wallyj

Hi @flhokie, I did not see you mention visiting the concierge lounge that suite passengers get access and I have heard they usually have an evening gathering with alcoholic drinks and sometimes different ‘themes’. Did the suites experience manager not organize these evening events on your sailing or you were not interested in attending? You review mentions having dinner in the Capri dining room, but I assume you were seated in the ‘reserve class’ section which should have had more personalized service and an extra entree/special? I was on Enchanted last month and also had the Premier package. At Ocean Terrace they had no problem substituting the spicy tuna roll for California roll, which is just imitation crab, avocado and cucumber. If you are on another ship, with Ocean Terrace, ask if they will do this. Unfortunately on Sapphire, they do not do substitutions because the sushi is not made to order in front of you like on most Royal class ships. I enjoy Princess, but can only dream of booking the Sky suite. Thank you for your review.

Yes @geoherbwho is currently doing a live on the IP posted BECAUSE the token machine is broken, the washer and dryers are free and you still need to purchase detergent if you did not bring your own. I imagine once the token machines have been repaired, you will need to obtain tokens, $3 wash and $3 dry, using your medallion. It has been reported on some other ships, the washer and dryers were free and detergent and fabric softener were stacked on a shelf to take as needed. This is NOT the normal situation on most Princess ships.

@MsTabbyKats, the on board ‘specials’ will mostly be for sailings within the next 90-100 days or sailings they want to fill. Fall 2025 being so far off, unlikely any sailings will be listed. Last year while on Sapphire in July 2023, I was able to book a March 2024 sailing that was on the 50% list. Offerings now are more limited and usually max 6 months out.

@MsTabbyKats, future cruise used to be able to show you a ‘list’ of the on board booking discounted cruises. When O.N.E. Originally took over handling future cruises on board, they introduced these ‘on board’ specials. Most were 50% off the Princess.com fare. What was also happening was many times the ‘plus’ pkg was also being discounted. The system at that time was not giving ‘premier’ pkg pricing. In many cases after you booked, you were able to upgrade to the premier pkg for only $10/day instead of $20/day. A few times, for me, the cruise Personalizer would not allow this upgrade and when you called, Princess would tell you the upgrade to premier is $20/day. The official word was only the cruisefare was supposed to be discounted and now they manually back out the discounted plus package. The discount now ranges from 25-50% and last month on Enchanted, I was told no list available, but you need to ask what is currently available as the offerings can change quickly. For sailings within 90 days, you will have to pay in full. They did have some that were later which would only require non refundable deposit, so if you did change your mind before final payment, you would lose your deposit, which should be $100/person. You would be able to transfer to a TA, as long as it was before final payment. Some of the consultants will push the ‘packages’ starting at $3499/person, most reports on cruise critic are to ‘stay away’. Search for the threads regarding this for more information. Before O.N.E. Changeover, booking on board did not have many ‘extra’ amenities, but there were a few extra OBC promos. Obtaining FCD’s as currently they are fully refundable is highly recommended if you think you will sail with Princess again. I hear Celebrity just changed their $100 ‘book later’ deposits in 2024, where you will lose it if not used. With Princess, if not used or requested before expiring, you will be refunded to credit card used. You may also search for an earlier thread on this subject, as I know this question is asked often and I recall seeing it.

I believe on Discovery, it has been reported the swap has been done and SaltyDog Gastropub is being or has been converted to O’Malleys.

I think you might have misunderstood, when I stated former future cruise consultants, I meant the ones that were ‘on board’ not ex CVP’s. As I said, many former Princess Future cruise consultants that were on board Princess ships have accepted positions to be O.N.E. employees and be on Princess ships. In the past, before ONE, I do not think many on board future cruise consultants would book Casino offers as I remember them always saying you needed to call that department.

Yes, my Discovery in Feb, they used deck6 aft, see post #11 for more info.

Hi @memoak, I wanted to comment on your post saying they know nothing, as many former Future cruise consultants do as they have been on Princess for many years, I also stated YMMV. They are ‘sales’ people and on my Enchanted sailing last month, they also mentioned they do NOT do any casino bookings/help, as a couple were trying to deal with the Mistake August Emerald sailing that the Princess website offered to practically everyone in the US/Canada. My friends were on the Majestic and asked about if the on board consultants could book the August Emerald Casino sailing and were told NO, especially since there was no commission since it was a ‘zero’ fare.

Many are former Princess future cruise consultants that decided to accept position with O.N.E. There are some that are quite knowledgeable So YMMV. Most of what is posted here is not many have had a good experience with packages and getting max value as promised/eluded in the packages.

Mostly for Caribbean itineraries. The APP will show a check in time window, you no longer ‘select’ a specific window. As posted, arrive as early as possible.

I know Discovery, Enchanted and Sapphire use the deck6 AFT dining room now for embarkation lunch and breakfast and sea day lunch. Reserve dining will usually still be deck6 midship. It will be listed in the Patter/Events listing for the location and hours/time. If it has not been placed in your cabin yet, you can review or get copy at guest services.

@geoherbis Elite, so Princess already does his laundry. From his passenger counts posted earlier, sounds like the cruise is not fully booked, but no ideal what other cabin availability is, assume he will ask.

