BigTimeCruiser

We will be doing our first Viking cruise this September.  We are moving over from another line which we feel has really lost its appeal (cutbacks and more).  So, we have 3 Viking Ocean cruises booked and have the SSBP on them.  Looking at this thread, it would make you think that it may not be worth the money to purchase the package if Viking is limiting you to less than the complete list of wines and making a bottle purchase necessary.  If I am misunderstanding this would someone please help me understand.  Thanks.

Here is a link to the new survey Link

6 minutes ago, SoBaycruiser said:

In the “Before You Go” link there is another “Comfort check in” link that only works about 30 days beforehand.  In the check in they give specifics about the picture.  Here’s what it says.

 

Please upload a photo to be used as your picture ID onboard. The photo must be a head shot only, facing forward and looking directly at the camera. Do not upload a scan or picture of your passport or any other photo ID. 

If the photo provided does not meet the requirements your boarding process could be delayed and a new photo taken. 

The maximum dimensions are 45mm high x 35mm wide (passport size). Maximum file size allowed is 15MB in gif, heic, jpeg, jpg, png, and webp format only.

Thank you very much for this information!  I would never have figured this out.  Appreciate you taking the time to answer my question.

This is our first Viking Ocean cruise.  Where do we find the photo information and website?  I've looked through MyViking and haven't found anything about this.

Thanks everyone for your feedback on Visas!  

We are new to Viking and have 3 cruises currently booked.  Our first cruise is to Asia in September, followed by the Amazon and then in 2025 the World Cruise.  Our question is--do most people utilized the GenVisa service?  Please let us hear you thoughts on this subject.

5 minutes ago, phoebe2m said:

I booked 3 excursions and received email confirmations for our 1/31/23 cruise to Hawaii. All 3 were showing on the Princess website in the Excursions tab (Reserved for 2 Guests) but now one is missing, the one in Maui. Should I be concerned? I printed out the email showing that we are booked but don't want to miss out. Thanks for any advise. 

Had the same thing happen the other day for our Feb 23, 2023 cruise to Hawaii.  Now the Lahaina whale watching by boat is now longer showing.

20 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Did you click on your photo on the App? Does it show them combined on the left side or just the 2nd one?  
Did you recently book one of these ir change one of them?  Last few days.

Does the website show them correctly as 2 separate cruises?

 

Yes, it is showing only the 2nd cruise.  Both of these cruises were booked by our TA several weeks ago at the same time.  The Princess website shows them as two separate cruises.  

47 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Did you try logging in with that voyage's specific confirmation number, name, & birthdate?

Just tried logging in that way.  It allows me to log in, but I still don't see the first cruise.  Showing under My Journeys is the 2nd cruise of the two.  

What do you do if the first cruise of two in a B2B booking is not showing?  I see the 2nd cruise only in the Medallion.

46 minutes ago, Jeter02 said:

 

SHIP	CAPTAIN	CRUISE DIRECTOR	ENTERTAINMENT DIRECTOR	DIR, RESTAURANT OP's
Caribbean Princess	Steve Holland	Kristoff Greyling	Martyn Moss (on leave?)	George ?
Coral Princess		Kevin Tugwell
Crown Princess	Tony Ruggero	Jody Miles	Kelvin Joy	Mariusz Caermemnazowicz (sp?)
Diamond Princess		Not In Service	Not In Service	Not In Service
Discovery Princess		Marcus Prince Juanta	Frenchie Desbuquois
Emerald Princess		Fernando Cunha
Enchanted Princess	Mario Ciruzzi	Matt Barnard	Marissa Wurms	Silvio Zampieri
Grand Princess		Corinne Steel
Island Princess		Andi Sanders
Majestic Princess	Michele Tuvo (#1)	Armando Merin	Ben Powney	Francisco Patricio
Regal Princess	Andrea Spinardi	Dan France	Neil Rose	Nicola Furlan (#1)
Royal Princess		Natalie Costa	Ron Goodman
Ruby Princess		Mikka Reitano	Tim Donovan
Sapphire Princess		Not In Service	Not In Service	Not In Service
Sky Princess	Marco Fortezze	Paul Chandler-Burns	Matt Thompson	Francesco Clorfito

 

Please add George Drugan back to the DORO position on the Caribbean Princess.

