JimmyVWine

Post #27 does not back this up. OP has been charged for dinners that are supposed to be gratis. Those charges should be refunded to the credit card. Now. There should be no need for the ship to hold your money as an "option" and then refund you on board as OBC. The OP has already paid for the reservation by paying in advance for the $80 per day package. For a one week cruise, one should not have to pay $638 (assuming Crown Grill dinners) in advance and then get $78 refunded as OBC when the dinners are already included in the $560 fee for the Package. There is no need to put down money to "hold" the reservation. If the OP doesn't show up for the dinner(s), they get no part of the $560 back, So what purpose is the other $39 per dinner serving?

That is a non sequitur. There is no nexus or cause and effect between when one books and how one gets a refund. They are entirely separate concepts. All travel providers have systems where pre-paid amounts made in conjunction with early bookings are refunded directly to credit cards (assuming that the money paid is in fact refundable.) If my priority is to make sure that I get the time and date I want, I make a payment with my credit card. If my plans change, I cancel and the money gets refunded to my credit card. Not rocket science.

So true, and I am actually very, very surprised that they didn't do that. A very simple solution at no real cost to them. Now, of course, if they recoup millions in $10 upgrade revenue, you and I would both be wrong. But I don't get the sense that there was a storming of the castle to pay $10 more pp/pd for the candy-coated ice cream sundaes. I could be wrong. People can weigh in here and let us know if they stuck with 50 or paid for 60. If no one upgraded, then Princess made a very bad public relations blunder.

Which is easier and cheaper for Princess, for the customer, and kills fewer trees? An electronic refund to the Credit Card on the day requested, or waiting 10 months for the cruise to be over, and then cutting a paper check , spending postage to mail it out, having the postal worker use gas to deliver said check to the customer, and then have the customer use gas to deposit the check to their bank....only to THEN use the funds to electronically pay their credit card bill, which, over time, has accrued more interest? The fact that the OBC is refundable is a cute little fact used to appease the customer, but it isn't the better solution. Imagine if you returned an item to Target in January for a refund and Target said: "Come back in September, and let's wait to see if you buy anything else from us in that month, and if not, we will mail you a check in October." Who would stand for that?

Exactly. People have to start to adjust to the fact that their "old way" of cruising that included banking $1,000 of OBC to use for onboard purchases is over. With these packages, you can walk off the cruise owing $0-$75 very easily. And Princess has to adjust to this too. The old: "We'll just convert your refund into OBC" is pointless when I'm not going to be spending any money "OB". Just refund my credit card like any normal merchant would do. OBC is now only useful for people who spend time in the casino or buy gold-by-the-inch. I am neither.

My vote goes to "Versatile Entertainer-Victor Rossi". The loudest, most obnoxious "mime" on the planet.

Exactly. And there have been posts by people who had their Plus Plans misapplied and then reported that the errors were corrected at the Guest Services Desk. If there are any reports here of people who sailed on cruises that departed after 2/20 who were limited to a $12 limit and did NOT have that error corrected, I haven't seen them, or they could be counted on one finger. If this was a common occurrence, it would be the subject of a 20 page thread. Yet paranoia persists. Some people just can't take "yes" for an answer.

Utter nonsense. Your statement is self-contradictory. You say that there is nothing in writing from Princess...except for the written statement from Princess from which people are making assumptions. No. People aren't making assumptions. They are applying the conventions called "reading comprehension" and "deductive reasoning" as it relates to the disclaimer about not getting "New" items.

??? You're kidding, right? What did you find unclear about posts #s 15, 18, 36 and 38-41 in the thread: "Live From Regal Princess - March 12-19 (Princess Cays/Puerto Rico/DominicanRepublic/Turks and Caicos)" It seems as if you are trying to stir an empty pot and prolong a non-issue.

Question: When you turn out the lights for a good "night-night", how beautiful does the stateroom look? 😎

I couldn't agree more. Penny wise and pound foolish. Everyone should use their post-cruise surveys to use the space provided for every question to say the same thing over and over, irrespective of what the topic of the question is. And they should pound on the customer service and the downward spiral at the Crown Grill. "How was your check-in experience?" Answer: "The customer service provided by 1-800-Princess is atrocious and the Crown Grill is so bad that I will never pay to eat there again until things improve markedly." Soon, they will get the message. At first my eyes rolled when I say that this poster joined in 2000 and has 26 posts. I'm not a big fan of sponges. Contribute if you have a lifetime of worldwide travel experience!. But then I read the content she posted and she isn't wrong. (Well, I don't have a broad enough frame of reference to agree that PCL is "the worst." But it certainly ain't great, and ain't what it use do be. So I am cutting her a big break.) Shawn: Do come back often and share your experiences!

