jimbo1683

What is it you wanted Princess to do? Had grandparents not been cruising presumably your daughter would have needed to take granddaughter into the quarantine cabin with her, so as it worked out she was better off not needing to do that?

Why hadn't you taken some of your own LFTs with you so you test as and when you wanted?

Your daughter was positive but she took a cab to car rental putting the cab driver, and then the car rental staff at risk?

I agree this is a mess of a situation but it is a two way mess.

I find cruisemapper really helpful in figuring out the differences between cabins

12 hours ago, Solent Richard said:

 

Having done 3 cruises/voyages in Britannia Club - one actually Solo - I seem to recall that an additional 'perk' was the invite to join the Grills Welcome Cocktail Party.

 

Again, not sure whether that alone individually would justify the price, but you do get larger prawns in the canapé selection. 😂

 

I also take the view that its not always about the money and more to do with one's style of travel.

 

What, when and where is the grills welcome cocktail party?

22 hours ago, Coolmama_1 said:

Can't wait for a dirty banana on my balcony!

Such an unfortunate turn of phrase

I sympathise and appreciate some people are still very worried about covid, but I also think the reactions in this thread are reflective of how some people are choosing to continue living their lives in a more sheltered way. In some parts of the world it is now perfectly normal to once again go to work on crowded public transport where less than 5% of people wear a mask, to travel in a crowded elevator to get to your desk, to sit in a confined meeting room for long periods and to go to a busy bar after work. Maybe people who are doing that day in, day out through choice or necessity wouldn't be too worried if there were 7 rather than 6 in a lift or if they forgot a mask when thry haven't been required to wear one for ages. Can we try not to demonise them and realise that we're each at different stages of dealing with this?

6 hours ago, WestonOne said:

My wife does not drink alcohol at all and I rarely go beyond a glass of wine with some meals, so I would not value inclusive drinks.  In fact, to the extent I would fear it might encourage some people to drink to excess, it would actually discourage me from taking such a cruise.  (As it is, with the drinks packages you pay for you have to drink well in excess of the recommended daily alcohol level to make them worth the price.)

Goodness, no we wouldn't want people to enjoy their cruise too much

On 1/19/2022 at 8:33 AM, 2BACRUISER said:

When we go out or on holiday we have two bottles wine at dinner, a red for DH and a white for me every night, we will have the all inclusive package but I don't fancy the chances of the wine waiter keeping up with us serving by the glass??  There's roughly 6 glasses of wine in a bottle so why can't you have a bottle and get 6 drinks took off your 15 quota?? 

6 glasses? Only if they are VERY small glasses. One bottle is 3 x 250ml glasses or 4 and a splash x 175ml glasses

1 hour ago, gfs1ram said:

 Apologises if this topic has been raised before but I cannot find it.

 

Having completed over 20 cruise with Cunard I am aware that Britannia Club balconies usually sell out fairly quickly.

I am also aware of the separate 'any time' dining option and the separate dinning rooms on the QE and QV with extended menu's.

 

Other than the above I was told on our recent QE cruise that there is little difference in the cabins and this came from the Sales Reps on board.

 

I was looking at cruises for 2023 and from a quick calculation Britannia Club balconies seem to be about 30/40% more expensive than the

normal BB, BE balcony cabins that I usually book. So on some 12 night cruises the difference was approximately £3600 for two people.

 

It seems difficult to justify such an extra expense (almost another cruise) especially as we have been very happy with the service/food normally 

received with an ordinary Britannia cabin.

 

Am I missing something ?   Would appreciate any helpful comments from members who have experience of both.

Thank you.

 

I have a Club reservation later this year and from what I researched I agree that these are the differences. From what I understand, there is no difference in the cabin (not little difference) from a non club balcony cabin.

I must have booked in a sale because inside and outside cabins were identical prices, a balcony was £100 extra and a Club was £100 extra again so well worth it in my opinion.

1 hour ago, PORT ROYAL said:

Yes, as it’s providing proven evidence of the dumbing down (Carnavalisation) of the dress code.

