Corfe Mixture

Thanks for all the comments.

Seems it is normal to no longer show pre-paid gratuities in the stateroom account, though I am certain that, (for some reason I still have the stateroom account from a cruise) as recent as Jan 2016, it was the case that the prepayment showed as a credit which was gradually used as daily gratuities were charged.

I think the bottom line is that, in future, if I want to pre-pay my gratuities, I will do so by gifting myself additional OBC.

I certainly WON'T be opting out of auto gratuities even though, as a couple of you have observed, I am from the UK. Can't believe for one minute that, although a few UK people have asked how to remove the auto gratuities on Facebook, the practice is sufficiently widespread amongst my fellow countrymen for there to be a generalised view that all, or even the majority of UK citizens opt out of autogratuities.

CM

We normally pre-pay our gratuities, and prior to our 2016-17 cruise what used to happen is that, in effect, we each got a single onboard credit to our account to the value of the gratuities, at the start of the cruise, and gratuities were then charged as normal on a daily basis.

Then in 2016-17 we cruised out of Sydney, and because;

• the Australian clients do not pay gratuities
  and
  
• there was the issue of double currency conversions (the gratuities I pre-paid was a rate set in US dollars which I paid in pounds, though the ship’s onboard currency was AUS)
   
  I was therefore not surprised that the gratuities never showed on my AUS denominated onboard account.
   
  This year, I again pre-paid my gratuities at a US$ rate, on a Caribbean cruise where the on board currency was US$. I therefore expected that I would see a credit and daily charges as before. However this did not happen and no credits or charges relating to gratuities appeared on our account. Whilst this surprised me, I just assumed that it was a change in the way they accounted for pre-paid gratuities.
   
  However, what then happened at the end of the cruise caused me to question whether or not our steward was under the impression that we had opted out of gratuities. As I said we pre-paid our gratuities, but despite this, two days before the end of the cruise I gave our steward an envelope containing US$50 as an additional tip. Obviously he thanked us, without opening the envelope, but after that we only saw him once and he was certainly far less friendly.
   
  Then on packing to leave, we discovered that we had lost one of two very nice leather ‘Australian style’sun hats. Obviously we could have lost it ourselves on our last day ashore, but I don’t think so.
   
  Certainly I am not suggesting that it was stolen – though I am wondering whether or not we left it on the floor and it got ‘carelessly’ swept up in the rubbish. There was also another, less obvious, change in attitude towards us from another member of staff (in the restaurant on the last morning) but that could simply have been down to the fact that they were very busy.
   
  As I say I am not making any accusations, but there was a definite change in attitude after we gave our steward the envelope (and before we lost the hat) and, putting everything together, the bottom line is that, in truth, I am concerned about whether or not the staff thought that we had opted out of gratuities and that the, just over $200 additional gratuities we distributed in envelopes, and to room service staff, were the only tips we had offered.
   
  I’m not sure if others have had a similar experiences with pre-paid gratuities not showing on their account, but the impression that something was wrong was sufficiently powerful that, I have decided to do things slightly differently on future cruises, simply to avoid any risk of being incorrectly perceived as a person who accepts service but doesn’t expect to pay for it.
   
  So, in future, instead of pre-paying my gratuities and having nothing appear on my onboard account, I have decided that I will instead gift myself onboard credit to cover the value of the gratuities. This way I will see both my pre-payment and the gratuities showing on my account and thereby avoid any risk that, because no gratuities are shown on my stateroom account, the ‘system’ (i.e. the accounts department / Passenger Services Manager) might think that I have opted out of automatic gratuities and incorrectly include me on a list of passengers who have opted out of automatic gratuities and that the additional gratuities I offer in envelopes are the only gratuities I am offering and not the additional tips I am offering for extra service from people I have personally interacted with.
  

CM

This was discussed a few weeks ago and the answer seems to vary by country.

Not really sure why there is a difference given the terms and conditions are clear and say 24hours, but I rather suspect that it might be more a function of the different banking systems.

For example, in the U.K. where we live, last month I paid a significant bill to my plumber on line and not only did the money instantly disappear from my account, but it also arrived in my plumbers account (he uses a different bank) in a matter of minutes.

This is typical for us, but perhaps not in the US as I see that Princess refer to the fact that it might be several working days before a credit appears in one's account.

In my case refunds to my bank account from Princess ALWAYS arrive within 24 hours, as do cancellation refunds to my Amex card from organisations like hotels.com

So, as a UK based person, when I read of folks saying that Princess are slow in making refunds, I find myself suspecting that not all of the delay is perhaps down to Princess.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I ......will Christmas Eve be a formal night?

