2 cruises a year

I have a feeling that by now Mark_K has slapped his forehead and said "Oh, now I get it" 🙃🙃

To the credit of the crew, I don't think it would make any difference at all. In my experience, Princess crew treat every passenger, from inside cabin to suite, many days at sea to first time cruiser, like you are their best, most favorite guest. This is how they really feel. They will not be better or worse from the prior cruise.

Yes 10 years is arbitrary, the State Department can chose whatever time the want, but your passport is good for 10 years, no if's ands or but's You do get your moneys worth. It is other countries that arbitrarily require the 6 month rule. It is not practical for the State Department to try to satisfy the requirements every other country in the world. It is up to the traveler to follow the requirements of the country they are traveling to. As far as the U.S. is concerned, your passport is good for 10 years when in the U.S., and leaving or returning to the U.S.

I can't find it now, but it has always been my understanding that if you book a four passenger cabin it is with the understanding that Princess can move you IF they need it for four passengers. A more extreme, and unlikely scenario is that you can book a handicap cabin if you so choose, even if you are not disabled, with the understanding that IF Princess needs the cabin for a disabled passenger, you can be moved.

@cnice515 They just can't help themselves. And they don't bother to read all of the posts.

I'm glad that you took that well, CC posters can be pretty nit-picky. 😉

Well said. And just as relevant, a different culture. They are all trying to do their best. There isn't any way that they can know and cater to every language and culture on board. That is part of the fun of travel, experiencing different languages and cultures.

I agree, you can't make this stuff up. Reality is greater that fiction. Any other expressions anyone would like to add?

Love it. It is easier to get forgiveness, than permission.

Beat me to it. My door decorations have saved me from trying to enter the wrong room more than once. (Seriously, I've knocked on the right door, wrong deck before. Luckily no one was home. I finally figured it out) 😉

This is a fairly common "fire" safety issue. Just more fuel if there happens to be a fire. Christmas trees in public spaces have some pretty strict regulations. Also, and I know that I'll get a lot of blow-back on this, but lights, and cheap paper decorations are possible fire hazards. I'm as disappointed as everyone else, I had battery operated lights and non-flammable magnetic door decorations for every holiday.

It really depends on how that 9 sq. feet happens. One example, in my opinion, an extra foot along a 9 foot wall would be nice.

Who is the piano player in Crooners? I pretty much live them all, easy listening and up tempo.

Perfect for saving your lounge chair while you go back to your cabin for a nap, 😁

I don't think that the tour guide cares if you are nervous, he wants cash. He is nervous that your credit card will be rejected.

Even some $50 dollar bills for the in between $100 amounts as you suggested. It is easier to round up to the $50, as a little extra tip rather than trying to get change.

Do you mean as in "I never drink anything stronger than Pop. But Pop drank just about anything"😁

@BamaVol, affordability is relative and cruising is about priorities. Like @skynight, we've been cruising for over 20 years. I was " Union, Blue Collar", paid well, but not a millionaire by any means. (another sign of my age, to me a millionaire is tops, a multi-millionaire exceptional, now we have multi-billionaires) Our cars are 14 and 20 years old, we didn't move into a bigger house (mortgage) every time I got a raise. not a lot of fancy clothes, We've lived comfortably, don't feel like we've sacrificed, and since retirement have been able to take re-positioning cruises from ports all around the world back to the U.S. for a short flight home. Laundry and priority tendering are also our favorite perks. We are happy with those. (ps: this "new category" subject comes up regularly, I personally don't think it will ever happen) We don't have any fancy tangible things to show off, but the memories, experiences and fun we've had were the best choice for us.

I resemble that remark!

I prefer the Crown Plaza, they have indoor parking.

Just one more note. Since the FCD was not applied as usual, no FCD onboard credit was applied either. Not a game changer to me, but worth noting.

Check into this, this is from my memory from a few years ago. I could not use FCD's on a couple of longer cruises (true, I do remember this), but my TA was able to use them for some sort of discount on the cruise fare. As I recall, it was significant. The FCD's were "sold" back to Princess, the $100 each was credited back to my credit card and I no longer had the FCD's. Good luck and let us know what you find.

You can't go wrong with FCD's. The plusses are many. The worst case scenario is that you don't use it, you get your money back and all you lose is what ever money that you MIGHT have made investing it. If you do use it, the least you get far out weighs what you could have received investing it.

It is hit or miss these days. Probably more miss than hit. I always ask. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

This has been debated ad infinitum, Snopes has an interesting conversation about it. While a lot say Mark Twain never said it, to my knowledge, no one has ever been able to verify who said it. It does fit Mark Twain's wit, and he spent a lot of time in San Francisco.