TravelingEA

We have ours booked for August 2020. We have a group of 8 and needed 3 adjacent rooms. We will watch for specials and refare if it is worthwhile and watch for the 3 for free promotion.

We have rented a car, picked it up at Canada Place and returned it in Seattle. We have also taken Amtrak both from Seattle to Vancouver and from Vancouver to Seattle. If I remember right, Amtrak was about $45 per person. The car rental was about $50  US $ for a carload.

We have been able to be on board as soon as 11:30 am. I never look to see what the suggested time is.

It was raining when we left San Pedro in February. There were blue tarps covering the luggage carts. We did not have anything wet.

Since they changed the coffee card, we buy Starbucks Via Instant coffee to take along.

1 hour ago, Dani24 said:

You'll need to wait until you're onboard to book your "free" specialty dining. Go ahead and cancel your paid reservation. Once you're on the ship call the DINE line to switch your reservation to your preferred date/time. I haven't seen anyone have a problem changing the pre-scheduled time.

 

Gratuities are applied to your shipboard account each day, so on the ship you should see the charge and a reversal.

On our last cruise to the Mexican Riviera, we had free gratuities. This was on the Ruby. The gratuities did not show up at all on the shipboard account. There was not a charge and reversal, just no daily gratuity listed.

I you have any left by the next to last day of the cruise, use the casino as an ATM. My wife & I both left the ship with about $200 from OBC in cash and a bill of $11.52.

The Ruby that the OP is going on does not have Sabitinis. They have Curtis Stone. Also no Alfredo's.

I was on the Ruby and did not notice it, but I normally don't have much to drink on a cruise. 

2 hours ago, LXdad said:

Ok I am gonna shoot for 130 to 2pm. Thank you all so much!

While you are out pay a visit to Pike Market to get some fresh flowers to take on the ship with you. Only about $5 for a nice bunch. Our room steward even found a vase for us.

We went on Feb 2. Even though LA was 100 degrees warmer than Northern WI, it was rainy and cool until we got to Cabo, and again coming back from Mexico. It was in the low to mid 50's. 70's & 80's in Mexico.

We just booked on board a couple of weeks ago. We normally do not book on board, however, we will be doing a family cruise in 2020. Since the rest of the family was not with us, we were able to buy FCD for them, as long as we did the booking then. So we got $100 deposits for all 8 of us, and everyone was able to get OBC. No need to transfer to an agent, because the agent for this cruise was named and they received the notification that we booked. 

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just so I get this right as I have never gambled in the Princess casino. I have let's say $600 in refundable OBC. I go to a slot machine. Insert my card and load up the slot machine with $600 credit. I push the button a few times, then push the "Cash Out" button. Then I take the slip over to the cashier and get paid the $600 minus whatever I lost. Is that pretty much it?

Yes, that is how it works. We had about $200 in OBC last week and that is what we did.

If you have any left by the next to last day of the cruise, cash it out at the casino. Then you do not have to wait for Princess to send a check.

The Coral has a small international cafe near the casino, the Island does not have an international cafe - unless one was added during dry dock.

14 minutes ago, Mary Ellen1 said:

Hi there,

 

We're cruising next week, on the Golden.  We're also planning a cruise with family members for sometime this summer.  Anyone know if we can purchase a Future Cruise deposit for them (and us, too), if they're not on next week's cruise with us?  

 

Thanks cruisers.

We did last week for our kids. In order to do it, we had to book the cruise while we were on board. If the family members have not cruised before, be sure to use refer a friend to get a little OBC.

We were on the Ruby last week. One of the waiters in the dining room had a very small patter with him. The waitstaff all had them in their pockets that they would pull out. I asked about the small patter. His comment was "Cutbacks" with a very large smile.

Thanks for the review. We will go from the frozen Midwest on Friday to board the Ruby on Saturday. 

We are taking our grandson, who has Type 1. When we asked about it, they suggested that we notify Princess beforehand. 

Thanks, We will be on the Ruby on Feb 2. We were on the Royal in December, Crazy Rich Asians was on that ship, but not Bohemian Rhapsody. All the rest look the same.

We were told from the person in the future cruise sales that we could get FCC for our kids (who were not on that cruise) if we booked while we were on board. The deposit for them would have been $100 as well.

10 minutes ago, wrongwaywatson said:

I think anyone can use the specialty "punches", but only the card bearer can use the brewed  coffee.   I don't like anything except the brewed.   I didn't mind buying one, when I could use it over 2 cruises for brewed.  

There is no longer a coffee card issued. It is loaded on to your cruise card. It is not quite as good as it used to be. I used to buy them for the unlimited brewed coffee, but never used 15 punches. I have 1 unused card and 1 with about 1/2 of the punches used. I have 2 cruises booked prior to 8-31, so I should be able to use them up. I probably will not buy any more, since now they expire at the end of your cruise.

We were in our room by 11:30 am on December 8th. I don't know what time the "requested time" was. The were handing out cards at check in saying cabins would not be available until 1:00, but we went straight to our cabin and it was ready. This was on the Royal.

We were on this cruise as well. The comedian was excellent! To bad you missed him! We had a balcony cabin, and about 1/2 the time we could not get the balcony door opened. Our steward said he would report it to maintenance, but the last night the door would not open.

"Once on the Royal you'll get spoiled & it's hard top return to one of the older ships again." floridalover5623, I much prefer the older ships. Much larger balcony on Caribe Deck and a walkaround deck 7.

I would rather have them do an actual fare reduction today, instead a $1 deposit.