SargassoPirate

Check ebay.  There's a set of 10 for sale for $12.99 plus shipping.

19 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Currently on the Ruby they are not releasing the reserved seating to the crowd 10 minutes before showtime . They let them stay vacant during the performance. 

Are they enforcing no reserving pool deck loungers as well?

10 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

The seats that I've seen reserved by the staff for the Premier packages are NOT prime seats.  I like front row center, and the reserved seats have been about 10 rows back, stage right.

SWMBO and I prefer wayyy back and on or close to the aisle so that if the show sucks or if it's over-amplified we can leave easily.  

Works for us.

The issue for me is not just willing to accept the risk, but to accept the stress as well.  Why go on a cruise if it ends up a hot mess?

I generally book an overnight stay in Fort L after the cruise and fly out the next day.  We lounge about until last call for disembarking passengers, saunter through immigration, and either roll our bags to the Hilton or the Embassy Suites on 17th.

No stress.  We arrive home rested and ready for the next adventure.

On 11/15/2023 at 6:11 PM, memoak said:

Then you don’t drink 6-10 drinks like I do   For me it is obvious that I save much much money using the plus package 

If I tried that many the Betty Ford van would be waiting for me when we docked. 😜

8 hours ago, Lucky TGO said:

Hi SargassoPirate,

I love it the Crossbar Hotel 😀 and Soap on a rope 😳😀. 
I have call Princess about booking a solo cruise and decided to take my grand children it’s only a few dollars more but I rather not go by myself. I will miss Margie 🙏🏻 💖 not being there to much!!!
The Captain of The Rowboat,

Tony
BTW thanks for your comment I try 😀 😀

 

I cruise without SWMBO because I like to cruise more than she does.  We made a pact when we retired that neither of us was going to miss an opportunity for an adventure because the other didn't want to go.  That's a good way to get to the end with an account filled with regrets.

I hope to run into you on a cruise someday.

11 hours ago, Lucky TGO said:

Hi Mr Steelers,

Here’s a photo of my inside LUXURY suite 😳

The Captain of The Rowboat,

Tony

Ahhhh, the Crossbar Hotel.  Three hots and a cot. Soap on a rope is a very popular amenity there.

Love your sense of humor, Tony.

Put the pencil to it if you are Elite.  I am, and I have yet to buy the  Plus.  A la carte works better for me. My most recent cruise was three weeks ago and my daily tab was tips and a wee dram or two in the evening.  I gave the alcohol miniatures in my mini bar setup to a friend who wasn't yet Elite.

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

Would you mind enlightening me where you find a LUXURY inside suite on Princess.  Or were you just joking?

Just joking.  After a long Harley trip when I camp out about a third of the time, an inside on a cruise ship is indeed a Luxury Inside Suite.

It's all about perspective. 

I never seem to have any trouble doing a solo booking.  On Princess I pay double, so I choose a Luxury Inside Suite.  On Royal Caribbean I can cruise solo for 150 percent of the basic PP fare.  Haven't tried solo on other lines because SWMBO tags along on HAL, Celebrity, and Viking when the itinerary is interesting.

4 minutes ago, schnapperin said:

Not sure what you‘re looking to hear - it’s as easy as travelling with a partner in my opinion 

Sometimes easier because there are no committee decisions involved.  Do what you want, when you want.

Too many things to go wrong with this one.   

Why not take the leisurely approach?  Stay overnight in Fort L and catch that flight the next day?

8 minutes ago, memoak said:

Then I think you need to cruise Viking if that is what you like

Oh, we do when they offer an itinerary that we want.  We shop first for the itinerary and secondly with a line where we have some bennies, and then price.

Like I said, I can find a workaround for the annoyances served up by Princess, but I see no reason my tips should reward those annoyances.

And, BTW, I don't mind tipping hard workers who depend on tips and who deserve them, just not those who are salaried and not doing their job. 

43 minutes ago, Roberto256 said:

 

Why would you even go on such a cruise?

 

Somewhere, there must be another cruise line, or other vacation, that is a better match for your wishes.

 

Viking is one that comes to mind where they are more refined and not trying to be Carnival Light like Princess seems to be.

Are you ok with:

1. Entertainment staff who crank the music up so loud that it's annoying and almost painful.

2.  Cruise directors staff who take over the "inviting" Piazza for games and pool deck activities and shout into the microphone.

3. Musicians who also crank up the volume and shout into the microphone so much that the music and the singing is distorted.