Is there a reliable Vines wine list available anywhere? Also, reports are that they pour many more wines than just the ones on the list. That was certainly our experience in October. There were no Pinots on the list (other than the generic Pinot in the $12 Plus range.) I asked if they had any Pinots available and indeed they had a nice Calera, a Belle Glos and one other that I'm not recalling. The one we picked was $20 at the time.

Have to do the math. Remember that there is no such thing as a "Plus wine". People on Plus can order whatever they want. With the $15 limit, I can now order 4 glasses (almost a bottle) of $18-$20 glasses and pay $12-$20 in overage and come out no worse than buying Premier. And with a port intensive cruise, I am more likely to order 2 or 3 glasses and maybe supplement that with a cocktail or two, all of which cost nothing extra. Since the "extras" that they throw in with Premier are of limited value to me, I am still better off buying Plus, running up around $12 per day in overage costs, and paying that off with OBC or AAPR Gift Cards at a 10% discount. The likelihood of me running up $20 in overage charges each and every day of my cruise is almost unthinkable. And of course, since both guests in the cabin have to have the same Package, I have to consider if my wife will ALSO run up $20 each and every day. Time will tell, but I am betting that Plus will come out cheaper for us than Premier and we certainly have no intention of drinking the low level wine that is "included" in Plus. At least, not every glass. There will be times when a light White or Rose will hit the spot and those can be found for $15 or less and are perfectly fine. Pinot, Cab and Nebbiolo? Not so much.

Fair point, though on my last 3 cruises, the luggage made it to our cabin in mere minutes after we boarded. Even if cabins aren't ready, I always take a peek to see if I can drop off my carry-on stuff and I have been surprised to see my luggage beat me.

For what it's worth, and I know it's not much, but I was told in no uncertain terms by a telephone rep that the people who respond to emails sent to the customer service department have waaaay more authority and ability to resolve issues than the telephone reps do. (The emphasis on the "waaaay" was hers, not mine.) I emailed the address she gave me and the issue that I was struggling with for over a month was resolved three days later. I have also heard that the people who staff the chat function are also better than the people who staff the phones.

On behalf of myself and all the people who have pulled out all of their hair and ground their teeth down to the roots, I thank you! I board Regal for its first European cruise of the season and never had a doubt that things would be ironed out by then.

1. Eat lunch while waiting for luggage to be delivered to room. 2. Go to room after lunch to find luggage waiting. 3. Unpack while watching video. 4. Tap in at muster station. (Get cocktail can be inserted in between any of these steps. Or order cocktails to be delivered to room.)

Crown. Not even close. The difference between the true Inside Passage and the "west of Vancouver Island" cannot be overstated. The difference between the full Promenade on Crown and the patios on the Royal Class ships cannot be overstated. The difference in Balcony size, especially if you pick a cabin on Caribe or Dolphin cannot be overstated. The difference in open deck space on the upper decks cannot be overstated. No Skywalkers on Majestic. Sabatini's and Adagio are up top with views on Crown. Covered pool on Majestic. So what? You going to Alaska to hang out in a pool? Interior spaces and décor are much nicer on Majestic. But that doesn't come close to tipping the scales. Pick Majestic for a different itinerary. Great ship. Just not purpose built for Alaska.

Anticipating the question from the paranoia, do you have Plus-50 or Plus-60?

$39 for CG $35 for Sab

I don't think it is confusing so much as the app is out of date.

See if you are getting the same result using the web Personalizer. For most people is shows up there exactly the way it appears in MissP22's post above. If so, print that out and carry it with you.

So are we to assume that you could discern the taste of the dish by merely looking at it?

Totally understand how your experience on Oceania is wonderful. In my next life I want to come back as an Oceania customer. But I take issue with the notion that the price you paid is comparable to a MS on Princess. While Princess does not have an itinerary comparable to the one you are on, I did find an 11 day cruise from NY to FL with a number of great Caribbean ports and the Plus Package Price for a MS ranged from $4,800 to $5,300 (for two people), And that includes gratuities and a drink package. Your $7,000 will be close to $7,500-$8,000 after drinks for two people are added in for 10 days. So 10 days for $7,500 isn't really comparable to $4,800 for 11 days. And generally speaking, I think that cruises to Caribbean ports such as St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Aruba and Curacao run more expensive than those to Bermuda and the Bahamas. So if Oceania does have a similar cruise to the one offered by Princess, it may well be closer to $9,000 after drinks are added. Again, I'm not dissing your cruise. I'd love to get on an Oceania ship. But the reason I don't is price difference and I think the difference is pretty substantial.

How cool. Ours is too, Married in Denver on 7/3. It was an out-of-town wedding for a lot of people so we chose that date because it was a three-day weekend for most people, with July 5th being a holiday. The other reason we chose that date is because for the rest of our lives, the day after our anniversary we would not have to go to work, or do much of anything! Two day celebration automatically built in!