Princess Secrets they Don't Tell You

[W&G1968]

And also if you leave it on all night with the sound turned off or down real low, you will know when it is morning and not have to wonder if it is time to get up.

 

 

That works really well, almost like having a window...during the night it doesn't bother you because...well it's dark!

[sjde]

So many great suggestions! We are going on our 7th cruise--but our first one with Princess --next month.

 

I would assume Princess does what the other lines do--if you have sea-sickness, the Purser's desk (is that what it is called?) will give you anti-nausea pills (meclizine).

 

Some questions have come up in regards to these posts.

 

Is it less expensive to buy a bottle of wine in an onboard shop and take it to the dining room (with no corkage fee) than ordering the same bottle in the dining room?

 

If we have wine in our cabin before dinner, we can walk into the dining room with a glass?

 

I tried the suggestions under User CP for changing options but signatures (and all else) was already unchecked. Yet I get so much extraneous material.

 

Sue

[denims]

So many great suggestions! We are going on our 7th cruise--but our first one with Princess --next month.

 

I would assume Princess does what the other lines do--if you have sea-sickness, the Purser's desk (is that what it is called?) will give you anti-nausea pills (meclizine).

 

Some questions have come up in regards to these posts.

 

Is it less expensive to buy a bottle of wine in an onboard shop and take it to the dining room (with no corkage fee) than ordering the same bottle in the dining room?

 

If we have wine in our cabin before dinner, we can walk into the dining room with a glass?

 

I tried the suggestions under User CP for changing options but signatures (and all else) was already unchecked. Yet I get so much extraneous material.

 

Sue

 

You probably should ask this question on the main board, as this thread is for "secrets"!:)

[denims]

So many great suggestions! We are going on our 7th cruise--but our first one with Princess --next month.

 

I would assume Princess does what the other lines do--if you have sea-sickness, the Purser's desk (is that what it is called?) will give you anti-nausea pills (meclizine).

 

Some questions have come up in regards to these posts.

 

Is it less expensive to buy a bottle of wine in an onboard shop and take it to the dining room (with no corkage fee) than ordering the same bottle in the dining room? If you buy a bottle from the ships supply, you can bring it into the dining room without a charge

 

If we have wine in our cabin before dinner, we can walk into the dining room with a glass? My wife has done it many times

 

I tried the suggestions under User CP for changing options but signatures (and all else) was already unchecked. Yet I get so much extraneous material.

 

Sue

 

See above

[maofthree]

have bin on 4 princess cruises and never knew about the power hr drinks $2.99 8 pm til close on some mix drinks and beer. will know fer sure March 26.:eek:

[jonikal]

have bin on 4 princess cruises and never knew about the power hr drinks $2.99 8 pm til close on some mix drinks and beer. will know fer sure March 26.:eek:

 

No harm in practicing beforehand. Cheers!

[missymac222]

have bin on 4 princess cruises and never knew about the power hr drinks $2.99 8 pm til close on some mix drinks and beer. will know fer sure March 26.:eek:

where is this special at? all bars?

[Sneakie]

where is this special at? all bars?

 

We were on Princess last year and all I drank were the $2.99 Slings. I bought them everywhere on the ship, even in the theatre.

[KansasCityTBone]

The International sells tea, brewed coffee, fancy coffee drinks and alcohol beverages.

When you buy the "coffee card" you get 15 punches for fancy coffees. In addition to the "Punch" coffees you are entitled to unlimited tea and brewed coffee with the card. We always leave one punch on our card so we can continue to have a decient cup of tea or coffee.

BTW The cards are good on all ships, so if you have punches left over, take the card on you next cruise.

 

You can buy used coffee cards on eBay - free tea and drip coffee for the cruise!

Other cruisers - it is a good way to make back $1-4 if you have any left. If you leave it in a drawer you'll lose it or forget it anyway!

[DrJay]

You are SPOT ON on that one, Jeannie! I LIVE for the Princess escargot - okay, my own little guilty pleasure is that I always have 2 orders of my own, and then eat my husband's as well :o ! I never have escargot any other time, so if I leave the cruise without my "fix" it would feel like unfinished business! I always ask - and then I make sure I'm there in the MDR the night it's being served!

 

Got the inside on how to get the escargot... what about lobster....is that available on request?

[grandma to 2]

:) I would like to thank all of you that took the time to post. This will be our first cruise on the Princess and I have read this whole thread. (took me a while ).

 

Thank you again for all of the hints, I will surely use them.

[alback]

Wi-fi works in the cabins, but depending on your cabin location (steel surrounding you), deck level, and distance from wi-fi access points, and time of day, affects your wi-fi connection. Check the bars on your signal strength, it will gauge your connection to the ships wi-fi.

 

You are connecting to the ships server first (the free stuff via wi-fi), then routed to the internet via satellite. Much slower than you are accustom to at your home or office. The ship has very limited bandwidth for satellite connectivity, so it is easy to bog down the system.

 

I connected to the free site late morning while at sea, no problem - then when I went to connect to my email site the satellite connection was overloaded and could not support a connection for me. I wasted 10 minutes trying to resolve a connection.