Dumbing down? Would you prefer a room full of gents who have badly tied bows having attempted to follow a Youtube tutorial or a set of neatly pre-tied ones?

On 3/23/2022 at 5:14 PM, Jonem2001 said:

Hello, @bluemarble! Grateful as ever for your hard work.

 

I can start you off with Queen Victoria’s V230; 11 - 15 November 2022. There is one gala night on the 12th, the theme for which is ‘Black and White’.

We will be joining you!

There is SO much negativity toward Princess in this forum, and so many people boasting about their seemingly bi-weekly cruises in penthouse suites which, as a new cruiser, is really offputting.

Here's my positive, slightly more down to earth experience: 

I booked my first cruise several months ago for May 2023 - a long way in advance but it is to celebrate a big birthday. We love the 7day itinerary and splashed out what we consider a vast amount of money on a club class mini suite with princess plus. We carefully researched the cabin we wanted and booked directly, including an excursion for one port. The booking experience worked just fine and I downloaded the app which seemed to work fine too - including the ability to already book speciality dining.

Fast forward to last week, I was browsing and noticed the price has dropped by about £500 and the current offer included $200 OBC and free parking at Southampton. I called Princess and not being sure whether the Vacation Planner number applied to me I tried it anyway. It was answered within 2 rings. I spoke to someone who was polite and friendly amd advised that a £100 fee would enable me to switch fares and she would have my cruise planner contact me. Later the same day I had an email from the planner saying as I had booked directly through the website she couldn't make the change but told me what to do.

I called the correct number and waited on hold for about 15 minutes - I was fully expecting to wait an hour from what I've read on here. I spoke to someone who was knowledgable, switched my fare for the fee, gave me the free parking code, secured me the same cabin I had originally booked and advised that the excursion would be refunded. Four days later I recieved the refund and logged back into my account to rebook the excursion. I was delighted that I was able to put the $200 OBC toward the cost of the excursion, i wasn't expecting that.

So, I've had a great overall experience with Princess so far and super excited for the cruise.

1 minute ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

For the US site it is quite obvious when you have an excursion booked...no need to "wonder"!  I'd say that if nothing is popping out for you on that page then you do not have anything booked.

Yes it's well hidden if it is booked. I'll wait until the end of the week and see if the refund appears

1 minute ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Possibly a different process for the UK...but in the states when a cruise is cancelled any excursions are very quickly (usually within 3 or 4 days) refunded to the original form of payment.

 

To see any booked excursions go to Cruise Personalizer and click "Excursions".  They should be listed beside the appropriate port.  (Again...nay be different on the UK site.)

Thanks. When I go there I just see links to view available excursions for each day, suggesting the one i had booked is cancelled. But I've never looked at this page before so I can't be sure what it looked like when I had the excursion booked.

3 minutes ago, MarkBearSF said:

If you are traveling with others, it becomes much less expensive - recall that the fare is for the entire car, not per person. (120 euros/6 = 20 euros per person round trip including tip, 30 euros for 2 couples)
I assume the 20 euro shuttle fare is per person, and is it one-way? And do the let you off at the lot away from the town center?

 

 

Im travelling with 1 other person and it's €20 return so sounds a good deal to me. It drops off at the same place as the Cunard excursion and runs every 30 mins

Just now, JF - retired RRT said:

Look at your Personalizer. If the excursion is gone, rebook it.

Im not sure where I would see it? Plus I havent had the refund

4 minutes ago, MarkBearSF said:

The BEST way to do it is to take a taxi from outside the gate at the pier. 

There will be numerous drivers with late model Mercedes and equivalent cars. The rate is regulated. In 2017, the rate for a minibus was 50 euros each way total, for up to six passengers. (I believe the rate was the same for a sedan). Our driver was very prompt and provided interesting information during the drive. Not only was the ride much cheaper than the excursion, he was able to drop us off right in the city center, and not at the parking lot outside of the area. (My husband has mobility issues, so a 20 minute walk - with cobblestones - would have been a problem.) Our driver promptly picked us up at the planned place and time.

