Need-a-vacation

18 minutes ago, dreamin'ofthesea said:

Excursions

Good call. This specific cruise doesn't have any, but it's good to remember!

If you buy a plus or premier package, what things do you end up charging to your folio?  The main things I can think of are: 

-extra specialty/casual meals

-spa

- gift shops

Can you use your folio to buy casino credit, or do you have to use cash? I'm wondering if I can use gift cards to buy on board credit to have money to play in the casino.

My understanding is that any unused onboard credits will be refunded in cash?

1 hour ago, paddingtonbear said:

Maybe I wll buy a simple leather or more decorative necklace and attach it to that. A little less lanyardy

How does it work  with a necklace or lanyard? Do you have to remove it to scan for your door or to purchase?  I keep having visions of having to smoosh my face to the door to get a neck thing close enough to scan.

I think I need to go find a video of how this thing actually works.  I keep thinking of it like my work badge that has to actually touch the reader on the wall to work 

Thank you @martincath .  I would fully expect they'll accept anyone -- more wondered if I'd be some glaring misfit as a middle-aged woman going on a cruise!

Quick check shows the YWCA would be about $225 (US) + tax for the nights I need. 

I'm not necessarily looking for the cheapest option, just wanting to be prudent and spend the money how and where I'll appreciate it.  Which is best definitely depends on if I want to explore Vancouver, or if I just need a decent place to sleep and get a meal for 18 hours before heading to port. For the latter, I'd probably just find an airport hotel and get a cab in the morning.

28 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

It has seemed to me that more people use the lanyard than don't. We have never used one but it seems to be a popular thing to do. I'm always surprised when I see people wearing them on shore. I keep my Medallion in my pocket. My wife often carries a very small bag with her tatting. If she's carrying that her Medallion goes inside. Otherwise she clips it on.

Wife "clips it on"?  How is that?

I love this thread because I was wondering how people manage the medallions. I've never used a Princess Medallion so I have no idea what to expect for size, weight, handleability, etc.  

I'm surprised how many keep them in their pockets -- I can't imagine trusting something so important to the lame pockets found in most women's casual wear.  I can slip a card in the back pocket of jeans and not worry about it falling out or being broken when sitting in a seat.  Not sure about a medallion?

@Milhouse @martincath  Thank you both for such detailed responses!  That's exactly the kind of information I wanted.  I was suspicious that the area on south Granville might be possibly less desireable since the rates were noticeably lower than others.

I'm intrigued by the YWCA option - does it normally serve cruise travelers?

I think I need to settle my mind on if I'm going to try and intentionally have a day in Vancouver and pay for another hotel night (which means a careful balance between price and convenience), or if I'm just going to arrive sometime the afternoon before and kill time until I need to go to Canada Place (which means anyplace safe and access to a meal and an uber will do).

Thanks again for so much help!

I'm trying to evaluate options for Vancouver hotel before cruise. 

Are there any areas of the core downtown Vancouver area to avoid? I'd like to be where I can walk to simple food, maybe some shopping  and sightseeing,  access to public transit or easy Uber to core areas. And preferably not a creepy ghost town after 5pm on a Tuesday.  I'm basically reviewing the area between Gastown and  Stanley Park, possibly as far south as the Greenville Bridge.

Any thoughts on any of these options: 

Quality Inn & Suites on Greenville

Grand Park hotel on Granville 

Days Inn at Pender and Hornby

Sandman Suites on Davie

Sandman hotel downtown (near BC Place)

Times square suites on Denman.

I'm also intrigued by some of the places near English Beach, but I worry that services or transit could be sparse. 

Thanks!

How early can you check in bags for a  cruise departing Canada place? Is it realistic to drop the bags and then go explore for a couple hours? This is for a princess cruise with 4pm departure, so I'm thinking I need to be there to go through check in by noon or so?

On 6/30/2024 at 3:38 PM, KeepCalmBearOn said:

11AM LGB, 12PM LAX, 12PM SNA.

Thank you for this.  I'm arriving Sunday 9/29 on Grand Princess. Itinerary says arrival at 6:15a.  I'm leaning towards a 10:50a flight from Long Beach.  Is that too tight?

Or maybe I just book it and plan to rebook to a later flight if there's a problem (it's southwest, so same day changes are less painful).

@travelloverontario it sounds like you've found a good middle ground. That is one advantage of a port heavy trip - lots of time off the ship to connect with home if you want. 

I kinda went the opposite direction - for me at this particular time, ports are just another set of logistics to figure out, and I have a tendency to wear myself out. I'm trying to go simple this time.  Right now, I see itineraries with 9 ports in 10 days and think "that's a lot of research and deciding to do" 🤣

4 minutes ago, that said:

On 8/20/2024 at 4:46 PM, memoak said:

There appears to be a $1 increase per day. Not any amount to concern anyone 

 So will they increase the price of the plus or premium package to accommodate the  CA increase, and by how much?

Thank you for sharing the life journey that brought you to consider a solo cruise and for being so open about the emotional complexity of this process. 

I just booked my first solo cruise and it's comforting to hear that other people have these anxieties about a solo trip. I'm also looking at this as an experiment - testing both a solo trip and how I feel after several sea days to see if might like a crossing cruise with minimal ports.  I chose a 4-night  figuring that's long enough to settle in a bit and get an idea if I wanted more or if I'm dying to get off and go home.

An earlier post mentioned FaceTime - if you haven't already, I'd strongly suggest checking in with the board specific for your cruise line and confirm that their Wi-Fi supports that.  You might also make sure you're set up for Wi-Fi messaging - that might be built in with Apple, but I know on Android it takes some extra setup or even a different app.

I hope you feel better soon and enjoy your trip! You also might be able to get home with Amtrak or the Canadian rail system.

