Nightowl11

Yikes is right!!! We are doing the June 14th also. So two weeks with having power issues and four weeks with noro (see post - Star Princess--great crew but Norovirus sucks on May1st) ? I hope they fix everything before we get on. There are 4 more sailings before us (May 9th, May 12th, May 23rd and June 3rd) so I am definitely watching these threads. Plenty of time, right?

I called the AT&T International Customer Service which is a totally different department, yesterday and got some clarification, but I'm going to call again today and talk to someone else to verify the info. If they both give me the same answers, then I will post it.

But what I was wondering, for the ships wifi, in order to use the Internet, you have to purchase the Internet minutes, but if you only want to connect to the wifi to use iMessage, which is free, then technically you won't need minutes, just access to the wifi, right? I'm going to ask that to AT&T too.

Yes. My kids, both teenagers, will be on the cruise with me. I don't want to be spending a lot of time trying to find my kids when they roam the ship with their new friends. Leaving messages on the cabin phone won't work unless you can retrieve the messages from other parts of the ship. Do they even have phones around the ship in public areas? But more important, I don't think my kids will want to use public phones in the middle of a scavenger hunt or a dodge ball competion. "Hey, everybody, we need to stop so I can find a phone to call the cabin." NOT. Leaving written messages in our cabin won't work too well either because we have an aft cabin and walking back and forth in between activities takes too much time. So, texting seems to be the best way to communicate with them.

So I'm still confused about how to set my iPhone to send and receive texts only. How does the ship's cellular service work? Is that where the .50 per text comes from? Do the charges show up on your daily bill or on your AT&T bill? I have unlimited family texting currently on my AT&T iPhone service. Will that make a difference? Do I have to set up an additional plan with AT&T before I leave?

What are the steps that need to be taken from start of the cruise until the end of the cruise? Thank you.

RetiredNTraveling: So I see in one of the pictures that there are towel animals on the bed. Did Edgar do that often? Did you have to ask him to do it? About a month ago, I started a thread asking about towel animals on the Star, and most everyone said that Princess does not do towel animals, or that it was extremely rare.

I would like to stay in contact with my kids on the Star Princess on our upcoming cruise to Alaska. On the Disney ships, they have WAVE phones which worked well and my kids were able to let me know where they were going at all times.

Can someone please give me step by step instructions on how to set up text only on the AT&T iPhone 4s. I read somewhere that it only cost .50 for outgoing and .05 for incoming texts. I don't want to use unnecessary data or get an outrageous bill when I get home. Do I have to purchase a wifi plan on the ship? Doesn't the ship's wifi work by minutes used, not by per text? I'm totally confused on how this works. Please explain in the greatest of details. Thank you in advance.

I am looking for a current review/information about ReMix on the Star Princess, preferably from the teenagers point of view. What activities do they have and which activities are recommended? Are there any "must-do" activities?

For those of you who have received responses from the customer service reps, how accurate were they when you finally got on board? Do you think they are just giving you a generic/average number just to please you or a real/accurate number of kids for your specific cruise?

Well, my kids want them to show all of the different countries they have been to. Their passports are not valid for as long as adult ones are anyways so they will never fill it up. We have no desire to go to China.

Where do you get a stamp for your passport in Victoria BC? Do they even stamp passports anymore?

Wow. Only 3 teenagers on that cruise? Does that mean only 3 that signed up/registered for ReMix? Or shipwide? Is this a cruise that is during the school year? If so that makes sense. I'm thinking about doing that cruise, but during the holidays, so I'm sure there will be a lot more teenagers in December. There are already several listed on the Roll Call.

I guess I'll have to request them then. My kids, 13 and 16, really like them. I do too. My daughter likes to do origami so the towel animals are fun for her. I hope we get a cabin steward that knows how to create them.

I just read on another post that Princess does not do towel animals. Another post said, yes they will but you must request them. What experiences have you had regarding getting towel animals on Princess?

Yes. The adult size seabands did fit my son. Just take him to the store to try them on. They are less expensive at Target, about $7 while Walgreens has them for $12.49. They come in gray, black and pink. I'm also going to have him try ginger gum, if needed. We are going on an 11 day next.

When my son was 11, the doctor prescribed him the Ondansetron also as he was too young for the scopalomone patch. I didn't use it for him though because of the possible side effects. He ended up using the sea bands which DID work for him. They only had adult size on the ship so that is what he used which worked fine. Because they are stretchy they still fit. I just purchased another set for him for our upcoming cruise. He wanted a different color than gray. They also have a camouflage one for kids which you can buy online.

I just went to the store and purchased Dramamine, Dramamine non-drowsy, the new children's Dramamine, Bonine, the sea bands and ginger gum. I'm going to try them out on myself and on my son this week to see the effects. The scomolipine patch made my sister's vision really blurry on her last cruise, but it did solve the seasickness problem. I think my son would freak out if he got blurry vision. So either have seasickness or blurry vision. She chose the blurry vision.

I do have Ondansetron tablets that were prescribed for my son for his last cruise which we didn't use that expired last year. He was too young for the patch at the time so that is what his doctor suggested but I was afraid to have him try it. He used the seabands which really helped him. Anyone have experience with this Ondansetron?

