nukesubsailor

6 hours ago, voljeep said:

so, cruise costs, including port fees and if you take the Princess insurance ... PBP ... additional drinks/packages ... ship stores ... specialty dinners  ... Captains table ... UBD

 

what about excursions thru Princess, spa, casino ?

They should count the dollars that goes into their books as revenue.  I would assume that would exclude port fees, taxes, and what the contracts leave in the hands of the contractors operating the spa, casino, and art sales.

12 hours ago, trvlwrld said:

Has anybody ever gotten credit toward Princess status levels for days spent on Princess cruise tours?  We’ve done several and it seems to me that Princess should give us credit for those days since they cost so much more than just cruising.  Other lines have adopted policies based on $$$ spent.

No credit for land portion of a cruise tour.  I agree that it doesn't seem to make sense; especially since you can book a cruise without a land tour but cannot book a land tour without a cruise.  Since a cruise line is in business to make money, it seems that they would base loyalty club level based upon money spent with them rather than on number of cruise credits or days aboard ship.

4 minutes ago, birdiebill said:

The military credit on my 7 day cruises is $100; on a 14 day cruise it is $250.  I believe shareholder credit is the same.  So if I book two seven day cruises separately back to back, I get two cruise credits, $200. military credit ($100 for each 7 day leg) and $200 OBC for being a shareholder ($100 for each leg).

 

However if I book it as a 14 day cruise, (also available as two 7 day cruises), I get two cruise credits, $250 OBC for military credit and $250 OBC for shareholder credit.  So it pays to book as 14 day unless the cost is cheaper as two 7 day cruises.

If your number of past Princess cruises qualifies you for the Loyalty Credit, you will want to factor that into your cost comparison between booking as two shorter cruises or one longer cruise.

I have had 100 shares of CCL stock for several years and have benefited from thousands of dollars worth of onboard credits and dividends.  Buying more shares would not increase what I will receive in onboard credits and, at the current price, the dividend yield on additional shares could be easily bettered with other stocks. 

If you don't have any CCL stock and you will cruise often in the future, they buying 100 shares could pay off nicely for you but I would buy no more than 100 shares..

2 hours ago, jr8934 said:

Several weeks ago there was a kitchen fire and they closed for repairs. We arrive July 24th. Just wanted to know if they've reopened.

Don't want to be surprised with a different hotel. Thanks!

According to a Fairbanks news article I looked up on the internet, the Princess Fairbanks Riverside Lodge resumed lodging guests a day or two after the day of the fire.

18 minutes ago, ian441672 said:

I was tempted to reply 'Not A lot' lol, and I see I am right. The Elite product as such does get eroded over time, and it is a real shame. With so many of us, I guess they have to cut costs somewhere. About time they re-looked at the status's and tiers perhaps and introduce an Elite Plus 😉

Perhaps a good start would be to eliminate using cruise credits as a metric to use in advancing from one level to another.

24 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

That's very interesting.  That is a significantly larger balcony than I've had on previous Regal sailings.  I hope I get one like that! 

You are likely correct.  In my experience we were in a penthouse suite and our friends were in the adjacent balcony cabin.  

4 hours ago, nukesubsailor said:

We have had our cabin steward unlock the door in the balcony divider on the Regal Princess when we had friends in the adjacent cabin.  The door only makes up half of the divider so you will still have a partial blockage between the two balconies.

The door is on the right in this photo.

10 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

We have booked adjoining staterooms on Regal Princess.  I don't remember if Regal's balcony dividers can be opened turning two balconies into one larger balcony.  Does anyone remember if the dividers open?  Also how does one make arrangements to have it done?

 

Thanks in advance.

We have had our cabin steward unlock the door in the balcony divider on the Regal Princess when we had friends in the adjacent cabin.  The door only makes up half of the divider so you will still have a partial blockage between the two balconies.

 One night when on an old Navy surface ship with twin screws we experienced vibration in the after part of the ship.  At daylight we saw that a fishing net had gotten tangled up with one of the screws, shaft support or rudder.  Once we stopped and sent divers to clear the mess, the vibration stopped.  

Not saying that is what caused the vibration on the Caribbean Princess but it is just one of the many things that can happen to a ship.  As Chengkp75 says, harmonic frequencies are certainly important considerations.  Navy submarine designers go to great lengths to prevent any cause of sound or vibration from being transmitted to the hull.  It would not be cost effective to do that for a cruise ship.

17 hours ago, ShipsAreTheBest said:

I had some ice cream the other day over there. Chairs are light weight plastic.

That is good to hear.  When I was aboard the chairs were plastic in most of the area but the row of chairs next to the windows on the side of the ship and thus over the balconies of the cabins below were all heavy cast iron.  That row ran all the way from the ice cream place to the hamburger place.

Have they replaced the heavy cast iron chairs that were at the ice cream venue next to the windows on the starboard side of the Lido deck with lighter ones that don't make such a loud noise on the balconies of the cabins below?

2 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

This shoe shine perk has been available to us for a long time.

Have not used it.

I am not good or comfortable with having Stewart/ess polishing my shoes.

Just something about it bothers me.

He/she has enough to do without having 25 pairs of passengers shoes to polish during his/her breaks or off time.

