Yehootu

1 hour ago, skynight said:

USPS will only stop mail for 30 days. If delayed beyond 30 days it is returned to the sender. If you are away longer than 30 days you have to make other arrangements. I have someone in the community who watches my home and picks up the mail for a small cost. Our mail is delivered to a central community mailbox location, not to the home. 

What you can also do is have a friend or even a very friendly mail person, It's amazing what a yearly Christmas gift to them will do, put in a second hold slip. Our Mailwoman used to do this for my Mom every year. I commute and am all over the place and have found a valuable service is the USPS mail notification service, with this service you get a preview of what's in your daily mail delivery. I designed my mailbox at my Hawaii home so my mail goes through a slot into my garage closet and into a large kitchen garbage can. I can have a friend check anything I might have questions about. After a $2 pipe caused a 57K renovation in our LAS home, I've installed water shutoffs on my homes. It's a "T" handle we close on our way out. The outside water for sprinklers and pool fill still work, only no inside water. I carry my laptop and use a VPN to do anything I need secure on my laptop, or use cellular data in port to do any financial transactions. Facetime has gotten pretty good on board to be able to talk to the kids and grandkids. 

On 2/13/2024 at 7:08 PM, rideev said:

But don't get them for a cruise based out of Australia.

I was able to pay for our Queensland cruise as well as the TP from Sydney to YVR. What I was unable to do was pay for excursions in Aus with gift cards due to the conversion to AUD. Otherwise very easy.

39 minutes ago, clojacks said:

We are looking at a couple of Mexican Riviera cruises in November and all the sub-catagories in Balcony, Deluxe Balcony, and Mini-Suite only show GTY available to book? Is this a new way of booking cabins with Princess? Are you unable to select specific locations? Sides? etc.... I find it hard to believe they have sold all the allotted specific cabins for cruises in next November already... 

Could just be another one of Princess's IT departments failures. Just try again later, hopefully not all sold out.

On 2/11/2024 at 1:48 AM, YoPhilly said:

My husband and I spent a full day with Trudy and Jimmy Dwyer of Tropical Tours Samoa.  They picked us up right at the pier with smiling faces, a big welcoming hug, and a clean, comfortable vehicle. Our tour was a little more than six hours, and the two of them were so much fun and so hospitable…we learned and laughed.  On our way out of town, they stopped to pick up delicious picnic lunches, and then we were off.  Samoa is filled with natural beauty, and the Dwyers were keen to show us their island. Their love for Samoa is evident, and they are eager to take guests to places the larger tours can’t access.  We had our picnic lunch with million dollar views. Above all else, what we will remember most from Samoa is Trudy and Jimmy - their hospitality, laughter, and love of their tropical paradise.  I highly recommend them.

tropicaltourssamoa@gmail.com

We spent a day with them last March. Great day! Did you stop for coffee and muffins up in the hills? I wanted to go swimming in the trench but after the big lunch I didn't think I'd make it back up the ladder. Did get in and swim at the seminary school. Trudy was awesome in bargaining down the price of shirts for our Grandsons. Great People, can't recommend enough.

On 5/24/2023 at 1:25 PM, JM-1972 said:

Choeng Mon Beach is 30 minutes away by taxi, there were taxis available outside Melia Hotel every time we left hotel, our experience in Samui is that taxis do not use a meter you agree a price before getting in.  I imagine when there is a cruise ship in that there will be taxis.  Have a look at You tube videos of different beaches. There is also a beach near fisherman’s village which is nearer the port. I found watching you tube videos helped me select where to stay. From Choeng Mon Melia to fisherman’s village 11-15 minute ride we were charged 400 Thai bhat. I think we could have negotiated it down slightly. 

On 8/12/2023 at 3:13 AM, sambamama said:

There are a number of beach clubs. Just Google beach clubs. Also, Lamai Beach is also close and is lovely. It is a very laid back beach with cheaper hotels. I imagine a number of these, if you bought drinks and lunch, would let you use lounges and umbrellas.

After reading one of your reviews we are rethinking our tour with Mr Sumai. Not really tour people, wife likes to shop for Grandkids and I like Thai Food and Beer.

On 9/13/2023 at 2:39 AM, Baggy178 said:

Choeng Mon Beach is a wonderful beach which is great if you don't like Chaweng Beach which is aimed at the mass tourism, loud bar music, ladyboy show crowd.

The beach is open to all and while you can get day passes to the resorts ( of which there are few ) there are lots of places on the beach where you can either find natural shade or hire a sunbed and umbrella.

