2 cruises a year

8 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

We once rushed back from Aruba to our cabin to get ready for dinner only to find that neither of our cruise cards would unlock the door. We ate elsewhere that night. At least one can use a public restroom if necessary.

 

Of course there was the time when I tried over and over to get my card to unlock the door before finally realizing I was on the wrong deck and it wasn't my cabin... I was so glad nobody was "at home" in the cabin.

Yep, I've done that myself. Boy did I feel silly.

4 hours ago, Nonnie1975 said:

I am organizing an excursion and already have other passengers joining me.  Is there a way to get their names, emails  or mobile phones numbers to we can communicate without being seen by everyone else? Thanks! 

3 hours ago, Ombud said:

Yes but it requires you to post your email then have them email you with that info. The roll call is a good place to do it as those are harder to find after the voyage

 

 

It is very easy to set up a secondary email to maintain your privacy. 

Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, and Outlook are the most obvious. 

Use it to get started then forget about it until you need it again for a similar circumstance. 

3 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

Is it true that watches and clocks in Australia run in the other direction?  Kind of like toilet flushes?  [I know that "scientists" say that the Coriolis effect does not change the direction of the toilet flush, but I am a skeptic!  All my life I've been told that it is the Coriolis effect.]  So, is "clockwise" and "counter-clockwise" the same Down Under as it is in North America?

My thoughts exactly! 🙃

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

 

Coming back from Moorea to San Pedro we had 8 sea days in a row. The 28 day cruise had 18 sea days in all. We enjoyed it very much.

The sea days are great, the time changes are brutal. 

I'd still do a Pacific crossing anytime. 

1 hour ago, Buckeye10640 said:

I thought thats how you attempt to 'win' the prizes....by opening and closing your door during time windows when 'Prizes' is active ?? Edit....ok its semantics...technically its unlock and not open but kinda the same thought....

I agree! 

Deleted, wrong port.

31 minutes ago, brisalta said:

 

Are you freight? The Jones Act applies to freight transport.

Okay then, Passengers Vessel Services Act.

28 minutes ago, trbarton said:

I’ve cruised out of San Francisco many times & yes tugs are used here & the day of the accident it was extremely windy. 
 

Tom😀

And also during an unusually high tide to low tide period.  Strong current caused by a lot of water in a big bay trying to get out to sea.

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

I didn't make a conclusion.

Post #306?

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

El Capitano.

You have to make a lot of assumptions to get to your conclusion.

1 hour ago, DCThunder said:

Because I wasn't familiar with the term "allision" as used by NavArch64, I did a little Google-fu to see what it meant.  I could figure the basic meaning out but wanted to learn more.  I came across the following from the law offices of what appears to be a personal injury firm that specialized in maritime injuries.  It had an interesting discussion of collisions and allisions at sea and the liability that arises from them.  

 

Our maritime experts might quibble with what's up on this law firm's site, but I thought it interesting.

 

Allision (Not Collision) Nautical Term Definition | Naylor Law

Thank you for this.  I didn't think anything of it.  I read it as "a collision", blaming it on that darned auto-correct.

That's my learn something new every day, for today.

1 minute ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

The PVSA literally reads, "No foreign vessels shall transport passengers between ports or places in the United States... ."  It's the black and white letter of the law, and there's nothing more to discuss or argue.

Well put, end of discussion.

7 hours ago, david63 said:

Princess Prizes has nothing to do with "opening your door" as the Medallion only unlocks your door. Princess Prizes is just an add-on that you can either buy or have included in the premier package.

 

!4 days on Sky earlier this year and nothing!

True, unlocking your door enters you to win a prize.  You don't have to open the door to win.

14 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

PVSA wouldn't apply because Princess didn't transport them anywhere. 

But their passports had been scanned and they boarded a ship for an itinerary that was subject to the PVSA.  As far as Customs knows, they embarked and disembarked at the same port without visiting a foreign or distant port.

ps. Yes this was a loaded question, I submitted it for the sake of the discussion. PSVA and Jones Act discussions go on for ever.

I guess I should have been more direct with my question. 

The PSVA can be excepted under certain conditions, weather, medical etc.  I think the Act came into play here, but I think that an exception was made. @DallasGuy75219 has a good idea also. They never went anywhere, so the Act never came into play.

So, what does everyone else think? 

1 hour ago, Wink87 said:

Anyone have experience to share regarding "Princess Prizes" when you have the premier plus plan?

Just one man's opinion:

Carnival Corporation is not going to pay down their $26 billion debt by paying you to open the door to your cabin.

We are fans and supporters of Princess. But don't make any decisions based on opening your cabin door.

I'm wondering about the PVSA.  Passengers boarded, but didn't stop at a foreign, or distant port.

1 hour ago, brisalta said:

 

Coming in to San Francisco Bay they are under the control of Bay Pilots. If I remember correctly when a ship is heading in to San Francisco Bay a Bay Pilot boards at about 20 Mile Rock. I suspect there will be an official inquiry involving the Bay Pilot, the Master of the Ruby Princess and the tug boat masters.

