Nautigal

Congratulations on your 15th Wedding Anniversary and your first Princess Cruise!  Looks like you're off to a great start getting settled on board ship, enjoying the food, drink and entertainment. Hubby & I have  enjoyed sailing many Princess cruises over the past 20+ years, and are looking forward to our first Sky Princess cruise in June 2024, Norway, Land of Midnight Sun, with itinerary similar (not exactly same) to your sailing, so we'll be following along to learn more about ports through your insights. We hope you and your family enjoy a wonderful cruise!  Happy Sails!

Works great once you've found the path through Travel Companions connections. 

I encountered same problem....could not get my Travel Documents info to be accepted through Medallion app on my iphone.  I was able to do other parts, but reached an impasse with the Travel Documents.  My husband had no problem entering his info through the Medallion app on his phone.

I noticed I was listed on his app as a travel companion, so tapped on my photo there and proceeded to the Travel Documents section where I was able to enter my info.  All was accepted through and then immediately after that I saw all my Travel Documents info filled in automatically on my iphone's Medallion app and next I saw I went from Blue Lane to Green Lane.  It was weird how that happened....but got it done!  So, if your husband's phone shows you listed as his travel companion, try to enter your info there through his Medallion app. Hope this helps!

Received this email today from Jet Blue:

Today we're announcing some exciting news and as always, we want to share the details with you directly.

Pending regulatory approval, we will be entering a strategic partnership with American Airlines that will provide you with even more travel options.

A few highlights of what you can expect:

• Seamless connectivity — Our partnership will make travel easy between JetBlue's and American's complementary route networks, including integrated website booking capabilities, convenient connections, and an improved on-the-ground experience.

• Expanded network — JetBlue will grow in New York City, adding flights in LaGuardia (LGA) and Newark (EWR), while also increasing our presence at JFK. With improved schedules and competitive fares, you will be able to access 60 new destinations across American's global network.

• More options — We are working with American to bring TrueBlue members additional opportunities to earn and redeem TrueBlue points.

We hope you are already dreaming of the adventures you want to take with us and all the ways you plan to use your TrueBlue points, when the time is right for you to begin to travel again. We have a lot more work to do behind the scenes, but will keep you posted as we solidify additional details about our partnership over the coming months.

Many Thanks to tert333 for the heads up!  I called today and was able to have the Specialty Dining added to our existing booking for NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE and NO CHANGE in booking confirmation number.  I can now see it has been added to my Travel Summary in my Princess Personalizer account.  Definitely worth a phone call to Princess. If you booked through a TA, you'll need to request they call Princess on your behalf.  Sorry, I do not know if this applies to bookings from outside US.

Great video and photos!  Thanks!

Thanks for posting your beautiful video. I can't wait to ride those Magical flying Chairs and enjoy the views in person!

Yes, this PVP previously assigned, have used before.

Launch fare offer for Elite booking...reduced fare, and FCC OBC's..  The fare is refundable and can be adjusted for sales and promos as applicable.  Sometimes PVP has found a regional fare special or even a casino rate that I may qualify for which TA has never mentioned to me.  (Casino rate?  Who knew?)  There can be different fares under different codes at different times throughout the year.  PVP has access to all, and emails me general notices when these are available and I can call and discuss my options. I still need to watch my bookings on Princess website for any changes in fares...price drops and flash sales and call PVP to apply.  But I have always done that diligent monitoring even if booked with a TA. I do not just book and leave it all up to TA to monitor and notify me. 

Transfer if a TA offers additional benefits?  NP  I have booked with Princess and had no difficulty transferring booking to TA for additional perks such as a lower group rate or additional OBC, specialty dining, etc.  Nailed some super deals that way.  I think now Princess limits the window of time permitted for transfer of booking to TA. It used to be right up to time of final payment, but now I think I saw something like transfer to TA only allowed within 60 days of booking.

I had similar experience with booking Deluxe Obstructed Balcony on the Sky.   Online, when entering 2 passengers, those cabins were for Reserve booking (guarantee) only.  Then I read on CC to enter 3 passengers so I tried that and Voila!  I could see all the availability of that category. Discussed this situation with Princess Vacation Planner.  He explained it's a glitch in the website so for some ship's sailings the available cabins in Deluxe and Premium Deluxe categories 2 passengers cannot be viewed or booked online.  So I searched for a cabin by entering 3 passengers to decide on the cabin I wanted and my PVP made the booking for me.  PVP did not try to sell me a higher priced cabin in any other category.  He just pleasantly made the booking and I received email confirmation.  

