Princess Secrets they Don't Tell You - 2013 version

[Candiaccruiser]

Wow, that was all really helpful, might save me a lot of "trawling"! Thanks.

 

Jane.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[myjillian]

Yes you can. Once you install the app and sign in they'll all be there. It saves so much on luggage space to be able to take a device instead of a plethora of books.

I take my kendal but still take paperbacks...that way I give them away to the dancers in the show...they are very thankful and it makes more room for me to bring things back. Once, after buying some rugs in Casablanca I emptied almost all of my clothing out of the suitcase and gave everything to our room steward because she was going home and her mother was my size:p That way i had room for the rugs.....of course, that was before you paid extra for weight on the planes LOL

[myjillian]

Never been to the casino:):confused:

Do you just walk into the casino and ask for $$$ or do you have to "play" first?

Who do ask for the cash out?

You go to the machine..put in the amount you have left ( money to play on) play a quarter etc. then cash out at the cashier...simple and you don't leave anything behind:D

[myjillian]

First 2 bottles per room (1 bottle for each person over 21) are free and may only be consumed in your room. $15 corkage fee for each bottle after that. They mark the bottles somehow and that way the wait staff knows you've paid the corkage fee. It's actually very reasonable. It seems to be the standard corkage fee I pay to bring a bottle into a restaurant here at home.

I have found that you may consume as much wine as you need to from the room. We pour the glass of wine in the room then walk to the dining room and drink it. We have wine parties in the room and everybody does it. we just tell our room steward that we need x amount of wine glasses for that evening. Every port we come back with wine for our room. I have never heard of a room wine accounting system. When we are in Venice we will go ashore many times and bring back the local wine that is in plastic 2 qt. soda bottles. You pay 2 euros and when you are in the local wine shops you have about 2 dozen wines to choose from. They are in big drums and everyone comes in with their own bottle...if you don't have a bottle then the owner will put them in the plastic soda containers:D Just keep leaving the ship and going back on. Last Winter we left Venice on a Crown TA and had 12 bottles of local wine on the desk. ( it was a 22 day Ta) It was soooo good. Our steward didn't mind at all,...of course a good habit to get into is when your steward introduced himselve to you..always shake their hand and have a couple of $20 bills folded in your hand. LOL

Edited September 2, 2013 by myjillian

[sept10dsm]

I have found that you may consume as much wine as you need to from the room. We pour the glass of wine in the room then walk to the dining room and drink it. We have wine parties in the room and everybody does it. we just tell our room steward that we need x amount of wine glasses for that evening. Every port we come back with wine for our room. I have never heard of a room wine accounting system. When we are in Venice we will go ashore many times and bring back the local wine that is in plastic 2 qt. soda bottles. You pay 2 euros and when you are in the local wine shops you have about 2 dozen wines to choose from. They are in big drums and everyone comes in with their own bottle...if you don't have a bottle then the owner will put them in the plastic soda containers:D Just keep leaving the ship and going back on. Last Winter we left Venice on a Crown TA and had 12 bottles of local wine on the desk. ( it was a 22 day Ta) It was soooo good. Our steward didn't mind at all,...of course a good habit to get into is when your steward introduced himselve to you..always shake their hand and have a couple of $20 bills folded in your hand. LOL

We do this with wine as well, but NO 20s to the steward! We tip based on their service without basically a bribe! I like to tip extra for what a person does. Anyway, last cruise along with the wine like this, we purchased one of Princess gift bottle of gin for $22 and bought 2 bottles of tonic water and made our own gin and tonic for much less than the cost on board. Not a hard drink to make on your own and very less of a cost than buying 8 or 9 on board. We did receive ice in our room each day and had lime as well!

[myjillian]

One secret I'd like to know is the one about the elusive upgrade fairy! I'm debating who I should book with, in hopes I might be the lucky chosen one. lol Not expecting it, no. I do wonder if it requires a booking through Princess or if it happens with other TA's, too.

With princess an upgrade is anything further down and more center than you have now...that's an upgrade in their minds. On Ncl you can get upgrades just before sailings..for about $100 or less and end up in suites !! or 2 bedrooms;) I knew a guy who after getting onboard asked if there were any Haven suites available. After about the third day he paid just a small fee and spent the entire cruise in a $12k pp suite. So the stories are out there. We are sailing the Panama Canal on NCL and paid for an outside and already have a upgraded balcony and we don't even sail until Oct 2014 LOL I bet that by time we do our 21 day NCL Europe cruise for 2015 we will be in a balcony. We have never sailed on NCL without being in a mini suite..and we usually start our bookings in an inside cabin !!! However, Princess has so much more to offer otherwise than NCL that somtimes I rather be in a Princess inside cabin at the rear of the ship with my adult pool just a few feet away and knowing that the best chicken salad at sea is at the International etc. than on a n NCL mini suite which has the world worse television shows:eek: but a beautiful itinery LOL

[sept10dsm]

With princess an upgrade is anything further down and more center than you have now...that's an upgrade in their minds. On Ncl you can get upgrades just before sailings..for about $100 or less and end up in suites !! or 2 bedrooms;) I knew a guy who after getting onboard asked if there were any Haven suites available. After about the third day he paid just a small fee and spent the entire cruise in a $12k pp suite. So the stories are out there. We are sailing the Panama Canal on NCL and paid for an outside and already have a upgraded balcony and we don't even sail until Oct 2014 LOL I bet that by time we do our 21 day NCL Europe cruise for 2015 we will be in a balcony. We have never sailed on NCL without being in a mini suite..and we usually start our bookings in an inside cabin !!! However, Princess has so much more to offer otherwise than NCL that somtimes I rather be in a Princess inside cabin at the rear of the ship with my adult pool just a few feet away and knowing that the best chicken salad at sea is at the International etc. than on a n NCL mini suite which has the world worse television shows:eek: but a beautiful itinery LOL

