Steelers36

I treat it as part of the cruise fare cost. I am not sure I would do the best job in distribution, so will likely just pay it and tip extra as I see fit.

Hear you, but check my post #28. I have been quite happy with what we got last Fall on two different ships. For our foursome (two couples), it was just like pre-DMW.

There is no need to do so because a guest can (for the most part) get the TD experience by requesting it of DR Mgr's. IMO, it is even better since you can have some flexibility on the start time which wasn't always possible before. I realize I have read posts where the CC member failed to get what they wanted, but the majority I read do get that same table and same waiters and that is 95% of TD. The one thing that is almost impossible is to get a large sharing table with the same guests every night. If you want that, you pretty much need to assemble your own group - either ahead of time, or on first night. Even so, many folks who did sharing before DMW, would report other guests at the table wouldn't show up, or came late, etc, which also spoiled the experience. There are also folks who like to share and prefer that the guests do change as they may not be happy stuck with same group every night.

I think most of the shorter Caribbean jaunts don't attract much participation as many posters here have "been there, done that" and aren't looking to organize tours and such like you will have in Europe and similar distant locales. Just a guess. Although I did participate some many years back when Caribbean was new to us and I was looking for tours on some islands. But perhaps I used the ports forum for that (don't recall).

I do believe you, but you have not mentioned if this was in 2023 or 2013 for example.

To return to topic, I don't see why or how a steward is going to know how much someone paid, etc, with the following exceptions. One: The ship upgrades the guest on or after embarkation day for some reason so the two stewards involved are aware of the move. Two: The guest requests a cabin change for some reason after boarding and is given one. Again the affected stewards will be aware. When a #2 situation above occurred recently for us, I assured our original steward the move had absolutely nothing to do with him and it was too bad he couldn't move with us.

In the mornings, I have seen a mix or concoction of the day sitting out that one could call a smoothie. It's not something made to order - you just pick the small glass by flavor(s) made available. Don't recall what may be in them.

One would think it is done as you suggested, but hard to know for certain. My sense from various posts on the subject is that some ships operate a lot more smoothly than others in terms of DR waits.

Since it was mentioned in an earlier post that DMW in the Princess App now has an Experiential Dining option, this was likely added in the latest release (my guess as I don't have a booking right now). Are you on the latest release?

I wonder if sometimes DMW is giving out too many bookings at various times than the room can handle. That is a setup or programming issue. The DMW algorithm is a black box to us on the outside and have no idea how bookings are allocated given the inventory and time slots. Maybe it works better for the Royal Class ships, but not so well for the pre-Royal ships with smaller DR's? That said, seemed to be fine on Island last November (which is one size smaller again and only has two DR's, so it and Coral would have to have been special cases). I often have wished I had some solution design insight into DMW, but I don't see how that will ever be possible. I'd be prepared to believe that most of the DR Mgr's and DRO's hate the system.

Were you able to gain any insight on how the pool is distributed? Is it mainly bonuses and incentives? I believe you are saying that guest-facing crew that serve us are now on a fixed salary that supposedly has at least some CA baked in so that they get more than their old base. But I gather you are also saying they do not get even a minimum amount from the tip pool (which consists of CA + 18% bars + other included grats in Casual and Specialty Dining tabs? I would have presumed they are get some basic gratuity amount from the pool, but top performers are also getting bonuses. As someone who books Standard, it gives one pause to not affect crew income and then handout that amount (plus more) to specific individuals. I would still be thinking I am hurting others beyond those we regularly interact with. For us, it is three people - steward and our two waiters - as we don't frequent the bars. I thought I was happy with the system in place, but you have blown up the concept somewhat.

If paid in advance, it is the normal USD charge. If left to be charged to the cabin account, then it is going to be the AUD equivalent. You could find out what currency exchange rate PCL is using for USD/AUD and decide if paying in advance or on board is to your advantage. Same thing can happen in CAD. If a Canadian books a cruise today, the rate Princess is using is 1.35. That is a little better than the market rate right now, but that rate was higher than market not long ago. If guest pre-pays CA via the Cruise Personalizer ahead of sailing, the rate will be fixed at 1.35 since that was the rate in effect when cruise was booked. If guest waits until on board, the CA is charged in USD (for all but voyages around Oz area). At the time of sailing, the guest may be able to pay those USD charges for less than 1.35, or it could cost more.

Check out the most recent posts in the sticky at top of this forum for the Ocean (now Princess) Medallion App. Apparently, the most recent version has some bug issues for many, if not all, Android users. Supposedly, being worked on and may be updated by Monday. The App has always been "working" on Android platforms.

It is for Australian based voyages booked by Aussies and Kiwis.

Certainly, and I didn't imply that. Sorry, it seems like one needs to be very precise in posting here.

Are you certain the URL is simply "www.princess.com"?

No, but that error code is old as Methusula or close to it.

Either you are on a VPN to Oz, or you are in Oz and not logged in. I don't think Princess let's us access off shore websites. Anyway, you are seeing Plus for $65 AUD and it doesn't have CA as that is baked into cruise fare.

It's the old ID10T error with the Ocean App squad. The whole bunch of them should have been forced to walk the plank ages ago. Unbelievable - but believable knowing their past history.

It depends on where the sun is.

When you have made Final Payment. If Platinum or Elite or in Reserve Class, then as soon as a deposit is down. In your case, there may be system bug(s) preventing this. Try the web version and see if that works. If not, call Princess and select DMW support from the phone tree options.

All G needs is a name tag and they are a matched pair of handsome guys.

Perhaps a factor in that was that they were in bottom 11% of all Sydney restaurants?

@PescadoAmarillo, is this "your" Darko? Not that I know the fellow, but just curious since you spoke so highly of him, I would not be surprised to know this is him with a job promotion.

You are not looking at the right page and are making an apples/oranges comparison. The Plus and Premier Cruise Fare packages have NOT increased in price recently. Neither have the STANDALONE Plus & Premier beverages packages which are one of the perks included in the CRUISE FARE package. Re-check on Princess.com. You can read details about both the beverage packages and the cruise fare packages. You should never buy a standalone drink package - the pricing is artificial extreme high in order to make the cruise fare package look like more of a bargain.