Unexpected Shoreside Concierge Invitation to GO Princess Lounge at Port Everglades

[dog]

40 minutes ago, jwattle said:

 

See post 26 for video

Would be nice to see van- transportation, details, close up of food, etc.  I posted the video with the proper address, post #32.

 

thanks

Edited October 24, 2023 by dog

[Steelers36]

22 minutes ago, dog said:

Would be nice to see van- transportation, details, close up of food, etc.  I posted the video with the proper address, post #32.

 

thanks

If you can find the post from last Spring, there was a photo of a car or van under cover of the building I think.  Also, better photo or two of interior of the lounge.

 

ETA:  

 

 

ETA:  See Post #52

 

PS - I may not have been there myself, but my information came largely from this post of other's real experiences and some Q&A with them. 😉

 

Edited October 24, 2023 by Steelers36

[dog]

31 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

If you can find the post from last Spring, there was a photo of a car or van under cover of the building I think.  Also, better photo or two of interior of the lounge.

 

ETA:  

 

 

ETA:  See Post #52

 

PS - I may not have been there myself, but my information came largely from this post of other's real experiences and some Q&A with them. 😉

 

Thanks, bookmarked it!

Edited October 24, 2023 by dog

[CalTexCruiser]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

@CalTexCruiser, would you have an estimate of the seating capacity?  Are some guests standing?  Thanks.

Space for about 20-25 guests, so that appears to be the reason that it’s a random selection from among full suite guests

 

the Mercedes van is very nice

 

because of the large embarkation delay there was little benefit for us in terms of avoiding line.  We still had to go through blue lane to get medallions 

 

they check you in at the lounge and then we got cards to use to pick up our medallions at the regular counter

[CalTexCruiser]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

 

Edited October 24, 2023 by CalTexCruiser

[dog]

If we get invited to lounge in October for SUN signature suite , we will also have to pick up our medallions,. Will have to wait and see if we require reservations for signature area of SUN deck/ sanctuary.

[dog]

Ok, found the photos on previous thread.

[CalTexCruiser]

Update on how Sanctuary booking worked in our case, as explained to me by the Concierge Lounge concierge--by the way Vladimir on the Regal is fantastic...highly efficient and friendly.

 

The Go Princess lounge concierge texts the passenger's request to the Concierge Lounge concierge, who then works with the Sanctuary folks over the phone to make the bookings.  So if you want specific lounge locations other than shaded/unshaded, that request can also be passed on.

 

Any other booking requests such as spa, specialty dining, etc., are handled the same way.

[Pickels]

On 10/21/2023 at 10:05 AM, CalTexCruiser said:

Unexpectedly, I received a call and email on Friday from a Princess Shoreside Concierge inviting us to the GO Princess Lounge on the day of embarkation next Tuesday because we are in a full suite.  This lounge appears to be outside of the port area, on the first floor of Princess Cruises HQ. 

 

Apparently, they will handle our luggage and a shuttle will take us to the terminal.  The email said "that waiting in line can be a hassle, so we want to make sure you can get onboard as quickly and smoothly as possible."  Not sure what that means. 

 

We don't have our medallions so wonder if the concierges in the lounge can produce those for us.

 

The concierge also said that we can "book any onboard experiences you may be interested in," presumably including the Sanctuary.  It'll be interesting if that's the case, as suite passengers (at least in Port Everglades) would have first dibs ahead of other passengers (except for B2B passengers). 

 

I have not heard of a shoreside lounge as a service for full suite passengers, but then again this will only be our third time on Princess so I may have just missed the announcement on this.

 

If indeed this lounge will allow full suite passengers to check in at a relaxing lounge and provide a fast lane to board it will be a great feature. 

I know there are several "categories'" of suites on the ship, does anyone know if this shoreside lounge will be available to those in a Reserve Collection Mini-Suite?  Thanks for any info. 

[CalTexCruiser]

46 minutes ago, Pickels said:

I know there are several "categories'" of suites on the ship, does anyone know if this shoreside lounge will be available to those in a Reserve Collection Mini-Suite?  Thanks for any info. 

no only full suites, and even then only if invited 

[Pickels]

Thanks, appreciate the clarification 

[suekel]

On 10/24/2023 at 12:25 PM, c-boy said:

What !  since there's a delay and your stuck there, I want you to do some more investigating.  "random selection" what the he11 does that mean?   " not all suite guests are extended invitations"  I'm guessing mini suites are out.  Picture of the lounge ? 

Yes, a mini suite is not a suite.  It is badly named and leads to confusion.  

[flutprop]

We were invited in June. I was cruising with my teen son and his girlfriend, and driving down from Orlando with her parents. They were allowed to park their vehicle in the garage and hang out with us until we boarded the van.

The concierge did have our Medallions for us, and we were escorted by a staff member from the reception office through the crowds at the port and up to the ship. The concierge was also in contact with Ship Guest Services about questions I had about requirements for sailing with the non- family member. It was very calm and relaxed, and would have been even easier if just family sailing.

[CalTexCruiser]

We spoke with several different folks while hanging out in the jacuzzi at the Retreat Pool, and they were unable to get loungers at the Sanctuary despite rushing up to the Sanctuary as early as they could upon boarding.

 

We were able to get what we felt were prime lounger locations in the shaded area for half days (afternoon) on sea days.  

 

A couple we met at the GO Suite Lounge was able to get half day (afternoon) cabanas on sea days, so they were happy campers too.

 

The ability to make Sanctuary bookings in the GO Suite Lounge is definitely a nice benefit.

 

 

[talcert]

On 1/2/2024 at 3:00 PM, MrSchwump said:

That sounds like a good question to

pose on the main Princess board. Someone there might have experience with this. I’m curious to find out what happens!

