wallyj

Not on Princess, never had free drinks at PES event. You might be confusing with Celebrity or RCCL. Celebrity has elite happy hour, free drinks from specific list, RCCL used to have unlimited free drinks from specific list in Diamond lounge happy hour, but post pandemic switched to loaded vouchers depending on if D, D+, or Pinnacle(4, 5, 6 vouchers), on your seapass card to be used in most bars anytime per day. Free drinks are served at the CCP, Captain circle party for usually Platinum and above in loyalty program , which is a one time welcome back party, forget but only on cruises over a minimum number of days like 6 or more?

I am not sure I understand your post. Are you posting your frustration that when you check on the Princess site, on your device, the sailings you were interesting in booking, all returned ‘current pricing not available’? How many sailings and was this true for ‘any’ sailing, so you would get pricing for others but not the ones you were specifically searching? Did you happen to check other booking sites, to see if pricing would display? Yes, sometimes the Princess website would have issues and return pricing not available, could be sailing is sold out or working on inventory or repricing in the background, etc. If you attempted to try and get pricing through other channels and they also returned, not available, then I do not understand your issue as it would mean the sailing is not available to book for whatever reason. Prices do change, so I assume when you saw the price of the cruise that now shows $1400 more than when you saw it a little over a week ago, you did not book or hold it, so now that it is showing even more, what’s your point? Are you upset that you were not able to see the price for about a week and now that it shows and is much higher you feel if you saw the price going up you would have booked? Checking other booking portals would have verified if the Princess site was acting up or the sailing was truly unavailable.

@MJC, not sure if this is your question, but I believe not all crew that lead the dance/exercise classes are licensed Zumba instructors, which is probably why your particular sailing has this activity listed as Boogie and Burn. No, the dance exercise classes on Princess have not been ‘reclassified/renamed’ to be called Boogie and Burn. Check out some of the Las test reviews or lives that posts recent ‘Event Listings’ formally and occasionally printed as the Patter. There will be different names for these classes as probably determined by what the entertainment staff has decided to name it. I will assume it will be listed as Zumba only if it will be led by a licensed Zumba crew member.

Princess has just ‘partnered’ with Lavazza to supply the ‘beans’. Coffee at the Buffett will now be dispensed from large Lavazza branded dispensers as shown in previous post #2. IC coffee will still have a charge unless you have plus or premier pkg.

I believe the EU and UK have more ‘protection’ rules regarding travel, insurance , and packages. So there is an advantage for them in that respect. I have read the one time change fee can vary depending on the circumstance as I thought I recently read a post where the fee was only about 65 pounds.

You can verify by checking you cruise history on Princess.com. Login and it should show credits to be earned as ‘future’ opposed to completed, click My Account, then click link ‘cruises sailed’. Princess now automatically rewards segment credits, even if you booked a 14 day cruise as one sailing, even if it can be booked as 2 seven day sailings, so , non solo, non suite, will earn 2 credits booked either way. In the APP, B2B cruises are shown as 1 cruise starting with the first cruise and you will receive only one Medallion with the embarkation sailing date of the first cruise that will be used for you entire sailing, no matter if you booked each cruise separately. You may need to go to guest services to get a new medallion if the battery dies or runs low, but it will still only have your 1st sailing date.

Was the Princess production show ‘Magic to Do’ performed on your sailing and this Magician was featured in that show? I have seen the ‘magic maker’ from the Production show also have a one man show as many are trained magicians in their own right. I have also seen recently, Princess has hired a former ‘vocal performer’ who is now the ‘magic maker’ for the ‘Magic to Do’ show. When this vocal performer was a guest entertainer on Princess, I do not remember his bio sharing info regarding any interest in magic, so I am assuming he got on the job training.

@teenieleek, with the rollout of the ‘new’ service fee for room service, it has been reported on the other threads related to this topic that ‘yes’, even suites without a plus or premier pkg will be charged $5 each room service call. I think Princess is reviewing if this will actually be enforced on ships, as you can imagine the pushback from suite guests.

When I was on the Sapphire early July when they installed the first Lavazza containers/dispensers in the buffet, I saw one being refilled. There was a large funnel attachment they use above the container which I assume has ground coffee/filter and water flows down and eventually fills the dispenser/container picture, do you consider this ‘brewed’.

