PescadoAmarillo

I’ll be heading home to Toledo. Can’t get too much better than that.

Darn those rascals! Best Sanctuary spots, best dining room tables. It’s almost like we need a warm up cruise before the real cruise. If they’re in line ahead of you, just tell them their dog misses them SO MUCH and they’d better return home before the ship sails.

Prepaid tips are definitely refundable. And, unlike refunds that require human intervention, refunds like these (of prepaid items, taxes and port charges, and the portion of the cruise fare not subject to a cancellation penalty) have been getting done on a timely basis (in our case, credited back to our form of payment in less than two weeks).

Ruby Panama Canal is half full right now. The past three Hawaii cruises and Mexico cruise were between 65 and 80% full. The next cruise, a Christmas cruise, will be nearly full. Removing mask and vaccine mandates did not automatically fill the ships.

We had frequent time changes and even a date change on our transpacific cruise. As others have said, just take your phone off automatic time, manually change the time and date as needed and your watch will be fine.

Same. We have no FCDs, but do still take advantage of $1 deposits. I still have hope that the experience and my feelings will change. As some have pointed out, cruise bookings are way up. Pent up demand is a real thing. COVID may not have killed cruising, but COVID, coupled with poor management decisions before, during and after COVID, has killed the Princess cruise experience we used to trust with a boatload (haha) of money every year.

Especially given the Princess history on tracking other things, like FCCs, refunds due, drink packages on board, etc.

He was in a separate quarantine cabin. He could order food and drink but not access his original cabin.

I am really sorry to hear of all the people having issues getting their quarantine FCC. It CAN be handled correctly. Despite the $hitshow that was quarantine on the Ruby in April, DH had his FCC for his 7 days (Day 0 to Day 6) in his Captains Circle account about the same time he was walking from Guest Services back to his cabin (his Medallion had been deactivated while he was quarantined) after he was released. No insurance claim necessary. It should be that easy for everyone.

Mine stopped during the pandemic also, but picked up again once we started cruising in July 2021.

But was the FCD purchased before or after your initial deposit? As long as the date on the FCD is earlier than the date of the initial deposit, you’re all set. In my experience, they won’t grant OBC with an FCD dated after the initial deposit.

That’s very kind. Thank you! I was quite happy with with 2019/20 season blog because, at least on the Ruby, we had excellent unlimited MedallionNet WiFi and I could finally blog the way I wish I could have done for years. Menus, Patters, lots of pics, and our favorite winter escape destination…it was quite fun. The Majestic was an entirely different story, WiFi-wise, but, hey, it got done. Safe and healthy travels!

Guaifenesin (chest congestion) with dextromethorphan (cough), such as Mucinex DM or a generic. Sudafed or other decongestant Analgesic for pain/fever (I use ibuprofen) Benadryl (antihistamine) Most cold/cough compounds are some combination of these active ingredients. We take just what we need for the symptoms we have so we are not over medicating. I also take numbing throat lozenges, decongestant nasal spray and tissues with lotion.

I know! He sent me a pic, and I recognized you and your lovely wife immediately and it made me smile, too. I am getting all sorts of messages and emails from people who have read my blog in the past and spotted him on board and in ports. I hope you have a wonderful cruise.

I never tested positive but got sick when my husband had COVID…and stayed sick for four months. I have autoimmune issues, so doctors seemed totally unsurprised that I never tested positive but most likely had COVID. They’ve seen it all by now. Finally, my body was so exhausted from being sick for so long that I got shingles (despite having two of those vaccines). They put me on an antiviral for that and immediately everything got better. That’s when they finally told me I’d had COVID and long COVID. It’s not just a cold for everyone.

We’ve always just considered it the Australian surcharge. One bit of advice: do not leave the ship with any remaining refundable OBC…well, ever, really, but especially if it’s in Australian dollars. It was one of the biggest hassles I’ve ever dealt with to get that money refunded, and it took over six months.

Agree. FCDs dated after the initial booking date can be applied but bring no OBC benefit. You’d have to cancel the original booking and lose any promotional items associated with it, and re-book under current promotion offerings to get the OBC.

Check the online security cameras at home, receive notifications of movement inside and outside house, doors and windows opening, etc, monitor thermostat and energy usage/ temps at home, see what mail is being delivered by USPS, receive credit card usage notifications, pay bills, download books and music, stream videos, stay in touch with family and friends, play games, blog.

If there are no suggested delivery dates, then, you’re absolutely right, it’s impossible to say that the PO is at fault. And it does come down to being Princess’s issue. But those are not likely mailed from the Princess mail room but from a printer. Either way, they’ve missed an opportunity and squandered some of their advertising budget, and, as is so often mentioned here, they are struggling and can’t afford mistakes like this.

Look on the ad. Is there a suggested delivery timeline? Chances are, this is a post office issue and not a Princess issue. No company goes to the expense of printing and mailing advertising only to have it purposefully delivered late. We can thank the former guy for appointing the wonderfully inept Mike DeJoy and the current guy for not getting rid of him. We have convicts delivering our mail here. It took me years, but I have stopped almost all advertising snail mail (and a lot of other snail mail, too). I realized, when I came home after four months of cruising, just how much junk was in our mail. If you think Black Friday ads are annoying the week after Thanksgiving, imagine election flyers in March. Somehow, I still knew about every single cruise special happening on Black Friday and Cyber Monday from the slew of advertising in my email inbox.

Gosh, you’ve spent at least six days in quarantine twice on Princess ships and keep going back for more! What profoundly bad luck. Karma?

Refunds that stem from standard cancellations ARE coming through fairly quickly. We got ours in just under a week. It’s when human intervention is involved that you need to rely on divine intervention.

I have to comment on this. My American husband was treated the same way on the Ruby Princess last April. Many others on others ships have been as well. People infected with a virus they’ve never had before, and no medical history was even taken, nor vitals monitored. Quarantined seniors were offloaded to hotels in Europe with promises of aid to get food, rebook flights, etc, and basically left alone. Those without smart phones would wait on hold for hours to try to contact the number Princess gave them as a liaison. It’s been a mess in most cases, though there have been a few reports of great service in quarantine. I swore off Princess for awhile. DH is back at it without me. I guess he’s more tolerant than I am.

Exactly this. We’ve been in situations where we’ve called AON, trying to determine the least cost action to take when travel disruptions occur. If you ask them, is it better for me to do this or that, their response every time is file the claim and find out. Quite helpful.

I totally agree, but Princess will not own up to the shortcomings of MedallionNet and the Fastest Internet At Sea because they are simply not financially motivated to do so. Right now they are selling plus and premium packages boasting of their internet capabilities. Even refunding guests $10 a day (when forced, usually because of total outages), they are making big bank. Even if guests don’t purchase the all inclusive packages, Princess is now collecting $5 a day from all the Platinum and Elite cruisers that used to get internet for free, frankly for internet that is unlimited but no better than it used to be. I think most people will continue to purchase it in the hopes that they’ll get connectivity of some sort, so Princess will continue to profit from providing minimal internet. However, Princess wants to appeal to a younger target market; younger target markets demand high speed, always available internet or their vacation of choice will be an all-inclusive resort. It used to be the fastest internet at sea. Cruising on the Ruby Princess from LA to Sydney, around New Zealand, up to the islands of New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji in 2019, it truly was game changing. Princess is promising us that capability, providing close to nothing and making money all the way. As with so many things, our option is to take it or leave. Every night before I go to sleep, I thank God that I am not an internet manager on a Princess ship right now. I can’t imagine what they go through every day.