bagney

5 hours ago, jwattle said:

When we were on B2B in Australia/Tasmania/Fiji, etc., we had a great group who met up nightly before dinner; the Concierge Host, Darko, made it a great time as well, with themed evenings and drinks. We had about 20 of us who came in at about 5-6 each evening. 

We had Darko as the Suite Concierge on our Sky Princess cruise in January 2023 - he was a blast and was very helpful and attentive.  We just got off the Regal Princess and the Suite Concierge was Rafael and he also was excellent and went over and above what we expected when we had some dining issues. The first formal night on the Regal, Rafael had many of the officers join the 'happy hour' at 5:15 pm - even the Captain (Fabrizio Maresca) joined the festivities and sat and talked with us for at least 15 minutes. 

We just got off the Regal Princess and were in a Penthouse Suite and used the Concierge Lounge daily - fabulous perk! There were keycards for the lounge in our suite but we never used them - our Medallions opened the door by tapping the Medallion to the lounge door LCD screen. 

In the new Princess App, Journey is in the middle along the bottom on the screen: Home/Service/Journey/Chat/Profile.

As of our May 2023 Alaska cruise, Princess still had motor coach transportation/transfer from Egan Center in Anchorage to Whittier the day of the cruise (cost at that time was $88 each).

We have not sailed on the Majestic Princess however we have sailed on the Royal Princess (a sister ship of the Majestic) in R612. We loved it, especially as it was right across from the Concierge Lounge where we could pop in anytime of the day/night to make a specialty coffee, get a snack or have the Concierge personnel (when in the Lounge) to help with reservations for dinner or any other request. The cabin is roomy with a nice sitting area, 'dedicated' bedroom area and a large bathroom with stand alone shower (glass enclosed). The only 'complaint' would be the very shallow balcony - the balcony was long but not very deep, only about 4 feet wide. We are trying out one of the aft Penthouse suites with the wrap-around balcony next month for the first time but if it was not available we would not have hesitated in booking the ones across from the Concierge lounge again.

3 hours ago, happy42cruise said:

The bidding process just started a year or 2 ago (sorry not positive which year) & changed slightly after it originally started.  Currently there is a chart that shows when you can start bidding IF you can bid that starts around final payment date (go to the Princess site to find it).  When you can bid you input your last name & booking # then upgrade options show for you.  Not all cabin categories get offered to you (in my experience) so if you are in an inside you probably won't be offered a suite upgrade.  There is a minimum bid per person (NOT per day) & you can bid up from the minimum.  There is a meter that says poor to better as you decide on your bid amount.  You must input a credit card & if your bid is accepted you will automatically be charged & a new cabin assigned.  You do not get a choice in cabin.  You possibly could request a different cabin if there was one in the same category still available but that hasn't been confirmed by anyone.  There also appears to be a new facet where they contact people by email with a counter offer

One additional piece of information that I realized is that in order to be eligible to bid (and get the bid to upgrade emails) is that you have to have the 'Receive Offers and News' section of your Profile in My Princess online to Yes. I had mine set to No about a year ago when I wanted to look at possibly upgrading and the system kept telling me I wasn't eligible to bid. Once I changed my Profile to Yes t accept offers and news emails, I was able to make a bid and also received the emails indicating I could bid. 

4 hours ago, Dede F said:

Anyone have any insight.  We are both Elite.  The old and new app for myself shows elite.  The old app for my husband shows elite, but the new app does not.  I tried to get this fixed on board on cruise last week to no avail.  Has this happened with anyone and if so were you able to get it fixed and how did you get it fixed.

This is the exact same issue I am having - my husband and I are both Elite and on the old and new apps, my husband is showing as Elite however I am not - on the new app my profile just shows a white background on the upper part of the screen (and the SeaWitch is blue). I emailed askoceanmedallion@carnival.com in early January but never heard back. Last week I called Princess and chose the Medallion option on the phone. The rep on the phone indicated she could see me as Elite and after several attempts to get her to understand the issue was the app having the incorrect status, she finally clued in and said she does see that. After a couple of holds she came back and said she has escalated this to be looked at and it should be fixed in three days - and if not, to call back. It never did get fixed! I also sent another email to them this morning but am not going to hold my breath. I am not going to worry anymore about it. Will try to get it sorted out while onboard next month but based on responses here, that may not happen. My Order History for the medallions does show the correct color/loyalty level of black on the medallions.

As others have stated, your credit card is charged immediately for shore excursions and specialty dining. If you have an on board credit, it can be used for shore excursions but not for specialty dining. 

To input Independent Air Information you need to go to the Travel or Flights tab of your Cruise Personalizer for the cruise. 
 

Just now, spedteach said:

I am reading mixed things on how they wash things, Is everything washed in hot or can I request cold wash only and have it honored.  I don't really want my clothes shrunk anymore than they are going to be with all the yummy desserts. 🙂

 

 

I do not believe there is anyway to request to wash in cold water based on our previous cruises. We tend to not take any sensitive/expensive clothing on the cruises but I have not noticed any shrinkage/destruction of our T-shirts, underwear or dress shirts that we typically get laundered on our frequent laundry jobs. If you do take good clothing that you are concerned about, there is always the self-laundromats onboard. 

