wallyj

The 18% service is automatically charged on the base fare of the service and no additional ‘tip’ is expected, although there is an additional line for extra gratuities, so some passengers do not notice the 18% service charge is already added and double ‘tip’. In my opinion, the rates for services are easily double of what you would pay on land, but I understand many pay for the convenience and thrill/treat of having these services done on ship.

Hello, just off the Crown and on our last formal night, complimentary surf and turf entree was offered in MDR, but with footnote, each additional ‘lobster’ would incur a $10 charge. My friend who does not eat beef asked if he could get 2 tails instead and was told he would be charge $10 for the second tail, even if he did not want the beef tenderloin, which in the past was a petite filet, so another downsize. I assume this is only for extra lobster main and not for any additional main course offered on the menu. Sorry if posted previously but did a quick check and did not find this subject posted.

Just got the top3 numbers from the Loyalty Manager, she said she wanted to wait for final counts of the tiers as there were passengers leaving and coming on, but I see those numbers were posted already. #1 1241 days, #2 813 days and #3 778 days. Top40 cutoff is 383 days which is on the higher side for an Alaska cruise. I have been on Alaska sailings where the number was below 200. Having a cocktail party instead of luncheon on evening of Ketchikan port stop at 7pm in Adagio lounge. Friends on the current Emerald sailing, reported ‘Blue’ princess tote bags are back/being given?

A few ships honored the cards after August 2019 up till early 2020? Y experienced was, if you had only a few punches so a majority still on the card, guest services said to go to the International Cafe and buy the now digital card to load on your medallion. Bring the card back to guest services and they would reverse the charge and keep/dispose of the old card. The medallion system was able to keep track of how many specialty coffees you had left, which seems to be a problem with the new system as many reported having the old coffee package and waiters would think you had the alcohol package. There is NO 15 count specialty coffee package offered anymore, and it has been reported even if you bought it for a future cruise and it is in your cruise planner, and you booked before it was discontinued, once on board, you will be refunded the purchase price as OBC to your account. I assume you have not cruised since August 2019 or checked in on this board as there were a few threads regarding the paper cards expiring, especially when the paper cards/package went digital and loaded on your medallion.

Yes, you do not need to be connected to the Internet to use the Medallion APP messaging feature, so you could use your phone to message AND be connected on your IPad surfing the internet, checking email etc. if you decide you want to connect to the internet on your phone, it will say another device is logged on, do you want to deactivate that device and activate this one. FYI, on some other cruiselines you assign WiFi to only one specific device and cannot switch among other devices, Princess allows you to switch among devices with only one device logged into internet at a time on the one device plan.

Using the Medallion APP on the ship is not the same as using WiFi to access the internet. Since you have a one device plan, you can switch between the APP and the internet on the same device as noted earlier, the APP uses the ships Intranet. Note the message feature does not have ‘push’ notification so you need to check your messages to see if you have any, but if you have some other text or chat APP you could use this while you have your WiFi connection active. You can easily switch between devices if you have a smartphone and a tablet, etc., only one device active per account.

Hi @FrankieJayIII, sorry, I did not read the ‘patter’ so was not aware Princess casino has restarted doing ‘slot’ tournaments. @that, this has been my experience with ‘slot’ tournaments on Princess. My experience with past Princess casino slot tournaments was an entry fee of $20 or $25 . They had ‘qualifying’ rounds and the top ‘leaders’ made the final round. You could re enter the tournament till qualifying rounds are over if you wanted to try and make the finals, each re entry would entail paying entry fee. In the past the ‘prize’ was $500. You are assigned a machine from a group that has been set to tournament mode and depending on the game, usually you just hit the ‘spin’ button, some games give ‘bonus’ points if you tap certain ‘icons’ that may appear on screen. The casino also has VIP cruises and tournaments for those ‘VIP’s’ only.

I have not seen the Princess casino offer a ‘slot tournament’ since restart. I also do not see anywhere where author mentioned a slot tournament. Author has only mentioned they reached ‘casino points’ goal based on play on machines.

I had a chance to speak to the DORO who was Neville S. on the Majestic last October and was told a ‘new’ cookbook is in the works as the previous one has ‘old’ recipes, no date was given when the new cookbook would be available

If you are asking about the steam and saunas that were in the changing rooms by the fitness center, they were removed last dry dock? As far as I know, sister ships, Crown, Ruby, Caribbean and Sapphire still have in their respective changing rooms.

