Dietemann

You can usually get OBC for the booking. According to my TA, you can book on board for your friends and receive the OBC. Then your friends can transfer to booking to her and get her discount which is usually around 10 or 15 percent.

I think that's a spillover from HAL. You can book for your friends as long as you have their Mariner # and they will get OBC. That's it in a nutshell, don't know the exact terms and if they will get the same OBC as if they were on board and doing their own booking.

I think you get the free wine tasting if you purchase one of the "Suite" packages which include the Navigator package plus other goodies.

Thank you so much for the review and especially pictures. We got a surprise upgrade to this particular suite for the New Year's cruise. It will be difficult after this to go back to a balcony or mini-suite. We thoroughly enjoyed getting spoiled.

I think it would be cheaper to just pay the airline charges (I guess you will be flying to Europe?)

I understand there is a shuttle that one can take from Pier 21 to Pier 2. Does anyone know what it looks like and where I might find it in case the ship doesn't dock at Pier 2 on turnaround day.

There will be plenty of ground helpers and deputies to show you where to catch the transfer.

Yes it could...

Or the big lips on AIDA ships

We really like HAL (are Elite on Princess). The only negative is they hold the Muster Drill outside on deck, but it's not too bad. The really positive (to us) is you can order room service breakfast on the morning of debarkation, and RS breakfast is more expansive than on Princess.

Even the Verandah cabins have a sofa, bathrooms mostly have tubs.

Sounds like dry dock work in the Bahamas is seriously lacking. The Emerald had lots of problems, also water related, for the first few cruises after her dry dock. Someone reported that the water bunkered in Bahamas had some minerals in it which did not agree with the ship's plumbing.

Yes, for refundable OBC (which is only the Veteran's OBC, all others are non-refundable).

Any amount under $100 you can cash out.

:cool:

On our last cruise (New Year's) we were told they'll only refund $25 in cash on the ship. This was on Coral, but other ships may have other rules.

We just got off the Regal 10 day cruise and we had a credit of approximately $95 which said "refundable." Will this show up as a credit on our credit card or is it lost? Thanks.

We have received a check about one month after the end of cruise. I believe it was drawn on Barclay's Bank. I almost threw the envelope away since I did not recognize the return address and thought it was junk mail!

The OP is in Australia going on an Australian cruise if I read her post correctly. My suggestion is to call Princess.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, no International Cafe was added during her major drydock and I doubt one will be added in the future [emoji22]

It may be just as well. The IC on the Coral is scrunched in next to the Casino. Very noisy and limited seating, we only went once on our New Year's cruise. Not a pleasant place.

We went to the dining room and the lady at the door turned us away. My other cruises on Princess were excellent but some things just didn't feel right with this one.

We were on the Coral for New Year's and the same thing happened to us in the DR, turned away at lunch and told it was for B2B passengers only. We happened to be in a Suite and I pushed it, so we were allowed in. Must be a new policy, even though the lunch was posted in the Patter, from 12:00 to 1:30.

Does anyone have a current list of Coral Princess Officers? Also Shore Excursion Manager name.

 

Thanks

 

Tom

From the New Year's cruise Patter:

Captain - Nicolo Binetti

Staff Captain - Mario Juresko

Chief Engineer - William Witts

Hotel General Manager - Michele Castiglioni

Cruise Director - Mike Witte

Senior Doctor - William Jelbert

Customer Services Director - Jonathan Nuttall

Food & Beverage Director - Barbara Pasching

Staff Engineer Officer - Rosario Maccherone

Staff Electro-Technical Officer - Vito Rosso

Environmental Officer - Yulian Varbanov

Executive Housekeeper - Joaquim Gabriel Lopes

Executive Chef - Guido Jendryztko

Maitre d'Hotel - Giuseppe Castino

No info on Shore Excursion Manager.

Probably more than you wanted, but there it is.

The small touch on the mailbox does add to the atmosphere for sure. I'm not sure that other ships do the same.

We still had the sprays on our New Year's cruise on Coral Princess, very nice.

Thanks, MCCretired - unless I missed it (again), this does not indicate that it is for new bookings only. However, I called Princess yesterday and was told "new bookings" only...I did a live chat this morning and was told it was NOT for new bookings only...so, I just called again and was informed it was for "new bookings" only. This is nuts...

I noticed that some, but not all lead in prices have a tiny "1" next to them, indicating for new bookings only. So this rule does not seem to apply to all cabin categories on the specific cruise you are looking at.

When we booked our cruise, we bought (and paid for) Princess insurance. If we cancel our trip prior to final payment, will we get our insurance payment back or is that lost? Thank you if you have experience with this.

Princess Vacation Protection is refundable prior to final cruise payment. I have taken advantage of this a few times. Be aware that the look back period for pre-existing conditions is 60 days, no matter when you buy it. The full description is available on the Princess website, sorry I don't have the link right now.

I just looked on my Cruise Personalizer. There is a link to "Boarding Pass and Documents." If you click on that and scroll down, one of the docs is the Vacation Protection pdf file. You might want to print that out to have handy.

Are the deposits refundable or not? I can't find any reference to that.

The Holland America website does not describe Flight Ease well. The cruiser does get to choose from available airlines, routes, and prices. Might as well get a quote, I saved hundreds on a Flight Ease flight.

Will the air department talk to you if you have booked with a TA or does everything have to go through the TA? And the only way to find out what is available is to talk to them, nothing to see on screen to pick out like on Princess. At least that's how I interpret the website.

captain just advised we are receiving full refund and future cruise credits…folks wanting to fly home from honolulu can do so and princess will pay airfare… we are heading directly to ensenada and SF…so we missed 3 ports in hawaii…i am very satisfied with princess

Class Act from Princess! Enjoy the rest of your vacation, whichever way you decide to get back home.

I was surprised, because we didn't expect it. This was last year, so it may have changed.

No, and it explains why we had an extra unexpected credit for our November Westy cruise. Nice surprise.

Add the insurance at the time you book the cruise to avoid pre-existing conditions exclusion. You do not pay for the insurance until final payment date, and if you cancel before final payment, you incur NO insurance premium cost.

Princess Insurance has a 60 day look back clause for pre-existing, no matter when you pay for it before final payment. It is true that the cost will be refunded if you cancel the cruise before final payment.

No they don't..However, HAL always does a wonderful job of washing & pressing on board.. Just let your Steward know if you want Laundry &/or Pressing done..

 

For laundry the blue bag holds quite a lot if rolled & stuffed tightly...It's well worth the price..Used to be $20 a bag, but it may have changed since we last sailed on HAL..

It was $30 a bag on the Eurodam in Europe this summer, $20 a bag in the Caribbean on the Westerdam last month. I got really good cramming almost a week's worth of laundry in the bag!

Usually sometime (depending on the ship's schedule) during the week after Thanksgiving.

We have taken several cruises over Thanksgiving. Decorating started as we left the ship.

Yesterday. when I was doing Online check-in, there was a notice that the HAL web site would be shut down sometime today (I did not make a note of the exact times) for maintenance/upgrading. Surely I'm not the only person who saw that ...

I think it said something like from 11 pm PST for a few hours.