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Couple of questions from a Princess newbie

Twolittleboys

By Twolittleboys,
in Princess Cruises

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Twolittleboys

Twolittleboys

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I am considering booking my first cruise on Princess, a transatlantic on the Sky Princess. As I am new to Princess I do have a couple of questions:

 

1) How is the Wifi, specifically on transatlantics? I saw some complaints in October of last year but maybe the quality has gotten better?

2) Are there plenty of comfortable indoor areas on Sky Princess to spend time in if the weather is bad?

3) I believe you can bring a 12 pack of sodas on board, correct? What "free" drinks can you get in the buffet/around the ship? Is there free lemonade? 

4) Anything else specific to Princess or the Sky Princess I should know?

 

Really appreciate any tips you want to share!

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skynight

skynight

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3) I believe you can bring a 12 pack of sodas on board, correct? What "free" drinks can you get in the buffet/around the ship? Is there free lemonade?

12 cans of soda per person may be brought on board at embarkation/

No charge for coffee, tea, glasses of water, ice tea, lemonade, a selection of juices in the morning in the buffet and DRs.

Water in glasses is available at any bar.

If you have the plus or premier fare then most non alcoholic beverages are unlimited, and up to 15 alcoholic beverages per day are included, with price limits of $15/$20. Two to three alcoholic beverages per day is the break even point. 

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startedwithamouse "Live from...." Rare

startedwithamouse

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2 hours ago, Twolittleboys said:

I am considering booking my first cruise on Princess, a transatlantic on the Sky Princess. As I am new to Princess I do have a couple of questions:

 

1) How is the Wifi, specifically on transatlantics? I saw some complaints in October of last year but maybe the quality has gotten better?

2) Are there plenty of comfortable indoor areas on Sky Princess to spend time in if the weather is bad?

3) I believe you can bring a 12 pack of sodas on board, correct? What "free" drinks can you get in the buffet/around the ship? Is there free lemonade? 

4) Anything else specific to Princess or the Sky Princess I should know?

 

Really appreciate any tips you want to share!

If you have a longer voyage, like a TA, PC, etc., they'll let you bring more than a 12pack of soda onboard, no problem. 

 

Lemonade at the buffet is included.

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Twolittleboys

Twolittleboys

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Great, thank you! Not sure I can carry more than a 12 pack but possibly I can refill in the Azores.

 

Not a huge drinker so a drink package is probably not worth it unless heavily discounted.

 

I have had a package on a couple of recent (non-Princess) cruises and even then a glass of wine with dinner and a cocktail is about my limit. And to be honest I am just as happy with a soda instead of the wine so I think maybe a soda per day in the MDR (in addition to cans I bring) and a cocktail every couple of days will be fine.

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skynight

skynight

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Look again at the plus fare. It includes:

Daily gratuity (crew appreciation) $16, $17 or $18/pp/day.

Unlimited wifi internet which is $15/day for one device. If you are platinum or elite loyalty level then it's half price.

Beverage package which includes unlimited non alcoholic beverages, canned sodas excluded, fountain sodas included, and up to 15 alcoholic beverages per day.

2 casual dining meals per cruise that cost $15 if purchased separately.

A bunch of other stuff.

Grats and wifi = $31/day. Cost of the plus fare is $60/day. 2 alcoholic drinks/day = around$23. Specialty coffee/espresso drinks are around $5/$6.

It doesn't take much to break even.

The stand alone beverages package is not cost effective, but the plus fare is.  

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NavyVeteran

NavyVeteran

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3 hours ago, skynight said:

Look again at the plus fare. It includes:

. . .

Beverage package which includes unlimited non alcoholic beverages, canned sodas excluded, fountain sodas included, and up to 15 alcoholic beverages per day.

. . . 

According to several recent posts from multiple ships, the Plus fare now includes canned sodas. The summary description now says "... includes the classics: sodas, . . ." - it no longer explicitly says "fountain sodas". The detailed Terms & Conditions still says "fountain sodas", but it no longer explicitly says canned sodas are not included. So it may be an even better deal now if you like canned sodas.

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BobandLizM

BobandLizM

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Sailed Sky Princess, transatlantic both ways in November 2021 and March 2022.   WI-FI was really bad both ways, on one cruise they Immediately gave back a sizeable amount of credit as on board credit, can not remember if they gave us some credit on the return leg back to uk.  But good WI-FI would have been better!

 

can not speak for WI-FI today, it sounds like they are upgrading.

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Twolittleboys

Twolittleboys

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2 hours ago, BobandLizM said:

Sailed Sky Princess, transatlantic both ways in November 2021 and March 2022.   WI-FI was really bad both ways, on one cruise they Immediately gave back a sizeable amount of credit as on board credit, can not remember if they gave us some credit on the return leg back to uk.  But good WI-FI would have been better!

 

can not speak for WI-FI today, it sounds like they are upgrading.

 

I was rather afraid of that. On my NCL transatlantic this spring Wi-fi also was bad. I had the impression that maybe Princess had upgraded theirs but would need to know for sure before I even consider the Plus package.

 

2 hours ago, BobandLizM said:

NB: if the weather is bad, put on a coat and go to Lido deck, loads of Sun beds. Good time to go for a quick dip as well, as long as they have not closed the pool.

Is the Lido deck covered?

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BamaVol

BamaVol

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The conversion to starlink took place over the summer I believe.  Anything you knew or believed about Princess internet capability prior to that is outdated.

 

We sailed Caribbean Princess in March (in the Caribbean) and performance was marginal.  We sailed Sapphire Princess to Alaska in September and it was just fine.

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kywildcatfanone

kywildcatfanone

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20 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

If you have a longer voyage, like a TA, PC, etc., they'll let you bring more than a 12pack of soda onboard, no problem. 

 

Lemonade at the buffet is included.

Yes, was going to say they really don't enforce the rule, you can take more soda or water onboard if you want.  

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Steelers36

Steelers36

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23 hours ago, BobandLizM said:

Sailed Sky Princess, transatlantic both ways in November 2021 and March 2022.   WI-FI was really bad both ways, on one cruise they Immediately gave back a sizeable amount of credit as on board credit, can not remember if they gave us some credit on the return leg back to uk.  But good WI-FI would have been better!

 

can not speak for WI-FI today, it sounds like they are upgrading.

The Wifi has no need of upgrading.  There are plenty of access points around each ship.  They upgraded the satellite service to Starlink which provides the internet service and so it is back to good decent speed now and 2021/2022 experiences are dated.

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Steelers36

Steelers36

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21 hours ago, Twolittleboys said:

 

I was rather afraid of that. On my NCL transatlantic this spring Wi-fi also was bad. I had the impression that maybe Princess had upgraded theirs but would need to know for sure before I even consider the Plus package.

 

Is the Lido deck covered?

They have upgraded to Starlink.

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MissP22

MissP22

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14 hours ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Ah, didn't think about that.  My only issue with regular size bottles if sods and water is fitting any in the fridge.

We usually only bring 1 liter size bottles but one time we brought a 2 liter bottle. The only problem is that you lose shelf space.

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