Bwana Tom

My wife and I were on a 3-way back to back in March 2022 with all of our charges and credit rolling over from one cruise to another, as they always have been in the past. On the last day of the last cruise segment we printed out our account statement. It clearly showed the amount of the refundable credit owed us was $222.71. By mid June we had not received our refund check so I first went to Live-Chat to see if I could resolve the issue. That was absolutely a worthless exercise so I called Princess and after the usual long wait to get connected and the lengthy conversation explaining the situation I had invested an hour of time. Finally they recommended I be transferred to the Account Dept. to get it resolved. That was worthy of another 2 hours waiting and explaining once again. I was told a check in the amount $163.93 would be mailed in the next few days. I questioned that amount and was told that not all of the $222.71 was refundable, yet my vet OBC was $300 and in the past any charges have always been first taken out of the non-refundable funds first. So, clearly the entire $222.71 should have been refunded. Follow my logic? About a week later, sure enough we received the check for $163.93. Ironically like so many others have been reporting my check was about 25% less than what was owed to me. Wondering if this is some sort of a scam I wrote a very detailed and pleasant letter to John Padgett, including all the appropriate attachments and sent it by snail mail. Now, one month later with absolutely no response I decided to try another tactic and email Jan Swartz and also attached all the documentation. I know Jan may not have responsibility for such things, but I am now desperate and Jan seems to come with very high recommendations. I find it hard to believe that this might be a case of some sort of embezzlement, but I do find it puzzling why so many people are being subjected to this 25% reduction in payment. If I ever get this resolve I will update you folks at CC. Thanks for listening.

Buy Ebay.

We can only hope!

The 12 year old Talisker single malt scotch is excellent and under the $12 limit on Princess Plus. Unfortunately it never seems to be available at every bar. The spendy 25 year Talisker is sometimes available, but it is too rich for my wallet. Cruise happy/Drink happy.

Princess typically is dedicated to the older crowd. While we have had a few kids on some of our cruises, typically they are quite few. There are no water slides, surfing activities, go-carts, etc. so for the folks with a lot of young kids typically select Carnival, Norwegian, or one of the other cruise lines. But practically all of the Princess ships have children activities and children rec centers with a lot of activities for them to enjoy with their own age group. We've been on a lot of Princess cruises and we have never had a problem with noisy or wild, out of control children. I also would say don't worry about the elevators. We have been close by on several of our cruises and have never noticed any noise associated with the elevators, nor the guess laundry facilities. In fact it is kind of nice because of the easy access if they are close by. Enjoy your cruise.

Personally we always use a TA for our bookings and almost always find our fares less doing so with our TA than those published on Princess. Don't be put off by the arguing here. The simple rule I would recommend using is a simply: check fares on the web from a variety of sites and make a decision based on those fares. Aside from this simple advise I would add: 1) if you or your spouse is a vet be sure to send in a copy of DD214 in to get on board credit (OBC), 2) Carnival stock prices is low right now and if you purchase 100 shares you can also get OBC by sending a statement into Princess, and 3) if you find you like cruising be sure to purchase future cruise deposits while on board (this is no loose proposition that is a great benefit). You must do so while on board and there are a long list of benefits to be derived by doing so. OBC is great because it can be used for on board purchases, excursions, or even to pay off your tips on board. I hope all the back and forth this thread has generated hasn't muddied the water for you. I just wanted to make this as simple as possible to assist you. Happy Cruising!!

That is correct. You purchase tokens using your medallion in the laundry room, but sometimes the token dispensers are either out of tokens or they are broken. An alternate to can go to the customer service desk and purchase them with your medallion.

It appears I am in the minority here. I much prefer the smaller ships and when people talk about "older ships" the Diamond isn't really very old (built in 2004). The Diamond's itinerary is more unique than that of the Discovery. We are actually booked on a B2B on the Diamond in January, first to Hawaii then the same itinerary as you are talking about on the Diamond to Mexico. Having not done that particular cruise before I'm looking forward to the "old world Mexico" over the more commercialized Cabo, PV, etc. On the other hand if you go on the Discovery I would strongly recommend walking the "blue line". This is a unique feature in the port that takes you to a nice little community area all inclusive of benches to sit in, shops and restaurants as well as some art features. It is simply a blue line embedded in the street or sidewalk that you follow. While it is almost impossible to get lost most of the time there are part-time residents (usually American or Canadians) that will keep from straying off the line. They are fun to chat with along the way. I suppose it is about a mile into that area and well worth the time. If you have trouble finding the blue line, simply ask anyone on shore. Many folks here on Cruise Critic bad mouth Mazatlan, but it is a favorite of me. I am betting most of those folks haven't walked the blue line before. And while the Diamond does not have the International Cafe onboard I never could understand the attraction there either. But maybe I'm just different about some things. Nevertheless, which ever cruise you decide on I'm sure you will have a great time.

Customer service seems to be dead everywhere today, but especially with the airlines. I’m like you and check almost daily. On one occasion they changed our flight and had a layover departing before our arrival and of course no notice. Good luck to you all!

What is the email address for Jan Swartz?

“Or is supposed to be refunded.” I explained earlier about the problems I have been having getting my refundable OBC refunded, when asked how I wanted my OBC returned (less 25 percent) they asked if I wanted it moved to my future cruise. I told them a check, of which I haven’t received yet. So, who knows what changes have taken place behind closed doors. I am really concerned most about the 25 percent reduction that many of us seem to be getting.

