Gert2011

Just got home from our Ruby cruise. They had lots of public service announcements from the captain, which were not always understandable. Servers severed passengers and lots of cleaning was going on. We had over 700 kids on board, so I wonder if the correlation between kids and the virus go hand in hand. Lots of kids in diapers in pools and hot tubs, just saying.

They brought us in an hour early for cleaning.

Hi, thanks for the info. We get on Ruby Jan 7 for 3 cruises. Have been on the Crown sever times when there was sickness but so far, so good. In fact, there was a cabin two doors down where they were putting in sick people for two or three days at a time, even one of the entertainment staff was in there for two days.

Can you tell me what party band was playing on the Ruby when you were on? (the band that plays at sail away and country night etc.) Any good?

Thanks

You can stack your OBC when they are the following -

 

Future Cruise Credit - 17-44 Days $150 Balcony/Mini/Suites; $125 Inside/Outside

11-16 Days $100 Balcony/Mini/Suites; $75 Inside/Outside

7-10 Days $50 Balcony/Mini/Suites; $25 Inside/Outside

3-6 Days $25 Balcony/Mini/Suites; $15 Inside/Outside

 

Military Benefit - 15 Days or More - $250

7-14 Days - $100

1-6 Days - $50

 

Shareholder Benefit - Same as Military

 

You get Future Cruise Credit (FCC) by putting down $100 cruise deposit while you are on your cruise.

 

You get a military benefit if you are a veteran and after sending Princess your DD214. (You send it once and Princess keeps it on record and automatically applies it every cruise - just make sure to check your paperwork - Princess has been known to update their systems and lose this info.)

 

Shareholder Benefit - Buy 100 shares of Princess Stock and provide Princess with Proof of ownership. You have to show this proof every cruise.

 

My husband and I travelled to Hawaii on a 15 day cruise. - We had $200 FCC. $250 Military, $250 Shareholder and $200 from our TA. $900 OBC woohoo! And yes I managed to spend it all. lol

Correction to above. There is no Princess Stock.

You buy 100 or more shares of CCL (Carnival Corp) stock which is good on any Carnival Corp cruise lines and you need to provide proof of ownership no more than 90 days before cruise to get credit.

That helps a lot! I have everything packed in carry on luggage and normally take a memory foam pillow (travel size) with me just in case I get stuck with really bad pillows onboard. I haven't had to use it for a number of cruises, even though it is usually packed and ready for use. This time, my suitcases are packed to the gills and so long as the have some pillows on the soft side, I am good with that....and now don't have to find a place for my travel pillow....whew!! I've ordered my bed topper, as I also like a bed on the softer side. Sounds like if it is a go, I will be very happy with the bedding situation. Thank you so very much for taking the time out to write back on this. :)

Where do you order the bed topper? I've looked and looked on Princess site but can't find.

I was reading the ships with the SCOOPS place has milkshakes, but this is not on the Crown Princess. Are there any places to get a Milkshake on the Crown?? How much do they run, and are they included with the Soda and More package or only the AIBP?

What caribill said. It wasn't called SCOOPS in March of this year on the Crown but they have them. Sometimes the lines were big in the afternoon.

Another secret that hasn't been brought up for awhile is you can always eat lunch in the MDR on embarkation day if you get there before 1:30.

When boarding, staff will NOT tell you where that is, but tell you to go to the Horizon Court where the lines are usually huge.

Go to your room or front desk and look at the Patter and on the back it will tell you which dinning room is open for lunch. They close the entrance at 1:30 sharp.

I'm not sure, I have read the policy, and asked the booking agent about it and you are right, it clearly says 1 bottle per adult, and the booking agent said the same LOL. I guess I just had it in my head we have 2 adults, so it was 2 bottles, but that's total, not per person. Either way I was going to bring what I was bringing regardless of corkage fee so doesn't terribly matter anyway, but wanted to know how they charge. So if I bring 3 bottles, they will automatically charge $15 no matter what, and the first 2 I have to drink in the room? Is that correct?

