sunviking90

A very simple thing would have been to give each person in the stateroom a $35-$40 OBC as a trade for the minibar. They could have then applied it to coffee if they wanted. We were about to become elite and aren’t interested in the minibar, but I’m also no interested in a trade for soda or water. I don’t drink soda and I can get water for free.

I really think the majority (meaning 50% or more) of passengers are buying the plus packages, so this doesn’t matter to them. We are the minority I suspect.

It seems to be pretty select itineraries now that I’ve looked through them. https://www.princess.com/cruise-search/results/?promos=RL2

Sorry to hear that. Good for you for voting with your feet. After a really bad experience with customer service on a Princess cruise years ago we said never again, but relented 5 years later. We had wonderful experiences on our 2022 Princess cruises, but our January one to Hawaii definitely had some issues to the point that I have emailed them twice and as expected heard nothing. We are still cruising with Princess, but we also cruise in HAL and Celebrity so I’m realistic as to what else is out there for mass market cruising. I keep my expectations low and I make sure I don’t overpay for the quality I expect to receive. I wish you well in finding an alternative you will enjoy.

I am still seeing a link to Canadian $ at par on my Princess homepage. Perhaps it’s a different selection now? It shows 123 itineraries.

Princess’s website is very strange, especially if you hit it at a time when they are updating prices, etc. We booked another drop and go Coastal that showed at $228 cad inside for weeks, and at 5:30 on a weekday for some reason I went in and it showed $134 cad inside and $100 USD OBC. I held a balcony at a little bit more and got my CVP to book that one too. When I logged in 30 minutes later, the price was back to $228. It wasn’t a capacity controlled price either. These were the prices my CVP had, but weren’t showing on the website most of the time. OP, make sure your TA has your booking open for upgrade. We had a cruise booked for Hawaii that I was planning to cancel, and I knew the prices had gone down since booking. I got an email from Princess telling me I’d been “upgraded”. When I looked, they had moved me into a higher category that was now selling for what I had paid. They probably did this so I wouldn’t complain as @Coral says.

I stand corrected. I haven’t ever heard of this. Is it only for passengers arriving same day and going directly to the port? OP is staying at least one night pre cruise. Are people being precleared even if spending a few days in Canada?

Last year I had a US customs officer at the port look at my passport and say “your passport is expired”. I felt like he’d kicked me in the stomach. Then he said “just kidding. Have a good trip”. Not funny at all. I wasn’t amused.

Good Morning and thank you to all who contribute to the Fleet Report/Daily. Weather here is cool and threatening rain all day, so.. Vancouver. Love children’s books and all the warm memories of reading DS bedtime stories. @Mr. Boston Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel was a favorite still 25 years ago. My first visit to Cherbourg was on a ferry from Jersey (Channel Islands) when I was 12. I finally returned last fall in the Emerald Princess. I found the classic decor of the terminal really lovely. One of my favorite movies is The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Visually beautiful! I hope everyone has a good day. Cherbourg:

Arriving in Vancouver by air you are clearing Canada Customs. The only Us customs cleared at YVR would when departing for US. I’ve never heard of anyone being able to bypass US customs at the port. We’ve taken many many cruises out of Vancouver and I agree the set up is very confusing. I notice as the ships are bigger and more passengers are being processed, they are using more of the convention centre rooms. We still get confused as to where to go. Having said that, we usually arrive around 10:30 am and are usually on the ship by 11:30. We’ve taken 2 post pandemic cruises out of Vancouver and with the staff using iPads as long as we had completed our required check ins, etc it was pretty fast. We did have to wait a bit when Celebrity’s computers went down but it wasn’t bad. Our cruises are usually closer to the end of the season though.

There are cheap rates on most of the April repositioning coastals right now. They don’t show on the website for some reason. My CVP had the prices on her social media page and we finally booked through her last week. We were waiting as we’ve done a lot of these and they always go cheap last minute. It’s a gamble. Sometimes we’ve paid too much too.

We had a keurig in the office when I was still working, but I wouldn’t want one at home. Seems like it creates a lot of waste (money and plastic) and I could never have just one cup of coffee. I like a whole pot 😊. I realize Via is instant coffee but it still tastes better than most cruise ship coffee. It’s fine in a pinch.

Yes, I’ve heard they will provide kettles in Europe and the UK. I’ll try it next month on the Discovery and hope for the best.

I hope you have a wonderful cruise. I am surprised at a full ship for 14 days and so many children! Do the schools have an extended Easter break in the UK? Where we live what used to be “Easter Break” when I was a kid is now “Spring Break” and in mid March (before it is officially spring, lol).

That’s a lovely picture of your grandfather. At least you know he was doing what he loved in his last days. I’m glad to hear things are slowly coming together.

We found the americanos and the brewed coffee at IC on the Royal in January to be poor. Makes it easier to accept the demise of the coffee card. They just announced a partnership with Lavazza so maybe that will improve it. I’m bringing Starbucks’s via on our next cruise.

It sounds like you’re talking about when you disembark on Sunday? It’s a no. It is even sometimes printed in the last patter (or whatever they call it now) not to take food off. Last time we disembarked at in Fort Lauderdale there were dogs too. They’re looking for drugs not sandwiches, but still. Stay strong. Been there.

Texasjones, thank you for coming back with a very well composed reply. A lot of your ire seems to be directed at Princess corporate HQ decision making, but I think these decisions are made at a ship level by the management there. This is the only explanation for the consistent inconsistency from ship to ship. A recent poster said they were given 15% of their cruise fare in FCCs when they missed 2 of 4 ports on a Hawaii cruise. I have read of others receiving $200 to $300 OBC, etc. Like so many things it seems to vary from ship to ship. Personally we have missed ports many times and have never received anything except port charge refund once. I didn’t actually know compensation was ever given. If you are still on the ship and unhappy with what you have received, continue to ask for more from guest services or the hotel manager. Once you leave the ship it’ll will be too late.

Good Morning to all the Dailyites! Well it looks like our sun is gone for a bit as It is rainy and 4-7C today. Not a fan of shellfish, but I took some nice wild sockeye out of the freezer so it will be a fish Friday here. I haven’t used crayons in years, but remember the thrill of a new box. I always hoped for the Crayola 64 pack with the built in sharpener, but mum said the 24 pack was good enough, sigh. The quote is a good one, and imagine a world where we all followed that! Have a good day everyone!

I wonder if it depends if you order through the app or by phone? App is set with charges?

One of our favourite cruises to date was to Quebec City and the Atlantic provinces. I’ve lived in Canada all my life and never seen anything east of the Rockies. This part of Canada is so lovely! It was October and we were blessed with good weather generally. Here is Quebec City (and yes, I know I’m veering off of the thread, but maybe that’s a good thing?)

I want to express my condolences to you and your family. What a heartbreaking situation. I have no advice for you, but I think you are in the right place as there are some very knowledgeable and experienced people on this forum.

Thank you to all contributors for another Fleet Report and Daily to brighten the morning. It’s a crisp and sunny 4C this morning and promises to go up to 13C. (Sorry, it’s too early for me to translate to F). Any day without rain here, is a good day. A walk in the park is a great idea. I have a great doctor and am fortunate that I don’t need to see her very often. We’ve never been to Greece, but it’s on our ever growing retirement travel list! Best wishes to all.

I haven’t used one in the Caribbean, but have in Europe and in the US. As long as you purchase one that has coverage there (you can usually select areas) they should work. We also use it while docked and tether off of my phone rather than use the ships slow wifi.

Oh Canada!