beg3yrs

DW agrees wholeheartedly with you about the GF bread. Toasted (both sides of course - you have to check) it's edible. As far as the poolside grill goes, DW always checks about the fryer oil there. She's not a trusting soul as the consequences of being mis-led are so severe. Anyway she will run it all the way up to the Executive Chef about the poolside grill fryer and every time she is assured in no uncertain terms that nothing but french fries goes in that oil. I suppose that's good because she'll chow down on the fries there and has never had a reaction (it's almost instantaneous). She doesn't however get fries anywhere else on board whether it's the MDR, buffet or room service. Also while at the grill she will watch her order (bunless burger - GF buns are bad too) and make sure the part of the grill where her patty is cooked is cleaned ahead of time and she'll call them out if it isn't. After all, they heat the regular buns on that same grill.

You can It's not really pre-booking but if on the Cruise Personalizer you select the Cruise Check-In tab you are taken to a page that lists each guest on the booking. Inside each guest's "box" there's a link to "Dietary Requests". You can select the "No wheat" option from there and there's another box where you can specify that the guest is Celiac and not only no wheat but no rye, barley or spelt. My wife has celiac too and has never had a problem with being GF on the ship. The MDR staff is especially helpful, bringing the next day's menus to allow pre-ordering. Seems they can make almost any meal gluten-free with the advance notice!

Nope, no training, just a policy that needs tightening. Policies are more like suggestions or guidelines!

They can just do the $200 if that's what you want.

I have often wondered this myself but never tried. Suggestion: If you're able, go ahead and make an EZ Air booking that you can cancel. Once that's done, call the airline and just ask if that booking is upgradeable with miles. I suspect if it is possible that you won't be able to upgrade until it's ticketed. My worry in that case is that airlines capacity constrain (i.e. limit) the number of seats they'll upgrade and even though your booking is eligible, you may not get it.

I've been able to apply a gift card to on board credit (OBC) and then use the OBC to pay for things. Evidently not all phone agents are capable of doing this and sometimes it takes a couple of HUACAs (hang up and call again) to find one who will do this for you. The maximum amount of OBC you can pre-purchase is $1500 BTW.

Regarding the TV order, we'll just have to see what is really implemented. I base my "belief" the TV doesn't count as Ocean Now is that only allows orders to your room, not where you my wander off to while waiting for your order. If there's some Princess documentation otherwise I can easily have my mind changed. The $5 room service charge seems to me to be a way to cut down on the number of phone calls. My recent cruises have shown me it's very difficult to get through much of the time.

I do not believe using the TV to order is using the Ocean Now app. The app resides on your phone. You should not have to pay the $14.99 if you don't use Ocean Now. The $5 delivery charge is only for orders made to Room Service via your cabin phone. What gets me with the phone charge is you now lose the ability to customize orders beyond what's in the app or on the TV without incurring the $5 charge. For instance, I want a Gin & Tonic in a tall glass. There's no option for that. In the past I've had to call to get that particular combination and you probably still do.

The $5 charge per room service order is only for orders made by hitting the "Room Service" button on your telephone. Ordering through the TV or the Ocean Now app do not incur a charge. It's been clarified that yes, you can even have delivery to your cabin without charge as long as you don't order via telephone.

I did the math on another thread for a 10-day cruise with Princess Plus-50 to see if it was worth upgrading. Even for only 10 days the answer was basically no it's not worth it. Unless, you eat at casual dining many times, just have to have those desserts and partake of all the special exercise classes. For us it was better to just pay the $15 Ocean Now fees and then just pay for the casual dining. For a 14-day cruise the argument is even stronger to not upgrade IMHO.

Are you referring to coffee delivered to your cabin? You'll be charged $5 if you phone Room Service for your order. If you order via the breakfast door tag or on Ocean Now (yeah I know there's a one time setup) or on your TV, there's no charge.

We're booked on the Discovery in April of 2024 with the old Plus-50 package. Did some quick math to see if we should upgrade to the current package. Cost to upgrade a ten day cruise for two people: 2 people x $10 per day per person x 10 days is $200. Cost savings over ten days: 1) Two Ocean Now initial fees: $30 2) Room service by phone fee - say once per day over ten days: $50 3) Four casual dining meals at $15 each: $60 4) Don't eat the desserts. 5) Don't use the special exercise classes. Total of $140 in savings versus a $200 cost. We could still have four more casual dining meals and break even or up to 12 more room service by phone orders. Seems like unless you're a big casual dining fan or are an obsessive phone order for room service type, it's not worth it to upgrade. Am I missing something?

Thanks for that, I think. We're in the same boat (pun intended), see you on the April 3 Discovery Princess sailing. Have to think hard if we want to upgrade.

Are you sure of this or is it speculation? I see no mention of what's happened to the -50 packages. There used to be a note before this mess explaining what the -50 packages (NEW items) didn't get. Now it is gone..

You didn't have to join AARP, just AARP Rewards which is free. Oh well, enjoy the membership.

I'm going to ask my question again as I don't think I phrased it well before. If the Crew Appreciation and Service Charge payments include those in the Bar (see above), why do we also have to pay an 18% service charge on drinks? Sound like double-dipping to me!

That's correct!

Kind of like an old-school version of a ***** page on the Internet. You've inspired me. I'm a beginner guitar student (going on for five years now, it's that bad) and when I can I bring a full-size guitar in a hard case on board (I only play in the cabin or on the balcony). Maybe I should leave the case outside my door and get tips for not playing in public ...

Glad to see the Starlink is now active. In June we were up playing pickleball when the Starlink folks showed up to begin installation of the antennas on top of Skywalkers. It looked very odd to see them walk on the top of the "habitrail" leading to Skywalkers and then start welding on its roof.

So the bar staff is now included in the auto-tips? I suppose they haven't removed the 18% automatic tips on top of drink packages as well as individually purchased drinks.

First of all, thanks for writing this thread. I know it takes some time but many of us get quite a bit of good first-hand information from these. Next, are you blaming EZ Air for your hall mates luggage missing the flight from SEA? If you are, how does EZ Air cause that problem? Finally, we were on the CB for 14 days in June. They had "technical difficulties" and the ship's maximum speed was limited to somewhere between 17 and 18 knots. Is this still the case? If it is I suspect that contributed to the CB's late arrival into FLL. They didn't have the extra "oomph" to overcome the headwinds. Thanks again for writing this!

Seems odd to me. When did EzAir start offering Southwest?

All this confusion over new and old packages continues and now, we are hearing there are even more changes coming. Supposedly the announcement will be this Thursday, July 27. I'm cringing!

Sorry but you won't find people providing names of TAs on this forum. It's against Cruise Critic policy. You will have to get with people via e-mail or some other means (like meeting them on the ship) to get TA recommendations.

That's true. It's only fountain sodas.