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Princess Cruise Secrets 2015

KruzeKrazy!

By KruzeKrazy!,
in Princess Cruises

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JF - retired RRT

JF - retired RRT

Posted
Posted
The lady on the phone explained that Princess reserved the right to move people, she was told I am listed as requiring the Handicapped Accessible Bathroom and had therefore booked the only such Window Suite on the Golden Princess. Apparently if someone who is wheelchair dependent wants to book the Suite, I can get shifted, which would be a downgrade to a Premium Balcony, I am not safe in a regular bathroom, I MUST have the safety grab rails.

 

Crochet, check this link. It is for "non-standard" mini-suites. There are 2 on the Golden. They are located all the way aft and are absolutely fantastic. They were originally intended for handicap, but had something wrong and are not designated as such. The bathroom, however, IS for handicap!:D

 

If still available on your sail date, switching would save you a LOT of $$$.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1959727

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OCruisers

OCruisers

Posted
Posted
There are a couple of threads on this subject.

 

True ... But CHOICE is still rather a Princess Secret because there is no firm statement on exactly what to expect and how it will be done. Still, lots of unanswered questions ....

 

LuLu

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crochetcruise

crochetcruise

Posted
Posted
In our experience, volcanos are like snowflakes. No two are the same. But unlike snowflakes all volcanos are delicious.

 

Howled with laughter and set that "wretched" cough off AGAIN! Feeling like my brain's turned to cotton wool, but still interested in my food, so not too bad!

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kaikendall

kaikendall

Posted
Posted

We are not new to cruising, but it's been awhile (about 5-6 years!) and this will be the first with the WHOLE family (4 of us, 2 adults, 2 kids). When I booked, I asked why the balcony was configured 2 twins and a rollaway, but was assured that if we asked the room steward directly that he would fix it once onboard... has anyone had experience with this? My husband and I would much enjoy sharing one bed!!

 

The wine rule, we are bringing a few bottles of wine, and plan to bring our own corkscrew, are they stringent on the corkage fee after the first 2 bottles per person? We only plan on bringing 3-4 bottles for the 4 day cruise, so we might not even reach the corkage fee, but curious on experiences.

 

We are on the Crown Princess, ANY tips and info are appreciated!! This will be our first balcony, not sure what to expect. Tips on the Spa, room service, off menu items (already got the volcano on our list, my husband is a huge banana split fan!), etc.

 

On the Crown, what are the PAY FOR items, I know the specialty coffee thing, we are getting a card for that, is there anything else we have to pay for; and which specialty restaurants are must-sees?!

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Papa Yoda

Papa Yoda

Posted
Posted
We are not new to cruising, but it's been awhile (about 5-6 years!) and this will be the first with the WHOLE family (4 of us, 2 adults, 2 kids). When I booked, I asked why the balcony was configured 2 twins and a rollaway, but was assured that if we asked the room steward directly that he would fix it once onboard... has anyone had experience with this? My husband and I would much enjoy sharing one bed!!

 

The wine rule, we are bringing a few bottles of wine, and plan to bring our own corkscrew, are they stringent on the corkage fee after the first 2 bottles per person? We only plan on bringing 3-4 bottles for the 4 day cruise, so we might not even reach the corkage fee, but curious on experiences.

 

We are on the Crown Princess, ANY tips and info are appreciated!! This will be our first balcony, not sure what to expect. Tips on the Spa, room service, off menu items (already got the volcano on our list, my husband is a huge banana split fan!), etc.

 

On the Crown, what are the PAY FOR items, I know the specialty coffee thing, we are getting a card for that, is there anything else we have to pay for; and which specialty restaurants are must-sees?!

 

I'm not sure what cabin you are looking at, but you will love the balcony! Just watching the ocean go by is a major perk!

 

Booze: 1 (one) 750ml bottle per adult of still or sparkling wine with no fee, additional bottles are subject to corkage fee regardless. Beer and spirits will be confiscated. They are stringent and bags are xrayed.

 

Book spa for port days for discounts.

 

Room service is free except $3 for Pizza but it is a limited menu. Burgers are included tho! Check the Princess website for details on the Kids' drink package

 

Steak and lobster for $25 in the Crown Grill - seems to be the hot ticket.

