Poulsbo Cruisers

11 hours ago, jeanandjim said:

Thanks for adding to the 'live from'. If you would like to meet, have a drink, chat, look up Jim Hicks on the shipmates portion of the medallion app. I will accept and try to set up a meeting. Thanx again.

Jim😎

 

We are in the PES lounge every evening between 4:30 and 5:30. Not sure about today due to excursion time changes. Couldn’t figure our how to chat with you on the Medallion app

Also of note was there was no “sail away” during the sail away party. The music played, we lined the rail and then nothing. We watched the other ships leave while we did nothing. Finally after the music stopped and people started leaving, the captain came on and apologized for the delay. There were divers in the water doing some maintenance. 

We are on this cruise. Around 930 passengers and 1010 crew members. There’s no wait for anything. Very nice! We are disappointed that Cartagena was canceled, but this isn’t Princess’ fault. It does mean only four ports for a 10-day cruise. Everything is going very smoothly. Ship is extremely clean. We were concerned about a vibration on the aft end after some earlier cruisers on the Emerald reported an issue. We haven’t noticed any vibration so it must have been fixed. Our only complaint is the bed. This is our 11th Princess cruise and it’s the worst bed we’ve ever experienced. It’s lumpy and saggy. I have a sore back every morning. 

2 hours ago, Torfamm said:

Did you receive the email with attached lab results as a .pdf?  You should be able to print that.

I’ll try to answer you again. My last one was rushed and not clear. The only way to open the document, that I saw, was as a PDF. It opened successfully with the passcode. I tried to print and was again asked for the passcode. After entering it, the print preview appeared with the proper printer selected and everything seemed okay, but a few minutes later I would get a print error. I then saved the PDF in Acrobat and tried printing from there. Same thing. My wife obtained her results. Same thing. Since I’ve not heard of others having this issue, it must be something with my printer. But, the screenshots I ended up printing look exactly the same. 

26 minutes ago, Torfamm said:

Did you receive the email with attached lab results as a .pdf?  You should be able to print that.

No, it wouldn’t pront

I believe they are open every day. By the way, we just finished our tests a couple hours ago for our Saturday cruise. It couldn’t be easier. And we’re old farts. Our only issue was our printer wouldn’t print them. And before anyone says anything; yes, we used the passcode. We had to take a screenshot and print from  that. 

https://time.com/6131901/covid-19-cruise-ships/?utm=newsbreak
Just saw this article. Could the CDC put another hold on cruising? Add to that the concern of getting to Fort Lauderdale without having our flights canceled.  Just when we thought it was safe to go back to cruising, Omicron happens. 

2 hours ago, mycruisey said:

We live in NYC and testing is a nightmare.  We were able to cancel our January 9th cruise today as Princess has just changed the rules.   We received some future cruise credits and some cash back which is OK with us.  We would need to fly and then stay in a hotel and then cruise and fly home again and at our advanced age was frightening.  Too much stress.  

Which rules were changed? We are on a January 8th cruise and haven’t been alerted to any changes.

6 hours ago, c-boy said:

you seem to have a vast knowledge of what people want  🤨 . ... what am I thinking right now ? 

That you can’t read? I said the “majority” of people. And if that wasn’t true then the other cruise lines wouldn’t have done away with formal nights. 

Come on Princess. Get with the times. You don’t need to keep listening formal nights on the agenda. My wife and I have four cruises scheduled; a Princess cruise, an Avalon River cruise, a Viking Ocean cruise and a Celebrity cruise. Princess is the only one that lists formal nights on the agenda. And Princess is the least expensive of these cruises. Are they trying to pretend they are something that they are not? The majority of people just don’t go for formal wear any longer. 

We are on a 10-day Panama Canal cruise out of Port Lauderdale. Is anyone familiar with this itinerary who could tell us which nights are forma?. My DW and I don’t do formal and want to make dining reservations at the specialty restaurants for those nights. There are four days at sea. I’m sure the last night wouldn’t be formal so I’m thinking they may occur on one of the other at sea evenings. Thanks. 

We are sailing out of Fort Lauderdale in January. Has anyone had experience using the Abbott BinaxNOW™ COVID-19 Ag Card Home Test with eMed Telehealth Services - 2 Pack for Travel? If so, does each traveler have to order a 2 pack or can a couple share the one 2 pack?

This is an interesting thread. We have our first Viking cruise scheduled for September. We booked a PV and just assumed they all had a door and window. We prefer a slider, but just thought we didn’t have a choice. Now I see this list and lo and behold, we have a slider. I guess we lucked out as the cruise is sold out and we wouldn’t be able to change cabins. I’m learning something new all the time. 

4 hours ago, TracieABD said:

We cruise in one week. We have scheduled a PCR for just before we get on the plane on Monday. We also scheduled a rapid for the night before we cruise in FLL (just be be safe- if our PCR does not come back in time). 

 

Both are free at CVS. You just have to schedule early. 

I looked at the CVS website and it does not appear the test is free if it is only being done for the purposes of going on a cruise. I guess one could always get around this by answering the questions differently. 

We have a penthouse veranda cabin booked next September on a Viking ocean cruise. My brother-in-law and his wife have booked the same cruise in a deluxe veranda cabin. This means we will be able to book both excursions and dining 10 days prior to them. Is there anyway to assure they can get on the same excursions and have the same dining times as us other than having us wait until they are able to book? I hesitate doing that as it seems that the better excursions and dining times go quickly. 
 

I apologize if this question has been previously discussed. I couldn’t find it. 

On 9/18/2021 at 12:41 PM, CCWineLover said:

I assume you are just venting.  Understandable.  Not sure what you want us Cruise Critic people to do.

I must have missed the CC policy requiring anyone posting or commenting to need help.

