BURNSMN

dides: There is a youtube video showing the Sun last night in Cartagena after dark and then later at what looks like daybreak. Did you not leave port on time?

All of the beaches mentioned had chairs and umbrellas to rent. If we were going to spend the day at just one the cost was $20-$30 for everyting. If we were beach hopping we told the vendors what we were doing and were always able to get them for $10 total. On occasion we decided to just spend a short amount of time at a beach and just laid our towels in the sand.

Lotus pool is now open and the water is warm!

Update, as we near Hawaii, the Lotus Pool has been filled with water but is still closed.

For those who are interested, current status of the following on Grand Princess as of today:

Lotus Spa Pool-Drained since 9/23

Neptune, Conservatory, and Aft Pools all open.

Spa Hot Tubs open but jets broken.

Conservatory Hot Tubs open but jets broken.

Aft Hot Tubs open but jets broken.

Neptune Pool Hot Tubs open and jets working.

Lotus Men’s Steam Bath broken.

Lotus Men’s Sauna working.

Lotus Women’s Steam Bath working.

Lotus Women’s Sauna working.

Just a lot of broken jets in hot tubs if you like those like we do and the Lotus Pool area where we like to hang out is very disappointing without water in the pool.

We booked in January for June. 

On 8/6/2023 at 10:04 PM, roadpainterbeef said:

Look into the forest lagoon. It’s new in the last few years.
Open until 11:30 pm

i believe they provide a free shuttle from town 

it’s only 5 minutes out of town. 
$50 ish 

Hope this helps 

I would also do Forest Lagoon. We were there in June and loved it. It would have been great to have been there during or after sunset.

On 8/6/2023 at 3:32 PM, Canadian Guider said:

I will be visiting Olden, on a cruise stop in September.  I prefer to use local bus transport when available. Can you advise if local bus tickets can be bought using a credit card or is payment accepted only in the local currency.  I am hoping to visit either or both the Loen Skylift and the Briksdal Glacier, depending on how convenient it is to get there and back to the port by local bus.  Can anyone give some advice on this.  Information on bus route, schedule and cost would be greatly appreciated.   

We used Olden Adventure when we were there in June. They has busses going to the glacier or sky lift or even both places along with Troll Car ad ons at the glacier available.

On 8/9/2023 at 8:53 AM, kaisatsu said:

https://www.portofolden.com/Cruise list 2023.htm

Iona is at the pier in Olden, and Sky Princess is tendering at Loen.

Our June Sky Princess Cruise was listed all along as tendering in Loen but when we arrived we tendered in Olden.

We have been on ships where we have been at a lounge in the evening and have seen servers refuse to serve after the 15 drink limit. They definitely would not allow the passengers to purchase when they tried that angle.

We were on the Regal British Isles Cruise before this one and they did have tea kettles for you cabin available if you asked for one. Our cabin steward provided ours.

55 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

Wi Fi was OK but we only used it for short time slots, no streaming etc. No tea kettle and I must admit tea kettles in hotels pre-cruise was nice :-). Did not see Crab Shack or Planks though with being port intensive, we did not explore upper decks.

6 minutes ago, Cruisen Elf said:

 

Yes, I agree you should double check with the tour company before booking! 

 

I will add that the link I showed is a small group tour that uses smaller vehicles (19, 24, or 36 seats), not a large "Greyhound" sized bus.  I know that when we took the tour (2019), some of us stayed the entire time at Giants Causeway, while several folks, including my husband, were transported to and from the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge in order to cross it.  So I presume the smaller bus fit into the parking lot there.

If you check current reviews it seems Odyssey has some busses that are no longer allowed to stop. We were there a couple of weeks ago on a smaller bus (not Odyssey) and we could only do a picture stop which was from a spot not very close. Just worth double checking no matter who you go with.

We stopped in Isafjordur on June 11th on the Sky Princess. Beautiful port where we tendered to shore. Did the Dynjandi Waterfall and Wild West Fjords Tour through Artic Shorex. We enjoyed our tour but did have a new guide that was very quiet. They said it was their first cruise ship excursion of the year. Hills around where we tendered actually reminded me a lot of the Na Pali Coast of Kauai but with snow on top.  

On 6/19/2023 at 3:07 PM, Cruisen Elf said:

 

Yes!  According to their website they adjust the departure time if your cruise ship arrives later than 8:00AM.  There was availability for both August 15th, and August 30th (another poster's date) when I checked the Small Group Extra Leg Room Shore Excursion they offered. You can contact them to clarify any questions about the tour.  Here's what we booked:  https://odysseycoachtours.co.uk/giants_causeway_tour/shore-excursion-giants-causeway-tour-small-group/

Double check excursions before you book. Most now only include a picture stop at the rope bridge where in the past you could walk across the bridge. If you go with a cab tour you should be ok but most busses can not enter the parking lot.

