PTMary

Then you are clearly not paying attention. Food quality in the regular MDRs has dropped, while exclusive restaurants with higher quality choices are being added so the wealthy can eat away from the masses. Public areas of older ships are being walled off for expensive suites, denying the peons access to areas that were open to all. Newer ships are increasing the percentage of public space for exclusive use by the wealthy, while reducing the percentage of space for the lower classes. I work hard for my money as well. Not all of us have high paying jobs that allow more discretionary spending on luxuries. Some of us need to carefully budget to be able to afford even a basic cruise on a mainstream cruise line and cannot justify spending even more for higher levels of pampering. That is why we book on mainstream lines instead of luxury lines. I would bet that I work just as hard, if not harder, than people who can afford suites and higher levels of service. So don't use that false "I work hard for my money" to justify you getting benefits at the expense of the rest of us. We work hard too.

Most of us on CC would not be "99% of Brits" and would travel predominantly in areas that tourists would visit, so your point is moot. Most of us care about doing the right thing where we would typically visit, not what is the practice in some small village off the beaten path or tucked away in a residential area. It would be nice if "100% of Brits" would do the same thing when visiting foreign counties or cruise on foreign cruise ships.

We have friends who are Brits and live in Bristol. Their college age daughter is a waitress in a local restaurant off the tourist path. She receives tips all the time. A tip doesn't have to be paid in cash. It can be added to the bill. From what you say, I am guessing that some locals are cheaper than others - just like here in the States.

The first step to addiction recovery is admitting you have a problem. I applaud you for taking that first step. 😇

I would bet that thieves would say the same thing. 🙄

Based on the narrow scope of the topic of this thread, only a small percentage of customers will be affected. I don't think Carnival has anything to worry about. If the people are "loyal", as you say, they will deal with it and stay. For heaven's sake, we're talking about eliminating a tiny fraction of the amenities for a small fraction of the customers, not scrapping large aspects of the experience.

Hit the "+" to the left of the "Quote" button and the "+" on any additional posts you want to quote and you will be able to include two or more quotes.

Nicely put! Pretty much describes it as well as possible. 🤣

I would argue that the chair hog is the one invading private property and creating a possible conflict and disturbing of the peace situation. The lounger is not his/hers. It belongs to the cruise line and is not there for the chair hog to claim when they are not there. Period! Each day in Patters Princess has a statement in bold print asking for folks not to save chairs around the deck and in shows. Princess has made their statement clear. Mature, responsible passengers are expected to oblige. Chair hogs can expect to be treated as selfish, entitled people who don't deserve any sympathy.

We traveled with a couple who liked to enter the dining room right when it opened when traditional dining was the norm, and we would sometimes join them waiting at the doors if we all had a drink together in one of the lounges. I never - repeat - NEVER saw "hundreds" of people waiting to enter. Two or three dozens, perhaps, by absolutely not "hundreds". And I would guess that the people who arrived early wanted to pick their favorite chairs at their assigned table. On a cruise for just the two of us, we shared a table that was located in a corner with six other people who always arrived before us - they might have been waiting before the doors opened as you have observed. We spent every dinner during the entire cruise staring at these six people and the blank wall behind them. Never once did any of them offer to switch places so we could look out towards the dining room at least one time. And they pretty much kept their conversations between the six of them. In retrospect, I wish we had arrived before opening at least once to score the better seats. Unfortunately, I often take too much time getting ready, and we always arrived after everyone else. I am so happy that traditional dining has gone the way of the dinosaurs! No more of those bad table problems!

Post #22 explains why. LOL!!

Well, traditions are indeed important. But, I'm not sure I would want to fight off homeless people to gather enough cans to save a few bucks. "Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting!" 😁 As an aside - my hubby and I have been throwing our extra change in a box for who knows how long. He finally decided to take them to a CoinStar machine to cash them in. He ended up with $375.46 when they were all deposited! Now we have paid for our specialty dining and my massages on the next cruise. Every penny, nickle, dime, quarter and half dollar counts! 😉

Or spend $6 for reusable plastic holders with screw on wire loops that require almost zero effort to use, are almost impossible to damage, and don't need tools to be carried to be installed or be cut off. After spending thousands of dollars on a cruise and transportation, I doubt that extra $6 will break the bank. Plus, they are reusable, so the cost will be spread out over multiple cruises. I can understand being frugal, but all that effort to save a few bucks on a multi thousand dollar cruise seems like too much of a chore.

