Nightengale31

On ‎5‎/‎27‎/‎2020 at 2:04 AM, Katwoman007 said:

We have been searching forever for new pillows. The only ones we keep going back to are the Princess ones, and you can buy them. However, I was curious if anyone has and if you did, were they the same as on the boat? We love the down feathered pillows so much. Their shipping is crazy expensive though. 

https://www.princessluxurybed.com/ is the website for the bedding 😉 

I purchased two king size Princess feather pillows along with the Princess pillow cases about a year ago and they are the best pillows I have ever slept on. Not that crazy for the pillow cases as they are not very soft to the touch.

On ‎5‎/‎7‎/‎2020 at 7:52 PM, I object 2 said:

Has anyone booked flights for their casino offer cruise yet?   I'm able to book EZ-Air through the Princess website, but payment is required now.  For past cruises (not a free offer), I booked flights as soon as I booked the cruise.  Payment for flights weren't required until final payment.   That gave me opportunity to recheck fares and make changes if fares came down.           

I booked my flights the other day through Princess EZ-Air and did have to pay for them upfront. Went forward with the air booking because I don't think I could beat $300/pp R/T PVD to LAX with one stop in CLT and the flight times were perfect coming and going.

18 hours ago, I object 2 said:

Congrats on the suite....that's quite a deal!  You'll love the large wrap-a-round balcony.  We sailed in R730 in January.  Experienced a soot problem a few days, but would book this location again.  

Our cabin is A734 on the Royal Princess. I know about the soot having sailed in the past in an aft balcony on the NCL Breakaway, but will trade the soot for the aft views. :) With regards to getting the suite, let's just say I already paid for it on my last cruise on the Sky Princess if you know what I mean.  

I was offered from Princess for several sailings in 2021 an aft penthouse suite, $1000 free play, paid gratuities, wi-fi, and drink package. Chose a 3/2021 LA R/T CA coastal cruise on the Royal Princess. 

I too got the offer and was pleasantly surprised I was offered a suite. 🙂  In addition to the suite got $1000 free play, Princess Plus with drinks, wi-fi & gratuities. Booked an S3 aft penthouse suite on the Royal for the 3/13/21 CA Coastal R/T LA sailing. Our cost for this was $200/pp plus the $100/pp deposit which we get back in OBC. We made Elite on our Sky cruise this past February so it will be nice to have the Elite perks in addition to what the Casino offered with this booking. I waited a few days before booking this cruise and had no trouble getting through to book.

On ‎2‎/‎23‎/‎2020 at 8:36 AM, gottagocit said:

With the large increase in the number of people now contracting this new virus in countries such as Italy, South a Korea and Japan and given the scenario that played out on the Diamond are you having second thoughts about cruising this spring/summer? 

 

We were on the Coral when this all began and didn’t really have any idea how it would evolve and weren’t yet concerned about it even with many passengers onboard from China, Hong King and other parts of Asia. But now it seems it may just a matter of time before every country is dealing with outbreaks and perhaps another ship having an one as well. Honestly I’m not sure I would take a cruise right now although we do have a Suez Canal and med cruise booked next year. With it scheduled that far out we are taking a ‘wait and see’ attitude for now. 
 

If you’re on a cruise now what is the vibe like onboard?  Notice any different practices with respect to crew serving food, cleaning...etc. one of the things that has always bothered me when cruising is the number of people coughing openly in public areas without regard to spreading their colds etc to others and this situation doesn’t help matters. Are those with apparent colds being allowed onboard?

 

 

This past Sunday I returned from a 7 day Western Caribbean cruise on the Sky Princess and did not notice any different vibe on this ship compared to previous cruises. What I did notice was that open space cleaning seemed to be meticulous and continuous, and in the buffet once guests finished eating their tables were cleaned off immediately. So I think the crew did a great job keeping the ship clean and sanitized as possible. What did and does concern me more than taking a cruise is mode of travel to and from a cruise. And for us unless a cruise leaves from NYC or Boston our mode of travel would be air. That being said, at this point don't think I would book a cruise that would involve a lengthy flight out of the country which would place me in very close quarters with so many others which certainly enhances the risk of contraction of any infectious respiratory disease.

12 hours ago, barbaraanne said:

I had planned on bringing a few pairs of capris to wear in the dining room on Sky Princess Feb 22 on smart casual nights.  Will they be ok with a nice top, or do I need pants?  Are men allowed to wear dress shorts on smart casual nights?  I have dresses for formal nights.  I see no mention of capris in Princess FAQs.  Thank you!

