First time cruiser, Ruby Princess room questions

[andiRN]

Hi all! We're first time cruisers, paying our deposit tomorrow for an August Alaskan cruise on the Ruby, but when we booked with our travel agent she already gave us room numbers. There will be seven of us, 5 adults and 2 kids, ages 7 and 13. We really don't know much about where the best places to be are, I've read through tons of posts here and there's just so much info. We're getting two rooms with balconies and two inside, the ones we have now are B 210, 206, 208 and 212. Anyone have any experience with these rooms?

 

Also, were booking through an agent with AAA, but then thought about it tonight and realized we probably should have checked with AARP too, since one of our group is a member. Or is it better to just book through the cruise line? I get so many emails about sales and on board incentives. It's all so overwhelming! Thanks!

[moki'smommy]

Where to book is a totally open issue. TAs who do a lot of business with Princess can sometimes get better prices than agents that do less. Some agents give great perks as a "thanks for booking with us" gift while others give nothing. What I really want in an agent is service. I feel that I am paying for their experience if something goes wrong. I want an agent who has actually cruised the product--maybe not the ship that I'm booking, but a ship of that cruise line in the last couple of years.

 

My local AAA office is worthless. They are young, dumb, and all they can do is look up stuff on their computers. I can do that on my own. I also learned that my TA can match or beat anything that AAA advertises. If the **** hits the fan on Saturday night and my connecting flight is canceled, there's not going to be anyone sitting in their office or answering their phone to help or advise me!

 

There is no benefit in booking directly thru the cruise line; they don't do anything for you by booking thru them than they do for anyone else.

 

We are not allowed to name specific agents or agencies here. I don't use a local agent--I use one that I can contact by phone or on line. And I choose them because of their excellent experience (everyone in the office has worked in the field for at least 20 years!) and service. On my upcoming cruise, I got an OBC because they belong to an umbrella group (it is an independent, family owned agency), I dont know or care about the details--I'm getting free money. In addition, I'm getting an gift from the TA.

 

You are booking 4 cabins. You need an agent who does A LOT of Princess bookings and will get you the best possible prices.

Also, has anyone in the group cruised Princess before? If yes, that person needs to do a "refer a friend" on every other person. The person doing the referral and the person being referred will each get a $25 OBC, but this needs to be done before the booking and before you sign up on the Princess web site. You can collect up to $125 in referral credits on each cruise; more than that will be held for up to two years and applied on your next cruise. Don't have a friend or member of the group who has cruised Princess before? I'll be your friend. (Kidding, I don't think that is allowed here either). Did your AAA agent tell you about this? Did she tell you about the military (active or veteran) or the shareholders credits?

 

Forget AAA, forget AARP. Look at independent agents for great pricing and service, or at least an agent who works in/for a big box store for the best "after the cruise" perks.

 

Do you understand how a travel agency is paid? All agencies start out with a base percentage--they will get an amount based on the cost you pay for a booking. The more you pay, the more they make. Most cruise lines start them at something like 10% of the cruise fare portion of the ticket (not counting taxes and fees). Then, the more they sell of any given line, the higher their percentage goes. The exact increments vary with the cruise line, but an agent/agency who books a lot and gets a 15% commission can give you a lot better perks or price discounts than one who gets 10%. They also, by default, have a lot more experience with the cruise line. They also get some credits from Princess that they can use to buy you an in-cabin gift, save up and use a whole bunch of these credits for someone else, or whatever they choose.

Edited February 28, 2018 by moki'smommy

[andiRN]

Thanks so much for your input! None of us have cruised before, so this is all new to us. Any other trip we've planned we've always just gone online and looked for deals.

[vmom]

I agree with Moki'smommy. She gave you some great tips.

 

My other thought, is that the cabins you were given by the TA were toward the front of the ship where you will feel more movement. If no-one in the group is prone to motion sickness, they are fine, but since most of your group has not cruised before, the tendency toward motion sickness may not be known yet.