Will try to make this simple in my mind and hopefully you can follow. Meta is simply the category such as interior, Oceanview, balcony and so on. Sub meta are the differences within each category based on Princesses perceived desirability usually based on location but may also consider size and amenities in the cabin. So a mid ship located cabin is usually designated as category IA going down in price to IF . This holds true for most categories with the first letter designating the category ‘type’. Princess recently changed pricing so that lowest ‘sub meta’ categories can only be booked as ‘guaranteed’ which are predominantly the very forward or aft cabins in your particular ‘category/cabin type’. If you do not normally book the very forward or aft located cabins, you will be able to see what is available and select a cabin from the displayed deck plans. During the booking process, the engine will ask do you want to select your cabin or have Princess select? I believe the default when booking on the Princess website is to accept ‘any’ upgrade. Keep in mind what Princess considers an upgrade may not be what you do. I am not sure with the new bidding for upgrades if the availability of complimentary upgrades have been diminished. If you want only to be upgraded to the next category such as interior to Oceanview, you need to have Princess or your TA mark your booking as ‘meta’ upgrade only. I see others have responded while I am typing this response, so my response may be redundant.

One of the differences between NCL’s ‘Free at Sea’ bundle and Princess ‘Plus or Premier’ is you are charged additional ‘Tips’ , which for Princess it is included in the package rate. I believe if you accept the NCL drink package it adds at least another $20/day to your fare, which for those that do not drink will then usually remove the drink package. You also are ‘paying’ for the privilege to be able to choose the ‘Free at Sea’ amenities as you have to book at the higher non ‘standard’ or ‘sailaway’ rates. Sometimes, the difference between sailaway fares and the next tier to ‘include’ free at sea perks is small, but can be hundreds. Princess had a special promo pre pandemic that has not been offered again where you could combine/customize which amenities you wanted, drinks, tips, WiFi. Now, it is all or nothing, and currently Princess does not offer dining packages

Just off the Majestic from the Sydney to LA sailing. Kristoff Greyling from So. Africa is/was the CD. Great energy and if they do game show ‘Read my Lips’ where entertainment crew will ‘lip sync’, do not miss! Kristoff is a former dancer and does some of the morning exercise/dance classes in the Piazza and they were very popular. There is a ‘sticky’ at the top of the Princess board regarding this topic, who are the current cruise directors/officers?

What category did u book? As your sailing is Alaska roundtrip SEA, it is a little more popular as many do not want to fly to Vancouver, you can do mock bookings to see available cabins not assigned, but you still have no ideal how many have put in bid upgrades. I had a GTY cabin for the Crown May 12 sailing and got my assignment April 26. Every sailing is different depending on how fully booked it is. This past January, I was booked on 7 day Discovery in interior GTY, about month before sailing was upgraded to IB(more mid ship interior), 3 days before sailing was upgraded again to Deluxe Balcony. Discovery like Royal has no Oceanview cabins. These were complimentary upgrades from Princess. I was happily surprised but would not expect these types of complimentary upgrades happen often now with the bidding program.

Is appears from post #5 which shows the Terms and Conditions of the Soda package, it now ‘includes’ cans, I know previously ‘canned’ sodas were ‘not’ part of the Classic Soda package.

If you choose to do so, you will select an ‘arrival’ group for checking in for your sailing. It is not a ‘boarding’ group. Pre-Covid, you were assigned arrival times based on your deck assignment, but even back then, you could arrive whenever you wanted during the checkin period. As mentioned, Princess does not seem to be enforcing or checking at the port. If you check in before ‘boarding’ has started, you will be segregated into groups, based on boarding priority. Usually first is special groups like weddings, then suites and elites, platinums, then group numbers based on when you checked in. I have seen on some sailings, if in a suite, escorts are waiting in ‘elite’ lounge and are looking for you either by your medallion or asking if you are in a suite. They then escort you onto the ship ‘first’ .

Where in July are you looking to cruise? You will also be very close to final payment date if not already there depending on your sailing dates. Waiting to purchase a FCD to apply to your July sailing and get some OBC, may be offset by fare increases as normally fares increase as sailing date approaches, in cruise fare and airline if needed. July is usually high season as that is when most families with younger children travel. If you will also need airfare, those prices will also increase dramatically as many summer airfare seats are already booked. I read Delta summer seats are already 75% booked.

