wallyj

@dizgal64, the rates quoted in post #2 are if you are buying for the entire voyage. If you might only use a day or 2, you can buy a day plan for 1 device for a 24hour periods. Regular rate for 1 day plan 1 device was $20/day but believe the 1 day plan 1 device increased to $30/day?

@Cloudyrain, your pre booked dining reservation in MDR hopefully will reduce your wait time, if any. The MDR’s will usually have 2 lines, one with reservations and another ‘walk ins/no reservations’. Your pre booked reservation will usually self cancel/release after no show after 15 minutes of reservation time. I like to have pre booked reservation and know if my plans change, it is no problem and I can check out my options when I am ready to dine and what current waiting times are. Since there are 3 MDR’s, waiting times for walk ins can vary at each venue.

Glad to hear the A/C is back. I hope because it was not a quick fix, information regarding possible compensation has to been co ordinated with Corporate once fixed, so hopefully you will report back if any compensation is being offered.

It is possible there is a new protocol regarding getting a letter on Day 1 if you are Platinum or above outlining where the PES lounge will be held and hours along with other info such as Grapevine wine tasting and Captain Circle party, as I have not seen the Elite Lounge hours listed in the Events listing before and I last sailed on Princess Dec 2023. In case you did not know, as of Jan 2023, Loyalty/Captain Circle issues are now handled by Future Cruises, so go by and ask if you should have received a letter on Day 1 outlining your Captain circle benefits and hours of the PES lounge, etc. Long gone are the cards with the hours and special canapés by date that were delivered to your cabin. Some ships will have the weekly canapé menu for the PES lounge listed in the lounge on a sheet posted.

@cr8tiv1, you wrote without a beverage package, as the OP is a newbie, you can buy a stand-alone beverage package not the bundled Plus or Premier packages that are not only beverage packages but includes WiFi and crew appreciation and now Casual Dining, waived room service $5 fee , and waived Ocean Now $14.99 one time activation fee.

I believe you mistyped, Alfredo’s is now considered a casual dining venue with an upcharge unless you have the Plus or Premier Bundled packages/fare.

I believe the 50% selected cruises on board booking promo expired at the end of October 2023. Subsequently, Princess then offered a very select number of cruises that were 20-30% off and were sailing in the next few months. With bookings going well, meaning fuller ships, they have no incentive to ‘discount’, but may offer some that are not selling well, but the 50% off promo is long gone.

When I was on the Discovery with Premier for a 7 day last October, they allowed unlimited Gelato, any flavors. I think this policy varies by ship. Earlier in August on Emerald, had Premier and it was NO to getting Gelato as part of Premier at the IC(International Cafe).

Nope, Cocktails in the PES(Platinum, Elite, Suites), lounge have always had a cost, the specials are at a discounted price. If you are in a suite on a Royal Class ship, there is a Concierge/Suite Lounge that usually has a complimentary cocktail hour with themes. When there is a Captain’s Circle party on a sailing, cocktails are complimentary. Since we know from your own ‘live thread’ you were successful in getting Plus package as a solo with your wife as no show, so you have 15 daily cocktail drinks covered.

The steam and saunas were removed with the last Emerald dry dock, sister ship Ruby had theirs also removed with her last dry dock a few months ago.

I believe the rule is at least 2 in your cabin need to purchase. No to buying for only ONE in cabin. You do not need release as you download onto your own device or flash drive and can do as you wish, no watermark/copyright.

@skynight, Princess allows a passenger on board to purchase FCD’s for Anyone that has a Captain circle number, they do not have to be on board. The passenger on board has to purchase so hopefully the people not on board they are buying for will reimburse them. I have done this for people who are yet to sail. They get a referral from a family member, get issued as Captain circle number, then when someone we know is on a ship, but them a FCD. The 50% selected sailings promo ended at the end of October 2023. I have heard currently they have selected sailing at 25-30% off which is better than nothing if the sailing works for you.

I do not remember seeing it. You can probably request it.

Yes, at least you could while I was on Sapphire last month. Regular non specialty pizza’s are $8.50 plus 18% . If you have plus you get 2 visits if you have premier, unlimited.

Princess has a new lunch menu that is pretty standard , you need to pay attention as I believe the two items on the right column bottom of main entrees will change and usually one appetizer . This has been discussed and pictures of the lunch menus in previous live threads. I was on the 18 day to South America on the Sapphire in December so we had 11 sea days, so I saw a lot of the lunch menus and did not partake. I had premier so was able to go to Ocean Terrace and Alfredo’s

@kmkasza, the term is ‘Casual Dining’, not dinner. Other ships offer Alfredo’s/Gigis and Ocean Terrace for lunch options(not available on Emerald). With Plus Pkg, you get 2 per cruise, with Premier Pkg you get unlimited Casual Dining.