 

Keep in mind when choosing cabins, the lower the deck the less motion.

The closer to mid ship, the less motion.

 

 

I personally prefer mid-ship or aft on a lower deck.

 

If you are confident no-one will have difficulty with the motion, then pick a cabin located in an area convenient for you.

 

There are many pictures online of deck lay outs. Just google or go onto the Princess website.

[JF - retired RRT]

Hi all! We're first time cruisers, paying our deposit tomorrow for an August Alaskan cruise on the Ruby, but when we booked with our travel agent she already gave us room numbers. There will be seven of us, 5 adults and 2 kids, ages 7 and 13. We really don't know much about where the best places to be are, I've read through tons of posts here and there's just so much info. We're getting two rooms with balconies and two inside, the ones we have now are B 210, 206, 208 and 212. Anyone have any experience with these rooms?

 

Also, were booking through an agent with AAA, but then thought about it tonight and realized we probably should have checked with AARP too, since one of our group is a member. Or is it better to just book through the cruise line? I get so many emails about sales and on board incentives. It's all so overwhelming! Thanks!

We usually book with Princess to start. Now, you've got your cabin locked in. Then I start looking for a TA that will beat the price AND give me some OBC.

You may interview a TA that will tell you, "Princess won't let us give a discount off the fare"...NOT TRUE. Don't use that TA.

You've already sort of booked with a TA, if you didn't pay a deposit, the TA did a "hold". Did you get a discount on the price? Did you get any OBC or other gifts? If it's just a hold, you can search for a different TA. If you love those cabins, wait till the hold falls off (72 hours?) and try again. Once you've paid the deposit, you'd have to call Princess and ask them how to disengage from the TA and give the booking back to Princess. Then search for a new TA. You have until final payment to make a change, but don't wait that long.;)

If you chose Anytime Dining (ATD), be aware there are busy times and not so busy times. With the ages of your kids, you'll want to eat earlier rather than later. Early is the busy time. You may have to wait in line.

If you chose Traditional Dining (TD), same time, same table, same waiter every night. Be sure Princess or your TA "links" your bookings or you could end up at different tables.

If you buy stock in Carnival Corp., 100 shares will get you OBC depending on the length of the cruise $50-250. One benefit per cabin. You'll get the credit on most Carnival Corp owned lines (Cunard, Holland America, etc.)

If anyone is a veteran, send a copy of the DD-214 and get OBC (same amount as shareholder). Active qualifies also, but not sure what you send in for proof. Once registered, you never have to send it again. At least some of the Carnival lines honor this one.

If you enjoy the experience, be sure to purchase at least one Future Cruise Deposit (FCD) for each person who plans on doing it again.

Have fun!!! The first cruise is the best one.:D

[paul929207]

Princess is the only major cruise line that allows a TA to discount the fare. They cannot advertise a lower fare, but if you ask for a quote, they can lower the price. A friend just booked 3 balcony cabins for her family (her, husband, 2 daughters and their husbands) on the Ruby (maybe with you). She checked Princess and my TA. Mine was $200 per person lower than Princess. She was thrilled to save $1200.

[andiRN]

Thanks everyone for the advice! We ended up calling a friends travel agent and she ended up getting us four rooms, a week earlier, which works out better for us. The rooms are closer to the middle of the ship and she saved us a couple of hundred dollars. She seemed much more knowledgeable and answered all of our questions. We are so excited for our first cruise!

[Thrak]

Thanks everyone for the advice! We ended up calling a friends travel agent and she ended up getting us four rooms, a week earlier, which works out better for us. The rooms are closer to the middle of the ship and she saved us a couple of hundred dollars. She seemed much more knowledgeable and answered all of our questions. We are so excited for our first cruise!

