wallyj

Hi @XBGuy, I see at least 2 other threads started regarding this topic with one moved to Hawaii. So far today, Wednesday at 11:20am ships time, as we have moved clocks back 2 times already, the Captain has not made any announcements regarding our scheduled stop for Maui on Monday August 14th. Assume things are still up in the air as it is 5 days away and our first priority is getting to Hilo early for a medical emergency for a patient with an eye issue. Last announcement was we are looking at arriving Hilo 15 hours early

Hi @LACruiser88, I said Hi to Buzz(Aldrin) from you, when I was on the July 22-29 Emerald sailing at Vines, I am back on the ship for the August 5-21 Hawaii sailing and Buzz has been relocated to the Wheelhouse bar and looking forward to going home when we arrive Honolulu on August 12. @mattnday, just visit the Vines bar as it seems they tend to have the best wine selection and usually have selections not on the menu they will gladly recommend. They might have a different selection by the time of your sailing. There are some wines I have found where the dining room says that selection is only available by the bottle, but you can get by the glass at Vines that are covered by the Premier pkg. My tip is to follow what Debbie and Rafael did and carry a glass into the dining room, saves wait time in ordering a glass once seated.

Hi @SCX22, for the 2 cruises I booked at the 50% off promo, I later upgraded thru cruise Personalizer to Premier before sailing date at only $40/day, so I do not know what the price would have been if I waited till Day1 or 2 as it seems, Princess is allowing you to upgrade on Day 1 or 2. My Dec 1 booking, I have plus at $30/day but premier pricing is not available and I have text that says to call. I have a March booking booked with the 50% off promo and have plus on the booking at only $30/day, but to upgrade to Premier, it is showing $14.83/day which is such a weird number. I have my TA and Princess support investigating this discrepancy. I have friends booked on the Dec1 sailing that their cruise Personalizer is showing $30/day for plus and $40/day for Premier and they told me they do not plan on upgrading to plus or premier, so I will ask them to check on Day 1, if the discount is still attached to their booking or the normal Plus and Premier rates will apply.

@Ombud, the 50% off on board promo sailings I doubt would be available for your CVP or TA to book. This is a special promo that is NOT available if you are not on board. So the loss of using a FCD is easily made up by the savings off the cruise fare. I use a few different TA’s, depending on which may have better amenities to offer for my particular booking.

We were boarding at 92. I posted the comment because I also boarded the ship in July and they had an Elite line. I am assuming because of the ‘new’ protocol of not having a medallion shipped making everyone without going to Blue line. I thought a previous thread mentioned there would still be a priority lane for elites/suites and that is not the case at 92.

Boarded Emerald Princess today in San Pedro. They have a Green lane, if you already have your Medallion. EVERYONE else is Blue lane, no line for Elite. A separate line for extra assistance and that’s it. I arrived at 10:30 and there was a LONG line already, as many arrived early, took 40 minutes. So for this sailing, Blue line was a lot longer, with no priority for Elites. At least once I received my Medallion, boarding had already started, so I was able to board immediately about 11:10.

Sone passengers prefer the higher shelf liquor/wines that also comes with Premier. Makes sense to upgrade for only $20/day if you want many drinks that are $4-$5 over the $15 limit on Plus package, plus now the unlimited casual dining as limited as it is on most ships.

The decrease in discount might also be attributed to you do not have to be a AARP member to buy the Princess gift cards, but I know most of the others (cruise lines)require AARP membership. I know this is not new, but AARP might feel too many non members are taking advantage.

Yes, on my SYD to LA sailing earlier this year on the Majestic, they had a couple of different pizzas available by the slice in the buffet. My opinion was they were not as good as Skice on other ships and definitely not as good as Alfredo’s.

Using gift cards saves 8% , as that is the current discount on the AARP Princess gift cards. So a $500 value gift card, will cost only $460.

In the other thread, someone posted they called CVP and Princess and were told, yes, even in full suite, Room service call will incur $5 charge. Will be interesting if this is what actually happens, since ordering MDR menu to your suite is a listed benefit.

