beg3yrs

It is a natural requirement that there must be an equal number of ships going clockwise and anti-clockwise. Otherwise the entire continent becomes unbalanced and starts to spin uncontrollably, eventually disappearing beneath the sea in a giant whirlpool. 😉

You do know it's bad luck to be superstitious, don't you?

My Interior cabin identifies as a Penthouse Suite ...

We took the Paeskatun excursion in October of 2022 and it was great! We were so layered up I felt like one of those kids in one of those old Christmas movies waddling around. Probably could have gotten by with less layers but we were definitely not cold. Anyway, this one is in an old rock quarry but they're set up quite well for the Northern Lights viewing. There are heated indoor areas if you need them as well as some refreshments. Also a couple of things to see like a Sami tent with a fire in it and some old cabins. It starts with a gathering where the hosts give you the 411 on the grounds and other background information. You're then released to watch the lights if/when they show up. We weren't disappointed as the lights showed within about 45 minutes. We had plenty of time to view them and after a while we turned to how artistic could we make our photographs and even started to explore a bit. Even with a full moon, the photography was fantastic. It was even more amazing to realize the Big Dipper was visible. Using it to find the North/Pole star, it was directly overhead! Then I pulled out my compass and it was pointing West toward where the sun went down. Things are so different way up near the pole! We loved this trip so much we're booked on the Emerald Princess for the Sept/Oct 2025 Northern Lights trip. Hint: You don't need a huge telephoto lens camera to get good shots. People with more recent iPhones were getting amazing photos. I had an older Canon digital that needed to be on a tripod for long exposures and I was super jealous of those folks with the iPhones taking handheld shots! Note: The buses park at the top of a steep hill and everyone has to walk down to the viewing area and of course back up when it's time to leave.

Middle of last December for our January 4 cruise out of Buenos Aires, our medallions were shown as shipped. Plenty of time to get them before departing on December 30 or so we thought. They ended up being stuck in Carson, CA for almost two weeks and when released (I think it's a Customs facility) they made it to our home on December 30 around 1PM. Unfortunately we had left the house for the airport at 10 AM. I'm making this too long so now I'll cut to the chase. We found that getting to the port without medallions when Princess expected you to have them, is the worst case. In the terminal they make an old-style cruise card for you so you can board the ship. That takes a while. Then you're supposed to go to Guest Services where they'll make you a new medallion. We all know how busy GS is at embarkation. The line was forever, even for Elite/Suites! Not the way to start a cruise. So lesson learned, we'll take the five minutes to pick up medallions at the port and never again ask for them to be shipped to our home. Besides, it's just one more thing to remember to pack!

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.