Expat Cruise

If you can used the  benefits then maybe a good deal, but most do not need or want a full drink package. I believe the reason for this type of package is to include the daily service charge, as many people are removing this fee with guest services.

Really need to look at this two ways. If you can still use FCD then the effect is very small. Guests just need to always have these FCD on hand. If you are booking without  them, then it is a increase in the deposit amounts. Paying $400 person deposit for a 14 day cruise is more than most pay.  Our Princes cruises over the last couple of years have been 5 to 18 days, and never has the deposit been $400 per person, so it is a way for Princess to take larger deposits.

How the money on the ship belongs to the cruise line. Payments tips cash however done it it written into the crew contacts. If a crew member takes 1 cent the company policy is clear, they are terminated and off the ship at the next port.  Could what was suggested happen sure but would it happen? I really do not think the crew member would risks his / her job.

You cannot always believe what Princess says,  have been on 18 day cruises and should be 3 formal nights and they had only two.  And that was with 12 sea days.  You really do not know what Princess is doing until you are on the ship.  The stated policies and what the ships do seem to be very different at times.

1 hour ago, jmae66 said:

Hoping someone with Australian passport could assist, we are cruising SE Asia over Christmas including 2 ports Vietnam and 1 port Cambodia. I believe these are the only ports where visas are required. If you have visited these countries recently on a cruise and you did visas on-board, how many photos did you need to have with you and did you use the same photos for both countries? Thanks

I do not have a Australian Passport but have done these counties with Aussie friends and got their visa for them so I believe my information is still current (6 months old). For Cambodia you will need one passport size picture each. If you land at the airport your visa is done on arrival, or you can have Princess do it for you on the ship (at the port) you can also apply online for USD $30.00. For Vietnam can apply online see my post above and the fee is USD $25.00 or you can have Princess do for you once on the ship. Princess has been charging for US Currency Cruises USD $33.00 and on Australian Currency Cruises  AUD$ 56.00 dollars. 

If a independent  tour company enters the port and picked you up dockside or tender side then you need to supply the information. If on a ships tour they provide the information to the port for you.  The port also charges a fee to the tour operators in Phu My and Nha Trang it is USD$30 per person. Many independent tour operators set up your pickup just outside the port gates, and therefore no passport required and no added fee. 

We have used Pham Tours for HCMC (Phy My) and Nha Trang several times they pick up outside the port and do not require any ID or even deposits, you pay once you are on the tour. 

5 hours ago, caribill said:

 

All the M&Gs I have attended have been at the time and venue that was arranged for and posted on the roll call weeks before the cruise started.

Yes that is done but Princess clear tells the contact person that the final time and place is not confirmed until you board the ship. One time out of the last five times Princess has changed it.  It is always a risk if you just rely on what is posted in the roll call.

We have found anytime dinning works best over fixed dinning. This gives you many more choices. You are not  locked into one group, You can just show yup and dine. when you do they will ask you do you want a private table or share. Sharing allows you to meet new people and really never a wait. If you find a core group you like you can then dine together. If you have 6 you can request a table for six or do eight or ten and let the staff add more people to your table. 

Most breakfast & lunches we just share, dinner we met people and form a group and get a table. This has worked out very well for us. On port days we can eat lat as needed. If we have of want a fix time we can reserve with the dinning room captain.

Meet & Greets are a lot of work, e have set up a couple of them. If it is done right it can be lots of fun. The last one we did was a 18 day Sydney to Hong Kong Cruise. Our Meet & Greet had about 60 people at it. Many people met and made new friends and several smaller groups spent a lot of time together for the rest of the cruise. 

Here what was involved. First getting a couple list of people in the roll call with cabin numbers. Contract Princess and set up a time and place for the meet & greet. Send notice of the meet & greet to everyone by email.... But the location and time is not 100% confirmed until you are on the ship. Princess sends a letter to the point person from the group.  Get a list of the officers on the ship and do letters inviting them to the Meet & Greet. Also do notice that you hand place on all the cabins the day before the meet & greet.  Have a plan in place for the meet and greet, have  princess bring a PA system into the room. You also need to give guest services a list of all guests confirmed for the meet & greet.  Have name tags for all the guests, it is a good idea to put the  CC User name and then the real names. They will not place in the daily Platter.  The Officer come at the start and stay for a short period of time.  After the officers leave have introductions of the Roll Call members, talk about tours and other things plan for the cruise.  We like to have the Meet & Greet in the morning just before lunch that way guest can form smaller groups and go to lunch after.

When done this way attendance has been 95% plus for the meet & greets.  On longer  cruises smaller groups will form and meet during the cruise. Also some group members will still be looking for tours so food way to fill open slots they guests may have on private tours. 

