Tweedy

Star Princess - Ignacio D'Agostino (Sept 19, 2015)

Don't attempt to apply logic to the workings of the Upgrade Fairy. Just be thankful when she does come :)

Yes, she is one tricky fairy who keeps the plans/designs very top secret! She has visited us on occasion and are always thankful when she does. I won't be upset if she doesn't visit us this time around but I would be more then happy if she does. :)

We are booked into an inside cabin for a 1-nighter from Seattle to Vancouver. When I logged into the personalizer today I thought I would check to see how many cabins still remain available for this sailing. There are a lot! Not so much for the inside and oceanview (obstructed or not) but balconies and minis have many many rooms available.

This is just an extra cruise for us and since it is only 1-night, it doesn't matter what type of cabin we have. However, it would be very nice if Princess decided to upgrade us to at least an oceanview. Seeing that we are just over 30 days away from sailing what are the odds that an upgrade will come our way? :D

Fingers crossed but if we end up with the cabin we have so be it.

Hi All, we are taking a 28 day cruise on the Crown to Hawaii and the South Pacific, the longest cruise we've ever taken. An earlier post talked about taking a DVD player and some cables, etc. and that got me thinking about what special items experienced cruisers take with them on such a long cruise. What are some of your must haves when away from home for so long and what helps to makes living in such a small space comfortable? Thank you, we're beyond excited.

One of those shoe door pocket thingies. It definitely helps with organizing sunscreen, other toiletries and cords that seem to end up strewn throughout the cabin. Also, a fully loaded e-book (although not much reading gets done but it is good to have just in case).

Thanks for posting this. I had looked for it about a week ago and couldn't find it. Now I know why I couldn't find it.. it wasn't there. Just downloading it now.

I'm always amazed at how fast the time goes when there are many sea days in a row.

To detract from the boredom that you might think will set in, you have to find something to do that you enjoy... crosswords, reading, watching a movie, trivia. You get the idea. I look at it as a way of shutting down and escaping so to speak. Taking that moment to just breath without any of the daily life pressures of work, etc. Those days are few and fair between so enjoy them while you have the opportunity.

Just a little concerned there might not be enough to keep me entertained on Pacific Princess, so anyone who has done this itinerary, I would appreciate some feedback.

Oh don't worry about having enough to keep you entertained. There are things to do during the day and there is always a trivia game happening somewhere.

Crazy for not saying on board for the first 10 day cruise around FP once you get there...YES. Geneally an expensive flight in and out of FP and you only get a taste of FP on this cruise unless you stay for awhile afterwards.

 

We flew to Papeete last year and did the 10 day FP isands cuise, stayed on for the 12 day FP to Hawaii and then had them take us home to Vancouver for another 10 days. A great 32 day trip.

 

Terry

Our regret was not tagging on the 10 days at the beginning of our FP adventure in April 2014. If you are able to do it, do but not everyone has the flexibility with work commitments. This trip was my first experience on a little one and it was fantastic. I have to say it has been my most favourite cruise I have taken and a large part of that had to do the ship and crew. They were amazing!

The only people we had a problem with were those rude obnoxious passengers who felt they were better than any of the staff and crew so felt the need to resist any politeness such as please and thank you and to those people, i wish to say, shame on you and think, without these, so called "lower people" to yourselves, you wouldnt have had such a lovely cruise.

Unfortunately, this is the way society is becoming. It's a true shame, really. However, the good thing is it sounds as though it didn't detract from a great vacation for you.

We leave on one on the 13th and then on the 19th of Sept and both are charging exchange of 20%.

Casino credits for $25USD, $50USD and $100USD.Your exchange rate will replace those 3 amounts with the equivalent CDN dollars for purchasing.

Hope this helps.

I just checked mine out of curiosity and it showed $30CAD, $60CAD and $120CDN.

