skynight

You say you have adjusted the crew incentive. Have you done this with an inclusive fare? My understanding is that when you have the plus or other inclusive fare, crew incentive is included as part of the fare. It can not be broken out and adjusted. This is the fare the poster has. While Princess informs you of the value based upon their normal charge for those who select the standard fare the actual amount included is only known to Princess.

Comments P&O and other lines do include crew incentives in their fares. They just don't separate it out for you to see. They have to pay their crew. Drink prices on P&O include any service charges for the bar staff. It's not a separate add on, but amounts to the same thing. Princess' crew incentive goes into a fleet wide pool and is paid out to housekeeping and dining room staff and others that you never see such as the staff that washes your sheets and towels, the staff that cleans the public areas. Beverage service charge goes to bar and beverage staff which is a separate group from the housekeeping/DR staff. The plus fare includes the crew incentive and beverage service charge and is like you are used to with P&O, included. There are cultural reasons for the difference between UK and US methods of defining total charges. There are also accounting and tax reasons for both the company and crew to separate these charges out and maintain separate records. Bottom line is that you purchased an inclusive package and you are not able to separate out the parts. For information. When you are in the U.S. State and local taxes are usually not included in the prices you see. Nevada tax is 6.85%. Los Angeles tax is 9.5%. These amounts will be added to the prices shown. Waiters and bar staff in the U.S. work mainly for tips. Base salaries are low. Standard tip amount for restaurant service is between 15 to 20% of the amount. It is the way it is.

This is how I understood the OPs arrangement. Believe it's a package deal which includes 3 nights in L.V. and a bus transfer from L.V. directly to the ship. Package trips are common way to book in the UK. All the postings about flying, busses dropping you off in downtown, etc. is probably confusing to the OP.

OP may be booking a package from a T.A. in the UK, with the Las Vegas to San Pedro included.

The plus fare is inclusive. Believe it is GBP40/pp/day extra over the standard fare for the three benefits, beverage package, wifi (unlimited internet), crew appreciation (daily gratuities). The value, not what you actually pay, of the gratuities is shown as GBP353 or GBP176.50 per person for the 15 days. The gratuity is part of the fare and can not be eliminated or changed. You can only change the daily hotel gratuity when you select the standard fare where the daily hotel gratuity is charged separately each day to your accounts. The standard daily gratuity charged for those that do not have an inclusive fare is $14.50/pp/day for balcony cabins or less, $15.50/pp/day for mini suites and $16.50/pp/day for full suites. Basically Princess allocates some of your fare to a crew gratuity pool and then rewards those included in the pool. You can not adjust this. You mention 18% service charge. This is the standard service charge for beverages and IS included with your fare. Nothing extra is charged for beverages included in the package. If you do happen to purchase a beverage that is over $12 then you will be charged the difference in price + 18%. Examples, you order a glass of wine priced at $14. Your account will be charged $2.00 +18% for a total of $2.36. You can not remove the 18%; you order a bottle of wine for $40, you receive the 25% discount and are then charged $30+18% or $35.40. Suggest you read the full terms and conditions of the beverage package. https://www.princess.com/cruise-deals-promotions/plus-premier-cruise-packages/

Agree

Quite a number of the wines are more than $12. If you have the plus package you will be charged the difference + 18% of the difference. The premier package will cover more of the wines.

Sister ships almost. The Enchanted (and Discovery) were built with many of the improvements passengers were disappointed with on the Regal. Improved Princess Live which is now a club with tables and chairs rather than an uncomfortable TV studio with no easy way to serve or place drinks. Crooner's returned on the Enchanted after being eliminated on the Sky. Club 6 was redesigned into a jazz club, Take Five, with better seating and live music. Bistro Sur La Mer was added, deck 7, mid ship. Alfredo's renamed Gigi's, but just a name change. Crooner's was moved to deck 6. Stairs eliminated from the casino to deck 7 thus eliminating the smoke issue from the open overhead. Vista Lounge is now more like Club Fusion rather than the bench seating on the Regal. Sea Walk now has decking all the way on the curve. Sea View Bar moved. Lido deck now has two large rectangular pools. On the negative the Retreat Pool is now narrowed and surrounded on both sides by cabins. No more window views and less seating. Wake View Pool is now aft on the Lido deck with the smoking area one deck above. Believe a 360 dining experience is coming to the circular area next to Sabatini's. No exact info on this yet.

Food and menu is similar to the Crown Grill. Surroundings are private, but lacking as compared to the Crown Grill. You can dress up if you wish or dress smart casual. https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/Onboard_Experience/Sterling-Steakhouse-Menu-Sample.pdf

Drive time Las Vegas to San Pedro about 5 to 6 hours. I would imagine you would get at least one break, but that would be up to the driver. The trip is through the desert at least half of the way. Hawaii cruise will be 15 nights with 4 ports in Hawaii plus Ensenada, Mexico on the last day. There will be 9 sea days. The first 2 to 3 days from San Pedro most likely will be a little cool and the sea could be choppy. Turns tropical once the ship crosses the Tropic of Cancer. Highly recommend the plus or premier fares. The plus fare covers unlimited non-alcoholic beverages with some exclusions like canned sodas plus 15 alcoholic beverages/day menu priced up to $12. There is a very large selection of the $12 and under drinks including almost all cocktails. The beverage service charge is included in the fare, no extra charges. Basically two to three alcoholic beverages pp/day is the breakeven. The fare also covers daily gratuities and unlimited internet. There is also a premium fare which covers drinks up to $18. These are mostly wines and single malt spirits. The premium fare also covers some specialty dining as well as other things. You can search on line for all the details. I would not purchase the a beverage package separately. It is more expensive that way and you still will be charged for the daily grats and wifi. If you have the no frills fare a daily gratuity of between $14.50 to $16.50/pp/day depending on cabin category is charged to your on board accounts. Internet cost about $10/day. There will be an 18% service charge added to the menu price of all beverages, alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Recommend you research Club Class mini suites.