4.  Hotel staff who refuse to enforce the rules against parking mobility devices in the corridors overnight.

5.  Hotel staff who refuse to enforce the rules about reserving loungers at the Melanoma Deck.

6.  Dining staff who allow passengers who use tables in the Horizon Court for reading and card playing.?????

As for me, I can find a workaround for most all of these annoyances.  Music too loud?  I vacate.  Piazza not as inviting as I'd like?  I vacate.  MUTS too loud?  I vacate.  Pool loungers "reserved"?  I want a shady spot to read where I not inviting skin cancer or leather skin.

1 hour ago, coldweather said:

Good Day.  We have cruised most mainstream cruise lines and they all seem to handle their version of "anytime dining" in a different way. 

 

We are new to Princess and plan to eat in the main dining room or buffet.  I see that I can make dinning reservations each day using the app. 

 

Question - Do I need to make reservations?  Is it recommended to make reservations?

 

Some lines (carnival) you simply request a table on your phone when you are ready to eat and they text back a table number. This is super easy with no lines and no crowding the hostess desk.

 

Other lines (pre-pandemic) you could just walk up to the main dining room and get on the wait list.  Sometimes they gave you a buzzer.  

 

We prefer to eat at a table for 2 and eat early. I am indifferent if we get the same wait staff each night.  Do you recommend we make reservations or just "walk up" each night when we are ready to eat.

 

Thanks.  I did try to look for the answer to this question and did not find an answer. 

On our most recent cruise last month, I made a reservation for the same time each night of the cruise - a night at a time on the app.  After the first night's madhouse, we spotted a section we liked and asked the maitre d if she could reserve that table for us for the following night. She reserved it for us for the rest of the cruise.  From then on we just walked in and walked right to our table.

If you don't ask, the answer is always no.

20 hours ago, karatemom2 said:

Depending on your familiarity with this new practice by Princess in the theatre, the term reserved seating can be confusing for some. On NCL, you do need to use their reservation system to actually make reservations for their shows in order to guarantee a seat. So I'm not surprised when people see reserved theatre seating as a Premier benefit, they might think they have to actually pre-reserve somehow, like a dining reservation.

 

In actual practice, what happens is that several rows of prime seats are reserved in the theatre with a blue seat cover noting they are reserved. Princess staff will direct people with Premier benefits or who need handicap seating to those seats up to 5 minutes before the show starts when they are opened for everyone.

 

So, OP, if you have Premier benefits, you just need to make sure you show up at least 5 to 10 minutes before the show starts and you should be able to choose one of those reserved spots.

Just grab a couple of pool towels earlier in the day and use them to "reserve" the seat you want.  If it like the Melanoma Deck, you can leave them there for hours and the staff will look the other way. 😜

 "Crew Appreciation and Service Charge payments made by all guests on all ships in our fleet are pooled, net of credit card transaction fees. The pooled funds are distributed throughout the year in the form of compensation, including bonuses, to crew members fleet wide who interact directly with guests and/or behind the scenes throughout every cruise, including those in the Bar, Dining, Entertainment, Housekeeping, Guest Services, Galley and Onboard Revenue areas."

After reading the official Princess explanation of how they use the Crew Appreciation for fleet-wide compensation, including the back of the house folks, we are being forced to tip:

1. Entertainment staff who crank the music up so loud that it's annoying and almost painful.

2.  Cruise directors staff who take over the "inviting" Piazza for games and pool deck activities and shout into the microphone.

3. Musicians who also crank up the volume and shout into the microphone so much that the music and the singing is distorted.

4.  Hotel staff who refuse to enforce the rules against parking mobility devices in the corridors overnight.

5.  Hotel staff who refuse to enforce the rules about reserving loungers at the Melanoma Deck.

6.  Dining staff who allow passengers who use tables in the Horizon Court for reading and card playing.

I don't mind tipping those crew members who provide me with great service, but the back of the house folks are not doing anything tip-worthy.

12 hours ago, memoak said:

I believe they put those suites there because of all the people especially on these boards complaining about mobility  issues walking from the aft suites to the elevators so the pit a bunch next to the mid ship elevators. Also many people seem concerned about suites aft and forward having issues with motion 

I wonder about the design thinking as well.  Marketing-wise would standard balcony cabins under the lido be a tougher sell than the suites?  There are a limited number of suites and there are folks - from reading these boards -who MUST have a suite.

Personally, after a few bad experiences below the Melanoma deck and above a nightclub/disco, I sail in nothing but a cabin with passengers above, below, and across the corridor.  A quiet Inside Luxury Suite to me is better than a mini or regular suite below the Pizza scullery as experienced above.  

I have noticed that when doing a booking on Princess.com that the suites seem to be sold out sooner than later.

3 hours ago, Lucky TGO said:

Hi all to all my Cruise critic, friends. I’m a night person on the Royal Princess one morning I got up at 7am

and went to the adult swimming pool and took off all the towels on the lounge chairs that No one was on.

