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About the Author: John Honeywell
John Honeywell is a travel writer specialising in cruise ships and cruise travel. Winner of CLIA UK's Contribution to Cruise award 2017.
Hello going on a SEA PRINCESS CRUISE to Carribean
many things unknown and little things we have been told to watch for HIDDEN COST please explain
1.Gratitudes…we been told dont let them charge our credit card pay at end and give what we feel?
2.Buy soda card for drinks as we board cheaper? again please explain
3.Room service is not free as they say?
4.Washing clothes is very expensive so is Internet room…
please explain would appreciate
Thank you
Hi David. Thanks for reading, and thanks for the questions. I’ll do my best to help.
1. Gratuities: Princess Cruises policy is to add $10 a day to your account for tips to cabin steward and your dining room waiters. You can choose to increase this amount if you wish to reward exceptional service, or you can decrease it if you are unhappy with the level of service. Speak to the Purser’s Desk.
2. Unlike meals on board, which are included in the fare, drinks from the bar are charged to your account. You can pre-pay for soft drinks by purchasing a “soda card
Princess if more formal and its more like Holland America which is for older peploe. On all the ships they have stuff for kids to do, but Carnival has a ton more with the waterslides and you could find out what all the Freedom of the Seas has besides rock climbing walls and etc at their website. It also depends on what time of year you want to vacation and what area you want to go to. Some cruiselines only go to certain areas at certain times of the year. For instance most cruise lines only go to the Caribbean in the winter and fall months while Carnival goes year round. It really depends. Princess to me seems more formal and more older like adults and elderly peploe. It also depends on what kind of atmosphere you want Princess is kind of more relaxed and Royal Caribbean is upbeat with lots of fun things to do. Another thing to consider is do you like younger or older peploe because of who you might be sitting wiht as your table mates. Since you will be eating dinner with them your entire cruise. It also depends on price, and how long the cruise is going to be. Some cruise lines have 3-4 days cruises and then 5-7 day, 10-12 day cruises as well. Some other cruise lines also have like 15 or 16 days cruises. It all really depends on you but I would personally recommend Royal Caribbean and I haven’t been on either cruise line but I hear wonderful things about it along with Princess but thast just my personall opinion. Another thing to consider is shore excursions and everything dont want till the last minute to do them and I would highly recommend passports even though the official regulation of having one doesnt take effect until January 2008 but it makes it so much easier otherwise you need a birth certificate and a photo id even for kids. You can even have a phot copy of the birth certificate just make sure you have everything you need. Also depending on where you go is about what type of room you may want. Inside no view, horrible but cheap, oceanview, a bit more but different categories and are very nice, balconies have a great view during all time of day, then you get into the sweets and depending on where when and price range you could maybe afford them or maybe not. It all depends on you. Hope this long answer helped.