mjmalino

1 hour ago, StLouisCruisers said:

They ask for your voyage number on the CCL Shareholders Benefit form.  Other than that not needed often.

Unless I am using a different form they do not ask for a voyage number. They ask for confirmation number, ship and sailing date.

I think it depends on the kids. My kids (now 22 and 21) have always enjoyed Princess. My younger son especially really found people in the kids/teen centers, but had a harder time once he aged out, but he is much more reserved and has a hard time putting himself out there when not in an organized group. My older one on the first day of the cruise would sit outside the teen center with Cards against Humanity and meet other teens, then again, my older son LOVES the art auctions.

As for the Medallions, you can go to Passenger Services and they can add the other cabin to your medallion. We did it with our kids on the Sky last year (they were 20 and 21). I took one of the kids with me to authorize me have access to their cabin, but, when completed, my medallion opened both cabins. With regards to switching cabins, we had considered doing the same thing for our 2022 cruise as my older son and I drink and my younger son drinks very little and my husband rarely does. 

28 minutes ago, Travlin grrl said:

If you are vaccinated and can show proof, I would think you don't need to do a covid test?

And if everyone had to be vaccinated, even better.

I agree with that, but the US is still requiring a negative covid test to return the country. I am hoping that they soon allow those with proof of vaccine to return without testing.

7 minutes ago, XBGuy said:

It seems to me that there have been reports here on Cruise Critic that on some cruises the Princess Patter was not being delivered to passenger cabins.  However, it was available at the Guest Services Desk.  Whether this was a test is not clear to me.  My last cruise was January 2020 and I can tell you that the Patter was delivered to our cabin on the Star Princess.  Since nobody has cruised on Princess in over a year, we do not have any recent information.

 

Personally, I like the printed copy.  Others prefer having it on their mobile device.  There is no right or wrong.  Having printed copies available at the Guest Services Desk may be a reasonable accommodation.

I believe that they were delivered to our cabins on the Sky as well, but again, this was January 2020. I also remember the steward putting them on the bed because there wasn't a mail holder (for lack of a better word) in the doorway like on other ships.

3 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

I do not disagree with your list.

 

The problem is that with or without priority, people are not wanting to get the vaccine in Florida and many other places.

 

So if the vaccine is sitting there without demand, I see no reason not to offer it to ships' crews.

I do not disagree either. I will also add many of the crew members send money back to their families in their home countries, so by making sure that they are vaccinated, and that they can get back to work, whereas it might not help those back home from getting sick, it will help them economically. 

I will also say that as much as I would like cruising to start again, I think that we need to do what we can to help those in India and Brazil.

It is commissionable, but honestly I have not figured out if it on the total amount of the Princess Plus or only on the base cost of the internet and drink page. 

My kids always enjoyed Princess' kids camps when they were younger. In Alaska many of the activities were geared toward Alaska and when we did our scenic cruising in Glacier Bay one of the rangers that boarded the ship did a Jr. Ranger Program in the kids camp. Granted, my kids are now 22 and 21, so this is a few years ago, but I can't see it having changed that much.

On 4/10/2021 at 9:36 AM, mv_hana said:

This is very disappointing. I understand the logistics are extremely difficult regarding the crew. However, I'm curious how Royal Caribbean and Norwegian managed to insure vaccinations for their crew members. We're booked in 2022, but just testing the crew would not be acceptable. Vaccinations for all or we will have to make other plans.

I understand. Honestly, when I heard about Royal Caribbean and Norwegian I thought the same thing. The one thing I keep reminding myself is that the webinar that I saw was about 3 weeks prior to the announcements, so a lot could have changed.

3 minutes ago, Thrak said:

Poop. I already have flights booked for January. I guess I need to redo them so I have an extra day before the return flight from Melbourne. (Assuming, of course, that Australia even lets us go there in the first place.)

Take it for what it's worth, but I have a friend who was offered a job in Australia last March. He has yet to be able to begin there because he can't get into the country. I spoke with him a few weeks ago and he said that they are telling him that Australia is planning on being open by October, but he wasn't sure if that was for everyone, or just those, like him, who are awaiting work visas.

4 minutes ago, Potstech said:

Why should Princess provide it as it has nothing to do with the actual cruise?  Also how much extra should they charge for this test if they did provide it?

They don't have to, but many of the All-inclusive resorts in Mexico and elsewhere in the Caribbean are offering free testing for US citizens prior to their departure. They are also offering either free or reduced rates for those who test positive. They don't have to, but they are, so, I can see cruise lines offering something similar for their passengers.

