Princess Secrets 2014!!!

[BrandiGreg]

Do you have to ask before the cruise (i.e. on the cruise personalizer), or just ask once you get on board?

I suspect they just fill the jugs with tap water from the ship, since it is essentially distilled water (reverse osmosis produced). In a pinch, you can use the bathroom tap. Main recommendation I have seen regarding CPAP is to bring an extension cord in case your room configuration does not have the room plug in a nearby location.

[Thrak]

Thanks for the information. Although I am new to Princess, I am not new to CCL having sailed with both Carnival and HAL. I have obtained the OBC for my upcoming Panama Canal transit cruise. That is the only thing that makes the stock worth owning IMHO. The Future Cruise Credit is something that only Princess has though. It is a great deal. Sort of like giving Princess a loan and getting it back with fun instead of interest.

 

Well, I would consider the $250 OBC we're getting for using the FCC as deposit to be "interest" in addition to the fun. :)

[Smokeyham]

This has been mentioned before, but deserves repeating. The best Princess secret is the embarkation day lunch in one of the main dining rooms. We are just off the Island Princess, Panama Canal full transit.

 

After the hubbub of embarkation, it was a quiet respite to have lunch in the MDR. When we first arrived it seemed that they weren't serving. There was no one at the host stand, no people to be seen. But we walked further in and a host saw us and motioned us in. There were only a handful of folks eating, tucked back into a corner!

 

Good food, good service. Great start to a great cruise!

 

This is one of our favourite traditions (first lunch in the Main Dining ROOM (MDR), as opposed to the buffet). Sometimes you have to ask a number of staff members which restaurant they are serving this in. Don't be surprised if they try to steer you to the buffet. You just have to be persisent.

 

The information is also printed in the patter, but if you have not been to your cabin, then you may not have a copy to look at.

 

Also, the MDR usually stops serving at 1:30 pm, so it is worth getting on early.

[Smokeyham]

My favorite tip has to be writing whatever you want on the door hanger for breakfast and no questions asked. Our cabin breakfasts were incredible.

 

Mark

 

Just FYI that it does not always work. I tried this on Sapphire in Alaska and there was note with the breakfast saying that the items I ordered were not available from room service. They did deliver the items which were on the breakfast card.

[counsdr]

I suspect they just fill the jugs with tap water from the ship, since it is essentially distilled water (reverse osmosis produced). In a pinch, you can use the bathroom tap. Main recommendation I have seen regarding CPAP is to bring an extension cord in case your room configuration does not have the room plug in a nearby location.

 

As a CPAP user, I can tell you first hand that the room steward delivers a SEALED gallon bottle of distiller water to one's stateroom. An extension cord is a necessity, but with a request ahead of time, I've gotten a long, heavy duty cord.

[Smokeyham]

Do you have to ask for distilled water before the cruise (i.e. on the cruise personalizer), or just ask once you get on board?

 

Answering my own question.... I found the way to request distilled water for CPAP before the cruise.

 

Under Cruise Personalizer

Guest Check In

Medical and Dietary Requests

 

Scroll down to Dietary and Special Requests. There is also a text box where you can request the number of gallons you want

 

"Provide any information needed to fulfill your request(s). e.g. type of allergy"

[MandD]

Answering my own question.... I found the way to request distilled water for CPAP before the cruise.

 

Under Cruise Personalizer

Guest Check In

Medical and Dietary Requests

 

Scroll down to Dietary and Special Requests. There is also a text box where you can request the number of gallons you want

 

"Provide any information needed to fulfill your request(s). e.g. type of allergy"

 

Smokeyham, when you order distilled water in advance, they MAY ask why you want it. This only happened once out of 12 cruises. Request came from the dietary coordinator! Also I believe there may be a charge after the first gallon. Sometimes it was in the room waiting for us, sometimes we had to ask the steward for it and once we had to call room service. As they say, YMMV.:)

[Smokeyham]

Smokeyham, when you order distilled water in advance, they MAY ask why you want it. This only happened once out of 12 cruises. Request came from the dietary coordinator! Also I believe there may be a charge after the first gallon. Sometimes it was in the room waiting for us, sometimes we had to ask the steward for it and once we had to call room service. As they say, YMMV.:)

 

Thanks! Good to know they may charge after the first gallon. I did. note that this is for a CPAP in the text box.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Forums mobile app

[Smokeyham]

Smokeyham, when you order distilled water in advance, they MAY ask why you want it. This only happened once out of 12 cruises. Request came from the dietary coordinator! Also I believe there may be a charge after the first gallon. Sometimes it was in the room waiting for us, sometimes we had to ask the steward for it and once we had to call room service. As they say, YMMV.:)

 

Had a very quick response from Princess. They acknowledged my request for distilled water. In the text field on the form I had already specified that this is for a CPAP Machine.