I was just venting and wasn’t expecting anyone to solve my issue. It was meant to be a heads up. When we rebooked and Viking sent us a new document with the risk-free guarantee rules spelled out, we assumed that it applied to us since they sent it to us. In hindsight, before canceling our rebooked cruise, I should have confirmed our options. Lesson learned. We will figure out some option to use the vouchers.

Here’s our experience with the Viking cancellation policy. We booked a Viking cruise from Venice to Athens in late 2020 for September 2021. In May, Viking canceled that cruise. They offered us a voucher for 125% or a cash refund. We opted for the voucher. We booked another cruise for later in September. When we booked this later cruise, Viking issued a no risk guarantee that said if we canceled, we would have two years to book another cruise. At the end of August, British Airways canceled our flight. With the Delta Variant and our canceled flight, we opted to cancel our Viking cruise. Our vouchers were reissued. Here is where the confusion and misunderstanding arises. When Viking came out with their 2023 Mediterranean schedule this week we attempted to book a 2023 cruise using our vouchers. They said sorry, you can only use them for 2021/2022 sailings. Evidently, the no risk guarantee they issued us in May when we rebooked following their cancellation, doesn’t really apply to us. When we opted for the voucher the rules in effect at that time applied and not the rules in the new guarantee they issued us. I asked Viking how were we to know that and why they would issue us a no risk guarantee if it didn’t apply to us? They apologized, but said there’s nothing they can do. We already have two cruises planned in 2022 and didn’t want to do another. Oh well, lesson learned. Don’t believe everything you read from Viking and it may be better just to get the refund when available. 

Got all excited when I saw this then reality set in. We’ve been waiting for these itineraries to come out so we could use our vouchers. In May we had a September 2021 cruise canceled by Viking. We rebooked with the 125% voucher they issued, but then couldn’t take the cruise so canceled in August. We received emails from Viking showing that the reissued vouchers were good for two years. Additionally, when we booked in May we were given a letter showing that if we had to cancel we would have two years to rebook. But, now Viking is saying the vouchers can only be used for 2021 and 2022 cruises. How can the vouchers show an expiration date of August 2023, but we must use them for a cruise in 2022? Our travel agent discussed this with several agents and got the same answer each time. Does anyone know if Viking will give us a refund for the actual fare we paid in lieu of the vouchers. We already had other cruises scheduled in 2022 and can’t do another. 

5 hours ago, WNcruiser said:

I was specifically talking about the drinks. For a luxury line I expect wine, beer and liquor to be included. Even the mainstream lines like Celebrity, Princess and HAL are including drinks and tips these days. 
 

We are trying out Seabourn first since they are all inclusive and have a no tipping policy. Still debating on Viking but will probably try in 2022. 

These “mainstream” cruise lines only include drinks and tips if you pay the higher all inclusive fare. And even then they don’t include excursions and specialty dining. Every time one turns around these mainstream cruise lines are adding specialty restaurants and charging more for them. For many people the included beer and wine at dinner and lunch on Viking meets their needs. To me the selling point to try Viking is the adults only policy and the absence of casinos, art auctions, and photos. It’s nice that there are many choices in cruise lines allowing everyone to decide what fare they are okay with and which inclusions they can’t live without. 

31 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

 

Not necessarily. You are guaranteed one included excursion in every port. 

That may be, but in three of the ports we are visiting the included excursions are sold out and we are unable to book them. One of the things that helped us decide to try Viking was that they didn’t have areas of the ship based on class of cabins. We didn’t realize how much cabin category played into excursion and dining reservations. We are in a DV4. I have to wonder what happens to those in a V1 or V2 cabin. 

2 hours ago, soundcruiser said:

And, my apologies to my fellow Washingtonians from across the Sound - I forgot that these days we are not free to roam around walls, bars, or anywhere without a Viking group! I imagine Viking will be working hard to be certain everyone who wants an excursion will be able to take one.

I’m sure things will work out for us. I was surprised that in some of the ports even the included excursions were sold out. And those are part of the fare. Those in regular veranda cabins will have a tough time booking anything when it’s their turn. When I spoke with Viking today they stated that currently this cruise didn’t have restrictions regarding going it on your own in the ports. But, said that could change anytime. We may look at booking private tours and hope we won’t have to cancel them. We’ve been to Dubrovnik before and look forward to going again on our own if necessary. Thanks to all for your help. 

I found out the answer to my question. We are in a deluxe veranda cabin, which allows us to book excursions 68 days out. Those in penthouse verandas and suites are able to book even earlier. This is our first Viking cruise. This excursion scheduling is a little bit of a bummer as the higher category cabins sold out every excursion in Dubrovnik except the included excursion and cable car. Hopefully, we will be able to book private excursions. 

Tomorrow is the first day we are allowed to book excursions for our September 26th cruise on Viking Sky. We began looking at possible excursions three days ago in preparation for booking them. We found it a little perplexing that two excursions for Sicily are shown as “sold out.” How is that possible if tomorrow is the first day to book? Does Viking have a special class of travelers who are eligible to book early?

We have a cruise scheduled on the Viking Sky at the end of September. It includes three days and two nights in Venice. I wonder what will happen with this cruise. 

To me, this episode raises many questions for the future of cruising. The best vaccines are 95% effective. On a cruise with 800 passengers and 400 crew members and everyone vaccinated, it would seem that breakthrough cases are to be expected. The vaccine has been shown to limit serious complications and hospitalization for those who still get Covid. Covid will be with us a long time. It’s never going away. The best we can hope for is to limit the number who get it, the number hospitalized and the number who die. If people know ahead of time that being exposed to someone testing positive will result in their removal from the ship and quarantining at their own expense for up to 14 days, why would anyone be comfortable with cruising ever again?