FLCruise7

Re-fared our 26 day TA for next year. Lost the Landmark Sale OBC, but gained gratuities and some OBC (more than what we lost). And cruise fare went down over $2000 with a better cabin location. Was happy with this change! Had a couple of others booked under same Landmark Sale, but didn't change those because the cruise fare went way up. Win some, lose some.

Flcruise7-Thank you for sharing those great photos! It looks like you were allowed to take pix in the Louvre as long as no flash.

 

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Glad you enjoyed the photos. Yes to pictures in the Louvre - we actually took a lot of pictures there. We rarely use the flash when taking pictures inside.

Flcruise7,

Thanks so very much for posting your fantastic pictures.

 

You had great weather. Do you remember which month you there?

 

You also got wonderful pictures from inside the bus. Do you remember which side of the bus you were sitting on?

 

I really appreciate all the wonderful useful information you shared. Please let me know if you think of anything else. Even small tips can help.

 

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We were there in late May (date on the pictures was 5/20). Weather was beautiful! We did wear our fleeces for most of the trip, but being from Florida anything below 70 starts feeling cool. At least it was a pretty, sunny day.

Not sure about which side of the bus we were on. We did get some nice pictures, but some of them had reflections from the windows so they weren't the best - but still not horrible. I'm thinking we were probably on the left side of the bus (facing forward) because we have some pictures with other passengers & they appear to be on the right. My husband is the photographer for us. Going back to the ship, I seem to recall sleeping. It was a long day since we had to meet up early and then 6+ hours on a bus, plus the touring, etc. just wore me out!!

I would highly recommend this tour for a sampling of Paris. It would've been nice to spend more time & see more things, but we knew we couldn't do everything. So, we opted for a "taste" of the city.

Glad you enjoyed the pictures. Brought back some nice memories for me as we did this in 2015. If I think of anything else, I'll let you know. We also did Ireland, Scotland, etc. Our trip was a transatlantic & then British Isles. Enjoy your cruise!!!

We'll be on the CB in a few weeks. Which areas have the ***** now? When we were on there in June, some staff came by our room to check signals. We were on the Fiesta Deck.

Here are some of the pictures we did. (Hopefully they will post correctly - I don't post a lot of pictures & it's a learning experience every time!) Yes - this was a Princess tour. We wanted the peace of mind since Paris is so far from the port & decided to let them be responsible for us! :cool:

Our guide on the tour did give us a good tip - a lot of people think the French people are rude, but they react very well if you don't just blurt out a question before greeting them. When we were looking for the Venus statue, we saw museum staff in various spots -- I just walked up & said hello. And THEN I asked for directions. They were very accommodating!

1 - At our comfort stop on the way to Paris. I don't think this place charged to use the restrooms, but we sure paid when we used the one at the Louvre!!

2 - We did see the Arc de Triomphe from the bus

3 - Crowds at the Louvre

4 - View of the Mona Lisa from the side - it's so tiny!!

5 - Thankfully, there's a rail so no one can get close & we could get pictures without people!

6 - Winged Victory

7 - Venus de Milo

8 - Approaching the Eiffel Tower

9 - Restaurant for lunch

10 - Having lunch

11 - View from the Tower (taken after lunch) - there is some time for photos

12 - Another view as we were leaving (this may have been from the bus)

This sounds just like the tour we did when we did on our cruise in 2015. I probably have some pictures that I can share, but I'll tell you what I can remember.

Once we were at the Louvre, the guide took us to the Mona Lisa. After that, we had some free time (maybe an hour??) for wandering. We did find the Venus de Milo & hit the gift shop.

We enjoyed our lunch at the Eiffel Tower & had a little time for photos on the way to/from lunch. I'll see what I can find for photos.

One note - it was about a 2 1/2 - 3 hour bus ride from the pier to Paris. On the way, we did make a comfort stop about halfway.

I'll look for pictures & post what I can find.

Definitely pays to check pricing! We had booked a TA for next year under the Landmark Sale ($1000 OBC). When the 3FF offer came out and I checked pricing, we switched to the new promo. We got $400 OBC and $750 in gratuities. That alone would've offset losing the Landmark OBC. But wait - it get's better!! Got our room changed from a ME minisuite (forward) to MB (mid-forward) and the rate dropped almost $2000 (plus a slight reduction in our protection plan price).