The Captain of the ship is always ultimately responsible.

2 hours ago, shiny1 said:

we’ve booked the hotel package through Princess for an upcoming cruise from NY. It includes transfers from the airport to the hotel, from hotel to cruise terminal and back to the airport upon disembarkation. The hotel is the Hilton Midtown. The total cost for 2 was $650.00 for one night at the hotel. It is pricey but we won’t need to deal with anything ourselves and we’ve never cruised out of NY before. The hotels are all pretty expensive. 

Personally, I think that you've made the right decision.  Domestically, it is a hard decision to make, price wise, and comfort level wise.  But hopefully, you see the benefit of the extra cost, and if you do travel internationally, you will appreciate the comfort level.  As I said early on, I think the package is worth it.

Now that you've made your decision, let's see how much longer this thread goes on.  Get your popcorn out.

36 minutes ago, Korimako said:

Am I right in thinking that on ships based in Australia/New Zealand, gratuities are already included in the fare and there is no need to tip?

Yes

On 6/26/2023 at 8:46 AM, memoak said:

Only if you think that 5-6 drinks a day is a lot 

Make that 3-4 drinks a day, plus specialty coffee, soft dinks, bottled water, Perrier or San Pellegrino, special desserts.  You can try new and different drinks, desserts, etc., if you don't like it, no big loss.   Lots of little options that can be taken for granted, but add up.

Plus, just the convenience of no surprises on your final bill.

After tips (a constant), and Wi-Fi (a sliding scale value to everyone) it doesn't really take too much to break even.  I think that it really is a bargain unless you drink absolutely nothing.

9 hours ago, cjpj said:

I'd say you need to consider a few things. One your comfort level being in a country where English is not widely spoken. Two the distance between the airport - hotel - port. The farther apart each are, the more  complicated travel options can be. You also need to consider the travel options available and your comfort level. Are you okay doing subway, buses, trains, booking these in advance or do you only want private transport. Add up the costs and see if it makes sense for you. The more nights you stay pre or post cruise, the more affordable the Princess Hotel packages are. And if you are arriving several days early, for example, Princess will provide a private car from airport to hotel.

If you want a no hassle, no planing, take care of me and get me where I need to be, the hotel packages are great. If you like to plan and handle all your own arrangements and deal with last minute changes or glitches, do it yourself. I've done the hotel package once, but it was a rare circumstance where it was the same price as doing it myself. I definately loved the no thinking or worrying about anything and would definitely consider it if I was traveling solo in a country I was not familiar with. But traveling to any port in the US, Canada I'd definately do it myself.

We've also found this to be true.  If we fly Domestically, we go one day early, which most people seem to do, and the flights all start arriving at similar times.  We were put on a bus, and waited until it was full.  A little frustrating, but not a deal breaker.  When we fly Internationally, we go four days early. (Gives us time to explore new Cities)  Seems no one else is arriving that early and we have had a Private Car.  This does make the Princess Hotel deal cost more, I do tip the Private Car driver.  😁😉  It sure is First Class treatment.

2 hours ago, suzyed said:

We are finally using up all of ours (from the Coral in S. America) on our upcoming Regal cruise in September.  We paid a little over and above for the Princess Platinum Insurance and EZair flights but paid that with Princess Gift Cards that we got at a discounted price through AARP.  We have done 3 cruises prior to this with the FCC's

We were also on that cruise and still using up FCC's.  We were booked B2B all the way through the Panama Canal to San Pedro. We had a very interesting flight from Buenos Aires back to San Francisco. Kudos to EZ Air.  They booked the flights for us.

Pre-Covid we used EZ Air and Pre-Cruise Princess hotels exclusively.  I'm all for it.  Once I got to the airport, I was Princesses Baby until I was on the ship.  Transfers to the hotel and to the ship, baggage handling, hotel, usually, but not always breakfast, all arranged, and "insured".  If anything went wrong, Princess made any arrangements necessary.  Nothing ever did go wrong until a cruise shut down by Covid. Then EZ Air made plane reservations to get us back to SFO from Buenos Aires as the world was shutting down.  Airports were shutting down behind us.  It was stressful, but I didn't have to make the many calls trying to get reservations, again and again as ports kept changing until Buenos Aires allowed us in.  We had to have plane reservations in hand, and they put on a bus to the airport.  There were armed Military onboard to make sure we went from the ship to the airport without getting off in Argentina.

You will get a lot of negativity on the extra cost of the hotel, but after you add it all up, and factor in no muss no fuss, I think that it is definitely worth it.

On the Princess website, look under Destinations, then Departure Ports and Hotels.

As far as the current success at filling ships, I'm curious how many people are still sailing at no cost to themselves on FCC's from cancelled sailings.  We still have "Goodwill", "Cruise with Confidence" and "Princess Travelcare" credits left on the books.  

4 hours ago, RV Queen said:

We are platinum and understand we and Elite have priority boarding.  Do we still have to sign up for boarding time? 

Yup, check-in time is first come, first served by check-in time. The perk is at check-in, there is a dedicated line and a dedicated location to wait.  And then priority boarding.