Jadn13

1 hour ago, Squire5000 said:

Any thoughts when the Europe 2024 sailings will be open for bookings?

From past inquiries I can say that  Trans Atlantics to Europe are usually released mid March but I think they have pushed it to as late as early April. 
 

On the Enchanted/Sky we had some really great crafts

-Luggage Tags

-Greetings Cards

-Wine Charms/Purse Dangles

-Thread Art (pineapple pictured was my fave) 

I’m aware of Carnival Cruises being comped from land casinos but not others in the brand

6 hours ago, suekel said:

Ah, maybe that's why I get it.  I agree with your wife.  My most recent booking was awesome.  I was offered a balcony and then upgraded to a mini for $200 pp.  10 days.  Never got one so cheap.  

We never upgrade and always get Shareholder. I have been on 4 free with no upgrades since December.

My parents leave today with no upgrade and have both shareholder and military. 

Holland America will not give shareholder on comped cruises. 
 

31 minutes ago, triple7tahoe said:

I got a new casino offer today which included free balcony, beverage, gratuity package and wi-fi. The offer was standard with $200 deposit plus port fees needed. In the fine print it says "cannot be combined with other onboard credit". I have taken a few of these in the past and do not remember that part. I have always gotten my military and CCL credit in addition to what was in the offer. Am I overthinking this?? Yes, I know that I will probably have to call Princess Casino Dept. to get answer but I thought others might have the same question?

My parents are leaving tmrw on the Enchanted w/a casino offer and combined Military and Shareholder. If you find out there has been an update please share.

9 minutes ago, suzyed said:

How long did it take for the money to go back on the gift cards?

Only a day or two for the excursions on GC.

2 months  later I’m still waiting for the fare to be refunded to the credit card 

39 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Hmmm... I left the gift cards with my TA. I doubt that he kept them. If my cruise is cancelled they won't be able to refund my money on cards that no longer exist. Since I used $6,250 in gift cards (the $250 was a digital card with no expiration date) I will definitely want my money back if they cancel the cruise. I doubt I would be the first person to have this issue and would guess there is a mechanism to handle the issue. I know many people have paid for cruises with credit cards that were then replaced with new cards.

I booked over $1,000 worth of excursions from about 7 gift cards and when I cancelled the amounts were refunded back to the individual  cards. I’m sure they have system in place for those who no longer have the original cards, or at least I hope they do.

44 minutes ago, tampabrat22 said:

Hello. I have some gift cards I'd like to add to our account. I called Princess on Tuesday and was told I could do it onboard. The same rep called me back yesterday and told me she wasn't 100% confident in the information she gave me so she asked her supervisor and was told I needed to redeem them online before boarding and I would not be able to do it onboard. I have tried to do it online, but unless I am purchasing something I have not been able to figure out how to add the balance to my account. So can these be applied onboard or is it possible to do on the website?

Ha! So much incorrect information from Princess.

You can call and buy OBC with your gift cards OR you can go to guest services once on the ship and they can add the card directly to your account.

I did both of these in January for my cruise on the Enchanted

Quick Note: Keep your gift cards once applied if you cancel the funds are put back on the same gift cards

Just received a check yesterday from a mid December cruise 

3 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

Has anybody that has done a B2B since October 2021 let me know when they are doing the test?  We did a B2B on the Grand back in Sept / Oct but we weren't tested until day two of the 2nd leg of the trip.  I'm sure they were just trying to get the processes in place at that time.  

On the website, it says you are retested in the terminal but have heard others say they were retested on the ship.  We are doing a B2B in April and even though we are staying in the same cabin for both legs of the sailing, I was wondering if we would need to pack up our belongings in between sailings in the case we weren't allowed to reboard. 

At the end of January on the Enchanted we were tested on the turn around day in the AM on the ship. I did personally see people pulled from the terminal as we were waiting to reboard and brought back on the ship. I  later saw them being escorted with their luggage off the ship (by crew in hazmat suits) 

16 minutes ago, marden1970 said:

We'll be taking our first Medallion cruise in July.  Do you need to 'tap' the medallion to anything; for example: in the gift shop or getting on or off the ship or in the casino?. I understand that for most things just being close activates the medallion (like opening your stateroom door)..I was considering the necklace but it would be awkward if you need to tap it.  Thanks

You will need to tap the Medallion to get on and off the ship, casino, shops. You may also be asked to tap the Medallion by servers in various lounges. 