 

I had the cabin steward polish my shoes once.  He uses the liquid bottle with a sponge applicator.  It covered scuff marks but by no means left the shoes with a glossy shine----more of a flat black finish.

56 minutes ago, twodaywonder said:

Ships meaning cruise lines. Many different cruise lines. OK Guess you never saw me order one.

I have often seen individuals in the lunch or dinner buffet line holding up the line.  But it was because they had to stare at an item for a long time because they couldn't make a simple decision.  Never has one of those pain in the butt people been ordering a custom pizza.  As a service to your fellow cruisers, please tell us the name of the Princess ship(s) that you got a pizza made to your order in the buffet.  That way when I am in the mood for pizza and nothing on the menus at the pizza places is what I want, I can just go to the buffet and make a special order for a 5-meat pizza.

6 hours ago, janniebabe said:

On the CB in November and have been able to complete everything but the "Cruise Personalizer" circle on the app.  Still shows no green circle.  On Princess our names are green indicating all is done (I guess!).  Have even been able to order our Medallions without problem.  That lack of a green circle is bugging me tho - has anyone else had this issue and if so what did you do to rectify it?  Thanks!

I had this problem but once final payment was made everything worked as it should.

1 hour ago, twodaywonder said:

I beg to differ. Any time I want a pizza made to order in the buffet, I never had a problem. To say hand tossed might be going a bit to far. More like squashed stretched dough with a rolling pin.

Are you sure you are talking about Princess ships?  In 40 Princess cruises and 11 different Princess ships I have never seen pizza offered or served in any Horizon Court/World Fresh Marketplace buffet.  Also I have never seen anyone at the pool area pizza venue or at Alfredo's order any pizza other than what was on the menus.

17 hours ago, Tina1967 said:

Hi just  a quick question to anyone who has done an Alaskan cruise tour.We are booked on a cruisetour to Alaska next May and have booked our excursions for the cruise but nothing showing on land part yet. When does the excursions on the land tour normally become available to book? Thanks 🙂

 

 

I had the same experience last year when I booked a cruise tour for this year.  I can't remember how long it took but the ability to book excursions for the land portion through your cruise personalizer will happen.  Just be patient and check your personalizer often.

51 minutes ago, disneyochem said:

I apologize if this is a redundant post, but I searched and couldn’t find an answer.  

 

How do I find the roll call for the land portion of our trip next year?  We enjoy connecting with folks prior to a trip.

 

thanks!

I have never found a roll call specifically for the land portion of a Princess cruise tour.  I just join the roll call for the cruise portion and post that I am doing a land tour combined with that cruise.  I identify the specific tour.  Others who are also doing a land tour do the same.

I will gladly trade the plate of canapes they give us for a free drink.  Or an emery board. Or just a promise to never put the nasty things in my cabin again.

We took the 12 British Isles cruise in 2015.  There is a lot to see in every port it seemed but we only had time for one excursion per port.  We did not have any over-night port visits.  The cruise was very tiring and we decided that we would come back to the U.K. next time and do back-to-back British Isles cruises so we could see the sights we missed the first time and not get so tired.  In 2017 we did just that and it was great.  The first half of the back-to-back cruises stopped at Kirkwall while the second stopped at Liverpool.  We preferred Liverpool over Kirkwall by far - but then we were teenagers when the Beatles were the top music group and we took a very good Beatles excursion.

5 minutes ago, zalusky said:

 

Mia culpa on the Elk.  That aside I was pretty sure I saw them open a fence door and shush them through down a trail.    Even that aside it just feels fake and like a Disneyland ride.  I still enjoyed it though.

I can understand your feeling if you were expecting to see wild animals.  We have done that riverboat tour in the mid 90's and in 2014.  The only difference was that the first time the bush pilot took off from the back yard of a riverfront home and in 2014 the bush pilot had a float plane and took off from the river.  We enjoyed the stop at the Native Peoples village where we got an up close view of the reindeer through the fence of the area where they put them as the riverboat approaches the dock.  By the way----we found reindeer sausage to be very tasty at the Princess lodge breakfasts.

53 minutes ago, zalusky said:

 

 

I also have to say that the Fairbanks stuff gold panning and the river boat stuff while enjoyable felt more like Disneyland.  The sled dogs obviously were set to run and race as the boat went by and so were the elk that shushed out of cages behind the trees to look like they happen to randomly scampering through the woods.

 

Those are reindeer, (domestic caribou), not elk.  They are kept in pastures, not cages.  The sled dog demonstration, like the bush plane demonstration are scheduled as part of the entertainment and education of the passengers of the riverboat.

When I completed the Ocean Ready app for my next cruise, I did not notice any place to make a choice to have the medallions sent to the cruise ship terminal check in desk.  Did I miss it or do you have to just remove your home address so they won't send it to your home?

On our Tundra Wilderness Tour in July of 2014 we had 4 rest room stops.

9 hours ago, richmke said:

There is a battery in the medallions. From what I read, they don't last much longer than the cruise. Shipping them when you make final payment practically guarantees a dead medallion when you board.

That makes sense.  On my last cruise I had to get closer and closer to the cabin door each day before the medallion would unlock the door.  By the end of the 28 day cruise I had to touch the medallion to the target and wait a couple of seconds before the door would unlock. It is a shame the battery won't last longer.  Wrist watch batteries last for years-----but then they don't unlock doors.