indygirl99

9 hours ago, Daniel A said:

Maybe you and others can give me some input to help me make a decision about snow birding this Winter.  If you plan to take the vaccine when it is out, what would your plan be?  I am concerned that the individual states might only vaccinate residents of that state especially if the vaccines are rationed by state according to the year round population numbers.  If that's the case, I would probably wait here in New York until I get the vaccine even if it's two doses a month apart.  I don't think I want to spend the Winter in Florida without the vaccine any more than I want to get on a cruise ship without the vaccine.  Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

Just my thoughts from what I am hearing "behind the scenes". I work as a nurse but don't think what I am hearing is the absolute truth so take that into account.

If you normally get a flu shot and you take reasonable precautions (masks when out in public, social distance yadda yadda yadda) and you don't have major health conditions you may be okay going to Florida before the vaccine is out. If I remember correctly you are not going to a huge metro area, (more rural?) plan on being outside for golf and sunshine.  Stay off the beach during spring break and you are probably ok. grin.

My feeling (take that for what you want) is that the vaccine will  not be available for non high risk seniors until late springish.  If getting the vaccine is a hard stop before going to Florida for the winter you may be spending the winter in New York this year. I would think your risk would be the same in closed in, snowy winter in New York as it would be in "You can't tell me what to do  Florida" with the exception that in Florida you would have more chance to be outside and play golf and get some sunshine.

I also think if you are in Florida when the vaccine is available to non high risk seniors that you will not have a problem getting it.

It has been a crappy year. Go winter in Florida, play golf and make the new year a great one. Just my thoughts.

On 11/1/2020 at 1:57 PM, senior lady said:

any person that returns to Canada by air, sea, or car must quarantine for 14 days

 

Not so. I work with a nurse that travels back and forth US to BC. She said she is considered "essential" and therefore does NOT have to and does NOT quarantine. And she is not the only one. There are quite a few nurses traveling back and forth on a weekly basis that are not quarantining.

5 hours ago, WNcruiser said:

If this is actually true, it would be very upsetting to know Princess is still selling these cruises and taking deposits/final payments when they fully know they will never sail. 
 

Not saying they are the only ones doing it but its just wrong. Why not tell people so they can cancel flights and hotels and move to a different cruise. 

I am right there with you but as long as someone is willing to book they are going to take the money. It is cash flow for them and keeps them floating (pun intended).

Maybe it is just my sisters luck but two years in a row the cruise she was on missed the  Halifax port stop because of weather.

I called today to cancel a cruise on Princess that sails out of Florida in Feb 2021. 

I was asked if I wanted to wait a few more months to cancel as I would receive double my deposit when Princess cancelled as those voyages would not be sailing.  I asked "You are telling me Feb of next year will not sail?" and He repeated "correct and you would get double your deposit if you wait until we cancel". I again asked "Feb of 2021 is a no go?" and again I was told "correct".

Take it for what you want. I did cancel and was told he could not tell me how long it would take to get my deposit back. Not a problem as I filled with my credit card and already have a provisional credit which will become permanent in 30 days according to my credit card company.  

50 minutes ago, oceanlovinmama said:

 Then I’d say do what you need to do...a chargeback, a letter from an attorney..sometimes if there is a clear monetary need I will reach out to my sales rep to see what, if anything, they can do.  

You expect your clients to explain to you that they have  "clear monetary need" before you will go to bat for then?

Unbelievable 

6 minutes ago, oceanlovinmama said:

I find that very hard to believe...unless they were a uncaring agent, no supplier would tell you to do a chargeback.  

I can guarantee that is EXACTLY what I was told by Princess yesterday on the phone and NO it was not a phone rep this came directly from Jan's office.

As I said keep believing their line to you or maybe take a long hard look at all the posts on here from people upset about their LACK of refunds and caring from Princess.

You keep believing the line they are feeding you if it makes you feel better. As I said my sister is doing this from home for a company with a ton more requests than Princess and said we are being feed a line from Princess and if we want our money we had better file soon or we will be waiting in line due to  bankruptcy.

Cruise lines are NOT doing the best they can. They are NOT refunding the fares they said they would refund.

Princess told me that if I wanted my money back "you will have to do a charge back to your credit card".

I have to make my house payment and feed my family so I will do what Princess recommended.

My sister works from home processing credit card refunds and told me that what Princess claims is a  crock and that I should do what Princess themselves told me to do and contact my credit card company and do a charge back.

I may have missed something here (not unheard of for me) and I read the article twice BUT this is talking about Victoria. I do not see anywhere that the Vancouver port is cancelling ships.

