s_mich

We just got back from Ochi and used "Barrett Adventures" and will highly recommend them. They have great reviews on TripAdvisor, that's how I found them. Carolyn, the owner you email, is very friendly and answers all questions via email. They do private excursions for multiple ports too but I'm assuming you're sailing into Ochi.

Fair warning though, we had a fantastic time and our driver and tour guide were awesome, but the locals are super pushy. Our guide and driver were helpful and politely asked them to leave us alone when they saw I was getting uncomfortable. My only complaint, but that seems to be everywhere we've been in the Caribbean:/

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8 days for us on Pearl! [emoji7]

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I was thinking of putting down 450 total for my husband and I. He doesn't drink and we are bringing in 2 bottles of wine. Really the only thing we would be charging are maybe 2 or 3 drinks a day and we would like to go to one speciality restaurant and get a Christmas ornament haha so I don't think I'll blow through it in a week. It amazes me people spend so much but if you got it, go for it!

If you prefer to work with cash you can do that and combine it with a credit or debit card. Register the card when you check in, then go to the Passenger Services desk and put cash into your account. Later in the cruise you can get a print-out of your account and put more money in as you need to. We have done that on occasions, then paid the balance off in cash at the end leaving no charge to go against our card. :) Congratulations that you are only wanting to spend the money you have and not the bank's money as well.:)

 

Have a great cruise.

Haha after having a small amount of credit card debt right now I much prefer just paying cash for everything. Plus I work for the bank I borrow from so I like to keep them happy :p

We could give them a credit card just to have, but the only 2 we have are almost maxed out due to us getting married, playing for wedding etc... We have a few hundred on one and almost nothing on another one. We can afford our vacation but not on a credit card (which I think is better anyway).

Both cards have higher credit limits but like I said the limits are almost reached.

Not that this was anyone's business but that is why I don't want to/can't give them a credit card and why I would rather deal with cash. I can give them the cash and the credit card as security I guess.

Also I really hope after posting this I don't get the judgmental "maybe you should pay off your debt before going on a cruise" blah blah blah.

Not sure if the OP was asking this, but I have a sense perhaps they were?

 

No, Princess does not have any minimum spend per person per day. It's entirely up to you what your personal expenses are in terms of drinks, excursions via Princess, specialty dining, gambling, shopping, etc.

 

As mentioned above, the easiest way is to have a CC on file with them and you are also welcome to deposit cash on account and you could have a $0 balance on check-out and never actually have a charge to your CC.

I am just trying to avoid using our credit card for this is all, we have cash that we saved up that we wanted to use to pay. But yes, I was just mostly seeing if there was a minimum cash deposit that had to be made on check in even if the trip and gratuities had already been paid for. Like I said, I have seen minimums online for other cruise lines, but not princess. So I was just very confused.

Someday when we're not newlyweds, we can just use our credit card without worries haha for now, if we don't have the cash, we ain't getting it.

I am appreciating the answers to help my understanding :D

Well I will pre-pay gratuities tomorrow so that will be taken care off already. We already have a debit card on our cruise personalizer because we paid for our cruise in full from our checking account. So everything is going to be paid for before we sail.

So yes I guess my actual question would be, with everything already being paid for, does Princess have a minimum per person per day for your spending account.

Also, if you get called down because you have spent all of the cash on the spending account, can you use a debit card to give them more money? Or can you pay for the rest at the end with a bill and your debit card? Sorry if I am not understanding

I have been trying to do a search of the forums but cannot find specifically what I am looking for, maybe someone can point me in the right direction

I need to understand how onboard spending works...I have been on one cruise before, NCL, and when I checked in gave them $500 in cash to put on my "card".

Does it work the same way with Princess? Like when my husband and I check into port, can we give them cash money to put onto our stateroom and if we go over that have our bill sent to us and settle up on disembarkation? Also, saw some places online saying some cruise lines had a minimum of how much money you put on your stateroom account, is this true?

Since several websites say we will be at different docks in St. Thomas, I gave Princess a call. Initially, the agent couldn't find the right information, but after checking with his superiors, he informed me that we will be docking at Crown Bay. Sorry for the confusion, hopefully this clears things up.

Thanks for the update, hopefully nothing changes! I have an excursion booked and I was trying to figure everything out. Thanks for calling.

