IrieBajan54

I was on the Enchanted Princess in August and attended Afternoon Tea on sea days in Amalfi Dining Room. You don't make reservations and it is FREE. The paper Princess Patter has a condensed listing of activities. Always check the app for full list of activities.

What's in it for Princess? Do vapers spend more money?

I'm Diamond on NCL and cruised with them for 10 years exclusively. Prior to that, I used to sail on the other 5 mass market lines. Just moved back to Princess and expect to be Elite right after my upcoming TA. NCL has changed and not for the better with issues like:

*limited choices and subpar quality of food in the MDR (especially seafood)

*I agree with another poster above that the buffet food is dreadful

*has a regular scheme to change some itineraries immediately after final payment

*cut production shows and replaced with game shows as an additional revenue center

*cabin cleaning reduced to once per day (either a.m. or p.m.)

*and you always have to be on the look out for an email where NCL makes changes for "your convenience and to protect the environment."

I don't do packages on any cruise line so can't comment on that.

20 hours ago, M&L-Colorado said:

I'm 7-1/2 weeks post cruise. Still waiting for check. Called the normal phone and she said she would note it and let accounting know. Anyone know a direct number to accounting or any other department that would be in the know to talk to?

I got of a cruise on August 24th. Got the check 17 days later.

Need? Nope!

I did Alaska 3 times way back when on the old Sun Princess and the Dawn. Plus HAL's Amsterdam. Had an OV window twice and once an inside. I had a good time moving around the decks (especially at Glacier Bay) and using my shoulder camcorder. Have no desire to go back though.

8 minutes ago, Jadn13 said:

Ha! Probably not. I use it towards gratuities and not drinks. 

Me too! Just last month my stock perk took care of my CA in full on a 14 day cruise.

23 minutes ago, memoak said:

Laundry for elites back in one day ?  Mi would like to know how large their laundry room is if they have 1,000 elite travelers. One day laundry is a suite perk on Princess. Elite laundry takes 2-3 days depending on amount of elites on board

Delete: I mis-read what you wrote. 

12 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

The cheerleaders here would have you believe that Princess offers the best loyalty program. Then they go on to complain how their benefits are watered down with the new all inclusive program, it takes 3 days to get a load of laundry back, they can no longer swap the mini bar for a coffee card and now they have to buy a WiFi package instead of getting the few free minutes they previously received as they only need to check emails and print an airline boarding pass.

Princess benefits are pretty lame. With NCL, Platinum and up get two specialty dining certificates. Furthermore, a solo traveler can pair up with a like status solo and actually get four(4) specialty dinners. Plus free laundry comes back the next day.

1 hour ago, davy jones said:

We had the same experience.  However, it is still best to track the folio daily.  The app did distinguish between refundable and nonrefundable

Agree! I always check my folio daily regardless of what line I'm on. Last year on NCL, I checked my folio mid-afternoon on Day 1 and saw several bar charges. Was definitely an error because I didn't visit a bar that day nor the balance of the cruise. GS said they would have to investigate but by the next day, charges were removed.

7 minutes ago, ccheng6401 said:

I submitted an OBC request on Stockperk app and it was approved on 7/26. However. I don't see it in my Princess account. My Stockperk app shows that I have $50 OBC and the booking number is correct but my Princess.com account doesn't show it. Any idea what I might have missed?   Did I apply too early for an Oct cruise? 

On the Summary page of your booking, did you click on Payments and then scroll down to the bottom? 

I don't know what the policy is fleetwide or from cruise to cruise. However, my single experience on the Enchanted that ended last weekend, was as follows:

Looking at my folio on Day 2, I had a port charge credit, shareholder OBC and TA OBC.

Princess used port charge credit of about $14 and a couple of $ from shareholder OBC to satisfy Crew Appreciation fee for the first day. Then for the balance of the cruise, they deducted the daily CA $16 from remainder of shareholder credit. I did not use my refundable TA OBC and agent at GS told me it will be refunded by check.

There are certain TA's who ask their clients: Do you want OBC or would you like it deducted from total cruise cost? If available to you, the latter option may be helpful for some cruisers.

10 hours ago, rj59 said:

They can always change the system, and have. So at one time, you couldn't combine military and shareholder OBC. And I believe military at one time was refundable, so I'd use mostly shareholder to cover gratuities and get a check for unspent military OBC at the end of the cruise. Having OBC to cover gratuities and a daily cocktail, and the Elite benefits of a minibar and half-off wifi, I've never felt the need to get Plus.

