HaveDogWillTravel

Excellent point! I’m not military. However he just checked and did not see it. Sometimes these things take a few days to get around.

I love your posts and contributions! I am so happy I could be helpful.

I have been helped tremendously by posts on CC. I am happy to contribute when I can. Very glad it worked out!

I did not get the same email from Princess that @Ken the cruiseror @Bwana Tom, @nasa1974and others did recently confirming what my CVP emailed me when I started this thread. My DH did have to email twice to get his SOBC applied with his MOBC before today’s deadline for a Dec sailing. He did get it after the second request. I’ve screen shot the Travel summary as I’m traveling and can’t print it at the moment. If his SOBC disappears I will definitely contact my CVP to get it reinstated. We hope to find time to spend it on shore excursions really soon as there actually are several we are interested in from Princess on that sailing! I’m glad there were at least a few folks (besides myself) who could take advantage of this early warning to get their SOBC applied while they could.

Free laundry had been a full suite perk since at least May 2016 when I sailed in my first one on the Island.

Yes breakfast daily and lunch on sea days. Enjoy!

I really hope this is true! But I do empathize with veterans who feel their service us being equated to shareholders. Yes there are younger veterans. My son is only 42 he served 8 years. He spent one year getting shot at daily in Afghanistan.

To answer your question, when I have felt an additional tip was warranted in Reserve Class I have asked the head waiter how they handle this. I have been told that the team pools all the tips and splits up the total. When this is the case I give an envelope with $ and a thank you card to the head waiter on the last night. There’s a smaller team in RC & they really do all seem to fill in and help all tables as needed. Now on different ships with different teams this may not be the case. That’s just been my experience. If I may ask, how did the topic of tipping come up? If HW brought it up with no prompt from you I would be disinclined to leave an additional tip.

Even if someone posted a wine list that is from a ship they were currently on it would be absolutely no indication of what wine is actually behind the bar. Nor would it be any indication of what would be on any other ship or even that ship on any upcoming sailing. The only way to know what wine (or alcohol) is actually on the ship is to get on board, go to every bar and ask the crew to put all the wine bottles on the counter sorted by Plus, Premier and higher price. If you board early before they are busy they don’t mind. Chatting them up and being nice is always welcome.

Suite perks are very different on the Royal class ships vs the Grand and Coral class. On Royal class ships there’s a dedicated Concierge Lounge aft Riviera deck. This lounge has cans of soft drinks and bottled waters (still and sparkling) 24/7. Every evening (from 5-7 pm in my experience) there’s an open bar with very good liquor…..Bombay Sapphire, Gentlemen Jack…Tito’s vodka….Jamison’s….. There’s mediocre wines and decent selection of beers. Additionally, the concierge immediately offered to have Jamison’s in the morning when I mentioned I liked Irish Coffees in the morning occasionally. This is enough for me that I don’t get any drink package when I book a full suite on a Royal class ship. None of this is available on the other class ships. At least since February of this year. Only you know if the rest of what comes with Premier is worth it to you or not.

We sailed this March on Riviera. We ordered martinis on 3 separate evenings from 3 different bars, Horizon, Casino & Martini bars. Each time it came to us in a margarita glass. It was really weird and we did not care for this presentation. I asked it to be changed once into the correct glass so I know they had them.

I don’t post trivial information. I don’t post rumors. If you took a minute to look at what I post you’d find I only post when I feel I genuinely have something credible to add to the conversation that’s worthwhile. My Princess CVP is a long time veteran with a stellar reputation that I’ve worked with for many years. The New Yorker in me has more to say but the Californian in me will stop here.

This is what my Princess CVP replied regarding this question"

I found Ephesus shuttle on another CC thread. They have about 1500 5 star reviews on trip advisor. And the rest are ( like 100) 4 star. They are reasonably priced. I’ve booked a full day private tour for 2. $240.

This is what my Princess CVP replied regarding this question"

That’s great! Who did you use?

I’ve had my CVP cancel things and I’ve had the rooms show up immediately.

I’ve found bookings and princess in general runs on pacific time. Like elite pre sales are always in pacific time. It would be kind of weird if elites in NewYork had access before elites in Cal. But maybe someone with experience in when their hold released in another time zone will pipe in.

Yes the restriction is that the same person can not get both shareholders and military OBC anymore. Now that I think about it, I’m going to directly ask my CVP if DH can get military and I can get shareholders while booked in the same cabin. This has always been the case and we do it every sailing we share a cabin. But I’m now wondering if by “no longer combinable” do they mean per cabin or person? I assumed person as DH used to get both when booked in his own cabin but I will ask to be sure. My CVP has logged off for the day so will most likely hear back tomorrow.

I agree with @SargassoPirate I have found some stunning deals first thing on the morning (5am to 8am typically) also at times in the middle of the night when insomnia rears it’s ugly head. I really can’t say for certain why but I suspect that no cost holds automatically drop at midnight so things open up.

My CVP told me he believes if you’ve got the shareholders applied before the deadline and you also have military benefits applied then you “should” be grandfathered in. it has always been the case that one person in the cabin can get shareholders and the other person can get military. DH (military) and I (shareholders) have used this dozens of times. Of course if both are military both would get that. It was only shareholders that was restricted one per cabin. With the great solo fares the past year or so we have booked me in an aft facing balcony or regular mini suite and booked him in the inside cabin across the hall. Then we could each get shareholders.

Just got this email from my CVP On Jun 15, 2023, at 1:03 PM,

Guest services can make any medallion open any door you ask. Of course they need the person whose door you want to open to be present and consenting. I’ve done this multiple times. Medallions being programed to open other cabins will in no way affect statements or billing.

Since the cabin steward will have extra work with a third person it would be best if you had the person added to the room officially so the gratuities for that room would then be for 3 people not 2. If the rooms are close enough so the same steward services both then of course that issue is moot.

This is not a review, it is a Live From. It is common practice and considered helpful for anyone who is on a sailing for which a “Live From” is started to contribute their experiences. It provides a much better overview of a sailing than simply one person’s posts. I have never read any live from that didn’t have multiple contributors. In fact different passengers often have diverse and opposing experiences. It is much more helpful for those wondering what the range of values are that their experience might lie within.