Mud_Shark

OOOHHHH - is there a prize for having super bowels because I will win!

To your question - I was uber confident that cruising would resume by mid summer in short form and be up and running full length itineraries by Sept (well, at least 7 day ones in N America).  News of the various vaccines being rolled out en mass was bolstering my confidence.  But my confidence has been waning this month.  I am down to about 40% confident that regular full itinerary cruises (with masks and possibly excursion restrictions) will be going by Sept in Europe and North America (even less confident for Australia and NZ - where more likely any cruises would be bubble restricted for both ports and passengers).  There are just so many pieces to these puzzles, including being tested and quarantined on the way there and back.  Plus there is the question of obtaining proper medical insurance if travel is not recommended by the government.  And so many governments involved in opening up ports again - and governments are not known for efficiency and speedy decision making.

Ask me next month and it may drop further.  I hope not - we have a couple cruises for November that we are really hoping wont be cancelled.

Don

Don't particularly like wearing masks, but if that is the price of cruising in the coming year - Yes.

Don

If it was Seattle to Cabo at least rather than Ensenada, then sign us up as well.  Need a destination where its has that warm beach getaway atmosphere.

Don

I would certainly do so (love to get a deal) - but being Canadian, the process does not work well for us (learned from past experience).

The gift cards are in USD and if to be used to pay off the cruise - the cruise must be booked in USD.  This causes ripple problems for Canadian cruisers, as now, you can't make the booking yourself directly on the Princess website - but must call and do it over the phone. And if you book in USD, you  can't apply your FCDs if you purchased them in Canadian funds.  So it takes away one financial advantage to afford another.  So unfortunately, I will pass.  But yes - I would go for it if it worked better for us.

Don

I have very little to add - but 97th cruise?????  Wow!  We have done 9, so you know far more about cruising than we do.  We are booked for Alaska Aug 2022, for our first Alaska cruise.  But we did live in Anchorage in the early 90s, and when we went on the Denali tour back then, there were a couple stops on the bus tour for photo taking etc, and I recall 2 stops that had basic facilities.  That was over 25 years ago, so I would hope things are even more convenient and upgraded by now.

Don

we had a much smaller amount of goodwill credit that was to expire.  I called and my request to extend the deadline was forwarded up the chain.  It took less than 2 hours for the one year extension to be approved.  By the way - they did not tell us by email of the extension - we just saw it change in our personalizer.

Don

i was able to book all our shore excursions for our November Cruise with OBC.  Several done online simply, but when my account has more and my wife's account did not have enough OBC for some excursions, I just call princess and have them book 2 tickets for that excursion in my name.

Don

Just a small clarification, but the free specialty dining and free room upgrades are given whether you choose the bare bones fare or the B.S.E. fare, so don't add them into your calculation of whether the $40 per day upcharge is worth it for you.

Don

We love them all.  There are minor preferences, but there are no bad cruise ships in the inventory.

Grand does not have Skywalkers like the rest in her class.  Buffet (pre-COVID) was so much better on the Royal Class ships (Regal being the second in the Royal class).  Some of the Grand and Ruby ships do not have Alfredos (Pizza and Italian - part of the free dining options).  And of course the Royal class do not have the wrap around Promenade for walking and strolling, but do have a deck 17 walking and jogging track - but it is open to the sun and much further up from the water to watch the flying fish, dolphins and whales.  That track is more for exercise than strolling.

But all are winners and we would jump to get on any one of them.

Don

We had a back to back on the Sky scheduled until the NY - FLL cruise was replaced by the Caribbean Princess.  So if all goes well - which at this point is no guarantee, we will disembark the Caribbean Princess on Nov 20th and board the Sky Princess same day.

Don

We've been told in Canada that all who desire to receive the vaccine will have it by September.

Don

It took an hour and a half on the phone today, but we got our OBC all back and the cruise fare was reduced - in fact - it is a little lower than it was before on our original Sky reservation.

We did not yet receive the bonus $50 obc for accepting the ship switch, but we will wait on that and if I have to - call another day.

However, we had a back-to-back planned on the Sky for Nov 20th - and Princess cancelled that 2nd booking and did not even notify us (their notes indicated it was cancelled because of CDC no back-to-back restriction).  So that was part of the issue on the phone today.  They admitted since the back-to-back is in November, after the CDC restriction is set to expire - they oops'd in cancelling our booking.  They had already processed a refund - so they have allowed us to repay the fare and have the same fare and perks re-established once the refund has been received by us.  Will this second leg - which is supposed to sail on the Sky - even happen?  Who knows.  It is the first North American cruise being sold for the Sky, but Princess does not know when the Sky will even come over to North America.

So - all good for now.  Just waiting for the next cancellation or change to come out of the blue.

It will be a rocky year for making plans as everything is so fluid and uncertain.

