PescadoAmarillo

Yeah, that’s not what I expected to see. We cancelled the Majestic and changed to the Sapphire for this reason (predominately, there are other pluses too).

I should know better than to read these threads backwards, but it’s early…. When I couldn’t figure out AI or HH (CC and RC I felt confident about), I went to the top and read down. No help. 😆 I finally worked it out, but you made me work to understand just what the heck you said here. We reached Diamond and Elite on RC and Celebrity before our first Princess cruise, when those were the highest loyalty levels on those cruise lines. Darn if they didn’t add more and more levels, while Princess, where we’ve spent a lot of time, hasn’t, and our benefits are far fewer now than when we first reached Elite status (by days, mind you, no snark required). It just goes back to what I’ve always said: cruise the cruises you want to cruise without regard to achieving loyalty benefits.

I’ve would only cruise Princess or HAL in Alaska and only those itineraries that include Glacier Bay. Saying that, we did an HAL cruise in Alaska B2B with two Princess cruises with virtually the same itinerary in all three cruises. While I loved the HAL cruise, their destination lectures on board were given by the cruise director, and they paled in comparison to Princess, where the destination expert had actually lived in Alaska half his life and written books about it.

I worked for tips in college and tend to be pretty generous especially since COVID, but I absolutely draw the line at Panera’s request for a tip when I pay. I stand in line to place my order, go back up to the counter when it is ready to get it, and bus my own table…and they want a tip? Ain’t gonna happen.

It’s $54 to Hobby or IAH, which doesn’t seem quite fair, but that’s what it is. DH used Galveston Express several times for $30 to Hobby and they were great.

I’ve asked the crew Finance Manager about this. It’s not true. The crew can easily turn in any denomination and any country’s currency that they receive in tips. They aren’t keeping the money in a shoebox under their beds, to be grabbed by the handful when they reach Fort Lauderdale. In fact, when we cruised in areas with multiple currencies (Asia), we used all our leftover currency for extra tips. With digital wallets, we so seldomly use even a credit card these days, and never use cash. It seems clunky to take currency for tips when we travel, but we do.

This is what we do. We’ve actually had the senior security officer on the pier come over to tell us it was time to pay up.

I think it might be more accurate to say that they laid off 2/3 of their staff during COVID. I was working several issues with them in that time frame, and can remember at least 4 people who were let go, which only made getting a resolution more difficult. I started over several times before I finally escalated the issues and got results. Years of experience were lost and it’s impossible to replace that.

I recall that we weren’t rushed at all, and had plenty of time to handle all the immigration checks. It may make a difference that our last cruise had been to Tasmania, so we didn’t have to re-enter the country at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, but, even if we had, we had done that often enough to know that, as long as we were at the front of the line, that process goes quickly (it’s basically handing in a form that was distributed on the ship). Here is my blog post from that day. You can tell that it was a very simple and stress-free process. http://pescadoamarillo.blogspot.com/2020/02/day-141-and-three-quarters-home.html

I had to look back to see what time our flight left Sydney. It was 11:15am. We took a Princess transfer and had no issue at all. I do not like staying in a hotel after I disembark a ship, and had already spent plenty of time in Sydney, so it was worth it to me. Since I don’t like a lot of time in airports either (this was at the start of COVID) I was happy that we had time to check our bags, get a coffee and then started to board at 10:25am. We were in the second group off the ship.

Considering that would likely mean a few days in Tahiti at Princess expense, with the opportunity for a side trip to Moorea or Bora Bora at their own expense, it would be hard for anyone downgraded from a balcony to an inside or OV to pass that up if the timing still works for them.

The NCL Spirit is a gem. Although it’s not premium cruise line-sized, it’s relatively much smaller than new builds and, as a result, does interesting and unique itineraries. We were, frankly, shocked at the quality of its cruise experience.

Ok, this is serious. I’m not convinced Princess gives a fig about us old cruisers, but they certainly will take notice of a young cruiser’s opinion. Or they should.

Thanks for your review. As watermelon is one of my four basic food groups and a definite favorite cruise food, I would have been tempted to mutiny.

I would love to be in Italy for Easter Week! Beautiful pics!

Per a posting on Facebook. Cabins in zone 7 (700s) on all decks and Botticelli Dining Room affected.

So many valid points here, but a few stand out. Every time I hear, “Well the other cruise lines are just as bad” regarding…you name it: food, home office customer service, entertainment, etc., I can’t help but think that is another opportunity for Princess to differentiate itself and excel. The goal should not be a race to the bottom. The goal should be to stand out in a supply driven market. The entire discount and refund process needs to be re-worked. It’s only going to work if it requires no human intervention. Cancelling a cruise before final payment works perfectly. In three days, I can see the credit back on my card. It all needs to work so flawlessly. I would add that whoever thought up DMW should be walked out the door with the current CIO. And one final thought…if the app works fine for people taking a single cruise but is causing people who book $35K+ of business each year to stop doing so, fixing it needs to be a high priority.

This is why I’ve never minded the extra cost steak in the dining room menu. I don’t need to pay $39 to eat salad, a baked potato and asparagus i the Crown Grill, and DH can have filet every night in the dining room if he wants to pay for it.

They did not. I only completed one per season, at the end of several cruises.

I do not recall any shuttle bus at the Kai Tak terminal, but I was there 5 years ago. I remember quite a line at the money changer before getting in a line for a taxi. There was a dispatcher/translator who would ask where we wanted to go, and also give us a slip of paper with the name of the cruise terminal on it in their local language (Cantonese?) for our return.

First Emerald Princess cruise after the start up. http://pescadoamarillo.blogspot.com/2021/10/day-8-at-sea.html And on the Emerald in 2013: http://pescadoamarillo.blogspot.com/search/label/Chefs Table

When we used to do 10, 12, 14 B2B cruises in a row, and were generally most happy with the product, the HGMs would encourage me to complete the surveys. I told them if they would give me the internet minutes to complete it (back when we had minutes), I would be happy to take the time to say good things. Most of them had never considered that B2B cruisers might have an issue with that.

Here’s the thing that NCL still has that Princess doesn’t…their ship, the Norwegian Spirit, is much like what the Pacific Princess was. A unique ship built for another cruise line that is very different (and smaller) than the rest of the fleet and that sails to unique itineraries. We loved that ship. It was supposed to be sold a few years ago and wasn’t, and offers some wonderful itineraries (including the South Pacific next winter).

Let’s say I’ve found it impossible. I can’t access bookings through either the app or the Cruise Personalizer. I am going to cancel 17 bookings for next winter as a result, and make sure that a couple of senior people know the reason. And I had to phone the call center in the Philippines to get ocean ready and make dinner reservations for a cruise in July. I can only hope it got done correctly since I can’t see anything at all, and the agent seemed far more interested in helping me make specialty and spa reservations.

I wondered where he had gone, since he disappeared very abruptly. I was hoping it wasn’t a health issue and am glad to hear it wasn’t. I agree, @azbirdmom, that comment immediately struck me as being sooo out of touch (and I wonder now if he had already disconnected at that time), but he was an excellent source of information and humor for years.