satxdiver

I frequently had refunds from my MOBC but guess no more. Just looked at our 5 upcoming cruises, one of which was booked after the announcement and indeed it is marked non-refundable (star) while the other 4 were booked before the announcement and do not have a star after them. As for the SOBC which I have always received along with the MOBC, I transferred ownership of the 100 shares of CCL to my DW personal account and that solves the SOBC problem. Now we will still get both OBC.

Looks like PCL has taken pages from NCL and started doing the nickel and dime dance with the pax. Oh you want to eat pizza at the pizzeria which was formally free, that will be $$. What is next? Soft serve ice cream now is $$ or certain items on the buffet is $$ or you want to see the show, that will be $$. I won't sail on NCL due to their notorious nickel and diming for everything and if PCL starts down that road time to consider X.

Those that keep insisting everyone should dress more formal for formal dinners, I suggest moving to Seabourn or Cunard, the two upper class cruise lines Carnival PLC owns. Princess is a medium class cruise line. When Carnival, RCCL and X all relaxed their dress standards pressure was put on Princess to do the same. The world dress codes are changing and go with it or die trying to stop it. In the late 90's I was doing some consulting with a bank located in the west part of our state. At the end of the first meeting I was told to wear jeans and a nice open collared shirt if I wanted to meet with them again. Needless to say I complied with their request and we got along fine.

We did a self land tour before our cruise and went to the rain forest one day. It was in the spring and the bugs/insects were not a problem even at the springs. We did not have a bug problem.

New rules military OBC is no longer refundable. Further one can get SHOBC or military OBC but not both. I get military OBC so now DW owns 100 shares of CCL and she gets SHOBC. Evidentially existing reservations with the two OBC are still honored. Watching for comments on this last bit of information. We are going in November and will find out what they do.

We have 5 cruises scheduled for the period after Sept 12. 2023. I have both the military and stockholder credits applied to all 5 cruises which according to what I have read one will go away on each cruise. This changes things and causes me to reevaluate if I want to do these cruises or move to another cruise line. Since they are all cancelable (until they change that also!) it could be time to look at RCCL or Celebrity cruises instead. Really bad more by PCL.

I check my charges on the ship several times a day. Back before the medallion I had a spa charge of over $100 to do my hair - I am a male with receding hair on top! A visit with passenger services took care of the problem. I also when at home check my credit balances and bank accounts almost every day. The credit card company has always resolved the issue of fraudulent charges. We were on a family cruise to AK several years ago where my son and his friend had purchased a fishing trip in Ketchikan. But when the two 30+ y/o boys showed up at the boat, the captain of the boat told then there was no room (he had a young family aboard and saw the two young men as trouble). So they went back to the ship to talk to the excursion manager who did not seem to care and blamed them for missing the boat. So my son's friend (he was a policemen) called princess headquarters to complain. Shore excursions were quick to remove the charge but when they went back the manager quickly disappeared. I believe she got a not-so-nice call from CA. If all else falls call HQ in CA.

We also were on the prior cruise and met one couple from SF that were staying on going back home. They did not look like 80's lovers. There were 360 (per front desk) aboard and sounds like they either stayed aboard or new ones arrived. They were well behaved. All through the week I wished I had also booked this cruise but alas I had to get off. Maybe next time I will be more cognizant. We have been to Progresso and went to Chichen Izta, it was a long day due to the long bus ride. I would love to go to Merida and plan to do it on our next cruise to Progresso. Great report so thanks for posting.

The cruise ships are tall, 14+ decks and flat sided like a giant sail that cannot be put down (forgot the nautical name). Hence, they are extremely sensitive to the wind and unable to compensate for it with their engines. Basically, like most ships they mostly can only go forward and steer when under power. Even tugboats are unable to assist in high winds. Think of the complaints when the captain who did manage to get into port was unable to leave when the wind has the ship pinned to the pier. I have missed other ports on other cruise ships with no compensation. I have also missed ports on Princess cruises and they have always given us some OBC. I was on a Princess tour in Nova Scotia when the tour bus broke down just out of the town. We were on the side of the road for 4 hours before they were able to find another bus to pick us up and take us back to the ship. They of course gave us our money back for the tour and $100 compensation as well. What they did was cancel an afternoon excursion and use the tour bus to come pick us up. It was a small city with a limited amount of buses available and Princess had them all for excursions. We rode back on a bus belonging to the university athletic team.

We like Skywalkers as well since it is usually quiet and not frequently visited. Adiago's next to Sabatini's is a well kept secret for a nice place to hang out most any time. As for the missing ports we have been to them many times and appreciated the seadays. Usually, we get off for a few hours and then back on the ship. There were no tours we have not been on so it is just walk around and back on the ship. We normally do the same thing in Cozumel but this time I decided to take the submarine excursion and it was great. I have SCUBA dived those reefs many times before and there are much more interesting upclose but still an adventure on the submarine. We went down to 102 feet.

