PescadoAmarillo

You’re right. I consider large deposits and cruises paid in full more than 90 days prior to sailing to be a greater risk. At least CCL losses can be netted against other capital gains (if there are any this year). Unused FCCs for cancelled cruises are pretty much worthless.

DH has cruised 101 days on Princess post-COVID and there wasn’t a single day of it that he didn’t hear the same thing at least once, and often much often than that. He’s even heard it from the super duper grandest elite of the most traveled Princess passengers. Obviously, Princess has heard it too, and decided those guests are not worth retaining. But they thank us for the extended use of our money! 😆

Carolyn, I’m very relieved to hear you are safe. Thank you for the update. Property damage can be repaired. People damage cannot. 39 years ago this week we were honeymooning at Tween Waters Inn on Captiva. I fear it may be gone now, but our memories will remain forever.

Absolutely right. And I am a consumer. And now (even without the potential milestone dropping), I’m a consumer analyzing my vacation spending without loyalty to Princess. I know what I like (smaller ships, unique itineraries). I know that Princess offers neither of these. I have no doubt that Princess’s new target market will step up to fill in what we used to spend. And life goes on.

I agree. Captain Paulo Rivera is one of our favorites too. You can always tell when a captain genuinely cares about this guests, and he really does. I’m not at all surprised he proactively mentioned the ship condition at the meet and greet. But it does sound like the same issues we’ve heard time and again since the start up. Safe batteries, rusted drain pipes under bathroom sinks…we had the former multiple times and the latter on the Emerald on its first cruise back in service. These things are easy to fix given time and resources.

What an odd way to phrase that. Transitioning, as if there is no turning back once the process is completed. Of course we look at other cruise lines. We always have. Celebrity was our cruise line of choice even after we cruised on Princess. I wasn’t being facetious. When one cruises for three, four, five months at a time, the passenger laundries ARE very important. That is why we primarily cruised Princess (but have also been on Royal Caribbean, NCL and Holland America) in the past ten years or so. If we’re just cruising for a week or two, any cruise line is considered, with points for smaller ships and interesting itineraries (eg HAL over Princess). I’ll admit that I’ve told my husband that he’s welcome to cruise on Princess alone…just let me know when he reaches 1500 days and I’ll be certain to join him for that. Face it…the chocolates, champagne, flowers, more champagne and - most of all - breakfast in Sabatini’s are all nice. But dropping milestone cruises alone is not enough to send me packing. It’s the death by a thousand cuts of horrible customer service, the travesty that is DMW, an app that would embarrass any other company, the elimination of the CC OBC and the effective elimination of the internet benefit that are starting to grate. So no. No big announcement. No flounce and run. I’ve sworn off cruising in the near term, and in the longer term I don’t see us spending winters on ships for a long time, if ever. So, as we have in the past, we’ll consider all our options.

Exactly. When the only reason you’re sticking with a cruise line is the passenger washers and dryers, it’s time to move on, and we’ve always been very pleased with HAL.

We were on the first Emerald Princess cruise after the shut down, and that’s when I first realized that these ships, though they were not actively cruising, had no crew onboard during all those months (years) to fix things. On top of that, unused things break when you try to use them again. So while I initially expected everything to be *perfect* because they had either sat idle or had plenty of time for maintenance and upgrades, it was actually the opposite. Our cruise was saved (it was one of our best cruises ever) by the low passenger count (less than 25% full), and amazing HGM and the double crew (crew was being taken to the Caribbean to meet up with ships there) but so many things were broken or out of service for the entire cruise that I’m thankful those things were true. It shows that the ship from hell doesn’t have to result in the cruise from hell. OP, thanks for your wonderful reports despite technical difficulties. I was also on her first transpacific in 2004 and enjoyed several cruises on the Sapphire since then and she is definitely one of my favorites (not least of all because she’s relatively smaller).

There have been no drinks or snacks provided at these functions since COVID. There used to be champagne. However, if you’re on the Ruby with my husband, he always takes his minibar items and any MTG champagne or wine to the veterans get togethers and it seems to get consumed. 😆

I was on the Emerald Princess going through the Panama Canal last October. At that time, the WiFi speed was excellent and I regularly streamed video and made calls over WiFi. But we had 700 guests or so on the ship. I also think WiFi quality was significantly degraded in March or April of this year, and with passenger counts going up, people have mentioned some serious connectivity problems of late.

