JillK

12 hours ago, applequeen said:

You bet they will be hearing from me. I am livid that it won’t be open for our April cruise. My kids have been vaccinated since November. There is NO reason it should not be available for fully vaccinated kids. I am angry because we booked and paid in full with no warning that it would closed. We would have made other plans for Spring Break. 
 

They know how to run these things. If it was a money-making activity there is no chance it wouldn’t be open. Cruise lines are logistical experts. They can get the clubs open if it is a priority. 
 

My PVP was happy to let me book knowing it was closed. I will not use her again. She knew the kids activities were important to me. 

It's the lack of transparency that is most bothersome - feels like they are purposefully hiding that it's closed. 

I too will not use my PVP again for the same reason. 

I got  "Yes it's closed until June. Sorry about that." as a response when I asked her to confirm after reading about it here. 

Way back in 2019 my husband and I decided that for the next three years, until our eldest graduated high school, we would do one big family cruise every year.

Well... that didn't end up happening of course! Hubby and I did a very nice cruise in December 2019 sans les enfants and then had our family cruise for March break 2020 cancel as life changed radically overnight.

So we are trying to make up for lost time by shoving three cruises into this calendar year as we know that our daughter who is starting university in the fall will not necessarily have the time available to travel with us nor have the same breaks (I'm looking at you spring break: Feb post secondary, March everyone else).

I am more than happy to be less boring, but until we actually get on a ship (fingers crossed, just over a week), I too am stuck with trying to fully understand the details of requirements and testing.

The shifting sands of regulations, both at our port of departure and to re-enter our own country are certainly keeping us on our toes. I am very grateful to all on this Canadian Cruisers board in particular to helping me to keep up with everything.

I hope eventually that we will need less of this and can spend more time talking about the fun stuff. 

3 hours ago, Russ Lomas said:

We originally booked the Rexall appointments a few months ago.  I contacted Costco to talk to the pharmacist after we booked Costco when appointments became available for booking this Monday to ask what documentation they provided.  The pharmacist said that they will only conduct tests for people flying from Canada and would not test for the purposes of people going on a cruise, as per Costco Canada's policies.  We live near Windsor, so we are flying from Detroit, so she said we could not get a test done without providing proof we are flying from a Canadian airport.

 

Thanks for letting me know - we are driving to port so I was really worried about the testing at Costco after reading this.

I called the location that we are booked at and specifically told her that we were driving to port and boarding a ship. She said as long as the cruiseline is requiring RAT, their test was good and to bring our passports so that they can add this to the report.

Strange that different locations would have different policies? 

Mentally adding 30% to every purchase? 

15 hours ago, Russ Lomas said:

We did the same as you and booked at Costco for next Thursday the day they released bookings for that day.  We have Rexall booked later in the evening as a back up.  Rexall is $10 cheaper per person that Shoppers.

Hi Russ - do you mind if I ask why you have booked a back up? Is it in case they run out of tests or in case you test positive? 

Thanks for the tip about Rexall- I didn't know they were cheaper than (what seems to be) the average of $40.

2 hours ago, shof515 said:

 

i was on the getaway last week and this was my experience onboard. lots of kids going crazy around the ship. they was also a group of kids asking people for selfies. very strange 

Not surprised really. Yikes. 

Curious to see if there will be any side effects of this decision such as an increase in kids running amok unsupervised. I generally have seen small gangs of kids misbehaving on several cruises in the past, but without a dedicated place for them to go be kids with structure, I suspect we'll be seeing more shenanigans. 

Since a vacation isn't a vacation from parenting, my younger two will have to suffer with being with me full time and I will now need to plan/bring activities along (so basically just take the stuff we do here all the time on the road). At least the teen club is open for my older two but ironically, they are the two that I could have left on their own (16 and 17)! 

As someone said on another post, they've also just lost my spa and casino business and likely many other parents' as well! 

It's one thing to be aware and book the trip, but quite another to have no idea and find out accidentally a week before your cruise. I'm sure NCL could communicate this in a more transparent way if they wanted to. Curious business decision to not be forthright.

I am a planner by nature but for the first time ever, we made the decision to do a last minute cruise. We booked last Monday and sail in just under two weeks. We could have chosen between Royal or NCL but went with NCL as they are the preferred line of my parents who are joining us and we had a CruiseNext to use up. 

In looking at the website, there is NO indication that SA is suspended - in fact, under the tab relating to families they do nothing but speak to how great their offerings are. I hadn't been on the NCL board here in a few months and was not aware that it had been suspended. I booked directly with NCL and the agent did not mention it either, despite the fact that I am travelling with four children.

It feels to me as though NCL is deliberately concealing this information. Nothing I can do about it now but frankly if I had known, we would have booked with Royal instead. 