 

I requested two gallons, and it looks like this should be free, based on the information from the website. This is listed as an item under "Medical Requests General Information. Here is the text from the web site:

 

"Distilled water can be provided, for use with your c-pap machine, onboard free of charge in gallon units, provided you submit a request in advance of sailing. Once onboard, simply contact your stateroom steward to request the water to be delivered to your stateroom as needed. To request distilled water for your voyage, please contact our Dietary Coordinator using the dietary request form. In the comment section of the form, please indicate the quantity required in gallons. Note that for domestic sailings, advance requests must be received no later than 35 days prior to sailing date. For international sailings, advance requests must be received no later than 65 days prior to sailing. For late requests, we cannot guarantee availability onboard."

Edited July 24, 2014 by Smokeyham

[jg51]

One CrCr member wrote the following, above (and others agreed or re-stated the same information in other words):

"They come around the main deck at 3pm with trays of warm, fresh cookies and ice cold milk. Its pretty wonderful!"

 

We respect the above opinion ["wonderful"], but we do not share it. We believe that this service is performed with an ulterior motive. ALL cruise lines do everything that they possibly can to limit passengers' intake of the foods that cost them the most -- especially meat, fish, and desserts. The lines try to tempt guests to fill up on things that cost the lines the least -- in this case milk and cookies ... and they do it at 3PM -- to kill our appetites. (Remember when you were a kid, and your mom would not allow you to have a snack at 3PM, lest you "ruin your appetite for supper.")

 

When cruise lines cannot ruin an appetite by persuading guests to snack on solids between meals, they hope to do it by means of beverages -- especially carbonated beverages, which are notorious for fooling our brains into thinking that we are full and just cannot order much in the MDR (or cannot take much to eat in the buffet). Many people who fill up on beverages in the afternoon -- and then eat lightly at dinner -- tend to get frustratingly hungry after the MDR has closed.

 

Finally, when cruise lines cannot ruin an appetite via solid snacks nor via bubbly beverages, then they will try to fool guests into skipping dessert by filling them up with inexpensive pre-entree items. Examples are ... water (especially sparkling water, with its air bubbles filling up the stomach), salad, soup (VERY heavy), and bread (again full of air).

 

Of course, some people absolutely LOVE cookies, milk, salad, soup, and/or bread ... and they can just ignore what we have said above. If, however, you are a passenger who would like to eat the maximum amount of the most expensive, best-tasting [to the average person] foods on a ship, then you need to join us in avoiding, as much as possible, the aforementioned items that are designed to fill up our stomachs at the least possible cost to the cruise line.

.

Edited July 24, 2014 by jg51

[Thrak]

Enjoy that cynical attitude. I, on the other hand, will enjoy my cookie and glass of milk. I don't eat cookies at home and I rarely have a glass of milk. I don't try to "maximize" the amount of more expensive food in MDR and I certainly don't see other passengers scrimping on their portions in HC. On the contrary, I 'm usually appalled at the amount of food I see people heaping onto those platters.

[pablo222]

I suspect they just fill the jugs with tap water from the ship, since it is essentially distilled water (reverse osmosis produced).

 

Wow.

 

In many ports, like Ft. Lauderdale, ships bunker water.

So, what comes out of the tap in your cabin is essentially city water.

 

Distillation and reverse-osmosis are completely different processes.

 

Princess does not use reverse-osmosis, they use flash-evaporation.

While that is essentially distillation, most shops add minerals back

to the water to save the plumbing.

[lone_stranger]

Wow.

 

Princess does not use reverse-osmosis, they use flash-evaporation.

While that is essentially distillation, most shops add minerals back

to the water to save the plumbing.

