leck57

8 hours ago, Pushka said:

For those on the iPad, download and use Chrome. It blocks the pop ups without the need for a VPN. I'm just disgusted it's only targeting Australian users. The admins must have known about this to enable it to be targeted.  

I'm on a PC using Chrome and it's happening time and time again.

15 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Why not just plan a Meet and Greet with Princess (group services)?  They will assign you a room.  If only a few show up, that's fine...dismiss the officers.  Or ask that staff not attend.  At least you will be guaranteed a meeting space.

 

An informal gathering will not have priority over a scheduled event.  Even Knitters and Natters will have priority over your small group.  

I mentioned in my opening post that it seems we will not have enough numbers to plan a Meet and Greet through Princess. Thanks for your suggestion about asking through Princess anyway. I'll pass that on to our Roll Call organiser.

I'm sure we can find a place on such a large ship for a gathering of about 20 people and we know that any scheduled event would get priority. 

Princess recently cancelled an excursion that I had booked (they didn't advise me but that's another story) and the money was refunded back to my card in about 5 business days.

If it was refunded as OBC I don't think you'll see that on your folio until you are on board. That happened to me a few years ago. A recent cruise I was on also had a cancelled excursion (again not advised but for another day) which I found out about when I boarded and it was refunded as OBC. On the positive side that OBC is refundable so you'll get it back if you don't use it.

When you board I would go to the Excursion Desk and confirm the excursion you don't want to do shows your cancellation and confirm the refund has been made. That's what I did with my recent cancellation. It is much better to sort this out with a face to face as they can see the looks of impatience etc come across your face. As many have said, phone calls are not worth the paper they are written on. 

38 minutes ago, Kineticoh20 said:

Just curious, if your on a BTB does Princess charge the service fee on each leg or only once? Not that important but curious. We are doing our first BTB in 30 days, the stock perks staff said I should expect the full $250 for a 14 day but I only got $100 per leg.

How many booking numbers do you have?

On 4/27/2024 at 3:32 AM, cr8tiv1 said:

In all fairness, there are some (few) who are knowledgable.  The key is to know what you want (know more than them), and don't leave without confirmation that NOTHING else was tampered with/cancelled.  

100%. Last time I spoke to them I had my Cruise Personalizer open and kept refreshing every time they said that something had been fixed. I didn't let them hang up until I'd stalled them long enough to quickly check nothing else had been changed. 

We (I'm in Australia) still get it. I think it's every quarter and the last one was January I think. In addition to the mailed copy, I receive an email from Princess with the exact version in an online format. So I assume they are still sending it.

23 hours ago, YWW said:

Thanks so much for posting picture of your excursion page. Your picture shows clearly the discounted price whereas mine shows the normal price with no special discount notation. One thing I am 100% positive is the current excursion price is identical to the price shown 2.5 months ago.

The key words in the picture are "up to" which means the supposed discount can be almost nothing. I received a similar email a few weeks back and when I compared the prices of the "deal" to what I had fairly recently booked, not one excursion was cheaper. Like most Princess, and other cruise line sales, nothing to see here.

I think I'll just avoid Sun Princess.

I've had the same problems dealing with untrained useless staff in the Philippines Call Centre. This arrangement is doing untold harm to the Princess brand and all we can do to hopefully improve things is either vote with our feet or contact this bloke. I have. By all means have a hissy fit on here but I think it's also important to follow it up. 

 Collin Steinke
Director, Customer Relations
24305 Town Center Drive
Santa Clarita, CA 91355
csteinke@princesscruises.com

On 4/23/2024 at 8:49 AM, Jetswdo said:

Thanks for the names of who to email.  I will do this later today.   Just for the record:

 

 I am an older person and in the past of many cruises I have found it quite easy just to make a phone call to the cruise customer service.  This includes Princess.   I am a retired TA----I don't think this would have made any difference to the people who are implying that this situation was somehow my fault.

 

Your story horrifies me and I'm certain you did anything wrong. How a cruise booking can just be cancelled without advice to the customer is beyond belief. In my case, I check the Personalizer every few days so if any of my cruises just disappeared I'd see it fairly quickly.

My minor, compared to yours, cancellation story is I recently had a shore excursion cancelled with no advice. When I just noticed I spoke to the Phillipines and although the staff there were friendly, the shore excursions are now full. I can accept things change but being told, I would expect should be routine.

Pleased you sorted out most of the mess and that too many years haven't been taken off your life. Not the lead in you want to a relaxing holiday.

49 minutes ago, hpeabody said:

I can not begin to imagine the wait for for the cable car to get down with 12,000 people.  You would likely have to spend half the time there waiting in the line. I see this kind of thing happening with more and more Mega Monstrosities being built.  Sad for those who prefer lovely ports over the ship.  I have no plan to ever board one of those Mega Monstrosities,  IMO / YMMV 

Arriving in Santorini on a smaller ship may not be any benefit if there are also a number of the Mega Monstrosities there the same day. The number of people there will still be high.

22 minutes ago, 555 said:

I'm sure they do have a limited number of life jackets available for the few who can't bring them from their cabins but at the same time they're counting on most people will bring one. 

If it's that much of an emergency I'm sure they'll let people know not to go to their cabins.

I'm sure they do. Not that I ever want to go through it but if an emergency occurred at say around lunch time on a nice day when basically no one is in their cabin it would be quite a commotion if people had to go to their cabin to get a life jacket. People running everywhere, being held up by scooters, walking frames being shattered, people insisting on getting an elevator despite having to go one set of stairs, people trying to get the App to work to see where their companions are,  etc. It would be pandemonium.