 

I was advised to try again in the early morning, which I did and it worked. (they also credited back the 10 minutes I wasted, then missed giving me the 15 minutes extra from their coupon book).

 

I was advised that the boats strongest wi-fi access points are in the main atrium areas of the ship, so a portable at those locations will get a stronger wi-fi signal.

 

If you can wait for port stops, there is free wi-fi access at many ports. Watch for several crew members taking their laptops to shore and sitting along the port shops.

 

My experience was on the Grand.

 

hope this helps,

ar

[artvlay]

We enjoy vegging out at night watching TV. However the shows and times are hit and miss. We now bring cords to connect our laptop to the back of the TV and watch our own DVD movies and episodes of old TV shows when we want. I'm sure someone has passed our room, heard to theme song from Mary Tyler Moore show and wondered why they could not find it in the listings.:p

 

A lot more comfortable than watching those shows on the laptop.

 

In the past, I wasn't able to hook anything up to the TV. Are you saying that you can do that now?

[Zena,W.P.]

In the past, I wasn't able to hook anything up to the TV. Are you saying that you can do that now?

 

Most of the TVs are now flat screen with all the inputs needed. We did buy a converter (laptop to TV) but only used the S video cables we brought. There were 4 or 5 different ways to hook up, just like the newer TVs at home.

[artvlay]

Most of the TVs are now flat screen with all the inputs needed. We did buy a converter (laptop to TV) but only used the S video cables we brought. There were 4 or 5 different ways to hook up, just like the newer TVs at home.

 

I am going on the Caribbean Princes and don't know if they have flat screens. Would like to watch the old shows like you did.

[bigguy1]

A $20.00 bill placed in the Maitre'D's hand will get you your table for two and he'll take care of you for the rest of the cruise. The $20 is easier to carry and you can drink that good wine! quote=ibfern;27760069]It never hurts to bring the Maitre 'd a bottle of your best local/regional wine on embarkation day when you are making a request for a table for two!

[compozer]

A $20.00 bill placed in the Maitre'D's hand will get you your table for two and he'll take care of you for the rest of the cruise. The $20 is easier to carry and you can drink that good wine! quote=ibfern;27760069]It never hurts to bring the Maitre 'd a bottle of your best local/regional wine on embarkation day when you are making a request for a table for two!

 

I've never seen the Maitre'D at the entrance. The three head waiters are the ones that assign the seats.

 

On our last 14 day cruise we got to know the Maitre'D well and he would stop at our table every night. several nights he even sat down with us and had a glass of wine. He refused our tip saying NO Need.

[cruiseron36]

In all of our 30 Princess cruises I have only seen two Maitr de's that regularly show up in the MDR's making the rounds, those being Generoso and Saldana.

[diane.in.ny]

11) If you’re doing the cruisetour, make sure you carefully read about the luggage information specifically regarding when you switch from land to ship or vice versa. Our travel agent did not forewarn us about how our luggage would be handled and thankfully I read it and therefore was prepared for how that was going to pan out. You can read about it here under “Luggage”:

http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/cruisetours/cruisetours_alaska.jsp

 

thank you! we are booked for a cruise tour and didn't know this.

[diane.in.ny]

Another good tip, which we always use is:

 

Bring along some cheap magnets (you can get them in craft shops--or have a purpose in bringing home souvenirs). The walls have metal in them and you can "hang up" all those pesky papers you get every day in your cabin!

 

Just be careful that you don't pack your magnets near your camera or memory cards.

[ibfern]

I've never seen the Maitre'D at the entrance. The three head waiters are the ones that assign the seats.

 

On our last 14 day cruise we got to know the Maitre'D well and he would stop at our table every night. several nights he even sat down with us and had a glass of wine. He refused our tip saying NO Need.

 

I'd be embarrassed to hand a Maitre'D like Generoso a $20, but not a great bottle of wine!

[diane.in.ny]

After carefully reading all of the postings [!], I kept seeing references to the possibility of booking Internet time ahead of the cruise, but I never saw any advice as to how to do this. I checked the Princess website, but had no luck finding anything about it. We're cruising on December 23--have I waited too long? This will be our eighth cruise & our third with Princess, but never knew we could buy Internet minutes ahead of time.

 

It's under communications. And you need to get it set up at the Internet cafe. The cafe manager has to add the extra minutes in.

[diane.in.ny]

They had decks of cards as prizes on the Diamond last month.

 

And they had them on the Coral Jan/Feb 2011

[diane.in.ny]

My hint from my experience on the Coral Princess...don't try to get into Anytime Dining between 6 and 7:30 without expecting a long wait. They gave out pagers and even, several nights, ran out of pagers.

 

Best time is about 7:45 to walk in without waiting.

[dfields1814]

Diane.in.ny

 

I agree. Good luck in the anytime Dr after 6:00. We got here between 5:30 and 6:00 and never had a problem. We just had to wait once because we got there a little after 6:00. I think the reason for the wait is that there is only one anytime DR.