Check out the Roll Call. At the moment we don't know when the formal nights are, but posts 167 and 168 come to the same conclusion as Steeler - namely that, because of the late departure from Antigua, it is more likely that Dec25th and not Dec24th will be the formal evening.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

Last time I'll say this........ It's super easy to say the way you think it should be handled... but it didn't happen to you...it happened to me......

Quite right.

This thread reminds me very much of something my Business School Psychology (Behavioral Sciences) lecturer told us many years ago and stuck with me throughout my career.

"One of the most frightening things in the world is a blank piece of paper and the task of filling it. However, once someone has done it, every man and his dog can tell him how he could have done it better"

Reminded myself of that EVERY time I read the draft of a report I had asked someone to write for me.

First let me say that I am both familiar and comfortable with the French transport system as I live here, for 5 months of the year, and regularly use public transport.

I am not, however, familiar with the public transport connections between CDG and Le Havre.

Having said that, were I wanting to make the journey, I would be inclined to use the RER (urban subway system) to get from CDG to Paris - St Lazare and then take the train to Le Havre (roughly 3 hours).

However, given you are using EZAir why not rely on Princess's guaranteed connection.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We're on Pacific Princess right now , on a 29 day cruise and were unhappy to find out that there are no more Twinings teabags on the ship.

 

Its probably totally unimportant to other cruisers but British, Irish, Australian etc passengers have relied on these for a strong satisfying cuppa.

 

The Food and Bevereage Manager says there will never be any more Twinings, the ship has been sent some offbrand replacement with a strange taste. Totally unlike the excellent Twinings, but no doubt a fraction cheaper.

 

So bring your own teabags if you want a decent cup of tea on Princess.

 

Maybe passengers on other ships in the fleet can post whether Twinings have disappeared from the other ships?

 

There are also now very few Bigelows tea bags on Pacific P. That's a decent US make more or less as good as Twinings. F and B guy said they also won't be available when existing stocks run out.

Very many thanks for that information.

We were already planning to take some Yellow label EB with us to use in our hotel in Key West, but will now probably take a few more to use in our stateroom on or CB cruise. (Yup I know I can't have a kettle, but when we order early morning and/or afternoon tea from room service we will simply use our own tea).

I wonder why she couldn't then!

 

If I started a thread with misinformation, then I apologize to everyone!!

Absolutely no need to apologise. Sharing new information Is what this forum is all about. If we never passed information on until we had personally validated it, we would lose the benefit of sharing.

Not for one moment does anyone think that you were trying to mislead us.

We may have been up a bit of a blind alley, but that is not the issue. Our knowledge is richer and our understanding of the mysteries of Princess is better for the existence of this thread.

Feel good that you alerted us all to a perceived real problem and that as a group we have tested the information and hopefully worked out the definitive position.

The wine package has been restricted to the MDR, at least for the last year or so.I just go to the MDR,get my wine from the headwaiter and take it to any venue on the ship and order a ice bucket and glasses.Never had any hassle,they used to expect me every night.Cheers,Brian.

Thanks for that information Brian,

Our last cruises were Australian cruises out of Sydney, where they have a completely different Wine List and do not offer wine packages.

As a result although we always take a package, when one is available, we have not had one in the last year.

I will still see if I can order a 12 bottle package from the Crown Grill on the first night. If not, now that I am forewarned, I will go to the MDR and do the deal and take a bottle with me to the Crown Grill.

CM

Thank you all for the information. I just cancelled the shore excursion and the representative said it would take 7-10 business days for refund to show on credit card.

I suspect that this delay may be more related to your bank than to Princess. Here in the UK, on line banking transactions are very quick (yesterday I paid my plumber on line and the money was in his account within a matter of minutes) and I have always received the credit, for any Princess cancellations (to both my Amex credit card and my VISA debit card) the very next day.

Same with hotels.com who say that they will process the transaction immediately, but that it could take up to five working days before the money appears in my account. However, without exception, if I cancel and re-book, in order to get a better price, the credit always arrives on my Amex card account the next working day,

Wine packages, both Gold and Silver - 7 and 12 bottle, have only ever been available in one of the dining venues which include MDR, Sabatini's, Crown Grill, Horizon Court, Alfredo's, etc. They have never been available for use at any nof the bars or Vines and not via room service. You may however ask your MDR waiter to bring you an unopened bottle from your package and take it to your room.

Thanks for that clarification. All makes sense. Hopefully, I will still be able to share my wine package between MDR and Crown Grill.

Still leaves the question of the OP's other point about not being able to order half bottles of liquor / spirits from Room Service.

As promised I will report back, on the current situation on CB, in three weeks.

CM

I can tell you that she ordered the Gold Wine Package on sunday and said today that she had it refunded because she could only access the wines in the main dining room and not in places like Vines.

