NavyVeteran

For Princess, this fee applies to any cruise that uses Australian dollars as its onboard currency. It doesn't apply to cruises with US dollar onboard currency. Those are the only two onboard currencies that Princess uses.

I believe a "zero forex markup credit card or debit card" means a card with no foreign transaction fees. Many credit cards in the United States charge a 3% foreign transaction fee, but some do not. Note that some of these cards charge the fee for any charge from outside the United States even if the charge is in US dollars. You get these cards the same way as any other credit or debit card. You just need to check the fine print to see if they charge a foreign transaction fee. You should always pay in local currency and let the credit card company convert the charge to US dollars. Don't let the foreign merchant or machine do the conversion. They probably won't give you as good a deal on the conversion.

In the United States, we usually have unlimited calls included. However, that includes only calls within the United States. Some plans include calls in some other countries, and some do not. Cellular services outside of our service area cost extra - sometimes a lot extra depending on the specific plan. I have no idea what an Australian plan would charge for cellular service outside Australia, so your case may be completely different from mine.

That's fine if it is attached properly and if the outlet plate screw is grounded. But how do you know if the outlet plate screw is grounded? I would not recommend using anything but a 3-prong outlet on a ship for anything requiring a ground.

No, you should not use a 3-prong to 2-prong adapter to plug into an ungrounded outlet. If your device is designed for a 3-prong grounded outlet, it could be unsafe to plug it into an ungrounded one. However, CPAP units and chargers normally do not have 3-prong grounded plugs. You should not plug a 110 volt device into a 220 volt outlet. However, most CPAP units and chargers are dual voltage.

They don't keep the credit card information you use to make payments - they just use it for the single payment. When I was making payments by phone to purchase Princess Vacation Protection for three different cruises, the Princess representative asked for my credit card number three times - once for each cruise. The credit card for onboard purchases is different. They store that number until after the cruise.

Look at the expiration date in your Cruise Personalizer. Does it say "Book By" or "Sail By". It is usually very explicit. In addition to the FCC which says "Sail By", I have a FCD that says "Book By". If the written description in your Cruise Personalizer says one thing and a Princess employee says something else, I would believe the written description. Princess employees have been known to get it wrong.

I cancelled a cruise last year using "Cancel for Any Reason". My FCC has the following information on the Cruise Personalizer: Description: Princess Travelcare Earned: 09/26/22 Expires: Sail By 12/31/23 Note that the expiration date is the end of the calendar year after the year of cancellation. Also note that the expiration date is "Sail By" - not "Book By".

You would receive the cruise fare including deposit if you cancel for an approved reason. You would receive it as FCC if you cancel using "Cancel for Any Reason". However you do not receive a refund for the cost of the Princess Vacation Protection (PVP) if you cancel - whether for an approved reason or not. If you purchase PVP, it is fully refundable prior to final payment - as long as you haven't made a claim. If you cancel before final payment with a nonrefundable deposit, you could make a claim for refund of the deposit - either money back or FCC depending on the reason for cancellation. But then you would not get your PVP refunded. If the cost of the PVP is more than the nonrefundable deposit, then you would be better off not making a claim and losing the deposit.

Is wifi calling activated? Turn on airplane mode at home, and then connect to wifi. If you can do it at home with wifi in airplane mode, then you can probably do it on the ship. If you can't do it at home, then you probably can't do it on the ship.

If you receive calls over a cellular network, then you will be paying for the international or shipboard roaming, and this can be expensive.

You don't need to talk with the maître d'. You need to talk with a head waiter. Any head waiter is trained to handle dietary restrictions. (I'm not sure what title they use for the maître d' and head waiters now.) The head waiter is the one who will meet with you each evening for you to order the next day's meals.

Yes. When I was working to get to Elite, I received 5 cruise credits in 9 days (8 nights at sea and 1 night in a hotel). I cruised one night on one ship, stayed one night in a hotel, then cruised a 3-night and a 4-night B2B on a different ship. The 3-night and 4-night B2B were in a suite with two credits for each cruise. I was then Elite for two trans-Atlantic cruises I took the next year.