 

Grab the loved one and get a chocolate martini in Adagio.

 

The Crown has a kids plus parents hot tub etc. zone aft on deck 16 that is woefully underutilized.

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jpsykes

jpsykes

Posted
Posted
We are not new to cruising, but it's been awhile (about 5-6 years!) and this will be the first with the WHOLE family (4 of us, 2 adults, 2 kids). When I booked, I asked why the balcony was configured 2 twins and a rollaway, but was assured that if we asked the room steward directly that he would fix it once onboard... has anyone had experience with this? My husband and I would much enjoy sharing one bed!!

 

The wine rule, we are bringing a few bottles of wine, and plan to bring our own corkscrew, are they stringent on the corkage fee after the first 2 bottles per person? We only plan on bringing 3-4 bottles for the 4 day cruise, so we might not even reach the corkage fee, but curious on experiences.

 

We are on the Crown Princess, ANY tips and info are appreciated!! This will be our first balcony, not sure what to expect. Tips on the Spa, room service, off menu items (already got the volcano on our list, my husband is a huge banana split fan!), etc.

 

On the Crown, what are the PAY FOR items, I know the specialty coffee thing, we are getting a card for that, is there anything else we have to pay for; and which specialty restaurants are must-sees?!

 

RE the bed issue - you should be able to go on-line and update your bed selection so that it will already come that way. In fact I did it last week since the TA we used was pretty bad (not our normal TA)

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kaikendall

kaikendall

Posted
Posted
RE the bed issue - you should be able to go on-line and update your bed selection so that it will already come that way. In fact I did it last week since the TA we used was pretty bad (not our normal TA)

 

Nope, not for anything but the mini-suite, there is no option to change it, it only has "twin" in the drop down, nothing else. One of the reasons why I called princess before booking. The direct booking agent they assigned me told me "on paper" it has to say that, but we could ask our room steward to move it differently once we were there, but for fire marshall/safety something it had to show twin on paper. :confused:

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Thrak

Thrak

Posted
Posted

The wine rule, we are bringing a few bottles of wine, and plan to bring our own corkscrew, are they stringent on the corkage fee after the first 2 bottles per person? We only plan on bringing 3-4 bottles for the 4 day cruise, so we might not even reach the corkage fee, but curious on experiences.

 

 

I keep seeing people ask about this and wondering why so many people get the impression you can take 2 bottles per person. It's very clearly spelled out on the Princess site that you can take one bottle per person without charge and all other bottles will be charged a $15 corkage fee. There just seems to be a lot of misinformation around and I wonder where it's coming from.

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kaikendall

kaikendall

Posted
Posted

Has anyone done balcony dining? We are on such a short cruise I'm not sure what to do?! I wanna do it all! What is the charge for balcony dining, I only see Balcony Breakfast 2 people $45 on my personalizer, I don't see the dinner option.

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kaikendall

kaikendall

Posted
Posted
I keep seeing people ask about this and wondering why so many people get the impression you can take 2 bottles per person. It's very clearly spelled out on the Princess site that you can take one bottle per person without charge and all other bottles will be charged a $15 corkage fee. There just seems to be a lot of misinformation around and I wonder where it's coming from.

 

I'm not sure, I have read the policy, and asked the booking agent about it and you are right, it clearly says 1 bottle per adult, and the booking agent said the same LOL. I guess I just had it in my head we have 2 adults, so it was 2 bottles, but that's total, not per person. Either way I was going to bring what I was bringing regardless of corkage fee so doesn't terribly matter anyway, but wanted to know how they charge. So if I bring 3 bottles, they will automatically charge $15 no matter what, and the first 2 I have to drink in the room? Is that correct?

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caribill

caribill

Posted
Posted
I'm not sure, I have read the policy, and asked the booking agent about it and you are right, it clearly says 1 bottle per adult, and the booking agent said the same LOL. I guess I just had it in my head we have 2 adults, so it was 2 bottles, but that's total, not per person. Either way I was going to bring what I was bringing regardless of corkage fee so doesn't terribly matter anyway, but wanted to know how they charge. So if I bring 3 bottles, they will automatically charge $15 no matter what, and the first 2 I have to drink in the room? Is that correct?

