Muffinz

5 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

It's really poor that they retained some of your refund. It's a pity you can't name and shame them!

it's not really worth it..... we just chose not to use them again

28 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

We had several cruises cancelled, but didn't have any money deducted by the TA. I agree that your TA wouldn't have spent any time pursuing your refund - it would have come automatically from the cruise line. I don't believe they should have kept any part of the refund. It certainly means you wouldn't go back to them.

The TA hadn't done anything though.... it was my wife that did all the work and found out we had been  put through as a 'group booking' by our TA...  that's what was holding things up, but our TA should have been on their case.

Others who booked the same cruise through a TA got their refunds much sooner than we did

We booked out first cruise in 2018 through a TA and had no issues, so used them again to book our cruise in April 2020... however the cruise was then cancelled and getting the refund back took over 6 months... the TA just lost interest... just told us to wait.... so my wife had to do all the ringing around and e-mailing. Then to top it all off the TA took some money out of our refund for their 'time' pursuing the refund... when in fact they did stuff all!

We've booked a cruise for Feb 2023 - direct with the cruise company

We're also doing a cruise from Sydney in Feb 2023... and post #3 sums up the requirements as they stand at the moment... but as others have said that can all change between now and Feb 2023

4 hours ago, nini said:

I hope it goes away by next March!

yes - 6 months is a long time away and the Australian Government have have changed their requirements by then

15 hours ago, nini said:

Canada is not included in this. Their government requires it still.

same as Australia...

10 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

August 12, 2022 3:00 PM EDT PRINCESS CRUISES REMOVES VACCINE REQUIREMENT FOR MOST VOYAGES, ELMINATES PRE-CRUISE TESTING FOR VACCINATED GUESTS Unvaccinated Guests Required to Self-Test Within 3 Days of Sailing SANTA CLARITA, Calif., Aug. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Princess Cruises today announced updated COVID-19 protocols and guidelines, removing the vaccine requirement for most voyages of less than 16 days so that anyone can cruise, and adjusting pre-travel testing requirements to make it less complicated.     Starting Sept. 6, vaccinated guests sailing on voyages of less than 16 days will no longer have to test before boarding and only need to upload proof of vaccination while getting OceanReady. Unvaccinated guests, or those who do not provide proof of vaccination, on those itineraries will self-test within three days of sailing and upload proof of a negative test before boarding.    These new guidelines apply to itineraries from all departure ports except where government regulations and protocols may vary like Canada, Greece and Australia. Below are the key points for Princess' updated CruiseHealth guidelines for embarkation:  No pre-cruise testing for vaccinated guests on voyages of up to 15 nights (guests 5 and older) with the exception of full Panama Canal transits, trans-ocean and other special itineraries; unvaccinated guests must provide a negative self-test result taken within three days of embarkation (unvaccinated children under 5 years do not require pre-cruise testing) Guests sailing on voyages 16 nights or longer, or sailing on full Panama Canal transits, trans-ocean and other specific itineraries, need to take a supervised test within three days of embarkation (guests 5 and older). Guests on these types of voyages will be contacted directly by an Ocean Navigator to assist. Princess' updated guidelines reflect the cruise line's ongoing commitment to providing a safe and healthy environment for all guests and crew. "These updated guidelines help ensure a Princess vacation is available to everyone," said John Padgett, president of Princess Cruises. "The Princess experience is truly one-of-a-kind and we encourage everyone to take a Princess vacation that offers amazing service at unmatched value." The updated guidelines are subject to the local regulations of applicable homeports and destinations.

So it looks like we still have to test before boarding in Sydney (Australia)??

that could all change before February 2023 though

If anyone is cruising out of Australia and wants to do a RAT test before going to the ship, the Chemist Warehouse are apparently doing covid testing - they have locations all over Australia 

https://www.chemistwarehouse.com.au/

We are cruising from Sydney in Feb 2023 and as it stands now we will need to have a negative test result in order to board.... however, the cruise is 7 months away and the need for a negative covid test may have changed by then

3 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

Yes it is, but it's on the opposite side of the runway to the airport terminals, so it's quite a long trip between.

