ednmargo

On 5/13/2023 at 12:11 PM, Michyfis said:

We spent the day in Seward after our cruise and took the evening train to Anchorage and spent the night there. The train ride was beautiful and both of us could see the scenery. 

Hi Mchyfis

How did you handle all your luggage? Is there a locker near the port or train station? Thanks

Margo

On 5/13/2023 at 3:31 PM, Avidtravler said:

Hi Curmudgeon98,

Thanks for the advice. Anyone know how to find out how many ships will be in port on Wed Aug.16.

I will be embarking that day!  Taking the train in. 

1 hour ago, HBCcruiser said:

Sorry to post months later but I was wondering if the window suite was ever noisy? Did you ever hear footsteps above? I am looking into booking a window suite for a Panama cruise and would love your opinion about the WS. The price is really great! I do not think I would miss the balcony either - We can book the Sanctuary on sea days like you did. 

No noise, I would book again in a heartbeat.

2 hours ago, AF-1 said:

Yes I am retired AirForce 29 years, 19 years on Air Force One 

28 for me. Thank you for your service!  F305 should now be called the Air Force Suite. 🙂

14 minutes ago, AF-1 said:

This is a nice roomy cabin. Quiet area and so close to everything. This may be my first cruise where I don’t eat in horizon court. 

Nice! Are you Air Force? Just curious due to your callsign.  I'm retired AF.

7 hours ago, AF-1 said:

Hello fellow cruise critic members.  We boarded the wonderful Grand Princess today for a  five night sailing. I will post my impression of boarding and our cabin and staff

1.  We arrived at 11:30. We were greeted by several Princess staff members who directed us to a staion for processing. Total time was five minutes

2.  We are in a Window Suite F305. We received priority passes to board. We went up the escalator and right onto the ship. Time to board was five minutes. We had to wait untill noon for club class dining to open for lunch

3.  I went to Sanctuary to reserve a few days for my wife and I. That took five minutes

4.  While we ate lunch the head waiter came over to tell us to make sure we went to Crown Grill tonight for our complimentary Dinner.  We did not think we would receive a complimentary dinner but we did. So that was nice

5. Set up two iphone and ipads for the wifi.  So far no issues with wifi

6. Watched the safety video while i ate lunch. We found out our muster station was Crown Grill so we showed our medallions and then made dinner reservations

7. It does not feel crowded at all. I have  not seen a lot of people at the pools or in the bars. At one trivia contest there were only four couples. The staff everywhere have been so friendly and talkative.   I will post more during our five night cruise

 

our window suite is nice. It is down a separate hallway located next to the casino on deck six.  Club Class dining in Davinci is a minite away. We had both appetizers and flowere in our room. This is our first time in a window suite so we will see if we miss the balcony. 

 

cheers

Take good care of F305 we will be in there on 9 Oct! :0) Excited to read what you think of the WS.  It will be our first time in one as well.  Great to hear we get a night at Crown Grill! 

28 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

We got up early and finished showering and packing up the loose ends this morning and ordered room service for out on our balcony.  The food and specialty coffees were there in no time.  We were ready to go and decided to vacate or cabin by 8:00 AM to give the room stewards a head start.  We carried our luggage off so the staff said we didn’t even have to go to our designated waiting spot, we could just disembark.  We were off the ship and out of the terminal in no time flat.  We requested an Uber by 8:15 AM and to LAX by a little after 9:00 AM.  
now, we are dealing with multiple flight delays but are waiting it out in the Alaska Lounge.  I told my DH, who is losing patience quickly, to just pretend we are sitting in our favorite spot in Crooners.  At least the food and drinks are plentiful here.  
 

Thanks for all the posts.  If you have time. Just curious about the specialty coffees.  Are they an extra charge if you have the beverage package? I know in the past they were extra because of room service. Cheers!

Thanks for all the updates! T minus 10 days until I board her on 9 Oct. I am in a WS as well. 

Cheers,

Margo

Wow! Thanks for the info. It used to be such a pain trying to get that accomplished via fax.

-Margo

Thanks!  I bought the OLIFE w/ the 8 shore excursions.

-Margo

Good Evening,

I'm brand new to Oceania.  I have been searching high and low and can't figure out why there are 3 different prices for the shore excursions I am seeing on my March 10 Sirena Passage Through Time Cruise.  For example Abu Dhabi lists the following.  Can anyone please explain?  TIA and again sorry if this has been discussed ad nauseum I swear I tried to find it. 🙂  Cheers Margo

• Tour Price
  $209.00
• Your World
  $156.75
• Unlimited
  $69.00

Does this also work for slots?

Biggest tip is to have patience with the Princess staff. It's apparently still new to them so you will get one person telling you to have your passport out and another that says don't. Have both your passport and your card (FLL Cruise port doesn't have the kiosks). We saw two couples turned away because they didn't have their cards. You are directed to a separate line. For us we could have stayed in the regular line as we were Group A and got off right away but I could see if you left around 8 or 9am this could save you a lot of time.

Customs takes your customs form and checks your card, they might have glanced at our passport not sure because it was uber quick.

Best bartenders on the regal princess are Ron & Jovi in Crooner's Bar

I was on the repositioning cruise NY to Fort Lauderdale Oct 27,2016

Ron & Jovi2 were great, worked really hard especially at Happy Hour 2-4 everyday in Crooners Bar

"RonJovi" Being an 80s girl I won't forget that! LOL

I'm usually one to defend Disney against what I consider unfair complaints, but this situation sounds like one where they simply failed in customer service.

