canucktrio

On 8/27/2023 at 4:38 AM, jdacombe said:

I'm in the UK and have already booked a cruise for April next year so my Ocean Ready is showing as picking up the medallion at the port.

Assuming this change is implemented for UK travellers before April 2024 will I have the optionto/be able to elect to have the medallion mailed to me instead.

Yes,  you just have to cancel your medallion order and then order it again with the shipping. Your only consideration is that you shouldn’t forget to carry it with your passport/id as it won’t help you much if you pack it in your suitcase. 

20 hours ago, memoak said:

I have been very satisfied with the bourbons available under the plus package  I get Woodford reserve or Buffalo Trace for my Manhattans is just file and my wife is happy with Grey Goose vodka. We do not consider them basic brands and the all fall within the plus package

Perhaps my over generalization.  Some brands did rise above the $15 mark and I assume due to inflation more than anything else.  
we just booked another cruise on the Sun princess for summer 2024.  Even with the plus package princess is still a good vacation value. 

On 8/13/2023 at 12:04 PM, voljeep said:

what was the per drink price limit when we booked 10/3/22? - Thanks

(Not discussing premium wines) The price of a glass of wine was about $7-9 before covid.  Then the plus package was introduced with a drink limit of $12/drink. At the same time the price of wine went up to $9-12 with some wines discontinued limiting choices for plus. Some wines then were increased to $13-18 that were at the start just $12. Then the new plus was introduced to offer drinks to $15.  Behold the wine choices narrowed further.  Basic choice for plus and some ok wines at $16-22.  Now we have the revised plus and premier drink packages so I am assuming the house wines will be $15 and the choice wines should rise to $18-25/glass. Up charges are still the name of the game on cruises. By the way. The bar alcohol has seen the same game played.  Basic brands for plus.  Better brands available to premier 

11 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

That's a below average day for me and my DH. 😁

Water bottles, coffees, and sodas add up so even if you don’t drink 4 drinks x 2 packages, for a couple in a stateroom,a day the joy is knowing if you don’t like or don’t finish a drink you can order another.  I’ve compared plus and premier and still think plus is the best value.  We just pay any up charge if we order something above the $15.00.  Usually there’s some good wine choices at $16-$20 for the premier package but between 2 persons we don’t need to spend $40.00 more.  If they start cheeping out on the bar alcohol (ie no name vodka/gin/rum/tequila/whiskey) I may have to change my mind then.  
My support to princess is they are also trying to address people buying basic and not wanting to pay the gratuities to support the staff. The more people opt in to the packages , staff benefit, and services should improve 

12 hours ago, memoak said:

You must not be a long time cruiser. Before there was plus there was just a drink package and it was unlimited

Yup. Unlimited drinks and the coffee card could be used for gelato. They also had cans of iced coffee (Illy)

On 8/7/2023 at 11:57 AM, helovestrains said:

We have cruises booked for this month, February and May 2024 each with the plus package although the plus packages were different prices.  I believe I was able, at one time, to look at my booking and see what was included.   I can't find this now.  Does anyone know where I can find this information?  Thanks.

When you view your travel summary (I always print it when I book to ensure it doesn’t change it in error). On about thr 3rd page look for “special services” followed by “onboard credits for this booking “.  After that should be the charges and what you have paid and what you owe. 

3 hours ago, rosevew said:

Tried that 2 weeks ago but had no response at all so far

Yup.  Eventually you should either get a reply or follow up. They don’t always write back until they have a corporate approval to say something 

customerrelations@princesscruises.com
 

Send a message. It’s the best way to be heard. Write a polite letter explaining your concerns, what you like about the changes at what is not so good. 
 

Discussion, and complaints in forums is ok but don’t forget to actually be counted. 

As a Canadian traveller, I never had any complaint with the check in at the port without having received our medallions ahead of arrival. As we are elite guests and sometimes in a suite they had priority lanes for us once we passed the security checkpoint. Would be nice to know they still have priority benefits for us even if we are in the blue lane. 
Still no option as of august 12 for shipping medallions outside USA and Puerto Rico. We sail in November and January.  Perhaps they’ll solve their implementation soon.  

On 10/1/2021 at 1:46 PM, GeorgesGal said:

Yes, I did book a specialty dinner for my sister and I, but it was supposed to be one of the perks for staying in a suite (first night).  If this is the case will it automatically be credited back to the CC I used once on board?

And thank you all for pointing this out.  I hadn't realized Princess would bill for something that is supposed to be gratis.

Donna

My specialty dinner showed as a discount when i booked it. so it did not charge.

Thanks for sharing the photos of this suite.   We are booked in March 2020 on the Sky, and then have the same suite on the Enchanted in 2021 and one more time on the Discovery in 2022.    🛳️😎

On 10/17/2019 at 11:59 PM, dstables said:

These are the photos of Window Suite. The other is only the Oeanview Cabin. 

On 2/20/2019 at 5:49 PM, CaboWabo62 said:

I am booking EZAir for our flight to LA , does booking flights with Princess EZAir include transport to and from the port? or do I need airport transfers as well.

No. You have to book transfers separately. We use ez air booking regularly.  No complaints. We usually get an Uber xl for less than transfer for 1 person. 

I've never gotten a credit card to use for travel but I just booked a British Isle cruise for next summer so started thinking about it and looking into it. I looked at the Chase Sapphire Reserved and Preferred so far. I currently use a Discover card for all my purchases and just get the cash back benefit. I had a few silly questions I'm sure as I don't know how it works. How would I cash in my points to use for travel? So say I want to book my flight to London on Delta and I go to their website to purchase my ticket, when it comes to paying for it with miles how does that work? I've seen that they have their own sky mile program? Can you use points on any airline or are you locked into one? Can you use it for your cruise? How does it work for a hotel? Are all the "miles" on all the travel CC the same, meaning is 10,000 miles on Chase get you the same thing as 10,000 miles one Capital One?

