Cruise Raider

I am far from a teen but really enjoyed all the crafting projects and competitions they has onboard. We took my 20 year old twin nephews o a cruise once and they liked it but that was an awkward age as they couldn’t yet legally drink. They did attend one of the 18-20 year old meet and greets they had onboard but were the only two to sign up. Other than that, they did go shoot some hoops and went to the gym, followed by the hot tub. Gambling is legal for anyone over 18 onboard so, they partook in a little of that. One win a jackpot and was offered a drink until they noticed he wasn’t old enough for the drink but old enough to pay out for his jackpot.

It is per person as others have noted but based on double occupancy. So your bid will be doubled if you are sailing solo.

That’s exactly what we were offered, as well… red or white. We took the red one as the white one was Canyon Road.

100% accurate! It is customary in the US to tip anywhere from $3-$5 per large bag and $2-$3 for a smaller bag .. towards the higher end if your luggage is heavy. Some will tip more, some will tip less and some won’t tip at all. Just noting what is customary!

I’m hoping that one person in the cabin can upgrade to the premier package without the other one doing so once onboard. The biggest benefit to the premier package for me is the better wine. My DH? He doesn’t much care. So, for $20 a day vs $40 a day, I would definitely jump on that. fingers crossed!

It does sound more like an inventory issue, impacted by the supply chain .. or maybe by the ever changing capacity that the cruiseships are experiencing. We noticed on one of the last nights of our cruise, the dinner menu consisted of duck made four different ways. Wow … there must have been nobody ordering duck on that entire cruise and they needed to get rid of it.

We’ve booked the similar area on a Holland America ship prior to the cruise with full payment made at the time for the entire week. They asked us if we liked sun or shade and told us which ones we would like. It is very doable although, if you don’t book one ahead of time, you are out of luck. All was for none, though because CoVid had other plans .. that cruise was canceled so, I can’t comment on the experience. Anyway, I’d have no problem with booking the sanctuary ahead of time if full payment was required. That weeds out those that would reserve but cancel. As with anything, you get what you pay for and if the timing is right.

They really don’t seem to be giving random upgrades on lower priced cabins ever since they came out with the bidding system. We’ve been on many cruises where there were a lot of nicer cabins remaining open but still quite a few of the inside cabins were filled. Of course, we couldn’t tell how many were due to preference vs booked as guarantees. If the cruise is not full, you may stand a better chance just trying to upgrade once onboard. They will offer you the same price as the bid amount but you can choose a specific cabin.

just so you know, the charge will be added to your folio but then the loyalty discount to zero out the charge will show up on the next day.

if there are any mini suites left on the Emerald deck, they will be covered. You will want to avoid those on the port side, though if you are se twice to noise from below. If they have solo rates, I still think a balcony with an inside cabin across the hall might be your best bet .. that is, if your budget doesn’t allow for a full suite.

I believe that the Caribbean Princess balconies that sleep a 3rd or 4th passenger have cabins that pull down from the ceiling. Just check out Cruisedeckplans.com to find out which cabins will accommodate additional passengers. just a warning for you, a balcony cabin will be very crowded with three passengers. You may want to look into a mini suite or larger … or maybe book an inside cabin for one person across the hall from your balcony cabin.

That is 100% true! the Sunken Gardens is also a little treasure, within walking distance of the dock and is complementary. It’s small but just gorgeous.

I, for one, would love that so much … even a 50% upgrade cost would be very lovely!

Yes, we definitely did have that 5th person join us a few nights. She booked just a few days before the cruise and wanted to join us. Alvin has been our favorite waiter for many cruises. It was just our good fortune to be assigned to our table for dinner. While we aren’t really wild about the Diamond, we are having a nice time after a rough start yesterday. We are mostly positive people so decided to put all that behind us. We are cruising again out of SF on Feb 25th and disembarking on March 12th and back again on March 27th until April 11th. So, if you’re working any of those days, we will be at the port. Hope you introduce yourself.

I had no idea … I wish I’d have known. We’d have loved to meet you in person. Well, now you know what we look like and we cruise out if SF all the time so, you’ll have to stop us and introduce yourself. I am the blonde and our neighbors and good friend were with us. we happen to be on the Diamond right now with that good friend.

Yep … he did! We both did! I was the first one up and my DH lasted only 6 seconds. He’s not one to get up and do those things but what a champ for giving it a try.

We sure were. He’s always with all women. 😂 lucky guy!

I know many of the officers and department heads have an allowance for certain gifts for the passengers. They may have extended this to some of the crew as well. You may have done something, such as not making him work so hard by keeping your room tidy, that made him/her give you the special gift. Take advantage of generosity, thank him/her and maybe leave a nice tip at the end of the trip. That is what I do would do, anyway.

They’ve had the E-muster on Princess since the restart and there’s currently been no talk about moving it back to the gathering in a room for the process. But, if and when it happens, I guess we will all know about it.

Not being a fan of ice cream, I had a taste of my DH’s cone and it seemed fine. He had no problem getting a cone of it every time we were up on deck.

I think you mentioned you bought the premium package so you should see a portion of your screen stating you have credit for 2 specialty dinners pp for those that have that package, making that 4 dinners you can reserve. it’s highlighted in green, as I recall … If not, you may need to call. No secret number but you may be able to go through the Chat feature online. Also, I hate to say it but when you cruise, $200 is not very much onboard credit. You can easily use it without even trying.

Anyone of any age can sign up for the AARP rewards to get the Princess gift cards at the current time. The members only gift cards are the ones that most likely have the age limit.

You can absolutely do this. We’ve done it a couple of times!

It may be a different set of rules based on where you are traveling but it used to be within 3 days for all the cruises we’ve taken that required tests in the past.

So, I know once you’ve put a deposit down, it isn’t automatically turned over to your CVP if you’ve booked it online. However, when I’ve done this, my CVP is always willing to help me with my booking anyway. She just won’t credit for doing so. Perhaps if the same deposit is available, if that’s why you booked it, he/she can rebook it for you. But, I would still not crazy about getting that response. Depending on how much you do or don’t care for your CVP, I would probably suggest turning it over to a travel agent that could help you.