 

Sending an OBC and having a card in the cabin to that effect is a pretty basic request. And given the price premium of Disney cruises, with the usual argument that they offer superior service, they should be able to handle this type of thing easily. I definitely don't like the excuse from the ship that "they only print a certain number of cards".

Thanks iceman93! I rarely ever complain about cruises. Even my Carnival one, which was a 4 night booze cruise full of college kids, was fabulous because I was determined it would be. Will I ever go on one again? Prob not but a day out on the sea most definitely beats a day at work.

Cheers!

Thanks everyone. I did get a text to her to let her know she had obc. Disney Dream told the customer service they only print so many cards and hers was left off. Glad I was able to contact her.

I've never been on a Disney Cruise. Lots of Princess and Holland and the token Carnival just to check it out. I have been to Disney World quite a few times and have had wonderful times and great memories.

Cheers,

Greetings and Salutations,

My sister, whose birthday is today, is on the 3 Oct sailing of Disney Dream today out of Cape Canaveral, FL. It is her first cruise for her and her 4 yo daughter. Last week I called customer service and purchased some obc for her birthday. I was promised that it being a week out that there would be no problem placing a card in her room with a Happy Birthday message and explaining that she had obc (she is new to cruising).

Today I figured I should trust but verify and lo and behold after 30 min of back and forth between customer service, shore desk, and ship they finally found the obc but didn't put anything in her room. I quote "I guess they forgot." When asked how in the world is she going to know she has obc, I got "well we will try to call her." My sister prob won't be purchasing a lot on this cruise and I doubt she will even look at her statement tell the last day. My only hope is for a phone call from guest services which at this point I don't have much faith in.

Just disappointed because I wanted it to be a special surprise. Also, if I had known that a card would not be possible I could have at least given her a heads up today before she boarded the ship.

Thanks for letting me vent. Ain't life grand?

Cheers,

We are the same - always book with a non-AMEX travel agent and get the perks. You must use a true AMEX Platinum or Centurion card (not Delta, American, etc. AMEX) for payments. If your TA does not automatically take care of this for you, give him/her a call and ask them to get this added to your booking or - find another TA that is pro-active about getting their clients all of the perks they are entitled.

 

The AMEX Platinum/Centurion cruise privilege program includes many cruise lines, not just Princess....

 

My TA just had our AMEX perks added to our next cruise yesterday....they show up in your cruise personalizer under credits immediately!

Basor,

Have you had any luck with Celebrity? I tried for my Reflection cruise in Feb 2017 but my TA said that since I had the Go Best package that the perk wasn't combinable. HOWEVER a few weeks ago I added a Celebrity offer that showed up where if I pay $500 towards my Celebrity cruise I receive $150 credit back. I have heard they do that sometimes. TA said this offer will work. Waiting til next month to pay off that cruise. Just got the card in July so fairly new to everything.

Cheers,

You don't need to book through Amex Platinum to get the perks. You need to find a TA who works with Amex Platinum and after they book your cruise they call Amex and get a tracking number assigned to your booking in order for you to get your perks. You can also get the TA discount and whatever OBC or perks they give you.

 

Just about all of my cruises but one have been combinable with the Amex Platinum perks and past passengers rates plus my wonderful TA's discount.

 

To get the Amex perks, the cruise has to be 5 nights or more. For Princess it's now the OBC and canapés.

Hi cjskids, going to be on the Regal with you 27 Nov. I just got an AMEX card a few months ago and I received my OBC also from my TA as soon as I paid in full with my AMEX. That was the only stipulation my TA told me there was. Question though do the canapés just show up sometime on the cruise or do you need to request? Are they worth it? The ones I've had in the past are so bad I wouldn't want dining to go to the trouble. I enjoy far more going to buffet and grabbing cheese and crackers for our pre-dinner schnack.

for India? Def Whiskey.

Thanks, our Standard Balcony was more than the Deluxe Balcony, so I called and we got upgraded. Note to self, next time I travel week after Thanksgiving I will book after final payment. Still lots of open cabins..

You should change your name to Lucky Dawg! Congrats. I will be sailing with you on Nov 27 (2 weeks). I'm in an obst balcony w/ Sip and Sail. No price change for me, in fact they went up. See you onboard, I'll be the chick with a martini and a big smile.

Ednmargo...we're also first timers on Reflection on 2/25 cruise! Just got the notice from AMEX confirming the credit will be issued within a certain number of billing cycles. WHOOT WHOOT!!

 

 

I'll see you at the Martini bar. I'll be the chick with a big smile on my face.

 

Cheers,

Love you guys! Thanks so much! I love this website. I just added the offer and will call my TA in the morning. Makes my first time Celebrity Reflection Feb 25 cruise that much sweeter!

Cheers,

Congrats! I know you have helped me over the years on this website so karma has shined back.

Cheers,

For a 7 day cruise the 3 For Free offers $150 OBC

 

Gratuities for a balcony are now $12.95 per person per day. 7 days gratuities for 2 people would be $181.30

 

The AIBP is $56.35 per person per day. For two people for 7 days that comes to $788.90

Thrak, I think the OP mentioned her second person was a minor so the Beverage packages (AIBP, Unlimited Soda and more) would come out to$450.80 (394.45 + 56.35) Still better than gratuities plus obc; however, she'll have to decide whether or not the drink packages will be worth it to her.

Cheers,