Bungalows on Princess Cay

[margord]

We booked a bungalow along with some friend while cruising on the Emerald Princess in October. Along with the bungalow we also got priority tender tickets and our lunch and drinks were served to us in our bungalow.

 

We just got back from the Crown Princess and this was not the case. I don't know if this only pertains to the Crown or they have changed what they offer. No more tender tickets and no more lunch and drinks served to the bungalow. Seems like $199 is kind of high for just a bungalow.

 

Luckily I knew what was missing and went to the shore excursion desk the day we embarked to ask about the priority tender tickets. They said "oh, you want tickets, okay." They then gave them to me. When we got to the bungalow we asked about the lunch and were told we were to get it ourselves. We said that we expected to be served lunch since it was served on the Emerald. They said okay. So we got the same service but if you were not aware of it you would not have received the extra service.

[Lorey2007]

We booked a bungalow along with some friend while cruising on the Emerald Princess in October. Along with the bungalow we also got priority tender tickets and our lunch and drinks were served to us in our bungalow.

 

We just got back from the Crown Princess and this was not the case. I don't know if this only pertains to the Crown or they have changed what they offer. No more tender tickets and no more lunch and drinks served to the bungalow. Seems like $199 is kind of high for just a bungalow.

 

Luckily I knew what was missing and went to the shore excursion desk the day we embarked to ask about the priority tender tickets. They said "oh, you want tickets, okay." They then gave them to me. When we got to the bungalow we asked about the lunch and were told we were to get it ourselves. We said that we expected to be served lunch since it was served on the Emerald. They said okay. So we got the same service but if you were not aware of it you would not have received the extra service.

 

Did you also get that letter in your cabin about the special lunch that you are charged extra for? Was the lunch you got the BBQ buffet? Do you think we can get away with saying we were on the Emerald or just knew friends who were on the Emerald and they had there lunch served? Even better I may bring up Cruise Critic.

[Colo Cruiser]

Good to know.

[Caribbean Sunsets]

On the private island board, one pax reported that they received all the services and also were allowed to request a certain bungalow.

[Trivia Buffet]

We were on the Emerald Princess, Christmas 2008 and were waitlisted for 4 months for a bungalow. We found out on board that we made the list. We received 6 priority boarding tickets from the tour desk. Since my mother-in-law was physically restricted, we requested and obtained bungalow #1, which is the closest to the dock. Even so, she could only walk halfway there. The bungalow attendants provided golf cart type transportation for her which made a great difference. (Later we found out that the cart was part of the package and was available to anyone who asked).

 

At the bungalow, the attendant provided food from the BBQ buffet and drinks. Water and ice tea was included. The outside shower was convienent as was not having to stand in the buffet line.:)

 

The bungalow with air conditioning allowed my in-laws a "sanctuary" to stay at while the rest of the family enjoyed the beach/water. The priority tickets also allowed us to board first returning to the ship.

 

The only change I would make in the future would be to ask for abungalow further down the beach with more tree cover, as the cart transportation made the closer bungalows unimportant. We did not opt for the extra charge lunch.

[margord]

Did you also get that letter in your cabin about the special lunch that you are charged extra for? Was the lunch you got the BBQ buffet? Do you think we can get away with saying we were on the Emerald or just knew friends who were on the Emerald and they had there lunch served? Even better I may bring up Cruise Critic.

 

Yes we got the letter that for $48 extra per person (so if you have 6 people the while thing will be close to $500). I sure would try saying you were on the Emerald and knew better. Good luck.

[chasinraynbowz]

We were on the Ruby Princess 11/29 - 12/6. With our priority tender tickets, we received a letter from the staff explaining that the other 'extras' were no longer available. If we wanted food served to us, we had to pay the extra for their "picnic lunch". I questioned the employees at the tour desk and was told yes, this was correct. We got our own food and drinks.

 

Was it worth the $199? Yes and no. I KNEW not to expect service because of earlier threads so we were not too terribly disappointed. It was nice that we were all together and were able to spend some quality time before disembarking the next day.

