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32 minutes ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

 

This what the email said confirming they received my bid. It seems you can Decline after they accept your bid.  But you won’t know the cabin number until you pay. For some categories, like M6, there are so few you kind of know where you’ll be. Others not so much. 
 

If I’m upgraded, then what?

• It's simple. You'll get an email from us with the good news up to 3 days before you sail, and then you'll pay for the accepted bid amount via one of the following methods:
  • Pay through your Cruise Personalizer at princess.com
  • Have your travel advisor pay through POLAR Online
  • Call our Contact Center at 1-800-Princess (774-6237)
• You’ll see your new stateroom number when you log into your My Princess account. (It’s assigned based on availability.)

 

I was able to see my new cabin before I paid for it.  When I went to the cruise personalizer to input my credit card, the new cabin was already listed.  I don't know if this is always the case, but that's how it worked for me.

I put in 3 bids to upgrade from my inside GTY cabin on the Enchanted Princess 10/8.  On Saturday afternoon I received emails saying 2 bids had been rejected.  This left the third bid still open and I did receive the "Yay" email a couple of hours later.  The upgrade was to a Deluxe Obstructed Balcony which I am extremely happy with.  Even an obstructed view is wayyyyyy better than no view at all.  My bid was slightly above the minimum (just below the "fair" range IIRC)

One thing that was different about this process vs the bids I've won on RCL and Celebrity is that they did NOT charge my credit card.  I had to go to my cruise personalizer and actually put in a credit card and then got a new cruise confirm with the new cabin number.  I'm glad I checked because I simply assumed my card would be charged and I may have ignored this crucial step if I hadn't reread the email a second time.  

We have an inside GTY on an October Enchanted cruise.  We were assigned an inside cabin (exactly the category we'd purchased) and then last week we received the upgrade bid form.  Our choices ranged from Premium Oceanview ($50 minimum) to Premium Deluxe Balcony($255 minimum).  We weren't offered anything in the suite or minisuite categories although those are the only categories that show outright availability right now.  We bid some of the balcony categories since we have no loyalty at all to our current cabin location and we're not especially partial to one location over another (and beggers can't be choosers!).  I'm not optimistic but it's kind of fun to roll the dice and see if we get lucky.

You don't say whether your cabin GTY has already been assigned or not and I don't know if that makes a difference in the process.  I've bid for upgrades on Celebrity and RCL and been lucky but always after my GTY cabins have been assigned.  

16 hours ago, eajung66 said:

I'm also sailing in October and curious how you were approached to upgrade to Princess plus.  I booked the basic package and final payment was due the day we booked.  I selected no upgrade on my cabin so maybe that's not why I'm not being asked?  Just curious, if it's a good price maybe I would consider it...  Thank you! 

Parts of my Medallion app are not working so I logged in to the desktop version of the Princess website a couple of days ago to see if I could finish my check-in there.  When I hit the "onboard services" tab within the "Manage Your Cruise" section, it brought up a green button that said "add Princess Plus or Princess Premier to your booking".  Hitting the green button brought up a page with the option to "upgrade" to Princess Plus for $50 p/p per day  or Premier for $75 p/p per day.  Even with our Elite discount on wifi this seemed like a no-brainer for tips and drinks so I read the FAQ and terms but couldn't see anything that said whether it was refundable.  The purchase process is similar to, say, buying a shore excursion or specialty dining add-on so I that's why I was confused whether this was a refare or just a refundable add-on.

Now that I've gone through the process I can confirm that it is being treated as a refare.  After purchasing, I received a new confirm with the tips/drinks/wifi noted and the additional $700 we paid for the Princess Plus "upgrade" (2 ppl x 7 days x $50/day) was added to our base fare.  The $700 was also immediately charged to our credit card. I don't know if it's relevant but our cruise leaves Oct 8 so we are about 5 weeks out.  

Thanks for everyone who took the time to weigh in here.  

I've searched but can't find the answer to this particular Princess Plus question.

