Princess Cays Bungalow 10/27/2008

[garyinftl]

Just thought I would post some info about our rental of a bungalow on Princess Cays this week. We were on the seven day Crown Princess cruise out of Fort Lauderdale on Sunday 10/26/2008. Our first port was Princess Cays on Monday 10/27/2008.

 

We had reserved a bungalow via the Cruise Personalizer on the Princess website, largely based on the wonderful reviews we read here on cruisecritic. Well, all of the wonderful accommodations that past cruisers received from the bungalow rental are gone, at least on our visit this week.

• Past cruisers had reported getting called before arrival at the island to pick out which color bungalow that they wanted - no more - now when you get to the island you get a golf cart to a check in stand where they tell you which you have been assigned.
  
• Past cruisers had reported getting a ticket to allow up to six persons to have priority boarding on the tenders - no more - now you wait in line with everyone else.
  
• Past cruisers had reported getting delivery of food from the barbeque, plates overflowing with some of everything available - no more - now you get a pitcher of water and a bucket of ice. We asked the cabin attendant who would get drinks (for a fee of course) if there was still food service to the bungalows, and got a terse no.

The cost of the bungalow is still $199 for up to six persons but for that you pretty much get an airconditioned room, guaranteed loungers, a table and chairs, some ice and water.

 

Princess provides a letter with the bungalow ticket indicating that for $245 total ($199 plus an additional $46 for the first two persons) you get priority boarding and a deluxe lobster salad lunch. Additional two persons cost an additional $48.

 

When we returned to the ship we inquired at the tour desk to see if we should have gotten better service. We were informed that all of the previous accommodations had been dropped. In Princess' defense, I do have to say that the description of the service in the shore excursions listings for the bungalow rental does NOT include all of the goodies past cruisers reported.

 

If any of this may change your feeling about having pre-reserving a bungalow, please also be aware that once you board the ship any Princess Cays "excursion" such as the bungalow or rental of any watersports equipment cannot be cancelled for refund.

[maddiesky]

Thanks for the tip!! $199.00 doesn't seem worth it for 8 by 10 air conditioning and a couple of loungers:( I think I'll cancel mine for next week.

[pjs9876]

OMG!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING!!! I really appreciate your effort and information. With that said I am extremely unhappy with the changes. If we have to wait most of the day to simply get to the island (well, a major part of the aval. time) then it is NOT worth it!:(

 

I can deal with the food issue/not great since I know others did get this but the time factor is such a deal breaker. Boo-Hiss-Hiss:(

 

I did a search on You tube for Princess Cay and found one showing the bungalows. It USED to be great!:( :confused: :(

[LarryL]

I guess the experience is different for each party. We were on the Emerald 10/22/2008 and we were given the opportunity to choose which bungalow we wanted (that were not already spoken for). We asked for, and were given, bungalow #12 which is the very last one. (6 more have been built and are awaiting completion). My guess is if you want a particular bungalow you must call the excursion desk and ask. Don't wait! We also had priority tender tickets. As for food service our attendant, Claudio, took very good care of us. We knew going in that drinks were extra including soft drinks. We got all the water we wanted. Claudio came with us to the barbeque and insisted he carry our food back to our bungalow. We did not take advantage of the cart ride in either direction as some did. They were there on request. While we were there it did rain quite heavily for a time and we were glad to have a place to go, as well as store all our stuff, and felt it was safe. In all, we will rent one again on our next trip to Princess Cay. By the way, Claudio is also a waiter in Sabatini's. Ask for him and you will see how attentive he can be. We had a great time.

[JWJs]

I looked at reserving a bungalow for our 12/20 Emerald cruise and changed my mind since this is our 1st visit to Princess Cays and I'm not sure how long we will want to stay on the island. However, I guess the good news is, it sounds like the Emerald is still providing priority tender service when you reserve a bungalow. That just sounds like the right thing for Princess to do.

[mycruz]

hmmmm, Bungalow for $200 with sand or Sanctuary for $20 with comfy chairs? I vote to stay on the ship and enjoy the quietness of the Sanctuary!

[Typhoon1]

Princess definitely needs to develop some uniform standards for bungalow rentals.

 

Some people get the royal treatment one week, the following week, others get the royal shaft. Not very good business IMO.

 

Two years ago, $199.00 bought us the full package.

[garyinftl]

I think you are right typhoon that Princess needs to develop uniform standards - it sounds from the responses that it must be up to each ship how they handle the level of service with the Cays bungalows.

[Typhoon1]

I think you are right typhoon that Princess needs to develop uniform standards - it sounds from the responses that it must be up to each ship how they handle the level of service with the Cays bungalows.

 

I would write to Princess and complain about the way you were treated. Perhaps, you might get something for your inconvenience. If I received the treatment you did I would be very disappointed.

