wallyj

There was another thread where it was stated the effective date was April 5, 2023, so I will find out when I board Majestic on April 4, 2023.

Please see more current thread with pictures of what is offered in 2023 ‘book’. Thread title Coupon books 2023.

Please clarify, as I thought as this silliness was winding down, you would never lose your Principle (what you paid to princess), but only the ‘bonus’ FCC in your case 25%? FCC’s and expiration’s have been discussed extensively on these boards, so you must have not be paying attention. So Princess restarted sailing here on the west coast September 2021, so sailings on Princess has resumed for at least 18 months! Yes, people were still hesitant to sail and many that did enjoyed very low occupancy sailings they will not likely experience in the near future. It is unfortunate you most likely have lost your ‘bonus’ FCC, and you have some responsibility to own up to it, I would be surprised if you lost your base cruise FCC, as if that expired should be refunded. There is no excuse for rude customer service. Sounds like you got one of those bad apples or someone having an off day.

The four ships mentioned are part of ‘Grand’ class along with Caribbean, Crown and Grand Princess. Although Ruby, Diamond, Sapphire and Emerald are ‘gems’, I do not know where @VibeGuy or @wcflats got ‘gem class’ . I have heard of NCL ‘jewel’ Class as being the Jewel, Jade, Pearl and Gem.

I do not believe just ‘any’ passenger can go to PSD and request the coupon book. It must be an amenity your travel agent has attached to your booking during certain promotional periods. A carrot to entice you to book with that agency.

I believe if you are not buying for the whole voyage, then the cost for 1 device for 24 hours is $20, which you can share between devices, only one active at a time. Does not need to be in same stateroom.

The OP was quoting add on charges to your booking for the NCL ‘free at sea’ drink pkg. On NCL if you select the free drink pkg in your available bundle, you are still charged a daily gratuity, I believe it is now over $20/day per person, so I know many who will forgo this ‘free’ pkg, because they would not spent $20 a day on any types of drinks that were not included in base cruise fare. Also as NCL has increased the daily service charge to a minimum of $20/day per person, is where he is coming up with $600 in service charges.

On some previous ship and sailings, some of my friends and family never received the link, so guest services can see if you were entitled to one and had printed copies of the booklet to give you. As with Princess, YMMV. if you are not sure you will have WiFi on your sailing, print or make screenshot on a device you will have on sailing. I think I got the email link about 2 weeks before sail date.

Hi @caribill, I believe the 2023 coupons are the same with an expiration of December 31, 2023. This is how I was able to use the Platinum Studio coupon in January 2023. My reply post #13, was to let @Sea Hag, post #5, know there is a coupon that does not require any spend, which they might not have been aware. Thank you for posting the 2022 version, as I assume many are not familiar with the offers or understood this program. To repeat, these coupon ‘books’ are an amenity a travel agent ‘can’ add to your booking during some promotional periods. They are not the ‘booklet’ of offers of long ago that Princess used to provide almost every guest, that your room steward delivered. To receive, your travel agent must add to your booking, if during eligible booking period when promo is being offered. I think 2022 was the first year the Platinum studio coupon was offered. Assume Princess is evaluating how many ‘additional’ purchases it generates, if it will be continued to be offered.

I am surprised there are still people posting comments regarding what they assume was a ‘mistake’ fare when you were upgraded. As I posted in one of my previous replies in this thread, Princess has and obviously still does give complimentary upgrades during the booking process, but it seems mostly with accessible/handicapped cabins if the category you are looking to book is sold out. I know ‘handicapped’ is not used anymore but it seems when I have said accessible, some people do not know what I am talking about. The OP also shared, he eventually canceled the sailing where he was upgraded, so that is not the issue, as he did not sail, but I think it added to his frustration with Princess in getting them to ‘honor’ the fare. The straw that broke the camels back was being ‘double’ charged for the upgrade from Plus to Premium pkg after being refunded once for a double billing. The OP also posted in post #43, the issue was resolved. So it seems some people are making comments without reviewing all of the history/past posts regarding this thread! Please read my reply post #12.

Hi @Hui C Stanek, many first timers are surprised or did not do their research to understand most cruiselines, except for some very high end luxury lines, add a daily ‘service charge’ to your account either daily or at the end of the sailing. NCL currently has a minimum $20 per day per person, meaning for a party of 2 adults, that is $40/day billed to your stateroom, so yes, I can see depending on the number in your party and the length of the cruise, $600 in ‘service charges/tips’, is normal/expected. I think the minimum service charge on Celebrity is $17.50 a day per person, depending on cabin type booked, so be sure to budget or plan on this ‘cruising’ expense.

I guess maybe depending on who the Platinum artist is, but my experience was very easy on the Discovery and no pressure to purchase any additional pictures or sizes. It does take a little time to select which picture, depending on the number of initial pictures taken. I believe my appointment took about 20 minutes to review the slide show, select my picture, then review the ‘order’ the platinum artist needs to submit, and receive a printed copy of the ‘order’. Last year on the Majestic, my friend had over 30 ‘shots’ to review. We reviewed shots in groups of three, picking one or none in that group. No pressure or sales pitch to purchase additional on that occasion too. I have experience about pressure from a sales presentation as I have attended a few ‘timeshare’ presentations in the past.