 

 

There is no public transport at the new terminal. To get to the DFO you would need either a shuttle bus (if there is one) or a taxi.

 

Taxis can be quite scarce at the cruise terminal, so it could be a good idea to order one ahead to pick you up at a certain time. There shouldn't be any problem getting a taxi at the DFO to come back.

Thanks for that 

11 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Doing a YouTube search is a great way to learn all about the ship as well.  There should be a plethora of choices to choose from depending upon which ship you're sailing on.

Yes I googled Majestic Princess on YouTube and many clips came up.... have watched 1 that was about 9 minutes long and the medallion app one

will have to get the wife to watch some with me 

6 hours ago, Daniel A said:

This video may be of help:

 

After watching that I want to go to the cruise tomorrow... LOL.... shame we have to wait until February 24 next year

1 minute ago, Daniel A said:

This video may be of help:

 

thanks for that - I'll watch it later at home

34 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

When you fill out pre-cruise information using the MedallionClass app you are initially in the Blue Lane. If you do nothing else when you arrive at the dock for embarkation, you follow the Blue Lane signage which signifies you need extra processing to check in. If you manage to complete all the pre-cruise steps you end up in the coveted Green Lane. That signifies you have the least amount of processing to get on the ship and start your holiday!

ahh - makes sense now.... thanks for that

sorry to ask a dumb question, but what is the 'blue' or 'green' lane? 🤔

do you put just the birthday / anniversary date in the app? (sorry - totally new to all this)

we will be on Majestic in March 2023 and it will be wifes birthday... she would probably be chuffed (and quite surprised) if the staff in the dining room sang happy birthday to her and gave her a cake

15 minutes ago, Billish said:

Nothing to do with the Medallion.

You have a screen outside the door. Just press the "Do not disturb " button, or "Service my Cabin" button. 

You are over-thinking your holiday.

thanks - I just meant the Medallion app in general and the medallion you wear on your wrist or on a lanyard / chain... there's info on the Princess cruises site on how they work / operate 🙂

15 minutes ago, Thrak said:

I bought these: https://strapsco.com/product/clip-for-apple-airtag/

 

They are a perfect fit for the Medallion and I see zero chance of it coming loose. The clip is nice and tight. Currently there is a "buy 2 get 1 free" promo and they are available in a multitude of colors. I am extremely pleased with this clip and think I will like it a lot when we cruise.

they look very good.... and they ship international, so that's a plus!

We will be getting our medical docs (covid vaccination records) sent to our e-mail as a PDF - I assume we can upload these to the app? or should we bring the hard copies with us when we check in?

My wife spoke to someone at Princess the other day (they phoned her) and said if we do all our check in online and have our covid vaccination docs uploaded as don't have to queue / wait in line to check in to board the ship - we can go through some sort if 'express' lane? 

Looking closer at the Princess health / covid requirements, we will still need to produce a negative covid test.

If we did a PCR test via our doctor here in NZ 1-2 days before the cruise and the doctor texts us the result, would that be sufficient? or would it need to be something in writing?

The other option is for us to do a RAT test on the morning of the cruise, but I think it needs to be a supervised RAT test? - not sure how we will manage that being in a hotel in Sydney....

I don't fancy queueing in line at the terminal waiting to get a RAT test.

but the cruise is still 7 months out, so the covid testing requirements could all change in that time..... my wife said I'm worrying too much about it! LOL

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

 

Important note: Be sure to turn off the Do Not Disturb setting when you go out for the morning/day.  We failed to do so and our cabin wasn't refreshed. D'Oh! Lesson learned.

thanks - looks like I'm going to google some more info on this 'medallion' this weekend 😃

11 hours ago, villauk said:

 

Food is subjective so I can only give you our personal opinion after sailing both lines (Solstice included). X provides slightly better food than Princess. However, we do like the variety of options on Princess e.g. afternoon tea, International Cafe, the pizza restaurant, pub lunch etc all included in the price. So it balances itself out.
 