And don't forget that if you do end up grabbing one of the mini's on Emerald Deck and don't want to risk being upgraded to a Dolphin Deck mini, have your reservation marked "No Upgrade"

and dessert was a pistachio chocolate concoction that was super yummy!

 

This has to be the best dessert... I could eat two (but I don't) it's so good.

I've printed off mine and my moms for our upcoming two cruises. Elite is printed on hers and even though I'm platinum, they just say welcome aboard. As long as the luggage shows up in the cabin, I don't care what it says.

Thanks Jasperdo!! Great photos btw. Too bad they don't open the roof more often since it can often feel like a sauna in there.

Do they ever open the roof on warm weather cruises... ie - Hawaii?

I wondered if anyone was going to post about this. After seeing yesterday's local news and given that it is the first weekend this outlet mall is open, the traffic is going to be insane heading towards the airport. Plan appropriately and give yourself plenty of time to get to the airport.

Good to know that it can be all switched out for water if one desires.

Back in March, my husband and I (both Elite) and my daughter (Platium) sailed on the Royal. When we printed out the luggage tags mine and my DH both say "Elite". My DD's simply said "Welcome Aboard". First time I had seem "Welcome Aboard", but I was paying attention to luggage tags at the pier and they all said that instead of the gold...ruby...platium. We received our luggage about 2 hours before DD. I know that luggage in the same cabin can and frequently does arrive at various times. We haven't sailed since then. Is this the norm now, or was it test, or just on the Royal?

I just printed out our luggage tags for the Ruby and the Star. My Mom is elite and I'm platinum. Her tags say Elite but mine just says Welcome Aboard. As you mention, they used to list your captain circle level.

Maybe Princess is changing things up a bit? As long as my luggage makes it to the room before we set sail, I don't panic.

Hi there, sorry if this has been covered elsewhere, brand new poster! We are heading to Alaska in August for a cruise from Vancouver. Just got log in details for the Cruise Personaliser, and giving details for charging incidentals on our credit card. They are asking us to choose between the Princess charge rate and the bank rate for our onboard account - clearly the Princess charge rate is their recommended method! Is there any advice if this is actually the best method for settling the onboard account? Thanks in advance! Exchange rates are so slippery at the mo!

I prefer to let my CC do the exchange rather then Princess but it really is a personal preference.

Hopefully I'm able to word this correctly without it being too confusing.

My Mom completed her 15th cruise with Princess in April which means that according to Princess she is now Elite. She didn't receive the new elite pin but that isn't a big deal and here status change didn't actually show up until a couple of days after we were home. We have four cruises coming up in the next several months.

The next cruise is just a small 1-nighter and according to the documents Princess has her listed as Elite which is correct. However for the next cruise, which is only 5 days later, Princess has her listed as Platinum which isn't correct.

Is this just an oversight by Princess? Has anyone else had this happen? I just noticed this this morning as I was printing off our documents. I've fired off an email to our amazing TA and asked her look into this for my mom. Just curious if anyone else has experienced this.

Our experience is different then described above. My Mom reached Elite status at the end of the pacific coastal we took in April and she didn't receive anything the last night of the cruise. In fact, her status on the Princess website didn't change from platinum to elite until the day after we got home. She still hasn't received anything in the mail except for the captains circle magazine which lists her status as elite. It would have been nice but it is not the end of the world. At least they have her status right online.

Maybe they can't figure out what could be offered as an extra if they added a tier higher then elite.

One thing to keep in mind, if you book with this particular agency during the one day sale and the price of your cabin falls at any point in time you can still have your booking re-fared. However, any of the bonus extras you receive on this one day may be lost. More often then not, the re-fare works out to be still a better deal then keeping the bonus extras and the higher priced cabin.

We prefer the Crown Grill. I find the meal at Sabitini's way too much. I know it isn't considered a specialty restaurant as there is no additional charge but Alfredo's Pizzeria on the Grand was a really nice alternative eating spot.

The information provided by all is much appreciated. Thank you!