I have been on 8 Princess cruises since 2004 and will be sailing on my 9th on the Sky the cruise prior to yours and have worn a more dressy capri on each of my cruises and a few pairs are packed for this one and have never been turned away from the dining room.

On ‎2‎/‎5‎/‎2020 at 3:22 PM, USCcruisecrazy said:

Beautiful dog...we love our Goldens!!  Great review of your trip...thanks for taking your time to do this!

I too enjoyed the pup photo and a fellow golden lover and the course of 20 years was owned by three and my 1st was also named Bailey. Number 2 was Duffy and number 3 was Kelly.

I am an R.N. of 42 years and the 1st 20 of those years was an ER nurse. Last year while on the Crown Princess waiting for a spa treatment got chatting with the ship's physician who happened to be in the spa when I was waiting for my massage. This physician was actually a general surgeon who had a practice in AZ and arranged to take two months off from his practice during the winter to work on the ship. He told me the ship's infirmary is very equipped to handle most emergencies, but the goal is always stabilization then transfer to the nearest hospital. That being said, even if your husband has a bout of rapid A-Fib and rate can be lowered with medication, the ship's physician will more than likely require him to be transferred to a hospital at the next port for further evaluation and treatment. And the expense for that treatment and return home expenses will be the responsibility of your husband. So be sure you have the necessary insurance coverage to handle these types of emergency medical needs along with a few credit cards in the event that the hospital where your husband may be taken to wants some upfront payment. Unlike most hospital ERs in the US that are bound by EMTALA laws which pretty much means they are obligated to treat 1st in an emergency situation and seek payment later, foreign countries may have very different laws regarding extending emergency care so it is best to be prepared in advance. Also, be sure your husband carries on him at all times the progress note from his most recent cardiologist's visit that he had prior to leaving for the cruise. That progress note will contain pertinent medical history, current medications, and allergies which is extremely helpful in expediting his care at a facility that does not have the ability to access his medical records via an online patient portal.

I used to get more NCL cruise comp offers balcony or above than I could possibly accept. My last cruise comp from NCL was a Haven Spa Suite on the Epic for a 10 day Italy coastal cruise two years ago, and as luck would have it hit a $7,500 jackpot on that cruise and since completing that cruise have not heard from CAS with any offers despite playing a good chunk of that jackpot back.

After not sailing with Princess for a number of years out of the blue last year I got a balcony comp offer from them for multiple cruises and used it for a 10 day southern Caribbean cruise this past January on the Crown Princess. Played on the cruise equal to what I played on NCL and on return home the comp offers started coming in along with some of those cruises extending free play $$ which I never got with NCL. I took the offer for a balcony comp for a 7 day western Caribbean cruise on the yet to be completed Sky Princess balcony for next February and this comp offer included $1,000 in free play.

Sunseeker 810, might be time for you to check out other cruise lines.

On ‎4‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 10:53 PM, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

I have a Princess Casino comp cruise booked that sails in less than a month. 

My share was paid Months ago....

I just contacted Princess Cust Serv AGAIN, to get CBS/Casino to pay their portion, so were Paid in full & can print our Etickets.

Never had them Wait this long to pay their portion.  What is going on?

Anyone else have Problem recently with Casino/CBS taking care of their portion of your comp cruise? 🧐

 

 

I had to same thing happen to me on my Crown Princess cruise this past January and eventually the cruise came up paid in full. I have another casino comp booked on the Sky for next February, and already booked and paid for our excursions and the $100 deposit/OBC was deducted from the cost which was nice that we did not have to wait until the cruise to use this OBC.

On ‎3‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 4:44 PM, memoak said:

If you are a slot player they will load the free play onto your cruise card - you cannot cash out the free play you need to play through the whole amount.  If you play table games you get special chips.  You cannot get some with slots and some with table games - needs to be one or the other

So if I were to put my cruise card into a slot machine, then put in the pin, and then enter $50 for example to be down loaded into the machine out of my $1,000 of free play, and say after playing $10 of the $50 of downloaded free play I hit $200 on a bonus spin, can I cash that $200 out which would leave $40 of free play in the machine along with the $900 of free play still on my card that was not downloaded ? Is this right ??

