CountryCruiser

20 hours ago, chubbypiggy said:

I just bought my 5 cards.  I told my sister about it, and she wants to buy 5 cards also.  I told her she needs to register with AARP with her email address, which she said is fine.  She doesn't want to use her credit card.  For her purchase, can she use my credit card that I just used for my purchase?  She will use her own email address (different from mine).  Thank you.

Yes. 

Just a guess. I would fear that any overpayment would be credited back to the same gift card after the cruise was over. The only other possibility would be that they convert it to OBD. But I would bet that is not the case. They will not give you cash back if it originally came from a gift card. 

11/30 Enchanted. Interior to balcony for $25/day/person. Glad we did it. 

Don’t remember what MIA hotel. But got a stretch from Larry’s Limos to take us to Port Everglades. Pretty cool. 

Another recommendation for Larry’s. 

We use Larry’s from FLL to hotel and from hotel to port. Awesome to work with. We even did a stretch one time from MIA hotel to Port Everglades. Felt like a big shot pulling up to ship in a stretch. It was only around $100. 

Does anybody have a suggestion on covering the non-refundable portion of a 3rd party excursion (day sail)?  I haven’t figured out if insurance will cover it it the ship doesn’t sail, if the ship decides not to port or if things happen to keep us from getting off the ship in the port. I have the premium Princess insurance. But I’m almost positive it won’t cover it. 

I personally don’t think it is a big deal for me to be able to pick an arrival time soon as long as priority boarders get an opportunity to pick a day or 2 ahead of others. Princess could send an email 20 days before sailing saying priority choosing starts at 17 days prior and all others starts at 15 days prior. At 10 days, all that haven’t picked get assigned.  The closer to sailing they can make it, it leaves less opportunity for passengers to need to move around their times. And in turn be less hectic for Princess.  10 days ahead should normally allow plenty of time for making transportation arrangements. 

I've done the canal boat tour as well as the Everglades Park. Done them both twice.  They are good ways to spend a little time before flight.  Also makes getting to the airport pretty convenient.  We may try to figure out something different next time.  But not sure what.  Both are good ways to end your cruise.

Princes is our favorite by far. We are 50 and been cruising Princess for over 10 years. With that said, don’t expect much night life. Carnival or Royal would be your best option for the party crowd. 

13 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Even after the various vaccines are widely available, what happens if there is a significant number of people who refuse to get the vaccine?

 

I don't know if there has been any discussion of that.

No different than if there was a significant number of people who refuse to pay. No pay, no cruise. No shot, no cruise. If they make it required. Which my guess is that they will. 

1 minute ago, jennybenny said:

I don't mean wait until mid cruise, I mean wait until the line dies down a bit in the evening. Stick with your significant other till it happens. If the OP and their friends think the $ amount is worth it, who are we to judge the difficulty?

You are absolutely correct.  I just wanted them to think about all of the potential consequences since they have never done it before.  And if there is some kind of mass hiccup with the systems, those lines may not go down for quite some time.  Especially if you are not platinum or elite.

3 hours ago, jennybenny said:

$200? That's specialty dining money for the OP! If they don't mind the hassle, who cares!

 

The real problem is that you need to wait a bit do make the fix because Passenger services are busy on the first day. We just wait until the line is low/er, but have not had any issues getting this done. So you either stand in a 30 minute line, or wait until it's more manageable to fix. 

Waiting is not really a big deal if it is your kids you are switching.  But for another adult couple, it is really a pain to not be able to get it switched right away.

15 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

 

 

Princess's "list" price for most cruises is $100 more per person than for Captain's Circle Members.  As long as you have a Princess ID, and login, then you see the lower rate. 

 

@franktown probably saw no change because Princess website cookies recognized you as a member.  I have a similar issue when in the USA.  If I simply logout and then check cruise pricing, I see CAD.  I should see USD since I am connected to a US ISP.  I would need to clear cookies in order to see USD pricing.  Or switch to another browser that I have not used for Princess.

 

There is not always a difference.  But many times there is.  I've done the ole switcheroo, but only when there was quite a bit of savings. Not sure $200 would be enough to justify it in the big scheme of things.  It can be somewhat painful with onboard spending and such.

3 hours ago, WisCruiser2 said:

For those who have used it, what do you do with any toiletries that are over the 3 oz carry-on limit? My contact solution is 3.5 oz so I've always put it in my bag to be checked after we claim it in the port terminal. Would be nice to do EZ check as our flight isn't until 1:30.

You really have to plan for this before you leave for the cruise. Make sure that whatever you need on the last night and morning will be allowed as a carry-on on the flight home. And that you have a bag to put it in. 

14 minutes ago, 5:00_Somewhere said:

p.s. - just heard back from our friends who disembarked the Regal Princess last Sunday (29 Dec 2019) and they confirmed that they were offered and did use EZCheck for their return flights. 👍

Thank you for the information. I love EZCheck. 

Does anybody know if Princess still offers EZCheck on The Regal in Fort Lauderdale for Southwest Airlines?

3 minutes ago, pms4104 said:

Was your final amount payable to Princess or to your TA?

Did you ever see your reservation on Princess.com and see that it showed zero balance due?

4 minutes ago, peacefulOR said:

Is anyone familiar with this happening? We have not received an e-mail, etc. for cruise leaving on the Grand, 1/12/2020 and just found this. The reservation line is closed. We booked back in July and hope that it's a mistake! This is to be our first Princess cruise; we haven't seen anything about the cruise being cancelled. Thank you for any help; I'm really nervous so close to departure.

Rainey

That cruise shows sold out online. Did you pay in full?  Sometimes they cancel cruises when they charter out the entire ship. But if you made payment, you would have been informed. If you didn’t make payment, you would have been canceled back in October. 

I’ll add a twist to this conversation. About 4 years ago, we tendered from Princess at St Thomas. Parked right out in the middle of the bay. 

When people describe their experience, it would help if they be clear about if they are referencing check in versus boarding. And if they are talking about the process prior to priority people being allowed to board or if they are referring to time after boarding has started. I think this gets very mixed up and confusing. 

22 hours ago, steelers36 said:

You have hit upon the one drawback for these rooms.  Otherwise, we happen to think the layout is good.  Different strokes for different folks - same as various cabin locations.  IDK what our fave location is as have not tried them all yet.  LOL.

 

I agree that those are 2 drawbacks.  But I like them for every other reason.  So I just learned to not lay naked on the bed and open the door slowly so as not to hit the drawer if it happened to be open.

Does anybody know if you can use gift cards to buy yourself OBC?  I'm not really wanting to have to keep up with several hundred dollars worth of cards until I can get to the service desk.  Also, onboard, do they have to have the actual card or can you just have the numbers with the security code?

You don't have to lose "free gratuities".  Just have them removed from your onboard account.  Just kidding.  Don't flame me.  Add the additional cabin rate, any difference in tax and port fees, any lost guaranteed deposit, and the promotional items that you will end up having to pay for.  Also consider travel costs like airfare differences if you are flying.  If that amount justifies moving the date out, do it now.  That March price will only go up from here.  And might even disappear.  I doubt there will be any additional promotions for that March cruise that pop up between now and then.  The one exception is that if there is a certain cabin type like a balcony that isn't selling well, it might drop in price temporarily.  But not likely.

Can they still purchase Princess travel insurance after final payment?  If so, that might be a good route.  It may not be a covered reason for refund purposes.  But they give a future credit if it is not a covered reason.  One level gives 75% and the other gives 100% I believe.