Nice but this is a thread on Princess secrets not NCL

[myjillian]

Thanks. If forced to eat at the Buffet the trick is to think of it as a regular dining room and just as you wouldn't go into a restaurant and order everything on the menu you only need to try one or two items. It works better in theory sometimes just before the "I'll have a little dab of this and just a smidge of that." sets in.:rolleyes:

I know ofmany people who went with the South Beach Diet book and lost up to 20 lbs on a cruise. It's simple and you don't have to be the one cooking the things. Richard and I are like you, people ask us how we can take so many cruises a year and not be overweight. You just have a tendency to eat healthy on a ship..and take the stairs when you can LOL Before I gave up Pepsi I used to loose 5 lbs on a ship because I refused to pay for soda LOL

[NorCal123]

I didn't see it listed on this 'Secrets' thread, but back in the day, free scooped ice cream was available with cookies at the Horizon Court 3:30-4:30. Maybe this has gone the way of many freebies ;-(

[chamima]

I didn't see it listed on this 'Secrets' thread, but back in the day, free scooped ice cream was available with cookies at the Horizon Court 3:30-4:30. Maybe this has gone the way of many freebies ;-(

 

 

 

It didn't really disappear. It's been replaced with free soft serve all day out by the pool where the pizza is. (Except for the Island and Coral where it's served from the bar by the inside pool)

[NorCal123]

It didn't really disappear. It's been replaced with free soft serve all day out by the pool where the pizza is. (Except for the Island and Coral where it's served from the bar by the inside pool)

Thanks Karen for the update ;-)

[caribill]

I didn't see it listed on this 'Secrets' thread, but back in the day, free scooped ice cream was available with cookies at the Horizon Court 3:30-4:30. Maybe this has gone the way of many freebies ;-(

 

It didn't really disappear. It's been replaced with free soft serve all day out by the pool where the pizza is. (Except for the Island and Coral where it's served from the bar by the inside pool)

 

It still exists on the Ocean and the Pacific since they do not have the soft-serve counter.

[chamima]

It still exists on the Ocean and the Pacific since they do not have the soft-serve counter.

 

Thanks

 

I forgot about that.

 

And you can take your ice cream (and they usually have scones, also) and sit on the aft of the ship and look at the wake while you eat! :D

[IECalCruiser]

It didn't really disappear. It's been replaced with free soft serve all day out by the pool where the pizza is. (Except for the Island and Coral where it's served from the bar by the inside pool)

Only on the Crown, Emerald and Ruby is the Ice Cream Bar and Pizza next to one another. On other Grand class ships the Ice Cream Bar is stand alone, typically on the starboard side between the two pools.

[mr green]

It didn't really disappear. It's been replaced with free soft serve all day out by the pool where the pizza is. (Except for the Island and Coral where it's served from the bar by the inside pool)

 

IMO the 'soft serve' is a very poor ice milk.

 

john

[WCAB]

Nice but this is a thread on Princess secrets not NCL

 

By giving a comparison, it helped give me a better idea of just what Princess considers an upgrade, so I found it to be helpful.

[WCAB]

IMO the 'soft serve' is a very poor ice milk.

 

john

 

Agreed. Hardly counts as a real ice cream but I'll take one on a hot day.

[coiran]

IMO the 'soft serve' is a very poor ice milk.

 

john

 

I have noticed on a few cruises they will sometimes have real ice cream at the soft serve bar - it is not advertised but sometimes does happen - chocolate and vanilla.

[Mimosa09]

I didn't see it listed on this 'Secrets' thread, but back in the day, free scooped ice cream was available with cookies at the Horizon Court 3:30-4:30. Maybe this has gone the way of many freebies ;-(

 

I saw this on the Diamond on our NZ-AU cruise. On the same ship on the Alaska cruises we didn't see this. So does it depend on the itinerary?

 

-Rose

[myjillian]

By giving a comparison, it helped give me a better idea of just what Princess considers an upgrade, so I found it to be helpful.

Thank you,:)

[noisycharlie]

The mini-bar you receive for being Elite or a Suite passenger can be exchanged for two Coffee Cards.

Call Room Service to have this done. Don't drink any of the items, even a water, as they will need the entire setup in exchange.

Does anyone know if Princess is still honoring this program. Also, On a back to back cruise booked as a 14 day-do they restock your mini bar the second week?

[GweninTX]

You can get sugar free hard scooped ice cream at Scoops - you have to ask for it - they have a different flavor every day and it is really good!

[myjillian]

Does anyone know if Princess is still honoring this program. Also, On a back to back cruise booked as a 14 day-do they restock your mini bar the second week?

I don't know about the coffee but the mini bar is restocked;)if you booked it as a b2b only...not as a 14 day !

Edited September 2, 2013 by myjillian

[Astro Flyer]

I don't know about the coffee but the mini bar is restocked;)if you booked it as a b2b only...not as a 14 day !

My experience several times as recently as July is that when booking as a 14 day cruise that can be booked as two 7 day cruises I receive 2 full minibars. Many others have posted having the same experience. :)

 

Any minibar may be exchanged for 2 coffee cards.

Edited September 3, 2013 by Astro Flyer

[caribill]

I saw this on the Diamond on our NZ-AU cruise. On the same ship on the Alaska cruises we didn't see this. So does it depend on the itinerary?

 

-Rose

 

No.

 

Your cruise was in 2009 before they started the free soft-serve and eliminated the buffet ice cream hour.