Ditto! Just got back from the Enchanted. My shareholder's OBC took care of the CA gratuities with $26 left over. So I got a few brewed coffees at the IC and bought a Medallion clip on to used up the balance. As a social drinker (wine/beer only), the one bottle of wine carried on and wine at two cocktail events took care of my alcohol needs. After my next cruise in October I will be Elite so the mini bar setup will push me over the limit (LOL). For me personally, a package would be unnecessary.

I just returned from my first Princess cruise in eleven years. I used the lanyard onboard but in ports, it went into my pocket. Next to last day, I had a little non-refundable OBC left over, so I bought a clip on. Never did clip it on. Felt better in my pocket. 😄

Currently on the Enchanted. On day 1, I had the room steward remove the duvet because it would sweat me. I have a flat bottom sheet, a top sheet and a blanket.

1 hour ago, zqvol said:

Currently, NCL provides the best value for solo cruisers. No one else comes close unless they are running a 0% single supplement which sometimes happens on the luxury lines. 

Speak for yourself! 🙂 I'm Latitudes Diamond and have cruised NCL exclusively for the last ten years as a solo and I definitely don't agree. I'm currently on a Princess cruise and it blows NCL out of the water IMO.

In recent years, I've been doing about 4 cruises annually on NCL. Only one this year - VIVA this past April. To get to my quota, it's going to be Princess three sailings to close out 2024.

Apples to Apples, I got a better price for this cruise and the next 2 coming up in October and November. Paid $200% and still got a better deal !!!!!

GirlWriter, I have the same problem with Princess. Every time I book EZAir, I have to call that dept so that they can manually enter my two middle names so it matches my passport. Furthermore if there is a price drop, I have to do it all over again. The excuse is that Princess software has limitations that don't have enough slots to spell out my FULL name. Bottom line is that regardless of who I've talked to, they say nothing can be done about it.

At NCL, a smaller cruise line, my full name matching my passport is on my account. Go figure!

That stinks! Guess I get lucky though since I only book Princess Standard so my shareholder and TA OBC would cover gratuities with some left over for specialty coffees and maybe a few beers.

Share price is certainly going to keep edging up. According the to the CEO, passengers haven't changed spending habits even though fares have gone up. They're spending like crazy onboard. Headlines about pain from inflation doesn't seem to effect leisure spending.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/16/royal-caribbean-leans-into-shorter-cruises-more-experiences.html

21 hours ago, PATRLR said:

When I read the OP, I was prepared to respond and say it was still in the buffet.  After seeing all the "not in buffet" posts I realize It was RCCL last summer that I was getting it in the buffet, not NCL in December.  Sigh.  I'll be on Princess in 2 weeks, I wonder if they'll have it.

Since the restart, I haven't seen it in the buffet. I eat lox every morning so I've had no choice but to go to MDR for breakfast. Like you, my next cruise is on Princess for the first time since 2013. However, my sail date is 4 weeks out. Looking forward to having a choice for lox: Buffet or MDR.

Thanks JB! I do have a biometric passport so hopefully it will be a walk thru. I read that most coffee shops in England don't usually sell drip/filtered coffee which is all I drink. Maybe, I'll get lucky.

Arriving LHR at 7:20 a.m. on a Wednesday in November at Terminal 3. Have a choice of 10:00 or 11:50 a.m. for transfer to Southampton on National Express. Thinking of buying 10:00 a.m.  no changes-ticket as it seems two hours should be enough to get through immigration/customs. Is this doable and is it a short walk to the bus station? And if I get through even faster, where could I hangout (coffee) before going to bus station?

The latest I have booked was on a Saturday for embarkation the following Tuesday on the Gem out of New York City about a year or two before Covid-19.

I'm Latitudes Diamond and the majority of my bookings have been after final payment and I would say 98% have been guarantees. I've had no issues with staterooms assigned to me.

This is why I don't apply for the shareholder's OBC until after final payment. Don't have to worry about fare adjustments and thereby any glitches!

Anyway on the first of my upcoming cruises, I made a request to Stockperks. Next day, I got any email that the OBC was denied because I already have OBC ... and that if I had further questions to call Princess. Before calling, I did some research on CC finding out to click on PAYMENTS and there is where I saw my shareholders credit. I have no idea why they said it was denied.

2 hours ago, rjack22 said:

I had booked EZ Air back in February.   Upon reading this thread I decided to check prices again.   I was able to re-fare my EZ Air and saved $435 dollars!    Same flights, same seats.  I guess it pays to check every so often.

Wow! I was under the impression that the current EZ booking would have to be cancelled and then rebooked. But you were able to "re-fare" and keep everything else as is. 👍

Has anyone ever had outside food confiscated when carried in their beach bag or similar?