[chasinraynbowz]

After reading this, I called my TA and asked her about it. She called her contact at Princess and the OP is correct, the perks will no longer be available. This is something that will be Princess wide, from what I was told.

 

That being said....

 

I called my family and we decided to keep our bungalow. Yes its pricey, but we are splitting the cost between 6 of us ($33 a piece), so its not too bad.

[Scooter-n-GB]

We had a bungalow for our 10/19/08 Crown sailing, and we WERE given priority tender tickets, but did not have a choice of bungalows, however I asked, and our waiter brought us all sorts of food. He earned a tip for his efforts! :p

 

For the six of us, we considered it a very worthy investment.

[mauiluver]

We were on the Emerald Princess 10/21-10/31. We reserved the bungalow for $199. Since there were 6 of us the price was most reasonable. We received everything that Princess described on their website. We weren't asked what color bungalow we wanted but who cared about that? Our waiter was great, he worked his butt off to accommodate us. Made several trips (in the rain) to bring us food, water, etc. In fact we tipped him extra for his efforts, it was well deserved. We weren't the only ones who were getting great service. All of the bungalows around us were being attended to by other waiters. I didn't hear of any complaints about the service or that people felt they didn't get their money's worth. Granted the weather could have been more pleasant what with the downpour of rain we had for about 20 minutes (mother nature at its finest!). But we were very happy to have had the bungalow while the water was pouring down from the clouds.

[bwjm]

I don't mind getting my own food, but there are still waiters to get the, ahem, beverages, then, at least?

Just not sure if I will be pushing to get one now, especially being first time there. As someone said earlier, who is also going first time, not sure how much time they're/we're going to spend there. Just know that I do enjoy the idea of sitting in a/c and having someone bring me drinks all day.

[j10enn]

Hey all....

 

Just had a call from Princess, I had emailed them to find out exactly whats included with the beach bungalows in the princess cays ? (after all the mixed reviews above)

 

they had to call their Los Angeles Office to confirm, its basically just the bungalow we will be getting, no luch, no early tender etc

 

I was pretty upset, we were so looking forward to the full experiance, so now thinking is it worth the $199 for just the actual bungalow...whats all your thoughts ?

 

jenni xx

[jp20]

Tropical Storm called Paloma is by Cuba and is headed toward Princess Cays next week predicted 100 miles an hour storm. Granted this is all predicted by weathermen so it could be a category 2 or blow over. We just need to watch it.

Hey all....

 

Just had a call from Princess, I had emailed them to find out exactly whats included with the beach bungalows in the princess cays ? (after all the mixed reviews above)

 

they had to call their Los Angeles Office to confirm, its basically just the bungalow we will be getting, no luch, no early tender etc

 

I was pretty upset, we were so looking forward to the full experiance, so now thinking is it worth the $199 for just the actual bungalow...whats all your thoughts ?

 

jenni xx

[j10enn]

Tropical Storm called Paloma is by Cuba and is headed toward Princess Cays next week predicted 100 miles an hour storm. Granted this is all predicted by weathermen so it could be a category 2 or blow over. We just need to watch it.

 

OHHHHH no

 

hope it comes to nothing...... how long would this be a risk for ? Im not on my cruise until Next saturday...would it have passed by then ?

 

thanks in advance

jenni x

[maddiesky]

Hey all....

 

Just had a call from Princess, I had emailed them to find out exactly whats included with the beach bungalows in the princess cays ? (after all the mixed reviews above)

 

they had to call their Los Angeles Office to confirm, its basically just the bungalow we will be getting, no luch, no early tender etc

 

I was pretty upset, we were so looking forward to the full experiance, so now thinking is it worth the $199 for just the actual bungalow...whats all your thoughts ?

 

jenni xx

 

I cancelled mine for this week coming. It is not worth it to me. Now I am a little concerned about ths tropical storm:eek:

[Typhoon1]

Hey all....

 

Just had a call from Princess, I had emailed them to find out exactly whats included with the beach bungalows in the princess cays ? (after all the mixed reviews above)

 

they had to call their Los Angeles Office to confirm, its basically just the bungalow we will be getting, no luch, no early tender etc

 

I was pretty upset, we were so looking forward to the full experiance, so now thinking is it worth the $199 for just the actual bungalow...whats all your thoughts ?

 

jenni xx

 

I would cancel, however, someone mentioned that for an additional $50.00 you could get tender passes and lobster sandwiches for lunch. I might be tempted to spend the $50.00 as it would be equal to the $249.00 that HAL charges at HMC.

[LarryL]

I would cancel, however, someone mentioned that for an additional $50.00 you could get tender passes and lobster sandwiches for lunch. I might be tempted to spend the $50.00 as it would be equal to the $249.00 that HAL charges at HMC.

