Cruisin Oma

I faxed mine a month ago. No sign of the credit. I refaxed it 10 days ago still no credit. I called Princess and they could only tell me to fax it again. Maybe I'll try snail mail. SO FRUSTRATING[emoji36].

 

 

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Broke down and sent it registered mail. It got there today. We will see how long it takes.

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I'm glad it just isn't me.

 

 

 

Just bought the stock recently and tried faxing in the form and documentation. Kept getting the communication error. Thought it was on my end since I rarely fax from my home all-in-one machine.

 

 

 

Finally mailed it in on Monday. Three days later it's showing up in my account for my upcoming cruise. :)

I faxed mine a month ago. No sign of the credit. I refaxed it 10 days ago still no credit. I called Princess and they could only tell me to fax it again. Maybe I'll try snail mail. SO FRUSTRATING[emoji36].

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I called their fax from my cell and got a fax machine - looks like it's on my end. I guess I'll report the fax machine we have at work... or feed it coffee!

I get so frustrated with that machine. I will send a fax and it fails due to "communication error" 9 times out of 10! Luckily my home machine will keep trying up to 5 times. Then I have to send again. I've literally added them to my sprees dial because I have to fax so frequently. I sent mine in for an upcoming cruise July 24th. It still hasn't shown up even though I have a confirmation it went through. Called Princess yesterday and their reply was fax it again. I almost cried, I hate doing it that much because of all the frustration it caused.

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Astro Flyer, My buddy just showed me his Princess Booking Reservation Invoice.

 

He booked the Dec. 5, 2016, 15 Days Hawaiian Cruise on Star Princess, rt out of LA for a W H O P P I N G $1049.00 and he gets a Guaranty IF. As good as it gets. I'm envious!

That $1049 was what I paid for a mini suite in 2013. [emoji26]

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That's a shame, Cruisin' Oma - I was told the opposite by a Princess rep. The rep I called told me that I could get the credit any time, even if I had booked and paid. Then, when I called again to clear something else up, another rep helped me to make sure that the referral credit was applied to the proper cruise. Clearly, the Princess reps are not consistent and I may have just hit it lucky two times in a row.

I just noticed you said On Board Credit. The referral credit I got with my mom, dad and niece directly reduced the price of our cruises (both mine and theirs). Did you get OBC?

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Ok - this is not actually a "secret", but I just found about about the Refer-a-Friend program through Princess (why my travel agent didn't tell me about it is just one of many reasons that I'll never use her again). Any person who has cruised Princess before can refer a person who is a first-time cruiser and then they each get $25 on-board credit which can be used in the following 24 months. This is per person (not per cabin). And, yes, you can do this even if the newbie has already booked their cruise. I was referred by a friend and just got them $50 OBC (for me and my husband) and us $50 OBC. It's easy and fun to get freebies!

Personally, I don't see why any first-time cruiser should cruise Princess without taking advantage of this. Just a thought: if you weren't referred by anyone and don't know of any Princess cruisers you want to give the OBC to, why not consider asking someone who has been helpful to you here on Cruise Critic to refer you? Some people put a great deal of time and energy helping others, posting great reviews, etc. - why not give them some goodies?!

Just my 2 cents . . .

So just some clarifications to the post. The referral credit is $25 per person or if two people in the cabin that have not sailed princess then it would be $50 per cabin. Also please note princess policy states that the booking of your friends cannot be made before you have entered the referral information into your princess website. I'm not doubting you didn't receive it and you called afterwards, but that's not princess policy. Princess policy is the referral must be made before the booking. I just called Princess and confirmed this because we have a family vacation wheremy sister-in-law jumped the gun and made the booking before I could get in the referral.Princess is denying me the referral credit.

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Hi, I have just purchased 100 CCL shares and want to apply them to my cruise booking for October, can I use the share dealing history page from my stock broker which confirms I bought within the 90 day window?

Read the requirements that are on the form provided in the link above your post. It states what is acceptable. Make sure you make a copy before faxing and cross out your brokerage account number.

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Hi, if I a may ask: what does one do on their four day crossing; both over and back to Hawaii. I have never been on a cruise that has that much ship time. Thanks.

I couldn't believe all the ship activities I participated in! I was non stop involved in the activities. My DH on the other hand preferred to spend his time reading and relaxing.

If you are on Princess you will be amazed at the learning opportunities you will have. I learned so much about the Hawaiian culture. Not sure about other lines.

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OP, I too will be on the Crown crossing from LA on Oct. 5th with da hubby. :D

 

 

 

As you can see, I'm from Arizona. We have lived in the LA area previously and its usually in the 70's to 80's that time of year.

 

 

 

As others have stated, you can only guess what Mother Nature has planned for our voyage. I myself will be taking both pants and shorts..

 

 

 

On our last Hawaii turn around cruise from LA, the weather in April was cool and we had to bundle up to go watch MUTS in the evening. The pools were closed part of the time as it was a bit rocky a few days...Loved it!! :D

 

 

 

Enjoy!! I know we will be.