22 hours ago, pathi said:

Any news on the Sapphire? No posts good, bad, or otherwise in a while. We are sailing her in late Sept. 

As of this moring, the Sapphire has made her way through the Suez Canal and is heading south through the Gulf of Suez.  Tracker

15 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Here is a new table/chart that includes two other key personnel that are often of interest and now included in this thread.  (Keep the board photos coming, though.  Normally on Deck 7 near mid-ship). 

 

SHIP	CAPTAIN	CRUISE DIRECTOR	ENTERTAINMENT DIRECTOR	DIR, RESTAURANT OP's
Caribbean Princess	Steve Holland	Kristoff Greyling	Martyn Moss (on leave?)	George ?
Coral Princess		Kevin Tugwell
Crown Princess	Tony Ruggero	Jody Miles	Kelvin Joy	Mariusz Caermemnazowicz (sp?)
Diamond Princess		Not In Service	Not In Service	Not In Service
Discovery Princess		Marcus Prince Juanta	Frenchie Desbuquois
Emerald Princess		Fernando Cunha
Enchanted Princess	Mario Ciruzzi	Matt Barnard	Marissa Wurms	Silvio Zampieri
Grand Princess		Corinne Steel
Island Princess		Andi Sanders
Majestic Princess	Michele Tuvo (#1)	Aaron Mac	Ben Powney	Francisco Patricio
Regal Princess	Andrea Spinardi	Dan France	Neil Rose	Nicola Furlan (#1)
Royal Princess		Natalie Costa	Ron Goodman
Ruby Princess			Tim Donovan
Sapphire Princess		Not In Service	Not In Service	Not In Service
Sky Princess	Marco Fortezze	Paul Chandler-Burns	Matt Thompson	Francesco Clorfito

 

(You don't have to keep the #1 ratings I put on for fun when copying the table forward).  😉

 

The Director of Restaurant Operations on the Caribbean Princess is George Drugan.

2 minutes ago, merryjewelhound said:

You need the app. Click on your cruise and then Medallioin Net. It will offer different plans. A discount is offered if Platinum or Elite.

Thanks

We are not electing to do the Plus Package.  Can someone tell me where within the booking you can pre-purchase the Medallion Net Internet Package?  Also, is there any savings for ordering prior to embarkation?

Thanks..

For an upcoming cruise 2 weeks from now, some were strange things are occuring in Dine My Way.  First, we had Club Class Dining showing in the app 2 weeks ago.  Now that isn't showing any longer--it's gone.  I called the Medallion Support Office and spent 45 minutes talking to them and all they could do was have me delete the app and then reinstall.  This did not fix the problem.  The Rep then told me she would submit a Problem Report.  Also, I wanted to book the Crown Grill.  Each time I attempted to make a reservation at the Crown Grill, I would get this, "Sorry...We could not find any reservations at this time.  Please check back later."   The Medallion Support Rep. was unable to make a reservation for us at the Crown Grill for the entire 2 weeks!!  I worked for many years redesigning and enhancing computer software and systems.  It appears to me that this app was never properly tested or evaluated.  At the end of my call with the Medallion Rep, she told me that I could make a reservation on board and they would know what to do about Club Class Dining!  I advised her that I was fully aware that I could make a reservation on board, but was very disappointed that this app is so broken.  I am beginning to question why I have spend all this time trying to fix and resolve issues that Princess should have fixed years ago!

28 minutes ago, ebeluga said:

Thank you for this.  I did not have DMW issue making reservation for my last 3 cruises but have issue now for all my upcoming cruises (Reservation not available).  Called and followed the prompts and reached a foreign call center.  Someone answered but it became very annoying that I had trouble understanding him and his having problem hearing me due to all the noise in the call center.  I gave up and ended the call.

I had the very same issue several weeks ago.  I called the foreign call center several times until I reached someone who's English language skill was good and there was a good telephone connection.  Was on the line with them for almost 45 minutes as they added my reservations to each day of each cruise.

55 minutes ago, pattycruisealot21 said:

 

Yeah from what I have learned through my research is that the US is still requiring a COVID-19 viral test no more than 1 day before you travel by air into the United States. Here is the link to the CDC website that I've found tons of helpful information https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/testing-international-air-travelers.html. 