This was the only upcoming booked one that made sense to change - our others didn't drop in price and losing that OBC wasn't offset by the gratuities. Still - doing a happy cruise dance on the new pricing for the one!! :D:cool:

On our last cruise in a window suite, we didn't get waters everyday - but, that might have been because we got the two mini-bars and traded 1 for 2 coffee cards and the other for bottled waters (got 22 of the small bottles) --- Plenty for the 10 days!! Plus, I'd pre-ordered the soda package and got two of the large bottles as compensation for not getting the tumbler. Needless to say, our cabin steward got lots of water when we left.

Hi

 

I find your uncertainty curious.

 

I actually did a similar cruise with 5 Hawaii stops, as well as Ensenada on return trip from Long Beach and enjoyed it very much.

 

What I find curious is that this site is devoted to cruising. Sure you could go to any destination and spend time there to enjoy the country, city, or whatever, but that's not a cruise. Your observations that, "one day in each port does no justice to these beautiful islands", would be equally true of most ports of call (even the ones that aren't islands). So are you questioning the concept of cruising as a way to travel, or is it just that you feel some places you shouldn't cruise to? Isn't the opportunity of being able to go somewhere on a cruise the chance to determine if a future trip might be of interest to traveler?

(y)(y)(y)

Don't expect to get any perks on that cruise. We're booked on the one next October. We waited for the Sip and Sail to come out to move to that promo but Princess jacked the price up through the roof. The cabin went up $1,000. I was so disgusted I changed from our balcony booking to a Premium Ocean View and then waited for the 3 For Free promo. Nope, nope, nope. The cheapest OV cabin (all the way forward right under the theater) is now more than $1,000 more than we paid for the Premium OV. Princess price jacking strikes again. At this point we will have to be content to be paying less but our OBC isn't even enough to cover the gratuities. The current pricing is for a balcony for the 12 day cruise is only about $2,100 less than we paid for an aft Caribe deck balcony last year for the 28 day Hawaii/South Pacific cruise - and that was with the Sip and Sail. They are definitely charging a premium for this cruise.

I checked pricing today & our balcony cabin went up about $400 from the initial booking. That would offset the included OBC, but we booked under the Landmark sale with $1000 OBC, so we'll just stay with it. That will be enough to cover the gratuities and some excursions.

You're so right about the high prices on this one! Just booked the 2020 28 day Hawaii/South Pacific today and a balcony on that is just about $1800 more (including gratuities and OBC). than the Northern Lights cruise!!

Do you have Global Entry? That would help an awful lot. Being able to go on that shorter line through customs and the terminal and then TSA precheck makes a world of difference.

 

I know that TSA precheck in the AA terminal runs like a well oiled machine and I’m always through within 5 minutes, no matter the time of day. Leaving from FLL next week via Delta so it will be interesting to see how TSA precheck is there.

Just flew out of FLL in July with TSA precheck - worked very well! As a matter of fact, I'm trying to recall exactly what the security looked like (have been through several airports since then) - since I can't remember, there must not have been any issues! :D

And I agree about Global Entry - well worth the $ we spent on it.

I think we are likely screwed. We didn't book the S&S because the price of the cabin went up by $1,000 so it wasn't worth re-faring. I actually downgraded to a Premium Ocean View at that point. I was hoping that, since I booked that cabin at the new higher pricing, it would be eligible for the 3FF but I just checked cabin prices and they have gone up a bunch. The cheapest Ocean View is about $1,000 more that I paid for the Premium Ocean View. Mind boggling. Unless they drop the price dramatically (yeah, right) there's no way I can get the 3FF. It's frustrating because the cruise has absolutely zero perks as it stands and my OBC won't even cover the gratuities. POOP!!! (Yeah, I know. Wah,, wah, wah...:loudcry:)

I was just looking at pricing on a few of my cruises for next year & the price today was a lot higher - but then I realized that it's still showing the Sip & Sail pricing. That may change when the 3FF starts. At least I hope so - will check tomorrow.

First time receiving an upsell offer from Princess, but now I have a question! The offer e-mailed to us only lists the upgrade price per person, based on double occupancy (and that single occupancy pays 200%). We're currently booked into a triple occupancy room so I'm surprised there was no "third person" upgrade price given. If we take the upgrade, is Princess looking to split us into 2 staterooms with the 3rd person pay double the upgrade price to be a solo occupant? Thanks in advance!