@rosevew, I started a thread a couple weeks ago regarding NO free pizza on the APP on my Emerald Princess sailing, July 22-29, 2024. I was on the ship 1 month prior and there was ‘free’ pizza. Was told it was implemented on the short cruise over July 4. Also it only had 3 types of Pizza and the cost was $8.50. I believe the names were Amici, Blanco and Duo Parma. This appears to be the cost of Pizza on the Sapphire according to a recent YouTuber who said he got the Sapphire pizza menu from a passenger who boarded after August 2 when the changes became effective for that ship. So I am pretty sure ordering Pizza thru the APP will be $8.50 or more now.

@ldtr, the Milestone cruise recognitions originally was based on your ‘cruise credits’ but was revised to ‘number of days sailed’ starting at 500 days and then every 250 days. I think this recognition started the year Princess was celebrating 50 years, thus the first milestone was your 50th credit. Cruise credits are not necessarily your number of cruises because of additional credits given if sailing solo and or in a full suite. Bridge tours were also at the discretion of the Captain. The Loyalty Command OBC of $100 was obtained on your 52nd credit. It is at the discretion of the Captain whether he has a ‘luncheon’ or other type of event for the most traveled guests, based on number of days sailed ‘on Princess’. Years ago, Princess included days with P&O, but now only days on Princess are counted to qualify to make the cut. Many people call this the Top40, but the criteria is actually the Top 20 and guest, if applicable. I travel solo many times and sometimes I have a guest and sometimes not. So the maximum invited is usually 40, but can be less when solo’s do not bring a guest. I think most people knew this as the MTP (most traveled passenger) event, but it was then revised to be known as the MTG(most traveled guest) event. For any couples or more in a cabin, whether they have the same number days or not, the highest number is used and they are counted as a unit, no matter if they are unrelated friends traveling together, so the other passenger(s) will normally be ‘the guest’ and their number of days does not matter.

Trying to get just a scoop of Gelato in lieu of a full Sundae will also depend on which ship you are on. On the Emerald, the premium desserts are made at coffee and cones next to slice, so there is no Gelato bar like on many Royal class ships. Also only vanilla gelato. I did see a passenger request ONLY the candy bar and Carmel corn in a bowl, nothing else.

You might have missed this in the OP. I believe they have put in bids already for minis and suites, but asking since cruise is 35 days from sailing, what are the chances of success.

This was my experience when my medallion did not arrive in time for my sailing out of San Pedro. In the check in terminal, I was issued a ‘cruise card’ which would allow me to board the ship. I was instructed to go to guest services to exchange for a ‘medallion’. On a previous sailing out of San Pedro, my sister did not have her medallion and they made one for her in the terminal that took only a few minutes. I think issuing a cruise card is easier than having an additional ‘medallion’ making machine in the terminal, since every ship has them on board to replace lost, defective or non working ones. This may vary by port and facilities available. As far as custom designs, it is my understanding these are ‘stickers’ and I do not know if the ships or terminals stock these items.

I have had no problem via my TA to request a different cabin in the same category after being assigned from a guarantee booking, if one is available. Because guarantee cabin assignment timing varies, sometimes by the time you are assigned a cabin, no other cabins are available.

Apologies to the OP, if she feels this is getting off track/topic. My understanding as relayed from the previous Circle hosts/Loyalty Managers, (yes, I know this event is now coordinated/managed by the Future cruise department) is the Captain decides if they want a cocktail party or luncheon for the MTG event. Cost is not always the primary factor. I have spoken to a few Captains regarding this subject and a few tell me they prefer the cocktail party so they can meet and mingle with more passengers/guests, opposed to only those seated at his table, which are usually the top 3, unless special requests/circumstances occur. Cost cutting may account for the execution of the party and what is served, but the Captains who told me they prefer the cocktail party did seem to want to mingle and engage with as many at the event as possible, which is not possible with the luncheon.

