dickinson

This wasn't the result of a vision....there is a history to it. You might want to explore why it happened.

 

Btw, you can have all the bacon you can eat.

Ok… I'll bite :D What is the history to it?

Food is always subjective and as much ship to ship as cruise line to cruise line. I really would have to see your itinerary on the 2 cruises to believe the price is "1000's of dollars more" on Princess. Are you comparing same cabins, etc.?

Take a look. Carnival Pride Jan 19 Baltimore - San Juan and then on the 28th San Juan to Baltimore. This is 2016. Probably because they are one way cruises (a 10 day and an 11 day) they are priced low. Royal Princess for approximately same time period (it is a regular route). Princess does 10 day RT Ft Lauderdale. I was pricing Carnival in an 8c balcony and Princess in a BB (I think) category. Either way they are balconies midship sandwiched between other cabins above and below. BIG difference in price plus no airfare or hotel for day before for us on Carnival as we are close to the port.

As for food… I am beginning to think you are right. I did a thread on the Carnival board last month and got people saying they cruise both lines and have had good and bad on both. My upcoming cruise to Hawaii on Princess does not get good reviews for the food on that particular ship. Oy!

Okay folks…. you have me scared. Years ago we used to sail Carnival and had no problems. I realize times have changed. Our last two cruises on Princess had ok food (our first Princess cruise I felt that Carnival was better but I was comparing to 2004 Carnival). Now we are considering a 21 day b2b on Carnival during Jan 2016 to Southern Caribbean. 20 minute drive to the port. (Princess has similar itinerary but we would have to fly to FL and the price of cruise is A LOT more than Carnival… thousands of dollars more) This food quality issue concerns me! How bad is bad? Is it that you don't care for the choices? The food in MDR is cold? Overcooked? What is it you folks don't like?

Just returned from a cruise and we talked to a woman at breakfast. She told us of her husband having a heart attack on a cruise and having to be medivaced out of a remote reservation. I asked if she had Princess insurance or another kind. Surprisingly, she had neither. She said her regular health insurance had paid for the whole thing. Maybe I should check on this, and we have pretty good health insurance, but I'm not sure it would pay for this. I have often thought that the biggest reason for trip insurance is not so much for the cost of the trip but whatever financially disastrous medical conditions could occur.

I had checked with my health insurance and after checking they said they would pay for it. Because I want to be 100% positive I buy the travel insurance. Doesn't matter what I am told on the phone. HOWEVER it is good to know that health insurance might cover it. I think mostly our problems are that we really don't hear from the few people who have needed it to find out the details.

So sorry to hear about all this! Are you still on the phone with them???!! What happened? I hope it has been resolved to your satisfaction.

Probably a stupid question but what if your category is sold out? Is it worth contacting my TA just to see?

So, I'm back from my cruise on the Pride. All went perfectly, according to plan. I took the foam mattress topper and laid it out on the bed upon unpacking on Embarkation Day. I asked the room steward to install it whenever he got a chance. He said "No problem" and popped in and did it sometime before turn down.:)

 

On debarkation day, I asked the steward if I could leave the mattress pad with him, letting him know it was bought new for this cruise. I said I hoped he knew of somewhere it could be put to use and suggested it could be easily cut in half for two twin beds. He grinned really big and said, "Sure! I can put it on my bed!:D" This is just what I was hoping for.:) Even if he just tossed it into the garbage, it was worth the $30 to ensure DH and I could sleep on our cruise. But I do hope he put it to use - I hate to waste.:o

 

Just thought I'd share my experience for those thinking of doing the same thing.:o

Thanks for letting us know. Did you test the bed first to confirm it really was hard? How thick was your mattress topper?

If I remember correctly the limits for medical and also medical evacuation is quite low on the Princess Insurance whereas other companies have much higher limits for less cost.

Also, the poster who said it only cost $40 some odd dollars for the insurance…. you must be young. It is a LOT more for us older folk. :mad:

Three days will probably be enough. It usually takes two days for the personalizer to update the info. If not, just follow procedures listed above.

Thanks Pia!

Last night Mrs. Times Prince and I talked about our upcoming cruise where we have Princess pre-paid gratuities and lots of OBC - more than we normally spend onboard, even using OBC's for gratuities.

 

Mr. Times Prince: "This could be a problem, especially as we've been to several of the ports before and won't be doing Princess Excursions for those..."