We booked our October cruise on Enchanted after final payment date at a base (no perks) fare.  We are now given the option to upgrade to Princess Plus before embarkation.  It's a good deal but what happens if (god forbid) we get sick and can't board or just decide before we board that we don't want the package?  Is this refundable directly from Princess or will we have to bundle the expense of the Princess Plus upgrade in with our travel insurance claim?  I can't find any answer either in the FAQ or Terms and Conditions text.

Thanks!

I was recently on Constellation and Heinekin 0 was offered in most bars and restaurants.  I also found O'Douls somewhere on the ship although I can't remember where.  I loved the virgin frozen mango daiquiris at the pool bar (basically a mango smoothie).  I didn't try any of the NA wines but I'm glad to know they are available.

Thanks for the review.  I'll be on Anthem next week for the 2nd time since the restart.  It's nice to have a recent update.

Just one quick question: Do you recall if Boleros had mostly Latin music or was it mostly Karaoke?

This is my favorite thread here!  I'm cheering you all on and hope you all have the cruise of a lifetime.  

On 2/23/2022 at 6:50 PM, ridge4 said:

Are these tests PCR or just antigen tests?  We doing a side-to-side, disembarking Anthem in Southampton on the 13th, then flying to Italy.  We board Brilliance in Ravenna on the 15th.  My concern is that if it’s an antigen test,  I only have 24 hours from last cruise day on the 12th before entering Italy successfully on the 13th. Does anyone know if you can book an appointment late on the last cruise day?

We are doing a similar shift: Disembarking Anthem in Southampton on the 13th and boarding Constellation in Ravenna on the 16th.  Without any real guidance as to what tests we will need to fly to Italy or to board Constellation I'm just hoping that whatever protocols are in place by then won't be too onerous.  

8 hours ago, EatonDoolittle said:

 

I'll let you know, I'll be there next week. They are certainly open, this will be my first visit, but seems to be the same offerings - AI or PAYGO, transpo arranged, etc. 

Gail has been  a delight to deal with

Oh thanks so much!  We enjoyed it so much two years ago I'm hoping we can work it out this next cruise.

Has anyone been to Limerz since the bubble excursion rules have been lifted?  We were there pre-pandemic and had a fabulous day but I don't know how things have shaken out over the last two years. We will be in Antigua in December and I'd like to go back if they are still operating as before.

Thanks so much for this.  I was on Oasis in October and will be on Anthem in December.  It was my first sailing on an Oasis class ship but I've been on Anthem 2x so that's a bit more familiar.  What was it about Oasis that made it "win" for you (albeit by a hair)?   Was there any particular area where it clearly outdid the Anthem or was it just general vibe? 

I loved Oasis.  But I also loved Anthem.  I pretty much love cruising🍾

I've cruised from ports all over the world and I can honestly say that I've found it relatively easy to find some common ground with almost any cruiser.  Sure, there may be regional differences but isn't that one of the reasons we travel?  I think meeting different people of different backgrounds has been one of my favorite aspects of cruising.

I just returned from a cruise out of Bayonne (Oasis o/t Seas) and we had fabulous time.  I did see one guy wearing an intentionally provocative tshirt, but there was certainly no reason that anyone would need to engage with him on that particular issue.   Mostly I met people who simply wanted to relax and enjoy all the ammenities a beautiful ship can provide.  

Thanks for this!  We were at CocoCay last week and ended up in precisely this spot purely by luck (we found good loungers there).  I was surprised that the snorkeling was pretty good since my expectations were quite low.  As you say, it was mostly the usual suspects as far as fish go but there were lots of them and there were many varieties.  It was very pleasant to just float around the rocks and see what swam by.  

Sure it's not a teeming tropical reef but we had our own snorkels so it was a free day and a nice addition to just sitting on the beach. We'll be back in a few months and I'm happy to hear that the spot we chose was probably the best place to be.   

