alirat153

Sorry I am a bit dim today!  Not following things properly.  Sincerest apologies for any and all misunderstandings on my part. I need a cruise!

36 minutes ago, steelers36 said:

Baked into the cruise fare.

Nope - we have to pay grats.  It may sail from Australia but doesn't return there so the folio currency is USD which means we Kiwis and Aussies do have to pay gratuities.  

5 minutes ago, voljeep said:

under the Oceans of Offers - are you able to add 'just' the wifi and grats ?  and if so - only pay that as a solo with the nonexistent of the double occupancy? - have you escalated this to a Princess supervisor ?

No I haven't escalated to a supervisor - I didn't know you could. The chap I was talking to went away and consulted with someone else during our conversation. Should I give that a try?  As I said it would be worth it to pay an extra $900 - we don't get offered the included grats in NZ but I do drink a lot of coffee....

15 minutes ago, vampiress said:

sorry, i was replying to a different user.  i totally sympathize that solo travel and this package is not compatible to most wallets. 

No need for apologies!  I totally understand.

Yes @vampiress that is definately the case for those who bought that Deal. I, however, did not. My beef is the penalty for not buying that deal is too high.

18 hours ago, leck57 said:

 

Yes, if you have the Oceans of Offers deal (same as the Best Ever Sale but without the option to have grats paid) it is included with that. We had an insert in the paper for this sale as well as received a mailout and it was in the details on the back page.

Here you are - scroll down to the fine print.

https://www.princess.com/cruise-deals-promotions/au/oceans-of-offers/

Yes that is for the Best Value deal - I took the Best Price deal which had no extras as i am travelling solo the difference in price was significant due to the supplement, so instead of an extra $900 which given the drinks package and wifi is reasonable, I would have ended up paying an extra $1800 - which as I am not a drinker seems excessive to me.  Given the poor quality of the wifi and the steep price for a very limited amount of minutes I will opt for living without it for the most part, just logging on once a day to check emails.

2 minutes ago, polmcs said:

5000 minutes is 83.3 hours, or 3.47 days. The Alaskan Cruise is 14 days, so the BSE WiFi package would run out pretty quickly if you were to leave a phone logged in to use WiFi calling. 

Is that the package with included wifi (which I dont have?)  Whereabouts can I find the fine print. Princess sees me as an Australian even though I'm a New Zealander.

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

I can't imagine paying that for Internet access on a Princess ship. The Internet access usually varies from bad to horrible with a dash of not-available thrown in for good measure. Paying for service that is pathetic isn't my idea of a good use of cash.

I totally agree with you Thrak, but I have a very elderly mother and I need to be able to keep in touch.  I could pay forthe absolute minimum and get my carrier data while on shore.  Still waiting for ExPat to report in as he is on board the Golden as we speak (er type). Maybe he can't get any wifi signal....

1 hour ago, Expat Cruise said:

 

I'm sorry but the phone rep you are talking to is wrong., We are boarding the Sapphire Princess in two days  from now. Only minutes listed on the website, but have already confirmed with a passenger on a back to back that they purchased a package. Lately Princess seems to be doing a lot of these mistakes...

 

Thanks @Expat Cruise. Very helpful.

3 hours ago, Expat Cruise said:

I have run into this on several Princess Asian / Australia Cruises. When you look online it only shows per minute packages available. But when we get on the ship they offer unlimited daily packages.  I think you will find once you are on board the top package is $19.95 per day,  ( 3 packages $9.95, $14.95, $19.95) but they offer a discount for the whole cruise.  At $20 day x 22 it would be $440 dollars, then the discount it is 1/3 to 1/2  off so for 22 days somewhere between $220  to $290 for the top unlimited package.

Might be a bit of a gamble. The Princess rep said  daily packages weren't available but he had to ask so ...?  The OBC is in US$ not AUD so that might be a clue.  Still have 90 days to decide. There is a discount on the minutes if I purchase pre sail.  But its not too big a discount 600 minutes gets an extra 80 minutes, so your suggestion sounds feasible. Hopefully others can confirm its a regular practice. 

My maths was a bit out I apologise. If I used 2 hours a day (not 20 minutes) it would cost $1233.

I have called Princess about this and suggested an upgrade to Best Deal for just me - no supplement, but alas they are not offering that. He thought I could buy a per day package as the Pacific Princess was -but when he checked he found out it was minutes only on this particular voyage. 
 

I’ll just budget my internet time to 30 mins a day for $308 - it will probably do me good! I can write emails ahead of going online...harking back to the days of dial up LOL.

It is what it is - not going to let it ruin my trip.

That would be great but the Golden doesn't have MedallionNet. I just think the difference in price is huge.

5 hours ago, leck57 said:

Non medallion net cruises have huge costs for internet. I assume Pacific Princess had the Medallion net where the costs are much cheaper for unlimited high speed internet. Based on the fact the difference is $1800 and you don't drink, I'd take the best price. Any extra internet you need above what you buy, perhaps you could access when you are on land with free wifi. (Or cancel the Golden and take a ship that has Medallion net).

No Pacific Princess did not have MedallionNet.

6 hours ago, bemis12 said:

How many days is your cruise?  That's the number one factor in making these sorts of decisions.

 

Is that price difference of $1,800 for two people? i.e. $900 each?

22 days transpacific.  Thats $900pp but I'm travelling solo so thats the extra supplement cost.  I woulddnt mind paying a daily rate - but this is charged by the minute. If I bought say 20 minutes a day that would cost $1233.

Looking at the difference in price of the offers I would have thought the drinks package would be the major difference.

I was recently (Nov 2019) on the Pacific Princess and the Wifi packages were about $200 for 22 days - that was all day every day.  Now I am booked on the Golden Princess and the Wifi offers are around $100 for 1120 minutes going up to $345 for 680 minutes. Massive price difference! The current special offered is "Oceans of Offers" in which you can choose best price - no extras, or best value which includes a drinks package and Wifi. The difference in the 2 fares is about $1800. I don't drink (alcohol) so to me it wasn't worth it, but with the current cost of Wifi maybe it is ..?

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Great advice Princeton!  I can see my carrier offers short term roaming packs and I will avail myself of that.  I can also use the onboard wifi judiciously combined with data usage while in some of the ports and get better value.

Thanks - I'll  get in touch with my carrier about that, the roaming is very expensive and for travelling I have purchsed a sim card but this will be only one day. I have been caught out before with this in Paris. It may be safer to take the Princess transfer. 

My cruise ends in LA and I am trying to decide whether to take the Princess transfer to LAX or an Uber. My worry is not being able to get on my Uber app due to no available wifi. I dont have a USA phone being a New Zealander if that makes sense.

my Flight doesn't leave until 10pm so have booked a day stay at the Marriot at LAX if that has any relevance. 
 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Here are a couple of pics.

I love the Pacific Princess and have sailed on her twice. Certainly not old and tired. Even though its a smaller ship there are lots of activities like trivia and karaoke - we had watercolour sessions x2 and  learn the mandolin to name a couple. I love the small ship experience and found it easy to make friends on board.