No. Your new level does not start until the next cruise. Or at least this is the way it used to work; I haven't verified it lately. My comments are based on how it was handled several years ago. Perhaps someone else has more recent experience. If you qualified after the first leg of a B2B, their system did not always recognize you for the second leg. However, the Captain's Circle host was able to fix that at the end of the first leg. This is clearly stated in the Captain's Circle Membership Benefits

Yes. I didn't notice that OP was from NZ. My comments were applicable to someone from the US. I don't know how much is applicable to someone from NZ.

My SIL is gluten free and has never had a problem on Princess. Make sure to place your orders in the MDR with the head waiter the day before. The waiters are not trained to handle allergies - the head waiters are. The head waiter will know what items are gluten free and what items can be made gluten free with the advance notice. For example, they may need to leave a sauce off. Or they will make a different sauce without the flour (probably not as thick). My SIL does not have celiac - she just needs to eat gluten free to avoid some digestive issues. A little bit of cross contamination would not hurt her. However, it may be a problem for you. The gluten free meals in the MDR are prepared without cross contamination. Although the gluten free items in the buffet may have been prepared correctly, you cannot trust anything on the buffet tables. Passengers will often use utensils from one item to serve another one - leading to cross contamination. If this could be a problem for you, then ask the buffet supervisor or chef to prepare your plate in the kitchen where you don't have to worry about passenger cross contamination.

Although onboard charges will be in AUD, your final charge will be converted to USD. You may want to use a debit card if you expect a significant onboard bill, since Princess charges a 1.1% fee on all charges on an AUD currency sailing, in addition to any foreign transaction fee your credit or debit card charges. Read the information on Cashless Cruising in Pre-Cruise FAQ. Even though you need to give them a credit or debit card, you don't have to charge your folio balance to the card you give them pre-cruise. You can give them a credit card to avoid holds on your debit card during the cruise. Then on the last day, you can go to Passenger Services and pay using cash or a debit card - you don't need to pay using the card you used to guarantee payment.

Princess usually has a Captain's Circle party one night with free drinks, but that's it.

My US plan with AT&T specifically does include wifi calling. If your plan does not include wifi calling, then you cannot make normal phone calls when connected only to wifi (not to cellular). I am not using a cruise plan or foreign plan with AT&T - I am using wifi, and they don't care where in the world the wifi is. The Princess package provides wifi - it doesn't provide or fail to provide wifi calling. I don't know if Princess still has cellular service onboard, but if they do it is expensive. There are several third party apps that allow you to contact others over wifi, but they are more complicated to download and use than wifi calling using your phone provider. Other people can give you recommendations. I've never used them since the AT&T wifi calling works so well and is so easy to use. In general, anything that does not work at home with airplane mode and home wifi won't work on the ship.

Is your cruise also available as three separate 7-night cruises? if so, each 7-night cruise would have 2 formal nights.

Anyone in a suite gets two credits. Solo not in a suite gets two credits. Solo in a suite gets three credits. However, this only applies to someone who books a suite initially - not to someone who gets an upsell or a bid to move up to a suite. Princess used to give two credits for upsells to a suite, but not for several years.

I never suggested using one of these. I suggested using wifi calling. On my iPhone with AT&T, when I set up wifi calling, it acts like a normal phone call to the recipient. Unlike these other messages, I can call anyone with a phone, and I don't pay anything to call anyone in the United States. This may be carrier dependent - I don't know if other carriers have the same option. There are a lot of ways to communicate with someone with specific equipment. Wifi calling allows me to communicate with anyone with a phone. I can even call someone with a landline (yes, some people still have those).

My suggestion would only be for someone who has unlimited wifi. Most people in the United States have unlimited wifi at home. If you have a wifi plan on a Princess ship, it is unlimited. Many hotels have unlimited wifi. The person you call will receive a normal phone call. It will use cell service or wifi depending on how they are set up. They will not know or care that you are using wifi.

If they charge you for five drinks instead of the bottle, each drink would be at least $40. If you have plus, that would be five drinks at $25 each ($40-$15) or $125. Also you would not be able to share the bottle with anyone else, since it would be five drinks from the package, so they couldn't let you take the bottle with you.

When you test it at home, you can call anyone. They don't need to be on wifi. You just need to have wifi calling activated, your phone on airplane mode, and your phone connected to wifi.