tcdcruiser

Yes. Costco offers 3% for all travel and 2% of everything else. Think 4% for Costco gas.

My Barclays sits in the safe. Barclays actually detected fraud and shut it down.....When the only tranaction that month was aboard the Pacific Princess. Had to go to the pusher desk and give them the Costco Visa card. That was it for me.

Happy to pay the extra to keep the PP in the fleet. Will join her for a short 17 day cruise in January.

Agree the coffe card is a better value as the room service only wines offered are horrible. IMHO

I've been reading this thread for a few days and want to comment on an earlier post that posed the question "why does it matter to me what someone else wears in the MDR"?

To begin. Due to the nature of cruising and the confined spaces a sea cruise is a communal experience. How other passengers conduct themselves either at the elevators, the bars, the hall ways and the MDR does impact my experience. I have seen countless self absorbed acts. Thankfully I have seen many more acts of kindness and politeness. Nevertheless, the point that another passenger's behavior can impact my experience is true for me and I believe true for many others.

Princess Cruise Lines offers a product that is clearly described to the potential buyer. That description includes a MDR experience that includes both a formal and smart casual dining experience. This is the product marketed by Princess and based on that description the product I purchased.

As such, when I enter the MDR on formal night wearing my suit and tie, and share a table with someone wearing a ball cap, T-shirt, etc. it does negatively impact my experience because it is not the product I purchased. If I had wanted a very causal MDR experience every night I would have selected a cruise line that offered that product.

That is offensive in so many ways. First of all you ordered a Queen and were set up for a single.

 

 

Please do not take offense if or when this happens. It is merely a mistake, as the Steward is always the last to get the word.

Steve & Pete (We kept our original family names when we got married)

DW and I share a common last name, and request a queen. Have arrived on embarkation day several times to find a twin set-up. IMHO embarkation day is always chaos for the staff, I think it amazing they disembark 3000 and embark another 3000 all with about 6 hours.

Hi, an excellent post but what do you mean by altitude meds. I was considering doing machine picchu but was worried about the altitude.

 

 

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Your doctor can prescribe medication to reduce or eliminate altitude sickness. I asked my doctor if they were effective ....he said....I took them when I visited last year.

Patrick Watts did a great job when we joined last spring. It is a long ride, but wow, what an experience.

FYI. No ATMs in Stanley.....just not needed by the locals. Per our tour operator request we brought USD and used credit cards for small purchases in Stanley.

When your table is not ready and you retreat to vines......then the maitre de hotel comes looking for you and escorts you to your table.

The butter police deserve new aerial tools.

Great ship. Great crew. Sailed on her many time including last month and again next February. FYI. The balcony cabins of Caribe deck are much larger than Baja and Aloha. If price is similar you might consider a change.

This is a real easy DIY excursion. Stayed at the Sheraton. Yes it was a bit costly but worth it The view at dawn from balcony was glorious. After noon checkout you can have them hold luggage and use the fitness center showers late afternoon before heading back to the airport for a evening flight back to BA.

Even if you do not disembark the Brazilian authorities require the visa. While in port - on the ship - you are technically in Brazil. Mostly likely the cruise line will not allow you to embark on the cruise at its point of origin.

The Brazilian Visa is a physical addition to your US Passport added by your local Brazilian consulate. It is in your US Passport or it is not.

Agree with Coral. I too have done both. Tracy Arm from an excursion boat is awesome. seeing whales in route to Juneau is always a bit of luck.

Grand too

As an aside. Just off the Grand today and can report they apparently have some system issues with the changes. My iPad (new with current iOS) incurred hundreds of error messages each day. Did not have the issue on the Emerald last month or since arriving home

THe error message imap.email.com cannot connect to server was relentless. Could only stop the error message when I disconnected totally from ship wireless network. Tech staff was clueless.

Quite a surprise that Princess would give their "word" that they would find a replacement port-of-call. Would have expected, given the horrific impact to the islands, that their communication would have used phrases like " will attempt", or "hopefully can"....

Please share the misleading communication.

I really thought Grand would be going to Australia.

 

Maybe they will restart Ocean Village, and put Grand there.

Ocean Village????

Had the Princess card for years but finally switched due to.......that long list of service and feature problems. Switched to the big box citi card and get 3% on ALL travel ...not just princes s.

Attached is an image looking forward from a balcony stateroom. IMHO waking up to dawn in Glacier Bay would not be enhanced by decorative lights on the adjacent cabin's rail.

I do not view this as political correctness as suggested., but rather as an expectation that my fellow passengers adhere to the terms and agreements of their contract with PCL.

Outside lights can and do impact other passengers. While some do not care, other do care. If a lighted string of lights were on the rail to the cabin adjacent to mine - it would adversely impact my view as I stood along my balcony rail. Given that the act might be offensive to other passenger AND it is in violation of ship policy - it is not courteous or technically allowed.

From my experience in march 2017 expect hot and humid. The water spray is not too bad unless you take the boat ride into/near the falls. Did see lots of young people in bathing suits but think they took the boat ride

I visited all 3 penguin sites earlier this year. Must say that each was unique and different. Yes all had penguins but each location had different species or species combinations or different quantities or different geography. Enjoyed each and in retrospect really enjoy the memory of the contrast and comparison of the different locations.

It is listed as an offfered excursion on the 8/24/2018 Grand Princess voyage.

It is a great excursion. We did it in 2014 and plan a sequel next month when our ship visits. It will be the first time in 25 cruises we have repeated a shore excursion.