Bubbs33

Thank you. Appreciate the response.

I'm new to cruising and feel like I have read and searched all the boards. On Princess when booking excursions pre-cruise, can we use our OBC to cover the excursion costs or part of the costs? If so how does this work?

Thank you.

Never heard of such a thing. I'm sure you will get great value.

Not sure about sales. But I just booked my first cruise ever with Princess to Alaska for July 2019. I booked under Sip&Sail for a good deal. As it had a refundable deposit, when 3 for free came out we refared. Saving $800 and increasing OBC by 200. We didn't need the free drink package. My advice or strategy would be k ol what you want and can afford. Book it as long as there is a refundable deposit and watch sales and prices. This protects you from increases but allows you to benefit from sales if the terms work for you. Good luck.

Using 3FF, I have repriced our July Alaskan cruise and flights .*

The savings for the cruise $676.00*

The savings for the flight $128.12*

The amenities on the booking is as follows*

-Free Gratuities*

-Cabin upgrade from BD-BB mid ship cabin .*

-Onboard credit total $450.00 USD*

Breakdown -*

Military OBC $200.00*

Princess $200.00*

TA OBC $50.00*

-2 Coupon books from TA

We are not drinkers...so no need for the PBP.

Life is good. Looking forward to our first cruise.

Yes Air Canada. I understand seat selection has a cost and only can happen after you pay for your tickets. We are choosing to wait as AC tends to have seat sales every 3-4 months.

We (4 adults) are travelling Toronto to Vancouver for a northbound cruise and returning Anchorage to Toronto July 2019. We booked flexible flights with EZair and now we watch. At least we have a baseline (and won't pay more than our current rates). I have changed the booking ( same foghts) already for a savings of $75/person.

I use various apps to monitor prices and then check ezAir. Today flights actually went up $200/person above our price.

Good luck.

This has the ingredients for thier new 2018 cocktails.

https://www.princess.com/news/news_releases/2018/08/Princess-Cruises-Unveils-New-Beverage-Menus-Featuring-Globally-Inspired-Cocktails.html

TripIt is so easy, and for those of you concerned about it using emails to populate, I agree it is a bit weird but the major organization I work for (who is very uptight on protecting information/email/personal id stuff) strongly recommends we use it for all of our work travel. So, I use it. I have gotten over the part that it somehow reads the email to populate my itinerary. I have my work things and my personal things in TripIt and it allows me to share my itinerary with others. With my cruises it even populates the ports!

WOW, you people do WAY more planning on vacation than I do.

 

All I want to be sure of, is a place to sleep each night. Other than that, I am good to go, and free to do what catches my attention

 

My parents used to get on a flight to Europe, rent a car, and start driving. That was their planning. Heck, at times, in those days, they would fly military space available, and would go to the airport not knowing where they might be going. :D

I would also check on the Alaska forum of tripadvisor. Travellers over there tend to be more adventurous than cruisers.

I just downloaded tripit. It wants me to send my email confirmations to thier email address to upload. This seems suspicious...sharing personal info on the invoices.

What an awesome opportunity and memory. Thank you for sharing.

Is there a schedule of when each ship in the fleet is being upgraded to *****?

I have the same question for the Island Princess. I think its wishful thinking as they are probably part of the structure to hold up other balconies.

We've booked most of ours already except for Harv & Marv Whale Watching or Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer in Juneau. Also might do a train ride out of Skagway. We are mostly into seeing and photographing our trip, not so much climbing glaciers, riding Zodiak boats, or zip-lining. Our list so far is....

 

Talkeetna Air Taxi - Grand Denali w/Glacier Landing

100 mile Denali Jeep Excursion

Prince William Sound Glacier Tour

Glacier Wind Charters Whale Watch

Island Wings Air Tour - Misty Fjords National Park

Our ports and thinking re plans so far are:

ISP- Hoonah Whale Tours (Glacier Winds was booked); and currently looking for a bear viewing tour.

Juneau- Hike Mendalhen glacier; given the possible rain and fog, thinking we will have a shortlist of ideas and will book morning of or walk the town. Dont want to be disappointed and if doing 2 tours in ISP, a less hectic approach may be welcome.

Skagway - jeep or car rental and drive the Klondike highway, checkout the town, go to Red Onion Saloon or book a tour.

Sailing Glacier Bay and College Ford.

Open to suggestions. We are a group of 4 adults 55 to 65. Average health and fitness. Enjoy nature, history, moderate exercise.

Thanks for sharing.

We have found just the opposite. Booking on your own seems to be at least $10 lower and some even more. You can search for the same named tour to get direct but most will want you to book through your cruise excursion package. We have so far booked our excursions through companies that do not offer their tours through the cruise lines. Mostly because of the more complete reviews and descriptions of tours.

No. There is no S&S with the Premium Ocean View. I was just peeved at their price hike and, since I couldn't get the S&S booked the other cabin. Even at the new rates it was a great deal less than the Balcony I had booked originally. (It isn't a cheap cruise to begin with.) I'm just hoping to move it to the 3 For Free since it was booked under their "new" pricing.

 

We usually book as soon as we are interested and watch as prices go up and up. The last Sip and Sail worked well for us as that's what happened. We booked immediately, got the promo, and then they raised the price. We got a great deal on two cruises that way. We took a connoisseur cruse tour to Alaska in 2016 that we booked the morning it became available. The price went up and up and up after that. It seems that we generally get a good price when we book right away.

Depends on where you live. If you don't live in the US it may be advantageous to purchase ahead of time due to price variation when the dollar to other currencies fluctuates.

If you live in the US...it's up to you.

If you have On Board Credit (OBC), you can use it to pre-purchase excursions. If you don't have enough OBC, you'll be required to pay with your credit card immediately.

If you want to book a specialty restaurant (or anything else offered) pre-cruise, you must pay with your credit card.

BTW: If you're or anyone else in your cabin is a veteran or active military apply for the benefit NOW. Do a Google search for the info.

 

If you own 100 shares of Carnival Corp. stock, you receive OBC after you send in proof of ownership (another search ;)).

 

If you use a Travel Agent (TA), you can get a small or big price reduction and more OBC. Mentioning names of TAs here is forbidden.

 

Join your roll call!! If you haven't already done so. See "Find Your Roll Call" in the blue header at the top of every page.

I am new to cruising. When searching cruise personalized, there are many options to reserve excursions or onboard niceties pre-cruise. Is it cheaper or is there an advantage to doing this ahead of time? Appreciate your patience and wisdom. Cruising to Alaska on Island Princess if that makes a difference. Thank you.

Is this offer from princess? Does anyone know if this is still good? I booked a balcony with the landmark sale but this would be a better deal.

Booked our first cruise a few weeks ago through travel agent. Balcony, PBP, free gratuities, coupon book, low refundable deposit, 50 OBC. Feeling like we got a good setup for Alaskan cruise. Oh and then got $100 each military program OBC.

Can't wait.

A standard U.S. twin bed is 38”x75” and an XL twin is 38”x80”. If the twins are U.S. twins then placed together they would be 76” wide. A U.S. queen is 60”x80”and a king is 76”x80”. I will need to measure the exact size when we board the Golden in a little over three weeks.

 

 

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Just got Milepost in the mail. Great resource.