What kind of a business decision is it to follow the competition instead of being better than the competition? It used to be that being unique was a plus. But today, with the dumbing down of life brought to us by social media, being like everyone else is now the goal.

We always took advantage of the Fast Pass system Disney had for years. It was free for all and no one had an undue advantage over the next park guest, and only one jump at a time possible to make it even for everyone. Considering that John Padgett was part of the team that developed the additional fee bypass system, it makes sense that the same thing is happening at Princess now that he is president. We saw the same thing happen to what used to be our favorite cruise line, Celebrity, when Lisa Lutoff-Perlo took over as president and began to introduce the many extra cost features the newer ships are rife with. Then they decided to charge people $15 per day to jump to the front of the line. Where everyone had equal opportunity to make that jump, which was fair to everyone, now only the people willing to pay another $15 (over the already steep $120+ per day to enter the park) can bypass people, while the ones who don't pay that extortionist price stand in line even longer. Thank you Mr. Padgett for looking out for the little guy. (sarcasm)

Or when the quality of the meals in the MDR is lowered to encourage more business in the upcharge specialty restaurants. We have seen this on all mainstream cruise lines in the last decade or so.

Hmmm, I opened up your thread to see what your husband might do that he would have to sleep on the sofa. I was hoping for some juicy drama, but got none! 😂

No one ever said that TAs are the only ones who get great discounted rates on Princess.

It's amazing how some people will refuse to acknowledge something they don't want to accept as fact. Provide proof, and they claim it "proves nothing". It's a common trait of humans in general not to admit they are wrong, so providing facts won't change that mind set for some. They will never admit that someone is better at something than they are. Quite amusing!!

You don't have any less ability than with a TA. In most cases, you still have to talk to someone to get your issue resolved, whether it's a cabin change or getting a reduced fare if they have gone down. An experienced TA will have the same control over your booking as the Princess rep will have. Both will follow the same chain of command to get issues resolved. But, as one poster has said - it's a personal choice. Work with the method you find most comfortable. Some of us very are satisfied with using a TA and enjoy the cost savings they can provide that dealing directly with Princess can not. And if you find direct to Princess to be more to your liking, then that's good as well. In the end, we all get to go on a cruise. And that is what is most important.

Much ado about nothing? Saving hundreds of dollars is not "nothing" to many of us in retirement. You must be rich if you don't care about saving money. Good for you. Many people would envy you for that freedom. Personally, we use a TA for the money we save, which we can allocate to future cruise costs. We're on fixed budgets and have to plan where we spend our retirement income. It's not an unending flow that we can throw at expenses that are higher than they need to be. Many of us have to watch our expenditures and having a TA who can save us hundreds of dollars is a positive. And we give up very little. When you deal directly with Princess, you still have to call, text or email someone. Same as using a TA. And a good TA will have connections that the Princess rep you end up with may not have, or the years of experience that a Princess rep who may be new or been in that position for a short time doesn't yet have. And how much of a difficulty is it to wait a day for an answer? How often does the reason for the call have to be resolved immediately? Not passing judgment, just asking.

We can't miss the point if there isn't one.

We're doing a Hawaii cruise next year and I want to do a wall decoration so the kids can easily find our cabin. I am thinking of these two door covers. Both are thin vinyl and are not self stick like many are. I'll use self stick magnet strips on the backs so it will adhere to the door without damaging it, and making it easily removable. To help choose the one with the best fit, does anyone know how wide the entry doors are? One of the covers is 30" wide and the other is 35.5". Thanks!!!

Reports are that even with the No Upgrades option some people are still getting unwanted upgrades. It's NOT the TA that is at fault here.

We are in the lowest category (ie: cheapest) mini-suite. We are Elite on Celebrity, Diamond on Royal Caribbean and 4-Star Mariner on Holland America. I have cruised more than some people with very high tier loyalty status on Princess, so I find the whole concept of loyalty status as a way to push ahead of other passengers to be elitist. The "status" classes are way over rated, in my opinion. More fluff than substance. I have never, nor will I ever, choose a cruise based on the "status" level I have with that cruise line. And I never throw around that status to get preferential treatment over others. I am just not the kind of person who thinks I should be able to jump ahead of others because of some "do you know who I am" elitist club program. If that's what I needed to feel satisfied, I would only cruise Cunard with their well defined class structure. Nothing personal.