paradiselivin1

Someone on our current cruise in the Caribbean will be doing that. Yes, you have to apply but Princess will not talk to us about doing the same thing next year UNTIL final payment is made. Makes sense.

On 12/9/2022 at 7:11 PM, Shelly97060 said:

I wonder if for some reason your initial bid never went through ( some sort of system glitch)? Each time I have placed a bid I have received an email confirmation within a few minutes letting me know they received it. 

I not only received e-mails for every bid placed but when I modified them and also pulled one. Also, I would get online in my cruise personalizer and would see when that they were pending until the bitter end. If you read the last sentence of my post above I state that they sent me emails for every change. 

Just pulled out of FLL on the Enchanted. Received our email to bid on 9/15. I did on 9/16. We NEVER received any e-mail from Princess letting us know one way or the other. We booked a deluxe balcony (DE) and bid on a CC Mini. No response. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zet. Zilch. We book through a TA and did not hear from her that anything had come through but when I changed my bids over the last month or so I received an e-mail directly from Princess. 

We are aft-only kind if cruisers and have been on Royal class ship 6 times and will be again tomorrow. We love being all of the way aft and have never regretted it once. B726, R727, B727, R729 and A732 tomorrow. I find it quieter as few people come all the way aft unless they are staying there or coming to use the (convenient) laundry. Enjoy! 

Don't have an issue with increased costs of gratuities but I don't understand why they don't simply roll those into the price of the cruise as they are determined in advance when you choose you cabin type. Yes, I know some choose not to tip but expect that is a small minority (at least I hope so).. Isn't that how the hotels do it ~ surely we all pay for their staff as well in some respects..

5 minutes ago, WAvoyager said:

Have you checked your spam folder in your email?

Nope but I will. Frankly, we've gotten multiple e-mails from Princess over the last week but none had anything to do with coupon books. 

Just now, azbirdmom said:

I hope you don't get it on the cruise later this week.  And I hope we don't either 🙂

Thx. Keeping my fingers crossed as we'll be taking that gamble for 20 days and don't mind too much if I miss the islands we've been to multiple times. This is the one that I'm trying to stay healthy for and will just have to be a bit cautious. The good thing if anything goes wrong prior to NZ cruise (COVID) we have the insurance and booked our insanely expensive flights using EZAir so the bulk of our costs should be reimbursed.. See you in a few days ~ sounds like you worked out your payment issues!🤞

Our next cruise leaves this Friday and our TA sent us an e-mail showing that they provided us each a coupon book as well as some OBC. Haven't received a darn thing from Princess. As Elites, we get 10% off of our excursions anyhow and doubt Princess would give an extra 10%. I'll pass..

20 minutes ago, wrongwaywatson said:

I ordered Beef Wellington and the Lobster

Were they good? I will look for that on the menu as I love both of them, too!

20 hours ago, marinating said:

I had no issues with the isolation, I was well fed, given fresh linen as required, offered complimentary internet, free soft drinks/alcohol, staff called daily to see if I was happy with everything.

17 hours ago, windsor26 said:

On majestic now dh positive on day 5 magnificent treatment. Phone calls 3 times a day checking meals have arrived and are we happy and feeling ok. Cholates received to make us feel better. I just write extras on a blank piece of the order form for latte. Brandy and sodas. We have free wifi and am glad that if we had to catch it we are where we are being very well cared for. Special phone no.

Thank you both for your posts as it seems that no two situations are handled the same regarding COVID. I hope that what you are currently experiencing on the ship continues through until we board as Princess seems to be all over the place with handling passengers with COVID. Praying we don't get it on this cruise later this week...

Thank you for this wonderful post. I'm so excited to get on board this Friday and check out the shows and all the great food that you showed. Our itinerary is totally different and over 20 days we'll hit 10 different islands (most we've been to before) and Princess Cay (twice). Mostly going to relax so we'll just play most of it by ear. Glad you had a great cruise!

10 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

Next port was of our absolute favorites: Bonaire! What a magical place.