Forget about points when traveling abroad. Find a credit card with no FX fees. The credit card companies charge about 2.5-3.0% to exchange foreign currency to your own. Some cards have no added exchange fees. Just pay the prevailing bank rate. Always choose to pay your credit card purchase in the local currency of where you are. Sometimes the merchants also try to make the exchange spread. The 2.5% is better than any point rewards but then some of these cards offer decent points too.

The best place to get wine is at Total Wine in back of the Embassy Suites hotel off of S.E. 17th St. in the Harbordale mall. This is probably too far to walk from the Crown Plaza. There is a Stop & Shop just a few blocks from the hotel and a Walgreens just up the street about 3/4 mile by a bunch of restaurants. Both of these stores should have wine. Winn-Dixie is further away from the hotel, but also on Rd. 84.

Each adult can carry on 1 x 750ml bottles of wine at no charge for use in your cabin. If you bring the bottle to a public area, such as the DR you are charged a $15 corkage fee. Additional bottles can be carried on and are subject to the $15 corkage fee when boarding. These bottles are marked and may be used anywhere on the ship. An inexpensive bottle of wine in a store will cost about $12. To use it in the DR will cost another $15. Compare that to an inexpensive bottle purchased on the ship, which is about $30. For inexpensive wines it is kind of break even. For expensive wines, you probably do better bringing them on and paying the corkage.

I can't tell you about Uber, but it probably will take 15 to 20 mins to order a taxi if none are at the hotel. A taxi fare to the pier from the Crown Plaza would be right around $15/$20. The ride to the port is only 10/15 mins. There may be a pay shuttle from the hotel to the port. Call the hotel to find out.

Most ships have wines starting in the mid $20.00 range, and some have decent wine packages if you want several bottles during your cruise. If you have a bottle opened anywhere on the ship, you can take it back to your cabin, or send it to your dining room to enjoy at dinner, or hold from one dinner to the next. Since you have to pay corkage on most ships to bring aboard wine that you don't drink in your own stateroom, then you better be bringing really good wine aboard. We've found many enjoyable wines to select between $25 and $40.00 USD when cruising.

If you look around the net with google, you should be able to see the wine list for your ship with all the pricing.

I thought the question was about whether to walk to the airport from the cruise ship, not the hotels. That I can understand a little more. Walking to the airport is out of the question IMO. ;)

There is no logic in walking in fear of terrorism when more likely two seniors from out of town walking with luggage from a hotel or the airport are likely to be mugged on their way to/from the ship.

Agreed. Take Uber, a cab, or a shuttle. When 3 or more, definitely take a Uber and upgrade to SUV/MiniVan. We've taken Uber off the ship. Fast and comfortable. We've used hotel shuttle to get to ship. OK, but add 20-30 minutes for other passengers to assemble and board bus. We only did it once because for some reason the hotel promo gave it free.

If you are arriving a day or more early, stay at any hotel in Ft. Lauderdale. The hotel price is more important than proximity to the cruise terminal. We use points at Marriott brands or at Hyatt brands, but we found that if you stay overnight in a lousy location, you're essentially stuck in a hotel room with nothing to do. Find a hotel with proximity to the beach, dining, shopping, or entertainment. Your holiday starts when you got on your flight, not when you get on the ship!

I'm a little confused. I thought this mini-suite had a sofa bed. Is this not the case?

No. When we booked, the agent could not confirm the sofa as a pull out. We didn't mind, as the pull outs are usually less comfortable anyway as beds. The mini suite usually has a pull out, but this layout does not have the space to allow one, so its only a 5 foot wide sofa. They will bring in a rollaway for a 3rd guest. The size of the balcony is really the selling point. M107 below, has an even larger balcony as the balcony extends over the bridge wing, but has less privacy than L107

:D

 

So glad to hear that!

 

:D

Well done.

We moved the coffee table in front of the window and had no problem with the rollaway.

Hello Najones58,

 

I stayed in L107 on one of the 2 night preview cruises & posted the photos on CC.

 

Here is a link to the photos of the mini suite

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/114133842550415618680/RoyalPrincessMiniSuiteL107Deck16Forward

 

Whilst I'm not saying it is right the only thing I can think off is that if / when the sofa bed is made up you wouldn't be able to walk past it & therefore the passengers sleeping in the main bedroom area wouldn't be able to get to the bathroom & or the door {balcony or stateroom} in case of emergency.

 

If you look at all my pictures {sorry I am at work & cannot upload individual ones into this message} you'll see how different the layout of this mini suite is to most.

 

You should just be able to see from one of my photos where it shows the 2 TV's just where the sofa is located.

 

I hope this helps.

We just got back. They are trying to put Elite members in L107 as an upgrade. They tried that on us, and we refused. Seems they emailed us after we left home, but we didn't find out till our check in. Luckily we were early enough to raise a fuss and even thought the ship was sold out, we got put back in L107 before the Super Elite member showed up (and they were pissed not to get the cabin-I bumped into them outside our door). Be sure you tell them to include on your file "No Upgrade" (which I had done on booking). The room fits a rollaway so 2 adults and one teen are good for the room.

I also suspect Princess may be "pulling one over" on you and maybe another party wanted those rooms (maybe wanted a block of rooms) and the rep made up the excuse. Who knows? I'm pretty confident that cabin can accommodate three people!