Yup, all understood. Hopefully I will find out on day 1 as we will be trying to order the wine package in the Crown Grill which should immediately reveal whether or not the wine package is restricted to MDR.

Whatever, I will definitely report back before Christmas.

Well, in three weeks time, I will be able to tell you what the situation is on CB.

We will be dining in MDR, Crown Grill and making use of UBD and I am expecting to purchase a wine package which I am anticipating being able to access in all locations and, as we are dining in the Crown Grill on the first evening, I am likely to be trying to purchase my wine package in the Crown Grill.

I have also pre-ordered half a bottle of Scotch and half a bottle of Gin and I am not anticipating wanting to top either of these up, until we are well into the cruise, but I will check the room service menu once I am on board and report back to this thread.

Also if you cancel your cruise within 5 days of sailing the shore excursions that are pre-paid become non-refundable. Learned this the hard way. Had to use the travel insurance for the reimbursement.

I appreciate that we are talking about what happens with a late cruise cancellation, but just to avoid misleading people who cancel pre-booked excursions with five days of the cruise, but still take the cruise, can I point out that they do get a refund.

Extract from Terms and Condition

"If a pre-paid shore excursion is not cancelled within the above time frame (5 days before sailing) or is cancelled during the voyage prior to the "Closing Time for Cancellation" listed for the particular excursion you wish to cancel, then the pre-paid amount will be refunded to the guest named on the pre-paid reservation as a shipboard credit on this guest's shipboard folio. Please note this is done regardless of which guest pre-paid for the shore excursion."

Yes, per above.

Just adding .... sometimes it takes a month before you will see it on your credit card statement.

Should not take a month. Princess terms and conditions state they will refund within 24 hours.

Extract from Terms and Conditions

"Cancellation of Pre-Paid Shore Excursions:

If you have pre-paid a shore excursion and wish to cancel, the following shall also apply:

If a pre-paid shore excursion is cancelled five (5) days or more prior to sailing a refund of the pre-paid amount will be made in one of the following ways:

1) If there is a shore excursion balance for the guest named on the reservation being cancelled then the pre-paid amount shall be applied to this balance.

(COMMENT: Not relevant to OP - really only applies if you have booked another tour shortly before cancelling.)

Or,

2) If there is no shore excursion balance for the guest named on the reservation being cancelled then the pre-paid amount will be refunded to the credit card used to pre-pay the shore excursion. Refunds in this instance will be made within 24 hours of cancellation.(COMMENT: I believe this is the part that is relevant to the situation the OP is describing)"

My bad story with table mates from Canada was bizarre. There were a table of 6 of us. Two elderly females, two Canadian's, and me and DH. We all introduced ourselves and the niceties of ourselves. As we all studied the menu, the male Canadian piped up and said "Well, I think Hillary should be President!" Hmmmm, okay. I said to him "What are her qualifications?" He sat there, more flabbergasted that anyone would answer him. He became more and more flustered to come up with an answer. He looked at me and said "BITCH!" I said, "what you can't answer your own comment?" My husband said to him "no name calling!" His wife mortified told him to leave. As he left the table, he gave me the middle finger. I gave it back to him on both hands and told him to "F" off. So, that's my table story. Haven't had one like that since.:evilsmile:

Was he drunk?

FYI I rent a car from Alamo, I have the freedom to go anywhere I want for the day and when I drop it off at the airport they give me a shuttle bus to the cruise terminal. Best part they give you a ticket to use the shuttle when you return from your cruise and gets you back to the airport. My cost is around $60 for the car and shuttle rides. IMHO super deal...

 

framer

I don' t think that Alamo still run a shuttle from the Airport to the cruise port

BUT

This is not bad news, just logistics.

WHY

They now run the cruise port shuttle from a new facility they have on Eller Drive near to the entrance to the cruise port, so it's actually even easier than taking the car back to the airport.

Only losers are those who used to con their way onto the shuttle to the airport from the cruise port.

Yes, it did used to happen - I was once proudly told by one person that he never paid for taxis to the airport from the cruise port as what he always did was to book an Alamo rental car that he never intended taking, print out the booking confirmation / reference, then cancel the booking, but keep the print out. Then when he got off the ship, he simply showed the print out to the driver of the shuttle who allowed him to use the shuttle.

However, if he tried that trick today, all that would happen is that he would be given a free ride to the Alamo rental facility on Eller Drive. :D

EDIT:

Oops I see that antsp beat me to it, but my point is that your idea still works. You just have to return the car to a different location.

I can confirm from personal experience that it's very easy to have the bill split by stateroom. We called the room service line and booked an UBD for four in C749 (two of us in C749, two in D703), and even though I said it was OK to bill it all together, the waiters were more than willing to split it (since my parents insisted on paying their portion).