If I missed that in this article can someone please point it out to me. Maybe it is my wishful thinking.

1 hour ago, mcrcruiser said:

Most  people buy travel insurance covering trip cancellation /interruption . The problem is that those policies are not covering this pandemic  . Thus ,the question then begs should Princess have  told people about this cancel for any reason insurance when people were booking ?  We certainly had insurance but bot cancel for any reason & we were never told that this insurance even existed 

Every cruise I have booked with Princess I have had to check a box to either accept or decline the insurance. I could not continue with the booking until I did that step.

I book directly with Princess.

If you book directly with Princess then you have been "informed" of this option if you don't think so it is because you are not reading what your are booking. If you book through an agent and have never heard of this option then it is your agents fault not Princess.

Of course for those not in the US this option may not be available but your profile states you are in the US.

lbfluffy

Have fun on your cruise. I am doing the Panama canal in 2021 and can't wait. I look forward to hearing about your fun.

For others that state travel insurance with credit cards has been reduced or dropped my recent experience confirms this.

I just returned from an international trip where I notified my credit cards of my travel plans. Was notified by American Express that they had reduced their travel insurance ( basically no coverage). Bank of America and Citi bank notified me that they  (as of July 2019) no longer provide travel insurance.

American Express advised me to purchase an independent travel insurance plan.

So for those who think they are covered it might be in your best interest to get that confirmed in writing.

I second  Pescado Amarillo's blog.

I think this is their 10th season cruising for the winter.

She has a lot of information on her blog. You can go back and read previous seasons. She has information about how they prepare the house to be away, set up bills, meds, checking on her mother, phone service. It is truly a great service and fun reading. I have to read her daily blog before going to bed after work each morning during season so I can make it through the winter.

I was on the Golden in Alaska  August this year.

The internet is extremely slow and frustrating.  I ended up doing what I needed internet for while in town on port days.

Now I had very minimal need to send or receive anything over the internet so this worked for me. I was also gifted the 120 min I had but if I had to pay for them I don't think I would have been happy.

14 hours ago, Peckishpixie said:

I just bought my son and daughter-in-love a cruise that I dont plan on telling them about until we are on our way. They think we are going on a road trip. I've painstakingly arranged everything to be an absolute surprise including a complicated ruse to get my DIL an evening gown and my son a suit under the guise of needing it to attend a fundraiser. I thought I had the perfect surprise but now I have to get them "ocean ready" it is a medallion class ship. I have access to their passport info. I dont know how to finish the other items without telling them. Do you have any good ideas?

Can I just say I love the bolded and underlined part.

I would love to have you as a mother in law.

From this statement it tells me you really know the "kids" you are gifting. Please don't let some of the comments here get to you.

As others have stated you can do all the pre work without them knowing. The Ocean ready part can wait until you get to the ship.

Have a great cruise and enjoy your beautiful family time.

Also since it is a suite you can have afternoon tea delivered to your suite.

We did this on the Emerald. Asked for tea for 4 and had enough sandwiches and desserts that the 8 people we hosted had more than enough and left stuffed.

8 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Ahh.

Your the person who caused the balloon bounce in the show lounge to be discontinued. 

You shouldn't sit there during the pre show & let the others enjoy themselves. 

Thanks

My mission in life.

1 hour ago, Iamcruzin said:

 

I have been following cruise critic for some time now and not once in all of these years has anyone posted anything about being allergic to balloons.  Yes, I do know some people are allergic to latex. 

You must not be following cruise critic as well as you thought as I have posted in the past about my latex allergy and YES balloons are deadly for me. My last anaphylactic reaction was because someone thought it would be funny to flip me in the face with a balloon. 

We talked about the one cruise director that liked to bounce balloons around in the theater before shows and the balloons drop.

I know what my allergies are and I know how to ask questions to protect myself. I was told on my last cruise that there were 48 people that registered a latex allergy and specifically mentioned balloons.

11 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Your traveling companion will receive complimentary balloons attached to the cabin door, a Happy Birthday sign, and a card.  Do you need more than that?  You can take the balloons inside.  I've never done a birthday package, but would guess they do have the supplies on board.  

No more balloons attached to the door for celebrations.

Was on the Golden for my birthday in August and my traveling companion talked to the steward as I am allergic to Latex and he wanted to make sure no balloons made their way to our door.

He was told no worries as they no longer did the door balloons due to environmental concerns and allergies.

Red Cross

Mercy Corp

Samaritans Purse

If you want your donation to go to the efforts in the Bahamas make sure you are clear in that when you donate.