I have added a passenger2 after I have booked a solo cabin and, for sure, before final payment, passenger2 has been able to use a FCD and was given the associated ‘OBC’. I just recently added a FCD to a solo booking I already made the deposit for a direct booking for a 2024 sailing, I received the associated ‘OBC’ for using a FCD. Also have been able to add a FCD and get the ‘OBC’ to an online TA booking which does not have ability to to apply FCD’s and used credit card for initial deposit. Friends who booked August 2023 Emerald sailing last month did not have any FCD’s left. They paid initial deposit via credit card. Asked TA to check with Princess if when they boarded Majestic this month and bought FCD’s, could they be applied to this booking. Princess told TA ‘yes’. When my friends emailed TA to then try and apply, Princess said these FCD’s needed to be used on bookings after the FCD purchase date. Friends asked agent to try again, and Princess applied the new FCD’s to passenger1 and 2. In the past, Princess would ‘backdate’ the new FCDs. I was told Princess does not do this anymore, but someone at Princess knew how to get these FCD’s added and my friends received the OBC. Passenger1 and 2 do NOT need to be booked at the same time if passenger2 is added before final payment for passenger2 to earn OBC for using a FCD, have even swapped out passenger2 and ‘new’ passenger2 is able to use a FCD and receive associated ‘OBC’. Have not added a passenger2 after final in awhile, so not sure if Princess is still enforcing ‘no FCD’s after final. Getting a little off topic as OP was just asking about adding passenger2, but this additional info can apply.

Will you need to fly? The longer you wait to book airfare the higher likelihood the fare will go up. If you will not need airfare, why are you waiting till June/July to book for August/September. Airfare from Anchorage is limited and expensive along with transfer needed from Whittier to ANC. Are you also considering land tour before or after sailing? If not, if you can, try to book roundtrip Vancouver, 14 day sailing and if not available, then book the 7 day B2B. Northbound and Southbound.

Are you sure? I had a solo booked cabin for the Discovery Princess for January 2023 sailing. A friend decided he wanted to sail with me in December 2022. As booking was paid in full already, my friend wanted to use expiring FCC’s. Princess would have also allowed using a FCD, but then it would not use up all my friend’s FCC’s. Princess refunded my ‘overpayment’ to my credit card.

There are exceptions. I recently booked a cruise for next year, June 2024, direct with Princess, first did courtesy hold, then paid deposit to Princess, then had booking transferred to my TA and had TA apply additional deposit via a FCD and received the ‘OBC’ for using the FCD. My friends booked Hawaii cruise on Emerald for August 2023, last month, they did not have any more FCD’s and placed initial deposit to lock in fare. Told TA they were going on Majestic soon and if they bought FCD’s , can they be applied to this booking to receive the ‘OBC’. Agent called Princess and was told ‘yes’. When my friends emailed agent to apply the new FCD’s, she replied she was now told no, as normally the FCD date must be before the ‘booking date’ . In the past, like at least 5 years ago, Princess would ‘backdate’ the FCD and then apply it to get around this restriction. My friends requested the agent try again, and Princess applied the FCD’s, do not know how they did it, using backdating or other possible work around, but it was done. This TA also has an online booking portal, but it does not have the ability to apply FCD’s. When I have made a booking when the office is closed and want to lock in fare in case it is gone when office reopens, I will make booking and supply credit card for deposit. When office opens, I call and request a FCD be also applied so I can get the ‘OBC’ and have never had issue with Princess saying ‘no’, FCD must be used a initial deposit. YMMV.

Just rechecked price list for the ‘special’ drinks. It now says $8, I believe the $12 price was for the Australia market so it was $12 AUS dollars and they did not update the sign immediately.

Currently on Majestic for transpacific to LA then to Vancouver to start Alaska season. The PES event is being held in Vista Lounge, deck 7 aft.

Currently on the Majestic, the ‘special’ drinks in the PES lounge are now $12. They used to be discounted.

Yes, maximum $300 per cabin, I was confusing the OBC with a recent promo where up to $600 OBC was being offered. I believe the change to only 1 year for FCD’s became effective April 5, 2023. Any FCD’s purchased on or after April, 5, 2023 will expire in 1 year. FCD’s purchased before this date will keep the 2 year expiration date. There is a previous thread regarding this.