Here is a link to the Caribbean Princess l 5 things YOU shouldn't miss and 2 things to AVOID ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VEaB4iIShUw.html Please support the channel by giving this video a thumbs up, commenting, and subscribing for more cruise ship reviews and tours. Subscribe ---- www.youtube.com/@jaysonjudson?sub_confirmation=1
We have done 10 cruises with Princess and have never had an issue. We did find that since the medallions came in there seems to be less staff so service can be a bit slow. I think if you go looking for problems you will find them but with us we go to enjoy our cruise and we always do.
I just finished a webinar for Princess (I am a travel consultant for Expedia Cruises) and they were saying they have improved the Wi-fi a lot over the past year. I hope you’re able to see the improvement. Caribbean Princess was our very first cruise, and I loved it then (2006), so I’m sure the 2019 update is great!
we live in Ontario, Canada and our group of 6 all received our medallions to 3 separate addresses on Aug.9/24; our British Isles cruise on Regal Princess begins Aug.31/24!
I do have a question about the sanctuary. I was under the impression that you had to be an Elite or pay extra for the sanctuary. No I never asked anyone as I have only been on one cruise and I was a complete newbie.
I thought Princess was the best of the best for Alaska. But now, learning there's no covering on the pool deck for the Discovery, no more room service included, zero arcades for rainy days and I'm unsure how movies under the stars even works in cold climates! I don't know whether to cancel and try another line or what. These are helpful tips if we stay booked!
So Holland and Princess are the best in Alaska because they have more access to the glaciers and they have doing Alaska the longest. That truly is why you are going to Alaska. Imagine booking another line that has those things on the ship yet you don’t go to glacier bay? You have to spend extra on an excursion to see them. Also movies under the stars, as long as it’s not raining should be great as they give you blankets and they have these amazing soft loungers. So I wouldn’t worry about that. The Discovery is basically a new ship, so that is always nice to be on a newer ship. Princess doesn’t have a lot of indoor pools, that class wasn’t designed for Alaska. I hope it works out for you, thanks for watching and i appreciate your comment.
@@JaysonJudson We cancelled with them. We want to enjoy our time on the ship as well. For people who've never been to Alaska, we'd all be excited to see any of it lol. Appreciate the comment!
We have our 6 princess cruise booked this April to Hawaii we have never had issues with drinks finding us in a timely manner we have also order pizza to the sky walker lounge and finding us in a timely manner Renewer when your in port at lot of the staff are also getting leave so they may go to port and get personnel supplies so yes expect delivery may be a little slower and this may be the days you walk to the bar and get a drink or go to the buffet for your food We have cruised Princess Celebrity Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Princess has always made our vacation perfect fun relaxing and memorable
Been on 12 Princess cruises and I am Platinum too. One thing to know about the Princess ships: they vary in service(s) and the staff know this. When Princess started the process of installing the Medallion equipment on the ships, it was very buggy, now it works very well, but mostly on the newer "regal / royal class" ships. This is because the newer ships were designed with the medallion and internet accessibility in mind. Princess used the pandemic time to upgrade the older ships as much as possible, unfortunately, the smaller ships just aren't amenable to all this new technology. After the pandemic, we have cruised on the Enchanted, the Crown, the Discovery and the Sky. Amazingly the medallion services, internet, service have all been excellent. Our next cruise this fall will be back on the Enchanted. Even the Crown, which is an older ship, had great medallion services. Looking forward to the new "sphere class" ships. Should be interesting. From the start, I could not agree with about 50% of what Jayson was saying; and I finally figured out what the problem was when he finally mentioned the fact that this whole post was about the Caribbean Princess which is one of the oldest ships in the fleet and not the best one to use to talk about the overall Princess experience. 1. Always have the medallion mailed to your home. After the medallion experience, our onboard process is usually less than ten minutes from the parking lot / cab stand to our cabin or lunch in one of the casual dining restaurants. 2. Book everything that you can way in advance. Since we have been with Princess, we've done all the "Specialty restaurants". Our favorites are always the Crown Grill and the new "The Catch by Rudy" on the newer ships. We have also had good experiences once on board by either using the "dine line" or going directly to the restaurant to make a reservation. This is because there are always people canceling out and you can usually get a spot. 3. Some things like the spa and the sanctuary can't be booked in advance. If those are something that you really want to do, I agree with Jayson: make that a priority and book as soon as you get on board. 4. Try to book a "Club Class" mini-suite. It's now called the "Reserved Collection" cabins. Worth every penny: larger cabins and a special reserved dining area where the staff get to know you by name and you can sit at the same table every day at the time of your choosing. 5. Get the Princess plus. Not the Princess Premium, just the plus. It pencils out very nicely versus what we used to do. 6. Finally, if you can, book you cruises through Costco travel. Saves literally thousands of dollars sometimes and at the end of the cruise you get a Costco debit card, which actually pays for the Princess Plus!