 

 

 

What to do on a 15 day cruise with lots of sea days? Anything your little heart wants to do :) We love sea days!

Greenie082756

You should stop by and visit our thread for AZ cruisers. We are a bunch of folks from all over the state that love cruising! We get together about once every 3-4 months and talk about our cruises. Sometimes we even cruise together. There are a bunch of us cruising CA coastal this Oct together, and a bunch are cruising Europe next year.

Our next get together is next weekend at Lucille's in Tempe Marketplace. I think they have over 30 people going to lunch. (I can't make it [emoji20], I'll be in CA for family birthdays).

Hope you stop by the thread and introduce yourself.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2276408&page=87

This is the main thread were we visit. But we have other threads were we list cruises everyone is on. You might have a Zonie joining you on your next cruise!

Enjoy Hawaii. I loved that cruise!!!!

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I have a question it's probably a silly one says I don't understand much about shares in stocks. So if I have 100 shares and CCL stock then I will get $100 OBC per cruise. If I have 200 shares of stock, do I get $200 OBC?

 

 

 

so is it the more shares I own the more benefit I get out of OBC?

 

 

 

Thanks Kaye

Nope, there is only one shareholder OBC per cabin. If you want more than $100, take a 14 day or longer cruise, you will get $250 [emoji1]

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I have owned the stock for more than 12 years. I figure with a 2.6% dividend, cruise credits on 13 or 14 cruises and a pretty good increase in stock price it has been an excellent investment.

Couldn't agree more. I've seen more than a 50% return in three years on just the stock price. But the dividends and OBC for a couple of cruises a year are the immediate benefit. And yes it kind of locks me into Princess, but with the Military credit we get as well we don't mind be locked into Princess.

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That is one thing we always do early during the cruise. We get at least two FCC'S each ........... good to have extras available at home :) !

Good idea! This isn't a good secret, but something I wasn't aware of. We had booked a short 4 day out of LA for Sept of 2015 back in April May time frame. Used our FCC for that. Then in July the Sip and Sail promo came along and we booked a cruise for Oct 2016. Deposit was only $100 under sip and sail so no problem.

I bought 2 new FCC for DH and I on our Sept 2015 cruise. Got home and called Princess to have the 2 FCC applied toward our Oct 2016 cruise, and they wouldn't let me use it. (Not only that, but somehow the agent got confused and put in for a refund! Imagine my shock when I got my Credit Card Statement and there is a $200 credit from Princess. I called and tried to have it put back as FCC and the agent said there is no way to fix it. You only have X days after sailing to purchase FCC!). Lesson learned. Keep extra FCC on hand!

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You can stack your OBC when they are the following -

Future Cruise Credit - 17-44 Days $150 Balcony/Mini/Suites; $125 Inside/Outside

11-16 Days $100 Balcony/Mini/Suites; $75 Inside/Outside

7-10 Days $50 Balcony/Mini/Suites; $25 Inside/Outside

3-6 Days $25 Balcony/Mini/Suites; $15 Inside/Outside

Military Benefit - 15 Days or More - $250

7-14 Days - $100

1-6 Days - $50

Shareholder Benefit - Same as Military

You get Future Cruise Credit (FCC) by putting down $100 cruise deposit while you are on your cruise.

You get a military benefit if you are a veteran and after sending Princess your DD214. (You send it once and Princess keeps it on record and automatically applies it every cruise - just make sure to check your paperwork - Princess has been known to update their systems and lose this info.)

Shareholder Benefit - Buy 100 shares of Princess Stock and provide Princess with Proof of ownership. You have to show this proof every cruise.

My husband and I travelled to Hawaii on a 15 day cruise. - We had $200 FCC. $250 Military, $250 Shareholder and $200 from our TA. $900 OBC woohoo! And yes I managed to spend it all. lol

I thought I read where OBC cannot be used for gratuities??? Maybe that was NCL? I know it was a ship I was on in the last year where I had the free booze package and a lot of OBC.

Never mind. It was NCL. OBC they give out is restricted and can't be used for daily gratuities or in the casino.

We went in Oct and most days the sea was totally calm. I'd get up every morning to do 5 miles of laps around the deck and I was amazed at how calm the sea was. We are water skiers and the term we use is the water was like glass. It was so smooth I kind of found it eerie. Hard to believe we were in the middle of the ocean.

Have to agree that my Carnival stock has been an excellent investment. Between dividends and an average of two cruises a year, we are very happy with our return. (I'm even happier after reading this thread - I bought my shares in Sept of 2013 when it was $29 a share! Of course it sits in my Roth IRA so I haven't recognized any of that benefit, but it definitely has been a good investment. My financial planner thought I was nuts when I bought it. I'll have to rub it in at our next review [emoji1])

I've stayed at both and will never stay at CP again. Yes it's convenient that it's close. Especially if their shuttle breaks down and you have to schlep yourself and your luggage by foot back to the hotel to get your car. But here is the main reason I won't stay there. They have valet parking underground where they block cars in with other cars behind them. Fortunately the valet found my keys. Unfortunately, they couldn't find the keys for the car that they had blocked me in with. And it was only after two hours and me threatening to use my van as a tank to push the other car out of my way that someone magically found the keys :eek:

Park yourself at the Doubletree in a regular parking spot and you won't have that problem.