Your sister has three completed cruise credits; one for the 7 day and two for the 10 days in the suite. After three cruise credits, a passenger is Ruby (formerly Medallion).

 

I believe the double suite credit applies only to the cruise credits, not the number of days, but I could be wrong.

So then to be Ruby, you only have to complete 3 cruise credits? So on the start of the 4th cruise credit, you are Ruby? Since she is booked in another suite in June, she will get another 2 cruise credits, which then bumps her up to Platinum? So, if I am understanding it correctly, for my sister, after only 3 actual cruises, she goes from Blue to Gold to Ruby to Platinum? Wow. That's fast.

I was wondering that too.. My sister is now a Ruby with only 2 cruises. One 7 day Alaska on the Diamond in 2005 in a mini-suite and then a 10 day Alaska on the Grand last June in a suite. So total is 2 cruises, 27 days (7 plus 20 - double for the suite). Neither were solos. I am thinking it had something to do with getting rid of the medallion status? Or something with the Captains Circle program that happened between 2005 and now? Did they use to count mini-suites as doubles back in 2005?

Do people wear a lanyard with their cruise card on Princess? Is it the majority that do? I was thinking about getting one if those cute bling ones to wear that they sell at Walgreens. Or use one of the many Disney ones that my daughter has. Any suggestions?

I also read on another post that there are different color cards depending on their Captains Circle level. They only mentioned blue and black. What colors are associated with each level? What about suites? Just curious.

For regular shore excursions in Alaska, not helicopters, that are pre-booked on My Personalizer, when is the cancellation deadline? The website is very vague. If you have booked a shore or land excursion, You must cancel Your booking prior to the scheduled closing time printed on the Tour Order Form found in your stateroom. No refunds will be made for any excursion unless notice of cancellation is given before the closing time Is it usually the night before or several days before or the morning of the tour? I'm asking because we have two sea days before our first port and I want to book a boat tour, but if one of us is seasick, then that would not be a good choice. We are going to Ketchikan first.

I busted up laughing. That is too funny! Did you ask your room steward what is was supposed to be? Maybe he brought the supplies in to make something and got sidetracked and never made it?

I read somewhere that if you give your room steward or waiter in the dining room an extra tip in the envelope, they still have to give it to their supervisor to put in the general "pot" to split among everyone that gets tips. Is this true on Princess?

We are booked on a cruise in June and originally reserved a suite for myself and my son, age 13 and then have the balcony room next to us reserved for my sister and my daughter, age 16. The suite only holds 3 people, therefore had to have 2 rooms since there are 4 of us. But then we were advised by many here on cruise critic to switch the reservations so that it would be myself and my sister in the suite and my two teens in the balcony so that my sister could participate in the suite amenities such as the thermal spa and suite breakfasts and suite lounges that my son would not be eligible for or even want to go to.

Now my sister will still be paying the balcony rate even though her paperwork will show the suite rate and I will still pay the suite rate for my son even though his rate will show the balcony rate.

I already purchased insurance for myself, my daughter and my son at the suite price before we switched names. I did not have to pay anything extra since the kids were free anyways so it did not affect my premium.

So here is the dilemma: How can my sister insure her trip without having to overpay the insurance company for what is posted on the reservations? Because she doesn't live with me, she can't be added to mine. And most insurance companies require you to cover all unreimbursed expenses. Her cost for the balcony is half the cost of the suite. But if she needed to make a claim, the paperwork would not match the actual scenario.

Thank you for any insight on this situation.

Does anybody have a copy of the REMIX schedule for a typical day during an Alaskan cruise on the Star Princess? Also, I read somewhere that the kids get a backstage tour of the theaters. Is that a myth?

Thank you.

I always buy the embarkation photo. Sometimes it is the only way you can prove that you were on the cruise. Who keeps their bank statements for over 20 years. One time, I had to fax a copy of my 1989 cruise picture to Princess to prove to them that I was a past passenger to get the discounted rate. Apparently before 1995 or so, your Captain Circle number was not always on your reservations and they did not keep track of the sailings that well.

So, on the Disney cruise, my kids took a couple dozen photos with their cousins, friends and Disney characters along with the traditional family photos so I ended up with over 80 different shots from the ship's photographers. Because of the package, I got all of them on a CD for $299 and most of them were printed too. I know that won't happen on this next cruise because there won't be as many opportunities. But if it was $25 a photo, I'd go broke.

What is the best deal that anyone has received on Princess for multiple photos?

I usually like to buy all of the photos of my family that are taken by the ship's photographers. So are you saying that the prices are negotiable? We will be on an 11 day cruise, so there will probably be many of them.

On Princess, do they just have walls and walls of photos that you have to sift through to find your pictures? Once you find them, can you start making a pile in one place on the wall so that they are easier to find at the end?

Our last two cruises were on Disney and they had a package where you could get all printed pictures plus a CD for one price. Disney usually does the packages by cabin so you can't add pictures of friends or family that did not stay in the same cabin with you unless one person from your cabin was in the photo too. You had to purchase an additional package if you wanted additional pictures of other family in other cabins. Does Princess do it that way too?