First Princess cruise: hints and tips

[TNhome]

Thanks so much to everyone.  Are there any food or drinks that are special we should try?  I appreciate all the info you have given us. Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

[nini]

We have been on Celebrity twice (last year on the Reflection) and on Princess 7 times. Princess is our favorite!!! 

We love the open and airy atrium on Princess- on the Reflection, it was on the dark side we felt very closed in. 

Also, we had a drink package and only two white wines qualified. 

It was an extreme rarity to have anyone pick up our dishes in the buffet area, let alone stop and ask if we would like anything to drink.

Princess, on the other hand, has fabulous and friendly service in the buffet (which we LOVE on the Regal)! We never have to ask to have any dishes cleared or if we would like any juice, coffee, etc.

We will not cruise Celebrity again.

 

You have received lots of info and I hope you enjoy your cruise!

[skynight]

11 hours ago, TNhome said:

Thanks so much to everyone.  Are there any food or drinks that are special we should try?  I appreciate all the info you have given us. Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy shellfish, try the Crab Shack. Casual dining held in a closed off section of the buffet seating area. reserve on board. $29/pp.

Ultimate balcony dinning, breakfast, $45 for two or dinner, $100 for two. Lots of food served on your balcony or in cabin.

Afternoon Tea, around 3pm each day, no charge. 

[Daniel A]

On ‎11‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 10:02 AM, skynight said:

I keep thinking about other tips. This tip is about the Carnival Corp. Shareholder, and the Princess Military benefits. OBC of $100/cabin for the shareholder benefit, and $100/qualified passenger, up to two per cabin for the military benefit. OBC on Princess is stackable. You are not required to select. Refer to the sites below.

https://www.carnivalcorp.com/shareholder-information/shareholder-benefit

https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/faq_answer_legal/Military_Personnel_Benefit_US.pdf

The Carnival Shareholder OBC is also good on any of the other Carnival Brand Lines.

[MixerDave]

50 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

The Carnival Shareholder OBC is also good on any of the other Carnival Brand Lines.

The Military OBC varies by cruise length.

[OCruisers]

Since you like X, you'll also be fine with Princess ... way more alike than different.  

[Moonarino]

On 11/24/2019 at 6:14 PM, TeaBag said:

Very interesting thread.  Thank you everyone for your suggestions and tips.We, too are Elite + with Celebrity and we have now booked 2 cruises with Princess.  That being said, you can book longer cruises with Celebrity by doing B2B2B's  We have sailed 46 days and 37 that way.  The reason we are booking Princess is that Celebrity has pulled out of the Middle East for 2021 and we want to sail Singapore to Rome, a cruise we had booked 2 years ago on the Constellation and had to cancel.

 

The limitation with B2B's (which I was almost desperate to try) is they don't offer the port choices we're getting on the 10-day Sky Princess cruise that we've booked for next fall (eastern Caribbean). With that cruise we're hitting 3 or 4 ports that we've never managed to get to in 13 cruises -- 6 different ports total, not including FLL embark/debark.  The only other cruise that took us south of St Kitts (and out of the all-too-typical routes) was an 8-day southern Caribbean on Carnival Breeze.  All I'm getting at is that itinerary is what finally drove me to book a Princess cruise.

 

But of course the Med (and beyond) is a completely different thing. So many ports can be hit on a "short" 5-7 day cruise, starting in the middle or on either end -- there's no comparison.

[CruiseVA]

9 hours ago, Daniel A said:

The Carnival Shareholder OBC is also good on any of the other Carnival Brand Lines.

The OBC amount is based on the length of the cruise:

6 days or less = $50

7 to 13 days = $100

14 or more = $250

Need 100 shares of Carnival stock, which is $45.22/share today.