Thrak

We did not tip while onshore in Australia or New Zealand. I don't like to mess with other cultures that don't normally tip. Why mess with things? We do tip in restaurants and we usually do tip our cabin steward onboard. Twice we have had stewards that were so completely terrible that we failed to tip them. I mean they were really horrible.

I did give a $100 tip once but it was to my niece who is also my masseuse. She lost everything when the town of Paradise burned in the Camp Fire. (She and her family also stayed in our house for the first month after the fire. It worked out wonderfully as we were leaving the next day for a 28 day cruise.) I don't know if she ever even realized I had tipped that much as it was on a POS unit and I never mentioned it then or later.

1 hour ago, Ombud said:

Does anyone have a recent menu (2024s)

https://profcruise.com/princess-oceannow-beverage-menu/

Definitely remember to cash out each tie you leave a machine. Don't forget to cash out and go to the cashier window on the next to last day of the cruise in order to get any winnings or, in my case, any "leftover bits of money" out before the end of the cruise. If you wait to disembarkation day it's too late and you will have to wait for Princess to mail a check.

31 minutes ago, Ombud said:

Airlines are tagging those who do skiplagging with several banning those who do it and a few canceled return flights. In that Redding is your home airport you'd get home but here's hoping you're not flagged for it

Redding hasn't usually been our home airport. We are flying out of there soon but it will be the first time we've flown in or out of that airport. I was advised by two different airline personnel to simply miss that flight but not to try to do it "officially". I had originally intended to use Redding both ways. When our plans changed I checked into changing our booking and dropping the second leg but, by that time, rates had gone up significantly and it was going to be a fair amount more to rebook for just the one leg so I let it go. For the amount we fly the airlines have no worries about us becoming "repeat offenders".

10 minutes ago, DonEllen said:

Actually it is NOT listed at all. That is why I had the question.

 

Weird. We've done two Alaska cruise tours and everything was listed in detail in the Travel Summary. Perhaps because they were the connoisseur cruise tours. Sorry for the inaccurate info.

It's all listed in your Travel Summary. Easy to see what you have if you look there.

Caribbean Princess: If you eat in the buffet try going all the way to the back - past the main offerings - to the Planks/Steamers area. (Those two venues are only open for dinner.) At breakfast that is where you can get fried to order eggs, made to order omelets, etc. At lunch they tend to have a build your own Ramen and build your own burrito stations.

At least that's how it was on our last CB cruise. Check it out. If I'm no longer correct you have lost nothing but about a minute of time. If I'm correct it is a much better choice at breakfast and, depending on one's taste, can be a much better choice for lunch.

Whatever you do do not sign up for the Marriage Match game!!!

If you want a quiet place to read or play cards or anything of that sort during the day head up to Adagio on Sun Deck (16) aft. It's a nice bar that isn't open for business during the day. There is also a "back door" to the outside.

I am so very tired of the tipping culture in the US. I bought a pizza the other night. It's from a take and bake place. I ordered it online then I had to go pick it up, bring it home, and bake it myself. The website wants to automagically add a 15% tip. Of course I'm "free to add more". There are articles online about Self Checkout machines asking for tips. GAH!!!!!

Denmark uses DKK.  England uses GBP.  Norway uses NOK. Sweden uses SEK. Don't tip in EUR. If you must tip hit an ATM for local currency.

Not sure what you have but: On our last cruisetour we had vouchers that were only good for purchases while on shore - not on the ship. My wife used them at the Kenai Princess Lodge for tee shirts, etc. I don't remember if they were usable for booking excursions at the lodges or not.

Note: Just checked the old Travel Summary and we each showed a $50 voucher.

8 hours ago, Yehootu said:

I've had to replace a battery on a 14 day B2B, but didn't have to on a 28 day or a 26 day B2B. What's the longest you've had one last?

I "think" it was about 38 days. Can't remember exactly when we replaced them. Might have been a bit longer. My wife would likely have a better guess but she's out of town today. I'll shoot her a text and see if she answers.

Edit: Text from son. They have just left the VA Palo Alto so my wife will be driving at the moment and won't be replying to my text.

