Princess Secrets 2014!!!

[newparks]

I loved going up on top of the bridge but on my last 2 cruises that area was closed for the entire cruise. In port or out, windy day or calm. One day even one of the ships photographers was surprised to find that area closed off. I'll try getting up there once again on my next cruise. Hopefully this time it will be open!

 

 

Same here, it was roped off for the entire cruise two weeks ago on the Ruby. Very disappointing!!

[shellyfronk]

At around $40 per share, that's a $4k risk. Plus you're going to pay commission on each trade. If you're regularly doing 14 day cruises, it might be worth it. But for 13 days or under, a $50 to $100 credit hardly seems worth the stock risk.

 

Disagree - banks are giving nothing in interest. Not only do you get the OBC, you get dividends. We are glad we purchased!

[atmx093]

A nice tip for us Canadian travelers, you can call the Gifts department at Princess and purchase OBC at parity +10% (ie. $500 US dollars of OBC for $550 Canadian dollars)!

 

Great deal first off to pay far less than the going exchange rate and second to avoid additional currency conversion fees on your credit card!

[michelle028]

A nice tip for us Canadian travelers, you can call the Gifts department at Princess and purchase OBC at parity +10% (ie. $500 US dollars of OBC for $550 Canadian dollars)!

 

Great deal first off to pay far less than the going exchange rate and second to avoid additional currency conversion fees on your credit card!

 

 

But if you use your CDN credit card to pay it won't your credit card charge you the 2.5% conversion fee on top of the 10% exchange rate the Princess is charging?

[atmx093]

But if you use your CDN credit card to pay it won't your credit card charge you the 2.5% conversion fee on top of the 10% exchange rate the Princess is charging?

 

That's the beauty of it, the charge on the credit card is made in Canadian dollars, not US, so there is no conversion charge. :)

 

EDIT: I'll elaborate.

 

For Canadians to buy $500 US dollars of OBC (or any other amount for that matter), Princess will surcharge 10% and bill in Canadian dollars, so you end up with a $550 payment on your credit card in Canadian dollars. That beats the 25% currenty exchange PLUS 2.5% conversion fee.

 

Once you get onboard, you will see $500 US dollars of OBC on your account. Make sense?

Edited January 28, 2015 by atmx093

[michelle028]

That's the beauty of it, the charge on the credit card is made in Canadian dollars, not US, so there is no conversion charge. :)

 

EDIT: I'll elaborate.

 

For Canadians to buy $500 US dollars of OBC (or any other amount for that matter), Princess will surcharge 10% and bill in Canadian dollars, so you end up with a $550 payment on your credit card in Canadian dollars. That beats the 25% currenty exchange PLUS 2.5% conversion fee.

 

Once you get onboard, you will see $500 US dollars of OBC on your account. Make sense?

 

Totally! thanks so much for taking the time to explain it...with the dollar being so low every little bit helps!!

[IIcaptain]

Just off the Emerald Princess Houston to Belize and Cozumel.

 

An absolutely wonderful Cruise !!

 

Exceptional staff, wonderful meals, clean as a whistle and hey, we were cruising !!

 

 

 

Your attitude may affect your perception...

[restasured]

Last year I became an elite member.

 

This year I cruised on Sapphire and then on the Crown. The Crown computer remembered me from the Sapphire. I had left a few minutes on the Sapphire and considered me a returning computer user. The computer worker added

the 150 min. as a new returning user. I will be on the Crown again soon and will be considered as a returning member with the minutes I had left and will include the 150 min. for my cruise.

 

Some of you made me laugh with your comments. First of all, we don't need to eat the cookies and milk at 3 p.m. because they are available through room service.lol. Plus the coffee shop has them all day long.

 

We don't have to go eat tons of goodies at the TEA TIME if you plan to eat dinner early.

 

Food is always available. It is no big deal for me since I only eat when I feel like it. I don't eat much at dinner time and I don't order dessert unless there is something I really want.

 

I love to dance a lot. Since I cruise alone I dance alone. Lots of single gals like to join me when I start dancing. I love music.

 

Message to Hawaiian Dan, we only buy Carnival stock to get free cruises, discounts, OBC, free drinks, etc. I am not interested in getting more money from a stock investment. I just want to keep on cruising. I was born to cruise and I get depressed when I am not cruising. I enjoy getting deals on cruising. The money we invest in stock we get back right away if we cruise a lot and i do cruise approx. 6 or more times per year. Last year I cruised 60 days. This year I will be cruising a lot more days.

 

HANDY HINTS for new cruisers: Pack plastic baggies for snacks that you can take back to your cabin. I like to get the hot donuts at the coffee shop in the mornings. I also like to always have bananas in my cabin because they help me to swallow my large pills/meds. They get stuck if I don't eat a piece of banana to make them move down. I am now 75yrs. old lady.