Was it for the full amount you expected? Many of us are only getting 75 per cent of the amount on our final billing from Princess for some unknown reason, me included.

Again, thank you MN Syrup Cruiser for your obviously well-intended advice you provide me on getting my refundable OBC returned to me, but I certainly did not get the same results that you did. After sending the email in with no action after a week I went into the Live-Chat and discussed my situation with a lady called Kristine. After about 15 minutes of discussion she told me I had to file a formal request on Princess supplied forms, which she emailed to me. Having never had to do that before in my 20 Princess cruises I decided to "bite the bullet" and make the dreaded call to Princess. To my utter amazement I was connected in only 5 minutes. As anyone having the usual hour plus wait on the phone could imagine, I was celebrating and thinking I was obviously the luckiest person in the world, but my jubilance was short lived. After about 45 minutes of discussing my situation with Rosie she said she would be unable to provide any help. She said she could connect me with the Accounting Dept., but the wait would be pretty long. Again I decided to bite the bullet and asked her to connect me. Almost 2 hours later and suffering from that dreadful music that I'm sure is met to discourage anyone from hanging on the line I was connected to another gal that didn't give me her name, but finally after providing her with all the details she told me they would be cutting a check in 8 to 10 days and sending it to me for only $169. I'd kept a copy of final billing statement which showed a refundable balance of $222.71, but this person (whoever she might be) said the check would be for $169.93. I told her the amount shown on the statement clearly indicated the refundable amount would be $222.71. She simply said: "not all of that amount is refundable". I'm not convinced this is over yet. I will wait to see what the check turns out to be (if it comes at all) before I proceed further. I'm sorry if this sounds like complaining; I only wanted to let people know that there clearly is a problem that use not be there with getting the refundable OBC back. After over 3 hours of telephone time, 2 cups of coffee waiting (my morning limit), numerous solitaire games and a headache from that terrible banging music I don't really have any advice for others in a similar situation. But I did want to pass on this problem to anyone that might be interested. For now I will just have to wait and see what develops and wish everyone good luck. Tom

DD-214 for the Navy as well. I looked for my DD-214 over my full 4 years of service. Finally found it and returned home very happy.

Thanks MN Syrup Cruiser. I just followed in your footsteps and filled out the form on line. We'll see if it works out for me as it did for you. Always in the past we received a check in the mail. I wonder if they changed to simply putting a credit on your credit card. I've never heard of them doing that for OBC, but maybe things are changing once again. Thanks I appreciate your help and advise. Tom

Mine always shows up immediately, but just to make sure everything is on the up and up I mention it to my TA while booking just to make sure it gets applied. You might want to go into the live chat and ask about it. I've always had good luck with the live chat and you don't have to wait for someone to get on the line when calling. Thanks for your service.

We took some B2B cruises on the Majestic ending on March 26th and still haven't received our refund for our refundable OBC yet. It usually didn't take that long pre-Covid, but who knows in todays world. Anybody have any feedback on how long it is taking these days? Thanks

A couple of cruises we have been watching are on the Diamond Princess. One is going to Hawaii on Jan. 6th, which we booked with Princess Plus prior to the cost increase of that package. Today the Princess Plus package for that cruise runs you an additional $59/person/night. The other is also on the Diamond and departs on Jan. 22nd to Mexico. In order to book it including Princess Plus it will cost you an additional $57.50/person/night. I didn't check the pricing of the Princess Premier because I simply do not believe it is worth it at all. It looks like Princess might just jack the price up for the Princess Plus in lieu of raising the price of the drinks.

AND don't assume the airlines will notify you of the change. They don't in most all cases which is really poor customer service. And this is one thing no one can blame on covid; it has been happening for years now. On one occasion they had us booked on a connecting flight that was scheduled to leave prior to our arrival. It has made me extremely paranoid and I check on the airline website very frequently as a result. Apparently customer service is DEAD across most channels today.

The way I think about the Diamond it is likely the safest ship in the fleet. The staff will likely do an even better job keeping every surface extra clean because of the previous event. Great job getting your stock. Not only are you getting the OBC, but you’re supporting Princess when they need it the most. Maybe we’ll see you aboard. Tom & Donna

It's been a while since I received one of the infamous $900 coupon books. I do remember the contents were virtually worthless, but I think I remember there was one good coupon, a 2 for 1 specialty restaurant one. Can anyone confirm that for me? Thanks Tom

My wife and I just booking the Diamond Princess departing San Diego on Jan. 6, 2023 and we are looking forward to it. We haven't been on the Diamond before, but it looks like a unique ship. It was originally designed for Japan and Asia, but Covid hindered that plan. We are long time cruisers with Princess. We have tried other lines, but keep coming back to Princess. It is a bit laid back as compared to many of the other lines with that average age probably in the high 60s or early 70s. Not a lot of drunks and unruly teenagers on board usually. One thing you might consider is the purchase of 100 shares of Carnival Corp. stock. Princess is part of the Carnival Corp. If you did that you would get an additional $250 OBC on this cruise. And possibly best of all the stock is really cheap at this particular time ($13.XX/share). Because this subject has been covered previously on this board I won't get into the procedures of getting the credit, but it is a fairly easy process. Well to Princess.

We did the same; probably on some of the same cruises and found the same conditions/attitudes etc. As far as we are concerned - no worries.