Yes, you can ‘charge’ chips or slot play to you shipboard account via the Medallion just like previously if you have a cruise card they would take the info from. Currently Princess does NOT charge any transaction fee to charge to your stateroom account. There have been rumors the casino will be separating accounts in the future as OBC is not supposed to be used against Casino charges, but it has not happened yet.

ONE has been contracted by Princess to oversee/manage Future cruises on all Princess ships. The Princess Promotions Package can also be booked/bought at the Future cruise desk. At least there you have actual paperwork to review opposed to getting a call and promises of what that package includes. Future cruises has all of your Princess cruises history/bookings and they are responsible for managing Captain circle loyalty issues as of beginning 2023, when these departments were merged.

@Bimmer09, Norris, just wanted to add an FYI, for those who may not have sailed in the past year or been in the loop since you posted a picture of the Captain Circle desk on the Ruby. I believe the Emerald has the same setup. As of the beginning of 2023, Future cruise and Loyalty were merged and are handled by a third party for Princess by a company called ONE. There is no longer a Captain Circle host/hostess. Usually the ‘lead’ Future cruise consultant will host many of the Captain circle events like the Captain circle party and do Future cruise presentations. I have noticed one or two of the future cruise consultants will attend the Platinum, Elite, Suites happy hour and be available for questions. Any one of the Future cruise consultants should be able to assist with Captain circle issues, opposed to a dedicated crew member, circle host. A review of the Officer’s board will show this crew members title as Future Cruises/Loyalty. The patter/event listing will show hours the Loyalty desk will be manned, for ships with this dedicated space, which will be very limited hours, but you can pop over to future cruises any time they have hours to address any loyalty issues.

The Regal is a ‘Royal’ class ship and the Spa suite area is known as the ‘Enclave’ which is not the same as the Thermal suites on the smaller ‘Grand’ class ships. Check out numerous YouTube videos to see the difference. In some sailings depending on how many passes are sold, you may be able to buy day passes. Suggest you take a tour and see if the space is to your liking and if your itinerary would allow you the time.

You will find a limited variety of pizza available in the buffet during lunch.

Sorry you are not making sense to me. Yes, I understand your parents are locked out of the booking. But if Princess promotions knows how much OBC/credits are attached to the ‘package’ your parents purchase, and they know the booking cannot be accessed by your parents, as I have noted, anyone can easily see the current shore excursions, EZAir flights by just going to Princess.com and pulling up the sailing. If your parents see something they want to ‘add’, take a screenshot and call Princess promotions to add to your parents booking. So yes your parents cannot do this themselves, but I can not believe a supervisor/manager can not manually add these items, otherwise start over with a new booking ! My understanding the company managing Princess promotions is ONE, the same company Princess has hired that has taken over doing Future Cruise/Loyalty on the ships. Not certain, but it is my understanding. So if they are selling it, they are responsible for its administration.

@NMTraveller, we know nothing about your likes or dislikes. Go to YouTube and you will find plenty of Vlogs /Reviews of the Diamond Princess and Japan sailings, also I believe @Ken the cruiserposted a review/live here on cruise critic recently, click on his signature for a link to his live.

Hi @Midlo Guys, you quote ‘sky lounge’, I think you have your ships mixed up. I believe the ‘Sky lounge’ is a feature on Celebrity ships which is a nice open lounge on an upper forward deck with windows. I do not believe Princess ships have ever had a ‘sky lounge’. The Sanctuary has been on most Princess ships for many, many, years and has always been a paid to use venue.

Hi @Kira KH, the price of WiFi alone and the Plus and Premier packages are the same whether you purchase pre cruise or on day 1 or 2 so no loss there on not being able to lock those in. I would think the princess promo people should be able to get into your parents cruise booking and let you know what shore excursions are available. Else I would have asked them to redo the booking! Since they know your parents are locked out, and it is the ‘systems’ issue, ask them to cancel and rebook so hopefully a new booking will not have the ‘lock out’ issues? As you have noted, you are passing info for your parents booking and info sounds like it is missing, so I wish you well and hope it gets sorted. Since your parents are locked out and could not use their EZAir credits, has Princess promotions offered any compensation? Anyone, even if not booked can see what flights EZAir is offering for a Princess sailing by just pulling up the sailing and checking flight quotes. Too late now, but this is what your parents should have done and if they saw flights offered in EZAir they would have booked, screenshot it and tell Princess promotion to have the EZAir department book this for them and add it to their booking and then manually have the EZAir credits applied. Yes, your parents particular booking is locked out from viewing , but anyone can pull up a Princess sailing and view what shore excursions or EZAir flights are available. Unfortunately your parents have been getting the runaround and should have been more forceful in having a supervisor or manager step in and get EZAir or other cruise planner items added.