jasbo49

Well, thanks all. Nothing wrong with a free drink. Looks like we'll just have to add a couple more cruises after these two to get to Platinum.

Jim

We've never sailed in this or any other cabin on Golden, but there's not doubt C519 should be a great cabin. Caribe deck has the big balconies, and this cabin is almost right in the middle of the ship.

The only thing we don't know is what your original cabin was. It's hard to say how good the upgrade was if we don't know that.

Jim

To each his/her own. Looks like we would be just the opposite with most of the list. :confused:

 

1. Skip: Alternative Dining

2. Splurge: Internet.

3. Skip: Spa Treatments and Salon Services

4. Splurge: Wine and Beer Tastings

5. Skip: Corkage Fees

6. Skip: Souvenirs from Onboard Shops

7. Skip: Private Cabanas and Adults-Only Areas

8. Skip: Professional Photos

9. Skip: Gambling and Bingo

10. Skip: Beverage Packages

11. Splurge: Shore Excursions

Billco president (or at least sergeant). I'm with you all the way.

Er, except once in awhile, when no one's looking, I might buy a tacky souvenir from the shop, and there's an off chance I'll try a beverage package on the 3-day getaway we've booked. Gotta try these things out at a low risk level.

Jim

Greetings all. Having completed one whole Princess cruise, I guess we're officially Gold for our upcoming back-to-back getaways. Other than the great price we got on the 4-day cruise, I'm having trouble discerning any real benefits to Gold status. Wondering if someone can point out something I'm missing.

I've read the benefits on the Princess website, so I'm not asking what they are, just whether any of them are a bigger deal than they seem to me. The Gold pin and passport and stamps ... well, they aren't really going to change our lives. There's mention of a quarterly magazine. That might be interesting, but it seems to me I should already be getting that. I get lots of mailings from them but nothing like a magazine.

"Members only onboard events" could be worthwhile, but I can't really tell what that means. Is there a party or something?

Anyhow, I'm not saying we deserve anything more that a great price and a Gold pin, but I'm just curious if there are other real benefits. After these two, we'll be Ruby and again I don't see much, but if we take two more and achieve Platinum, I see some real goodies, including Internet time. Thanks in advance.

Jim

I live in a community of 8,500 and we no longer have a TA either and so I share your pain. My TA is in Vancouver, BC and it would cost me the better part of a $150 to go to visit him what with ferry fares, fuel, meals, downtown parking. So just how did I find this TA......well by the same way people cultivate a relationships with TAs.....by asking other satisfied clients of his....if one puts in the effort there are relationships to be forged, good service to be had and money to be saved.

Well, sometimes I go off half-cocked, and apparently this was one of those times. This is all news to me. I'll have to check into it. I've thought about trying to use their services, but assumed we'd be limited to the local brick-and-mortar TAs. I actually visited the closest guy once and was surprised to find I knew more about cruising and cruise lines than he did.

Anyhow, my apologies for my sort-of lecturing tone. I've been bothered several times by this seeming assumption that we all live in big cities, and it stuck in my craw. My bad.

Jim

The small print on the special offers that included OBC for shore excursions said "Any credit not used for shore excursions will be applied toward the stateroom account balance."

Thanks, caribill (and everyone else). I still can't find this clause in the fine print, but if you did, I'll assume all's well. Thanks again.

Jim

They need to do a Gulf of Mexico Coastal, maybe ports like Houston, NOLA, Tampa, Key West and Cancun...

I'm with you. I'd love to see more cruises that visit U.S. cities, though I'm not sure Houston would be high on my list. An itinerary of New Orleans, Cozumel, Key West, Tampa, then back to NOLA is one I'd like a lot. Especially if you could spend two days in Key West.

Jim

Greetings.

We have B2B getaway cruises booked in October. Both were booked through the Princess website and each offered $25 OBC per person. So we have $100 onboard credit coming.

I looked at the details of our booking a couple of days ago and saw, under "payments and credits," that the credit was all in the form of "Shore Excursions credit."

There was nothing on the original booking that hinted the OBC was restricted, and there is nothing I can find now.

I called and talked to a nice young guy named Matt. He said it was the first he'd heard of it, but maybe I could talk to the purser once we were on board and and explain we'd like to use that credit for general purposes, as we assumed by the original website come-on. So, not really a resolution, just a bit of hope.

Matt did say he'd look into the promotion that offered OBC without specifying it was only good for shore excursion.

Has anyone else dealt with this? The offer was simply OBC (you can check the Princess website now), but once you're signed up, it's OBC strictly for excursions.

We've been to San Diego and Ensenada a dozen times. We might want to do an excursion, but we might not. I'd rather use the credit for wine with dinner, etc.

Jim

At least with a good TA they look after this kind of an issue for you without being rude and if they don't then you find a new TA.:rolleyes:

You seem to assume that everyone has access to "a good TA." Some of us don't, including me and possibly our OP. I live outside a town of 2,000. There's no travel agent here (was before the Internet took away all the business). There's one in the closest "big town" (20,000) and four or five in the "big city" 30 miles away. None of these is a cruise specialist, though they won't likely admit it.

We'd have to drive 150 miles to Eugene to find a real travel agent. So, I'm not asking for pity, just quit assuming everyone has access to a good travel agent.

Jim

I don't wish to be rude myself, but I'm not sure what you're after here, why you posted this. Just to vent? Well, I guess most of us do a bit of that.