1 hour ago, cougaraz said:

The closest hospital to Skagway is in Whitehorse, which is in Canada.  On the Grand Princess sailing three weeks ago a patient was airlifted off of the ship via a Canadian helicopter to a hospital in Canada.  On the most recent Grand Princess sailing, an ambulance was waiting for a passenger as soon as we arrived in Victoria to transfer a patient to a Canadian hospital.

 

It doesn't matter how good your health insurance is, if you have a broken leg, a broken arm or a heart attack and end up in a Canadian hospital without a passport, whether for a day, a week or a month, you will not be able to fly home until you get one.

 

Again, passports are cheap and easy to obtain.  Why take the risk?

Why pay $145 for a passport that is good for 10 years when you can pay $35 for an EDL that is good for 7 years?

I don't think you fully read my post. They live in Washington state and have traveled to Canada for medical care on more than one occasion, that is the reason they got the EDL. They have no desire to travel abroad so they had no need to pay the sky high amount they paid to expedite their passports.

We get patients all the time in Anchorage from Skagway. Patients only get sent to Whitehorse if they are Canadian citizens. Victoria is just  a short ferry ride home to Washington state so again no need for a passport.

1 hour ago, cougaraz said:

Being in your 70s and 80s and traveling to Alaska without a passport is even riskier.  I can't imagine making that trip without a passport.  One slip, one trip and you have a broken bone, you are evacuated to a Canadian hospital and now stuck in the morass of administration required to get a passport so you can fly home to the United States. 

 

I simply do not understand the continued intransigence about getting a passport.  They are inexpensive, easy to obtain and should you find yourself in a foreign hospital and desperate to get home without one, you would be willing to pay 10 times what it costs to have one in your hand.  Or, should someone at home unexpectedly become ill or pass away and you wish to rush home to be at their bedside or funeral service, you will be out of luck, for not obtaining a passport that basically costs about $1 per month.

Last time I looked Alaska was still part of the United States of America. AND they do have hospitals there so no need to transfer to a Canadian hospital. Plus their health insurance pays quite well for procedures in Canada hence the reason they have EDL.

The assumptions some people make are astonishing.

59 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Along with the EDL she should have also needed a birth certificate according to closed loop rules.

Nope no birth certificate needed with the EDL. It is looked at the same way a passport card is. I used my EDL for my most recent flight to Alaska and cruise from Whittier to Vancouver. Went to the Summit on the Canadian side from Skagway and no problems there either.

The process to get your EDL (at least in Washington state) is similar to a passport. You show up at the DMV with your certified birth certificate and they take your picture and an extra $30 and 5 minute later you walk out with a temporary license and 5-10 days later your permanent one shows up in the mail. Hubby and I had ours in the mail 2 days later. I was impressed.

42 minutes ago, K.T.B. said:

In October of 2020 it would probably be best to have a passport anyway.  By then you'll need a "REAL ID" to fly domestically.  Here's the link for that:  https://www.dhs.gov/real-id

 

While all you'd need to do is update your drivers license, getting a passport make it easier, IMO.

 

And to enter Canada, you need proof of citizenship and proof of identity, which is either a passport, passport card, or NEXUS card:  https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Canada.html

 

Also, an apology, I realized I gave some incorrect info earlier about one way cruises in Alaska.  They do not go from a US city to a US city with a stop in Canada.  They either begin in Canada (usually Vancouver) and end in Alaska or vice versa.  So if I confused anyone, sorry!  I don't like making mistakes and that was a doozy.

And again you have given incorrect or at least not complete information.

I crossed the boarder just today and did it WITHOUT a passport, passport card or NEXUS card. The border agent wished me a happy day and said he would see me in a few weeks.

I cross semi frequently both by car and by ferry and do it with my EDL, never have had any problems.

One of the ladies at church was complaining to me about how she read on Cruise Critic that they had to have a passport to cruise to Alaska only to find out when great grandma misplaced her passport and found out her EDL was acceptable at check in in Seattle that they were given miss information.

They had a family reunion on the Ruby and had 10 family members that paid for a company to do their expedited passport based on information from this site. 6 of those 10 family members are in their 70/80's and have no desire to travel abroad and have no need for a passport so they could have saved a good deal of money.

Now I know the OP was about the Caribbean cruises and I have no experience with that. I do know an EDL is good for Canada and Alaska unless you plan to fly to/from Canada.

We did the ship tour on the Emerald on one of our Alaska cruises.

We watched as they applied a numbered tag to garments. We were told that the tag has to tolerate heat to 190 degrees.

The "laundry" and the "cleaning" are placed in the same type of machine.  We were told the difference is the temperature.

I was impressed with the machine that folded the sheets and towels.