I remember reading a posting here a while back that said if your 14 day cruise is also offered in two 7 day segments you will receive two mini bar setups for the 14 day booking. If the sailing is offered in a 14 day format only...no 7 day segments...then you receive one mini bar set up for that 14 day booking. In your case you will receive two mini bar set ups for your 14 day (which is also offered as two 7 day segments) and one mini bar set up for your 7 day booking for a grand total of 3 mini bar set ups. Loyalty credits are awarded to each booking number you have made. Enjoy!:D

scroll up on the excel...I thought the same thing...for some reason the file is saved with the info scrolled all the way up...If you go in and scroll to the top you will see the fares...looks like ours may jump up $20pp but then again our TA is usually cheaper than the fares posted on these spreadsheets so hoping it all works out...but still $40 for $150 obc plus gratuities for just the 1 week...I think it would be worth it for us to jump on it;p

Thanks, Scrolled up on Excel file...now I can see the fares! DUH!

Hope your plans work out well with the 3 For Free!

here is the pdf of it..still trying to get the excel

Good Job! I was having trouble copying link to pdf here.

The Excel file opens for me, but no fares posted there so pdf has all the info.

I cannot open that type of a ZIP file...any suggestions on how to open it?

Click on posted Fare Chart. Double click on the Zip file and should bring up Adobe file.

Hope it works for you!

Fare Chart

Is this what everyone's been waiting for? :)

https://book.princess.com/BookingSystem/goToUrl.do?srcURL=marketing/pc/promotional/promotions/index.jsp

Enjoying your live review from Ruby. Appreciate the details about your pre cruise day in Seattle, clothing related to weather and temps. We'll be boarding this ship, same itinerary in a few weeks. Very excited for our first adventure in Alaska.

Thanks so much for taking the time to write this review. Looking forward to more! Happy Cruising! :)

Enjoy making some great memories with your mom and sister on this girls only cruise!

Thanks for sharing your experiences aboard ship and on the excursions. Looking forward to reading more of your postings.

Congratulations on your engagement and upcoming wedding! It's wise of you to start in planning now for next July. Mediterranean cruises are packed with wonderful sites and the summer is a busy season for tourists there so advance planning is important.

The Crown is a beautiful ship with many amenities. You can research them on the Princess website or ask questions here on CC's Princess message board.

The Mediterranean ports section of CC's Message Boards is a good place to find out about places of interest and suggestions for touring.

Definitely join the Roll Call for your cruise. You can ask lots of questions there and get help in planning. You can also find out about shared tours that Roll Call members are organizing and posting on the Roll Call. Carefully note the details and compare to the ship's offerings for excursions. Also check Trip Advisor to read reviews of tour companies. Then you will be better informed to make decisions about booking your excursions.

Try to learn as much as you can about the ports you will be visiting. Many Med cruisers find the Rick Steeve's guides helpful in learning about the various ports and their best attractions. There are some excellent videos people have posted on you tube about their tours in the Mediterranean. As a previous poster has stated, you can't do it all so plan as much as you can to get the most out of your cruise.

One last thought...Do let Princess know you'll be celebrating your honeymoon on this cruise. There's a place online in the Princess Cruise Personalizer to register information about yourselves. In one sections they ask if you are celebrating and special occasions during the cruise. If you note it's your honeymoon, Princess will be sure to mark the occasions with cabin door decorations and a special dessert cake. All very nice and memorable! Enjoy!:)

We've used the Princess Shuttle from Victoria Coach Station twice. Although it's not the least expensive option, in my opinion, if there aren't any glitches it's very convenient. My biggest complaint is that the station is not that big and can get crowded. However, once you are on the bus there are no other transportation transfers. You are dropped off at the pier.

 

When you get to the station check the departures board and hopefully Princess will be listed. If not, just ask. You should go to the gate and there will be people with Princess tags. You check in with them and they will give you a number. When your number is called you board the bus. Your luggage will go on a truck. The key here is to get there relatively early, I'd suggest by 10:00 or 10:30 so you get on the first or second bus. They will run multiple busses during the course of the day. However, don't plan on getting to the ship for lunch in the MDR.