Great cheap restaurants as well.

We have a day tour planned for our arrival on 10/19 on the Coral Princess. I think we'd rather take a taxi to Fishermans Village, then hit a beach for lunch and drinks on the way back to the ship. Any idea on approx taxi costs and where would you recommend we stop o way back to the ship?

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

The most economical way to get to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary would be by the ship's shuttle bus to the CBD (if the return time is flexible), then a public bus. Taking the bus would only take 15 minutes longer than a taxi but, because the bus only goes every 30 minutes, it would probably involve extra time while waiting for the next bus.

 

I wouldn't be took keen on booking an Uber to pick me up from the cruise terminal. My experience is that if the pick-up location is a bit out of the way (as the cruise terminal is), sometimes the Uber simply doesn't turn up. I and also my daughter, have had that happen a few times when booking an Uber to pick us up from either my home, or hers.

That's kinda of what I was looking for. I have ship tour already booked, It's Sold Out now, but was looking for longer at Sanctuary. Guess we'll ride Da Bus.   Mahalo

Glad I pre booked the Koala holding and pictures for my wife.

Mahalo for all the ideas. 

We really hate going on cruise ship bus tours and always look for alternatives. In Brisbane we'd like to go to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. From what I've read, taxis are expensive and Ubers can go to surge pricing. Figure the best way to go is to pre book and Uber. Any thoughts?

I always book excursions I REALLY want early from the ship and then research and determine what way I want to go. I know that's why you now have to pay up front for the excursions. I've got on the waitlist before once aboard for a last minute excursion we wanted to do and too lazy to research, and have always cleared. I'd rather skip going somewhere than do a LONG big bus excursion. Mount St Michel was the LAST one I'll do.

 Folks are always saying that the ship will add extra buses, etc if full. What's the difference between Waitlist vs Sold Out. Is it the number of cruisers on the Waitlist? Was asked and I couldn't answer.

We usually catch a Pulmonia to Pino Suarez Market, then head to ferry to Stone Island for beers. Great pics!

We've been able to connect our phones and laptops to TV's on a few ships. Think I've seen where you can still do it on the Majestic. Going to try a Firestick on our next cruise as my wife can only take so much CNBC news. Would be nice to get local news. Have been able to use YouTube TV but you also need to use VPN. As for connecting it, the Royal Class ship Tv's are wall mounted and it's a tight fit to get HDMI cord attached. I bring a long cord that I can leave plugged in so only have to do it once. Your children will have no problem getting their arms behind the TV. When there's a will, there's a way. Do a search on how to connect and access HDMI menu.

On 1/28/2024 at 1:27 PM, princeton123211 said:

Quickest with least hassle would be Uber. 

Or Lyft. I check both and take better fare. There will be a lot available.

On 2/10/2024 at 7:59 AM, cr8tiv1 said:

They is a lot to see within “walking” distance.  How good a walker are you?

Mission Houses

Kawaiaha’o Church

City Hall will have a Christmas festival (Honolulu City Light/free)

Iolani Palace

State Capitol

State Library

State Archives

 

Chinatown (be alert to your surroundings)

Foster Botanical Gardens

 

My standard list I give to people that ask me.

6 hours ago, catweazlecat said:

Good Morning from Germany
we have just returned from our cruise that stopped in Ko Samui in January and decided to book a driver for the day that took us around the island and stopped where we wanted.
It was really nice to be independend with a car for us and our friends only and we had a great day on the island.
Driver picked us up and we had to communicate with Googlemaps and a translator. I planned what to do and see in advance and showed it to the driver from one step to the next. We visited temple, a elephant camp, Lamai Beach and stopped for a swim at Chaweng Beach before heading back to the ship in the afternoon.
Can not recommend to stop for swimming at Chaweng due to tides and strong currents very often. Better beaches would be Lamai or the north near the Big Budda.
Costs were approx 80 Euro for car for 8 hours. Booked it via Getyourguide.com

 

We booked Mr Koh Samui through Viator with a discount price of $165.00 USD. Private tour for my wife and I. Might have to look at Getyourgide to compare.

Is your room steward "allowed" to accept the items from the minibar set ups as a gift. Previously we've given bottles to friends but on the next upcoming  B2B cruises we"re not sailing with anyone to give them to. Thought I'd offer them to room steward if acceptable. I drink the beer and my wife drinks the bubbly waters, rest we don't care about.

Great explanation ^^^^^^^^^^^^

I print mine out and take them to GS and have them added to my account as OBC. The balance is refunded to you in a check.