@mtnesterz, I recall swapping your elite minibar for OBC, was done very sparingly on one ship and reported just after the initial removal/discontinued of the ‘coffee card pkg’. I believe the last few posts of passengers requesting OBC in lieu of elite minibar were denied, it is not an option. I believe you need to swap you entire minibar for 1 bottle of wine that has been reported sells on the ship for $35-40, most would consider this an uneven swap in favor of the cruise line.

With all Princess ships converting to Dine my Way for the dining rooms. It will be ship and passenger dependent if you will be able to get same table and time every night. What happens when multiple parties want the same table at approximately the same time? Restaurant manager will do his best and at least get you in same section of your preferred servers. Window locations seem to be popular, but at night, not much to see unless on Norway or Alaska where it is still light outside. I have heard reports of passengers requesting same table every night and being accommodated and on other ships told, sorry, the best we can do is same section/servers, or even, sorry, the computer assigns the tables now with Dine my Way, but you are welcome to wait till a table in your desired section becomes available.

@SWACruising, there was a great, imo, live from Majestic from June of this year, where they did the cruise first but also land tour after and had great pictures and recommendations regarding food, activities and the lodges. I do not know how to copy the link, but search for thread title ‘its going to be majestic’ by @Stealthdog. Going in May, animals are not as active and Salmon will not be running yet. NB , with Princess you usually get Glacier Bay and College Fiord, SB usually includes Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier. The ships you are considering are smaller and do not have a ‘concierge lounge’ which are on the Princess Royal Class ships. Booking a full suite will give you access to ‘suite’ breakfast usually held in the morning in one of the specialty dining venues, which gives you made to order ‘attentive’ waiter service. Full suite will also entitle you to ‘reserve class’ dining in the assigned dining room where a section is specifically only for reserve class, has different table cloth and usually ‘orchid’ flowers instead of ‘princess lily’ flowers on the table. See suite benefits on the Princess website. Unless you have a plus or premier pkg, if you choose Sapphire, this is the only ship of your choices, with Casual dining venue ‘Alfredo’s’ that would have a charge. Caribbean Princess may be scheduled to have Planks BBQ and Steamers Seafood reactivated by 2025.

If you are all in the same stateroom, it should not matter and easier for the person putting in the order, assuming you all 3 have the package. I just had an issue on my Emerald sailing. One day I noticed my count was off for number of alcohol drinks. I went to GS and they have a device to identify what and where you were charged. I recognized all orders except one which was for a beer which I did not order. The guest services agent would not remove the order/count from my folio and said if I do go over my 15 allotment, they will credit my 16th drink charge, but of course I would need to return to GS to have it done. I almost made a note in my mind to make sure this would happen, but I did not, and I assume the same logic for your case, unless an account maxes out and is charged for a 16th drink, they do not want to be bothered to fix allocations to the correct counts. Someone got a free beer on my account somehow. It only happened once on my 16 night sailing. If the charges are all going to DH which eventually caused a charge for going over 15, then yes, GS needs to remove and you should insist the server scan each medallion for each persons order so the correct count it being allocated to each account. The scanners have history, so for dinner service they only need to scan or input your info once and can reorder your 2nd glass of wine by scrolling the history.

Plus pkg includes ANY 2 fitness classes. They cannot be booked before sailing as the class schedules are not set in stone and most likely vary depending on itinerary and if it is a port or sea day. Go to the fitness center and they will have the sign up sheet for the classes with the date and times the particular classes are scheduled. Every type of class(yoga, trx, cycle, stretchlab) are not offered everyday.

Just to be a little clearer, your ‘cruise fare’ is locked in once you book. ‘Upgrading’ to the Plus or Premier pkg which includes crew appreciation and WiFi, is available up to Day1 and 2 of your cruise, subject to any daily pkg rate increase. Some passengers will wait to purchase on Day1 of cruise as it will not increase cost of Princess insurance if you have that on your booking as I believe it will add about 8%, if you add before cruise.

Taxis and rideshare services should also be available if you do not want to use Skytrain. My last few trips arriving YVR were solo and I had just a roller-bag and backpack, so it was easy for me to do Skytrain. Years ago, I was doing a quick SFO to YVR and there was a delay getting docked in YVR, I believe we did not get off as first ‘walk offs’ till just after 10:30, grabbed a taxi and just made it for 11:55am flight back to the States. Assume you are flying back to US from YVR? You also need to clear US/Customs at YVR so that can add delay. I believe my Ezair would not allow/display any flights earlier than Noon or 12:30, so assume you booked air independently? Even if your ship is scheduled to arrive very early in YVR, they have to wait for port workers to arrive for scheduled work hours.

