Jump to content

SCX22

Members
  • Posts

    1,807
  • Joined

Everything posted by SCX22

  1. Yes, the port agents will permit family members to go along, provided that they are cruising as well. Last we had to use this service, I was the wheelchair pusher and was told only the people in staying in the wheelchair bound's cabin and one other cabin could use the elevator.
  2. I've always been peeved by this issue as well. Not sure why these passengers think that the corridor is an extension of their cabin. I've never had the chutzpa to report it, though. Now if the crew could do something about the dirty dishes and trays left in the hallway. If you don't like them smelling up your cabin, don't eat in your cabin. The hallway that is shared by other passengers shouldn't smell either and that's on top of the safety issue that this practice presents. Recently on an Alaska cruise on the Majestic, my section always had bowls half full of broth from the Noodle Bar littering the corridor, and I felt like gagging from the smell many times walking to my cabin.
  3. Wheelchairs can be requested at the entrance by bypassing the line and approaching a port agent . An assist working for the port will push through security and check-in. After check-in, the elderly will have to transfer to a wheelchair pushed by the ship's crew for embarkation.
  4. It on depends on the weather and tides. If the ship can maneuver the small opening into the inlet where the cruise ship terminal on Rue Jules Ferry, the ship will berth there. Upon disembarking, you will be in the heart of the city center. If not, you will be in the industrial port northwest of the city center. If you've ever been to Mazatlán, it's the same experience. The area is full of shipping containers so passengers are not permitted to walk and you must take a free shuttle (pre-pandemic it was free) to the street.
  5. Variety is the spice of life. Never hurts to mix things up. Also, times change. Just because you disliked something before, doesn't mean that it hasn't changed for the better (and vice versa) and it doesn't hurt to give it a try again and make new conclusions. If using itineraries as criteria, you really can't be loyal to one cruise line. Some go to places at certain times that others don't.
  6. If I may add... If choosing to book directly with the airline, please don't waste the reservation center's time on discussing flights for new reservations. By doing this, you are holding up the line for those on hold with pressing rebooking needs. The tools are online to make new reservations yourself efficiently and in an informed manner.
  7. In all seriousness, arrive at 2:00 p.m. The lines disappear at this time. If you get there early, like before 10:00 a.m., the pier is still a zoo of passengers, with the disembarking intermingling with the embarking passengers. It can be be difficult to find a porter at this time because many are still busy assisting those that are disembarking. Between 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., it get's busy as this is the suggested arrival time in the documentation. At 2:00 p.m. or after, you'll miss the chaos. Just forgo the embarkation day lunch. It's worth it to not have to stand in line. Also note Pier 27, has a small lobby on the 2nd floor for the security line, which is the bottleneck. Passengers have to wait outside until the security line on the 2nd floor can accommodate more passengers, and only at that point will the port agents let more people up the escalator. If you are handicapped and make it known, you can bypass the line and use the elevator to the 2nd floor. Doesn't help that there are only 4 security lane x-rays to clear thousands of passengers.
  8. Yes, the room lights are activated by a card in a slot. There is a dummy card in the slot. Recently on the Sky, our cabin steward asked us if we would mind participating in an saving program. For the evening turndown service, my cabin steward left the switches on for the bedside lamps, but left the card in the slot at an angle, which kept the lamps off. When we retuned to our cabin for the night, we inserted the card fully, which turned on the bedside lamps. Worked for us and I suppose it was saving the ship some energy consumption, however little. Only time I've experienced this on Princess.
  9. I stated this previously. Reply #12, as I understood it, the OP needed instructions in getting to the right place.
  10. www.princess.com > Plan a Cruise > Find Cruises Narrow down and find your cruise and sail date using the search criteria. Attempt a dummy booking for whatever category you would like info on. If your cruise is showing as "Currently Unavailable" it could mean that it's sold out or yield management is working on cabin assignments and could again become available if at the end there are still cabins available.
  11. The U.S. State Department always has Israel, The West Bank, and Gaza on heightened alert. Sad, but such are the geopolitics of the is area of the world. Any travel here assumes that you will be willing to accept that war and unrest could erupt at any time, which could interrupt your travel plans.