I recently received a balcony cabin comp offer from Princess which I used it to book a Sky Princess cruise for next February. Since I usually sail with NCL and get the cabin comps from them but never free play,  that being said I have no clue how Princess or cruise free play in general works. Do the casino give you a voucher for the free play like land casinos do or is the free play loaded somehow on your cruise card ? 

16 hours ago, tjcletzgo said:

Hello!  My last 2 cruises I got a bad cold on the ship, once at the beginning and once at the end.  I want to purchase  disposable glove for the buffet as well as other high visited areas.  Can anyone recommend a box of gloves, the loose fitting ones at the cheapest price?

 

Thanks for any advice 🙂

I have been an R.N. going on 41 years and the last 20 of those years working as a triage nurse at a VA primary care clinic so I am going to try to give you some professional practical recommendations regarding your concerns.

The common cold is a viral upper respiratory infection which is spread by droplet aerosolization which means infected droplets of respiratory secretions through the mechanisms of coughing, sneezing, and not fully contained nose blowing by an infected individual enter the air as droplets which can then enter your respiratory tract if you breath these droplets in. If your immune system is not up to snuff and not able to destroy these invading viruses then you too can contract the same respiratory virus contained in the droplets. Outside of the body these respiratory viruses do not have a long life while floating in the air or landing on surfaces because they need the food source of a human host to remain alive and active. So, wearing gloves offers little help in protection from these type of viruses because if the infected droplets land on your gloved hand and you touch your face around your nose and mouth those droplets are still on the gloves and can enter either orifice and can still infect. This is why frequent hand washing and face washing and use of hand sanitizer and facial wipes offers greater protection because you are removing frequently the infected droplets that may have landed on your hands and face. And for those who choose to use protective masks they too need to be changed frequently because once they become moist from your own secretions their protective barrier becomes less and less effective the moister the mask gets.

Noro Virus, Salmonella, E Coli, etc. are gastrointestional infections which mechanism of contraction is the fecal oral route. Transmission of these gastrointestional illnesses can happen in several ways. Most often on cruise ships those who have these infections that produce infected diarrhea and vomitus do not adequately wash their hands after having a bout of diarrhea and vomiting then go on to touch surfaces which can include food serving utensils  along with food in the buffet. Then the next person comes along and uses that contaminated utensil or goes on to ingest the food that has been touched by the infected individual and this is the most common mechanism of how these GI infections spread. The same can happen when an infected individual prepares food in an unsanitary manner. Although not as frequent, infected diarrhea particles can remain in the water of public bathroom toilets, and the next individual who uses that toilet through their flushing those infected particles can aerosolize in the air and enter one's mouth and go on to cause infection. This is one of the reasons why when there is a Noro outbreak on a ship it is recommended to try to not use the public restrooms. So again, unless you change your gloves as frequently as you would wash your hands they offer no better protection than good handwashing with an antibacterial soap or use of sanitizer when the ability to wash your hands is not available. I would only recommend use of gloves as a barrier to prevent skin infections such as Staff and MRSA for those individuals who have open wounds and lesions on their hands such as in the case of  bleeding/weeping eczema because their skin being their first line of defense against these types of infections is not intact and too frequent washing with antibacterial soaps which are very drying can worsen their skin problems.

So in a nutshell this old nurse recommends first and foremost in the protection against contracting these infectious illnesses is the maintenance of you own health. Strong immune systems begin in the gut, so maintaining high levels of good gut bacteria which kills the infection causing bad organisms which can be enhanced by simply eating yogurt or if your doctor approves taking OTC probiotics. Maintaining proper hydration is also another must to ward off dehydration which dehydration dries out the mucous membranes of the mouth and nose which can cause these delicate tissues to crack open allowing germs to enter and set up house. Rule of thumb, if you get to the point you are experiencing thirst then you are already low level dehydrated and down a liter give or take of body fluid volume so don't wait to experience thirst before you take that drink of water. Consumption of alcohol is very dehydrating and to a lesser extent coffee and tea. So to prevent any of these liquids causing you to become dehydrated drink equal if not more water along with them. Adequate rest is also very important. Taking short naps and just lying down for a 1/2 an hour or so throughout the day gives all the functions of your body time to recharge from all the energy it has expended on activities is does not usually do while cruising. And a great deal of that energy is expended digesting foods, and as we cruisers know we are eating more frequently and in larger quantities than we do on a day to day basis in our everyday lives. 

