dreaminofcruisin

WOW! Just WOW! I emailed my request last night at 7:04 PM CST. Got the automatic reply saying to allow 21 days for processing. Received another email from Princess at 8:39 PM CST with the title: "Your Princess booking confirmation". I had been doing something else with my booking yesterday, but had already received something with the same title confirming that change. I thought "Now what is this for?" I opened it up and it had my Shareholder OBC included! It looks like Princess finally has this figured out! Yay! If you are emailing your request and you don't get the auto reply, I would suggest you log into Princess and make sure you are allowing emails as I noticed with the whole new bidding process, mine was at "No" and it used to be "Yes", so I think Princess I.T. converted something incorrectly.....Even if you "KNOW" yours is "Yes", go check to be sure....

Right, but the minimum amount you could bid was the amount in the original email part. The slider wouldn't go lower.

Not to hijack this thread and it might be better if I start a new one, but it's related. I thought at one point when the amount of the deposit for cruises changed, there was only a deposit needed for passenger 1 and 2. It now appears that it is also needed for passenger 3 and 4 if I do a mock booking..... ....or maybe I just dreamed that???? 🙄

I am starting to investigate future cruises with DDs family. I noticed that for the 3rd and 4th person in a cabin (7 day), the price is generally $499 regardless of booking as Standard, Plus or Premier. This is probably ok as that gives you the option to add drinks package or wifi or not for the kids. Not a TA, so I don't know if there are other options that include "Plus-like" things for 3rd and 4th passenger.

Just got the upgrade email for Ruby on October 1st--7 day California Coastal. Yesterday I discovered that my email communcation was set to "NO" even though I am 100% sure it used to be "YES". So, it took about 24 hours from the time I changed it until I got the email.....pretty sure that's related, but I guess I don't know for certain. I am in a Standard Balcony cabin. I was offered Premium Balcony (from $30 pp ), Mini-Suite (from $200 pp) or Club Class Mini-Suite ($270 pp). These amounts are the minimum amounts you could bid. There is a slider, but these numbers reflect the minimum offers you are able to make. I was NOT offered the Penthouse Suite nor the Owners Suite even though both appear to be available for booking on the website. I won't be bidding since I am pretty particular about my cabin location, but I wanted to see what this looks like and if I thought something might be a 'screaming deal', I might consider it. Thought I would post my situation, just in case that is helpful to anyone.

I googled because I was interested to find that Mendenhall Glacier stopped receding, but couldn't find that information. Do you have a source? This is what I found: Since the 1750s snowfall at the site has been less than the rate of melting. By 2050 the glacier is expected to be completely out of view from the U.S. Forest Service Visitor Center at the southeast corner of Mendenhall Lake. https://www.blm.gov/blog/2022-01-05/challenge-opportunity-1952-and-2022

It seems like a strange thing to focus on for a cruiseline that has an older average age. I 'get' they are trying to attract younger people and I am sure there are many older people who would use these services, but it certainly feels like there are other easier and perhaps cheaper things they could do. Playing more music that was written after I was born, for instance (and I am in my 60s).

Curious where you are getting these rules? I see this in the FAQ on my cruise personalizer and it no longer says you can log in: How do I check whether my cruise is eligible for Princess Upgrade? You should receive an email invitation after all eligibility requirements are met and have opted-in to receive marketing emails from Princess. If you meet all the eligibility requirements but still cannot access the bidding site, please check with your travel advisor as a small number of travel agencies have elected to limit access partially or fully to this program. I was quite surprised yesterday when I logged into my account and saw that Emails were set to "No" even though they have always been set to "Yes" and I did just get a (not very good) upgrade offer last spring. So, good to check. I couldn't see anywhere that you could log in to access Upgrades? Do you know where that is?

Meh....I am 0 for 3 on TAs. One of them was recommended by someone I met on a cruise. They assured me they always got good 'deal'. Eh....not so much. I also have a PVP who is really responsive if I want to book a cruise...other times not so much. I don't doubt that people have been fortunate to find good TAs that discount, but do consider yourself REALLY fortunate as I think they are few and far between. I'm just over it....back to booking online and controlling my bookings and just fine with that. 😀

DH was drinking San Pellegrino on our B.I. Emerald cruise in August. It was available in some, but not all bars. If it wasn't available, Perrier was.

Ask your room steward for assistance.