 

I also take a plastic container so I always have some type of liquid to drink when I get thirsty walking around the ship. I also ask for a glass of water from the bar tenders when I need to drink water.

 

I hate drinking water so I carry tea bags to put into my glass of water at the main dining room. It creates real ice tea with the ice water. i use mint tea and orange tea bags and it taste so good. Yes, you can order ice tea for free.

 

Elite Members only:

 

One day I decided to get a free coffee card instead of the free mini bar and I got 2 free coffee cards from the Golden Princess. I can use them on any ship.

I had cruised back to back and I don't drink liquor so I had traded the liquor for extra can sodas so i had plenty of sodas from my first cruise and my coffee cards from the last cruise. I enjoy cruising back to back.

 

Last year 2013, I cruised back to back several times. I got lots of ship credits in my personal princess account that i didn't expect. Everybody on the Princess ship got the same credits. I heard there were forty persons wanting to book New Years week with their credits.

I decided to make the smart move and use the Internet free Princess website to book a New years cruise. I only book inside cabins and i only saw two cabins left so i booked one cabin for SOLO/SINGLE ME. yeah!

 

I have been cruising solo for 10yrs because I like having a cabin to myself.

I just put the T.V. on mute and on the channel that has the front of the ship view. In the morning I wake up to seeing the SUN like a window.

One morning I saw the NCL Star ship on the t.v. screen so i ran out and saw it was next to our ship. That was fun to see.

 

I am handicapped with partial vision, weak strength of hands, arthritis, and limited walking. I sometimes use a wheel chair to get on the ship depending if I feel I need help. BUT.... I can still dance. lol. I try not to fall as I am dancing. I do use a cane when I go into the ports or if the ship is rocking too much.

 

Advise to new cruisers: Don't see the ship's doctor unless you are really sick. One time a lady and her child were not allowed to go into port because the lady had taken his son to see the doctor for a tummy ache. I think he ate too many sweets and created a simple problem.

 

One man said he had the sniffles a few days before the cruise on his boarding paper that we all have to sign. He was not allowed on the ship eventhough he was healthy on the day of the cruise.

 

I am treated very special as a Elite and handicapped person. Any complaints I might have while on the cruise i make sure the manager knows what my problem i am having and they fix the problem right away if possible.

 

Everybody is treated special on all the cruise ships. You have to use sugar instead of anger when complaining about something. I know how to sweet talk to the workers. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It's okay because I am having a wonderful time on all cruise ships. Every ship has something special about it. Sometimes it is the People on the ship that are super fun to hang out with or dance with them. Lucy

 

Young Lady, I have read many posts on Cruise Critic but yours is what it is about. You have one of the best attitudes of any poster I have seen. I too enjoy cruising and if I could get my better half to go we would cruise at least every other month. We have not cruised on Princess, as yet. We have been on 14 cruises, (NCL, RCCL, CCL in Alaska, Caribbean and Hawaii) We live in La Porte, TX, where Princess has a ship through the winter months and they have some great deals for Western Caribbean cruises, and will retire in June, this year, and will take one of the cruises during this cruise season, with Princess. If I could get my better half to cruise more we would be onboard a ship at least every other month.

 

Keep up on the cruising and enjoy yourself and all that life brings.

Roger

[Luv Cruising Land or Sea]

I read on another thread that I can't find something about using the computers in the cafe or library to send out a free email? Can anyone tell me how I would go about doing this? Thanks.

Yes you can send free electronic postcards, not free email. Its a little hard to find on the screen but if you ask the person in the computer cafe they will help you

 

sent from my Samsung Tablet

[LaurieHoffman]

Yes you can send free electronic postcards, not free email. Its a little hard to find on the screen but if you ask the person in the computer cafe they will help you

 

sent from my Samsung Tablet

 

I used this option on my last cruise.... It worked great to keep in touch with my husband who did not sail with us. Sent him a postcard each day to keep in touch. Not a ton of characters but it gets the job done.

[chrisandkaryn]

are the MDR menus fairly consistent across all Princess cruises? I see a lot of photos of meals but many are on cruises other than Diamond, which we are sailing on come October.

[Kentchikan]

are the MDR menus fairly consistent across all Princess cruises? I see a lot of photos of meals but many are on cruises other than Diamond, which we are sailing on come October.

 

In my experience the menu items are very consistent across the fleet. There are variations in taste which someone on a board said had to do with the head chef. We love the hollandaise sauce on the eggs at Sabatini's at breakfast and it has always been delicious and light on out most recent cruise it was heavy and tasteless. However in general I think the food is good. Norman Love's dessert creations are excellent and one night on our cruise in January did a "through the decades" menu with dishes from each decade of Princess. It was fun and tasty.

Edited February 10, 2015 by Kentskie

[Helenalee]

Originally Posted by Mjtaz View Post

 

No cost. I requested it on the Princess site on the Personalizer. I believe it asked if I wanted 1, 2 or 3 gallons. Plus I got an email confirming it! Hope it works out that smooth anyway!!!