We have cruised out of LA 13 times with Princess and have only been sent to the wine table once to show our bottles which they record in a booklet.

All the other times they either didn't look at the X-ray machines or looked and sent us on through.

I would say four or five times there wasn't even anyone yet from princess at the wine table when we went through on the early side.

I carry-on Dr. Pepper in 12 pack cans and I would say less than half the time they open my suite case and make sure it is pop.

Princess Secret (not really a secret)

Another thing very few people know about Princess is the Bon Voyage Experience where you pay $39 for a person to visit you on the ship while it is still in port, only offered in certain ports and have to call Princess to find out. Limited to 50 people. http://www.cruisecritic.com/search/results.cfm?q=bon It is on the Princess web site but I can't find it and it was hard to find the last time I found it. (thought I book marked it)

They are the second group to get on right after the people doing back to back cruises. (or third group if there is a wedding party)

Twice when my daughter and co-worker have gone they have been the only two. One other time, there were 5 and once there were like 25.

They get a complementary glass of wine in the main dinning room with lunch, ship tour if they want by the future cruise consultant, an 8x10 picture, and the $39 will apply to a future cruise booked within 60 days. They have to get off about 3:30 so they are on usually about 3.5 hours, less if there is late boarding.

Just booked another one for them for December 2015 and 2016 dates haven't been released yet.

Speaking of wine, they will each also bring a bottle with them through check-in for our December cruise. Remember the policy is one per person :)

Hi there,

 

Where on the Personalizer can we put in the request for distilled water? I was logged in and unable to locate it.

 

Thank you in advance!

 

 

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Log into you Cruise Personalizer, click on Guest Check-in, then click on Medical & Dietary Requests

We just sailed five b2bs on the Crown and the Internet minutes do not carry over.

The maximum amount of cash per voyage you can get charged to your on board account per person went from $300 (it has been this amount for years) to $500 between January 20 and January 22nd on the Crown.

This is done on any slot machine.

Here are the details:

 

http://content.princess.com/princess/?jlxQWO8V08urQu4TF2t.OlAj4g2cicQNj#royalrewards

Oh perfect. I thought I read this or heard this before but I couldn't find it. I have been searching for this. Thanks. It does say one per couple in one place and one per household in another.

We just finished our 11th cruise with Princess and we had the mini bar set-up. I twice asked our room steward if this was suppose to be for us and he reassured us is was. Not sure why he though so and I was wondering if there was some kind of one time bonus on your 11th cruise. I think there was just some kind of mistake.

We just took our 21st and also wondered how the onboard credit would work. There was a card on the desk in our cabin advising that an additional $25 had been added to our account for our 21st cruise. We each got one.

Do you now get this extra OBC on all your Princess Cruises or is this a one time thing?

Great review Reba and it was nice to meet you.

It was a great cruise and we had a fantastic time.

Yes, the Future Cruise guy was more than a little upset about the person not getting off and the internet manager had a rough 29 days.

The only two negatives for us were the audio problems ship wide the whole cruise and the almost non-existent internet after we left Bora Bora. We ended up not using 320 minutes of our internet and wasting about 200 minutes trying to connect.

When they make a ship-wide announcement it cuts the audio ship wide (TV's, lounges, everywhere) so I'm wondering if all the audio cutouts were due to something wrong with that system because it was ship wide.

We have some friends on the ship now and will be interested if they experience audio problems. We get back on the ship in Jan.

Our wonderful waiter had medical problems with 6 days to go. Kidney stones and kidney problems our Jr. waiter told us. Hope he is well again as we want to request him again in January.

Oh, and thanks for the double D batteries. Those ought to last her more than just one day :)

Yup. We have those on the west coast...Seattle to Vancouver or vice versa. Repositioning...

 

 

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On our last cruise there was a guy there that said he got to elite on Princess on 21 cruise days. He had several 1 and 3 day cruises. I think he said he got three credits on a 1 day cruise by booking a suite (2 credits) and booking it as a single.

