Schonert

On 9/23/2020 at 4:26 PM, CineGraphic said:

Now that we have "Princess Plus", those of you who price things down to the per day cost, what's the number that you need to see before giving your TA the green light to book?

 

I booked the Princess Plus, but is is not really a deal, it is costing us $1500 CAD more for two weeks.  Taking into account we would only get one internet, Tips, not drink a lot (we would get two coffee cards) , even if we bought 10 bottles of wine, it is still $700 more for the extra booze and pop.  

On 9/19/2020 at 3:11 PM, bubbapuck said:

I am very new to cruising and COVID has put me into a strange position. I am hoping some of you more experienced cruisers can give me some advice.

 

I am currently booked for the July 17th 14 day cruise from LA to Alaska on the Sun. It is my wife and I's 25th wedding anniversary and we have always dreamed about going to Alaska.

 

As we know, the Sun has been sold and my booking may be in jeopardy. I prefer to stay in my home port of LA so I am hoping that they assign another ship and I wont have anything to worry about. If it is outright canclled, I want to be prepared. I spoke with my PVP about this. He denied the sale and dont believe anything until I hear from Princess. I may be born again but I wasnt born yesterday.

 

He did advise me I could book a backup cruise just in case. I found the Grand Princess out of Vancouver for 14 days and it seems like a good alternative. I dont want to wait for Princess to decide to tell us about SUn being sold and find out the Vancouver cruise is sold out or they only have crumby cabins left. I would like to book a backup booking now and cancel if need be.

 

Does this sound like an good alternative? My problem is the $800 deposit on a cruise I may not take. Ya, it is refundable but we all know about how fast cruise lines have been on refunds. If it was $200, I would be fine, but $800 is a while different game. 

 

Does anyone have any other ideas that can make sure my wife and I's 25th anniverary cruise happens? Is there an annual sale coming up I should wait for? 

 

Please no "COVD19, not gonna happen" responses. We all know the situation of that and I know it may not happen because of that. I am looking for advice on how to handle this siutation.

 

Thanks... Bubba

Just to note, not all cabins are available on the 14 day “version” of the cruise out of Vancouver, there are lots available for the separate 7 day north/south bound.  I called and they can put a “request” to have the cabins made available but it is two different  Departments and no promise they will do it.  You would think they would prefer people booking 14 days instead of only a 7 day, less cleaning (especially now with COVID).  
Also note that the ports repeat but I look at it as giving me more time to explore the area.  We have booked the 14 day in early Sep on the Grand.

On 9/18/2020 at 4:04 PM, Schonert said:

We are looking to rebook our cancelled trip.

 

When is the best time to go during the cruise season?  What are the advantages/disadvantages of each time frame, especially the end and start of the season.  

We are looking at a 14 day round trip from Vancouver.  Want to give more time for Covid concerns, so although we had booked in May this year, we are thinking to book late Aug early Sep to give more time for the virus to run its course/vaccines or something.  We do know how to bundle up for cold.  I have noted the comments about rain late in the season.

I am asking this here as well as it gets more traffic than Alaska.

I am looking to rebook our Alaska cruise.

I am wondering what are the advantages and disadvantages of when during the cruise season we should go.  I am especially interested in the ends of the season.  We can go anytime.

Also looking for suggestions on the ship, I am looking at Grand and Coral.

We are looking to rebook our cancelled trip.

When is the best time to go during the cruise season?  What are the advantages/disadvantages of each time frame, especially the end and start of the season.  

Thanks for the heads up, I have sent my TA who works for this company an email

A repeat of certain dishes can be a good thing, I have found a dish I really loved, and really wanted to be able to have it again during the trip.
 

I think taking the entire world cruise is less about the cost per night and more about the “club” of being able to say that you have done it.  

The tags reminded me of the two weeks I spent with my Mom.  It was her return to cruising after looking my Dad.  She had a great time, and that was the goal of the trip.

In our stateroom.  I did not like that your photo showed up on the screens of the stores as you entered.  It also unlocked your door when you were 6 ft plus from it.  
This was one of the first cruises that had it, so I expect things have gotten better.  We also got a cruise card Automatically as it was so new.

They had a number of extra staff onboard running around with ipads , and in the computer centre due to the issues.

When we get to go back, I will be keeping it in a RFID Sleeve, only getting it out when needed.