I was on a webinar with Princess a few weeks ago and, at that time, it was stated that they did not have immediate plans to require crew to be vaccinated mainly because many crew members did not have easy access to vaccines, if any access at all, in their countries. This can certainly change as more and more countries start vaccinating, but that was the last I heard on the subject.

The kids camp hours are:

9am -noon

1pm-5pm

7pm-10pm

In addition, you can pay for late night sitting, in the kids club from 10pm-1am for those between the ages of 3 and 12. I believe the price of this is $5/child/hour. Those in the teen center, ages 13-17, are welcome to stay, without surcharge, until 1 am.

I am 50 and have been cruising Princess since my 30's, with kids in tow. We all love Princess. We have also cruised a variety of destinations such as the Mediterranean, Baltic, Alaska and Caribbean and on some ships the nightlife was almost non-existent, on others it was non-stop. I was actually surprised that one of the cruises that had the most nightlife was our 14 day Baltic a few years ago. But, our last cruise, Sky in Jan 2020 also had a lot of nightlife, but if I remember correctly, I am not sure Alaska did (but this was back in 2007, so I might not be remembering correctly).

I am going to repeat some of what was said, then add. First, my sons are just over a year apart and on our first cruise one was on the upper limit of one age group while the other was the youngest age in the other. We had asked about letting them be together and were told no. Now, this is Princess, and admittedly my kids are now 22 and 21, so things may have changed since 2007. It should be noted, however, that neither one was eligible for the teen center and they still didn't allow it.

Also, the kid's camps supervisor (if in their discretion) may make that decision solely based on the number of kids booked on the sailing since, I believe, they can only have so many in at one time. If they have over a certain number of perspective kids in an age group, I can't see them allowing a child from a different age group (teen in this instance) take another kids place.

One Source is the agent site, but  it is not (supposed to be) accessed through book.princess.com. 

When I go to book.princess.com I go to my captain's circle homepage

February 2022. 14 day Cape Horn and Strait of Magellan.

We did the Baltic Heritage cruise in 2016 (round trip from Southampton). We also had 2 days in St. Petersburg and used Alla Tours, highly recommend them. One thing about Russia, (and admittedly this was 5 years ago, so things may have changed) if you are on a US passport, you must have either visitor's visa or tickets for a tour  to get off the ship. The tour could be through either the ship or one of Russia's licensed companies. Also, Alla gave us a discount when we booked multiple destinations with them, so we also booked Copenhagen and Helsinki. 

As for laundry, the laundromats on each deck that there are passenger cabins has been a huge thing for us as there are 4 of us (always travel with my kids, even though they are now grown), especially on longer cruises.

Here are some pics from our cruise on the Sky Princess Jan 4-11, 2020

On 3/6/2021 at 11:10 PM, hobbyfarmer2 said:

We liked Take 5 quite a bit and spent some time there most nights on our b2b TA in 2019.  It would be great to have both Crooner's and Take 5.

We enjoyed it as well. My youngest, who was 21 when we were on her in Jan. 2020, spent every night there.

The way I look at it is this (and I actually had this discussion with my husband). Princess will allow you to re-fare your cruise if the fare drops prior to final payment with a refundable deposit. The only caveat is that if you re-fare your cruise you will do it under whatever the current promotion is. So, if it is really the cruise fare that you are interested in, I would book it now and watch to see if it drops prior to final payment so that you can request the price drop, but ensuring that the price doesn't increase. 

19 hours ago, Castaway Cowgirl said:

That party won’t help a red state.

I don't agree with that assessment.

On 2/27/2021 at 12:47 PM, Ombud said:

Interesting link .... if allowed no one disembarks but satisfies PVSA 

 

https://www.royalcaribbean blog .com/2021/02/25/congress-sends-bipartisan-letter-canada-asking-compromise-cruise-ship-ban

 

This is great, BUT, if  the CDC doesn't allow the cruise lines to start sailing again,  it's not going to mean a dang thing.

6 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

Not a peep!  The framework doesn't even take into account the potential benefits of vaccines.  It is written as if they anticipated there would be no vaccines out there.  So now that vaccines are here, being distributed, and Covid numbers sharply dropping, the CDC is leaving the entire industry and customers in limbo.  IMHO CDC has been committing malfeasance on this since the 'Framework' came out - they can call it what they will, but it's still the same old Cruise Ban they were told to end.

I agree.