voljeep

8 minutes ago, frugaltravel said:

So you are saying there is no rhyme or reason? I can accept that.

it's strictly personal Sonny, nothing to do with business ...with apologies to the Mario Puzo...

and depends on how much OBC we have ...

24 minutes ago, frugaltravel said:

Are those who prepay tips to "even out the payments" just undisciplined enough to put money into a savings account and not spend it? I can't think of another reason but would love to hear others' thoughts.

we pre-pay the gratuities if it is not a provided perk ...

with much soul searching, and sleepless nights ... we decided to forego the 3 cents earned in our passbook savings account ...

now ... letting the IRS have a no-interest loan by getting a refund ... well, that's totally unacceptable !!

25 minutes ago, bubbapuck said:

As far as the formal night goes, is ever night formal or just a couple nights like Carnival. Every night to the dining area I wore nice shorts and a polo shirt. Formal nights were khakis and a button shirt (no tie). Should I be wearing a tie on formal nights? Is every night formal night?

2 'formal' nights on a 7 day Princess cruise ... I 'believe' 3 on 10-14 day cruises

Note: if this is not correct, my fact checkers will be sure to post the correction

and RE: shorts in the mdr .. well ...

not Pam, but it is after the 15th

32 minutes ago, richsea said:

We've also prepaid our tips in the past to smooth out monthly payments. I don't know if they'll charge them all at once, but when you check your folio during the cruise, it should tell you what your debit or credit remaining is, so no need for math. 

Enjoy your cruise!

I 'think' the math part is figuring out during the cruise how much 'more' is going to be deducted for the remaining days from the current showing balance ...

any actual experiences appreciated whether you took the upsell or not ...

1) How far in advance of sail date was the offer made?

2) asked to respond by call or email ?

3) where there plenty of cabins available , including other categories not included in the upsell?

4) had there been recent price drops , or did Princess just go straight to the upsell

5) direct or thru TA ?

6) number of previous Princess cruises ?

14 hours ago, EDDY0827 said:

Prosciutto and cheddar cheese added to scrambled eggs

 ^ this ... with a side of hollandaise sauce...

9 hours ago, nikolz350 said:

I took upsell from balcony to mini-suite on the same cruise. $5200 for 14 days in mini-suite was to good to pass.

sure hope that at least it's a CC mini at that price ....

58 minutes ago, SargassoPirate said:

All of this pre-cruise work and angst seems like a waste of time for me when I can just print out my boarding documents in a matter of a few seconds and show up at the pier.  So what if it takes a few extra minutes to get on board?  What percentage of the total cruise time does that entail if I'm going to be on a week-long cruise?  What's the rush?

 

that of course is the fallback plan .. we may try to get the OM ready and order to have in hand ... but really, if it happens OK, if not OK, not gonna stress out over 5-10 minutes pre-cruise ... don't 'have' to rush on board to make any reservations for anything ... only thing, is the clock is ticking on the PBP

we had a little 5 day on the crown, refared 5 days before sailing - $199 pp for a balcony, grats included ...

Note: this was a "replacement" cruise that we booked after we weren't part of the "chosen ones" to have the OM on the rollout on the Regal ...

27 minutes ago, geocruiser said:

I also forgot to add the ports of call are better for us on HAL too.  I did mean to say the the balcony cabin, (not the balcony) seems to be larger on HAL.  We enjoy HAL too and have sailed on them many times before going to Princess. Now we look at HAL too and will be sailing with them.

how's the internet on HAL as compared to Princess ?

there are some cray, cray website prices for the Crown in the Caribbean if you can leave within the next month or so

$600 for 10 nights ?!?! ... sure it's an inside, but ...

be careful about the port wine ... at least others have posted about that

12 minutes ago, tabprincess said:

Called TA, waiting for reply. Excited!!

did you get an email from Princess ? phone call ? how did you hear about the upsell ?

2 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

And stand in line.

 better than having all your laundry 'stuff' in hand then realizing that the machine only takes the medallion and not your ( and why is it that almost everyone that wants to 'opt out' ) "BLACK CARD" ??? 

room service

has it been covered how much to tip for the suite breakfast in a specialty dining room ?

can always go to the customer service desk and buy tokens

12 minutes ago, AF-1 said:

Everyone on sky will have medallions.  It is a medallion ship; since you are elite; you go to the lounge and board with other elite members.  You will board ahead of the other non elite passengers

medallions in hand bypass the people in line to pick up their medallions

6 minutes ago, RRFan said:

Thanks Cruise Raider!  We don't drink alcohol and Hubs doesn't drink soda or coffee (he does drink hot specialty teas though), so coffee cards are my best bet.  I'd drink maybe one soda in 2 weeks time and water--well I like the water on board just fine.  I like the photo idea or one meal (2 people) at a specialty restaurant would also be nice.   PCL definitely comes out ahead with us by letting us trade for coffee cards (and not use all of them).  We usually do 2 or more B2B's when we cruise and they just add the 15 new coffees to my card each week.  The IC guys will look at me funny and say, do you know you've got 37 punches left and tomorrow is the last day?  I say yes.  Then why do you buy so many?  It's a long story . . . . . . 🤣

since you know you will not use the "punches" - why not make new friends when standing in line ???

we gotta come up with a new word for "punches" ... maybe FKAP

OP is going on a 'near perfect' cruise to get the PBP ... mix of port and sea days ... and most port days end fairly early

go for it ...

I actually emailed Princess about ours ... they emailed back that they were adding it as a courtesy ... but it is not

automatically done with upsells

4 minutes ago, Doug R. said:

Just looked at the menus for several of the specialty restaurants and see no such printing. Please post an example of the menu that does.

those are 'sample menus' ... others have posted actual menus that includes that language

2 minutes ago, Doug R. said:

Wrong answer.

what's printed on the menu is wrong ? ... huh...

Gratuity not included ...