1 hour ago, t&atravel said:

@Need-a-vacation  Both of mine are listed like that as well.  It is not a problem.  If you check your travel summary online and the app you will see your name is correct.

 Thank you.

On the "Print Travel Summary", it lists the passenger as "Ms. Firstname Lastname".  It's correct in the "Welcome" line on the Trip summary web page.  The baggage tag looks right.  The invoice looks right on the payment page.  The only weird piece is the PDF they emailed to me.

I'm going to go with it's likely correct.  And I won't be booking my air with them -- their prices are high and the routing options are nuts.

I used online chat to book a hold for a cruise at the end of September. It has to be paid by midnight tonight. 

I noticed on the booking form PDF attached to the confirmation that the last name listed as "Mrs. Mylastname".  Is this just a quirk of their software, or did it get entered incorrectly on the reservation?  She pulled my info from my princess account. 

Thanks!

Double-post. Sorry.

@Thrak you nailed it.  The "big box reseller" isn't likely offering any value besides the advertised credit or gift cards. But I know there are some downsides when a third-party "owns" the booking.  In my case, I'm pondering if a net difference of ~$50 is worth not booking directly with princess and having to work with a third party at a call center if there are any glitches.

What I'm leaning towards right now is booking a standard fare and paying with my good travel credit card. Then looking at acquiring a discounted gift card (Newegg was running a deal a couple days ago), and using that to buy Plus a little closer to the trip when there is less risk of needing to cancel.  

I had read about Plus being capacity controlled and possibly not being able to buy it later.  It sounds like this is more of a theoretical risk than something that actually happens?  No reason to worry I won't be able to but it a week ahead of the cruise?

Another random question... Does Princess do courtesy hold to hold a fare and cabin for 24 hours?

@Thrak thank you for the thorough response. 

It's been a while and I totally forgot about the TA thing. If I could edit the post, I would.  Thank you for the reminder.

Maybe the better question is how much savings/OBC justifies using a third-party booking rather than booking directly.  What do you lose using a TA and what do you gain?  I don't travel enough to benefit from an ongoing TA relationship, or for them to ever give a flip about serving me well.

I don't have any recent experience with Princess.  I'm looking into one of the September Pacific coastal trips and I have a couple of tedious questions 

1. I think I may want the Plus fare package, but I'm not sure yet.  If I just purchase the standard fare now, had anyone ever had trouble adding Plus to their booking later, but before the cruise? 

2. Is there any down side to using Princess gift cards to pay the booking fare?

3. If I buy Princess gift cards, can I use them on the web site to add the Plus package in a couple weeks?  If so, will I be able to use the remainder for OBC?

4. If I use a gift card to buy OBC and don't use all the OBC, will Princess refund the remainder in cash, or some your of Princess credit or card?

5. Anyone have good or bad experience booking Princess cruise through Costco? The fare seems to be slightly lower than booking directly with Princess and the Plus Package upgrade is a little cheaper as well 

I'm sure I have a zillion other questions as I dig in.

Thanks!

57 minutes ago, scottca075 said:

 

I'd estimate $40-50.

Thank you. Very reasonable. I just wanted to be sure I could actually get an Uber from the airport to the cruise terminal.  

I was trying to get an estimate for Uber from LAX to San Pedro and it won't return any estimates except for the hourly service.  Is there a trick to get an estimate?  Do we need to figure out a different plan?

We are arriving on Southwest, so that looks like Terminal 1.  Our flight arrives around 9:30am on Monday, May 1.

34 minutes ago, screenname2004 said:

How did you arrive at the $99.99 figure? Does it include the credit for your unused FAS minutes? If you have used any of those minutes, I don't think you will get any credit unless the  Internet Cafe Manager over-ride the system.

$99.99 is the price listed on my booking if I want to upgrade to the premium service before the cruise. It doesn't mention a credit, but it seems like it should assume I won't use the FAS minutes.  Should I expect a different price onboard?

Thanks for all the information.  We are on a 4 -night with a 75 minute package. To upgrade to the premium right now would be $99.99 each.  I *may* need to be able to do a little bit of work on day 3 or 4.  If I understand correctly, if I use any of my FAS minutes and then want to upgrade, I will have to pay the full 99.99 even if it's the last day?

I just booked for the Encore and have the free-at-sea WiFi included.  I see the ability to add an upgrade for the entire cruise.

1. How do they count a minute?

2. Once I'm onboard, is there any option to upgrade for a single day, or a pro-rated package if you upgrade later in the cruise?  For example, if there's a work emergency and I need a premium connection for just one day, do I have to purchase the whole cruise package?

3. Can you use a single connection to provide a hotspot for multiple devices?

Thank you!

I would seriously look at a car service option of you are going straight between airport and Galveston . The round trip between the port and Texas city is easily 45 minutes with no traffic problems. Plus you will spend time screwing with the rental car both at iah and Texas city. It was probably a fluke, but last year I waited nearly 30 minutes to return my car at Texas city. There was one person working the counter and the customer ahead of me had something weird going on with her rental contact and they spent forever trying to contact the office where she had rented the car, etc.

Also be aware the Texas city location may not always be open the same days as airport locations. It is closed for our departure on July 3rd.

Definitely run the numbers and figure out if the extra hassle is worth the savings . With drop fees, rental cost for a van, gas, and cab fare, you may not save much compared to curb-to-curb service. And make sure you do a reality check on getting that many people and their luggage in a mini-van. For one trip, we had a mini van and a Dodge Dakota pickup for 8 adults and both were crammed to the rafters.

Good luck!

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Hobby is definitely closer. But getting to the port in Galveston is definitely it's biggest disadvantage.

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