I would think if there was an additional charge for the 3rd person, your offer would have had that price. We just received (and took!) an upsell & it had 1/2 person charge and 3/4 person charge shown.

BTW - our upsell was for a window suite from an oceanview for $329/pp on a 10-day sailing. Since this was a "come back" offer, we didn't have a lot invested originally, so we jumped at the suite! Love the specialty breakfast & the ability to order the MDR menu for room service (no formal dressing on this one!!)!! And don't even get me started on all the room and storage areas :cool::cool:

Earlier this month on the Grand, got the two bottles of water instead of the tumbler.

In March we watched a lady win $10,000 on that Fun 21 side bet. She had 2 Q of hearts and the dealer had black jack. paid 1,000 to 1 and had $10 buck on it.

I got one of those on the Splendor last year with a $5 bet -- I about fell off the chair!!

I don't consider using a ship excursion as needing someone to "hold my hand" or that I'm "scared of venturing out" -- sometimes it's a matter of the port and the time -- Peace of mind is worth a certain price.

Have your Passport and credit card handy for setting up onboard account. When you do your check-in, you'll pick your pier check-in time.

I have had a similar situation before where a cruise I booked changes to a premier cruise even though I did not book under the Premier promo. I call my PVP and she gets me changed to the casino package. Be aware, that depending on the promo that you originally booked, you could pay more for the fare or owe more in deposit and you may lose any OBC that was part of any promo you booked under. Also, this will only work if the premier slots are not all booked already, but I would certainly call and see if it can be done.

 

We cannot give out names of PVP's, but if you would like, I could email you my girls info. She is awesome at Casino bookings. Let me know!

I'm looking for a new PVP - not at all impressed with the one I've been using. When she called me back the last time, she just said "hello" when I answered like I knew who she was!! She didn't even identify herself!!!

Please email me the info - tiptoe7@aol.com

Thanks!!

I haven't seen it, but have Free cruise booked on November 8th for the slot tournament

Hmmm - slot tournament & VIP cruise for the same sailing? Interesting ... Should make for one crowded casino!!!

The email has arrived with the info on the Ultimate VIP cruise. It's an 8 day cruise on the Royal leaving November 9th. The offer included far less in free play than what I just earned on the qualifying cruise so I think we will pass.

Got my offer today as well & have it booked! Sorry I won't see you in November.

Sorry if this has already been asked but I didn't want to search 45 pages and it didn't come up in the search feature. Where would the smoking areas be on the Star? Thank you.[/quote

 

As I recall from my trip on the Star last year - the smoking areas were on Deck 6 in Shooter's Bar, Deck 15 near Tradewinds Bar and a box-on-the-wall area on Deck 7 (starboard side, aft). There may have been 1 more, but I mainly used Shooter's and Tradewinds locations. Also, a small portion of the casino slots on most nights.

Under the coffee package system can you purchase one package and buy 2 coffees at the same time.

Yes - you can get two of the specialty coffees at the same time on one card. We did that on our last cruise when I'd used (almost) all of mine & hubby still had several left.

So, if you are on that 7-day sailing & both people like the specialty coffees (but won't each drink 15) - buy one package & the owner buys the drinks.

The last upsell offer I got came in about 3 1/2 weeks prior to sailing (way past final payment date). I did the call-back pretty quickly & then didn't hear back for some time. The good news is that when she called me, she said that she saw I was sailing B2B & wanted to check to see if she could make the offer for both sailings (she was able to do so & we happily moved from an OV to a window suite for both 7-day sailings).

Yea I noticed that same thing. It must be a new schedule with Princess.

Possibly a reduction on the number of crew assigned to help clean up the cabins on turnaround day. :confused:

This was also our experience on the CB in June - out of the cabin by 8:00. When we boarded (1130-ish), there were signs on the closed doors leading to the cabins stating that they would not be available until 1:00. This was the first time we'd experienced having to wait - and that's after quite a few Princess cruises.

We just did the CB in June and had a small power strip - non-surge protected. They didn't confiscate it & we had it plugged in in the cabin for 2 weeks. Was not an issue.

Thanks for the review!