A few years ago we went through the Route Deviation process for a cruise that stopped in Victoria, BC and set sail to Vancouver later that night to disembark the following morning. Since we had planned to get back to Vancouver Island anyway after the cruise to visit family I contacted Princess and told them what I wanted to do and they told me that was a Route Deviation and transferred me to another department where I left my information/name/phone number. They called back a few days later and said that I could indeed do the deviation I had planned and they completed the form over the phone with the required information. If I recall, it was less than a week that I had an email confirmation of the approved Route Deviation. Once on the ship we verified with Guest Services and all was set. We did NOT get any refunds for being on the cruise one less night but that was ok. In Victoria, we disembarked with our luggage (we had to take our luggage ourselves) and cleared Customs once off the ship in Victoria.

We have been in one of the massive Window Suites on the Sky Princess (S107) and loved it. The views are exceptional and the size of the room is incredible. In fact, we have S107 booked again for 2025 on the Sky Princess.There is no way to open a window however there is a open area/pool not far down the corridor. Just realize that on the newer ships (at least on the Sky Princess) the two available Window Suites are not identical. S108 is not as open as S107 due to the Premium Ocean View cabin next to S108 is an Accessible cabin so S108 is a different layout (I found this out by watching videos of the suites online).

We have been in Window Suites several times on Caribbean and Grand Princess and have never smelled smoke in our room. There is a separate private hallway just for the Window Suites and you might smell some smoke in the hallway (especially if the hallway door at either end of the hallway is left open). If the hallway doors are open we close them ourselves (there is a small switch on the wall near the top of the door that releases the magnet holding the door open). These Window Suites are in a great location on the ship and we always try to book them if on the Caribbean or Grand Princess. 
 

We have also been in one of the massive Window Suites on the Sky Princess (S107) and loved it. The views are exceptional and the size of the room is incredible. These Window Suites are not as much of a bargain than on the older Caribbean and Grand Princess ships but we still book them (have S107 booked again). Just realize that on the newer ships (at least on the Sky Princess) the two available Window Suites are not identical. S108 is not as open as S107 due to the Premium Ocean View cabin next to S108 is an Accessible cabin so S108 is a different layout. 

Look under the Summary Tab as in the screenshots provided above and NOT under the Dining tab.

The 'web version' that I believe @Rick&Jeannie was referring to was once you log into your Cruise Personalizer, under the Summary tab in the Check-In With the Princess Cruises® App section there is a 'Try our web version' link. Then log into the web version of the App with either your Princess.com login username/password OR log in with your Booking number.

In some of the past cruises we have booked on 'sales/promotions' (and we didn't have any Future Cruise Deposits on file), the deposit was listed as $100 EXCEPT for Full Suites were not included, which were either $500 (7 day cruise) and $800 (10 day cruise).This was pre-pandemic!

I looked at the current promotion with $100 deposits, I did not see any 'fine print' that Full Suites were not included in the $100 deposits. 

1 hour ago, matt266507 said:

Hi.  Do you have any info re: schedules for the shuttle both departing IAH to Galveston and Departing Galveston to IAH?  Thanks!

I was quoting prices Princess Cruises website in my Cruise Personalizer. For Princess transfers, there is no set schedule that I am aware of - the motor coaches leave when they are full or when they decide to go.

My experience with booking included/complimentary Specialty Dining as part of a full suite amenity or with Premiere package with the App has been spotty in the past - initially not able to book with the App without being charged up front - and I will not pay for what is to be included and then have beg/plead onboard for the credit. I tried to book the Specialty Dining almost daily with the App and then I read on this Forum to try the Web version - and that worked!

Today, I just booked a cruise for January 2025 on the Sky Princess in a full suite and with the Premiere package - within an hour of booking the cruise (I book online myself) the cruise was displaying in the App and I was able to book our included 3 Specialty Dinings with the charges zeroed out ($0).

The blue clip is the included 'medallion accessory' in the Premier Package. I know from experience as my brother had the Premier Package on a recent cruise with us and theirs were in their cabin on embarkation (they live in Canada so Medallions were not shipped there at that time). 

No, we did not stay in these cabins - I just found the video online and thought I would share it.

I have had this issue off and on using Safari. Usually if I just click to try again to log in it does finally log me in - may take two or three (or more) attempts.

The same thing happened last month for our Alaska cruise - the day of embarkation all of a sudden the app showed our cabin as pending. It did bother me but I knew I had paper copies of my booking. A few hours later everything was back to normal - cabin/deck showing in the app - I just chalked it up to the change over process from one cruise to the next . However, on that cruise we were not able to choose Arrival Group/time or get QR code in the app - I think the issue was that it was a cruise departing from Whittier and most passengers were having to take some form of transfer and would be difficult to choose an Arrival Group but who knows.

4 minutes ago, LeeW said:

It is MUCH easier to enter data on the browser link than on a phone (although passport entry on phone is done by scanning your passport info page).

 

 

You can also input Passport information manually in the phone App or the online Ocean Ready website (https://oceanready-personalinfo-ui.prod.ocean.com)

On 5/16/2023 at 3:02 PM, Scooley01 said:

Thank you all for the advice!  We've got some excursions and dining booked now, and I feel like I have a better idea of what I'm getting into.

 

One thing I'm currently nervous about, the family REALLY wants to do a fishing excursion in Ketchikan, but the cruise excursions are all fully booked so they're looking into booking something locally at the port.  My understanding is that these are not guaranteed to get us back on the cruise ship at the correct time the way the sponsored excursions would.  Is this a crazy idea?

Personally I would not do a private excursion but many others do. I am just fearful of ship leaving without us and the craziness that would entail from that!

We board the Grand Princess in Anchorage a week from this Saturday (on May 27) with the original 'Plus' package and I got notice last week that our Medallions were shipped - supposed to be here tomorrow. I was not charged the $10 shipping fee. We booked this cruise last June (2022) and ordered the Medallions at that time per the App.