Torfamm

8 hours ago, Mara4166 said:

We just booked the TA from Southampton to Port Canaveral for November 2026.  Does anyone know how immigration will work upon arrival.  My DH and I both have British passports.  Our current plan is to book a B2B into the Caribbean once those cruises are available later this year.  Is immigration done by the cruise ship when we board so there is little interaction when we arrive in the US, or will we have a queue to go through after we arrive.  The question is not necessarily specific to Port Canaveral since I assume it would be similar to any port after a TA.

You will have to leave the ship on the turnaround day and go through immigration.. I’m not sure if they will use facial recognition  in Port Canaveral, which makes the process much faster.
 

I know that they can only use facial recognition in San Pedro for closed loop cruises. For a transpacific or Panama Canal Cruise, they don’t use it. I’m not certain if that’s true in Port Canaveral.

I like the Sapphire more than the newer Princess ships, especially for Alaska since Royal class ships are too large for the inside passage. I’m not sure what NCL does.

7 hours ago, SailorJack said:

 

It is a great sail.  I was our second one on this itinerary and we were surprised to hear from others aboard that it was their third or fourth! The ports are great and a lot of people find the sea days relaxing.

 

Jack

It’s definitely on the list. I’ve done a shorter cruise out of Tahiti but I’d love a longer itinerary! I excel at relaxing on sea days 😂

41 minutes ago, Musky Ike said:

Yes and no. In my experience they charge your credit card pre cruise for any amount over your OBC. However your OBC amount listed on the personalizer does not change. It is deducted from your account onboard. I think the day before the excursion? Keep in mind that they use the credits assigned to each individual listed on the excursion even if a combined onboard account. So one of your party may run out of credits before the other.

Thanks for clarifying. I was thinking that the shareholder credit was one of the ones that can’t be used ahead of time. 

I wouldn’t worry too much about how it shows in the app, but I have had a B2B in the past that somehow wasn’t noticed by Princess. I only found out by chance when they phoned about an upgrade bid being accepted the afternoon before we boarded. I asked if the same cabin would be available for both legs and the agent saw that it wasn’t noted that we had a B2B.
 

You can ask your TA confirm now that your reservations show as B2B in the system or wait and confirm onboard just to be certain. Odds are that it is all fine though.

2 hours ago, trvlwrld said:

We have a cruise in January…when can I get my stock OBC so I can book excursions?  If I wait much longer many will be sold out!

As I recall, that credit can only be used onboard, not before sailing.

7 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Agreed!  I'm one of those dinosaurs that prints *everything*...just in case there is an internet outage at the very moment when you need it most!  (It happens... this is no doubt a carryover from my previous life as a network manager where I was responsible for "business continuity" procedures.)

One way to avoid worries about internet or cell service is to save documents on your phone. It’s easy to create an album of “travel documents”in photos.

6 hours ago, mahasamatman said:

 

Yes, dated 21 March. I've contacted Stockperks twice so far and just keep getting a "that shouldn't happen" response.

Are both cruises before the end of the year, so within the current benefit period?

No, there are no night lights in the bathrooms. There are often bright lights that turn on in the closet area outside the bathroom which makes it even harder to see, as you enter the dark bathroom having had a bright light shine in your eyes. 

We block the closet light sensor and use a rechargeable nightlight on Princess ships

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EOI3RO4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

15 hours ago, Boiler Cruiser said:

For entry into Mexico, all US Citizens must have a valid passport.

 

This is detailed in https://embamex.sre.gob.mx/eua/index.php/en/2016-04-09-20-40-51/tourism/1601-3-know-before-you-go

 

"All citizens of the United States must present a valid passport when entering Mexican territory by any means of transportation. There are no exceptions for minors. Stays less than 72 hours within the border area, do not require an Official Entry Immigration Form (FMM).
Tourists"

 

You might want to look further.  Other travel documents are accepted for those arriving on a cruise ship and staying in port areas.

11. I am traveling on a cruise to Mexico, do I need visa?/Voy a viajar en crucero a México, necesito visa? A foreigner of any country traveling to Mexico on leisure trips visiting Mexican maritime ports by cruise, are not required to obtain a visa or consular stamp. The passenger must carry a valid and not expired passport or travel document.

https://consulmex.sre.gob.mx/washington/images/2020/visas/FAQ_13-02-2020.pdf

Have you been to any of those ports before? Is there anything in particular that you want to do? If so, are you comfortable booking independently? 
 

I’ve been to all but St. Vincent so I’d pick Option 1. Outside of golf and scuba diving, which might drive me to pick option 2, I think both cruises offer what matters most to me, an opportunity to get away from winter weather.

For example, if you want to scuba dive and stick to ship excursions, that’s offered pretty rarely, often only in St. Thomas, and it’s sometimes cancelled. In St Kitts and St Lucia though, it’s easy to get to private dive boats at the port, no taxi needed 

For golf, I’d pick St. Kitts and Barbados.