  12. If a cruiser can afford to cruise with Princess, really, what's a $100 or $200 OBC here or there for shareholders? Like I said before, I doubt that that tips the scale for the average Princess cruiser/shareholder. That type of cruiser, especially the ones that are price sensitive, will cruise with Princess regardless. Princess prices are low to begin with, shareholder's OBC aside, for both fares and onboard amenities (i.e. Plus/Premium fare packages, shore excursions, etc.) compared to other mass market cruises lines. That $100 or $200 OBC per cabin in the aggregate makes a difference for Carnival (and other cruise lines) who are drowning in their finances because of borrowing and inflation. Hence all of the amenity cuts. There is disagreement here. All I can say is CCL/Princess employees read this board so it's OK to air your thoughts.
  13. One can suggest. The cruise lines are making cuts every where and this is one benefit that would affect few rather than all cruisers. As you have said, if money wasn't so tight for a cruiser, what's a $100 or $200 here or there? Having said that, you'd be surprised at just how many cruisers cruise Princess for the price. There's plenty who cruise months out of the year rather than once or twice a year. Wouldn't dream of doing that on the luxury niche lines.
  14. What is there to discuss? You're probably in the minority here. All fight info is online and by calling and booking through a call center with a human, many airlines charge a booking fee. That's really an antiquated way of making airline reservations. If you book it yourself online, you don't pay a fee. Airlines have made it so that you can do everything your self efficiently. This has lowered the man power required to run the airlines (no need to have as many call center agents) and made airfare cheaper. With Princess you can be. If you book a flexible fare through EZAir, you can can rebook as many times as you want up to 45 days of the first flight segment. The caveat is that that you can only pick from the flights that populate EZAir. Having said that, I've never had a problem choosing flight times that work. This is one of the reasons why I will always live next a big city with an airport with many flights domestically and locally. It's great to be able to fly to so many places with no stops or one stop. You can do that with EZAir as well. Some airlines like Lufthansa charge for ALL economy seat assignments made prior to check-in. Other airlines like British Airways waive the economy advanced seat assignment fee with booking a corporate fare through EZAir. Some airlines will only allow seat assignments on the ticket has been ticketed. In this case, you can wait for your flexible fare reservation to be ticketed by EZAir at 45 days and make your seat selection then OR you can pay for your ticket in advance of final payment and request early ticketing. If you choose the latter option, you waive the privilege of making changes to your reservation up to 45 days of the first flight. Pricing. EZAir has great pricing on air, especially for international flights, international business/first, and cruises that require one way tickets because the cruise begins and ends in different ports, i.e. a Transatlantic that begins in Southampton and ends in Fort Lauderdale. Not always the case, so it pays to do the research and check the prices directly with the airlines. Flexibility. With Flexible Fares you can cancel or make changes all the way up to 45 days of the first flight segment. If you find a lower fare directly with the airlines, you can cancel your reservation with EZAir and book directly with the airlines. If you find a lower price with EZAir, you can cancel and rebook. Payment. You can make air reservations up to 330 days in advance of the last flight segment, but will not have to pay for the flights until final payment of your cruise. Cruise interruption. If in a one in a million chance something happens on your cruise and you book through EZAir, EZAir will help you rebook a flight home. If you book your own flights, and something happens with the ship, you're on your own. Happened with the passengers who were on the Ruby Princess when it hit the dock in SF and decided not to cruise. Those who booked with EZAir were rebooked flights home at no extra charge. Also happened with the Carnival Pride when it lost power and was stuck in Europe this summer. If in the event that your cruise gets cancelled, as RC and X have done to some sailings, you won't be left holding the bag on the airfare, like you would be had you booked directly with the airline. As long as you know what you're getting your self into, EZAir is a great resource. Many people who have problems with EZAir don't know the inner workings of air travel and place blame on EZAir.
  15. Trying to predict weather is getting harder and harder. No matter what the averages say, there's bound to be anomalies. Just go. Never a bad moment in Alaska.
  16. If you have a TA, he/she can plug the booking through POLAR and divulge the number of cabins left in each category. (You will come off as sketch.) If you want to do the leg work for yourself, you can can make dummy bookings on the Princess website or an online TA's website. For a specific meta/location category, online TA sites are better because they show availability in this manner. Only Princess knows the true number (sometimes cabins are blocked for guest performers, cruise staff, quarantine (if this is still a thing), etc.), but the methods above will give you an idea. If this is regarding your upgrade bid, be patient. If it was meant to be, it will happen.