We were on the 14 day circle a couple of years ago.  For me going early allowed me to get the “beach and salt water swimming” I needed going to the Caribbean.  I would have really searched out the water on other stops had I not had this first.  On the two week personally I would have loved a second visit.  The only downside for me was the tender to get there and back to the ship

On 8/30/2020 at 7:42 PM, Thrak said:

I think the only issue is that, with the package, soda is only allowed from "the gun" and soda on Princess Cays is cans only.

This is correct, you could get fruit drinks though

There are enough Australians to fill the ships they don’t need people from other places.  

My cruises did not drop off until the the day there were supposed to sail.

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

That is how it should be, but when I called Princess and we both had OBC but I had extra because the shareholders OBC (even though we own the stock jointly) was in my name, the customer service representative would not allow it. So I ended up having to pay $30 something dollars more on the cc and having that left for using on the ship. It was not worth fighting for or asking for another rep since we would obviously spend at least that amount onboard. Now, unfortunately it is just $30 something extra dollars in addition to our deposit that we are owed. And who knows when and even if we will ever get it back.

That was the exact same for me.  It was also put on as a foreign exchange charge, in US dollars.  I just got the refund yesterday.  So if the exchange rate does not change you will loose money due to the way they do it.  I wish I would have known as I have a US$ credit card.

I also think it was PV that we did not go on local time.

It will not really affect anything.  If you are making your own trip arrangements they will know when the ship is coming in.
If they are going to do this they will make sure you know what they are doing.

It really make things on the ship MUCH easier when they do not change.  
If you are concerned wear a watch and keep it on ship time so you will not miss the ship.

On 6/12/2020 at 3:39 PM, Italy52 said:

 

Just got my refund for the cruise fare today 23 Jun.  

23 May Vancouver-Whittier and then the return 30 May.  Grand Princess

We submitted Option 2 the day after they were cancelled by princess.

Still waiting for refund of excursions.

For the mini bar set up, there is not really a lot of choice, no rum.  I think there was vodka, gin, scotch, for a total of 6 little bottles. You got 6 pops, and a few beers. Also there was one or two Perrier.   You can change out things, but not at the same value, it 1 or 2 bottles of wine (I think it used to be two, but is now one).  You can get two coffee cards, only worth it if you don’t have the drink package.

we did change for they types of pop we wanted, and changed the vodka to gin.

15 hours ago, Italy52 said:

If you don't mind me asking, what ship and departing from where?  We were scheduled on the Coral Princess to Alaska for a B2B leaving out of Vancouver --- have seen nothing yet.

It was the Grand 

18 hours ago, Grayce said:

I was part of the phase 2 pause. I had a May 17 Alaska cruise cancelled by Princess. I put in my request for a refund the very first day (April 14) and I did get an email confirmation. I have been checking my Princess account daily to see if the FCD I used to book with, was put back into my account. Just today I see that it is back, which gives me hope they are beginning to  process my refund. I did check my credit card and there isn't a refund yet.

I also saw that FCD on mine today, we were scheduled for a B2B starting 23 May.  
I could really do with the refund before my next cc bill is due..
 

1 hour ago, Cruise a holic said:

will he ever work on a ship again?

They have been told no social media, so I will be vague. He is not new to working on ships.  

My sisters boyfriend finally got home last week, after almost 100 days at sea.  He will be finished his quarantine in time for her birthday.  

You have just lifted all of our moods.  Thanks 

20 hours ago, oceanlovinmama said:

Wrong....you should be though.  They have promised you your money back, but you aren’t giving them the time to follow through.  Do you know how many people they are dealing with, and with a reduced staff? Give them a break...but my agency may not allow us to do business with clients who do this.  It takes away any protected commission and technically the supplier(cruiseline) could come after us for payment.  It’s a huge headache for people who can’t be understanding and patient.  

Some of us need the money to live.  Right now the only person in our house working right now is my son who took a job at a grocery store.  My eldest son is looking for other jobs as he works for a company that puts on trade shows and events, he will not have anything for quite a while.  
 

Thanks for this,  my sister’s boyfriend has been stuck on the Ovation since mid Feb.  at least they finally let them go into guest cabins, but that only happened recently.  
 

Princess has offered an OBC if we rebook Alaska by end of May