 

Mrs. Times Prince: (with a twinkle in her eye and a cute smile on her lips) - "Not a problem spending all that OBC; they have jewelry stores on board ;)"

 

Mr. Times Prince: :rolleyes:

Love it!!!!

how long does it take to change if you are not on a b2b? what if there are 3 days in between cruises?

(we'll be going from ruby to platinum)

This really has me very curious. For me the issue is NOT about getting cash or OBC being Non-refundable (If were all non-refundable I will spend it, not a problem) My issue is the way the policy is not well communicated and I have doubt it will be uniformly and consistently enforced.

 

Regarding "free gratuities" promotion, I think that should never be refundable for cash or used for anything else and one should NOT have a choice to opt out of auto gratuities in that case. Why would one withhold these tips from the crew who work so hard for us?

 

My cruise is in less than 3 weeks. The credits portion on my personalizer looks like this (below, copied from my personalizer) It does not copy visually exactly, but the letters & numbers are all there and that is all there is. I see No clue about refundable or non-refundable. How are you all able to tell? I highly anticipate I will only know once I am able to ask at passenger services onboard. I do not expect Princess to do anything on my personalizer at this late date. With OBC not all being refundable or all non-refundable, who chooses what OBC is used towards what items? A computer program, the passenger, a ship employee, a headquarters employee??? With the folio system I have been used to I do not see how that can be done anyway. That part will be a real mess.

 

 

 

Travel Agent Promotion $XX.00 $XX.00 Onboard Sales Promotion $XX.00 $XX.00 Shareholders Benefits $XXX.00 $XXX.00

I can only answer what you put in red about how can you tell. The only way to tell is IF there is an * next to one of the credits. THEN there is a notation at the bottom saying it is nonrefundable.

Thanks!! I already reserved the excursions online. In Maui I wanted to do whale watching but also see some scenery that is popular to go to. I figured if I rented a car I would waste a lot of time. Based on the times the whale watching company posts I would have to do the scenery first to give time to rent the car. Then though I would be at the mercy of traffic and my own judgement as to how much time to allow to get back and return the car and be ready to go whale watch. My head spins. Too much wasted time. Instead it will cost tons more but less stressful ;)

I have booked two Princess excursions… one am and the other pm. There is an hour and 15 minutes after the am excursion ends and before the pm excursion starts. HOWEVER it is a tender port. After the AM excursion do I have to take a tender back to the ship or do they also set up meeting points on shore for those people who are already ashore? I was hoping to use the time to eat lunch plus I don't know how long it actually takes to tender.

Thanks for any help with your experiences.

Thanks Pam. Hope you had a wonderful cruise! I have a couple of questions. If you have some OBC that is refundable and some that isn't which do they use first? Hopefully they use the non refundable first.

On my upcoming cruises in Feb I will have shareholder, FCC, goodwill gesture from Princess and OBC from TA. Will the OBC from TA be refundable and the rest NR? Can the NR be used for tips?

Thanks!

Oh and also onboard credit promotion. How do we know what is refundable and what is not?

Yes, there is a line of cabs waiting at the zoo exit pretty much all day long. They tend to be obscured by some trees and advertising as people are walking back to the parking lot, so they miss seeing them. As you exit the turnstiles, keep going straight ahead, don't follow the crowd going left toward the parking lot. Behind the trees/ads, there is a road where the taxis wait for passengers.

AAA members can save on tickets for San Diego Zoo -

"Save over 15% when you purchase tickets at your local Auto Club branch. OR' date=' save 10% at the gate."

 

The San Diego Zoo is very hilly so be sure you are wearing comfortable shoes.[/quote']

 

 

Thanks for the info on where the taxis are. I had called the zoo and they said there were always taxis but didn't really tell me where.

 

We are AAA members so this will help! Thanks.

Why does the Facebook ad show $150.00 OBC and when you log into Princess it shows only $100.00.

I don't see it on their Facebook page but after scrolling down a bit I did see the 3 for Free. There is a little button there that says Book Now. You would have to click on that for the offer. Maybe the same thing was on the offer you saw.

I know I have received emails about specials . If you don't book through the link but go to Princess website the price is higher.

Shepp - We have been to Hawaii before although it has been a loooong time. Twenty five years ago was the last time and at that point we did not go to Maui. We did however on our honeymoon in 1973 but it was for the day. I actually have no pictures of Maui!!! However I do remember walking in Lahaina and the Iao Needle. My dh however doesn't remember it at all. I just spent a bit of time reading old threads about tendering in Maui and car rentals etc. I decided to bite the bullet and spend more $$$ by doing Princess tours. I wanted to whale watch and also go to Iao Needle so I booked going to the Needle for a morning tour and the whale watch for afternoon. There is an hour and 15 min between them so hopefully we can get a bite to eat.