  17. What other mass market cruise lines can the older generation that like Princess' cruising take their business to? Recently there were changes made to room service and casual dining which caused an up roar on the board. Many cried foul, despite their disagreement with the changes are still cruising with Princess. The luxury niche lines have pricing that isn't for the masses, effectively removing them from the mass market category. Consider yourself fortunate if you can afford these lines. I highly doubt CCL's removing shareholder's OBC will cause a drop in bookings. If the past is any indication, it will set a precedent in which other cruise conglomerates will follow suit.
  18. I don't think the "funny money" that you speak of tips the scale. Princess Cruisers are set in their ways. The older demographic that frequents Princess will cruise Princess with or without the OBC. Where is this older demographic to go? It's been brought up numerous times on this board that RC, NCL, and Carnival are a no go because of the families and children, which the older generation that cruise on Princess don't want to vacation with. The more premium cruise lines are most likely out of reach for many (ahem, making a big deal over OBC just for owning 100 shares) and offer a more sedate experience as compared to Princess. Not sure what the figure of shareholder's OBC is doled on every Princess cruise, but whatever the figure is, that money could be increasing revenue. Every penny counts in CCL's financial predicament. The shareholder's OBC goes towards the onboard sales, not towards the cruise fare. Which as you correctly point out is the bread and butter of cruise line revenue. It's no coincidence that Princess made the decision to make shareholder's OBC non-refundable. Put simply, any cruise line's shareholder perks is quid pro quo bribery.
  19. The taxi drivers/rideshares tend use the entrance at the end of Port Everglades Expressway with the security gate. They are not familiar with the berth assignments and the sign boards there will direct them to the correct terminal. For the taxi drivers it also adds a mile to the meter when being dropped off at Terminal 2 or 4 (more $$$ for them). I've had to specifically tell the driver to use the entrance on Eisenhower Blvd. when on Princess to not pay more.
  20. It's also on the page before the Princess website will prompt you for passenger details.
  21. There's an ulterior motive that cruisers have in owning CCL stock. Many own shares for dividends, but in CCL's case it's for the OBC perk. Cruise lines are the only travel stock issuers that have a perk associated with ownership. You could own airline shares and get no perks in return. The confidence in the stock and company is skewed when there's an ulterior motive involved. Your point to shifting lines with the elimination of this perk goes towards my point. The sentiment involved at least on the CC forum is that the stock has "paid" for itself with the OBC that has been given, but has it been beneficial for CCL? Probably not, at least not in the present interval of time. At this moment in time, CCL need every penny they can scramble and giving money away, even in the form of OBC isn't really benefitting them. I will concede that RC Group is the only cruise conglomerate that is in the position to reward shareholders. Heck, if removing the OBC perk for shareholders would mean that Princess would reinstate some of the lost amenities available to all and/or higher tiers of the Captain's Circle program, I'd be all for it.
  22. In money and investing, you have to look at the big picture. When an average investor invests the return is small, but when Buffet and Soros invest, the returns are large because of the volume that they invest. In the shareholder OBC, in your case it's only $100. But on a larger scale it's a lot of money. For every 1,000 shareholders that request for their shareholder's OBC, that's $100,000 that CCL has to giveaway, even more if the OBC is greater. That $100,000 is probably the salary of 2 or 3 crew contracts.
  23. Print your Travel Summary. There are some ports like Port Everglades where there is a security check for private vehicles entering the port compound. The guard will ask for ID and proof travel that you are cruising. Doesn't apply to those on Princess transfers. No one has ever stopped me from entering the cruise terminal without proof of travel. Sometimes we've been asked to flash our passports. NEVER have we been asked to show the QR code at check-in. You only need to know your cabin number and if you don't remember that, the check-in agent can find your booking by your last name.
  24. You can make the special service request on the operating airline's website by pulling up your reservation and make it there. The wheelchair option is usually buried under a special requests tab. Don't recommend calling because waiting on hold is no fun. You also have to make it known to a United agent when you check-in. Just because it's on your reservation, doesn't mean that the wheelchair will automatically show up. Also realize with a wheelchair, you will be one of the last off the plane because you have to wait for the assist with a wheelchair to come fetch you. Makes a difference when there is a delay involved.
×
×
  • Create New...

If you are already a Cruise Critic member, please log in with your existing account information or your email address and password.