Sorry if this is asking the obvious, but have not used Princess coach transfer, so regarding the luggage...Is there room on board the coach for our carry on bag, camera bag, tote bag? I would assume there's some space to keep valuables, medications, etc with us, but not sure how much or where it's put. If so, is that inside, under a seat or in an overhead rack, or in an outside accessed bus hold area?

Whenever we've done the EZ air from Ft Lauderdale, we've kept our carry ons with us and rest of luggage went ahead to airport on a truck, but we rode in a taxi, not a coach bus.

St Ermin's Marriott Autograph Collection

We are planning to stay in London a few days before our Princess British Isles Cruise. We've arranged for Princess transfer by coach bus from London's Victoria Coach Station to Southampton port to get to the ship the morning of our cruise....$59 per person. You cannot book the transfer on line, so if you are using a TA, he or she can make those arrangements for you with Princess. If you've booked on your own, you can phone Princess and ask to add the transfer to your booking.

We've booked a hotel in Westminster area because it is in easy walking distance to many of the sites we'd like to visit. I can't really recommend a hotel as this is our first trip to London, but we went with a Marriott as we have membership and the reviews on Trip Advisor and CC were very favorable.

As for tours, most of the places we want to visit are easy DIY, but many CC members use the London Tool Kit website for information on hotels, transfers, tours, etc. Also, we've a friend who tells us he enjoyed his tours with London Walks and highly recommends them.

Enjoy your planning!

I feel the positives of the Royal far out way the negatives.

 

Don't cancel your cruise based on what you read on CC.

 

We think the Royal is a wonderful ship!

Just want to support this as we've recently sailed The Royal and enjoyed so much about it. Yes, it's layout is somewhat different from the Grand class ships, but we found it to be a beautiful ship and we managed getting about on it just fine. Elevators were not as awful as we'd read in some reviews.

Also, want to agree with Pam's post #34 about the dining room menus and buffet offerings. We found the buffet food to be very good...fresh and beautifully presented. Our requests for changes in the dining room menus were always pleasantly accommodated.

Just want to add that the steward for our mini suite (Rico) was absolutely wonderful! I had requested top sheet, blanket, extra towels....all completed with a smile by turn down service. He kept asking us if there was anything else he could do to add to our comfort and seemed to anticipate what we would be needing before we even thought to ask for it. He kept our cabin and balcony immaculately clean and well supplied. Amazing guy! I made sure to write up a You Made a Difference comment card for him...and complimented his service in my end of cruise survey comments.

Perhaps the Royal has been paying attention to comments made in passengers' post cruise surveys and thus made some adjustments from these earlier cruisers' experiences. We are Princess Elite level cruisers and felt very pleased with our Royal experience. To the OP....I hope you take your cruise and find it as enjoyable and relaxing as we did.

We just cruised on the Royal Princess in early November. Enjoyed our two formal nites in the Crown Grill and Sabatini's dressed in smart casual. We made our reservations with Dine line soon after we boarded (Elite early boarding). They had openings starting at 7:30/8:00PM. We were fine with that. The premium restaurants are Popular venues for formal night dinners for those both in formal and smart casual dress, so be sure to call the Dine line as soon as you board to get your preferred dining time.

Thanks, Ron! You've been a great help! :)

 

Cruise Day 4 – Civitavecchia – for Rome

 

... I booked the Princess Private train to Rome as it gave you more time in the city. It was a very comfortable and quick ride into Rome and left you off at the train station near St Peter’s. ... So we hopped in a cab and made our way to the Gallery Borghese.

 

We had pre-purchased tickets for the Borghese on-line and glad we did because it was sold out for the next several days. You get a timed ticket and it’s good for two hours, then they kick you out and the next group goes in. They keep the numbers limited so you can enjoy the art as it was meant to be, as a visitor to their home...

Enjoying your review with great anticipation for our Oct. Ruby Grand Med...same itinerary. We're thinking of doing the same as you in Rome....Princess private train into Rome and taxi to Gallery Borghese. About what time did the Princess train get you into Rome? Also, for what time did you reserve the Gallery Borghese tickets? I see they have opened up online bookings for October and offer 9AM, 11AM, 1PM and 3PM time slots. We're thinking of reserving the 11AM time. Do you think we'll easily make that...or should we go with a 1PM reservation?

Thanks so much for taking the time to write up your detailed review. It's a great help in planning for the ports!