We found the entertainment more to our liking on Princess as X started to reduce its offerings, instead relying on pax to provide more of their own. The cabins feel slightly bigger on X, unless you book a mini-suite or deluxe balcony on Princess, as you get a couch as standard with any balcony. We’re just about to sail on one of Princess’s newer ships, so we’re all prepared for the narrow balconies. We’ve not sailed on a Celebrity Edge class ship as the IV do not sit well with my liking to a ‘proper’ balcony. So, as I stated previously, you’ll find that X and Princess are more similar than different and if, like us, it’s all about the itinerary, you’ll have a super time.

thanks for the reply..... we were actually looking at photos from our cruise last night and although we had a balcony, we hardly used it.... we mainly used the stateroom / cabin for sleeping / showering / getting dressed / changed for dinner...etc... when we were on the ship we were always exploring the different parts of the ship or going to another bar for a drink!

do princess offer a quick 'ship tour' on embarkation day?

we did one on Solstice and that was very beneficial, because up until then I'd only seen the ship on videos uploaded to YouTube.

30 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

You have a choice when you order, at least if you're in the US. You still have to order, even if just getting the free basic medallion and lanyard. Although if you didn’t order I guess they would default to having your medallion and lanyard ready for pickup at check-in.

ok great thanks for that!

23 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

They ship your medallion with a free lanyard with a circular medallion holder, whether or not you pay for an upgraded medallion or other accessories. 

oh ok... they post it to you manually? you don't get it given to you at check in??

that would be great if they did that....

when we checked in with Celebrity we had to get our photo taken at check in that that was loaded against our account / see pass card

26 minutes ago, rbtan said:

Power outlets can vary from ship class to ship class. On the Star we had plugs right near the bed, which is good for us C-Pap pax. Now on to food. Food IS subjective. We certainly don't cruise Princess for the food. We cruise for itinerary. For food we cruise Oceania. There are 2 to even 3 main dining rooms. Food is generally mass market food. Too much dependence of pastas & such. For a upcharge you can order from the specialty rest. The larger Royal Class have Le Mare? This is a seafood rest. Not tried them but hear decent reviews. Crown Grill has decent(but NOT great steaks) Likely "USDA select" at best. Same quality with Sabatini's. You'll see prime in Chef's table or Ultimate balcony dinner. Those 2 come with a steep upcharge, however. I hear Ultimate Balcony dinner is still not happening as yet. Buffets on Royal class ships were very good. On the Grand Class, really quite poor. Haven't been on Princess since Feb. 2020. We AL know what happened then. I'm sure there are plenty of good reviews on this blog.

Food can be subjective.... we did our first (and only) cruise on Celebrity Solstice 2018, and we didn't choose the cruise because of the food.... but it was one of the highlights of the cruise - fantastic in every respect.

What made me laugh though was I did a review of the cruise here on CC and mentioned that the food was outstanding..... then I read another review someone did for the exact same cruise and they criticized the food saying (words to the effect of) there wasn't much variety and it was bland / tasteless... blah blah

I couldn't have disagreed more!

I'm just reading some of the reviews for Majestic Princess and most are positive....

Will the medallion fit / clip onto a standard Lanyard??

I'd rather put it on a Lanyard than try and clip onto my clothes somehow

3 minutes ago, wowzz said:

And for some reason we always seem to have the cabin next to someone who feels the need to open and shut every drawer at 7a.m. ! Just why ? 

Personally,  I would ban drawers, and replace them with shelves.  Peace and quiet for everyone ! 

perhaps people need to learn how to open and close draws quietly? 😉