I went back to bed and went back at 11:30 am all that day people were talking about someone removing the towels. I said no kidding and couldn’t stop laughing all day. 😀

The Captain of The Rowboat,

Tony

 

 “I love humanity, it’s people I can’t stand.”

2 hours ago, memoak said:

Without the back of the house employees the front of the house employees would not have the tools they need to make your cruise what you expect it to be. Call it tips or bonus whatever you like to me it is all the same. It would be the same as saying I didn’t go to guest services so I am going to hold back some cash. How many of you tip guest services when they solve a problem for you

Since when were the back of the house workers dependent on tips?  So far as guest services, their job is to solve problems and they should not expect tips.  They are now, however, reaping the benefit of the Princess Employee Salary Subsidy - formerly known as Crew Appreciation, formerly known as Gratuities, formerly known as Tips - and should not be expecting any tips at all.

It was common understanding that the room stewards, waiters, and assistant waiters were paid a smaller salary and were dependent on tips since they provided direct service to the guests.  The back of the house crew are simply overhead.

Do you tip the Captain if he gets you to port on time?

8 minutes ago, 42Hathaway said:

It is 9:00 am and there is not.a Pool towel or chair available not that  knowone  is sitting in the chairs. This is not the first day but everyday on the emerald. Management seems to be ingoring the situation.

They don't want to enforce anything because they are afraid of receive less than a 10 on the post cruise evaluations.

In the absence of enforcement, chaos reigns.

1 hour ago, leck57 said:

It's been revealed that there were less than 10 Covid cases and less that 10 gastro cases. Our media down here is just scum and love to jump on stories like this, especially after the Ruby situation a few years ago.

I shocked, shocked I tell you to learn that the media would sensationalize anything to do with covid and cruise ships.

A 2023 "case" is not the same as a 2020 "case".

Within the last year, SWMBO has exhibited some mild cold symptoms and both times tested positive for covid.  She treated it symptomatically and it pretty much ran the course of the common cold - three days coming, three days staying, three days going.

Even though we cohabitate, she never shared it with me.

BTW, our covid vaccine cards are full and now we are just paperclipping our vaccination receipts to them.

5 hours ago, dog said:

Listen,

I am not advocating that anyone do anything.

From my understanding there is no longer a tipping pool from the Crew Appreciation Princess collects now. It has become revenue that pays salary & bonuses - to whom I don’t know.

I tend to agree with you, dog, especially after watching the creeping tip culture for the past three years.  Since it appears that Princess has now taken the CA pool and turned it into salaries and bonuses for the back of the house employees who do not interact with or provide direct, face-to-face service to guests.

Everyone is free to do what they want, but I certainly see no reason to pay tips/gratuities/crew appreciation and then feel the need to hand out additional tips/gratuities to Stuart, the waiter, assistant waiter, the maitre d, etc if they are now paid an agreed upon living wage and are no longer dependent upon tips/gratuities for their income.

I've been noticing tip jars in land-based establishments where there didn't used to be any.  Places where the employees are on salary and not dependent on tips they way waiters and bartenders are.

I don't need to see a tip jar at Jiffy Lube, for example.

12 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

While I appreciate your rationalization, what percentage of Princess cruises are 2 or 3 days long?  Perhaps 1 to 2 percent. And since the entire survey process seems fully automated, I can’t imagine it’s any kind of a hardship to distribute comments to the people who deserve them, even if received 4 to 14 days after a cruise ends. 

I predict there will be a new feature on the app, with a fee of course, called SurveyNow for submitting the post cruise survey within 3 days so that individual crew members can be recognized for exemplary service. 

At the same time, the cost of Plus and Premier will increase and will include SurveyNow at no charge.

From a staff article on Cruise Critic:

"Tipping policies vary by line, so be sure to check your cruise line's tipping policy before setting sail. Generally speaking, mainstream, U.S.-based cruise lines automatically add gratuities of about $14 to $15 per person, per day, to your onboard bill. These tips are divided among the dining staff (waiters, assistant waiters and head waiters) and housekeeping staff (such as cabin attendants)"

If one removes the mandatory Princess Employee Salary Subsidy that is spread fleetwide and supposedly to the back of the house employees, tips should still go to the folks mentioned in bold who provide direct service to passengers. 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/what-to-expect-on-a-cruise-tipping-crewmembers-on-a-cruise%23:~:text%3DGenerally%20speaking%2C%20mainstream%2C%20U.S.%2D,(such%20as%20cabin%20attendants).&ved=2ahUKEwiAq_bImLqCAxUDmYQIHeKdDRcQFnoECBEQBQ&usg=AOvVaw0APgNEPOKiGad1KAdL75GA