I know a couple of people have said they are tired of the mention of the OBC (On Board Credit) you get for having 100 Carnival shares, but I did want to say a big "thank you" to the person who posted the template of the letter which they fax in to Princessfor their OBC for each cruise.

 

Having purchased 100 shares I faxed the letter in to Princess, and initially did not see the credit added. However, when I called they said I should check the Cruise Personalizer, and the "Payments and Credits" tab. I checked there, and did see my $100 on board credit.

 

Thanks to everyone who posted this suggestion.

Hi Smokeyham.

Your welcome for the template. I just used it last week and when I checked my cruise personalizer 2 hours after I had faxed it in, it was already showing my $250 credit for the 28 day cruise that we just booked.

That is what I call fast service.

Just purchased extra FCC's last week from home, after a cruise as well as some on the ship. The difference was the we received $150 each on the ship for our longer future cruise and only $125 for the other longer cruise we are doing.

 

New bookings only.

 

Its a great deal either way.

 

 

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The 8 we bought in April on the Caribbean Princess are only worth up to $125 each for long cruises, I think 17 days or more.

FCC is Future Cruise Credit. You can ONLY purchase them while onboard.

Not quite. You can purchase them up to 60 days after your cruise from

Princess by calling.

There has been lots of discussion about Share Holder Benefits. I have used them in the past and think they are a great investment. However, has anyone see a shareholder benefit form which is up to date? The last one I could find was for cruises booked by the end of Feb 2014. I have not seen the new form as of yet and have booked a cruise this March. Not sure if we will receive the benefit or not.

Thanks

I've never used a form. I just have a typed letter that I change the info.

Here is an example.

(date)

Princess Cruises

Booking Support

24303 Town Center Drive, Suite 200

Santa Clarita, CA 91355

FAX 661 753 0180

Dear Princess;

On (date I booked) I booked (number of day) day cruise (booking number) from (departure port).

Enclosed is my (date and company of statement) statement showing ownership of 100 shares of CCL.

Our requested information is;

(My name)

(my booking number)

(name of ship)

(date of departure)

Please credit my account with $(dollar amount of credit you expect) OBC for this cruise per the Shareholder Benefit agreement.

This and the awesome service is what keep us coming back to Princess. Keep up the great work.

Thanks,

(my name)

(my princess passenger number)

Some times the credit has shown up on my account later that day after Faxing it earlier. Sometimes it might take 6 or 7 days to show up. This has worked for me 10 different times and never had a problem, even last Oct when we booked just 10 days before the cruise.

Pia, am I correct that if you do this B2B, both credits do not have to be applied to the same cruise later in 2014?

That is what they told me. It doesn't even have to be back to back. We are doing two in January that we either can combine or use on two separate 7+ day cruises in 2014. I asked very specifically and have the gal's contact info who told me she had gotten that same question the day before and she had to ask her supervisor so she was sure.

We are on one of the "free cruises" in January and since it is only 5 days considering doing a b2b, can we combine the fcc for one 7 day or longer or does it have to be two more cruises. not sure we will have time for two by the end of the year as we are doing a 14 day in Oct.

I asked Princess directly those questions. According to Princess, you can combine multiple 100% FCC cruises or you can use them on multiple 7+ day cruises in 2014. You can NOT split one of the FCC onto two 7+ day sailing in 2014. The gal I talked to said she had been asked that same question the day before and she had gotten the answer from her supervisor so she was sure. I got her name and contact info in case there was any issues.

So we are booked two of the 100% FCC and plan to apply it to a 28 day sailing in 2014. Snagged one suite and one premium balcony before they were gone on the two Jan getaways.

Ok so Nov 7th was the ONLY sailing that did not qualify. UGH.

 

They are saying promo is only for Jan sailings on the 3/4d CA Coastals. Our March booking for 2014 also doesn't qualify. SHeesh!

 

Anyone with later than Jan sailings able to do this promo?