14 minutes ago, TRLD said:

Usually they will move you to a different time if there is room.  I suspect that the others were probably full as well.

 

What excursion were you canceled from?

It was a RIB tour in Skjolden. There are about 8-9 times for the day and most had vacancies when I booked but when they cut my tour out, all had been booked. I can accept that things happen and I'm just unlucky that it was my time slot that was cancelled. What I don't accept is that I found out by just randomly checking my Personalizer and noticed it was listed anymore. No email or any other communication from Princess at all.

I also did a cruise in Feb and when I got to my cabin I only had excursion tickets for one of my excursions. I went to the excursion desk and said I hadn't received one excursion ticket and the guy there said it had been cancelled some time ago. Again, no prior advice about the cancellation. I was already on board and any decent alternative was booked out. Frankly, this isn't good enough for either instance. 

6 hours ago, Torfamm said:

The instructions in the video tell you to go to your cabin to get your life jacket and other items

So, if I'm up on the pool deck and hell breaks loose and we get told to report to your muster station, I could just head to my cabin to pick up a few things? Doesn't seem right to me, but I'll take your word for it as I can't remember what was in the safety video. I'll check in July.

My gripe. Princess cancelling a shore excursion without any contact at all. Some time ago I got in early and booked a shore excursion on the Norwegian Fjords cruise that we really wanted to do. Last week I was reviewing my excursions and this one was missing on my Personalizer. Rang Princess and spoke to the Philippines and was advised the excursion for my time slot was cancelled. All other slots are now booked out. No email or contact at all and to date no refund (that is on the way apparently).

I understand that things happen but it is common decency to advise the customer. Isn't it.

3 minutes ago, KillerSnake said:

How is OBC deducted when a charge is made? By this I mean, does PCL automatically deduct the charge by taking from the "Refundable Military Credit" first before the "Non-Refundable pile?

 

I figure the "We have got make more profit" team has this set to do just that to save the costs of refunding the credit (refund check processing, overhead, etc) and the actual "refundable" OBC amount.

All non refundable OBC is used first.

1 minute ago, KillerSnake said:

Follow up question as it have been 30 years since my first and only cruise.....

 

If one is on the Aft Lido deck and one's cabin is forward on Desk 5, does one really have to go all the way back to the cabin to get one's floatation device if the "Man your Life Boat" was given?  Or does one just get to the assigned spot ASAP?

Not sure. I would have thought that you get to the muster point as soon as possible - the life boats are equipped with life jackets. In the past we all had to attend our muster stations at the same time and you could have asked your question but now we just watch the safety video on the cabin tv and just attend the muster station so you know where it is if needed.

I'm hoping that you will not need to have this experience on your cruise. 

4 minutes ago, lauren0309 said:

where is the option on the new Princess App to watch the muster video?

You can't watch it until you board and you either watch it on the TV or on your device once you connect. There is a Safety Essentials tab under "Profile" on the App with details but you can't watch it from there.

1 minute ago, JamieLogical said:

 

That means your TA participates then. Those who book through big box TAs that don't participate in the Upgrade program will not be able to bid at all.

Perhaps I don't understand how that part works. Does that mean if you book through a big box TA then you can't bid even doing it yourself? My TA wouldn't know whether I'm bidding or not - but I get what you mean.

20 hours ago, Italy52 said:

I book with a "big box" agency and they do not participate in the bidding process. 

I book through a TA but don't bother them in the bidding for an upgrade and I just do it myself via the Personalizer. My bids are always processed and I receive the unsuccessful advices if I miss out.

1 hour ago, EDVM96 said:

Recently, this Cowboy Strip Loin Steak was daily available in Royal Princess MDRs as an always available dinner dish at no extra charge:

 

 

 

And last summer on the Regal Princess, a Grilled New York Strip Steak was daily available with no surcharge:

 

 

The same was offered on Coral Princess every night as well. NO upcharge.

5 hours ago, 555 said:

I think the steak that some people are making reference to is not an included steak at no additional cost. 

It's been a rare occurrence in the last few years that an included steak has been on the menu, except for the one with the lobster tail. 

The steak I referred to on Coral Princess, as others have as well, was at no additional cost. It was just listed among the Princess favourites as were other choices.

1 hour ago, Reina del Mar said:

Coral Princess 29th Feb-26th March 2024. Steak on favourites menu every night- more than edible.

I was on Coral earlier in Feb and steak was on the menu every night. I had it a couple of times and it was quite good. Obviously not Crown Grill standard but still good.

We are cruising on Sky in July. Our Roll Call has been discussing the best possible locations for a meet up at around mid morning on the first sea day. We may not have enough people interested in a Meet and Greet but a number, say 20, would like to meet up.

We have considered the Wake Bar area but that is subject to weather. Vines is another suggestion as there probably would not be too many settling down with a wine early morning, however there may be loud noise from activities in the Piazza. Interested in suggestions from people who have cruised on Sky about decent locations where a number of us can get together for an hour or so.

Thanks in advance.

7 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It will probably be the standard US wine list - US, European, a few AUS/NZ wine and other regions. Furthermore if you have the Plus package they just list the wine type, ie chardonnay or cabernet sauvignon, with no other details. After trying three on Diamond last November - the pinot noir, pinot grigio and chardonnay - we switched to buying decent wines by the bottle with the 25% discount. 

I had plenty of Henshke Henry's Seven Shiraz Grenache on my recent Coral cruise. I thought it was excellent and it was $2 per glass higher than the Plus per glass cost limit (included in Premier). I just paid the extra however many times the staff didn't bother to charge it.