@@laurs5551 I didn't say it paid for the cruise, I said: that is pays for the "Princess Plus". Princess plus is their package which pays (in advance) for most of the stuff that many of us usually pay for as we go along. Stuff like tips, drinks, restaurants, WiFi and funny desserts. You select the package that you want, pay for everything in advance, and when you get back, Costco sends you a debit card or a credit voucher, that has enough on it to pay for the Plus package. Used to be a separate card, but on our last cruise, it was just a voucher, which was OK because the card and / or voucher only work at Costco which again is OK because we shop there all the time.
We went through AAA this time. The last time we booked a cruise through Costco was an absolute nightmare. Hours and hours on the phone trying to straighten out mistakes. That awful hold music has been etched into the nether regions of my brain. Although we didn't get a Costco Gift Card through AAA (obviously) we _did_ get an Onboard Credit. Not quite enough to pay for the Plus package, but good to have anyway.
Good tips to know! I totally agree with the drink delivery. As you said, you have to plan on being in one spot for a long time, which is not something you normally do on a cruise ship. One thing I learned is that when you belly up to a bar, your medallion links to the bartender's computer and your name and picture both come up on a screen in front of them. If you are the paranoid type, you may not like being this closely tracked while on board.
Just an update on WiFi. They have upgraded to Starlink so WiFi should be much better. Any experiences of the new Internet connectivity would be appreciated.
I highly recommend the balcony dinner. We did it on the Emerald Princess on the Panama Canal cruise. The food was amazing & the service was fantastic. Do if you have something special for us it was our 50th wedding anniversary & worth every penny. But just make you are extra hungry because you really do get a lot of yummy delicious foods.
It was very special, the food and service was AMAZING. We ate breakfast that day and I wish I wouldn’t have lol 😂 Thanks for sharing your experience, we can’t wait to do the ultimate balcony dining experience again. Appreciate you watching.
My thoughts are to try the drink delivery if the line to the bar is too long. We have Plus, so it's already paid for, might as well use it once or twice.
Wow. I am sorry for your experiences. We love Carribbean Princess. One of our favourite ships. Until recently, we could not have our medallions delivered, (we are in Canadian) and never once have we had to wait more than a few minutes to pick them up. We also never had bad internet. Compared to other cruise lines, we always found Princess to be better overall. We love Alaska and wouldn't sail with anyone else. When we did our research, almost everything we read said, Princess is the best cruise line for Alaska for many reasons. One being best overall itineries that are offered. Of course a lot of things you mentioned are subjective and we are all allowed our opinions. So I just shared ours. Happy cruising⚓️🛟🛳
@@ironman0917 I have heard from other Utoobers that picking up the medallion at embarkation can be a slow, cumbersome process, while having it ahead of time, you just breeze on board. I guess it's another YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).