I was on this ship for the June 28-July 12 fourteen day sailing and this Captain prefers to have an evening cocktail party in SkyWalkers and he makes sure he and his officers mingle and talk to as many passengers as possible. The Captain will make an effort to speak to each person, couple/group. I have done this itinerary before NB then SB from Vancouver and have had a luncheon, but it seems the last few Captains have opted for cocktail parties citing the itinerary constraints. Alaska the cutoff numbers are usually on the lower side, I believe for my sailings the cutoff was the low 200’s.

@cruisemel, it also depends on when you purchased your ‘premier’ package as there were different price points before Dec 2022. Your travel summary will list which amenities are linked to your package opposed to seeing just what package your have purchased instead of just looking at the on board services link, as that page will list the current amenities which if you bought the ‘older’ version, may not apply to your booking.

The photo package with 3 prints and the digital download of ALL of your photos taken is part of the ‘perks’ if you have purchased the Premier fare when booking your cruise or you upgraded to the premier package @$80/day if you initially booked standard fare. Also, some of the newer ships have gone all digital meaning they do not physically print any photos. You view on a monitor and request if you want any actually printed. See the Princess website for what ‘perks’ are included in the Premier package.

Go into your booking on Princess.com. Click on Travel summary. Scroll down and your amenities will be listed.

Hi just of the Emerald 7 day CA coastal, I had the premier pkg so I had the photo package. Also had it a month ago on same ship and will identify a change. Photos taken at the backdrops on ‘formal’ night are NOT considered ‘portrait’ and are available to pick just like any other photo taken on non formal nights or at the ports. You can select ‘any’ 3 pictures up to size 8x10, as the embarkation and dining room pictures are typically smaller. So if want different pictures or the same it is your choice. The photo department does NOT print every picture taken to display on the racks. But you can view all of your photos at the photo gallery on their screens or your own device and if a printed copy has not be made, you can request it as one of your included ‘free’ of 3. A month ago when I had the photo package, I asked does the photo department supply a complimentary USB drive to download all the digital photos and was told, yes. At the end of the cruise, I selected my 3 prints and they downloaded all of the digital photos to a ‘ship shaped’ thumb drive. Last Friday, the last night of my cruise, again I went to the photo gallery to select the 3 prints I wanted. I noticed many of the pictures I had taken were not there. Then I remembered hearing the photographer telling a passenger a few days ago that not all photos are printed. I had enough photos to choose 3 I might like, but if I had planned better, I would have reviewed ALL of my photos first on my tablet, and if I saw one I liked that was not already printed, I could have requested it to be printed. Suggest you do this the afternoon on last day. If it is a port day and they take port arrival pictures, wait till the mid afternoon when those morning pictures should have been uploaded into the system. The photo department probably will not print any of those taken that morning. When I requested the thumb drive, I was told ‘sorry’ we are out of the complimentary thumb drives but they had others I could ‘buy’ for I think $7? Was told if I did not want to purchase a thumb drive, I needed to download the digital pictures to my own device before disembarkation, else they would no longer be available. Fortunately, I still had enough ‘space’ on my IPad and was able to download them to my device. You do this via the Medallion APP. One link is View my photos, another has Download my photos and gives the option of ALL or you can ‘select’ individual photos. I think Princess should have still provided a complimentary thumb drive, as they know exactly how many passengers have the premier package and should have supply for that number as a minimum in addition to others without a package who might want a separate thumb drive instead of having the pictures on their phone or tablet.

@LDVinNC, are you looking at your Travel Summary or other and seeing that the amenities of the ‘plus’ package say ‘compliments of XXX’ which is your travel agency? This is unfortunately how Princess lists these amenities as they are not ‘gifts’ from your Travel agency. You paid to upgrade or the plus/premier fare when you booked. I am thinking you upgraded to plus then looked at your travel summary and see the wording saying ‘compliments from XXX’ and think you were gifted from your travel agent? Call your TA and verify.

@LDVinNC, for all my cruises where I have a ‘pkg’ when I go to the upgrade page to add it or upgrade from plus to premier, it will show that I have ‘purchased’ that package, thus it will not allow you to double book or buy again. Are you sure your TA has provided the ‘plus package’ which includes tips and WiFi or just the stand alone beverage package which unfortunately has the same names.