Our driver was Rony (rony@ronistaxis.com) - highly recommended. We pre-ordered the pick-up, but when we arrived at the gate, about 20 minutes early, there were a number of other drivers available for hire (so I was able to see that all of the cars were very nice). I expect that the rates may have risen, but they should still be regulated. We tipped 20 euros on our 100 euro fare.

They will not tell you about this in the port lectures.

Thanks. That sounds mightily expensive to me - as does the official excursion. I'll be taking the €20 Cruise Express shuttle service.

(A 20% tip on a taxi fare in Europe is an insane amount!)

3 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I fully agree!  I am asking for some family "first-timers".  I was a bit surprised that they don't have a credit card.  I'm going to recommend that they just get one and be done with it. 

How did they pay for the cruise?

The price of my cruise decreased by £500 and the new offer included free parking and $200 OBC so I called Princess and for a £100 fee was able to keep the same cabin and switch to the new fare so I'm happy about that.

I had however booked one excursion for 2 people. The person I spoke to advised that the excursion would automatically be cancelled and I would recieve the refund, although ahe didn't sound too sure. Is this correct and should I have recieved any confirmation of the cancelled excursion? I have recieved confirmation of the new cruise fare and booking reference only.

This is a fascinating thread. As a "younger" person the way i see the first sitting fixed and the second sitting open dining conundrum is clearly about Cunard looking for ways to attract younger people. Everything we say here is of course sweeping generalisations but young people don't want to sit at a table full of strangers at the same time everyday - it's way too restrictive and it's a long way out of many people's comfort zone. Equally, my grandparents on both sides ate their dinner everyday at 16:30 so presumably Cunard thinks the first sitting time is perfectly acceptable for slightly older people 🙂

Our cruise calls at Zeebrugge. We would like to take a trip to see Bruges. It's very cheap to go by train but they are irregular so risks waiting around for a long time (could go there on the train and return via taxi). Cruise Express shuttle service is €20return. Im curious that Cunard sell a half day 'free time in Bruges' excursion for $55 and a full day version for $64. Seeing as these are both simply a coach transfer it makes no sense why they are different prices.

Has any one done the trip by any of these methods?

On 3/13/2022 at 12:08 PM, BigMac1953 said:

even shorts are allowed (the dressy sort with high socks).

This is never acceptable 'fashion'

Confused by port parking. We are onthe QV in November. This is our first ever cruise amd im looking to book parking (not included in our fare).

I am seeing 4 options: cruise parking drop and go. Portside meet and greet. Triangle Ocean Terminal. Triangle all terminals. They are all within £20 of each other so price unimportant. We are staying at the HI Express on the M27 the night before so getting there should be quick and easy.

How do we know what terminal we will sail from? Which is the easiest/most straightforward?

7 hours ago, lissie said:

Is tis not standard  practice in Europe? 

No its not

On 2/25/2022 at 3:19 PM, ExArkie said:

A local wine store (Charlotte, NC) runs a "taste test" every year, doing a blind comparison between some $15 - $20 cabernets and some $75+, all from California. Pretty routinely, one of the lower priced ones comes in first or second in the customers' preferences. Price is most definitely not a reliable indicator of quality.

I doubt that that the local wine store blind tasters are a reliable indicator of quality either - they'll surely be more accustomed to the $15-$20 cabernets. But who cares, drink it if you like it and don't drink it if you don't like it.

Just now, ak1004 said:

 

Yea.. Tallin is nice, you can cover most of it in 3 hours. Helsinki really not much to see, and the tour guide himself admitted it. Stockholm? Again, nice. But none of them comes even close to St. Petersburg, and not worth it as a standalone cruise. 

 

There are many nice places in the world. But people don't take this cruise because of Tallin or Helsinki.

Ok, I disagree but personally I wouldn't have taken the cruise even before the current war because I have no desire to go to St Petersburg, so each to their own.