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I wouldn't go any less than 2 hours layover in CDG. Multiple times in that airport, I've learned my lesson 😄

Upvote for this one. I wear this with my Apple Watch, though I found wearing it behind the watch face worked better for me. It is difficult for me to get my medallion in and out of this, so it definitely holds the Medallion securely.

I do this same math almost every time I book, between Standard and Plus. A lot of times it comes close, but in your case I may not upgrade. Wifi is a necessity for me, and gratuities are required, so $440 is for sure. That leaves another $400 leftover from your upgrade cost to use as I please. I can get away with only a couple paid special coffees/soda/water bottles/alcoholic drinks through the cruise, and still have a lot of money to spend on a few rounds of bingo, or buying tshirts and souvenirs on board. Of course now Plus offers Juice bar drinks, 2 fancy desserts, and 2 special fitness classes. You'd have to factor that in to your vacation fun meter. There is something to be said for being relaxed and knowing you have free rein to have as many cappucinos and martinis as you want, especially as it's your first cruise. Just remember that you are still likely going to create other charges on board, even if you upgrade to Plus.

This is a great tip. I'm just now looking at a NZ cruise just for LotR content, so saving this thread for myself too.

Yep, it looks like you had some unfortunate timing with Winter break/holiday. I have not experienced an increase in kids on board on my sailings. In fact the rare kids I saw was enough to catch my eye, as it was unusual. I wonder if you could have had some kind of special group on board as well?

Works in my credit card's cruise travel dept. Worked through several agents via the 1-800 number over time, before getting this one and finally adopting them as my permanent agent. Found someone I felt comfortable with that understood my quirks. I was a travel agent myself a hundred years ago, and am rather particular (read: Pain in the behind) 😄

My cruise is in 2024, so that isn't it.

My cruise is not on that list, and all I gave my TA was the original screenshot of the promotion that OP posted. There is nothing in any of my Princess nor TA paperwork that shows a promotion code of any kind. There is no wording in anything I can see that shows I have a special military promotion applied. I simply have all of the line items of the "gift" items in the screenshot I posted above. For those having trouble booking, does the Veteran perhaps need to be the primary person on the booking?

I still pack and carry my little bingo bag with Princess daubers and such on any cruise 😄 But coins and buckets? No way, you're on your own there. I love the electronic credit for that.

My military OBC never shows up on its own, so I usually email the department a month or few weeks out from my cruise. One time I was already on board and noticed it still wasn't there, and the great folks at the front desk were able to call back and get that sorted for me. It's supposed to show up automagically, but in my case I always have to prompt them to have it applied. I just send that and the shareholder requests out on the same day.

In my personal experience, all OBC is refundable if you make a visit to the Casino. Anything you put on your Casino account can be refunded out with USD cash at the Casino desk. If I don't use all my OBC, I always make a stop at the Casino on the last day.

I didn't have that issue with my AppleWatch. I never turned NFC off, and the Medallions scanned normally for me.

Highlighting this part, it should definitely work for veterans. If you've heard differently, I'm guessing that was a misinformed Princess agent.

I am not active duty, and have long had pre-verified "Veteran" status with Princess. My TA got the deal for me, and it was definitely a re-book with new booking number. In my case I just set up this booking in December using an FCD, so re-booking now was not a big deal for us.

You can go to your local bank a couple weeks ahead of time and order foreign currency. My bank charges a tiny admin fee for it, and I have the comfort of having my "walking around cash" already handled before I go. Other than that, I have a debit card from a bank with favorable foreign transactions, just in case I want to pull more cash out. You're never going to get good exchange rates at the airport or on ship. Regular old ATMs in port are much better.

I was wondering about that, but figured it was because my next one is too far out. They must be re-tooling their vendors and such.

I used my VPN on cruises last year without issue, but as @billco said, the speeds were not great and the VPN slowed it down even more. I did not have luck using most two factor auths on ship wifi with my VPN on, but it all worked great with cell signal in port.

Hoooboy - Guess I better commit to another booking here soon to take advantage! One last FCD left on my account to use anyway 😄

I haven't been active for quite awhile, but I do have my military status already verified and on file with Princess. @PaperSniper4 Yes the OBC is still there too.

Here is the relevant part from my new Princess receipt.

It works! My TA was able to re-fare my March 2024 cruise to get this new benefit, and I saved a bit from a slight fare drop. All I gave her was the screenshot from OP. I’ll post any proof of the benefit from the Princess site once it shows up in my personalizer. Edit: It must have required a full re-book, as I can see my booking code is different now.

Here is a pic of the type I use. I put the medallion on the opposite side of the watch face, as I found it easier to tap that way.

@sawtooth Wait, so you have the new promotion on your booking now? I haven't had luck with an agent getting any real info about the "upcoming new" promotion.

I use a small rubber holder that attaches to my watch band. I always wear my watch/fitness tracker, so the Medallion is with me all the time. Just a quick tap from my wrist to the readers. There are a lot of Ocean and Medallion holders for sale on Amazon and other sites. Yes the Medallions are basically the same as AppleTags, and most of those will work.