 

Would I do it again? No. It seems that its a hit and miss situation. Some ships (and it seems some sailings) differ from one to the other. No one on our sailing received the extras (and no one on the 2 sailings before us did either), but the first cruise did.

 

I am glad you got what you got. But I would warn everyone that its not the case for every ship or every cruise. Don't rent a bungalow expecting to get all the extras because you will be very disappointed it you don't.

[alejules]

We were on the 11-22-08 Ruby sailing and were lucky enough to get all of the extras including having the entire lunch delivered directly to our bungalow. As a result we enjoyed our bungalow and the entire Princess Cay experience.

[margord]

We were on the Ruby Princess 11/29 - 12/6. With our priority tender tickets, we received a letter from the staff explaining that the other 'extras' were no longer available. If we wanted food served to us, we had to pay the extra for their "picnic lunch". I questioned the employees at the tour desk and was told yes, this was correct. We got our own food and drinks.

 

Was it worth the $199? Yes and no. I KNEW not to expect service because of earlier threads so we were not too terribly disappointed. It was nice that we were all together and were able to spend some quality time before disembarking the next day.

 

Would I do it again? No. It seems that its a hit and miss situation. Some ships (and it seems some sailings) differ from one to the other. No one on our sailing received the extras (and no one on the 2 sailings before us did either), but the first cruise did.

 

I am glad you got what you got. But I would warn everyone that its not the case for every ship or every cruise. Don't rent a bungalow expecting to get all the extras because you will be very disappointed it you don't.

 

 

I agree, don't expect it because you might not get it. If it is worth $199 to just have the bungalow then great, otherwise, I would not bother.

[nina26best]

We booked a bungalow along with some friend while cruising on the Emerald Princess in October. Along with the bungalow we also got priority tender tickets and our lunch and drinks were served to us in our bungalow.

 

We just got back from the Crown Princess and this was not the case. I don't know if this only pertains to the Crown or they have changed what they offer. No more tender tickets and no more lunch and drinks served to the bungalow. Seems like $199 is kind of high for just a bungalow.

 

Luckily I knew what was missing and went to the shore excursion desk the day we embarked to ask about the priority tender tickets. They said "oh, you want tickets, okay." They then gave them to me. When we got to the bungalow we asked about the lunch and were told we were to get it ourselves. We said that we expected to be served lunch since it was served on the Emerald. They said okay. So we got the same service but if you were not aware of it you would not have received the extra service.

Dear Margord.... Just happened to be cruising through the roll call board, as we will also be sailing on the 1st, and I happily came upon your note regarding the bungalow on Princess Cays! What luck! We have booked one, and thanks to you we will be able to have tender tickets and delivered lunch and drinks!!!

Thanks so much for this info. :) :)

Now... some other questions for all who sail with us:

* Is it still okay to carry wine onboard? Our last cruise was 18 months ago on the CRown and it was okay then.

* Is there still a service charge for room service? I've always noticed on our bill at the end that there would be a $10+ charge each time we had something delivered ( and we always were having something delivered!) :)

* Anyone familiar with the minisuites (port side) down on the Emerald deck? We usually book the midships Caribe balconies as we enjoy the larger balconies, but I was craving a tub to soak in, so we are all getting minisuites (and we dislike the Dolphin deck minisuites.... no overhang... no privacy... no shade). Hope there aren't some nosiy operations going on over our cabins!

 

Thanks to everyone who can help out with these questions. Hope to check in a few more times and join the fun of a roll call.

[mom of four]

I thought room sevice was free for select items. We always tip but I saw a room service menu where some items were free and then there were "premium" items that had significant but reasonable charges. Would like to know this for sure incase I have to limit the amount of times my kids pick up the phone for room service.

[Princess Chatterer]

A couple of bottles of wine carried aboard on embarkation day is fine. There is no charge for regular room service unless you order pizza which is or was $3. Deck selection is for a different discussion topic.

[Lynda90]

We were on the 11/8 Ruby sailing and we got all the perks. The person in our group who made the reservation received 6 tender tickets in her cabin and was able to request a certain bungalow that she wanted. We had two servers assigned to us who brought drinks for those who wanted them (charged to sail cards) and tons of food from the buffet at no extra cost. We were in the first bungalow so the food area was very close. I went and got my own food because I wanted to pick out what I wanted and eat when I wanted to.