 

If the two of you have a total of three bottles, two will be allowed onboard at no charge when you embark, but will have a corkage fee if you bring them to a dining room. The third bottle will be charged the $15 corkage fee when you embark (and marked to indicate this) and may be brought to the dining room with the corkage already have been paid.

 

If you have different wines, you can pick which one to have the corkage fee charged for when you embark.

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Gert2011

Gert2011

Posted
Posted (edited)
I'm not sure, I have read the policy, and asked the booking agent about it and you are right, it clearly says 1 bottle per adult, and the booking agent said the same LOL. I guess I just had it in my head we have 2 adults, so it was 2 bottles, but that's total, not per person. Either way I was going to bring what I was bringing regardless of corkage fee so doesn't terribly matter anyway, but wanted to know how they charge. So if I bring 3 bottles, they will automatically charge $15 no matter what, and the first 2 I have to drink in the room? Is that correct?

 

We have cruised out of LA 13 times with Princess and have only been sent to the wine table once to show our bottles which they record in a booklet.

 

All the other times they either didn't look at the X-ray machines or looked and sent us on through.

 

I would say four or five times there wasn't even anyone yet from princess at the wine table when we went through on the early side.

 

I carry-on Dr. Pepper in 12 pack cans and I would say less than half the time they open my suite case and make sure it is pop.

 

Princess Secret (not really a secret)

 

Another thing very few people know about Princess is the Bon Voyage Experience where you pay $39 for a person to visit you on the ship while it is still in port, only offered in certain ports and have to call Princess to find out. Limited to 50 people. http://www.cruisecritic.com/search/results.cfm?q=bon It is on the Princess web site but I can't find it and it was hard to find the last time I found it. (thought I book marked it)

 

They are the second group to get on right after the people doing back to back cruises. (or third group if there is a wedding party)

 

Twice when my daughter and co-worker have gone they have been the only two. One other time, there were 5 and once there were like 25.

 

They get a complementary glass of wine in the main dinning room with lunch, ship tour if they want by the future cruise consultant, an 8x10 picture, and the $39 will apply to a future cruise booked within 60 days. They have to get off about 3:30 so they are on usually about 3.5 hours, less if there is late boarding.

 

Just booked another one for them for December 2015 and 2016 dates haven't been released yet.

 

Speaking of wine, they will each also bring a bottle with them through check-in for our December cruise. Remember the policy is one per person :)

Edited by Gert2011
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Gert2011

Gert2011

Posted
Posted

Another secret that hasn't been brought up for awhile is you can always eat lunch in the MDR on embarkation day if you get there before 1:30.

 

When boarding, staff will NOT tell you where that is, but tell you to go to the Horizon Court where the lines are usually huge.

 

Go to your room or front desk and look at the Patter and on the back it will tell you which dinning room is open for lunch. They close the entrance at 1:30 sharp.

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Colo Cruiser

Colo Cruiser

Posted
Posted
I'm not sure, I have read the policy, and asked the booking agent about it and you are right, it clearly says 1 bottle per adult, and the booking agent said the same LOL. I guess I just had it in my head we have 2 adults, so it was 2 bottles, but that's total, not per person. Either way I was going to bring what I was bringing regardless of corkage fee so doesn't terribly matter anyway, but wanted to know how they charge. So if I bring 3 bottles, they will automatically charge $15 no matter what, and the first 2 I have to drink in the room? Is that correct?

 

 

They might and they might not. You won't know until it happens. ;)

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eyeamacruiser

eyeamacruiser

Posted
Posted
Nope, not for anything but the mini-suite, there is no option to change it, it only has "twin" in the drop down, nothing else. One of the reasons why I called princess before booking. The direct booking agent they assigned me told me "on paper" it has to say that, but we could ask our room steward to move it differently once we were there, but for fire marshall/safety something it had to show twin on paper. :confused:

 

I just looked and there is a place to change under the check in page. Under ship and stateroom summary in the bed configuration section you can select Queen or single:D

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