hobbyfarmer2

The two decks were both open when we transited from the Pacific in Jan 2019.

We always pick ours up.  Quick and reduces problems IMO.

Here is the way we read it, hopefully in simple terms.  The initial account shows all your refundable and non refundable OBC, credits such as prepaid excursions, and any day one applicable charges.  As each day goes on carges appear for items such as gratuities, excursions, wifi, alcohol, spec dining....etc.  These charges drain your non-fefundable OBC first, followed by your refundable OBC next.  The bill never makes sense on day one but it does by the last night when we print it up using the printer at the customer desk.  It is also slid under your door by the steward on last night.

Some outfits cut down on QA by having customers do in service testing a bit.  This is not an uncommon practice in non mission critical or non life threaening applications.  I would put MC in this category.  I personally don't think this is a great idea but cash strapped orgs often have restricted choice when it comes to development.  I also made a very long career in IT starting out as a coder before banishment to operations management.  Apologies in advance, but I find this all rather uninteresting.  The app worked great for us onboard last Nov but it seems Princess It has set the churn level a bit high perhaps. 

I have motion operated switches in my basement.  The switches have a rocker with 3 settings, "ON", "OFF" and "AUTO".  Wonder why Princess did not spring for this type of switch?

Have to agree.  Don't make their problem your problem.  Life is short enough as it is.

On 5/5/2023 at 6:27 PM, wowzz said:

Given the distance from Rome to the port,  you really don't want to spend more than the morning in Rome before leaving for  the port.

It's about a 70 minute drive in light traffic.

Offering discounts or giving away perks costs Princess money.  The ships have a maximum number of passengers that can cruise.  Carnival is carrying billions of $$$ in debt as a result of surviving (so far) the pandemic.  The debt has to be serviced which means interest paid out and hopefully principle reduction.  The above forces a minimum revenue stream which must be met to run the business in the very competetive premium line cruise segment.  I frankly don't care about loyalty perks as I understand the perks force price increases in other areas to compensate for revenue loss.  DW and I mitigate by purchasing Plus and enjoy a couple of extra drinks a day which compensates quite well for the unmissed perks.

On 3/29/2023 at 11:14 AM, david63 said:

Don't tell me that people are still using cheques - not seen a cheque in over five years!

 

I thought everything was done electronically these days.

I would rather get a cheque than hand over my bank account number.

We have often brought bottles of wine on board in various ports (not Australia) with no problems.  Most did not survive the cruises to be brought home though as Canada customs is pretty strict about that.

We cruised in mid November, got to the port a few minutes after noon, short lines, picked up our Medallions and walked onto the Enchanted on in less than 20 minutes only showing our Canadian passports.

9 minutes ago, Shippy said:

by saying GPS...people get the idea that they can find you anywhere,

by saying BLE/NFC/RFID    might be a bit confusing to most.

 

I kind of agree with Thrak who knows the Medallion tech.  Best not to use a term like GPS unless you are positive it is correct as it may mislead people.  There is a huge difference between GPS which requires working communications with many satellites and RFID/Bluetooth/NFC.

6 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Maybe by price, but not by performance.

 

 

That was the old pricing before the date in December they raised the single device price from $10/day to $15/day.

Thanks for the price update.  We don't need performance as we don't stream.  The rebate brings it down to $7.50/day once onboard.  I guess our glass is half full.

4 hours ago, Ombud said:

So I did a quick search for 1 device on other lines:

Princess - $15 (before 50% discount)

Royal Caribbean - $16 a day unless you want surf & stream then it's $20 a day. 

Celebrity - $20 a day unless you want access to email, then its $35 a day

Norwegian- $25 per day

 

 

I have read some recent posts and there are a lot of unhappy people but it seems like Princess has the best internet offering from your post.  Doesn't really affect DW and I as we book Princess Plus.  Many say that if you purchase before cruise it is $10/day with $5/day refundable OBC after you board.  My only concern is that we found the network a bit slow last November and I wondered if Princess was back on the old "slower" and cheaper satellites instead of the newer faster ones.  I also have this suspicion that the trend to real-time streaming by so many is putting a serious strain on ship/sat capabilities.  I can always stream movies at home - onboard we like to close the bars and save the internet for email, checking in flights and other minor stuff.

Some are barely obstructed at all, others more obstructed.  There is a site with pictures that show the level of obstruction.  I think the URL is cruisedeckplans.com  .

We have boarded twice at Civitavechia which is a little over an hour drive from central Rome in regular traffic.  Boarded once at 1130 hrs and the other about noon.  Seem to recall it was just about a very low traffic walk on after picking up our Medallions.

14 hours ago, justafem said:

As I stated in the previous post, it's princess promotions are not exactly affiliated with princess.  They are an independent TA and any calls, emails or promotions should be treated as any other sales cold call.

 

They have all your information, because they are TA's.  Cruise lines let them sell like this, like any other TA.  

 

Just know, you're not dealing directly with princess.  

 

You'll get what you (over) paid for.  You'll get the 7 days hotel at a less than optional hotel.  You'll pay overvalued taxes and fees.  Then for your cruise, you can only book through princess promotions, paying full rack rate, with no promotions.  But it probably won't be a cruise you'd pick and it sure won't be the dates you want. 

 

As I said, it's a TA, cold calling.   

Ah.  Makes sense to me now.  I told the "PVP" that it sounded like he was asking me to lend them money up front until we travelled.  It was all a bit on the vague side anyway as he did not commit to what we would be paying for.

I just noticed the web page asked reader to contact your own PVP for more info or to book which is an odd ask for a scam

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

If you back the URL down a little bit so that it only shows: https://offers.princesspromotions.com/

you will find that the page doesn't exist. If you click on the "Go Home" button it loads the same page.

 

Top level directory is probably protected.  Just a permissions issue.

11 hours ago, chrysalis said:

...and the whois of the domain name is very suspect, too....I vote "scam"

I should have mentioned that the PVP knew how many cruises we had taken as well as total sea days.  Also knew of our last cruise in Nov.  I don't think it is a scam but a phone call to Princess should resolve and end speculation. 

Got a cold call from a Princess PVP yesterday who attempted to explain a new product, Princess Packages, to me.  I understood a bit of it but not all.  He sent me a follow up email with a link, https://offers.princesspromotions.com/packages-home  . 

What I get out of this is if we buy the balcony package for $5999 we get a $4500 FCC, a 7 night land stay, 2 night pre or post cruise hotel stay, $200 OBC, plus 600 promo points (whatever they are).   I don't know if I have read this correctly or not but it has me slightly intrigued though I think it would depend on what land stay and hotels.

There is no way we are not going to enjoy ourselves thoroughly on a cruise unless we get badly ill.  Seems strange to pay all that money, have a ship's resources at your behest and then spend your time complaining about it.  We have seen it many times and politely excuse ourselves at first opportunity, often with a "....let's go get a drink...".

On 1/12/2023 at 1:12 PM, Rick&Jeannie said:

Keep in mind that many people have posted here on CC that the refund checks DO NOT come from Princess!  They come in a very non-descript envelope that can easily be mistaken for spam.  Be very careful about tossing anything before opening!

I remember pulling a Bottomline Tech envelope out of my recycle a few years ago after it was accidentally tossed as spam.  It was a cheque from Princess.

Hate to be odd person out but it seems to me that the embarkation deck at Ft Lauderdale on a Royal class is deck 6.

3 hours ago, chubbypiggy said:

I will suggest that choice to her.  Thanks for the suggestion.

DW and I also have 4 devices but practice switching.  It takes only a few seconds to do so after quickly getting the hang of it.