We have been cooped up under a myriad of lockdowns for two years and could use some space from one another. That's one thing I've always liked about cruises for families - lots of things to do together but opportunities to do things separately too. 

I emailed my agent and she confirmed that it is suspended until June, subject to change so I think it's safe to assume it will not re-open in March.

Very disappointed at the lack of transparency. 

4 hours ago, Keata said:

I agree - I was so surprised to see Princess still doing this when NCL basically said you figure it out - especially while disembarking in Europe.

According to the NCL website they will provide RAT at no cost (Question #14 under FAQs).

Can you kindly let me know what information or experience you have to the contrary? We are cruising with NCL in less than two weeks and I'm seeing lots of conflicting info.

Thanks! 

1 hour ago, dewb5359 said:

Does the Ridgefield Garden Inn allow you to leave your vehicle on their lot for the duration of the cruise?

 

Yes they do still offer the cruise and park option which is what we are booked under.

Although we had originally booked under the cruise, park and go rate which included shuttle, they called about a month ago to advise that they are no longer offering the shuttle service. Too bad as it was really well done and we enjoyed the experience when we last used it in December 2018. 

We are currently planning on two Ubers (4 people per) unless we can find a service we can pre-book.

Hi lakelivin2. 

I've just booked at Costco for testing for our cruise over the kids March Break. 

According to their website, Costco administers the Abbott Panbio Rapid Antigen Tests which are widely accepted per my understanding.

Given that we are a family of 6, I'm quite happy that I don't have to fork out the standard $40 price most other pharmacies are charging but would have done so in order to have a vacation! 

As a tip, when I started checking I was unable to get spots but noticed that a lot of their calendar was blank as opposed to showing booked... I continued to check at two locations close to me a few times a day and they did open up more slots on the day we need to test, allowing me to book for my family. My backup plan was to book at Shoppers if I couldn't secure testing at Costco.

Best of luck! 

Hoping someone can provide some recommendations.... 

Our hotel (Ridgefield Garden Inn) has stopped providing cruise pier shuttle transportation. 

Does anyone have a recommendation on a local car/shuttle service that can get us from the hotel to the pier and back for a cruise in March? We are 8 people with two vehicles.

At $40/night, the cost of parking at the pier would be $560 for our vehicles and we are hoping we can get a shuttle at a better rate.

Thanks! 

Thanks all for your insight. 

Last time I checked there are roll calls for portions of our cruise so I will have a look and see if there are established groups booking together or if there is interest in doing so. A great suggestion ontehweb - thanks! 

It's been 14 years since my last Princess cruise and it looks like things have changed quite a bit!

Hubby, myself and our teenaged daughters (16 & 17) are going to be sailing the Med aboard the Regal Princess July 2 - 16th. 

I would appreciate everyone's thoughts on the best way to go about booking shore excursions... Although I know there are often more affordable options if I book independently (and I do when we are in the Caribbean), given our unfamiliarity with the destinations and the language barrier, I would prefer to use ship sponsored excursions this time around.

First question: Based on your experience, would you recommend that I book online or should we wait until we're on board to book (so still good availability)?

Second question: Does Princess ever have cruise planner sales the way Royal Caribbean does? We did save 20% - 30% on excursions when we cruised the British Isles by booking online when they were running a sale.

Many thanks for the advice! 

Hi. 

I emailed on Feb 10th and haven't yet receive any reply or confirmation of request. 

Just wondering how quickly you got the email back saying it would take 21 days to process? 

Thanks! 

Thanks everyone for your input. Yes we have a lot of leg work to do to prepare and I really appreciate all the suggestions on where to look. 

I did not list specific POC because we are still choosing which two 7-week itineraries we are going to do B2B (booked as a 14 night) but the usual suspects are involved: Livorno, Rome, Athens, Barcelona, Naples, Mykonos, Ephesus, Istanbul, Genoa, Marseilles, Gibraltor, Kotor, Santorini, Messina... 

The kids do understand that this is port intensive and involves a more cultural experience than they have had in their previous Caribbean cruises. 

Hi everyone! 

My husband and I are looking at booking a once-in-a-lifetime dream vacation of 14 nights in the Med this summer for our family (4 kids: 10, 12, 16 & 17). 

Here in Ontario, Canada we have just come out of yet another round of tight COVID restrictions and we just feel that we need an opportunity to live again. With our eldest graduating high school in June, we're thinking let's just go big and hope that things have smoothed out by July (including loosening Government of Canada travel restrictions currently in place making it expensive and stressful to travel).

Hubby and I have two Princess cruises under our belt but those were done on our own as a couple and over ten years ago (2008).

