jsn55

Oops! Just read your good news. This is WONDERFUL. But CC people should know about my good friend Michelle Couch-Friedman, who has formed an online advocacy service. She'd probably have been able to help you get Viking off their 'policy' and show some customer service. Have a look at Consumer Rescue; Michelle has years of experience and is well known in the travel field. She has a great many personal contacts at travel providers. For the record, always purchase trip insurance independently. At the beginning of the pandemic, Avalon refunded us almost $24K for a cancelled cruise ... and I hadn't even requested a refund. I do not have much respect for Viking and their procedures ... they spend so much money on advertising that they apparently don't have enough to take care of their customers. We've booked the same Avalon cruise the length of France in May; good customer service ranks very high in my mind. Travel providers that stepped up and did their best for their clients during the pandemic are those that should get our business.

I've done well with both. Just a matter of making a list of all the variables for each choice and it should be obvious which is best. If you're inexperienced booking air, using a real TA or your cruiseline's air desk might be the best choice. Don't use an online booking service; book direct with the airline. Always good to arrive at least one day before you board ... we like to spend a couple of days at our destination as well.

Same itinerary as we did for our first river cruise a hundred years ago. April is a great month to be out on a river in Europe. Shore excursions are usually done very professionally, and with the individual headsets, you can hear what the guide is saying while you look at anything you please and get lots of photos. Check the website for info on laundry, charges for dining and cocktails on your specific ship. There's usually the 'drink of the day' available at a substantial discount every evening; . I'll share my laundry routine when travelling. I air my clothing every night and don't put it away until the next morning. I pack only clothing that can be washed. Shampoo works well, Roll the garment in a towel to squeeze out the water. Shake it out vigorously and hang it on a hanger somewhere in the cabin with good air flow. Things usually dry overnight. I believe that most ships have a pressing service if you need it.

What a wonderful thing to do! Unfortunately, there are no 'universal rules' for travelling with a minor that is not your child. Travel providers have heightened interest due to child trafficking. They're not onerous, but your grandaughter may be denied boarding (airline or cruise) if everything's not in order. Once you pick your cruise, check the cruiseline's rules as well as the countries you'll stop at. Review the airline's requirements as well.

The name of the company is Shore Excursions Group or is that the title of your post?

I am totally able-bodied, but 'old'. Two weeks ago, just as I stepped down into the tender at Maui, it sank about 9". Had the crew member not been lightening quick (and super strong) to grab me, I would have toppled into the tender. If you're using a light-weight device, you can certainly take the chance if the ship allows it. I don't think that anyone should take the risk of getting hurt while tendering, so if you can't walk easily, you probably should skip the port.

No matter where we go, I have a good-looking windbreaker that can go over anything. I often wear it in warm climates while walking the decks in the mornings if it's windy. It much easier to get warm if you're cold than trying to cool down when you're too hot (such as queueing in a cruise terminal) so the windbreaker works very well.

I can't tell y'all how good it felt to delete the Princess app from my phone this morning. Our next cruise is Avalon and I know we'll have no issues ... NCL coming up in the fall and hopefully they'll not be dictating our every move as Princess does.

Well sure it is ... Merino wool comes from Merino sheep, no matter where the sheep lives, her wool is Merino.

I'd definitely plan on hand washing to be sure my clothing stayed the in proper condition. All it takes is one person in the ship's laundry not understanding your instructions and you're out 4 or 5 pieces of clothing permanently. When travelling, we hand-wash, roll in a towel and hang on a hanger in the room/cabin, not the bathroom (no air flow) ... most things are dry in 24 hours.

We dined in all three MDRs on Royal and enjoyed them immensely. All 3 were elegantly decorated and created a very pleasant ambiance for dinner. Staffers are great and food is sublime. We don't do a 'big dinner' every night; I think that keeps the MDRs special.