Read the fine print at the bottom and you will see that it is only for two ships on very specific dates.

https://book.princess.com/html/global/cruisedeals/100getaways/

I booked a suite but it hasn't been assigned yet. The wait is killing me....had c 751 on the Ruby in sept....would like a different one now just to see if there are any differences

 

I see on the four dayers they don't offer the specialty restaurant the first night. I wonder if they do the mini bar set up? If so, I'll get two :) that's a lot to keep me happy for four days!!!

 

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Straight from Princess

http://www.princess.com/html/global/popups/metas/suite.html

Are you able to use the FCCs from 2 different promotions on a single cruise? I was told no, but haven't actually called to try yet adding my 50% to the 100% one we've applied. That would be sweet, indeed.

I called yesterday and asked that specific question and was told by Genevieve Hamilton that she had had that same question the day before and got the answer yes from her supervisor.

So I reserved another cruise while on the line with her, and when I got home from church called my TA and booked it. I also had her send me her email so I could save her contact info if we had problems later on.

Genevieve just said you couldn't split up a FCC and put part on one sailing and part on another but you could do two separate sailings with two FCC or combine the two FCCs into one sailing.

Hope that answers your question.

clarification, I was asking about two 100% FCC fairs not one 50% and one 100% but I would think that would be the same thing.

Just booked two out of LA. 1/5 and 1/20 to apply to a 28 day in October of 2014 that we have yet to book. We got a Suite on the 1/20 and only a balcony on the 1/5.

We have never booked anything higher than an obstructed oceanview and I had just got my wife talked into an inside cabin. I probably blew that :)

I went and looked it up, as we are going to have $675 in on board credit, and while I doubt I will have a hard time spending it, I'm currently not drinking, so unless I spa it up, its going to be up to the DH to drink his way through it.

 

The bullets below are from the form you have to submit with your proof of ownership.

 

• This offer is good for only one cabin occupied by the shareholder. Only one benefit OBC can be applied to a cabin, even if there are multiple shareholders in the cabin.

• This offer can only be applied to bookings under deposit.

• This offer cannot be used for casino credits/charges and gratuities.

• This offer is combinable with most cruise fares. Some restrictions apply.

• This offer is combinable with most onboard credit offers.

• This offer is non-transferable.

• Applications to receive this benefit must be made no later than 14 days prior to the cruise departure date.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also from the Carnival Website Shareholder Benefits page - This benefit is not transferable and cannot be used for casino credits/charges and gratuities charged to your onboard account.

 

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=140690&p=irol-sharebenefit

 

So looks like she steared me wrong on the get it out of the casino, but she was correct that it cannot be used for gratuities.

 

By the way, she wasn't trying to give investment advice, the question was posed by another person, "If you bought the stock for the OBC for our 15 day cruise, do you really get $250 OBC and could you sell it when you got back?" She answered the questions asked of her.

 

This is a new form for 2013, so this may be new info that wasn't part of the old form you are used to.

 

All that being said, when I first saw her email, my first thought was how are they going to keep track of that??????

They don't keep track of it separately although that is what the policy says. Got off the Diamond about 2 weeks ago. As others have said, it works for anything. I have used it on 5 cruises for tips, two this year. Never a problem.

Now Norwegian, that is a different story I found out the hard way last summer. I had a little over a $100 OBC I lost at the end of the cruise and had a bill I had to pay. It wasn't OBC because of stock but something else. Took two months of hassle with the head office but I finally got it back. Never again.

yes the walls are magnetic, i found this out on our last cruise and took magnets so that i could put the patter there, invitations and the like there, a great idea.

I think you mean the walls are made of a ferrous metal or has iron in it where a magnet will attract. But that is a good tip.

Onboard credit is onboard credit and can be used for anything charged against your account.

 

Mike:)

I have found that true on Princess but it is NOT true on Norwegian. I found out the hard way after loosing over $100. They eventually issued me a check but it was a bunch of hassle and about 4 months after the cruise. Haven't been back and probably won't.

The evening before getting off the ship, my account balance was $12 that I would owe. Went to bed and the next morning they showed I owed $148. The customer service person at the counter said some of my OBC didn't count for tips and gave me a 800 number to call when I got home.