2 hours ago, 4cats4me said:

I think I’ll bring my emotional support cats onboard with me on my next cruise and let them enjoy the run of the ship. That way I won’t have to pay for a pet sitter. 

 

 

 

Princess Cruises does not allow emotional support animals on it's ships. But I two miss my cats when we cruise. I could get paperwork for them within the day "calming" Emotional Support Animals. But would not do so as it is the wrong thing to do. Service dogs are important and needed Emotional Support Animals are not.

All the ports you are stopping at have ATM machines, Vietnam you can also us US Dollars in most places. I would not pre order money for your bank as costly. Very easy to do in port.

The policy on Princess is really very simple.  True service dogs are allowed as required under the law. Princess really does not have any choice here. If a real service dog they must allow the person to bring the dog. Really very little to talk about here.

6 minutes ago, kiramoli said:

Hi,

we will be on a cruise from Singapore to Hong Kong that includes Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. We will do our own independent tour in Cambodia and then will fly into HCMC (Saigon), Vietnam. This will be our first port in Vietnam. We will stay overnight in HCMC in a hotel and then will catch up with the cruise the next day. There are more ports in Vietnam after that. 

I read this thread to figure our the visa for us, we are US citizens.

 

If I understand it correctly, since we will be entering Vietnam in HCMC airport (flying from Cambodia) and then will be in various ports in Vietnam we can apply for e-visa. Our other ports in Vietnam are DaNang and Hanoi(Ha Long).

 

Is my understanding regarding e-visa correct?

Yes you can do a e-visa and list  HCMC  Airport as the point of entry and the exit is your last port in Vietnam with the ship. I would have a extra copy for the ship when you return to it. You only need a single entry visa.  And this can be done online with the e-visa.

The e-visa is the lowest cost option offered in Vietnam.

1 minute ago, Aus Traveller said:

Sorry, but you are not correct. The original question was about the loyalty OBC of US$25, $50, $75 and $100. On Australian-based cruises these amounts are converted to AUD at a reasonable rate. Other OBC (future cruise deposit, shareholder and military) are paid in AUD at 1 to 1.

Sorry but ours were done at 1 to 1. But happy to allow you send the difference since Princess said no.

What happens is they give you a conversation at 1 to 1, the 40% exchange Princess keeps, it is nothing but a rip off by Princess.  They do the same thing with Future Cruise Credits you paid in USD and have a stated OBC but once on the ship the credit is in AUD.  One of the worst policies we have found on Princess.

1 hour ago, jamieandsam said:

I'll be in HK Feb. 28-Mar 3. Arriving on Regent Seven Seas Voyager - the 28th.**** I was going to do a day tour to Macau on Mar 2nd, so the option of just going to Macau on the 29th would be a possibility. Are there other areas around HK that people would recommend besides Macau? Thanks.

The problem is only Hong Kong & Macau are visa free.  You can do a guide day trip to main China but only  covers one day.  The protesters really do not want to interact with Foreign Nationals. I was in Hong Kong last week came came across a wall of protester. I was wearing very popular  red hat,  they saw the hat and broken the line and allowed me to past. No issues. Hong Kong Protesters are carrying American Flags they love the Untied States.

43 minutes ago, SF said:

We are scheduled to be there the first week of January disembarking from a cruise and we had planned to stay 3 days in a hotel not far from Nathan's Road. With all the riots and unrest right now we are seriously thinking about changing our flight reservations and leaving the day the cruise disembarks. The riots seem to be more violent and not only contained to one area so we feel if we stay we won't get to see very much plus the unease of not knowing if something's suddenly is going to happen nearby concerns us . Anyone else considering changing their flight reservations to leave earlier after disembarking a cruise or canceling their trip to HK?At this point we are so unsure of what to do as it seems that things are only getting worse.

Another   option for you would be to stay in Macau. And then take the high speed ferry from Macau to Hong Kong Island. Just a short trip to the cruise terminal by taxi. This is not the SkyPier Ferry Terminal.

Very much worth doing will be on a sea day in the morning. Limited to about 15 total guests.  Some nice pictures, robe and other gifts, worth more than the $150.00 charged.

The best way is the MRT system, but you need to know which of the two cruise terminals you will be using. Princess uses both of them. The MRT does not have a stop at the terminal but the stops are fairly close to both terminals.

Mid ship  lowest deck and inside cabin on the center line of the ship will give you the least amount of movement. But going to a lower deck can give you more engine and equipment noise.  Deck 9 is mid ship and two decks down so less movement. But for most cruises you will not notice the difference. 

We saw them at the Royal Melbourne Zoo and in Sydney at  Taronga Zoo.