The Sanctuary needs to be purchased via a bidding program, especially since it’s perceived value varies so much with itinerary and weather. I suspect there is a huge amount of unrealized revenue opportunity for Princess there on warm weather cruises, and who wants to begin their vacation with a race and a wonder? Better to know up front.

My understanding (from the introductory video call that was done for TA’s) is that another company was administering the bidding process. Or at least that another company had developed the required software. That gave me some hope. Because, otherwise, you’re absolutely right. But, again, if there’s a chance to eek out any additional revenue, that opportunity will be assigned more resources than the refund process will be.

Bidding gives Princess the opportunity to fully exploit the area below the demand curve, which is optimal microeconomic pricing policy. I can see where they may eventually offer downgrades or move-overs for those booked in the most coveted cabins. For example, if you want to book a suite, and are willing to pay $5K, but the suites are already sold at $4K, bidding gives you the opportunity to get that suite for $5K, and the current occupants might be happy with a move to an unsold mini suite along with a large refundable OBC. As long as the net result is more revenue for Princess, they’re happy to play musical chairs with the cabins, and, if there are no cabins left to work with, there’s always another cruise to offer people.

That is where my interest lies, too. The ship is not, and won’t anytime soon be the destination for me, regardless of beautiful features that I’ll look at one time and then spend the rest of my cruise looking for a place to sit.

I’ll admit to thinking about you 724 times during that video.

Honestly, you’re going to have a tough time. I spent time several days every week throughout most of 2020 working to get what we were owed (it was thousands, and that was hugely motivational)…and Princess was in total agreement that we were, in fact, owed the funds. At this late date, and without that agreement, it’s going to be even harder.

@Barry ATLThanks so much for bringing this documentary to our attention. We just watched it (if you have Xfinity cable, you can simply press the microphone button on your remote and say “Peacock Hell of a Cruise” and it streams it). DH must have asked me five times, “Now where were we that day?” (on the Majestic, grappling with the ‘do we stay or do we leave’ question). It was amazing to watch the cluelessness when short videos were made on the other ships, with passengers and crew gathered closely together saying #Hang in there Diamond Princess” (especially the one from a totally packed Princess Theater) and hilarious when the infectious team member from the US who boarded the Diamond Princess and found himself in the middle of “all this really bad art” in the Fine Arts gallery. Now I’m off to find Quarantine (thanks Frank!).

I’m sure you’re right, but I would prefer them to retire the name Pacific Princess. Kind of like numbers in sports. Don’t sully the name by bestowing it on the next, even larger, even more removed from the sea ships.

I wish we could have been relaxed about it in my marriage but my husband spent years in NBC (Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare) in the military he said from from the second week in January it was going to change the world. Darn, I hate it when he’s right. 😆

We had friends who were with you in that cruise. In the end, Princess did the right thing. I think they were flown home from O’Hare on a small chartered jet. But I still shake my head at the lack of communication in those first months of 2020. We had been in Australia and the South Pacific for 5 months, and COVID was huge news there, with its proximity to Asia. We got home in mid February when the Diamond was in the midst of its quarantine and felt thrilled that we had just got out in what felt like the knick of time. And I remember friends at home were really happy about how low gas prices were and we said, do you know what’s happening across the world? It’s going to be here any day. I’m sure they thought we were overreacting. But what really shocked us was that people continued to cruise for the rest of February and into March. We just couldn’t believe it. We were on our last Majestic Princess cruise in February asking ourselves in every port if we should just fly back to Sydney and try to get home sooner, and people at home were still taking cruises. Information was not getting out. I remember the doctor on the Diamond Princess admitting he (or she, I don’t recall which) was basically functioning alone, and getting no direction from Princess Medical. Can you imagine being in that position with no support? I am dismayed to hear that crew members were not paid for those weeks and months spent on the ships after the shutdown. Do we know that is fact? Were they ever paid? That is really troubling.

I’m not surprised. They were shockingly inept.

Of course you do! Get your camera ready. He’ll be the one without a mask. 😆

Gees, thanks. 💕 But to set the record straight, it was the medical staff onboard the Ruby Princess that said that, not me.

Yea. Love the good old days!

I logged in using his captains circle log in. The two upcoming cruises show up just as they should. I clicked on the first one, went into DMW online, and it shows dining reservations for his cruise next February, three cruises in the future.