6 hours ago, mahasamatman said:

 

Sometime it works, sometimes it doesn't. I'm still waiting for two requests that I made in March.

Did you receive benefit submission acknowledgment emails saying your request was successfully submitted for both cruises?

11 hours ago, satxdiver said:

How do you now claim OBC for your 100 CCL shares on Princess. In times past we sent an email to Princess (forgot the email address) to make a claim?

https://www.carnivalcorp.com/shareholder-information/shareholder-benefit

5 hours ago, Kay S said:

Maybe you mean that it would be possible to drive rather than fly back to the US, but crossing the border will still require documentation, passport or otherwise.  The risk is small, maybe, but the risk still does exist.  I would not want to be the one to find out what that might be.

To be fair, the same documents are acceptable for both land and sea border crossings. I personally wouldn’t travel without a passport though.

22 minutes ago, rbelshaw said:

 Like many posts in this thread, this statement is overly broad and thus misleading. A passport is required to enter Canada or Mexico by land or air. Not required to enter by sea. I have entered both countries by sea at least eight times in the past two years sans passport. While ashore, you need only carry ID/ DL (and your ship card) to keep the local constabulary happy.

 

You are correct, only proof of citizenship is required for Americans arriving by land or sea. Nexus cards (for Canada), passport cards, enhanced driver’s licenses, US birth certificates etc all work. Passport books are only required for air travel

30 minutes ago, DCThunder said:

According to the State Department website, the cost of a new, adult passport is $165 valid for 10 years.  That's $16.50/year.  A renewal costs $130 ($13/year).  A child passport is $135, valid for 10 years or until the kid is 16.  As stated above, if you can't afford that, why are you cruising?

Passports for children under age 16 are only valid for 5 years.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/need-passport/under-16.html#:~:text=Passports for children under age 16 are only valid for 5 years.

2 minutes ago, Kay S said:

We have cruised with family many times, often taking just grandchildren.  All of mine had passports as infants.  Renewal is required more often for children than adults.  One funny time was when we needed to get a passport photo for a baby who couldn't yet sit up.  Her dad did contortions holding her so he would not be visible in the picture.  It worked!

Yes, I've been down that road holding babies and toddlers for passport pictures. It's always an adventure. We had one where the baby sat on someone's shoulders while everyone else sang a silly song.

The fact that Princess won't allow one adult to travel with one or minors unless everyone in the party has a passport has caught people on this board by surprise a few times.

Document requirements depend on your nationality, itinerary, and other factors. For example, if one adult is traveling with one or more minors, Princess requires everyone in the party to have a passport. You can see Princess’ Travel Document requirements here 

https://www.princess.com/learn/faq/pre-cruise/prepare-for-your-cruise

One thing to note is that it’s possible to order from any of the menus no matter where you choose to eat. 

Looking back at pictures from June, I see we ate lunch at this place near the Accademia. It had nice outdoor seating and the food was very good. 
 

In my experience, pizza is usually relatively quick. I have in the past asked when being seated if the time I have will be enough when I know I must be somewhere after lunch. 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187895-d1319869-Reviews-Oliandolo_Caffe_Ristoro-Florence_Tuscany.html

11 minutes ago, swigso said:

The fact that Princess allows smoking inside their ships means we will not sail with them. We have tried Azamara and RCCL and Norwegian but find that X is a better fit for us.

To me, the prohibition of indoor smoking is the one thing that truly sets Celebrity apart from other similar lines like Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Princess and Carnival. It’s unbelievable to me that they all allow smoking indoors.

4 minutes ago, CPs4591 said:

Thanks all.  So again, mostly newbie question: did we already pay port fees for that stop and if they change to a sea day will they give us the credit on the ship?  Sorry just a semi-newbie.

Yes, you will generally get a credit onboard.

9 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

LOL! That's quite the route deviation!  😄

That would be a remarkable adjustment to the itinerary! Thanks for the heads up on the typo 😂

23 hours ago, CPs4591 said:

Mods, feel free to move as I can’t seem to find where to post.  
we’re on a Fall cruise through Panama Canal, LA to FLL.  One of the stops is Nicaragua.  Noticed today on the news tensions seem to be increasing between US and Nicaragua, new sanctions imposed, etc.  I know many cruise ships stopped going there for awhile.  Is it likely this port stop gets skipped?  It will make a heavy sea day cruise a bit more on sea days.  Anyone steer me in the right way to research?  Semi-newbie, haven’t been on a big ship cruise in 20 years.  TIA

It is most likely that Nicaragua will be cancelled and replaced with a sea day. That decision may not be made until closer to the sailing. If you want to do something there, I’d be sure to only make bookings that can easily be cancelled. This is an example of a port where I might limit myself to ship excursions. 

We had a fantastic lunch at this spot in Taormina 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187892-d15021607-Reviews-3_4uarti_Antipasteria_Siciliana-Taormina_Province_of_Messina_Sicily.html