 

Which is a life saver because the minerals leached from the plumbing are not particularly good for your health. :eek:

[lone_stranger]

Does that mean that you also pass up those libations served in the various watering holes on the ship? No pre-dinner martini or glass of wine, no afternoon Mai Tai, Pina Colada, etc.? No glass of wine with dinner? If you are on a diet, more power to you. On the other hand if you really like the food that Princess serves that much, please tell me which dishes are particularly outstanding. Personally, I like to indulge in those items that I would not normally eat or drink, so don't hold back. As I always say, if it's not moving too fast I will eat it. The only exceptions to that are some of the bizarre foods that Andrew Zimmern eats.

[gottagocit]

One CrCr member wrote the following, above (and others agreed or re-stated the same information in other words):

"They come around the main deck at 3pm with trays of warm, fresh cookies and ice cold milk. Its pretty wonderful!"

 

We respect the above opinion ["wonderful"], but we do not share it. We believe that this service is performed with an ulterior motive. ALL cruise lines do everything that they possibly can to limit passengers' intake of the foods that cost them the most -- especially meat, fish, and desserts. The lines try to tempt guests to fill up on things that cost the lines the least -- in this case milk and cookies ... and they do it at 3PM -- to kill our appetites. (Remember when you were a kid, and your mom would not allow you to have a snack at 3PM, lest you "ruin your appetite for supper.")

 

When cruise lines cannot ruin an appetite by persuading guests to snack on solids between meals, they hope to do it by means of beverages -- especially carbonated beverages, which are notorious for fooling our brains into thinking that we are full and just cannot order much in the MDR (or cannot take much to eat in the buffet). Many people who fill up on beverages in the afternoon -- and then eat lightly at dinner -- tend to get frustratingly hungry after the MDR has closed.

 

Finally, when cruise lines cannot ruin an appetite via solid snacks nor via bubbly beverages, then they will try to fool guests into skipping dessert by filling them up with inexpensive pre-entree items. Examples are ... water (especially sparkling water, with its air bubbles filling up the stomach), salad, soup (VERY heavy), and bread (again full of air).

 

Of course, some people absolutely LOVE cookies, milk, salad, soup, and/or bread ... and they can just ignore what we have said above. If, however, you are a passenger who would like to eat the maximum amount of the most expensive, best-tasting [to the average person] foods on a ship, then you need to join us in avoiding, as much as possible, the aforementioned items that are designed to fill up our stomachs at the least possible cost to the cruise line.

.

 

Wow!

Seriously?

Amazing......

[jcruizer]

Ditto. I go to enjoy and eat whet works for ME

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[johnsuttoncoldfield]

One CrCr member wrote the following, above (and others agreed or re-stated the same information in other words):

"They come around the main deck at 3pm with trays of warm, fresh cookies and ice cold milk. Its pretty wonderful!"

 

We respect the above opinion ["wonderful"], but we do not share it. We believe that this service is performed with an ulterior motive. ALL cruise lines do everything that they possibly can to limit passengers' intake of the foods that cost them the most -- especially meat, fish, and desserts. The lines try to tempt guests to fill up on things that cost the lines the least -- in this case milk and cookies ... and they do it at 3PM -- to kill our appetites. (Remember when you were a kid, and your mom would not allow you to have a snack at 3PM, lest you "ruin your appetite for supper.")

 

When cruise lines cannot ruin an appetite by persuading guests to snack on solids between meals, they hope to do it by means of beverages -- especially carbonated beverages, which are notorious for fooling our brains into thinking that we are full and just cannot order much in the MDR (or cannot take much to eat in the buffet). Many people who fill up on beverages in the afternoon -- and then eat lightly at dinner -- tend to get frustratingly hungry after the MDR has closed.

 

Finally, when cruise lines cannot ruin an appetite via solid snacks nor via bubbly beverages, then they will try to fool guests into skipping dessert by filling them up with inexpensive pre-entree items. Examples are ... water (especially sparkling water, with its air bubbles filling up the stomach), salad, soup (VERY heavy), and bread (again full of air).

 

Of course, some people absolutely LOVE cookies, milk, salad, soup, and/or bread ... and they can just ignore what we have said above. If, however, you are a passenger who would like to eat the maximum amount of the most expensive, best-tasting [to the average person] foods on a ship, then you need to join us in avoiding, as much as possible, the aforementioned items that are designed to fill up our stomachs at the least possible cost to the cruise line.