 

On 10/25/2023 at 3:06 PM, Pickels said:

I know there are several "categories'" of suites on the ship, does anyone know if this shoreside lounge will be available to those in a Reserve Collection Mini-Suite?  Thanks for any info. 

Well, we are in a Reserve Collection Mini-Suite and did get the call and email invitation. So I guess it may depend on how many they reach on the phone as they go down a list.

[talcert]

In the Go Princess Lounge now. Very nice. Confirmed invitation only, full suites and reserve collection mini-suites, other member of your party in other rooms not included. Reservations for Sanctuary taken but lounge/location not guaranteed. 
 

nice collection of snacks and comfy chairs and good service. 
 

some pics to share 

 

[talcert]

1 hour ago, talcert said:

In the Go Princess Lounge now. Very nice. Confirmed invitation only, full suites and reserve collection mini-suites, other member of your party in other rooms not included. Reservations for Sanctuary taken but lounge/location not guaranteed. 
 

nice collection of snacks and comfy chairs and good service. 
 

some pics to share 

 

Excellent service from the ambassadors here. 

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, talcert said:

Reservations for Sanctuary taken but lounge/location not guaranteed. 

Appreciate the detail.  Were they not communicating with the ship for this?  I would be requesting a shade spot or forget it.

[talcert]

Sadly, an update to the experience is that the communications with the Sanctuary never made it to the right place on the ship. By the time we made it up there the seats were taken in the sun areas. They made it right by adding a chair to an open area, but clearly there are still some comms issues to work out. The Go Princess staff came by personally to talk to us and to the Sanctuary staff to fix the comms problems, so hopefully this will be fixed.

 

For us, all ended up fine, but it wasn’t quite the smooth experience it was supposed to be.

 

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

12 hours ago, talcert said:

Sadly, an update to the experience is that the communications with the Sanctuary never made it to the right place on the ship. By the time we made it up there the seats were taken in the sun areas. They made it right by adding a chair to an open area, but clearly there are still some comms issues to work out. The Go Princess staff came by personally to talk to us and to the Sanctuary staff to fix the comms problems, so hopefully this will be fixed.

 

For us, all ended up fine, but it wasn’t quite the smooth experience it was supposed to be.

 

From what I understand it’s the competency of the suite concierge. Ours was awful. What ship where are you on?

[talcert]

We’re on the Ruby, 10 day Panama cruise. Day 2. For us, the problem really did seem to be one of communication, not competency. I got a call in the room from the Guest Services Director who explained that during a shift change the requests for Sanctuary chairs was not passed along. Maybe, maybe not, but at each stage it seemed to be the desire to fix the comms issues.

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

2 hours ago, talcert said:

We’re on the Ruby, 10 day Panama cruise. Day 2. For us, the problem really did seem to be one of communication, not competency. I got a call in the room from the Guest Services Director who explained that during a shift change the requests for Sanctuary chairs was not passed along. Maybe, maybe not, but at each stage it seemed to be the desire to fix the comms issues.

When we got on board we checked in to the concierge lounge to see about the reservations and her response was “Yes, I have them right here (pointing to a piece of paper on her desk) and I will be going up there later to make the reservations).” Too late, honey.  We didn’t get on the ship until after 1.

Edited January 20 by Sox Fan Cruiser

[talcert]

2 hours ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

When we got on board we checked in to the concierge lounge to see about the reservations and her response was “Yes, I have them right here (pointing to a piece of paper on her desk) and I will be going up there later to make the reservations).” Too late, honey.  We didn’t get on the ship until after 1.

On 1/19/2024 at 9:07 AM, talcert said:

In the Go Princess Lounge now. Very nice. Confirmed invitation only, full suites and reserve collection mini-suites, other member of your party in other rooms not included. Reservations for Sanctuary taken but lounge/location not guaranteed. 
 

nice collection of snacks and comfy chairs and good service. 
 

some pics to share 

 

Excellent service from the ambassadors here. Another bit of a snag. We had made a request for the chefs table before 9am. Once on the ship, checked and found we were waitlisted and told that all spots on both chef tables were taken by B2B passengers. I found that a bit hard to believe, more likely the request went in late after the boarders took the slots. Lesson learned. Head on early and get the reservation on board early. Too bad, it’s the first time in 10 cruises that I didn’t get on the chefs table. I never had a problem when I boarded with the normal process. 
 

definitely some things to work out on the Go Princess lounge comms. 

[c-boy]

1 minute ago, talcert said:

Excellent service from the ambassadors here. Another bit of a snag. We had made a request for the chefs table before 9am. Once on the ship, checked and found we were waitlisted and told that all spots on both chef tables were taken by B2B passengers. I found that a bit hard to believe, more likely the request went in late after the boarders took the slots. Lesson learned. Head on early and get the reservation on board early. Too bad, it’s the first time in 10 cruises that I didn’t get on the chefs table. I never had a problem when I boarded with the normal process. 
 

definitely some things to work out on the Go Princess lounge comms. 

those darn b2b'ers, they can throw a wrench into the plans of incoming passengers.

[talcert]

So it seems many of the issues were resolved - but if you do the Go Princess lounge, be sure to get contact information for the shore side staff - they worked with the ship to resolve problems that the ship would not address. We did get the chair in the Sanctuary, Chef’s table (first of the two as requested), and had our issues with the room addressed. Note that not a single person on the Chef’s table was a B2B cruiser - they all got the table once onboard, so that was totally wrong when we were told the table was full with B2B.

 

So if you do the Go Princess lounge (which I do recommend), be sure to check your reservations once on board and keep those connections handy!

 

Day 7 here, having a wonderful cruise.