FYI, B2B is used to imply consecutive sailings on the SAME ship. S2S is when you will move to another ship whether with the same Cruiseline or not. Celebrity offers an additional discount on both cruises if you are doing a B2B, based on the length of the sailings.

It sounds like in 2024, the Book later deposit terms and conditions have changed that if not used within 12 months you lose it. I acquired 2 book later deposits last November. I had the choice of them defaulting to the agency I used to book my current sailing or to assign them with Celebrity. I choose to leave with Celebrity because I agency shop when I am booking a cruise. At first, this past May, I tried having my TA try to book with book later number, but they are not able to, since the booking belongs to Celebrity. Had to have Celebrity make the booking then request transfer to my TA. When I submitted the transfer request, I got an immediate denial email saying transfer request needs to be done within 30 days of book later deposit date. I thought how can I transfer if I do not have a booking/sailing selected yet and have not decided which TA I want to use. After calling Celebrity, I was told I had 30 days from selecting a sailing to transfer to my TA and of course you still need to be before final payment. So this sounds similar to what you went thru. So if you had to do it again, you would have to do the same, as your TA will not be able to jump thru the hoops. Celebrity did transfer the booking to my TA who offers additional discounts. I am disappointed to hear the book later deposits are now lost if not used within 12 months. At least you can gift them if you know you will not be able to use or sell them to try and recoup some $? Since you lose the bonus OBC if not used within 6 months, the value is diminished months 7-12, but should still qualify as a reduced deposit?

FYI, the APP is useful since the Events listing only has so much room, now that Princess wants to keep it as a one page document. There can be ‘events’ on Journey view that are not in the Patter/Events listing. This was the case on my recent Enchanted sailing out of FLL.

I think you confused a few of us, as I believe you have a typo and meant to write, I am NOW Elite.

If you look on the deck plans at Princess.com for the Island Princess, you can see the location and size of all the S6(Vista Suites). They do vary based upon location and deck. If you are unsure because the colors are similar, click on the individual cabin and it will tell you it’s category and size.

The sitting fee is complimentary for ‘all’ guests in the Platinum Studio. It is not a suite benefit. Just like all the ‘background’ shots, no obligation to purchase. The coupon is a nice perk if you want to take the time for the appointments.

Currently have friends on Coral which is doing WC. They got on in So. Africa and will disembark in Dover. Currently there are about 800 elites so Elite laundry is taking 7 days to be returned.

No, the loyalty command OBC was in $25 increments starting at your 21st cruise credit and then approximately every 10 afterwards it would increase another $25, maxing out at $100 on your 52nd cruise credit. This OBC was discontinued with the restart. It does not make sense if you already have 19 cruise credits, then you should be ‘Elite’. Princess also used to have ‘Milestone’ recognition originally based on number of cruise credits, then it was adjusted to number of days with Princess and then discontinued around end of 2022, but some passengers were grandfathered if they booked their milestone cruise before the end of the program, so they received the milestone benefits on that later cruise, but it was not made public since the program had ended.

Hi @Ken the cruiser, yes that is the excursion that says you take a smaller boat to hopefully get ‘close’ to the glacier. What are you thinking is not as I have described as ship tour offered to take smaller boat to see glacier? On my Sapphire sailing last July, ice conditions in the water prevented the excursion boat from getting much closer than the ship to the glacier, but it does go closer to the coastline. You use the words ‘drive close by’, it is not in a land vehicle, it is a special excursion boat.

@MtnSeaGirl, if your sailing will visit Hubbard Glacier, there is usually a ship tour offered to take smaller boat to get closer to the glacier. It is quite expensive $300+/person. Depending on the ice conditions, you may or may not get much closer than the ship.

My experience has been if Lobster will be served on your sailing in the MDR, it will usually be the ‘last’ formal night of the sailing. It is up to the chef, as on one of my recent 7 night sailings, lobster was on the menu the night after the second formal night.

On a previous sailing, my sister did not have an internet plan, and she did not print out the coupon she wanted to use. She went to Guest Services and they provided a copy of the coupons to her, but first verified that she was eligible, so there is something tied to your booking to let them know. YMMV. The studio is alive and well as on my last sailings on Ruby, Discovery and Enchanted this year, almost every photographer mentioned to me while I was taking my nightly pictures since I had the photo package, was I aware and or interested in a Platinum Studio sitting.

I believe this coupon has a value of $150, as that would be the cost to order a 8x10 print from your Platinum Studio sitting.The Platinum Studio specializes in Black and White photography and the lighting and posing is specialized. I believe the Platinum Studio photographer has done extra training to qualify. A signature pose is to angle the subject, but other examples are usually displayed at the photo gallery. The Princess officer boards at one time had all the officers displayed this way/styled, but Princess seems to have progressed back to traditional color portraits for the Officers board. I know they encourage you to order more than just the ‘free’ print. This requires booking an appointment/sitting with the Platinum Studio, then going back to review the photos at a later time when they have arranged a slide show. You then place an order for your Print, as they are not processed on board. You will receive the print mailed to you anywhere from 3-6 weeks, in most cases.