.

 

This has intrigued me.

 

Maybe I am missing something here but the obvious response would be that this surely makes little sense.

 

The bulk of food that is not consumed, certainly by the end of a cruise, is disposed of. There is mention of bread, this is baked fresh every day on-board and presumably if anything is left over, this would also be thrown out. There is no motivation or logic for a cruise line to encourage passengers not to consume the best possible options, quality is integral to enhancing the whole experience and they want to impress surely?

 

Regarding sparkling water, as a non- drinker, I am often reminded by friends in the industry that they make more profit on the sale of water and soft drinks than they do on alcohol and I have no reason to doubt them.

 

So the theory that the cruise line is set on encouraging us to consume cheaper foods or sparkling water, in practice does not really make sense.

Am I missing the point somewhere?

[dorisis]

Does that mean that you also pass up those libations served in the various watering holes on the ship? No pre-dinner martini or glass of wine, no afternoon Mai Tai, Pina Colada, etc.? No glass of wine with dinner? If you are on a diet, more power to you. On the other hand if you really like the food that Princess serves that much, please tell me which dishes are particularly outstanding. Personally, I like to indulge in those items that I would not normally eat or drink, so don't hold back. As I always say, if it's not moving too fast I will eat it. The only exceptions to that are some of the bizarre foods that Andrew Zimmern eats.

 

Early breakfast. Elevenses in IC with speciality coffee and pastry. Lunch at 1PM. Tea at 3:30. Cocktail and Canapes in Elite Lounge at 5:45. Dinner at 7:30 and snacks before midnight. Then at least 4 or 5 Tums at bedtime.

[johnmik1]

This has intrigued me.

 

Maybe I am missing something here but the obvious response would be that this surely makes little sense.

 

The bulk of food that is not consumed, certainly by the end of a cruise, is disposed of. There is mention of bread, this is baked fresh every day on-board and presumably if anything is left over, this would also be thrown out. There is no motivation or logic for a cruise line to encourage passengers not to consume the best possible options, quality is integral to enhancing the whole experience and they want to impress surely?

 

Regarding sparkling water, as a non- drinker, I am often reminded by friends in the industry that they make more profit on the sale of water and soft drinks than they do on alcohol and I have no reason to doubt them.

So the theory that the cruise line is set on encouraging us to consume cheaper foods or sparkling water, in practice does not really make sense.

Am I missing the point somewhere?

 

The per diem for food is about $15 per passenger.I was surprised at that figure but have been told this by many different officers.

[johnsuttoncoldfield]

The per diem for food is about $15 per passenger.I was surprised at that figure but have been told this by many different officers.

 

Hello johnmik1 - Like you, I am surprised at that low figure. Although, as this is likely to be a Net cost to the cruise line and with the mark-up to retail on food probably about 300%, I suspect at $45, this would not be an entirely unacceptable daily allowance.

[Colo Cruiser]

Wow!

Seriously?

Amazing......

 

 

Cruise ship paranoia.

[sminfiddle]

Wow!

Seriously?

Amazing......

Not THAT serious. I mean, there may be something to the (free) cookies and milk... but they are not pushing carbonated bev's (they come at a price) and definitely not the sparkling water (again, there is a price and you must present the cruise card)... this conspiracy theory fails on the cruise lines that charge for the fuzzy water.

If there were open-access soda fountains on Princess, I'd be more inclined to agree.

[canadarocks]

This has SO stopped being about Princess Secrets! :eek: Back to the good tips please!

[pablo222]

Which is a life saver because the minerals leached from the plumbing are not particularly good for your health. :eek:

 

Drinking de-mineralized water leaches minerals from your bones,

as well.

[lone_stranger]

Early breakfast. Elevenses in IC with speciality coffee and pastry. Lunch at 1PM. Tea at 3:30. Cocktail and Canapes in Elite Lounge at 5:45. Dinner at 7:30 and snacks before midnight. Then at least 4 or 5 Tums at bedtime.

 

Now that is a diet I could wrap myself around. Is that the Princess secret diet? ;) I used to do the Tums thing too, but I found that good old Alka Seltzer worked better for me.

Edited July 25, 2014 by lone_stranger