10 hours ago, roomba920 said:

Last December I booked a cruise with Princess for 2025. Then in January I redeemed 20,000 points with my Princess Barclays Credit Card for $200 of OBC.

The OBC was forwarded to Princess, and applied to my existing booking.

However, this week the cruise I booked dropped in price for "new bookings only". When I called Princess to request the lower price be applied to my booking, they refused. The only alternative I had was to cancel my booking, and book again.

The Barclay website states that a Princess representative can transfer my redeemed OBC from one booking to another, yet my agent at Princess says he

can't transfer my $200 of OBC to my new booking without written consent from Barclay via an email.

I'm in communication with Barclay, and they insist just as strongly that the Princess agent can do this without a letter from them.

Meanwhile, I'm stuck in the middle, and my $200 of OBC is sitting in a booking that needs to be canceled, so I can have my deposit refunded.

If I want to take advantage of another sale, I don't want to go through this again.

 

Does anyone else here have a Princess Barclays Credit Card that can shed light on this process? Thank you.

Haven"t had to deal with this and hope Barclays will correct. What I do is redeem my points for Princess Digital gift cards. That way I can deposit once on board. I'd keep calling Barclays until you get someone that will give you  the letter Princess wants. 

2 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

Thanks guys. You are absolutely right and the posts causing your response continue to show that many people do not read much of the thread before they post. I'm sure within a day yet another poster will say their data transferred from the old app to the new one with no problem ...

The point I was making was that BOTH apps continue to work with all the mainframe data. Previous posters have reported that when they transitioned to the new app, that certain data points were erased, such as dining times. 

2 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

Good to hear!  We still have not downloaded the new app.  Since our next cruise is not until April, we are going to wait until the old app is taken off-line.   🙂

I have both apps downloaded on my phone, and both work. Figured I might as well figure out the new one. Downloading transferred all info without erasing anything from old app.

11 hours ago, nasa1974 said:

Thanks.

I know from prior experience that using gift cards to pay for a cruise that if the cruise is cancelled, covid 2020, it is refunded to the gift card. And yes, keep the used gift cards or copies of them until after the cruise has happened. Would be very unfortunate to lose a couple hundred dollars because you threw the gift card away too soon.

This is what happened to us. Covid cancelled cruises credited back to cards. All other times the balance on ship account used as OBC was returned by check.

42 minutes ago, New2cruise2022 said:

Wi-Fi is good enough to stream?

I was able to stream YouTube in the South Pacific and also through Europe and on the TA. Crown and then Regal.

One of my first try's on bedside power station.

Sure beats the cord on the floor technique. Found painters tape better than duct tape.

On 7/16/2023 at 6:31 PM, BigWaveDave87 said:

This 220 volt outlet is under the bed. I used a outlet adapter so 

I could plug in my CPAP power transformer and not have a extension cord going across the floor. Also I checked to make sure that the transformer was capable of handling the higher voltage that the outlet had. This made using my CPAP machine much easier and with out needing an extension cord.

Hope this helps.

 

Happy Trails 

On 2/3/2024 at 1:25 PM, Rick&Jeannie said:

I have *always* plugged my CPAP into the "hidden" out(s) behind the bed.  I take a "European-style" 2 prong adapter that lets me plug in whatever was originally plugged in there and also gives a "US-style" socket.  No trip hazards using extension cords!

 

This was a game changer for us. I used to use tape and an extension cord but now use this method. Mahalo for the information! We plug in a small plug bar to the adapter and run an extension cord to each side of the bed. From the bathroom side of the bed, we run a taped extension cord around the corner into the closet so my wife has power in the bathroom for her water pic. I have power for my Bipap. We pull out the bed to insert plug.

43 minutes ago, Muffinz said:

We're looking at booking a cruise over Christmas 2024 on Crown Princess

Itinerary is good, price is good, good staterooms still available.... but reading the reviews on CC is making us think twice

most of the latest reviews are not very favourable - 1 mentioning smelling sewerage throughout the ship, another said their toilet wasn't working for a few days...some complaining about extra charges, outdated cabins / staterooms ... we were quite shocked

 

Does princess attract a lot of families / kids on their ships?

 

we've cruised once before on Celebrity Solstice and really enjoyed that it was mainly an 'adults' cruise

 

should we be concerned about so many negative reviews?

We cruised on the Crown for 28days in the South Pacific. Besides the bed we had, YMMV, it was an awesome time. No sewage smell, no big problems.