Have you sailed on a Princess ‘Royal’ class ship? The Majestic is a Royal class ship. On Royal class ships, in the Buffett, they do not use syrup/brick + water thru a spigot. They have a machine with real ‘beans’, so the easiest conversion would be the beans would now be Lavazza beans, but I have no ideal if the area will be retrofitted for the large Lavazza drip containers as shown in the previous post that is now on the Sapphire which is an older ‘grand’ class ship and the buffet beverage area setups are not the same as on the newer ‘Royal’ class. Assume like most rollouts, it will be on a ship by ship basis, when the coffee is converted to Lavazza. I think I saw a post another ship besides Sapphire has Lavazza. I was on the Sapphire early July is when the first Lavazza drip containers were installed, but only for the front Buffett beverage station. The back Buffett still was using the spigot syrup/brick + water mix. @ceilidh1 will you verify the back buffets beverage stations, on Sapphire, also are using the large Lavazza branded drip vessels as shown in your picture? And is the coffee in the MDR now from Lavazza? I am not a coffee drinker so I would not know as I did not order coffee in the MDR.

Yes, there is usually a ‘bar’ steps away from the International Cafe on most Princess ships. Please review the deck plan of the ship you are considering to verify. They will serve bottled water and complimentary ‘ship’ water by the glass. Island and Diamond Princess have no IC, on Coral, very small IC on deck 6 next to Casino and no bar close by.

Most Princess ships have a ‘bar’ right next to the IC, literally connected next to the serving counter of the IC. You would not order non coffee/tea drinks from IC, but you just need to take a few steps. This is true for most Grand Class ships, for Royal Class ships the Lobby Bar or similar is maybe 10 steps away, see deck plans for your particular ship.

My opinion is bring back the unopened bottle and ‘if’ taken/checked, it should be returned to you at the end of the cruise just like any other alcohol/spirits you might have purchased in port.

See post #13, when u apply a FCD, Princess will give you OBC, based on the length and cabin category booked. Usually, a passenger will use a FCD as the initial low deposit, but there are circumstances when that is not possible.

@cr8tiv1, a similar story for my brother. He purchased a couple of FCD’s on board for himself earlier this year. When my sister called the agency they would use to book a cruise for November, the agent said they could not see a FCD for my brother. My sister sent me a message while I was on ship and I went to the future cruise desk and they were able to look up and gave me the future cruise certificate numbers, so it seems there is a ‘glitch’ sometimes when agents are trying to find FCD’s, but if you have the certificate number, no problem.

Hi @trinitygirl, enjoying your thread and pictures. Just to clarify I think in post #13 and #78 you refer to the Production show in #13 as Soul Bar and in #78 as Starlight Bar, but pretty sure the name of the show is ‘Spotlight Bar’ so those not familiar will be able to identify. Princess has another show called ‘Sweet Soul Music’, but not sure if being done on your ship, but was performed on my recent Emerald sailings. Also the Gibraltar ‘Macaques’ are known to steal objects from passengers and bite and scratch. It seems every time I have made this port stop, passengers have medical stops on board to attend to ‘bites and scratches’.

What I have seen, is you post a reply asking moderator to make change as you are original poster, or quick reacting moderator will make change.

Thanks, I booked the cruise because it was included as one of the on board booking sailings you can get at 50% off. I think originally the cruise was stopping in SF, but now will skip and arrive LA early for an overnight. The Emerald just came back early to LA for an overnight because of Hurricane Hillary and it was a bit of a mess. As it was our first US port after visiting a foreign port, everybody has to do immigration and customs. The ship was also allowing any passengers the option to disembark early on Sunday instead of normal Monday scheduled arrival. You had to complete form and turn into guest services. The form stated you were leaving the ship early voluntarily and no compensation will be given. I was told about 700 passengers opted to leave Sunday morning and there was a delay, as you had to be able to carry ALL your luggage, plus many passengers who were staying on board got in the line early, instead of waiting for their decks to be called which was the protocol. In San Pedro, there is only one small elevator and the escalator is not very wide so with all the passengers with luggage, it was a challenge. I assume this process will be repeated for this cruise.