And lastly, those cold symptoms that show up on day 2 of your cruise if you flew to the port it is likely the airplane where you caught your cold and not on the cruise ship. The air quality on most planes is not very good, and that along with being in such tight quarters with a large number of individuals all breathing in an out the same stale air this is a very ripe environment for the spread of upper respiratory infections.

I am sailing on the Crown on 1/26/19 and a few days ago received an e-mail from Princess relaying the following information which it looks like things have recently changed with regards to check-in.

PROGRESSIVE CRUISE CHECK-IN INFORMATION

To help facilitate a smooth start to your voyage we have implemented a progressive cruise check-in schedule. Please arrive at the check-in times listed below.  If you have purchased a Princess Cruise Plus Package/Transfer, your check-in time will be provided at your hotel or the airport.  Guests traveling on shared transport arriving as a group will be checked in together. Priority check-in will be available to guests with Priority Boarding within the allocated check-in times.  Boarding will commence shortly after check-in. Please do not arrive prior to the start of cruise check-in as your cabin will not be ready.

12:30 PM - Aloha & Lido Decks: Cabins on these decks begin with A & L

1:00 PM: Dolphin & Emerald Decks: Cabins on these decks begin with D & E

1:30 PM - Caribe Deck: Cabins on this deck begin with C

2:00 PM - Plaza & Riviera Decks: Cabins on these decks begin with P & R

2:30 PM - Baja Deck: Cabins on this deck begin with B

Thank you for your attention to this notification.

On 12/6/2018 at 12:37 AM, Go-Bucks! said:

My dad is almost 90, lives in his own condo, still works fulltime (from home) and still drives!  He took care of mom at home until she passed away a few years ago.  He walks on his own (a little slower now) and cooks and cleans.  He wants to work and luckily he has a desk job.  But he couldn't understand why I'm retiring next month (at 65.5), but I tried to explain to him that as a staff nurse at a hospital for nearly 30 years doing 12-hr shifts on my feet all day (walking 3-5 mi. each day), my body is wearing out and my arthritis is hurting more.  I will still teach nursing part time and spend alot of time with my children, grandchildren and hobbies....and, of course, traveling. 

 

Different occupations can often determine when someone retires....demanding physical jobs are difficult to continue into the late 60's and beyond.  I will miss my nursing career (Labor & Delivery and Mother/Infant), as well as my coworkers, but I want to enjoy retirement with a healthy body.

You are very right regarding your last sentence. I will turn 62 next month, and this coming spring will mark my 41 years of working as an R.N. After 2 years of working med/surg the next 20 years of work was pretty much all ER nursing. I knew at that point no way could I do another 20 in the ER, and fortunately for me I managed to get a job working for the Federal Government at a VA hospital based primary care clinic as a case manager. My position is a desk job, 98% phone work, and 2% face to face patient contact doing mostly chronic disease management and occasional non urgent triage. I have worked in this position for going on 19 years, and it is truly a blessing for me personally and professionally. Not only am I so honored to be able to provide care to our most deserving Veterans, having to work no weekends, no holiday, no shift rotation, and from day 1 of this job getting 5 weeks of annual paid vacation this has allowed me the paid time off to do quite a bit of traveling.

So, I am planning on working another give or take 4.5 years to build up my FERS pension and TSP/401K, and my current job will allow me to do that. My husband is already retired being 5 years older than I which I have no angst over,  because he now does pretty much all the cooking and cleaning which we used to share when he was working which took up a chunk of both our free time. I look at it this way, if our health should decline or worse before or shortly after I retire we have no regrets and consider ourselves very blessed with me now a 15 year cancer survivor ( 🙂 ) every day of my life following my cancer bump in the road is a gift even if work is a part of it.

BTW, our 14th cruise is at the end of this month which is a 10 day southern Caribbean on the Crown Princess and we are as excited for this cruise as we were for our first!!!

I developed pretty bad left knee pain several years back and attributed it to that knee being injured pretty bad in a car accident just after getting my driver's license at age 16. Shortly after my knee pain began I happened to have a routine exam with my doctor and she had ordered lab work done prior. My doctor happened to test my Vitamin D level along with other routine labs and she found my level severely low and put me on high dose Vitamin D for a couple of weeks and then onto a daily maintenance dose which I have taken ever since. Within a few days of taking that high dose Vitamin D my knee pain went away. And I can tell you if I become lax with taking my maintenance dose for a week or so boom my knee pain comes back and then goes away again when I restart taking Vitamin D again.