I think travellers need to be super-cautious booking independent tours for the next few years. The internet has spawned many slick websites that may or may not be valid. I avoid third-party sites always. If I can't book directly with the provider, I move on. The virus hysteria has not been kind to travel providers. I do wish that we had a 'clearing house' to post our personal experiences for others to use as a guide. I recently took a whole-day tour of the West Side of Oahu through Islandcruzin which was very enjoyable. I was able to set it up so I'd have some fallback options 'just in case' and wouldn't be stuck somewhere awaiting a pickup that never arrives.

It's probably some kind of tattoo. Anyone who has experienced, or known someone who has any eye problems, will tell you flat out: DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. If you don't know any better, it's easy to ignore the potential harm. I have a serious, un-named eye disease and lost central vision in my right eye 20 years ago. I have awakened every morning for 35 years grateful that I can still see. It takes approximately 1.5 minutes to apply eye makeup. So 'permanent eye liner' is a no-brainer. I see these 'caterpillar false eyelashes' popular these days and know that at least 2 in 10 women will develop an eye infection. Plus, they look ridiculous. Your vision is about the most important thing you have, once it's gone, it's never coming back. Losing vision has a huge impact on your life ... don't take chances with your eyes.

Selfishly glad to read this ... so many here on CC are quick to 'blame the OP' for issues caused by Princess. I don't think that it's the pax' job to figure out how to use the system. Anything that requires a video to use is obviously offered by an IT Department which is lazy and/or incompetent.

Royal Princess 12/22 SF to Hawaii ... the internet was much better than I thought it would be. It 'faded & revived' all the time, but I was able to do internet research and deal with emails with little problem.

Thank you for this terrific reality check! Once you lay it out, it makes so much sense. Had I realized how awful the process was on a 3500-pax ship like Royal Princess, I probably would have handled it with far less stress. I'm still laughing at my clever ploy to book a ship's excursion on Maui to avoid waiting 'forever' ... but the excursion met 'at the tender pier'. It was very hot and humid, so being stuffed into a lifeboat was just awful; I didn't even get off the ship next day at Kailua/Kona. Didn't help that there was ONE security line to reboard, we stood around forever. Next time I'll be sure to be able to sit up in the open air. Even with the sun beating down, it would have been better than the sardine experience below. Planning future cruises will be much better with your post in the back of my mind.

aft

And apparently this has been going on for YEARS. Who knows what kind of cool stuff I missed on the cruise because there was no information? I suspect you've not had a response to your communication to the exec team?

Many happy cigar smokers up on D17 in our nice open-air smoking lounge.

At some point when medallion is working on your phone, you can order them to receive them however you wish.

Since I have no trouble using a computer, I should have no trouble looking for info on a cabin TV. If I spend an hour of concentrated effort to access every bit of info on my cabin TV, then the presentation is wrong. I'm the pax, I should not need any kind of tutoring to use Princess system. What you've stated is all true ... and you're illustrating my whole point perfectly. Pax should not have to come up with 'workarounds' to achieve their goals. Pax should not have to be concerned about the difference between the medallion and the medallion app. Pax should not be forced to use an app if they are unfamiliar with their phone. Actually, pax should not be forced to do anything on a cruise, the cruise is supposed to take care of the pax.

This is hilarious! And exactly what I would expect from Princess. We returned yesterday from Royal Princess to Hawaii. The medallion worked to open your door, to check your onboard account, and to order goodies delivered to you. You could make dining reservations fairly easily, but they got screwed up. Perusing the evening's menu required scrolling through 25 pages of wine list ... IF you could get the right page to load. After 9 days, the events' listings on Journeyview finally worked on my phone, but they had no descriptions and required scrolling up, down and around forever. That was the extent of the medallion use. It was my understanding that 'all the info' was on your stateroom TV'. All the info on our TV was to offer a video on how to use the medallion. I just finished a survey from Princess. They did NOT ask about the medallion use at all. Unbelievable.

NCL for sure ... I'll have to look around, it would be great if they stopped doing that.

Check those square feets ... sometimes the balcony space is included in the total square feet. I happen to think this is borderline unethical, but my TA tells me it's been going on for a long time.

Check those square feets ... sometimes the balcony space is included in the total square feet. I happen to think this is borderline unethical, but my TA tells me it's been going on for a long time.