 

Congratulation on your first cruise but... Be careful. It might cost you a lot of money in the future. ) It took my wife years to get me on a cruise. I absolutely knew for certain that I would hate everything about it. I would hat the uppity, snooty, snobbish people. I get car sick on winding roads if I'm not the driver. Finally (to appease her) I agreed to take a 10 day round trip from SF to Alaska. My wife assured me I wouldn't feel the motion on a big ship but I didn't trust her and went to the doctor and got the patch (TransdermScop). The first night and day the ship was rocking so wildly that people were bouncing off the walls trying to walk down the hallways. I was so very glad I hadn't trusted that "you won't feel the motion" stuff. The patch works wonderfully. The only "problem" was that we sailed on Princess and I ended up absolutely loving everything about the cruise. The passengers were great. The crew was great. Alaska was great. Everything was great. Now I'm hooked on cruising. We've only done 8 so far (all with Princess) but it hasn't been all that long. Last fall we did a 28 day round trip from LA to Hawaii, Tahiti, Bora Bora, Pago Pago, and Moorea. We leave in two weeks for a 14 day Circle Caribbean. I have two more booked for late 2019 - 12 day Search for the Northern Lights out of Southampton and a 14 day TA home to the US from Barcelona. Just be aware that, should you end up loving it as much as I did, you may find yourself spending a lot of money that you could have saved otherwise. ;p

 

I really do congratulate you on your first cruise. Rather than looking down my nose at those "n00bs" (as some people do) I'm actually kind of jealous. You only get one first cruise and the amazement and wonder I experienced when we first boarded followed by the amazing experience of our first cruise to Alaska is something I will never get to repeat. I sincerely hope you are as blown away as I was and love it as much.

[socaljo]

Thrak speaks the truth! We leave on our 12th Princess cruise in 45 days!! Doing our 1st Transatlantic (aka TA) on the Regal! You've been warned! ;p:D

[caribill]

Thanks everyone for the advice! We ended up calling a friends travel agent and she ended up getting us four rooms, a week earlier, which works out better for us. The rooms are closer to the middle of the ship and she saved us a couple of hundred dollars. She seemed much more knowledgeable and answered all of our questions. We are so excited for our first cruise!

 

Good for you.

 

 

You will likely have many more questions before the cruise starts. Do not be afraid to ask them. The only silly question is the one not asked.

 

Some suggestions:

a) Join the online roll call for your cruise. You will get to meet fellow travelers before the cruise and questions asked by you on the roll call will get answered. To locate your roll call use

 

Find Your Princess Roll Call

 

b) Go to the Princess web site and download the "Cruise Answer Book." It will give you great information about cruising on Princess and may give rise to more questions you can ask on Cruise Critic.

 

c) When you are on the ship, there will be a newsletter called the Princess Patter which will be in your cabins when you embark and will be delivered each evening on the cruise. This lists all the activities for the day. Spend some time looking at it to help decide what you want to do each day. Don't reach the end of the cruise and learn about something you would have liked to do earlier in the cruise but did not notice it in the Patter.

 

d) When you are on the cruise, if you have any questions---ask them. Ask crew members or fellow passengers.

 

e) If you find you like cruising while on the cruise, see the future sales office and ask about purchasing Future Cruise Deposits. I will not go into great detail about FCDs here, but in summary they cost $100 per person which can be the full deposit for a future cruise (which you can book within two years, no requirement to book while on the ship). When you take that future cruise you will also receive On Board Credit (OBC), the amount of which varies by cruise length and type of cabin booked. If you do not use the FCDs within the two years, the money for them will be refunded to you.

[Clownfish Cruiser]

Great tips, and I few things I didn't know! I'm jealous! Our very first Princess Cruise was the California Coastal on the Ruby three years ago. I had been on a few cruises before, but never on Princess. My husband wasn't overjoyed about the cruise, but we got a great deal on a Drop And Go and he agreed to go along. It is still one of our most memorable cruises. I don't know which of us is more hooked on Princess now - my husband or myself! We did the Future Cruise Deposit on that cruise and have never looked back. We look forward to retiring in a few years so we can go on more cruises! Enjoy!