Just got off Caribbean princess everything was good but honestly the medallion is a joke concept it does not work opening your cabin door and getting on of ship is ok but ordering anything is ridiculous and they don’t tell you that it’s not compatible with every phone. Princess scrap the medallion it’s not working
Thanks for the tips! Going on Caribbean Princess in November. First cruise since they made all the changes regarding premium desserts, juice bar. I always get the Plus Package.
I'll give you another lesson on princess cruises. Princess cruises employ their crew on slave labour rates. For example I was employed as a bar steward with other passenger safety/security duties, working at least 12 hours a day. For this work I was paid 50 dollars A MONTH and expected to make up a decent wage selling cocktails of which I recieved 15%. Keep in mind when you cruise next that the service crew are slaves and are paid slaves wages. I'm speaking from experience.
I found this really helpful as I'm going to be on the Caribbean Princess Cruise next week. There are sooooo many changes from the last time I went on a cruise that I'm not really happy about. What I used to Have when I signed up for this cruise I Don't Have now. I truly feel I (actually there are 12 of us going on this cruise) should have been able to Keep what I/we signed up for and everyone else signing up after the changes were made would abide by the new changes, that would have been fair. This is like a Bait and Switch deal. Once again, I liked all the information you gave and found it very informative. I signed up to watch your videos and look forward to watching more of them 😊
We ordered chips and guacamole when we were waiting in the Explorer for a show and I believe it was delivered within about 30 minutes. By the way, I don’t believe Apple makes any watches called an Iwatch, they’re simply called an Apple Watch.
Hello Jayson!Excellent video! Very valuable, and important tips and information! Great job!👍. My wife and I are so excited to be onboard the new Sun Princess cruise ship on 7/27/24 - 8/10/24 14 days for the Grand Mediterranean Cruise! Thank you! Thank you!😀
# 1 not true at all. We are Platinum and picking up the Medallions at the port takes maybe a minute no matter what level you are. It is very quick and easy. And its one less thing to remember and to forget to pack in your suitcase.
We are platinum also (only 3 cruises away from elite) The check it wasn’t smooth at all and everyone was complaining about how long it took for those that didn’t have their medallions. #1 true for us
I have heard that drinks on Princess cruises cost less than other cruises, but I think, even if you don't drink a lot (and really, who can drink 15 drinks a day and still walk?) the Plus package is likely worth the expense for: a) drinks, including spirits, wine, beer, specialty coffee, bottled water, etc, b) internet and c) pre-paid crew gratuities. The free exercise classes (meh) and premium desserts (I'm a vanilla ice cream man myself) are not so exciting, but maybe you'd love it. Everybody has different wants and needs. There might be something else on the list, but obviously I'm so impressed by it that I forgot all about it.
@@sct4040 The Princess Plus package isn't *only* for drinks. The big things it includes are, a) drink package b) prepaid gratuities c) internet package d) a couple of meals in their "casual" dining (like specialty, only cheaper). There's one or two more, but I don't remember what they are, but I think just the first 3 are worth it.
Are you knowlegeable of what more privileges i would have if i purchase the thermal package? I heard you say you can still use privileges if u dont purchase
It replaces the key card, and also is used to track your location on board ship. One of its cute features is the door to your stateroom knows you're coming and will unlock for you automatically. It's something I wish we had on a previous cruise, where our adult son failed to come back to the room, and failed to call us or do anything to let us know he wasn't tossed off the boat. I figured he hooked up with someone, he is an adult after all, but my wife freaked out big-time. She had security pull out all the stops to locate him. Finding his location on board via that medallion would have saved us a lot of grief.
@@uncaboat2399 ok, I gotta know…what was the rascal doing when you finally found him??? More details please, if you don’t mind. You have piqued my interest with how you presented this story. Hope everyone is ok now and no hard feelings!
We have been on the Sky Princess and had much better wifi speed as I do work alot on the ship. The newer ships seem to have better wifi than the older ones.
