caribill

And if your booking is directly with Princess, it will say that it is a gift from Princess. Equally misleading. Princess does this so they can advertise these "benefits" are free with certain fares. In other words, free if you pay for it.

Not a supposition. An attempt at humor.

Based on the number of posts in other threads about seeing waitstaff wandering nearby looking for them and having to flag down the server, "no-show" may often be "can't find" even if the person is there reading a book and not looking for a server with his/her order.

When we sailed, they changed it so full payment was only due if inside the final payment period.

True the menu is different and limited, but the new charge for eating at Alfredo's does not indicate there is an exception for the Grand. So if booked at Standard fare, will need to pay if you want to eat there with their limited menu.

And: o Trans-Atlantics and Trans-Pacifics though the end of the year o South America cruises into next year o Cruises out of Galveston for the coming season except for holiday cruises

Ships that do not have an Alfredo's/Gigi's often have several times a cruise "Alfredo's at Sabatini's" where they serve Alfredo's type pizza with the same selection of toppings in Sabinini's restaurant. Will this be continued? If so, will this previously free lunch option now have a "nominal" charge?

Except on the Grand Princess which does have Alfredo's

Except that the pizza at slice is similar in name only. Different size. Different preparation. Different taste. Limited to three selections. And no calzones at Slice.

Charging $14.99 for using the app the first time to order food/drink may be keeping up with industry standards. What is next? Charging $14.99 the first time you use your Medallion to unlock your cabin door?

Princess has figured out: o how to tell if you booked Plus50 or Plus60 and thus if 2 visits to Alfredo's are included or not o how to keep track of how many times you did visit Alfredo's if you have Plus60 o how to tell if you can unlimited visits because you have the Premier package Not a stretch to figure out if you are entitled to free Pizza based on the date your Standard fare booking was made.

The first two people in a cabin must have the same package. One cannot have Princess Plus and the other have Princess Premier. So not sure why you think you have or actually have one of each. However, before the introduction of the Princess Plus and Princess Premier packages which cover more than beverages, there was the old beverage plan (currently named Plus) that had the name Premier which adds to the confusion. Also confusing is that there currently are the Plus and Premier beverage packages as well as the Princess Plus and Princess Premier more inclusive packages that cost less than the same named beverage packages.

a) The values you quoted are those associated with the Plus-50 package which is apparently what you purchased. b) None of this is compliments of your TA. You paid for this. Princess misleads people by not indicating this. If you wish to have the inclusions of the current Plus-60 package, you can upgrade to it at a cost of $10/person/day for the entire cruise. You can do this either now by contacting your TA or can wait until you on board the ship and do the upgrade on embarkation day.

There is a difference between asking for something standard on a menu and asking for something different than what is on as menu. The promise of the Medallion being used to order something implied that if it is on the menu, you could order it with the app, not have to spend $5 to order it on the phone if paying a standard fare. (And ordering it on the phone does not get it delivered to wherever you are when it is ready, only to the stateroom.) You are correct that Princess did not staff up to meet the demand for the product they heavily promoted in the past and is still promoting as the best thing ever for cruise ships. Maybe the marketing folk and the operations folk at Princess never discussed this with each other.

But the app should have the options to order all that is on the regular menus at the bars and that is not the case.

Are you comparing prices on the other ships for about the same date you have on the Ruby? December cruising before the holiday period is usually very slow and prices for all itineraries on all the Princess ships are usually lower at that time.

There is another solution. Just call Princess to make the purchases. They will take your CC number over the phone so you can easily use the same card for all these pre-cruise purchases.

The poster wants to make pre-cruise purchases, so the credit card will be charged at that time. Can't wait until on board.

This photo shows the front of the line. The long line is the one on the left which is the one for people with reservations.

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And are raising the base cruise fares while reducing what is included in them. And while noone likes to pay a higher cruise fare, many would do so without big complaints if the onboard experience did not lessen.

Actually, they want people to buy packages and then not use them. How many people with Plus or Premier actually line up to get two or more of the included special desserts included? Or utilize the fitness classes included? Or approach the 15 drink limit/day for alcoholic beverages?

\Which is why I suggested a comment field when ordering so that the available customizations can be requested.

Princess advertising in our area is not aimed at younger people with families. The visuals are all of adults, mostly doing very adult activities such as holding alcoholic beverages or fine dining. Not a kid (or even a person looking under age 30) in the entire ad. Yes, the adults are what looks to be in their 40s and 50s, not elderly.

If I can walk up to a bar and order something, then the app should be able to allow me to order the same thing. Promotional advertising for the app does not limit what you can order to a limited subset of what is available if you go to the venue itself.