ericosmith

From their email response: Price includes gasoline, insurance and taxes.

The perils of a tourist hotel near the cruise port. Had this happen in another location and was told to take a taxi or Uber at their expense. Front desk handed over cash upon arrival, no questions asked.

I'm bumping this back up in hopes that someone has had actual experience.

I put together a multicity trip on Iceland air myself as they apparently don't offer anything other than multiple one way tickets to do that. I'm going DTW-KEF round trip (got a great deal on the premium cabin) with a KEF-BGO in the middle. Then cruising back to KEF for the return to DTW. Their customer service is not much help. Does anyone know if I'll be able to check bags through even though KEF-BGO is on a separate ticket.

I'm not sure you can look at it simply in terms of price. If you do, outside of travel, the European cruises are certainly a better deal. To me, the European cruise is about seeing Europe, it's history, and keeping busy. You feel like you need to make the most of every minute. The American cruise is about a laid back and relaxed vacation. I think the entertainment and lectures are better. There are more options for dining. You travel around the even the smallest of towns on a bus rather than walking. The cabins are generally larger. The crew is all American (not suggesting that's good or bad, it's just different). The boat has to be built in America and meet more rigid requirements. In my ideal world I'd take a European cruise to see the world and an American cruise to rest up from it.

It's been a few years since we've been on Princess so I'm trying to catch up on some of the changes. Here's a few little silly questions... Do they have "to go" cups for coffee or do I still need to bring my own? I took our pictures in the app but they show up sideways. Should I retake them to avoid a delay or will those work? Is there a way to see my onboard credit on the website or app before connecting to the ships wifi? Curious about whether charges made in advance go against the excursion credit. Thanks in advance, I'm sure I'll have a few more but they escape me at the moment.

Love taking the water taxi but have always stayed at a hotel near a stop. This time it's not near a stop so looking for the best place to park a rental car close to a stop.

Amen, half of the boarding time is taken up by people trying to cram outrageously large stuff into the overheads. There's no room in front, take it back...there's no room in back take it up front. Then when you deplane it takes forever as people again try to deal with their outrageously large stuff. Then there's the people that can't manage to lift their own...

Yep, learned that the hard way. "Meter not working, it'll just be $25. Or fill a van for a flat rate of $20 per person. I pretty much stick to Uber of Lyft now.

Assuming they don't rip you off...

Interesting, it looks like that's a change that went into effect on 11/1

We were on the Countess cruise on the 8th and never got one either. When you get to the hotel you'll likely get the timeline at the checkin and there will also be an American Queen desk or two where you will do your checkin. They'll assign you to a transfer bus based on the time you checked in, take your picture and issue your room card. Don't forget your vaccination cards as you will need to show those as well as your id. With all of these itinerary changes I think the office staff is just overwhelmed.

Airport transfers are free on the revised itineraries.

Not valid for gratuities and no charge for drinks so no need for it there either. About the only use would be in the tiny gift shop which is outrageously overpriced.

I'm really not sure what they can do. We're ending up in Louisville on the 8th rather than in Memphis. From what the officers are saying on board there is just no way to insure that they can count on being able to travel on the lower Mississippi. Their revised itineraries are on rivers that are controlled depth so that there is no concern about water levels. If you go to: https://www.reservemyexcursions.com/booking/BookingTourList/0/AC110822/Web Booking Closed/ You'll find your itinerary. Usually you can click on the print this page in the upper left and it will download a pdf that shows all of the hop on hop off stops also. Hope that helps

It's going to be really difficult to do a Memphis to New Orleans cruise when the boat is in Louisville.

Interesting. I always wondered about that.

That is about the only route that would sell during the winter. I wonder if there's enough demand to support 3 boats considering the competition from ACL and Viking.

I"m on the Plus option so I get 2 one device plans included. It shows an option to upgrade to a 4 device plan for $50 (it's a 10 day cruise and I'm platinum). If I do that will I end up with 4 or 5 devices total?

Not sailed on any of the Royal class ships. Coming back from Celebrity to try one. I have a regular balcony booked because that was all that was available. Using the 3 person trick I see there are some deluxe balconies available. Is there any difference between these and a regular balcony other than the sofa rather than a chair? Is the balcony the same size? Also some of them have a slight indentation where the hallway makes a little jog. Does that make a difference? Thanks

Have rented lots of times on VRBO. Never had an issue and always been happy. Just look at the pictures and reviews very carefully. Send questions to the owner and see how they respond. For 4 nights I'd certainly consider the option if the price including all the fees was right.

It's been a couple of years but I don't think it would be a problem. As I recall there were Ubers there waiting. Booked one and jumped in immediately. Of course that was before insane security lines.

I don't know anything about this but that's just a minor fender bender. On our very first cruise some 26 years ago we got up early and walked down to the end of the dock in Vancouver (probably impossible now) to watch our ship come in. Someone made a major miscalculation of the current because as we were standing there, the Crown Princess headed straight for where we were standing. The starboard side of the bow connected with the corner of the pier sending up an enormous cloud of concrete and resulting in a large booboo to the ship as we went running. That one wasn't going to buff out. Had to reverse the ship back out and give it another go.

As I recall it's right across the street. I know I stopped there on my walk back to the ship after dropping off a rental car at the train station.

We went the very end of August and ended the cruise on Labor Day. There were no issues with water levels. As far as the jet boat goes, the levels didn't really detract from that excursion either, it just didn't go quite as far as normal. I'd recommend it as not much else in the area appealed to us and it was scenic and fun. As I recall, the Lewis and Clark excursion departs from Astoria. It's a neat town. I'm not sure I'd do the Lewis and Clark instead of spending more time in town unless I was into that kind of history. I can't speak to Mt. St. Helens. Saw it from a distance on the way to Mt. Rainier but that's about it.