CruizinSusan70

Just received a form letter from Princess regarding a B2B2B that we booked last week. Had gotten an email from our assigned PVP at Princess and he did not mention any possible problems or violations, but the form letter stated we had to remove one of our cruises, but did not give any more specifics. Here are the details. Cruise one is RT Los Angeles going to Mexican Riviera from 4/19-4/26/25. Cruise two is four days from 4/26-4/30/25 going from Los Angeles to Vancouver with zero port stops. Cruise three is four days from 4/30-5/4/25 going from Vancouver to Seattle with a single stop in Ketchikan. Each individual cruise should not have any violations. They each visit a foreign port. Then why does combining these cruises violate anything? They are treated as three separate voyages by Princess, so why does combining them cause a red flag violation of an antiquated law? I was on hold for an hour earlier tonight before talking to a clueless CSR. Before I go back on hold and speak to a supervisor tomorrow or Wednesday I figured I would come here and attempt to get some clarification before I call Princess back. Thank you for your input.

But in order to purchase the Carnival cards or any of the other cards listed as members only, you have to be a paid for card carrying member of AARP. With these members only cards you can purchase up to 25 per month. The Princess cards and other cards that you don't have to be an AARP member to purchase has a limit of 5 cards per person per month. Just got done purchasing 10 cards @ 500 between mine and my DH's accounts.

It's easy enough to do. You write down the person's name. When you see a posting, click on their name and then all of their activity and postings will appear for you to read.

In 2023 we have or will have cruised on Princess, Celebrity, Carnival, RCI, NCL and MSC. No Disney, HAL or Virgin. So we have cruised on two thirds of the main stream US based cruise lines. Been on 55 cruises since 1986. That's substantially less than some on these boards and substantially more than many. We are new to the Princess table and we 100% enjoy their product. If we didn't we wouldn't have 9 future cruises booked on them. Cruising, like most things in life is fluid and there are going to be changes to the rules and there will be changes to the participants. If even half of the disgruntled cruisers move on to possibly greener pastures, they will be replaced by others and after cruising on whatever other cruise line they move on to, may come back to Princess, or they may not. It's the cruising version of the Circle of Life.

On our last night after 14 on the Majestic in June, my DH decided he wanted to hit 15 so towards the end of the evening he had the bartender at Good Spirits split an 18 oz can of Guinness into two mugs and had him drop a mixed shot of Bailey's & Jameson in each to make two Irish Car Bombs. About a half hour later, repeated the feat, knocking out 6 of his allotted drinks for the day.

Then by all means move to a higher tiered line. True, you get a more comprehensive product and of course since you get what you pay for, you will be getting a lot more and at the same time paying a lot more, which is the antithesis of what a bare bones cruiser is. You can't say you want a no frills don't spend another dollar on board cruise and then a minute later get upset and move to a higher end cruise line and spend substantially more for your cruise just because the rules of the game changed a bit. Pick a lane and stay in it, if you go bare bones and wish to change lines, then you need to go value and cruise on MSC or Carnival. If you go with a package and are upset with Princess, then you go to the more expensive line with the comprehensive package.

Rick, are you a member of AARP? Meaning do you have a plastic card that you paid for?

I'm on the AARP website right now. Carnival, Celebrity, and RCI cards are listed as Premium and members only. Princess and Holland America cards do not have this distinction applied and can be purchased by the general public. So I have no idea how you were possibly able to purchase members only cards if you're not a member of AARP.

You mentioned you had the old package. Did you pay 50 a day? Are you getting the juice bar and the new additions?

Unfortunately that ship has sailed. I consider the wifi as part of the Plus package pure gravy since I've never paid for wifi unless it was part of a general package on Princess, Celebrity and MSC or limited minutes similar to NCL. We have never used wifi on RCI or Carnival because we won't pay for it. The 44 per day for the Plus package minus gratuities is worth it for our drink consumption since that is cheaper than any other cruise line.

Then you'll obviously never go to a specialty venue on any of the other cruise lines I mentioned if you think 39.00 is too much money since all of the other lines charge more. When we first cruised on Princess last year, we were surprised that it was only 29.00 for Sabatini's and CG on the Discovery. We had a visit included each week so it didn't matter to us.

Fully agree. It seems though that there is a major contingent of bare bones cruisers that can't comprehend that notion. They bring on their soda, buy regular bottled water on board by the 12 pack and treat themselves to the occasional coffee. I'm used to seeing this type of cruiser on Carnival, usually with multiple packs of soda in the stroller with their kid.

Yes, it's 25% of those on board. Do you think the bean counters care more about the 25% that cruise bare bones or the 75% that buy the packages?

In the US, the plus package was originally 40, for about 6 months was 50 and has subsequently gone up to 60.

Don't know your cruising history, but 39.00 for a specialty dinner on Princess is cheaper than similar venues on RCI, Carnival, Celebrity, HAL and MSC.

Have not seen it online. But if the venue is only open at dinnertime, we would prefer other options.

I mistakenly assumed they were open for lunch. The only time we would go there is on our recently booked two 4 day cruises on the Discovery. The 160 to bump up from Plus to Premier is the cost for 2 dinners in specialty venues that we get per sailing. This way all of the other perks associated with premier is pure gravy. After the 4 day B2B we are staying on for another 7. At this point, we're slumming it that week with only the Plus, LOL.

No, Carnival is members only. I was just venting about the discount reduction from 10% to 8% with the Princess purchase. Just when I'm about to buy over $15,000 in cards, the discount changes, costing me $300.00. It stinks, but it is what it is.

Yes, my DH and I both have accounts. Didn't want to spread the news since if it becomes more popular with non members buying the cards, the discount could possibly drop to 5%

Everybody is entitled to their opinion, but in my opinion, the Plus package is the best value in cruising. For 60 a day you get the same items that would cost just over 100 a day on Carnival, more on Celebrity and more than twice as much on RCI. My DH and I only indulge while we're on vacation, so a slow day would be about 10 and a good day over 15 between the two of us. Plus iced espresso, San Pellegrino to stay hydrated and cans of Coke Zero. Great value for us, even @60 per day.

There could be a fly in the ointment. It looks like sharing could be allowed at Alfredo's. There are a la carte as well as the 14.99 option. At the Salty Dog though, it's currently three courses per person for $18.00. Unless the Salty Dog's menu goes a la carte, then sharing would be verboten since it's a per person charge similar to Crown Grill and not a la carte. Salty Dog looks nice, but is way too much food for lunch and there are better options for dinner.

There is a limit of 5 cards per person per month, whether you buy 100 or 500 denominations. If you wish to buy 9 cards, then you could buy 5 on 8/31 and 4 on 9/1.

Worldtraveler said they have the old plus. If it was 50, then obviously the new additions would cost them the extra 10 pppd. If they paid the 60 rate, then the new inclusions would apply.

TA stands for travel agent or Transatlantic.

50 or 60?