The big question is can you meet at the tender dock for the afternoon tour or would we have to go back to the ship on the tender?

Oddly enough about 15% - 20% of the time this doesn't work at all for me. I end up with a blank post area just as if I hadn't clicked to quote. It's extremely annoying.

Wow. Always worked for me. I see the symbol next to it says multi quote but when I click on it all it does is change to red. Not sure how to really multi quote.

edit: Ok, figured out the multi quote. Click that on the post you want… go to another post and click that multi quote. Then click at the bottom of the thread to reply to quote and both will show up. Always learn things new here on CC!

Now, back to the purpose of this thread!

We rented a car on each island. I think it was Kauai where we had a problem. When I took the shuttle to get the car I discovered a LOT of people waiting for cars. Even though we had booked well in advance there were no cars. Someone had rented out all of the pre-booked cars to people who had flown in that morning.

 

I waited THREE HOURS while my wife and son were back at the ship. Finally they arranged for a car through a different agency. However, all they could arrange was a mini van that was a huge pain to get my son in and out of as he has to transfer from a wheelchair. He has zero use of his legs and only partial use of hands and arms. It was extremely difficult to manage transfers with this vehicle due to the height of the seats from the ground. With this hassle and the 3 hours of port time that was lost (I so very much enjoyed sitting on the low stone railing for that time...) it really made a difference in our limited port time there.

 

We made the best of it and were determined to enjoy ourselves and not rant, rave, or dwell on the problems. It ended up as a good port stop but was very far from a great port stop.

 

Note: While waiting 3 hours for a car that I had booked 2 months in advance I maintained a calm and relaxed attitude toward the rental people. There was a guy there who spent most of his time ranting and raving and making sure everybody knew just how important he was and how outraged he was about the snafu. It did him no more good than my more relaxed (actually more resigned...) attitude. I always wonder why people like that think their histrionics are going to do any good.

This is a bit scary because of the limited time in port. I would be very upset about all the time wasted. I commend you for your patience and glad that inspite of this snafu you at least enjoyed yourself.

Sorry, I don't know how to copy the quotes (and I'm not old). The whole thing is becoming a joke. It's not just about tender tickets and elite lounge. My point was, it was a perk and something to look forward to. Just like the suites have their own advantages, that I never begrudged them. There is the "perk" of a special line at the pursers desk only for Elite and Suites. Never had a problem there, limited number of elites and suite passengers. How is it a perk anymore if the line is just as long as the regular (much like "priority boarding" has become almost a joke).

 

It was sometimes a perk for getting a better table. Now how do they know looking at someone's black card weather they have 15 cruises and 20 sailing days or if they are like my Dad with 35 cruises and over 500 days (one cruise being the World).

The only thing to really look forward to is the MTP luncheon and sometimes he might not even make that cut (too bad he can't add his 500 days with Holland). Not even to mention the laundry and internet anymore.

 

Tammy

At the bottom right of each post is a little blue thing that says Quote. Click on that and it will take you to the page for you to type your response.

Just read the thread on the Carnival board. They ended up getting the OBC and Carnival updated the thread saying sorry for the confusion but they still honor the credit for their shareholders.

We are going in February. On Oahu they no longer have shuttles to the airport but only to the Waikiki offices of the rental company. Too bad because the airport locations are open later however I don't want to pay a taxi in each direction (I read it is about $30 each way). I have booked cars for several of the islands too.

I am not elite but have stayed 2x in a suite so got the tender tickets. Never had a problem although was not trying for the first tender. One time they never even took our tender tickets. We just walked on through!

As for the elite/suite lounge.. We did not go on our first cruise but did go a couple of times on our second one. Was not crowded at all.

The elite/suite lounge is the cocktail hour.

If you book as PG, you can always switch to a lower ES rate later on if prices move down.

 

If you book ES you can match a potential PG rate if the price goes down, but you will remain booked under the ES promotion.

How does that work? I assume that if it is after final payment then there is no more ES. Before final payment, assuming there is still ES, could the rates for ES and past guest be much more further apart from each other than they are now? Right now the total is $100 more for past guest. I assume it is possible for past guest to go a bit higher while ES goes down. Is that correct?