Does anyone know if there is an easy way to get to Havensite from Crown Bay? It doesn't seem to far on a map, could you walk it?

Also, when it says we are there from 8am-5pm, what time are we actually docked? Are we allowed to get off right at 8? And how soon before 5pm do we need to be back on? I have a lot of dumb questions since this is only my 2nd cruise :rolleyes:

Havensite

Thank you, I thought so but google was really not helping. I kept getting both answers.

I was notified via email on the 17th, quick question - does anyone know what port we will actually be at in St. Thomas? Crown Bay or Havensite?

Thank you all for info, I am still new to this! I usually leave everything to Google but with the trip change it has not been helpful, I think I need a few days for it to update

I will be on the Regal in January and we are scheduled to be in St. Thomas on the 7th, how do I find out what dock we will be at in port? I can't seem to find it online and I need to know for an excursion (not from the cruiseline) I will be taking. Does anyone know if it is Crown Bay or Havensite? Or at least where I can find this out:confused:

Thank you all for the replies! I have been reading about the coffee in the buffets, from some things I have read, it is that Regal Princess does not use a syrup for the free coffee and that it is actually quite good...I know everything can change ship to ship.

I will just have to find out when we get on ship! I will have a taste test to see if it will work for me for the week or if I should get a card. I am not a fancy coffee kinda girl anyway, just wake me up!! :eek:

This might be a dumb question, but since this will be only my 2nd cruise and 1st with Princess, I am trying to gather all the info from all of these posts...

Is there any free coffee at all on the ship or do you have to purchase a card even just for a black cup of regular coffee? Just if someone is willing to clarify, any info is appreciated!

following this post, we will be going on the Regal Princess and January and it will be our first time on St. Marteen. I was thinking about renting a Jeep for the day for fun. Looking for some reviews etc

You can bring on more wine at embarkation but you will need to pay $15 corkage on the additional bottles. At ports, there may be a table set up to check in wine and pay corkage if you have already brought two bottles on board or there may be nothing. When you pay corkage on a bottle, the bottle will be stamped or a sticker added to show that you have paid corkage. Any wine you bring to drink with a meal will be charged a $15 corkage fee if it doesn't have a sticker/stamp.

So does that mean you can bring on more than one bottle per person at embarkation as long as you pay the corkage fee? Just trying to understand correctly, thanks :)

This thread has an excel spread sheet with all the prices of drinks. I believe the most current spreadsheet is on post 206 but I could be wrong.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2038576&highlight=ai

 

Hope this helps!

:)

This is awesome, thank you so much! :D

If you're a wine drinker the All Inclusive Beverage Package is a great deal. Yes, it's $50 a day or so but if you like wine...well most good wines by the glass at Vines (the wine bar) are over $8 anyway. Plus factor in bottled waters, brewed coffee, cappuccinos, shakes and our favorite raspberry-pomegranate refreshers it becomes a great deal quickly. No need to purchase bottles at dinner, all the wines by the glass are included! Including port and after dinner drinks.

The refreshers sound awesome!!! I only wish I could purchase it for only certain days, I worry the days we are in port I will not use it as much. My husband really does not drink, on our 7 day cruise he might have 3 beers and maybe a few cocktails. I just don't know about spending $300+ on just me to drink. I do like that we can bring 2 bottles of wine onboard. Can you bring more wine on board when you get to the next port? Like you embark, bring on your 2 allowed bottles. Drink those. Get to your first port on the trip, purchase another bottle of wine and bring it on, do you know if that is that allowed?

Wine Package is NOT available on a 7 day cruise.

Only on cruises longer than 7 days? That is too bad. I wish they had more info on the site.

Hello all! I have been searching around the forum for about an hour to try and find some answers to my questions, but I figured I would make my own thread because I am not finding quite what I am looking for.

Trying to find out more info on the Princess bev. packages, this will be our first time on a Princess cruise (hubs first time period) and I am trying to decide on what packages to purchase. I have noticed nothing mentioned on the website about wine packages, but I keep seeing people talking about them.

My question is, does anyone know if the Silver or Gold wine packages are available on the Regal Princess. My husband and I will be on the Regal our of Ft. Lauderdale on 1/3/16. Is it possible for me to email someone at Princess and ask?

Also, does anyone know the latest prices per drink on the ship. I have seen a lot of stuff pointing towards cocktails being around $8.00 per drink. Sound about right?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!