Hi Jayson, Great recommendations. For the Sanctuary I book it the moment I board, I’ve had no trouble getting a reservation. My Medallion wrist band I purchased through Princess, it’s made from recycled plastic bottles and comes in a cool Caribbean blue color. I have to admit, the buffet on Princess’s is pretty bad. Really. Salty dog was great. I think it’s more cultural for me. I’m Latin, many cruises we take out of Miami have a number of us on, Carnival, Royal Caribbean seem to be able to read the room, lol. They have buffet food with a bit more Sabor, lol Great video Jayson. I look forward to them. Funny we are booked on the Caribbean Princess in January.
@@catistrolling7333 the Sanctuary is something different than the spa. It’s a private area on the ship away from the other cruisers. You can have shade from the sun or enjoy the sun. Service is more attentive, they usually have light bites and in the afternoon they have both lunch included and tea service. You can pay by both half and full day. It’s an area away from crowds. Don’t hold me to price. 20 for half day. Price may have risen or depending on sailing. Hope this answers some of your questions. It’s best as I remember.
My wife and I booked a stateroom in the aft. So far back, any further back they'd have to tow us in a dinghy. As for movement, it was the absolute worst we'd ever experienced. It felt like we were in a taxicab being driven by a crazy drunkard who searched out the deepest, steepest potholes anywhere. All of us complained, but really, what could anyone do? A lot of it depends on what kind of weather you run into, which might kick up the waves quite a bit, and nobody can change that.
None of thee interested me as I am on a diet. I just wanted to say that I wold never go Princess if I knew about that stupid Medallion crap. I hated phone and app, and I had hard time to find some one did that Mendallion info, tt was absolutely useless for us.
Island Princess has starlink and no internet issues at all. It seems like you are trying to generalize your experience on one ship across the entire fleet and you should not.
I have been on Princess 12 times And many people have complain about Princess internet … When you SAY you have the best internet at sea then you should probably back it up. Hopefully Starlink will make it better, but it hasn’t been rolled out across their entire fleet as of yet. Appreciate you watching and thanks for your comment .
Hi just wondering are the salty dog and pizza place included or need to pay extra for those? Any breakfast and lunch places recommended on the cruise? Thank you!
In just over two weeks time we’ll be going on a 14 night cruise on the Diamond Princess out of Singapore. All the tips that I can get from all sources, including here, are very gratefully received. What I’m really looking forward to is coming back home after two weeks about 14 pounds heavier!! 😂
I didn’t find out about this stupid Medallion until I paid for my Dec 2023 cruise. I only used my phone for calls because I couldn’t get a regular phone any more. I never liked so call text or dumb apps and I couldn’t see the small text any way. I had hard time to find some one to help me with this crap and Princess customer service never answered my calls. It was not fair for us senior citizens. I will not choose Princess again on future cruise because of this stupid Medallion.
I believe the internet service is like 12 to 15 dollars per day per device if purchased separately. It's up to you whether to connect when you're in port or you have something so important it can't wait a few days.
I’ve been on 6 different cruise lines and Princess medallion was my favorite experience! I’m going to try to stay on them so I can earn loyalty status!
Most boring and most uninformative review I have ever seen on Princess Cruises😡😡. And after 23 cruises with Princess I must say I disagree with majorly of what was said here. 😢
Another cruise RU-vidr wannabe!! Same trivial information as the endless mob trying to fund their cruises by RU-vid. Maybe the issue with the Wifi speed is all these wannabe RU-vidr using up the bandwidth.
lol 😂 You seem to be pretty angry about cruise RU-vidrs and yet you are watching cruise RU-vidrs? I have been cruising long before RU-vid, over 20 years and 30 plus cruises, and YT hasn’t paid for one of them, we cruise because we love it, this is just something I like to do. 48 likes vs your 1 dislike, apparently not everyone thinks it is "trivial information" But thanks for watching, you got all the way to #9
That was so Rude 😬🤐🥴 If you don't like You Tubbers, why are you looking them up and watching them? You sound like a Troll 😢 Hope you have a better day 🙏