sandyoftheseas

I completely agree with you about the thermal loungers. Princess should not allow saving of the loungers and limit the time since there are so few of them. I have used The Enclave and people would "set up shop" at the loungers bringing their novels,tablets, phone, drinks and stay for hours, We all have purchased the pass and would like to enjoy the loungers too.

If I remember correctly on the deck below there was a large box on deck I think it was some fire emergency equipment.

The last thing I read on cruise critic is the Royal Princess has 110 cabins using ***** at this time. We are on the Jan7th 2018 cruise in the Regal and our cabin is not an ***** one.

We are on the Regal on Jan 7th 2018 and called Princess and received $50pp of OBC because of not having ocean medallion. While on the phone with Princess we asked about OBC for our May 13th 2018 cruise on the Royal (we received the e-mail stating that we would not have ocean medallion on that cruise either) Princess stated to call back closer to the cruise because they MIGHT have ocean medallion available by then.

Debi56- Can you tell me what cabin category your are in?

HappyMe- We went through our TA to get the $50pp OBC (still in communication with out TA to get the $100) but, the goodwill OBC credit appeared sometime that same day.

My DH and I are on the Jan7th sailing after reading this post we contacted our TA and she called Princess and we received $50pp of OBC. I know many people are getting $100 pp of OBC. We are in a DZ category (deluxe balcony obstructed view are the people who are getting $100 pp of OBC in higher cabin categories? I feel the OBC should be the same for all because it does not matter if you are in the cheapest inside or the most expensive suite the ***** experience you are losing is the same.

Princess had face recognition for photos to purchase in the photo shop you would stand at the computer, touch view photos(or something like that) and it was supposed to pull up all the photos taken on board of you but, it never worked for us.

divaofdisney- Did you need to call to get the OBC or was it automatically added to your on board credits in your personalizer?

My DH and I were on a 12-day Australian cruise which only has traditional seating for dinner. We were seated at a table with two other couples. One couple was always bickering and arguing about how the other spouse was not telling the story right or "that's not how it happened" or interrupting each other. It was uncomfortable for us and the other couple and by the 6th or 7th night of the cruise the wife of the non bickering couple would not talk to them.

Have they given any indication how long before a particular sailing date that they will notify who will have ***** and who won't? I read on a previous post that someone sailing on 12/10 was notified in late October (approx. 6 weeks prior). I'll be sailing on 1/7/18 and, while I understand that they "hope" to have it fully rolled out by then, I realize that these things can get delayed.

need2cruisesoon and firecrewcapt - Thanks for your quick responses. I really hope we can play cards on our balcony and hopefully the ship speed and wind direction will be in our favor. I am glad we can open the balcony between the cabins we like having the ability to go between both cabins to get soda or beers from both refridgerators ( we are elite) . Again thank you both for your help.

need2cruisesoon and firecrewcapt- Me my DH and in laws will be on the Royal in these cabins E110 and E108 in January do you think we will be able to play card on the balcony while the ship is moving? Will it be to windy? We usually play in the designated card playing room but it would be nice to be able to play while enjoying the ocean.

I know this does not help the OP but,several years ago I started collecting $1 and $5 after I break a larger bill. I keep them in a small jewelry box in my bedroom. When it is time to go on vacation I grab them and go! I like having them at the start of the trip to give to airport van employees, hotel bellhops etc. They are also good to have at home when we get pizza delivered :)

All,

Thanks to everyone for their advice. As you could probably tell from the tone of the initial question, we kind of already new what answers to expect. Just figured it was worth a try to see if anyone thought it might actually be doable.

I think we are going to take the advice of several here and spend the day at Stonehenge and Salisbury. We will just have to save London for another time when we have a several days to do it right. We really appreciate all of the specific recommendations. We will check them all out.

Are you flying out of London once you’re cruise is over? Perhaps add on a day or two of touring before you fly out.

DCLCrazy,

No. We will disembark in LeHavre. We are going to do Normandy and then Paris for a few days after the cruise.

We will be on a Princess British Isles cruise in May. We will embark at LeHavre, France on May 12th. The next day, we will arrive at Southampton at 5am and depart at 5pm. We have been trying to find a tour that would take us from the port in Southampton to Stonehenge and then on to London for a tour of the main sights before returning us to the port in Southampton. Most tours we have found are one-way transfer/tours. Does anyone offer a tour like what we are seeking? Is it even possible to see Stonehenge and London in the same day on a round trip tour from Southampton?