But you start with a thread title that includes "consultants," when you've said that two of the three people you talked to were nice and professional. Then you seem to want blood, when maybe a slap on the wrist is called for.

Your recourse lies with Princess, not trying to make them look bad in a post that seems to have no other purpose.

Jim

I'd go for the balcony. The weather isn't bankable, but it might pretty nice off and on, especially when you get down toward Santa Barbara and Long Beach. For us, balconies aren't just about being outside, but also about having a better view from the cabin, more "visual access" to the ocean and sky.

Even in Alaska, we like a balcony, not for enjoying weather, but for enjoying the view.

(P.S.: I agree about those 9-day Caribbean itineraries. They're just forced back-to-backs that never really go anywhere.)

Jim

... the food was awful (I know it's subjective but on this particular cruise I can't imagine anyone who ate the same meals that we did, including all of the up charge venues could possibly disagree :eek:).

Michael:

We didn't eat at the extra-charge restaurants and in general were not that keen on the MDR food. But there were two things we liked. The buffet seemed better than most and the fish dishes in the MDR were consistently good. Unfortunately the beef was consistently ... er, not good.

Jim

I've never been on NCL so I don't know what they offer that's so "clearly better" than Princess.

 

Perhaps I was too emphatic. Let me just put it this way: In the eight cruises we've been on (I know that's not a lot), the NCL Jewel is the only one where they seemed to reach out to kids on a shipwide basis, with SpongeBob characters roaming the ship like a character breakfast at Disney World. Most ships we've been on seem to want to stick kids in a corner to keep them out of the way, but NCL seemed to embrace them.

 

Pam, I know you know your stuff and share it willingly, which we all appreciate. Just wanted to clarify what I meant.

 

Jim

I think NCL is clearly a better choice for kids programs. We sailed on the Jewel a couple years ago and they had some kind of Nickelodeon program going.

Princess doesn't seem to be known for such things.

Jim

Are bridge directors paid and/or receive free room and board for their services?

From what little I know, they just received a free cruise. My parents managed to cruise around the world and then some in the 70s and 80s with my dad as a bridge director and my mom doing some kind of crafts. I think it was mostly Princess and Holland America. Sometimes they'd be given an inside room, but as Dad gained stature with Bridge by Goren, they sometimes got a decent oceanview. Of course balconies were basically unheard of then, except for suites.

It's kind of sad to see that era ending, because it was such a good post-retirement life for my parents. But I guess it's just another indication that the world's changing and young people have different interests.

Jim

Thanks, Scott. With the nice coffees and dinner wine, on top of the afternoon-evening cocktails, it might be worth it.

Jim

I was just reading through the CC feature on beverage packages and it says Princess sells them only on cruises of 7 days or longer. Does anyone know whether that's the current status or old information? I'm thinking about trying it out on one of our two short cruises coming up in October. Thanks.

Jim

Maybe with a few more CAPITAL LETTERS, we could understand your pain better.

Jim

Thanks for Part 1. We'll look forward to Part 2. I'm glad the anytime dining worked out for you. I remember you were concerned about whether you could get a table for two every night, and it sounds like that worked great.

I'm tuned in here partly because we're going on the Golden Princess in October. Different itinerary and experience for sure, but I figure some of it crosses over.

Can you tell me what you can drink for free at the International Café? I asked on another thread, but I don't think the person who answered understood my question. Can you get milk, juice, regular coffee, ice tea? The same things you can get at Horizon Court? It's hard for me to believe your only choices are water and extra-cost drinks.

Jim

Thanks to everyone for the great info.

Jim

We're doing Mexico in November. It will either be very hot and very humid or... it won't. Either way we will be cruising and not working!!!!!

 

We will enjoy ourselves. :)

 

Have a great cruise.

I'd say your mid-November launch is a whole different world from the OP's Oct. 1 sail date. Either way, you both have a 100% chance of having a great cruise if you just roll with the punches.

Have fun.

Jim

Short answer: Yes, it's probably going to be hot and -- more important -- humid. We were in Cabo last year during late September and early October and we found ourselves trying to get shopping etc. done as early in the day as possible, then heading for the shade and indoor AC.

PV, being farther south, will be worse yet. On the bright side, these smaller ports on the Sea of Cortez may be a bit nicer.

(Edit to fix months: Oops. We were there in October and November and found it sweltering.)

Jim

Greetings:

My wife and I are going on the Golden Princess for a 4-day and a 3-day in October, and I'm looking over deck plans, not finding any dedicated jogging track. There's a kind of oval-shaped area on deck 16. Maybe that's it?

Anyhow, I'd be interested in info from anyone who's sailed on the Golden (or Grand or Star, which appear to be virtual clones). Where can I go to do some serious exercise walking (I don't actually jog)? Are there some options? Is the Promenade something that would work or is it too congested. We've staying on deck 8, so the Promenade would be a convenient place to keep those cruise calories from settling in.

Thanks in advance.

Jim

Thanks, everyone. I was mostly debating which ship. What we're looking for is something to tack on to the front or back of an already-booked 4-day Golden Princess cruise, something to make the trip from Oregon to SoCal worthwhile. So while we would prefer a 4-day, it's not as critical as timing. Mostly wondered whether, all other things being equal, people had a preference between ships, whether one had a captain or crew that seemed superior. Sounds like everyone is happy with both.

Jim

We are looking at a 3-4 day getaway out of L.A. in October. Does anyone have a preference or reason to choose one over the other since they're almost the same ship running the same itinerary?

Jim