I would love to have any feedback on the Princess experience for teens/kids... the kids have all cruised previously with NCL and Celebrity but all before they hit the teenage years.

We have never been to the Med and with so many of us, although I don't like the price point, my inclination is to book excursions through Princess. So two things: 1/ do they ever have "sales" in the cruise planner the way Royal does or is the price the price and 2/  if anyone would like to share their experiences in the region with ship excursions, that would be wonderful! 

Thank you so much for all who reply!

Last cruise NCL Gem December 2019... left the four kids at home and had a nice getaway. As it turns out it- we needed that recharge before the chaos of 2020! We were due to cruise March 2020 with the kiddos on Anthem.... then was due to cruise this coming March, also on Anthem with the kiddos. We just cancelled because the Government of Canada travel restrictions are making it too stressful to go right now. Super frustrated. Vaccinated and boostered and waiting for a chance to get out from the weight of the past two years and live again. Hope we can travel this coming summer... Thanks to all who continue to cruise and post about their experiences here. At least I can cruise vicariously!

28 minutes ago, edrussell said:

I can add that we crossed via land last night after our sailing from Baltimore.  We crossed back at the Peace Bridge.  The agent did not even look at the tests.  Nor the ArriveCAN.  Just asked if we had them.

 

We did terminal testing provided by RCCL and had the results within 40 minutes.  The tests were provided by Rapid Reliable Testing.  When I checked the results it met all the criteria as set out for an acceptable test.   

 

I certainly hope that there is advancement with the Switch Health LAMP test as it is a fantastic option for Canadians.  We will be using them on our upcoming April Las Vegas trip.

Thank you for sharing your experience and I'm really glad to hear that you didn't encounter any issues crossing the border. 

I personally find it very disappointing that the border guard did not look at the results. This point is causing our family a lot of grief over whether or not to go on our planned March Break cruise. If we go ahead and spend a minimum of $1260 USD for our family ("starting at $210 usd per person") on tests at the port and they aren't even verified at the border I will be incensed. 

9 hours ago, Cruisingrampy said:

Could one bring their own approved test on board and do it a day or 2 before rhe cruise is over if they were flying out on the 3rd day

In theory yes - you could get the Switch Health tests ($149 + GST for Aeroplan members or $199 + GST), buy the WiFi package and do the proctored test the day before disembarkation. 

I have read of people doing these successfully when flying and one harrowing story of the border agents not accepting this as a valid result when trying to cross by land (because the lab address was in Canada and the test needs to be taken abroad). 

9 hours ago, like2cruise said:

Are you planning a cruise in March and planning on the cruise lines accepting a "letter of recovery" negating the need to test prior to boarding a cruise because I know that haven't been accepting the letter previously or maybe it is different for guests from Canada?

The reason why she wants to get her positive PCR test result formalized is that to re-enter Canada you either have to have a negative PCR test done 72 hours prior to entry or a positive result taken 10 - 180 days prior to entry. If you have neither you either you risk a $5000 (plus surcharge) fee per traveller.

As a few other people have mentioned, you know the regulations are stupid when people are happy to have a positive result so they don't have to go through the expense and stress of securing a rapid PCR test after disembarking so that they can come home. 

5 hours ago, maysill88 said:

I know. It would have been nice to have since we bought more than 10 drinks throughout the cruise, but the full beverage package is way too much for us!

I have often taken advantage of these cards and was also hoping we would be able to use them in future. 

It's too bad that Royal doesn't have varying tiers for the drink package for those of us in between buying a la carte and the full drink package. 

Keep looking out for it and call if you don't see it within 2 weeks. 

My former TA cancelled my Med cruise without my direction. I only found out by logging into the Cruise Planner which showed no cruises booked. I had already purchased $1500 in shoreex during the Labour Day sale. 

I called Royal right away to see if this could be reversed but was told it was too late and a refund was already in progress... that refunds begin processing immediately upon a cancellation.

After three weeks and several assurances that it was processed on their end and to check with my credit card (which I did) a third phone call revealed that due to a processing error, the refund had not been issued correctly. After 1 1/2 hours on the phone with a rep, this was fixed and it then took a further 9 business days before it finally showed up.

So keep checking... and bite the bullet and call to investigate if you don't see it in short order. 

Good luck! 

19 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

The other time was the couple next door seemed to be celebrated with some we time.  And both were quite vocal.  🙂

 

I had to chuckle at my own memory of going to check out our modest inside cabin shortly after boarding on the Emerald Princess. It was quickly obvious the couple next door had decided to really check out their cabin. We could hear her she was *quite* happy. This was not a connecting cabin.  

You can expect it to be very familiar to what you are accustomed to on Carnival. In terms of all the basics, all the lines I've cruised have been very similar.

Hope you enjoy your cruise!