I found this for you. I think it will answer your questions. https://emmaonline.co.uk/enchanted-princess-balcony-cabin-review/

Correct. The Plus package includes any type of coffee....even if you want to put something alcoholic into it. 😉

No idea what your TA is talking about. Looks like mine for next summer is $59. Since you booked through a TA, you can't do it online like I can since I booked online. You need to book it through your TA. Ask why it is that he/she is telling you $75 and we all see it as $59. Perhaps just nicely ask him/her to re-check the pricing. Perhaps they are thinking of a different cruise line. I have heard that others are more expensive.

Now that's a WEIRD hotel for sure! Stairs and hallways everywhere and every which direction. Reception on the 1st (?) floor, but that meant about 6 half flights up and the elevator was broken so we had to lug our suitcases....that was the end of the handle on mine. Great location, though not sure I would stay there again---once might be enough for that one! 😁

The only ones I ever saw was those that needed delivery by a server and those didn't go to the person ordering them. Especially with a soft drink, after they got to know me and my morning diet coke, I'm not even sure they bothered to put it into the system... 🙂 (We had the drink package.) We were recently on Carnival and thought the receipts were pretty silly. They make you sign them, but don't give you a copy and often in the outside bars it seemed like a lot of them would blow away anyway as they weren't too attentive to them. It might help you know what you purchase, but it wouldn't prove you didn't purchase something anyway..... I only had one problem on my recent cruise where they charged me for a small bottled water in the dining room. It was immediately removed when I brought it to Customer Service attention.

No receipts for drinks on Princess....

I'm wondering if Vines even HAD a menu available to you? Recently on the Emerald and asking for a menu seemed like a foreign concept there. There were no QR codes on the tables like other venues. When they finally got me a menu, it was paper and the only Plus options available were the same as all other bars. Even at the Premier level, there wasn't much by the glass for us white wine drinkers..... ☹️

Thanks for the extra explanation. I think I was 'missing' part of it as you indicated. I do see how this could be an advantage to be able to re-book only one of the flights. I have 'wished' I could do that in the past also. I actually originally booked the 14 day cruise not realizing that it was offered as 2 - 7 day cruises (no repeat ports - Mediterranean). I realized today when I was re-booking for a price drop that the other advantage with the Love Boat sale was by booking as 2 cruises, we each got 2 - $100 excursion OBC. We don't take a lot of Princess excursions....but with the available $, we will likely find some to use it on! This is the first time I have done a B2B and I see there are many things to consider. Thanks.

OK. Thanks. I will look at that when it opens. SInce this isn't until October 2023, hopefully airlines improve by then. I live in "Delta" world with usually very few options. I know that this summer had I tried to book directly on Delta's website, the price for one way was the same as round trip, meaning it would cost me double. I didn't actually try it on EZ Air, so maybe it will be different. As it turned out, my last cruise (international) I ended up coming home on Iceland Air after Virgin Atlantic cancelled mine, which was interesting....

Guessing this has been asked and answered, but the search function is less than helpful... I just booked my first B2B (both 7 days). When flights become available in EZ Air, is the correct way to do this just to book the flights in the first cruise coming home 7 days after the end of that cruise to accomodate the next cruise? Or what has been your experience? TIA

@We_like_to_cruise -- just wanted to say THANKS SO MUCH! for starting this thread. Today I was able to cancel a 14 day cruise and book it as 2-7 day cruises. It saved me over $1000 (due to price drops which have occurred)! I had tried contacting my PVP earlier today and of course got her 'out of office' message. Then I tried calling and got the 'unusually busy' message. I decided to try Live Chat and the person immediately responded. It took her a while as this was a little more complicated than just a normal refare, but she got it done and kept coming back to tell me she 'was still there'. It was a great experience and I plan to try using it more often! 🙂

I agree with you that I really like the new way being able to easily reserve and change my dining time. However, I do have sympathy for those who want a traditional dining experience and it seems like with a little effort, Princess could also accomodate them....

I just rebooked a cruise under the new promotion due to a price drop. Under credits, it lists it as: "Shore Excursion Credit" Whether or not it will be restricted to that is yet to be known. It does make it very identifiable for a good programmer (LOL---probably not Princess IT, but in theory) to easily identify it.

We're on the Ruby on October 1st. My understanding is that would qualify. Final Payment made. Many balconies and minis available. We have a balcony and likely wouldn't bid on a mini as I am picky about where it would be.... but....I was curious to see what the process looks like, I haven't seen anything yet.