[ssomerville]

We just got off the Ruby this past Saturday and we only received the tender tickets (even though we didn't have to use them) as a plus to the bungalow. It still came in handy as the weather was cold and windy last week and it gave us some shelter. Would we do it again, NO. Supposedly it is now that way fleet wide. In my opinion it's not worth the price.

[kandlwed]

Just got off Crown last Sunday. Had a bungalow for 6 of us. We got the letter to upgrade with 6 priority tenders. We didn't get a golf cart ride, but then again we didn't ask. We had ice water in the bungalow. We had to get our own food. Waiters came by on a regular basis for drinks. It was nice to have a cool place to put our stuff and it was much less crowded and with having that many people to share the cost, it was worth it. Not sure if I would do it if we did not have 6 people.

[chasinraynbowz]

Dear Margord.... Just happened to be cruising through the roll call board, as we will also be sailing on the 1st, and I happily came upon your note regarding the bungalow on Princess Cays! What luck! We have booked one, and thanks to you we will be able to have tender tickets and delivered lunch and drinks!!!

Thanks so much for this info. :) :)

Now... some other questions for all who sail with us:

* Is it still okay to carry wine onboard? Our last cruise was 18 months ago on the CRown and it was okay then.

* Is there still a service charge for room service? I've always noticed on our bill at the end that there would be a $10+ charge each time we had something delivered ( and we always were having something delivered!) :)

* Anyone familiar with the minisuites (port side) down on the Emerald deck? We usually book the midships Caribe balconies as we enjoy the larger balconies, but I was craving a tub to soak in, so we are all getting minisuites (and we dislike the Dolphin deck minisuites.... no overhang... no privacy... no shade). Hope there aren't some nosiy operations going on over our cabins!

 

Thanks to everyone who can help out with these questions. Hope to check in a few more times and join the fun of a roll call.

 

 

Best of luck to you. I hope you get the extra's you want.

 

We were never charged anything for room service. I did tip $2 each time room service was delivered though.

[nina26best]

Thanks for all for the info requested. We have sailed on 7 previous Princess ships, and yes, we tipped generously for each room service delivery, but I always... on each sail... noticed an extra charge for each room service delivery. Unfortunately, I couldn't locate my charge bill, so I thought I'd put it out there for all of you. I will really be diligent this time (finally !!) and look for those charges and call and ask what they are for!

 

As for the bungalows.... there are 5 of us splitting the cost, and all we had hoped for originally was to know we had a spot saved for us so there would be no rush to get off the ship and storm the island for a space and umbrella. It seems to me that when we arrive on the Crown in a couple of weeks it may not be hot but merely pleasant. Oh well....let's at least hope for sun. Our very first trip to Princess Cays was very wet, so any sun and the feel of sand beneath our feet will be welcome.

 

Having said all this, I must say how all this bungalow talk has saddened me regarding Princess service. There was a MAJOR SCREWUP BY PRINCESS with our reservations.... they mistakenly cancelled them !!! ...and it stunned us when we had some Princess employees be unbelievably RUDE to us on the phone during the restoration!! I spoke with about 8 different people to remedy the problem.... two were just curt, rude, and unprofessional. I sent an email to Customer Service at Princess....complaining about the rudeness, but also including all the names of those who helped and did their best to make things right. I specifically asked for an acknowledgement to that email, and now, several weeks later, customer service has still not replied. Who is in charge at Princess nowadays? Have they forgotten this is a SERVICE industry?

.

Now, I post all this as general info. Having sailed on Silversea, Holland America, Royal Caribbean.... we still feel Princess has the best crews around....usually all smiling and eager to help and please. But one or two bad apples leave a lasting feeling that things could be better... and SHOULD be better.

 

As I type this the temp outside is around 16 degrees here in northern NJ, and there is snow everywhere. Caribbean sun and heat will be SOOOO welcome. Again... thanks to all for replies....