On 6/18/2023 at 11:29 AM, Astro Flyer said:

I’ve never seen a list of the buffet’s daily menu specials…great idea! 😊

 

One thing to check out for sure on this cruise is the Pastry Extravaganza on June 29th.This was the first year we have seen them in the World Marketplace.The chefs briing out a row of fresh cakes and sliced them for you individually as you go through the line. Worth going to even if you only want dessert. But beware, they start running out of the cakes around 1:30.

Jeter02

I wonder what the status is of the current Sky Princess Production cast?

We were on the previous cruise and in two weeks they were only able to do one full show with their cast and a patched together version of Five Skies after one of their main singers had to leave the ship due to a medical emergency. The Five Skies show was on June 11th and so far it doesn't look like they've done a full show on your cruise yet.

6 minutes ago, mrcuswlby said:

Thanks,

This is a very popular tour and we were also on the standby list for a few months but spots did eventually open up. Good luck!

11 hours ago, Samkitty1 said:

 

If you are looking for a tour from the port in LeHavre..i can reccomend this one.. 

Overlord tour 9B full day tour 

From Le Havre: Omaha beach, the American cemetery, Bayeux, Honfleur....The 2023 price for this tour is 150 Euros per person.

 

http://www.overlordtour.com

Just did this tour. I also highly recommend. Smaller vans go to different location on Omaha Beach away from the Princess Busses. Also, had time to see the Bayeux Tapestries and have lunch while in Bayeux.

2 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Who finally resolved this?  Customer service?  TIA

This was finally resolved by Princess Customer Service.

Just now, PacnGoNow said:

You had a booking online that you booked yourself, as opposed to a TA/CVP?

Yes, I did.

15 hours ago, JerrySueW said:

I don't know if my issue precipitated the cards being pulled, but it certainly seems to me that there is a theft involved somewhere (and I read of a similar issue encountered by another CC member), so perhaps they are investigating.

 

I purchased 5 gift cards on May 30 and immediately went to apply the cards to my cruise balance. Four cards worked just fine, the last did not and subsequently showed a $0 balance. I spent the next four hours on the phone with AARP, Princess Customer Service and the 3rd party Gift Card Support. My second call to the Gift Card support people resulted in the discovery that the card had been redeemed by PCL almost 7 hours before I purchased it.

 

I then called Princess CS for the 3rd time and finally got a somewhat helpful person in Guest Services who could see every transaction on my account, including the numbers of the Gift Cards that were applied, but she said that she could not search the entire system to see if the $0 card had been redeemed on another account. No offer was made to pursue this at a higher level, so I called AARP again and was told that they would investigate the issue and that because the card was redeemed before I purchased it, I should expect to receive a replacement gift card in 3-5 business days. I hope to hear something on Monday. AARP was genuinely concerned and helpful. Princess not so much. 

 

I was one who this happened to also and it took me over a month to get it resolved. Princess was at fault and they told me the problem happens on occasion when you try to redeem more than one card at a time against an existing reservation. Basically, they said that the computer can’t keep up with multiple card entries and accidentally zeros one out. They recommended putting one card in then signing out of your reservation, then signing back in and entering the next card until you use all your cards.

1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

Independent tour operations live and die by the ship’s schedule. I’d be surprised if they didn’t adjust their schedule to fit yours. After all. Everyone on that tour is coming from your ship. If they don’t adjust, then they have to refund everyone’s money* and they earn no revenue. Contact them to see if they can figure out a workaround. I don’t know what you were planning to do so I don’t know if it’s time sensitive. 
 

*I’ve never booked an independent tour that didn’t have a money back guarantee if the ship doesn’t make it to port as planned. 

We did get our money refunded. The excursion was a fjord cruise that leaves at 2pm that didn’t have enough cruise passengers to adjust their timing.

Just got on Sky Princess for the 14 Day Norway Iceland Cruise. We were welcomed with a letter stating our first stop in Bergen on Monday will be from 2-9 rather than 10-7 due to ongoing generator maintenance. We will miss our 2pm independent shore excursion. Welcome Aboard!

See how the rest of the ports go.

As a warning, here is what happened to me with the AARP Rewards gift cards. On February 27th I purchased five $500 cards for $450 each. I received five separate emails with order numbers, card numbers, and pins. I immediately tried to use them against my June 2023 Sky Princess cruise. Four of the five cards worked fine but one card showed a ZERO balance. 

I began emailing and calling both Princess and AARP to find out what happened. I am still fighting this.

Princess says I was sold a card with no value on it.

AARP Rewards say Princess zeroed out the balance when trying to apply it.

Barclay Princess Visa, whom I bought the cards with say I can no longer dispute the charge because it shows as a charge of $2250 on my card and they won't accept partial disputes.

I am still fighting this but at this point I am out $450, so beware of these cards!