The sustainable band

I have used it so far on 4 cruises,  it’s easy to clean and harder to forget.  (Mostly because it’s on from morning to night)

41 minutes ago, Sprocket said:

Once you've redeemed the cards with Princess make sure you hold onto them, no personal experience but I've read where if a refund is necessary it goes back on the card.  I'm sure someone will be along shortly to confirm or deny lol.

Have a great cruise the Sky is beautiful and coincidentally our first Princess ship as well.

This is correct, we had over $1,000 of excursions booked on GC once we cancelled the funds went back to the same cards. 

55 minutes ago, Peira said:

New to Cruise Critic, and new to Princess.

We've been gifted a Sky Princess cruise at the saver rate, and lots of $50/$100 gift cards. As much as we'd like to buy up to the Princess Plus, without getting into specifics let's just say for diplomatic reasons, we can't. Believe me, if we could, we would.

Once we get on, I think we bring the cards to the front desk and have them load them to our cabin account. Is there a way to order things before we get on - coffee cards, wifi - but not pay for them until we get onboard so we can use the gift cards? I think there's savings for wifi and coffee card if we buy in advance?

You can call Princess and apply your gift cards as OBC or use to purchase specific items  ahead of time.
You can’t place a hold and then use GC once onboard. 

My cruises in January revealed that only some were by the glass, most were by the bottle

Here ya go

you purchase through the investment firm of your choice 

I completely forgot to add the elite bar-set up into my equation as well. 

@SentebaleI like the idea of your experiment, it will show a true cost comparison. 

It’s all very doable. I did it 😃

-purchased wifi w/ elite discount

-$100 for shareholder 

-carried on 2 bottles of wine

- carried on 12 pack diet coke

- 1-8 pack of sparkling water (in cans) 

- packed a Brita water bottle

My extra OBC from wifi and shareholders covered tips (the jargon states that it doesn’t but it certainly did)

I Used the leftover OBC for Americanos in the morning and a couple drinks throughout the week. 

-I always tip extra even with PP so that doesn’t factor 

I have also traveled with Princess Plus and find it to be enjoyable as well.

It all comes down to practicality and budget.

Happy Cruising 😎🚢

11 minutes ago, FirstTeacher said:

Just a couple of questions:

 

* Internet- I keep reading discussions on CC about buying Internet pre-cruise. I thought that WiFi was part of the fare. Is there an upgraded version that I should be looking at? We’ll be cruising the Baltic in 2023, and I know connections can be challenging that far north.

 

* I see people referring to Princess Plus- what is that?

Princess Plus is the pkg you add that includes, tips, wifi, drinks it averages about $40 a day extra PP

Wifi is not free and costs $10 a day for 1 device (there is another price point for multiple devices) if purchased alone not in the PP pkg. It has to be purchased for the duration of your journey, you can’t pick and choose days. Wifi can however be purchased mid journey and you just pay for the days left. 

1 hour ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

Where was this posted?  Appreciate you sharing!

It was handed to me as we boarded the ship. 

The MDR was open for lunch on embarkation 1/9 on the Enchanted but not till noon so potentially if you ask early then you may be told it’s not open

6 hours ago, Kmkub said:

I never saw it available in the MDR.

Tea was served in the Capri dining room starting around 3pm every sea day for an hour on the Enchanted  from 1/9-1/29 

They had all the trays of sandwiches, desserts and scones, just like how tea was in the past. 🫖

***double checked the patters and it was listed from 3-4pm

22 minutes ago, Mike45LC said:

I was under the impression that this is the rule sailing from Miami, that the ship needs to charge and collect tax for the City on all sales within the City limits.  My understanding is that with the beverage package, the ship adds the tax to your shipboard account for all drinks purchased until the sail-away.

 

But this is not what Jadin reported.

I got a glass of wine in the dining room on embarkation day for lunch and wasn’t charged…may not be the policy but I joked all week about my first glass of wine being nearly $15 that I made sure to double check that I wasn’t charged w/the pkg and nothing not even tax showed up. 

13 minutes ago, rick160158 said:

I recall that when you board your cruise at the home port, before the ship leaves, even though you have the beverage package, and order an alcoholic drink, you'd still pay the tax on that drink. Until the ship sails about an hour out, at which point the tax isn't applied. Does this still apply ? We're sailing out of Miami. 

Without the package I paid 77 cents in tax on one glass of wine. I didn’t pay tax with the package. 
I took a B2B one week with the pkg one week without 

On 2/4/2022 at 2:29 PM, skynight said:

Phones have clocks. You have to be careful to keep them on the correct time. It's not automatic like at home as you move across time zones in the ocean without cell connection.

The App reflects ship time and changes accordingly