Thanks for that information. Could prove very useful in a few weeks time if we wish to offer friends the opportunity to join us on either of the UBD we have booked for our large aft balcony.

Many thanks indeed for the clarification of my uncertainty.

Kindest

CM

Wow! That's very expensive particularly given you are reporting costs as they were nearly 25 years ago for a roughly 50km (25km each way) taxi ride.

In around 2010, approximately 17 years after your experience, we missed a train connection in continental France and had to take a taxi from Nantes to Fromentine (75-80km) in order to catch the last ferry to Ile d'Yeu and avoid the cost of two hotel rooms. That trip cost us €100 ($120). Not doubting the veracity of your report, but just amazed that taxis on Martinique are SO expensive compared with continental France and also that none of the locals you spoke to advised you to take the local ferry.

Think I will stay with my usual Martinique habit of using local buses at €1.50 ($1.80) single and, if I want to go to across the bay to Les Trois Ilets, I will continue to take the ferry from very close to the cruise port which charges around €5 ($6) return!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I've seen two people ask here, but no responses. Anyone know if UBD can be done for 3 or 4 people? I have 4 in our cabin, including 2 kids, but UBD in the Cruise Personalizer only says for 2.

As I understand it, though I stress that cannot confirm from personal experience, if your balcony is large enough, you can included as many couples as you like, though it will all be billed to the stateroom where UBD is taken.

If you want to set it up on cruise personaliser, for a group of four, then I think you can do it by having each occupant book for a couple though, if you do it this way, then I would advise that you add a note in the message box making it clear that you want to link the bookings and have both served at the same time. You may also want to call Princess and make confirm the arrangements verbally before you board.

If you want more than four people, then, even if your balcony is large enough, you will probably need to phone,

The funny story my wife likes to tell is of a young couple (in their 30's) and a very pompous man on an all British table for eight people.

The first night conversation started with the pompous man trying to impress the rest of us by telling us all about his important job, before moving on to ask us all what we did for a living.

I sort of ducked the question by playing down my role, as I could see that his need to convey his importance was very something he needed to do.

However, when he got to the young couple and asked them what they did for a living, the young lady simply said "We are in oil".

The man simply said "Oh" and that was the end of the conversation.

Later, after he had left, the couple revealed that they really were in oil - cooking oil - they owned a fish and chip shop in Brighton!!

Rather got the impression that it was not the first time they had used that line, but it certainly amused us.

Well now... Thank you for asking!

 

Worst, worst, Worst experience was the couple from Canada who looked me in the eye the first night at our traditional dining table that told me: "we prefer to sit with French -speaking people." I looked at them as I thought to myself: "GO Find YOURSELVES... another table!"

 

They read my mind and did so the next evening. I dined with another pleasant couple who was at the table."

Wish I had been there. I would have enjoyed telling them, in French, that I preferred to speak French only to people who speak French properly.

I wouldn't have really meant it, but the Québécois have a very distinct accent, as well as some notable grammatical differences to classical French but it would have let them know what I really thought about their comment.

First, can I say that it is probably better to ask your question on the Martinique board as you will get access to a wider range of opinions.

Has anyone experienced getting to a beach in Martinique on your own?

Yes do it often. People who want to simply go to the beach usually take the local ferry to Pointe du Bout / Les Trois Ilets. If we go to the beach we usually go to the Hotel Bakoua (formerly the Sofitel) at Les Trois Ilets

Is transportation easy to get outside cruise port?

How long is a piece of string? What do you mean by transportation and what you mean by easy?

a) local bus? The main bus station is about 3/4 mile from the cruise terminal and you will need euros.

b) taxi collectifs? (a sort of shared taxi service which operates in lieu of bus services to the more remote parts of the island) Don't know as I have never used them and again you will need euros.

c) taxis? Obviously easy once you have one, though again, you will need to be able to pay in euros. However, you will need to have roaming on your telephone in order to be able to phone and order the taxi (unless you can ask a bar owner to order one for you) and you will need to be able to speak French both over the phone and, in all probability, to the taxi driver.

d) local ferry? Very easy. Ferry terminal local to cruise port and I believe they accept USD. But you will still need euros when you get off the ferry at the other end, unless you intend going thirsty!

When you long for the days the Sun class ships were the largest in the fleet

Perhaps the most important factor with priority boarding is that the person controlling access to the lounge will be agency staff and not be a Princess employee.

I well remember being told by a person 'guarding' the entrance to the corridor leading to the Elite/Suite lounge, at PE terminal 21, that the lounge was reserved exclusively for Elite members and that, as a Platinum member staying in a suite, I was not entitled to either go to the lounge, or board until they called Platinum members.

Managed to get it sorted, but had to endure being told I could not expect her to know all the Princess rules.