Haven't purchased a stand-alone meal package but have done 13 day and 15 day Connoisseur Cruise Tours that included "most" meals. Our first stay at the Fairbanks lodge we had a multi-course dinner with beer and wine included as well as a good breakfast the next morning. At the Denali lodge we had a dinner in the main restaurant that included an entree, a dessert, and a non-alcoholic drink. My wife ordered the crab legs which, in 2016, were listed at $55. (She had them again in 2019 but I don't remember the cost at that time.) I don't remember what I ordered either time but it was no cost to me. We also had a breakfast at another venue. I believe we had a choice of two places and chose the buffet in a bar which was quite good. I don't remember where we ate at McKinley lodge (I think we had a choice of two places at the lodge) but both dinner and breakfast were included. At Copper River lodge we had dinner and breakfast included at the lodge restaurant. At Kenai lodge we had an excellent dinner - choice of beef or chicken or veggie - with dessert and both wine and beer included as well as breakfast.

You may have noticed that lunch was generally not an included item. I have no idea how this compares to the stand-alone meal plan but we were quite happy with the meals included with the Connoisseur Cruise Tours.

8 minutes ago, that said:

If you upgrade at the Guest Service desk, does that employee receive “points”?

Not sure but doubtful. I would suspect they fall into a different category.

3 minutes ago, that said:

Please can you explain “points”?

I simply meant that when a crew member signs someone up for a beverage package, a wine tasting, etc. it counts toward them getting perks such as extra time off, extra days when they can go ashore, etc. It can even count toward promotions. It's the same when you take the time to fill out a "made a difference" card for an employee and drop it off at the Customer Service desk or when you give them praise in your after cruise survey.

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

The room. We were in a normal balcony cabin and that teeny tiny shower with the shower curtain that I developed a deeply intimate relationship with was just not something I can or will ever tolerate again. I also hated the lack of a couch, but that paled in significance to the shower situation.

I am 6' 1" and weigh over 200 lbs. so not an exceptionally small person. I will never understand the issues people have with the shower curtain unless it is their very first experience. I simply get the bottom of it wet and then stick it to the bottom of the wall. It never encroaches on me or gives me any issues at all. It's not difficult and it works quite well. If that is not a suitable method one can always clip a few binder clips to the bottom of the curtain and that keeps it "at bay" as the weight makes it hang straight down. (I did this for my second and third cruises as I hadn't learned the easier method until then. My first cruise I had no clue and did the "shower curtain tango" but, like I said, it was my first ever cruise and I had no idea about the shower.)

32 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Is the cost the same? $20/person/day if upgrading onboard?

Yep. No different at all.

18 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

If I book Princess Plus, can I upgrade to Princess Premium through the cruise planner or once onboard?

If you wait until you are on the ship you can use OBC to pay for the upgrade. You can also get a crew member some "points" for selling you the upgrade if that is something you would like to do.

You can get an idea regarding drink prices HERE. While this doesn't list all drinks available on the ship it will give you an idea regarding the $15 Plus limit vs the $20 Premier limit and, if you should have a favorite brand of liquor, it should assist you to tell if your brand fits in a particular package.

Of course, there are some liquors that won't fit within the price constraints of either package. Many wines are available only by the bottle and some of those are crazy expensive. Two liquors that I know of for sure that don't fit the limits are shown below. These prices are for a single shot.

@Strauss1020: The solution to your issue is obvious. Don't sail with Princess. Sail with Disney. problem solved. No need for so much drama.

I've read that, on ships such as Discovery Princess, the Retreat Pool can be quite windy which doesn't sound great. I guess I will find out soon as I would imagine my wife will want to at least check out that pool when we sail.

17 minutes ago, cheetosrevil said:

Thanks again. I think I misunderstood your "on our cruise" comment, but you got my gist.

Yes, "our" was intended to denote my wife and myself. Sorry about that. It's my "belief" that Kristoff Greyling will take over as CD on April 13. Here is a snip from the listing on the Princess Senior Ship Staff, inc Cruise Directors & Entertainment Directors thread.

Just now, cheetosrevil said:

Thanks, Thrak. Although I will not be on your cruise, I will be on the 3/16 cruise. The app shows Kristoff, but the CC thread shows Cole. It's all good..it's not the CD I've had for my previous cruises on Discovery.

Kristoff is supposed to take over sometime in April. I had been wondering if he would be on for our April 3rd cruise but the activities in the app clearly list Cole. I would suspect he will be leaving at the end our our cruise which ends on April 13.

28 minutes ago, memoak said:

I can’t even see the ship schedule on a cruise leaving in mid April

Our cruise sails April 3rd and the app has populated with the activities. It does have incomplete info in that, no matter what activity is listed, it shows: Venue - No location found. Even it it's listed as "such and such in the Piazza" or "Mimosas in Effy" the venue notice is still the same. Obviously not quite ready yet.