59 minutes ago, hobbyfarmer2 said:

I suspect a few have their mind absolutely set on this because they are certain that crew spreads the virus.  The posters do not seem to accept the difference between a virus that is spread by infected people and illness caused by food poisoned by bacteria, eg. E Coli or salmonella.  Noro is a virus, not bacteria and can only get into food if handled by a Noro contagious person.  It will not get there by spoilage or improper cooking methods. 

 

I wash my hands with soap and water at least a dozen times/day when on board.  I try to keep my hands off railings and almost always open washroom doors with a paper towel when possible.  Try not to touch any part of your face with your hands as well.  It's like baseball - just try to stack up the odds in your favor.  It won't reduce the odds to zero, but it will help.

You are correct but many people who get sick on cruise ships is from food poisoning. Also if your system is weaken by Bacteria you are more likely to get virus.  The CDC has very good information for those interested. https://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/index.html

The three main ways to spread and all can happen on cruise ships.

• Having direct contact with an infected person
• Consuming contaminated food or water
• Touching contaminated surfaces then putting your unwashed hands in your mouth

15 minutes ago, DebbieMacG said:

Doesn’t that mean the person training them to clock in and out is at fault? That’s where I would be looking if you are losing a third of employees a month, or perhaps it’s the people interviewing them and giving them a job in the first place?

 

Given your knowledge I’m surprised you cruise at all!

Really blame the training? How much training does it take to tell  people you must log in and log out of your shift. They also sign a terms & conditions of work that tell them they can be terminated for not logging in and out... And they still cannot understand or remember to do so.  The truth is you can offer all the training you want the education levels are so low very hard to train even for simple things. So I'm absolutely must have not understanding of food safety...

Why would I stop cruising I do not get sick I have all these third world  bacteria in my system and can tolerate them?  I go to Bali and I'm fine you go and you get Bali Belly.... In 40 years and almost 90 cruises never have had food poisoning on a cruise.   

4 hours ago, hobbyfarmer2 said:

There may be a slight flaw in your logic.  The crew sails every cruise on a ship but not all cruises have a Noro problem. 

 

While the crew may contribute to the problem as you state, it makes more sense to focus on the variable part of the situation as the major contribution which would be the passengers.

 

We were on Noro alert on Regal last April.  A women cut into the breakfast line and grabbed a couple of slices of bacon with her fingers.  A male passenger behind us both started yelling, "Are you kidding....." at her.

 

I have been in the kitchens and they have great kit and the kitchen crew is watched constantly.  The line's profits depend on this.   I do not believe the crew is the main problem.  Slovenly passengers are.

 The cruise lines only report if they hit the legal limit.....Anything under this limited is not reported. I think you will find these issues on all ships but most of the time they have them under control. 

2 hours ago, DebbieMacG said:

 Another flaw is that a lot of these crew do training before they even come on the ship and before even working for the cruise line, often back in their own countries, they need this basic introduction to even be able to get a job in the first place. This applies to staff from ALL countries.

 

 I know this because my son-in-law is from Sri Lanka and a lot of people he knows get jobs in the cruise industry. 

 

I personally think it’s just as likely that somebody came on the ship with a tummy bug perhaps they didn’t even realise they had it when boarding and they spread it about.

Really want to talk about crew training before the being on the ship.... it is a joke. Lets talk about the Philippines because most crew members come from here.  It is easy to get the paperwork for this training.  Even if they go to the training it takes much more than a class to train people here. I'm involved in a business here that hires many workers, we are able to terminate about 1/3 of them within the first month because they cannot even get the idea of clocking in and out of work down. A full 1/3 cannot remember to punch a time clock.... you really think they understand food safety?  Sorry that is a dream world.

Yes some comes on with the guests but the main place for these issues I believe is with the crew.

I'm sorry but I see this another way, I really do not believe it is on the passengers, I believe it starts with the crew. You really need to understand most crew members come from third world countries and have no idea about food safety until they start working for the cruise line.  I see this everyday, go to the local markets in the Philippines and you find fresh meat and fish out in the open, no refrigeration, no packaging just laid in bins. Most family do not even understand refrigeration, leaving cook foods out at room temperature to eat later. 

So it becomes very hard to train people to change what they have been doing their whole life. Add in a new ship with new crew and limited training on the ship and these outbreaks happen. Having spent the last 20 years outside the United States, most of that time in third world countries.....what my friends visiting cannot eat I seem to have no issues with. Most travelers are exposed to bacteria that is foreign to their systems.  This is one of the leading reasons people get sick. 

The bottom line is if you travel , you may have these issues with gastrointestinal illness. You need to be prepared. We travel with a complete personal pharmacy, drugs for almost anything that could come up during the cruise. (All legal with a visit to the doctors office first).