 

I am afraid some people out here may be having fun providing mis-information about what is available concerning bungalows. Maybe available benefits for these are, indeed, determined by ship. As stated in my post, we felt we were very well taken care of by the crew of the Emerald. Had I listened to some of the "bad information" previously posted and I cancelled, we would have missed out on a great day on Princess Cay. We were even lucky enough to have fellow CC folks next door. Maybe this thread can be kept open by those returning from various ships with their own personal experiences who will give more objective answers. One post stated he/she didn't get a preference of bungalows, where I did. Good luck with your decisions and hope they work out to fit your needs. Happy Cruising!!

[garyinftl]

Larry L, just because it is not what you experienced on your cruise, that does not make what I experienced "bad information".

[pjs9876]

I appreciate BOTH of your posts. Each of you had different and valid experiences. This helps me plan. It helps me evaluate the cost vs. the benefits. Princess is changing and I want to keep on top of these changes. This thread will inform others if things are uneven on different ships. It is important that actual experiences be shared. Thank you for sharing.

[LarryL]

Larry L, just because it is not what you experienced on your cruise, that does not make what I experienced "bad information".

 

Sorry you took my post the wrong way. I tried to acknowledge that experiences may be different depending on the ship. I hoped people would share theirs so others could compare. The bad information I was referencing was about posts made many months ago when I was making my own decision on reserving a bungalow. I hope Princess reads these and sees that people want the type bungalow service we received.

[tvaud]

Ok, I'm coming to LarryL's defense. We also rented a bungalow on Princess Cays and got full service. We had 6 priority tender tickets, were offered a golf cart ride to the bungalow, full wait service and our own personal waiter. We were asked when we wanted to eat lunch and it was ready at that time, complete with table linens. We were given more platters of food than the table could hold, so we had to place some on the corner shelves until we were ready for them. Yes, you will pay for your drinks and the soda sticker will not work on the island...because they only have canned soda there, but you do not have to go to the buffet. You will be served a full lunch at no additional fee. You are offered a gourmet picnic lunch when you get your tickets, but it is up to you whether you want to add this item. The bungalows are still full service, so someone is spreading rumors...probably by someone trying to stir up trouble, or who got wait listed. And, you all should know better than to listen to Princess customer service reps. Everytime you call, you get a different answer. Don't cancel your reservations and relax. No services have been taken away from the bungalows.

[tvaud]

Just thought I would post some info about our rental of a bungalow on Princess Cays this week. We were on the seven day Crown Princess cruise out of Fort Lauderdale on Sunday 10/26/2008. Our first port was Princess Cays on Monday 10/27/2008.

 

 

We had reserved a bungalow via the Cruise Personalizer on the Princess website, largely based on the wonderful reviews we read here on cruisecritic. Well, all of the wonderful accommodations that past cruisers received from the bungalow rental are gone, at least on our visit this week.

• Past cruisers had reported getting called before arrival at the island to pick out which color bungalow that they wanted - no more - now when you get to the island you get a golf cart to a check in stand where they tell you which you have been assigned.
  
• Past cruisers had reported getting a ticket to allow up to six persons to have priority boarding on the tenders - no more - now you wait in line with everyone else.
  
• Past cruisers had reported getting delivery of food from the barbeque, plates overflowing with some of everything available - no more - now you get a pitcher of water and a bucket of ice. We asked the cabin attendant who would get drinks (for a fee of course) if there was still food service to the bungalows, and got a terse no.
  

The cost of the bungalow is still $199 for up to six persons but for that you pretty much get an airconditioned room, guaranteed loungers, a table and chairs, some ice and water.

 

Princess provides a letter with the bungalow ticket indicating that for $245 total ($199 plus an additional $46 for the first two persons) you get priority boarding and a deluxe lobster salad lunch. Additional two persons cost an additional $48.

 

When we returned to the ship we inquired at the tour desk to see if we should have gotten better service. We were informed that all of the previous accommodations had been dropped. In Princess' defense, I do have to say that the description of the service in the shore excursions listings for the bungalow rental does NOT include all of the goodies past cruisers reported.

 

If any of this may change your feeling about having pre-reserving a bungalow, please also be aware that once you board the ship any Princess Cays "excursion" such as the bungalow or rental of any watersports equipment cannot be cancelled for refund.

 

That package is optional.

[nursebubba]

You know what is frustrating about all this for me? All the services that were provided and are in question don't cost princess anything. Think about it, the crew work for tips, the golf cart prob. runs on a little bit of electric, priority tender tickets don't cost anything. If princess is changing how they do this it is crazy esp. in the ecpnomic times we are in. We are taking our 1st princess cruise and am a little sad that this might be an issue. On NCL if you rent a life vest you get priority tendering. Now I have always though that was silly but always take advantage of it.