Last morning on the ship I ordered eggs benedict which I love. The meal was served cold, the eggs were overcooked and the hollandaise sauce had a real funny taste almost like it was left over from the sauce they put on steaks and seem to be very thick. It was a total loss to me. The other food I had onboard was great per usual.

That is a lot better than what we have experienced in Galveston on turn-around cruises. Since it has been 6 years since Princess has been to Galveston things may have changed. We were on a B2B cruise last year on a Carnival and they had us gather in one of the bars and after all had left the ship took us as a group into the terminal where an agent checked our passports and then back on the ship. They did it in the baggage claim area. Glad to hear that they have changed their requirements. I wondered many times this past week why we did not book the 5 day follow on cruise and in fact I had booked it originally when I booked last week's cruise but later canceled the 5 day for some reason I cannot remember. I love 70's - 80's R&R. Dumb move! Sadly we had to leave the Ruby. 🤔 We met a couple from SF that were staying on the ship until they arrived home in SF. I was envious but did not want the convenience of driving to the port. We will be on a LA to FLL cruise next April for the TSE and passage through the PC. It will be the second time for a complete passage.

Ah the Gulf is showing its usual self. I have cruised out of Galveston on CCL, RCL and PCL and experienced how rough the Gulf can be. We have been lucky so far but appears that luck is about to play out. The back part of the Gulf can be very rough.

When we arrived last Sunday very early, they did not ask when we were supposed to arrive. We just went immediately through the line and because we had first boarding privileges we went immediately onboard. I did notice there were some seated in the waiting area to board and not sure when they were allowed to board. Anyone arriving at a later time I am not sure of the process. We arrived at 11 AM and was onboard by 11:20. YMMV depending on your status.

We went to the Captain's Circle party tonight. The captain can be pretty funny as he told stories mostly about himself. Probably the most personable captain we have ever come across. Here are the statistics for our cruise for those interested: First timers 1956 Gold (after one cruise) 558 Ruby (after three cruises) 199 Platinum (after 5 cruises) 298 Elite (after 15 cruises) 132 1st most - 1799 days 2nd most - 1034 days 3rd most - 993 days Earlier I was told 360 minors aboard.

We are supposed to be back on board at 3:30 PM. It is now 4:06 PM and they are looking for two people who evidentially not returned yet. It would not be without pier runners at Cozumel. Captain just announced that the pax have been found.

We are supposed to be back onboard by 3:30 PM. Just looked out on our balcony and this is what we saw at 3:13 PM

Mahogany Bay $17.84 Costa Maya $16.68 This is for each person

We were notified today that Princess is giving everyone a $75 goodwill OBC for the ports missed. They had already refunded are port fees for the two ports missed. In my past princess cruises when we missed a port besides the port fees, Princess had also given us a small OBC as a goodwill measure. Yeah Princess!!!

Puerta Maya (Carnival piers) was full today with three Carnival ships in port (Vista, Dream and Paradise) using the piers. Next door at the RCL piers was the Adventure and Jewel. At the pier near the city was Serenade and Star Legenda. There was no room for any more cruise ships today in Cozumel and tomorrow will probably be as busy. This time of season the ports at Cozumel are all booked up. We are now waiting for the Vista to clear the area and the other two ships who are welcoming passengers back in order to leave to allow us to land. We have been on over 30 Princess cruises and indeed have missed ports. In all cases (two last year) we were given a small OBC as a token from Princess. We have a large number of newbies on board and so far, Princess is convincing them not to go on Princess again. If this were my first time, I would remember it all too well and look at other cruise lines out of Galveston. We have a 26-day cruise booked for this fall so we will be back.

Captain just announced that we will dock in Cozumel today at 1700 hrs (5 PM) and will remain there overnight with the gangways open all night.

No The Allure is on its way to Cozumel.

The young kids are probably having a good time on the Lido deck pools. They are young enough to not care that much. Swimming, pizza and ice cream, what a kid's dream. For the rest of us this sucks. This is our 35th cruise on Princess and while we have missed a port, never had we missed two ports on the same cruise. We have never missed a Western Caribbean port until now. I can imagine with all the new Princess cruisers onboard they are openly hostile. The Allure is also skipping the port. There are 7 ships in port today so far in Cozumel.

Give them time to post the refunds to you folio and to add any goodwill OBC after the HQ approves it. In all my Princess cruises (30+) they have given the goodwill OBC.

the 3080 is what they call bottom berths. However, many rooms can accommodate more such as 3 or 4 with drop down beds and couches for those rooms that have it. I asked this morning and was told there are 360 children aboard who most likely are staying in their parents' cabin. That is the most I have ever seen in my over 30 Princess cruises. No, it never includes the crew.