruises were transatlantics, so we did not have to fly back from Heathrow. Our only problem with the transfer was that the people in the row ahead of us had the flu--and we caught it from them. That was before people with contagious viruses had the courtesy to wear masks.

I rarely order the prime rib, but it looked pretty good on my most recent cruise. DH would have loved it. I usually order the seafood main courses. I did not have any disappointments on my last cruise (Regal in February). On the Caribbean in December, I did have to send back beef main courses a couple of times for being well done when I had ordered rare. I'm already thinking about the things I will order again on my next cruise, hoping that they'll be as good as they were on my last cruise. If not, I'll try another dish or decide I've had enough and try again the next day.

I ate primarily in Concerto on my cruise in February. It was convenient.

The menus don't change much. I'm wondering about what they'll do for my upcoming 16-day cruise to Greenland--but not enough to go searching for the extended menus on similar duration cruises. The 7-day menus are basically the same. Some itineraries, especially Alaska, will have more regional fare substituting for the regular menu items.

My room service order in February on the Regal was speedy--less than 15 minutes for a full lunch plus beer. I told my cabin steward that I did not need ice.

Most of the top shelf liquors are included in the prices of the Princess Plus package. There were a few Scotches and cognacs that weren't included when I sailed.

The upgrade fairy is alive and well. I took advantage of the January offer to book a balcony at the same price as an inside. I booked a Cat. BF guarantee and received a deluxe balcony cabin (Cat. DB).

They had a pastry extravaganza on my Regal cruise in February. It was one afternoon in the buffet. Here are some photos.

I usually look at cruises on Celebrity and Holland America to compare with Princess before booking. If I can save a few hundred dollars booking with one of those two, I will. That said, the closest thing Celebrity had to my upcoming cruise was 11 days for $4,450. My 16-day Princess cruise is less than half that price. HAL is more likely to be the next time I stray from Princess since I can get the shareholder benefit on those cruises, too.