Hi Sandy of the Seas, do you hear noises from the theater from those forward cabins??? I like forward balconies on other ships but was concerned about noise issues on Regal/Royal.

 

Sorry to OP for tangent question!

PoolSlider,

We haven't sailed in those cabins before so I can't say from experience whether or not there are noise problems. What I can say is that I did a lot of research before I booked and the vast majority of feedback from people who have had those rooms is that they are great. And, I don't recall one mention of noise from the theater. Do a quick search on these boards for one of the specific cabin numbers and see what turns up. Good luck!

I think a lot of people have been successful in getting refunds & free gratuities for the upcoming January sailings due to the hurricane damage in the Caribbean. Be aware, though, that if your category is sold out they will be reluctant to apply the offers. When I called, they said that my category was sold out and that the best they could offer was an "upgrade" with the free gratuities. I placed the word upgrade in quotes because they wanted to move me from my forward Emerald deck cabin on the Regal to one a little bit further back. For those familiar with the Regal, you know that those forward cabins have huge balconies so, to me, this was actually a downgrade. I pushed back and they finally agreed to apply the free gratuities but wouldn't budge on the price reduction. Overall, I'm happy with the outcome. Just a word of warning to others who might be in a similar situation.

On one of our cruises (I don't remember which one) there were people on our roll call that planned a tour where they had to pre-pay. The captain decided to skip that port because of a transportation strike. The roll call member that had set up this tour called the company and the company said we were at the port ready to take you on the tour so no refunds. We used a ships tour for that port so we got a refund. We now always check the refund policy if we need to pre-pay for a tour. Depending on the policy we may or may not book but, we know beforehand what the consequences are if we can't go on the tour.

I believe it was my April 2016 cruise on Coral or my November 2016 cruise on Caribbean that the credits were on my account with a "memo voucher" in my room stating this.

 

So the source of my information is both personal experience and conversations with the individuals mentioned. Note that I also usually speak with the casino managers on each ship.

rbt001,

Thanks for the detailed information. It's great to hear about the experiences of others. However, that is also what sometimes causes confusion. In April 2016 or November 2016 you started receiving the credit on your account rather than as vouchers in your room. But, in February 2017, I was on the Caribbean Princess (same ship as your November 2016 sailing) and I had vouchers. I just wish Princess would simply implement a policy, communicate it to their customers, and stick with it across the fleet. Then, there would be no confusion. I guess I'll just have to purchase the credits like I normally do and see how it is handled once onboard in January.

P.S. Can you confirm the comment from Working 2 Cruise that you were able to cash out any leftover casino credit on your room account out at the casino cage at the end of the cruise? I really hope I don't have to wait for a check via snailmail after I get home.

Thanks again. I am learning a lot here.

The ability to purchase casino credit online or with a rep is not available close to embarkation. I can't remember if it's two weeks or two months.

 

Furthermore, if they are purchased, they appear as a credit on your room account, consumed as a guest makes a casino charge.

 

No longer are vouchers delivered to guest rooms, as they used to be, to then be paid out in cash in the casino. This started almost two years ago and was being phased in across the fleet.

 

Part of this was to make it more difficult to use the casino as a free ATM; it does cost the line money to process credit card transactions. And based upon postings on CC, it seemed that some pax felt it was their entitlement.

rbt001,

I've noticed several posts from you on various casino related threads stating that the vouchers have been replaced by credit on your account. Just curious about the source of your information. I've seen these claims by different CC members multiple times over the past 2-3 years but my personal experience has been that every time I've sailed, it was always the vouchers that were redeemed for cash. With that said, I will acknowledge that my most recent cruise was back in February so it is entirely possible that things have changes exactly as you say since then. I just always assumed that some ships did it one way and others did it another. Do you have insider info from Princess that this policy has changed across all ships?

I was also wondering how any left over credit is refunded. Were you lucky enough to have any credit left at the end of the cruise? If so, how did they return the unused funds?

Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

My favorite is "Once upon a dream" I like the combination of the live active with the projected pictures and I would go see it on every cruise we were on that it was being performed.

The phone number for casino promotions is 888-772-6697.

I don't think you can reserve it. We did the spa tour on embarkation day and got a discount it was a 12 day Baltic cruise and I think it was $199pp. If I remember right the regular price was $250 and we got a free body scrub.

I also use the small votive battery operated candles because the don't take up much space in your luggage, they put out just enough light and the best part is they don't use the plugs which are scares in most ship cabins and are then available to charge our electronics.