Vitamin D has many functions and is very important in maintaining joint and bone health along with maintaining strong immune function. Not surprising when my level was low, in addition to my knee pain I had been experiencing one respiratory infection after another which I believed was related to my high exposure to all types of germs working in healthcare. Once my Vitamin D level maintained normal range for awhile those frequent respiratory infection became very infrequent.

For those suffering with joint health issues especially those living in climates with long winters like I do where we get minimally sun exposure which is where the bulk of our Vitamin D comes from, it would be worth your effort to have your doctor check your level and then treat if your level turns up low which may help improve your joint health and in turn lessen or possibly eliminate your joint pains.

On 1/3/2019 at 12:25 AM, Go-Bucks! said:

OK.....it finally happened....I retired today!!! 

 

It still feels like a dream.  My coworkers gave me a surprise retirement party and some nice gifts.  Had a great potluck lunch and took lots of pictures.  Many hugs and tears.  When I walked out of the building it was hard to believe that I won't be going back.

 

But....in 3 weeks I'll be boarding the ship and sailing around the world for the next 6 months.  I'm very excited for this new chapter in life. 

Good for you on both your retirement and upcoming cruise!!! 

I watch cruise vlogs here and there but none I follow on a regular basis. But I do follow two travel vlogs and very much enjoy both and IMO both are exceptionally well done. The first is Kara & Nate who are a young couple from the Nashville area on a quest to visit 100 countries. The places they have visited and the things they have done such as their trek to Everest base camp are amazing. The other is Traveling Robert who is from Miami and travels with his wife as well as alone mostly around  the US in his small travel trailer he calls Minitini. Check both out as I think most who like to travel land and sea would enjoy them.

1 hour ago, stampincrazyinTX said:

I've never been on a Bermuda cruise so please forgive my ignorance.  Does the casino stay open for those three days while you're docked in Bermuda?  If not, perhaps that has something to do with only being offered the 20% off?  Perhaps they don't see enough casino revenue on those cruises.  Who knows!  

Yes, Bermuda is a very popular cruise for all lines that do it mainly because so many from the northeast that don't care to fly to the port can drive or take a bus or train to the ports in NY, NJ, and Boston. I did an NCL Bermuda cruise on the Breakaway several years back which was a new ship at the time and this was it's 3rd sailing. CAS comped me a spa minisuite for this cruise likely because I had lost a boatload of money in the casino on my previous NCL cruise. It was a wonderful cruise on a wonderful ship, and even though I live only an hour ride to Boston it was worth the almost 3 hour drive to NY to cruise on this ship. And, it was so nice after getting in at 7:00 am we were back in R.I. at 11:am.

I have done just about every Caribbean cruise, Alaska, Panama Canal, and Italy and my Bermuda cruise still remains one of my favorites.

1 hour ago, MrMike45 said:

We have been on 17 cruises with NCL within the last 7 years.  All except the first one was booked thru CAS with comped/discounted rooms.  

 

Our last 6 cruises, between my and my wife's play we were comped either an Ocean View or Balcony room.  And paid an admin fee to upgrade to a Balcony or Mini-Suite.  

 

Our last cruise was in October 2018.  We were again comped an Ocean View.  We were taking our son on his first cruise, and my mother who is disabled.  We traded in the OV comp for 2 Inside room comps.  And then paid to upgrade one of the insides to a balcony room, so we were directly across from each other.  

 

I just emailed them today to ask about booking our next cruise, in May 2019, to Bermuda.  

 

I was told "based on our past play, the best we can offer is a 20% casino discount on an Inside room"?  I asked how and why our comps would decrease so dramatically, especially since the last cruise we took was 3 months ago in which we did a fair amount of play in the casino.  Waiting to hear back from them on some silly BS algorithm I'm sure, but wanted to post here since you guys are 20x more knowledgeable.  Does this make any sense at all?  