I was having a hard time trying to find a testing clinic nearby but I was so happy when I found a clinic that is actually right next to the cruise ship terminal in Vancouver which is soo convenient!!  It's located in the Vancouver Convention Centre, I booked my test online but I heard that they also accept walk-ins. Here is the link in case it may helpful to anyone: https://covid-medical.ca/covid-19-test-book-online/  Prices are also pretty decent! Hope it helps save some stress 🙂

Thanks for adding this information.  I just booked at the Convention Center.  It's easy and quick to do.

Received this last night.  Looks like they no longer provide the test.  

One of  the Elite benefits of the Captain's Circle Club is a 10% discount on shore excursions.  My question is how do you obtain this discount if you book online ahead of the cruise departure?  

I resumitted my five (5) cruises for Shareholder Benefit yestersday.  They did one of them, but not the others.  All 5 requests are within the window established by Carnival Corporation, "The benefit is applicable on sailings through July 31, 2023 aboard the brands listed below."  Not sure what's up with this Department??

19 minutes ago, amajaa said:

How long is it taking people to get their OBC at the moment?  Princess are normally on the ball with allocating it and e-mailing back but I haven’t heard anything for over two weeks.  Have they changed the e-mail address or anything? 

There is no predicting when they will get around to applying the Shareholder Benefit to your account.  I have been waiting for 3 weeks on several I sent to them; however on a previous one, it took only one day!!!

8 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

See Post #951.  You can call Princess main number and select the option, but IDK your wait time.

My wait was less than 1 minute.  Post #952

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

AskOceanMedallion@carnival.net

I called them through the main number.  They are having to do the 64 days, one day at a time.   So far they have completed 43 days in a very manual process.

35 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

My report on experiences and testing DMW after second DR added to DMW for Regal and Island in October.

 

ISLAND - single 14-night voyage booked

Both DR's show availability.  I tested re-booking for entire voyage and was offered Private table space for our party (2 + 2 travel companions).  I left things as they were. 

 

REGAL - three voyages B2B2B - 7+7+11 - booked

Existing reservation was full voyage but only had Private table (2+2) for first two legs and some of the nights on final leg.  The other nights on final leg were SPLIT table and I had tried numerous times to see if any Private space would be offered over past weeks.

 

DMW would not find any space for a Full Voyage booking.  This, despite added Allegro DR just yesterday which is wide open for all nights and times.

 

I next went through the 11 individual nights of the third leg and re-booked each night to same time in Allegro and got all Private tables (2+2 - a 4-top presumably).

 

After that, I again attempted MANY times to book for Full Voyage and DMW never found space.

 

I finally threw in the towel and went through the first 14 nights, individually, and re-booked from Concerto to Allegro at the same time (2+2 again) with no issues.  I might note that Concerto no longer showed Private space on first leg at our selected time, but did still offer Private on second leg.

 

So, at this point I have individual 25 night bookings for same time in Allegro - all for dining party of 4 at Private table.

 

With all that in alignment, I tried again to book for full voyage and ... nope.  DMW claims no space found.  Rinse & Repeat doesn't help either.

 

I do realize we have the best chance to get Same Table/Same Waiters in Allegro based on other live cruise reports, but it is our least favorite DR of the three.  I also realize that 25 individual night bookings most certainly do NOT mean Same Table.  So, if System is not fixed, I hope DR mgmt will fix us up as in the past.

 

My conclusion is there is a system bug - and it has been there for a while now.  It shouldn't have anything to do with multiple DR's since the ISLAND booking process works fine for Full Voyage.  I believe the bug is related to Multiple Linked Voyages.  They had a bug in this area before and it was addressed, but I think another change a while back, "re-opened" this bug.  It could also be a problem with Regal for all I know.  I know others have reported issues with attempting to make Full Voyage dining bookings recently, but IDK if they all have B2B's.  When I say recent, I mean in the past 6-8 weeks. 

 

I will be reaching out to the OCEAN team and see what response I get. 

 

 

ETA:  The only thing I did not try yet is to wipe the slate clean and delete all 25 nights and try to book Full Voyage with a clean slate.  Couldn't do that anymore when just had Concerto as all the Private space was gone and I had some of it.  With Allegro added, well, maybe there is a tiny chance it will work???

I have the same issues for 3- B2B2B beginning in November.  Can't find anything in DMW.  Can someone tell me how to contact the OCEAN Team???