Paula_MacFan

We have a 2026 cruise booked too and it's gone up $100 per person so far.

We have a 15 night cruisetour on Sapphire booked for the last week of May and first week of June. We have 3 nights in Fairbanks, 2 nights in Denali, 1 night at McKinley, and 2 nights at Kenai. We don't have the 9 hour train ride to Whittier but rather the 4 hour train from Fairbanks to Denali which sounds like a better option for us. I did a lot of research here on CC and TripAdvisor, as well as other sources. We specifically chose a cruisetour that included the Kenai lodge as we want to do the Kenai Fjords NP all day cruise. We are independent travelers and do other types of trips besides cruises (long road trips, class A motorhome, etc). I know we will have to pack our patience on a group tour such as this. The convenience factor seemed worthwhile after I did the math. I priced out hotels, transportation, included activities and meals, and it was about the same as doing it on our own. Several people on the Alaska CC forum have reported car rental costs that are astronomical. I feel like the price we paid will be fair for the services we're getting. We've been to Alaska before on a cruise only, but this will be our first land portion. In a few years when we officially retire we'd like to take a summer and do a big proper road trip with plenty of time to do it justice. But for now I'm looking forward to the trip we have planned. I really think research is the key and don't book a 3 day land tour thinking you're going to see much besides the train or bus.

I check my Personalizer every day and the ticket number was just added, so it coincides with the email notice of early ticketing. I've used EZ Air many times and have re-fared multiple times when we found better prices or schedules, and I've never had any problems or extra fees. I only book flights that allow seat selection as I have no desire to leave that to chance. Maybe we've just gotten lucky with EZ Air 🙂

We are 74 days from sailing and I just received notice that our EZ Air flights have been ticketed. We did not ask for early ticketing. We selected seats when we booked many months ago. The email notice says 'Provided you do not request Early Ticketing, no fees will be charged for changes or cancellations made to Flexible air flights more than 45 days from the outbound flight or cruise sail departure date (whichever is earlier).'

We missed a port in January on the Regal and we got our refund for the missed excursion within 2 weeks after arriving home. Edit to say I just realized you are in Australia so your refund time may be different. I also wish they would refund to the original payment source (credit card) instead of mailing a paper check. It seems so old school.

We sailed in January and got $25. We got some government port tax refunded too but for us it was because we missed Costa Maya and Roatan was changed to Belize.

We went to England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, and Norway on our Island Princess cruise in September/October 2023. We ordered GBP and Euros through AAA prior to leaving, and we didn't have any problems using all of it during our trip 🙂 For countries that didn't use Euros or GBP we used our Capitol One credit card with no problems, and added tips accordingly.

Here's the link to the Princess Alaska Cruise tour FAQ's https://www.princess.com/en-us/faq/cruisetours There is a section about halfway down the page titled 'Pre-Paid Alaska Meal Plans' that you can look at. There's also a PDF with meal plan package pricing but it's from 2023 -- it doesn't look like they have 2024 published yet. We have a cruise tour booked for late May/early June so I had looked for this info myself 🙂 If you're using a TA perhaps they can get you the 2024 meal plan pricing. We've decided to just pay as we go since many lunches are included in our activities already and we're not big breakfast eaters.

Maybe you booked before they raised prices? IDK, only know mine was $59 last fall and we paid for it a long time prior to the cruise as it was initially supposed to sail in 2020 but was postponed several times due to covid shutdown. As far as where you get dropped off -- we were asked what airline we were on and they dropped us at that gate. Edit to add -- here's one of the threads where prices for 2024 have been discussed.

No, Princess offers transfers without booking their hotel package. Ours were $59 from Southampton to LHR in October 2023 but it sounds like from other recent reports the prices have increased to >$64 now. Maybe I've misunderstood your post.

You have to use your TA to book transfers if you don't book direct with Princess. It's been that way since we started cruising many years ago and were using a TA then. The OP stated they booked directly with Princess, that's why I shared the screenshots earlier for those who book direct.

We are very independent travelers as well and do other types of vacations besides cruising. We have a 15 day cruise tour booked for late May/early June on Princess. I priced it out and the cost was more attractive with the cruise tour, especially after factoring in transportation costs. I've seen some posts where people were quoting thousands of dollars for car rentals. We also booked well in advance and prices have only increased for everything. Good luck in your planning!

The new app is just called the Princess Cruises app. They no longer call it the Medallion App as it was only causing confusion, as illustrated here. As others have said the medallion simply replaces the old key card. It has some enhanced functionality like unlocking your cabin door as you approach.

We book directly with Princess and have been able to book our own transfers online, including Southampton/LHR in October 2023, so it's been fairly recently. I notice you are in the UK so maybe your options are different, but in the US I can see transfers under the 'Flights' tab. When I click on the 'Flights' icon, it opens up the 'Flights and Transfers' tab, and at the bottom I am able to select my own transfers. I cut off the bottom of the screen as it contains our names which I don't want to post on this forum 🙂

Thanks! That is what I assumed but figured someone here would know for sure 🙂

When will clocks be turned forward an hour on this Princess southbound itinerary? Whittier Hubbard Glacier Glacier Bay NP Skagway Juneau Ketchikan At sea Vancouver I'm thinking between Ketchikan and Vancouver we'll move clocks forward an hour, but didn't know if it would be the night we leave Ketchikan or the day at sea. Thanks for anyone who has experienced this on a prior cruise. I did a search but didn't find the specific answer.

My Personalizer airfare options have a button to request early ticketing.

We booked a suite for an upcoming Panama Canal cruise under the $99 promotion and had to pay a total deposit of $1,600 for two passengers. I was a little surprised during the booking process but paid the deposit anyway as we really want to take this cruise and we didn't have any FCD left to apply.

We were on the Regal in January and there was a section in the 'buffet' for kids, with chicken fingers, French fries, and other kid-friendly foods. Maybe that's part of what they are referring to? 'Something for everyone' in an easy to access venue..... Edit to add -- here's the same notice we got on the Regal that I posted in my semi-live from thread. Same terminology as the one posted by the OP for Sapphire.

We were on the Regal in January and saw many doors completely covered top to bottom with decorations. I'm talking life-sized Elvis with records, streamers, etc. Also others covered with birthday and anniversary decorations. Some extended out from the door to include the area around the cabin number and passenger names. I almost took a couple pictures but didn't, thinking that might be an invasion of privacy. Anyway I'm guessing it's these types of displays that are driving the new policy, not a simple sign or magnet. The Dollar Store sells so much of this stuff cheap that some people may be going overboard, so to speak 🙂

I found the old (large!) thread where the new service charge was discussed. Post #236 refers to a TA site that specifies if you prepaid for specialty dining prior to December 1, 2023 then you wouldn't be charged the 18% fee. Reservations made and paid after December 1, 2023 would be assessed the 18% fee. We prepaid well before that date and when we sailed in January 2024 we weren't charged. I just wanted to report our experience.

Yes I'm aware. Maybe you misunderstood my post. The 18% was in effect when we cruised in January on the Regal but because we had prepaid prior to the announcement of the 18% charge, we were not charged the fee on our meal. As I said it was discussed here when the announcement was made.

We were on Regal in January and the 18% charge was not applied to our Crown Grill meal because we had prepaid prior to the announced change. There was a thread here on CC where it was discussed if you had prepaid then the 18% didn't apply. Someone can search it if they want but if memory serves the cutoff date was sometime in December 2023?

We only have 2 cruises booked -- one a cruise tour in May/June 2024 and another in 2026. They both went up in price since yesterday.

I just checked our 2 upcoming cruises and they both went up in price since yesterday.