Of all my 7 NCL cruises, the first was a balcony comp from a local casino, 5 were balcony comps from CAS, and the last was a Haven Spa suite comp also from CAS on a 10 day Italy coastal cruise going on 2 years ago. On the first day of this last cruise I hit a jackpot for $7,500 which supplied my usual amount of money that I gamble on a cruise and the remainder came home with me which was not a huge amount. In between all my NCL comped cruises I could not begin to count the email cabin comp offers I would get from CAS, but following my Italy cruise I have not heard a peep from them. Interestingly, after not sailing with Princess for 8 years which I did 6 cruises with them the only perks I was lucky to get from the same amount of play that I would do on NCL was a free specialty dinner or a drink or two while playing in the casino. Don't think back then Princess was offering cruise comps or discounts, and that is the reason I jumped ship to NCL. Last year out of the blue I got an email from Princess  after no sailing with them for 8 years a balcony comp offer on a number of cruises and decided to take up the comp offer on a 10 day Caribbean cruise sailing at the end of this month. Since making that booking over 8 months ago Princess continues to send me balcony cabin comp offers.

Moral of the story, when you think you have figured out the cabin comp system then comes the monkey wrench that upsets that apple cart. I think in my case with regards to CAS tossing me to the curb was because I was a decent winner on my last cruise with them, and I  had the same thing happen to me with Foxwoods land casino. Last February Foxwoods began sending me weekly free play of a few hundred dollars and my husband and I decided to take a ride up to play a bit and to have dinner to celebrate both our birthdays that month. With that free play I hit nearly a $16,000 jackpot on a penny progressive slot not even playing max, and after that the free play that I had for the remaining weeks of February disappeared and I have not heard from them or been back since.

You may think you played a good deal on your last NCL cruises which you likely did, but if you consistently won a good amount of your play back you become a winner and not a looser. And casinos don't like consistent winners they like and cater to consistent losers which is why they remain in business.

Might be worth your time and effort to call CAS back which you will likely get a different agent who will likely give you an entirely different offer which could be better than the one you have been currently offered.

3 hours ago, VideoTech said:

 

just play for the fun of it, with money you can afford to lose. And you WILL lose it, otherwise the casino wouldn't be in business! 

 

ain't that the truth!!!

I have very much enjoyed reading your review and thanks for sharing. My husband and I are doing this exact itinerary on 1/26//19 and we too after 7 cruises with Princess have not sailed with them in 8 years. After our last Princess cruise which was to Alaska and was great we jumped ship to NCL after receiving a cabin comp from a local casino. Following that cruise the comps kept coming directly from NCL so we continued to sail with this line. I will admit the smaller NCL ships can't compete with similar sized Princess ships, but hands down sailing to Bermuda from NYC on the NCL Breakaway and our Italy coastal cruise in a Haven suite on the NCL Epic were thus far our best all around cruises ever. Despite these wonderful NCL cruising experiences I certainly missed those beautiful Princess grand foyers which are much better optics than huge TV screens that are the focus in most of NCL's foyers, and all the other little things that make Princess Princess. Not sure if this upcoming cruise will lure me back to being a Princess only cruiser again because at this point and time in my cruising life it is more about visiting different destinations than the onboard experience. 

Knowing in advance about the Princess syrup coffee I already  purchased our coffee cards along with a few cases of water . Also already booked the Crown Grill and Sabatini's on the nights and times we wanted to go, as well as booked all our excursions which are pretty low key short length tour type excursions since we wanted this cruise to be more about R & R and we have been to most of these islands several times in the past. So I think Princess will deliver on my expectations for this cruise, and just being able to escape the cold New England winter even if for just 10 days will be a treat and hopefully we will come back new. 🙂

Again, thanks for sharing.

My husband and I are also booked on this 1/26/19 sailing. We too like to eat in the specialty restaurants on formal nights, so I figured they would likely fall on Sunday 1/27 and Saturday 2/2 and already booked a table for two at the Crown Grill for 5:30 on 1/27 and the same for Sabatini's on 2/2 at 7:30. If formal nights don't happen to fall this way no big deal as we would eat at both these restaurants anyway during the cruise.

My upcoming January 10 day Southern Caribbean Medley on the Crown in a comped balcony which we upgraded to a minusuite for a modest cost compliments of the Princess Players Club. With paying out-of-pocket for Taxes, Fees, Port Expenses, Vacation Protection, Upgrade, and Gratuities our cost for this cruise minus air and personal expenses is $600/pp. Sure I had to gamble to get this comp but no more than what the actual cost of the cruise is. So I guess you could say I get rewarded for loosing, but if I do win along the way which I usually do get back at least my out-of-pocket expenses I don't get punished either because the comps keep coming.