Ken the cruiser

If you’re looking at the July 20 cruise on the Sapphire, we’d be jumping on that last aft-facing premium balcony cabin, especially on an Alaska cruise. But, hey, that’s just us. 😁

I'm not sure any of them work while you're cruising on the high seas. In any case, whichever plan you have, this is just an alternative if you don't want to pay the $15 per day for the unlimited internet package onboard (or $7.50 per day if you're Platinum or higher). For us we just get the Plus package for $60 pp/day and we're happy.

There is another option which my BIL and his DW use when on a cruise. They have AT&T and just pay the $10 (+$5) per day international charge, with a maximum of $150 a month, when docked at a port.

OK I was curious, so I went and checked our 10 future PCL cruises, all booked well before the Jun 29, 2023, cutoff date. All of the Military OBC is still showing refundable (no asterisk) under the Payments/Credits section, except for an Apr 2024 booking, which now has the nonrefundable "asterisk" next to it. The unique issue with this booking is there was a recent port itinerary change. I'm sure it's just a coincidence, but ...

I can’t even imagine not having access to the internet while we’re on a cruise. How would I be able to post to my Live From threads and my DW be able to play her computer games during the various downtimes on the ship when we’re not eating or going to some fun activity. 😱

I just checked and there is an M2 on the new Sun Princess.

You are correct. The lowest level cabin you can book to eat in the Reserve Collection Dining Room is an M1 Reserved Collection Mini Suite.

I just discovered the “30-minute” Start button on either screen when you click on the Aurora 30-minute Forecast link. It’s pretty cool and if you click on it shortly after I post this you’ll see the folks on the Zaandam should be seeing the Lights right now! https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast

If the Northern Lights show up and you are able to take some pictures, please post some of them if you could. They are always so awesome to see!

Thanks! I just sent my TA a follow-up email telling her to disregard my previous question, and we'll just wait for Princess to state their official position if it ever changes down the road, just like Celebrity did when they instituted their variety of refundable/NRD policy changes last April.

I know. That's also the dress our Diamond Princess CD wore on our Japan cruise in July, which seemed odd to us as well.

Thanks for getting your original statement clarified. I asked our TA, who hadn't responded yet, but I just forwarded your latest comments to her which now appears to only deal with the refaring process. But this is still good information to know, and when we ask our TA to refare an existing booking in the future, we'll make sure to also mention to keep its associated refundable deposit intact, if there are multiple NRD fare codes showing up.

If a new thread is opened regarding this issue, I hope the OP would call their CVP first and reconfirm exactly what was said and let them know the information is going to be posted on CC.

I agree with the others, buying enough FCDs on board once those rules change, if they actually do, to use as deposits for the following year's new bookings would be the smart move. That way I would think refaring an existing booking would be only a minimal issue if someone had to cancel before FP. That is unless they do something really annoying like HAL who doesn't let you refare a booking that has a nonrefundable deposit.

You're welcome. It definitely came in handy on our cruise. You should definitely see some Lights in October one would think.

Here's hoping for clear skies this evening so you might be able to see the Northern Lights.! Aurora Dashboard (Experimental) | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center Here's another link that gives a 30-minute forecast window once nightfall starts to settle in. We used it as an aid last August when we saw Lights around 11 pm while cruising between Iceland and Greenland. Aurora - 30 Minute Forecast | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center

So true. We learned about that negative NRD booking issue back in 2019 with our 30-day Australia circumnavigation cruise when we initially refared it to a lower price which also included changing the deposit from a refundable to a NRD. But at the time we didn’t know any different and thought we could still refare our booking if the price for our VS went down again prior to final payment. And sure enough our category’s NRD fare went down another $3500. But when we checked with our TA, we were informed that we were not allowed to refare a NRD booking. Definitely one of those lessons learned we have have not forgotten about since. 😉

We were on the Diamond Princess in July. Starting at post #189 on page 8 of my Live From thread, here are some of the pictures I took at the "Love Boat Piazza Party", more commonly known as the White and Gold Party. Live from the Diamond, July 10-27, 17-day B2B around Japan and Korea - Princess Cruises - Cruise Critic Community

I'm confused. Are we talking about winning an upgrade bid or just getting a free upgrade to a better cabin like PCL used to offer prior to implementing the upgrade bidding process? In fact, why would PCL even consider giving someone a free upgrade anymore since implementing the bidding process? 🤔

Our daughter just won an upgrade bid and was told the cabin number in the resulting notification email.

Yup, a bad comedian can be hired every once in a while on any cruise line, and the negative memories they leave from their performance can stick with you for years to come. In fact, I can think of 2, and both of them were over 5 years ago. But at the same time we’ve seen quite a few very funny comedians, especially when they are seasoned comedians with well thought out presentations.

Here’s is the link to their various dining options. However, I don’t believe there is early and late fixed seating anymore in the MDRs. Instead you can either make your MDR reservations in advance through the App or just show up and wait in line to be seated. With the Reserve Collection Dining, there are no reservations accepted or required. However, it’s pretty easy to develop a bond with the Reserve Dining host to be seated at the same table or in the same area with the same servers at all seatings, whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner. https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/food-and-dining/dine-my-way/

Then you also don’t want to miss their hilarious 8 pm game shows in the Explorers Lounge, or Princess Live!, depending on which ship you’re on. We always have a great time going to those as well.

Hopefully you never have digestive issues where you have to eat early. But then again there are definitely perks for eating early, with one being able to go to the early theater show followed going to their hilarious game shows! 😁

If I might ask, when you upgraded to the "best cabin in the category" using the CO perk and then refared to get even a better deal to add HIA, was the "refared" cruise fare based on the new higher category cabin rate you upgraded to or the original "lower" cabin rate you originally booked prior to using the CO free upgrade option?