A cruise ship isn't a theater where seats are sold months and months in advance. You purchase the seat you want and for most have flexibility regarding selection of the day. A theater show runs almost every day. If you can't attend you sell the seat on the secondary market. A cruise ship is vacation where shows and entertainment are included, and is a much different experience. You have no flexibility. Second, people that know when seats would become available would go on line immediately to reserve their seat. Then those not in the know or not yet booked would get the leftovers. Couples that wish to sit together may find individual seats in different rows or sections. Lines would form for the no shows where seats could be scattered all around the theater. Third, if you have reserved numbered seats then you would have to staff the theater with ushers. Probably something Princess would not really want to do every evening. Princess does place CD staff in the theater sometimes for very busy shows to point out where seats are available for late arrivers. Forth, Princess would have to list the entertainment selections way in advance of the cruise. This may not be something they actually know until closer to the cruise date. Princess runs many different itineraries of different lengths throughout the year. It's different when the cruise line runs the same weekly cruises most of the year like some lines do. Princess does reserve a row of seats on the Sky, Enchanted and Discovery Princess for passengers in the two Sky suites. If the demand for Sky suites is high, maybe Princess will add additional ones to the new builds and thus more dedicated seats for those passengers.

It is very small, just out the Vista Lounge, starboard side.

Depends what you mean by the drink package. Believe you can upgrade your fare to include either the Princess Plus package or the Princess Premier package by calling your T.A. or Princess. The plus upgrade is $50/day and the Premier package is $75/day. These packages include more than just the drink package. There probably is a cut off, so do this soon. https://www.princess.com/cruise-deals-promotions/plus-premier-cruise-packages/ If you just wish to add a beverage package the cost is much higher $70/pp/day for the plus beverage package and $94/pp/day for the Premier beverage package. You can purchase these packages up to 3 days before sailing and on the first day, boarding day. These packages are advertised as not sold on board after the first day and if they are there is no prorating. " The Plus Beverage Package must be purchased for every day a passenger is sailing. Partial / pro-rated packages or purchase for segments of a guest’s voyage are NOT accepted."

Our first port was Portland, Maine. Everyone was required to go through immigration there. No luggage or inspection of personal goods. These remained in our cabins just like any other day. When we reached Brooklyn we just walked off, no immigration inspection or lines, picked up our luggage which was sorted by color/number in the normal manner and walked out. There were Customs agents there, but no one we saw was stopped.

Encore is the sequel to Bravo. Always enjoyed Encore. Seen it many times, but I think Bravo is better.

And, of course, trivia, morning, late afternoon, and sometimes evening themed. Watch for activities that are really sales talks. These are generally run by the spa and by the shops on board. Might be a fashion show.

Princess Live on the Discovery, Enchanted, Sky are set up like the photos in post 26. The Royal, Regal, Majestic have a TV studio/theater set up with uncomfortable seating, no tables or anywhere else to place drinks. It is a poor concept by the designers.

What happens with your plan is that people do the reservation thing the minute it becomes available. Then, lets say, you have a seat reservation. It would not be a specific seat, just one of the 900+ available. In the evening people line up early standing to be the first ones in when the doors open so they can select the best seat locations for them. At some point, maybe 20 minutes pre-show, those waiting for the no shows will be allowed in. Your concept of arriving 5 minutes before the show probably will not work well. Your seat may be gone. In the Princess model theater doors open early, maybe an hour. No problem standing in a line. Go in and sit down, relax, talk, read and so on. I would rather sit and wait than stand in a line and wait.

Did you try the travel summary? I think it is shown there.

Not exactly, but it is more expensive with the Princess hotel. If you stay a second night the rate per person for that night is lower. The longer you stay the closer the amount becomes to self booking.

Not a good plan. Would turn me off. Too much pre-cruise structure for a vacation. Rather go with the flow. Furthermore, it does not solve the problem, more demand for seats than seats available. It just pushes the problem backwards in pre-cruise time and those familiar with the system go on line first to reserve.

Some observations when the ships were full. We arrived 30 to 45 minutes early depending on the show. The 8pm hour show was the most crowded. Early or later shows less crowded. That is why we always planned our evening dining around the evening shows or other activities we wished to attend and not the reverse. We did lots of b2b2bs. We spread production shows out over the time on the ship. We normally attended guest entertainers such as comedy and singers. Most of those shows are not as crowded. Princess really should have additional performances of productions shows. Not sure how the theater can be designed to seat more and still have views as well as safety. Some things I don't think should be done, pre-cruise reservations and tickets. Reserved seats.

If you order a ca Buffet coffee is prepared from ground coffee. It is fairly decent. You probably can not fill or have your own carafe filled to carry back to your cabin, and why even bother when you can get a carafe delivered at no charge. Just order from room service for morning delivery, you set the time, and a carafe will be delivered to your cabin. No need to bring your own container. Ask for half & half or cream when you order. If you wish a better brewed coffee order from the International Cafe. Order how you like it, cream & sugar or whatever. If you require a lot order two large cups. You should be able to order using the Ocean Now app on your device or on the TV. Brewed coffee at the International Cafe uses better beans than the ground coffee in the buffet or the DR. Again, since you have the plus package there will be no charge for the I.C. brewed coffee.

The sink has bar soap.

If your cruise is one way Quebec to NYC then you clear immigration at the first U.S. port of call for example Bar Harbor. Then when the ship docks at NYC (Red Hook, Brooklyn) passengers basically just walk off. If you are on a RT NYC (Red Hook, Brooklyn), then passengers have to clear immigration. The early walk off option should be available.