 

 

 

Hi there,

 

Where on the Personalizer can we put in the request for distilled water? I was logged in and unable to locate it.

 

Thank you in advance!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[patperry]

Hi there,

 

Where on the Personalizer can we put in the request for distilled water? I was logged in and unable to locate it.

 

Thank you in advance!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

 

I believe it's with the medical and dietary requests.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[chrisandkaryn]

In my experience the menu items are very consistent across the fleet. There are variations in taste which someone on a board said had to do with the head chef. We love the hollandaise sauce on the eggs at Sabatini's at breakfast and it has always been delicious and light on out most recent cruise it was heavy and tasteless. However in general I think the food is good. Norman Love's dessert creations are excellent and one night on our cruise in January did a "through the decades" menu with dishes from each decade of Princess. It was fun and tasty.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. Great information. I would expect a slight variation due to different chefs but it's good to know that generally speaking what I'm seeing is pretty much what I will get :)

[Gert2011]

Hi there,

 

Where on the Personalizer can we put in the request for distilled water? I was logged in and unable to locate it.

 

Thank you in advance!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Log into you Cruise Personalizer, click on Guest Check-in, then click on Medical & Dietary Requests

[Kentchikan]

Thanks for the quick reply. Great information. I would expect a slight variation due to different chefs but it's good to know that generally speaking what I'm seeing is pretty much what I will get :)

 

You're welcome one thing I love about Princess is that they really try to make sure that your dining experience is a good one. I have had head waiters come by and notice that I wasn't eating the food and immediately replace it. I've had wait staff note that some of the meat that night was tough and ask about mine (which was) and then replace it with another that was tender. They strive very hard to ensure that you're eating food you enjoy. Even if you order something and then don't like it they'll replace it gladly and promptly. I've even had them go "off menu" to make something we wanted.

[rick160158]

That's the beauty of it, the charge on the credit card is made in Canadian dollars, not US, so there is no conversion charge. :)

 

EDIT: I'll elaborate.

 

For Canadians to buy $500 US dollars of OBC (or any other amount for that matter), Princess will surcharge 10% and bill in Canadian dollars, so you end up with a $550 payment on your credit card in Canadian dollars. That beats the 25% currenty exchange PLUS 2.5% conversion fee.

 

Once you get onboard, you will see $500 US dollars of OBC on your account. Make sense?

This is a REALLY GOOD DEAL. So if you don't use all the credit, you can cash out, Correct ?

[donh1]

You're welcome one thing I love about Princess is that they really try to make sure that your dining experience is a good one. I have had head waiters come by and notice that I wasn't eating the food and immediately replace it. I've had wait staff note that some of the meat that night was tough and ask about mine (which was) and then replace it with another that was tender. They strive very hard to ensure that you're eating food you enjoy. Even if you order something and then don't like it they'll replace it gladly and promptly. I've even had them go "off menu" to make something we wanted.

 

We met several lovely couples from the Phillipines on our 49 day round the horn cruise. We got invited to their special Phillipine meal prepared for us and served at our table. Very nice experience.

[Kentchikan]

We met several lovely couples from the Phillipines on our 49 day round the horn cruise. We got invited to their special Phillipine meal prepared for us and served at our table. Very nice experience.

 

Wow a great experience.

[cr8tiv1]

Princess modifies their menus to offer a few more regional dishes to match their destinations. Not real big changes...just enough to make your dining experience interesting.

[jagsfan]

We met several lovely couples from the Phillipines on our 49 day round the horn cruise. We got invited to their special Phillipine meal prepared for us and served at our table. Very nice experience.

 

We were fortunate to have had the same experience, but it was an American who had lived in the Phillipines that ordered it. He did not show up for the meal, so all the more for the rest of us. It was absolutely delicious, a real treat.

This man actually wrote a bad review of the cruise and complained about our MDR staff, who the rest of us thought went out of the their way to give great service.

[chrisandkaryn]

You're welcome one thing I love about Princess is that they really try to make sure that your dining experience is a good one. I have had head waiters come by and notice that I wasn't eating the food and immediately replace it. I've had wait staff note that some of the meat that night was tough and ask about mine (which was) and then replace it with another that was tender. They strive very hard to ensure that you're eating food you enjoy. Even if you order something and then don't like it they'll replace it gladly and promptly. I've even had them go "off menu" to make something we wanted.

 

 

that's all good to hear! the dining experience is a huge part of the cruise for us and we felt let down by the food on Carnival after Celebrity so we're pinning all our hopes in Princess :)

[KruzeKrazy!]

We also feel dining is a key cimponebe of the overall cruise experience. We've not (yet) cruised Celebrity and we think the food on HAL is slightly better than Princess but feel Princess food is certainly "good enough" to us.

[jdellachiesa]

I think it's time to start the "Princess Secrets 2015!!!!" thread! :)