Could not agree more and surprised that they allow large cruise ships. We went about 25 years ago to spend a week diving. It was magical! We did a night dive under the town pier (scary), some shore dives from our hotel and multiple boat dives. I have never seen such an underwater fantasy ~ it was raining fish on us. I pray that it hasn't changed much. It really was a dive spot not to be missed!

Concerns me for our cruise next month. Do you know how many are currently on board with COVID? What a miserable experience that must be. At least you are going home. We are from the US and I'm literally terrified about being stuck in a foreign place with no support! One of the reasons we canceled our upcoming world cruise. Princess is failing their passengers.

8 minutes ago, damiross said:

I was so looking forward to reaching Platinum and getting free Wi-Fi.

Maybe you didn't know that Platinum and Elites no longer get free Wi-Fi. They dumped that a while ago and now we get a "discount" on the new rates. This new set-up is absolutely insane for the lousy service that you get.

1 hour ago, PRINCESS Sweet Pea said:

OMG!  But, based on our last experience, a few years ago.  95 was a nightmare and took, like,  forever.

 

I think we have it figured out.  We realized that we could use our nights to book at the Ritz Grand Lakes Orlando, since it is at cheaper rates off season.  We can stay and enjoy the warmer weather and palm trees for a couple nights before heading back home.  Can also go over to the JW there. This might really be worth the Parking and Resort Fees.   I've never lived the Ritz life!

Off season is the best time to enjoy the Ritz life and if you're coming during our off season ~ go for it. I don't recall if you mentioned the time period but a pool will keep you cool if too hot. We're running in the lower 80's/high 70's right now depending on where you are in the state..

Saw this just now as well. May be time to look around for other options. Have two cruises paid for before the "deadline" and one after and hate to pay in full for an August cruise that is barely booked and expect price drops will more than offset this new round of price hikes. Interesting that this is happening at the same time that 2024 itineraries are dropping for Europe and the new Sun ship. Sigh...

1 hour ago, dogm said:

Thanks so much for your review!  Going on the Enchanted for 20 days in December.  Looking forward TO IT!

Me too. See you on board. We're 9th - 29th.

Agree. I'm almost over it and consider it "chump change" compared to the outrageous sums of money we are paying to fly there having booked last-minute. Still very much looking forward to our cruise next month!

Sorry to hear as we were facing the same thing when we canceled our 2023WC. Our FCC's kept rolling as they kept canceling so when I canceled I was told by my TA that they had to be used by year-end and I quickly booked a 20 day cruise for next week that used all of the FCC just under the wire. 

We haven't had it either. A 20 day cruise starts next week and a 13 day on Majestic in January. Should be interesting as that seems to be one sick ship.. Hate that they keep closing the laundry room as we'll be over there for 3 weeks. When the ship had 800+ cases last month I think I remember that they didn't even offer the elites the free laundry option. It's going to be interesting.. and maybe a little "gamey"...

We are sailing on the Majestic next month out of NZ but the onboard accounts are set in AUD. Our OBC came over as 1:1. To be clear, our $150 USD OBC is now listed as $150AUD. Not the same at all. I find it interesting that as Americans we paid for our cruise in USD but everything else where we should stand to benefit is in AUD. 

Yes, I had the same thing happen with no notice. This is the 3rd thread on this in as many weeks. It seems to be a recurring theme..

Our OBC still shows the original amount after booking a few excursions. I also think that it doesn't get charged until onboard but makes it tough to recall how much you have spent prior to boarding without keeping great records. I recently had a tour canceled for my upcoming cruise next week with no notice from Princess. Naturally, no change to my OBC on this cruise as it hadn't been deducted..

Guess they don't even read their own boards! 🤣

I don't get all of the technical aspects discussed here but am not expecting great service on our two upcoming long cruises. Bearing that in mind I thought this was hilarious:

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/best-cruise-ships-2022-cruise-critic/index.html

2022 Cruise Critic Editors' Picks Awards in the Ocean category

Best Innovation/Tech: Princess Cruises

BTW, that was the only category they won....