Not so, yes the BOGO for 1st night specialty restaurant is gone but a ‘new’ coupon for a FREE 8x10 Platinum Studio portrait was in my last couple of books. No need to purchase any other prints and says it has a value of $150. Of course you do need to make an appointment for platinum studio sitting and take pictures, then once studio has assembled your photos for slide show he has created, you get to decide which photo you want. Photo is not printed on ship, but sent from NY? Turn around was pretty quick. Was on Discovery for January 21-28 2023 sailing, photo was delivered about 3 weeks later.

I believe your Medallion only has the date of your 1st embarkation date, no thru date. You only get one Medallion and it will work for any subsequent B2B’s on the same ship whether you stay in same cabin or move. Occasionally, the battery runs low so guest services might replace with a ‘new’ Medallion, but the date should still remain as the embarkation date of the 1st cruise.

Hi @mtnesterz, to try and be a littler clearer, the stream and saunas in the changing rooms were removed/remolded so the Spa could have some accessible/disabled treatment rooms installed in their place, not the entrance/access point when I wrote accessibility. If you are on Emerald for August are you on the 16 day Hawaii or the LA to NY trip? I am currently booked on the 16 day Hawaii as Princess normally does not sail to Hawaii in the summer, so looking forward to warm weather the entire Cruise hopefully.

Hi @wheezedr, your situation is called a S2S, a side to side. opposed to a B2B.

Hi @mtnesterz, you understand there is no free access to steam/sauna as they were removed from the changing rooms on this ship, so assume you mean disappointed they were removed. Your statement would lead someone to think there is now a ‘fee’ to use.

Hi @Pluto_fan, there is currently a live from Sapphire on her way back to LA. I suggest you post any questions on that thread. I believe Sapphire has a dry dock scheduled next month? I know bigger sister ship Emerald had the steam and saunas removed to make room for accessible treatment rooms in the spa, but have not heard Princess plans to do this to the rest of the ‘Grand’ class ships.

Hi @CharmedLifer, I believe you might be looking for the TP Majestic sailing? I believe since this is such a long sailing, it is not available to pre book. I just checked my 11 day sailing on the Crown for May, and it was available to pre book, of course on the Crown, it is the ‘Thermal Suite’. Price for 11 days is $216.

I believe this area is ‘different’ depending on the ship ‘class’. Royal class ship this area is called the ‘Enclave’ and on non Royal ships it is the ‘Thermal Suite’, so I assume you will be on a non Royal Class ship to Alaska? Check out YouTube for videos so can compare the size and amenities offered. Some Princess ‘Grand’ class ships still have a free sauna and steam room located in the changing rooms by the fitness center. Sometimes, you can prebook and get discount, otherwise tour on day1 and decide if amenities are adequate.

Hi @Ombud, the Princess websites seems to ‘default’ to ‘F’ if available if you select Princess chooses your cabin, but other categories besides ‘F’ are usually available as GTY, so it is still possible to book a GTY cabin with refundable deposits. The Princess booking process does not make this easy to understand. A passenger may want to book a non ‘F’ GTY cabin since those are usually the farthest forward or aft cabins. Each passenger should decide if choosing ‘GTY’ is a risk they are willing to accept. There is a popular YouTuber who states he will not book GTY cabin as he is very particular about his cabin location and always marks ‘no upgrade’. We also know marking no upgrade does not guarantee the Cruiseline will not move you.

I believe this only applies to categories that have the second letter being ‘F’, as in usually the lowest interior ‘IF’ or balcony ‘BF’. I think I saw a post where someone said minisuites do not have ‘MF’ , so do not apply to minisuites? So, if you are booking GTY(guarantee) in a category that ends with ‘F’, your deposit will probably now be non refundable. Refundable deposits still available for GTY as long as cabin category does not end in a ‘F’. For a 2024 sailing, if I booked GTY category’IF’ it was non refundable deposits , but if I booked GTY ‘IE’ , it was refundable and qualified for reduced $50 deposit promo, and have option to add $100 Princess FCD to get OBC associated with using a FCD as long as it is added to booking before final payment.

Also keep in mind, the company that handles the bidding for upgrade program, is collecting data on how much passengers are willing to ‘bid’. There will always be the possibility of last minute cancellations, but I have seen posts on other lines saying why are bids being asked for as that category has been sold out.

I do not believe you are subject to any ‘limit’ and Princess may take and store till the end of the sailing, but you are subject to ‘duty’ by customs. If you will not be consuming on the ship, you will not be subject to ‘corkage’. Not sure if the limits have changed but, but you should check what allowances you are entitled and plan on possible ‘charges’ if you go over the limit.

$15/day is if you are purchasing for the whole voyage. If you only want a single day the price is $20/day and if you qualify for discount then only $10, I believe for 24hr period, not calendar day. This is also the price for one device. Princess allows you to switch among devices so easy to share, can only have one device ‘active’ at a time. Higher price for if you need multiple devices active at same time up to 4. Prices should be in cruise Personalizer if you have a cruise booked or Medallion APP.