PescadoAmarillo

This is 100% correct. I remain a huge proponent of EZ Air, but have learned, through reading here on Cruise Critic and my own recent experience that you have to ride herd on your EZ Air reservations. I tackled this just last week when our upcoming cruise flights, booked through EZ Air, were not ticketed in the timeframe they should have been. I could tell this by looking at the airline’s app (United) and going into flight details. There was a reservation number, as there had been for months, since we first reserved our flights, but no ticket number and I couldn’t pre pay checked bag fees. I had to play the Princess customer service phone game, and was on hold for over an hour altogether (and this after a call back due to a projected wait time of 90 minutes), but I wasn’t going to let the day pass without purchased tickets. Once that was complete, I could add packages and baggage fees to my flight. Don’t just assume that, because you have a reservation number and can see the reservation online or in an airline app, that your EZ Air flights are a done deal. Whether it’s because EZ Air is short staffed or has been instructed to slow roll payments, it’s not as straightforward as it was pre-COVID. Back then, I would wake up to an email from Princess with ticket numbers 44 days before my flight.

You’re right. I’m freaking out at the size of that ship. Probably not the choice of the crowd-averse.

The next thing to go will be FCD OBCs not being combinable with either CCL or military OBC. Other cruise lines have had that rule for years. Meanwhile, am I right in saying we have not yet had confirmation about whether it is one OBC per cabin, or per person?

I would choose to cruise on the Crown over any Royal Class ship. I would avoid cruising out of San Francisco at all costs. Worst embarkation out of a LOT of cruises.

We once flew to LA without knowing our cabin. Asked the porters at San Pedro so we could check our luggage and found out we weren’t on the manifest (that’s the first time I started feeling anxious). Were taken to a supervisor inside the building, but we weren’t in her manifest either. Someone from Guest Services on the ship was called and that person found us in their “system”. Yes, we had a cabin on the ship, I don’t know why we didn’t appear on the manifest but it all worked out.

That happened on our very first Princess cruise. A couple was late in St. Marten, and the ship left the pier and started sailing away. About 15 minutes after we sailed, a small boat was racing toward the ship (Sun Princess 2003). We leaned way over on the Promenade Deck and could see the boat pull up next to the ship, a rope ladder get tossed out with a life jacket attached to it, and, one at a time, the couple donned the life jacket and climbed the ladder. But when the man tried to bring along a cardboard box with four bottles of liquor, he wasn’t allowed to. He left the liquor, and something tells me it wasn’t the first time that small boat captain got a liquid tip. We had done about 10 cruises at that time, but none on Princess, and we had never seen anything like that before or since.

Like Coral’s Live From, I just came across this thread too, and thank everyone who contributed to it. It sounds like it was quite disappointing, but cancellations like this, though rare, are not unheard of. Better to skip a port than to experience a shipwreck trying to dock in the wind. Or so I’ve heard. 😉

Years. The last time we just went directly to the tender loading area was on the Pacific Princess 8 years ago, and even then we had very few elites on board.

Coral, I am always late to these Live Froms, and I just discovered yours and read it straight through. Your pics were amazing, and I know how difficult it is to upload them from a ship in Alaska, so I especially appreciate your time and effort. Thanks for bringing us along!

DH used Galveston Express several times last winter. They were very reliable.

Take your bedding and sleep in front of the Guest Services Desk. I’m seen that done and it worked (by midnight), after three days of trying to escalate did not. Or stand next to the Guest Services Desk and refuse to move until the HGM meets with you. I’ve seen that done, too, and it also worked. In fact, the HGM was personally walked to witness the situation first hand. He had not even been aware of it until then.

I’m 5’11”, and have never had an issue with Princess showers. I’ve had to get creative with leg shaving, but, other than that, they work fine for me. However, I’ll admit that my first shower when I arrive back home is always a thrill, and I’m kind of like a baby who’s just been unwrapped from a swaddle. I’ve had more issues with the height of the shower in a mini suite than in an inside, OV or balcony cabin. And I’ve been honest with my brothers who are 6’6” and 6’8” that there is really no part of a cruise ship cabin that is designed for their comfort. When I have traveled with a girlfriend on Grand class ships, one of us frequently used the showers in the spa/fitness center area, and that provided a degree of separation and privacy that was welcome.

But if this is the case, Princess shouldn’t be charging different fares for guarantee cabins in different parts of the ship, which I *think* they are doing.

I bring empty Restasis eye drop containers to organize things in my nightstand drawers on long cruises. ‘Cause I’m a little too much in that way. And a silk sleep sack to put the comforter in because I really dislike Princess’s bedding.

There is definitely a penalty of sorts for US and Canadian cruisers on Princess ships out of Australia…but worth every penny. However, regarding gift cards, there is also a Australian surcharge on credit cards charges (when we were there it was 1.4% I think), so if you have a balance due, you will get charged that, which doesn’t offset the gift card loss but is something to consider. Do not, under any circumstance, leave a ship with refundable credit in AUD. It is harder than heck to get that reimbursed.

I’m guessing Monday and Thursday also.

Spoken like a true Princess cruiser. 😆

Your need to make sure that specific cabins are still available in your cabin category. If not, you might cancel a booking and rebook, and find that all that are available are guarantees, even though you just returned a cabin to inventory.

Funny. I’ve never encountered a single issue with my on board statement on other cruise lines. Princess’s systems are definitely the weak link in their chain.

We have done back to back and ship to ship cruises several times. I book ship to ship thinking it will be nice to have a new ship, perhaps even a new cruise line, with different menus and shows. And it is. But I can’t remember a single instance where we were on the new ship and I didn’t wish, at least momentarily, that we were back on the old, familiar ship. I find that B2B is remarkably easier more than S2S is more interesting.

I had to Google him. 😆 If it’s not sports, I don’t watch it.

For those with access, John Chernesky is the cover story in Travel Age West this week.

That would be an incorrect assumption. I can’t recall a single Princess cruise where we didn’t do at least one, and often more, loads of laundry at the self serve laundromat. And yet I’ve never once requested free tokens at Guest Services. It’s my choice to not use (or use) the Elite perk; if I choose not to, I don’t expect to be compensated for that decision.

What an odd comment.

And then there are the “claimers”, especially on ships that have stacking washers and dryers. They believe that, since they’re using a washer, that gives them a claim on the dryer right above it, even if it is sitting idle and someone else could be using it now.