I have been looking at these myself over recent weeks. Financially I think they look ok as the sector is growing and they appear to be on a reasonable upward trend, then income wise when you combine the dividend and onboard credit it looks pretty good too.

 

 

 

Only issue stopping me at this stage is my next cruise is in 2 weeks (too late to get the OBC I think), and our next eligible cruise after that is in December 2016 but the OBC offer seems to expire in July 2016.

I'm pretty sure it's just the form that expires. I've been getting OBC at least twice a year since 2013 and the form I send in every time says it expired in 2012. Lol

Mic is absolutely correct. Also, if you are ex military and if you have a Future Cruise Credit, these are accumulative as well, so it can very quickly add up.

 

 

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Correct - when we went to Hawaii we had $150 from TA $100 FCC $250 stockholder and $250 military and another $200 minisuite bonus they offered at the time of booking. I had no idea how we would spend it all. Somehow I found a way :D

I sure hope you don't have to fax it to the US line. It never goes through.

I am an overpacked. I have narrowed it down to one carry on and one very full checked. On the way home from a cruise, my suitcase was over the limit. My husband helped distribute everything into other bags. However, our bag was detained and security wanted to search it. They were very stern. I am thinking it's all dirty clothes what can the big deal be. They searched it and found a ziplock bag of white sand from Aruba. Guess they thought it was cocaine. Lesson learned: Do not put bagged sand in a carryon.

lol. We collect sand from all the beaches we visit and put them in anchor jars with candles. Our cruise to Hawaii I collected some sand and put it in my backpack purse. It was still in there by the time we hit Ensenada. I get off the ship and we are lined up to get on the bus for our tour. All of a sudden the dog points on me. They ask to check my backpack. I completely forgot the sand was in there.

Two lessons learned here - make sure you empty your purse before you head out on vacation. Secondly, don't use your purse you take on vacation as a lunch box. I'd been dieting for weeks before our cruise, but trying trying to at least eat regularly. So I was constantly throwing granola bars, carrots or apples in my backpack purse before heading out for the day. I honestly think it was the remnants of the food smell the dog got a whiff of.

By the way, all of the "bust" was captured on film by a fellow AZ CC member who happened to be on their balcony and caught the action.

Oh if anyone could help with the coffee differences?

Princess specialty coffees are included in the unlimited beverage package.

NCL I don't believe they are?

Princess - if you don't have an UBP you can still buy a coffee card for $29 it gives you 15 stamps for 15 specialty coffees. Does NCL offer anything like that?

Princess - when I wake up we order just coffee and a roll from room service so we can get our selves up and going (plus take a pill that has to be taken with food.) - Princess - free plus tip to room service.

NCL ? $7.95 service charge plus tip from what I read some places? Other places say coffee and continental breakfast are free of service charge????

If the ship matters I am on the Jewel.

Thanks for posting. I'm a frequent Princess cruiser, but just booked my first NCL cruise in 10 years. My cruise last month on Princess we tried ATD for the first time and I hated it. Didn't know you could make reservations until after the second night. Tried calling around 1 on the third day and basically they laughed at me. By the 4th day I finally got a reservation but it was a 4 day cruise so that was our last night.

It looks like NCL you can book before you leave. We are on the Jewel. I hear the mdr is slow, which we don't mind, but if I want to book something and still make sure we fit all the shows in, does anyone have any suggestions?

When I booked with the UBP perk yesterday, they added 18% of the cost of the UBP to my fair so the tips are paid upfront. For a 7 day cruise this was $80.64 per person. So $10 and change a day charged upfront with your cruise fee and port taxes.

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Honestly to me....a lot of the crew on the Jewel did not want to go out of their way for anything. I think of the crew' date=' the bartenders were the best. Very different than our experience with DCL and even Princess. However we still had a good time, I just didn't feel like they were overly friendly or helpful. Now there were a few that were great and friendly.....and they all worked on DCL before. LOL. I carried my DCL backpack around and had a DCL lanyard on and many former DCL crew members would stop and ask which ships I had been on and they all seemed to have loved working for Disney. From what I gather, with NCL they work less hours. One even told me right off the bat that I was going to notice a lot of differences.

 

Even with all our issues, I will still sail NCL again. For the most part we had a good time and enjoyed many things.[/quote']

 

 

Do you wonder if maybe you were treated the way you were was because of the DCL backpack and Lanyard? Not trying to criticize you for doing it, just wondering if you felt it had any impact on how you were treated.