Well, we have not received the email of the new booking information yet, but in the cruise personalizer it now shows us on the Caribbean Princess - and although the previous email told us the fare price and the promotions have been protected, and we had paid in full, the new info now shows a price increase of $250, which it says we now owe.  And our OBC has dropped by $450.

Hmm - hopefully they will correct these errors but I will call Monday and find out.  I hope this doesn't turn out to be more hassle than it is worth - but we will not be paying an increased fare for a downgrade in ship. 

Don

Here is the wording from the Princess redeployment email:

We are on the Nov 6th NY-FLL repo cruise.  In our email from Princess telling us about the change of ship it specifically did say our price was protected.

However, in our case, we are already paid in full (due to a sale Princess had in August that offered OBC and 10% fare reduction if you paid in full early), so don't know if others got the same email which specifically said the fare was protected.

The administrative booking for the ship swap for our journey has been delayed until Dec 23rd, so we have not yet seen the new booking to confirm the price remains the same.

Don

I feel like the pacific has a tendency to be a bit rougher at times than the Atlantic or Caribbean.  Of course there are exceptions and any body of water can be affected by storms or inclement weather.

You will only be exposed for less than two days travel.  I wouldn't be too concerned personally, but there is a possibility of rough seas, and rough seas do seem to be felt more on the higher forward levels of the ship.  We have felt a bit unsettled with the motion of the ship once or twice, but a bit of Dramamine, a nice nap, and some green apples, and we were back in action.

Don

Perhaps foolish question - but we love MUTS and have only cruised summer or warm water (Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii) - Does MUTS still play on cold arctic nights?  I would get bundled up to watch a good flick.

Don

We cancelled our January cruise three weeks before Carnival did.  We  lost our deposit.

Don

Our Nov 6th itinerary has also replaced Bonaire (with Grenada).  I wonder if there is some restriction Bonaire has imposed upon cruise ships that Princess feels is simply too constricting for cruising there this coming year?

Don

Also on this cruise.  We knew something was up, and we are actually glad the only thing that happened was a change of Ship.  We were afraid the cruise itself might be cancelled as so many others have been in the last couple weeks, as Princess shuffles the deck to try to conform to all the restrictions being placed upon it.  Of course we were looking forward to experiencing the Sky Princess for the first time, but will still gladly sail this itinerary on Caribbean.

We did a 14 day on Caribbean Princess last November and thoroughly enjoyed our time on board.  We had sailed her twice previously and she has under gone a recent upgrade.  She was in good shape.  Things we noticed:

1)  She is medallion class equipped and working well in that regard.

2) New hallway carpets and stateroom beds.  Only downer is that you can no longer tell port or starboard by the color of the carpet.

3) New flat screen TVs and on-demand movies in your room (just like the Royal Class).  A big plus for us.

4) Not certain on this, but it felt like the MUTS Screen and sound had been improved over our last experience.

5) Buffet totally revamped and a big thumbs up - of course with COVID - not sure what this will look like moving forward.  Loved the Noodle Bowl station at the back of the buffet.  It alternated with a wok style grill every other day that was also great.

6) New modestly priced specialty restaurants - Planks and Steamers (one BBQ and one seafood).  I know some want something fancier, but we ate in both a couple times and loved them.  You may feel differently on this.

We just found the ship to be good on all aspects.  Certainly hope this cruise sails as it will be one of the first 14 day cruises from North America if it goes.

Don

Just got the Princess email today that our booking for the NY to FLL Nov 6th itinerary has been switched from the Sky Princess to Caribbean Princess.  So happy!  Though we were looking forward to the Sky Princess, this is a great itinerary and we got a very good price, so did not want this cruise to cancel like so many others have in the past couple weeks.  Ship change is a little bit of a let down, but fact that the cruise is still going far outweighs any downgrade in ship.

Sure hope this cruise goes as planned.  It's been over a year now of no cruise for us, and still almost a year to go.

Don

Along the lines of mfanderso, My guess is that the Caribbean Princess will replace the Sky princess for its October New England cruises and the repo down to Fort Lauderdale  on Nov 4th.  Those cruises are still listed by not for sale.  I think CB steps in and assumes those itineraries.  Sky Princess cruises from FLL resume for sale for departures starting Nov 20th and beyond, I my guess is that is when it will arrive in the area.

Don

We got burned once on the non refundable deposit.  Did not submit final payment on a cruise we knew would not be going.  Lost the deposit, even though the cruise did not go.

So, no, will not be booking Carnival again until the landscape completely changes and there is some level of confidence that cruising is fully back on track.

Don

Also scheduled for same ports same ship in January, but we will not make final payment as Canada still has not opened the border and there is still a 14 day quarantine afterwards which neither of us can do due to work requirements.

So no cruise again....

Don

Royal does not so much have mini golf as a putting green.  Just a number of holes to practice in rather than a course laid out.

Don