kywildcatfanone

We have quit going to the DR for dinner because of the quality, and the time it takes. We are on now, and at least last night, the buffet had many good options, including Prime Rib, Pork Loin, Roasted Chicken, Ham, and Mahi Mahi.

I will go ahead an add this here, since it's already being discussed. They should offer a non alcoholic package with and without coffee along with the alcohol packages. You could do wifi/tips/soda packages for $25/day; and one with coffee for $30/day. That would at least be somewhat reasonable instead of a drinks only package for $30/day, and you still have to pay separately for wifi and gratuities. Here is what we decided to do this week. We'll see how it works for us for the whole week. We brought onboard our Sams Club tumblers (think Yeti) that hold ice for days. We packed 3 packs of our sodas and water(coke zero and sprite zero, and water). I had one in a checked bag, and the other two in my carry on. All were fine, no issues out of FLL. They rarely check anything that I have seen. I go pay for a coffee because my wife wants one, so it's $7.50/day so $52.50/week for both of us. If I want more, I just get coffee in the buffet. Fill out cups with ice, and take water or sodas to the pool or meal location and have that. I think that will work for us. Will see how it goes for the whole week. If that works well, will cost me about $75 for the week. If we don't want that we have the tea or lemonade they offer.

It's beyond disappointing, it downright makes me angry. Also the fact that you can't trade the mini bar for it anyway. I will say this though, I boarded Regal yesterday, and called room service. The mini bar setup was no in the room yet. I asked about the exchange for the coffee package and the lady was quick to tell me it was discontinued on Regal 3 weeks ago. And she immediately offered me $100 goodwill OBC ($50 each) so we could pay for the coffee. I was quite surprised at how quickly this was offered, but she said since the change, it's the biggest issue room service is getting on embarkation day. While I'm not happy with the change, at least for this cruise, they satisfied my frustration with this perk removal for loyal customers. I assume this is a temporary resolution and not permanent for those who call about it.

We did a Celebrity cruise, and they had Lavazza in the buffet, even had porcelain lavazza cups to drink from. I suspect this will be in the buffet as well

You know how there are people in every neighborhood who sit and watch what happens in the neighborhood just so they can create tension between neighbors. It's like that to me.

Groups open anywhere from 60 days in. Not always consistent.

You can have power strip, but not with surge protection. If they check, which they rarely do.

How long is too long?

You have an issue with this? I don't. I mean, assuming they put something down to reserve the table and go get food and come back, which I would think wouldn't take most people more than 5 minutes to do. Sometimes it's impossible to find a table, and I don't want to walk around 20 minutes looking for a place to sit while the food in my hands is getting cold.

It's all about the time you are gone from your chair. If you are using it, but get up to go do something and are back in the time allotted by Princess, you are not a chair hog. In a previous thread on this, some thought that if you get up at all, you should take your stuff with you. Everyone see this stuff different.

Boarding times are just a suggestion. Go as early as you want and they won't ask you about a boarding letter.

I have suggested similar in this thread. It makes sense to me to offer a plus package for soda, wifi and tips, and coffee, wifi and tips, and I guess soda/coffee, wifi and tips. But these packages they offer must be cash cows for them because they are pushing them hard. Also the soda package by itself is what, $15/day, so $20 might be a bit light, but $30 for the soda plus, and $40 for the soda/coffee plus seems more reasonable.

Thanks for sharing the disembaraktion info. We are on in a couple of weeks and have a 9:05am flight out, so if disembarkation is at 6:30, that should be plenty of time. I was expecting 6am, but 6:30 is okay.

Just like the packages, I used to enjoy the specialty restaurants, but with the price increases, do not think they are a good value anymore.

If they had this with a package for soft drinks/coffee, wifi and tips, I would buy it. Would make it about $20 a day for the drinks portion, and that is reasonable. $40 a day for soft drinks and coffee only, is super expensive, just like the other new packages.

I get why they do it. They are making sure tips are paid, they sell wifi, and they are still making a fortune off of the drinks, and getting more people to buy them, even if they drink very little. But not offering an alcohol free options for around $40 is a huge omission for those who don't drink, or drink very little. We leave Saturday, will stop and buy a couple of packs of sodas, and take our own cups, and that will be our drinks by the pool for the week.

We chose Princess for our first cruise by chance, and enjoyed it and didn't want to try others. We have since, and Princess still provides the best value of the ones we have tried, but that appears to be getting worse at a rapid pace. We are about ready to move back to land based vacations as a result. The product is getting worse, and the prices are astronomical now for everything they charge an upcharge for.

Yep, just like everything else, they are raising prices and lowering quality of the product.

Thanks for sharing. We board in a couple of weeks. Were on her in December and had a great time, and expecting the same if the weather is good.

Not an issue, but will take a bit more time to process.

I would expect charges coming soon for MDR, buffet, pizza, the "free" items at the burger and hot dog bar. I mean why now? And with how Princess is charging for stuff now, a cup of coffee or orange juice should start at $5. You want bacon, $3 a slice, etc.

Yep, this is all driven by profit, which is fine to me in normal scenarios, but they are punishing their most loyal customers, which is generally a bad idea. I will bring soda and water onboard, and just get ice, and drink the buffet coffee.

I saw that posted, but it confused me as you can't find anything about it on Princess website.

After thinking about this a bit, they should offer the non alcoholic drink package with the wifi and tips for $40, would make it more tolerable. They should have a plus package for non drinkers.

While I appreciate that you get my meaning now, they certainly could have left it for those who wanted to exchange it, and not have it as a sales item. A perk if you will for loyalty. Obviously I'm frustrated by it because it was a perk I used. I get that not everyone does, just like other perks. I see it as requiring me to spend money on something that cost them little to give for the loyalty of being faithful to their product. And to be clear, I never reused or saved those cards because we could get new ones each cruise. A long time ago now.