Just off the Oasis and we were very pleasantly surprised by the food in MDR.  We had one dinner at 150 Central Park which was fabulous but we opted not to do a second night of specialty dining because our MDR food was really very good.  I had completely forgotten about escargot--it was one of those nice thing to reacquaint myself with after almost 2 years without a cruise!

We only went to Windjammer once for lunch and it was ok but not worth making the effort to find the right food then find an available table.  OTOH we loved the Solarium Bistro for lunch as well as el Loco Fresh.  

I've searched, but still not sure I understand how the gym on ships works these days.  I'm specifically interested in the Anthem and Oasis (cruising on both before the end of the year) but any info on other ships might be relevant so...

Reservations:  When are they necessary and how do I make them?  I've read that they are necessary for "peak times" but what determines what peak times are?

Masks: Yes? No? Depends on ____??

Classes: Yes? No? Free? $$?

Could anyone with recent experience enlighten me?  Thanks!

9 hours ago, brillohead said:

This might help... scroll through a couple pages and you'll see a picture.

 

 

Thanks so much!  I have close to 300 pts but have never even heard of these blocks.   I tend to think I'm fairly savvy about cruising but I always learn something new on CruiseCritic.  

I'm Diamond+ and have no idea what a block is.  What have I missed?  

We rebooked a transatlantic on which we had 2 perks.  We saved $50 on the overall fare and gained two perks as well as upgrading to premium drinks.  It was an excellent deal for us as final payment is due next week so the nonrefundable part is fairly moot at this point.  YMMV of course.

We got it too. Booked a balcony within minutes. Wow, we didn't intend to travel in Sept but this was too good to miss. This was in US $$.

--Ellen

I was on the Independence in mid-February and the espresso machine was in the lounge and functioned perfectly:D

I found it buried in the small print of the "Two If By Sea Sale" page on the X site. It doesn't seem to be restricted to only those cruises that are included in the sale. Nice!

"$25 Reduced Deposit Offer is applicable to new bookings made September 1-5, 2016, for cruises departing December 1, 2016 – April 30, 2018. Reduced deposit excludes group bookings, suites, Celebrity Explorations, Alaska Cruisetours and Galapagos sailings. Reduced deposit must be paid by deposit payment required due date. Offer is applicable to U.S. and Canada only. To redeem at celebritycruises.com, proceed to the payment page, select "Other" in the deposit field and enter the deposit amount. Standard full deposit penalty is applied if booking is cancelled within final payment period; see Celebrity's cancellation policy for details."

Does anyone have a link to what cruises are included in the $25/deposit sale? I can't find it on the X site. Or, are certain categories explicitly not included (T/A's, repos etc)?

Thanks

Was it really necessary to beat them up just because the donkey kept stopping? Seems a little cruel... :D

Ha! I had the same thought. Poor donkey :)

OP: We've done the walk both ways on several occasions. We think it's kind of fun but you do have to watch wear you walk because of the donkey poop (wear good walking shoes with closed toes!). If you are walking down you will be able to see the donkeys coming and generally you can just step to the side and they will go right past you. And there are fewer of them late in the day.

Either way have a great day. I love Santorini!

My husband & I purchased the Standard package yesterday for our Silhouette T/A at the 30% discount and then we were able to get an additional 10% off for Elite+ discount. That brought the package price down to ~$33/day including gratuity. We could have gotten the 30% discount by booking it online but we needed to call Celebrity to get the additional 10%.

I noticed today that the packages are still discounted 30% online for our cruise despite the talk that the discount would expire Aug 28th. These discounts are good for all three of the unlimited alcohol packages (Premium, Classic, Standard) so if you thought you were closed out today you might want to check again or call Celebrity.

I think the Standard Package will be fine for us since I am perfectly happy with well brand cocktails like a mojito or cosmopolitan. Obviously people with more discerning tastes will want to go for one of the higher end packages. To me it's kind of like being able to extend the 2-hour Elite lounge/coupon benefit to 24/7. My drink options will be limited but I won't have to consume within a 2-hour window.