NavyVeteran

You definitely do not have to pack up if you are in the same cabin. Whether or not you have to clear the ship depends on the local government, but they do not care whether you booked two 7-day cruiese B2B or a single 14-day cruise. If they require everyone to clear the ship, that will apply to the people in the middle of a single 14-day cruise exactly the same as to those between two B2B segments.

The five cabins F303, F305, F307, F309, and F311 are identical to each other (or mirror images). The only difference is location. F311 is closer to midship and to the dining room. F303 is closer to the theater. F301 is a little smaller than the others, so it would normally be the last choice. It is still large enough for two people and has plenty of storage. It is small only compared to the other five. F315 is fully wheelchair accessible. It has a large walk-in (or wheel-in) shower and no tub. It also has a wider doorway to handle a full-size wheelchair. It is obviously only a choice for those who need it. If you have some mobility problems but are not wheelchair confined, the other suites should be adequate. They have walk-in showers and plenty of room to store a walker or wheelchair in the suite. You may have to collapse the walker or wheelchair to get it through the door. Also there is a slope up from these suites to get to the midship exit. F315 is at the higher level and does not need to climb the slope.

I appreciate your taking advantage of the rules without violating them. Princess allows you to share the photos (as long as the Premier passenger is in them) and the four-device Internet plan. I understand that you don't plan to share any of the items that are not allowed, even though you could certainly get away with it. I hope your wife enjoys the production shows, since she will have reserve seats. This is one thing that cannot be shared. According to the Princess rules, it can be shared with non-Premier passengers in the same cabin - but not with passengers in other cabins. She can go enjoy her reserved seating and leave you with the kids.🙂 She may also be able to share her two specialty restaurant meals. Last fall, DW and I were able to share two of our meals with friends who joined us one night in a specialty restaurant. She will not be able to share her casual dining meals however.

That is correct. DW and I were on a cruise last fall with Premier, and a couple of friends were on the same cruise with Standard. We got digital copies of all of the photos that had either DW or me in them - no matter how many other people were in them. We also received six printed copies (three each) - three of which we gave to our friends on Standard. We had no problems requesting photographers to take pictures of the four of us, and you will have no problem getting pictures of the five of you. You need to check your pictures on her app during the cruise to make sure they're all there. We had one picture where a face was obscured that wasn't recognized. We noticed it was missing and talked to the people in the photo area. Since we knew approximately when it was taken, they found it and added it to our selection. Don't wait until the last day to do this. You will also have no problem sharing the four-device Internet package. As long as no more than four of you log on at the same time, you can all share the package. We shared the Internet package with friends in another cabin with no issues.

Princess does not care what you do off the ship. What you do on shore is between you and the local Government. But it is definitely against the Princess Passage Contract to bring any of it back on board. This would be similar to an 18-year old drinking alcohol on a Caribbean cruise. It is legal in some ports. Princess does not care if the 18-year old drinks it on shore where it is legal, but the 18-year old would violate the Passage Contract if trying to bring alcohol back onboard the ship.

It is a sectioned off section of one of the main dining rooms. Last time I was on the Caribbean (a sister ship to the Grand), it was on the starboard side of the midship dining room on the Fiesta Deck. There are several tables for two - three of them are next to each other with the four-inch separation. Depending on availability, they may also give you a table for four for just the two of you.

For billing purposes, there is not a second adult in her room. She is solo. You will not be changing the room assignments onboard. You can go to Guest Services and have the system programmed so that any or all of your medallions open both rooms, but they will not change their records on who is in which room. They don't care who sleeps where, but you will need to remember your original room assignment for dealing with Guest Services or for charging drinks. You will also each need to go to the muster station assigned to your original booking if the two cabins have different muster stations. She may purchase a drink (using her onboard account - not her package) for anyone she wishes. She just needs to tell them to charge the drink to her account. If it looks as if she will have unused nonrefundable OBC, I suggest you talk with Guest Services to see how many of your charges can be transferred to her account.

Your Travel Summary does NOT show an arrival time on embarkation day, since the ship's arrival is not part of your cruise. It shows a time when boarding starts, which would be after all the passengers from the previous cruise have left the ship. Sometimes they will start boarding before the stated time.

The promotion you booked under included a room location upgrade. That means they charged you for a lower category then the one you booked. It has nothing to do with potential upgrades after booking. There's always a chance they will give you an upgrade even if you don't want one. You can double check with your TA to make sure the booking is marked "No Upgrade" to reduce that chance.

They will need to purchase the extra Internet packages for the adults - not for the kids - if the adults are Platinum and the kids are not. But the kids can then use the Internet package by using the adults' logon information. If the two adults don't use the Internet much, you may be able to save a little more by just purchasing one standalone one-device Internet package. Then you could use three devices at a time - one for each of the kids and one shared between the two adults.

Yes. Some specialty drinks in souvenir glasses are not included - the drinks are included but not the souvenir glasses.

I wrote my previous response before seeing this one. If you are limiting their sodas and mocktails, then you could consider a standalone Internet package. The question I would ask is do the four of you need more than two Internet logons at the same time?

Internet access is one of the few Plus or Premier items that can be shared. If the two adults have Plus, then the family can log onto the Internet on two devices at the same time - one using each of the two adult's information to log on. Note that this is one device at a time on each account - you can't use two devices on the same account at the same time even if the other one isn't being used. If someone tries to log on, they will log off whoever was previously logged on. This may be enough, but it may require some coordination among the four people. Or you could assign two people to each logon, and they would need to coordinate. They cannot split Plus and Premier - the first two passengers in the cabin have to have the same fare. If they get Premier, then they would have four logons at a time for each adult. That would mean all four of them could be logged on with two devices each at the same time, so no coordination would be needed. You may also want to consider the Plus fare for the grandkids. If you would want them to have access to sodas and mocktails, then the Plus fare may make sense even for minors who can't drink alcohol. If you want four simultaneous Internet logons (one each) and if the grandkids would drink sodas and mocktails, then the Plus fare for all four may be less expensive than the Zero Alcohol package for the grandkids, crew appreciation, and upgrading the Internet package.

Are you booking a suite? Deposit specials are sometimes restricted to other categories.

When you look at the description of Window Suite under Mini-suite, it says: Premium accommodations and luxurious appointments are the signature of our Window Suite, along with special suite-only benefits." That seems pretty clear to me. Alternatively, if you select "On Board Our Ships", then "Ships" under Ship Information, then "Grand Princess", then "Suite", you will see a description of suite amenities including the note "*Some suites have windows rather than balconies and are labeled as Window Suites." I don't think anyone is making assumptions.

I had booked a Princess hotel and train transfer in September 2024. According to my Travel Summary: "The train departs Anchorage at 10:00 a.m. and arrives into Whittier at 12:30 p.m." I don't know how much of the train Princess books and how much is left for independent travelers.

If you or they have booked a Princess transfer, this information will be in the Travel Summary under ITINERARY. The following extracts from my Travel Summary show the type of information provided. I don't have any current cruises out of Fort Lauderdale, so the times may be different. Transfer from the airport to a Princess hotel pre-cruise: "A Princess Guest Service Host will meet you in the baggage claim area to assist with your transfer to the hotel. Transfers to the hotels are provided between the hours of 8:00 am and 11:00 pm. If you arrive outside of these hours, please take a taxi to your hotel." Transfer to the airport to the ship on embarkation day: "Upon arrival at the airport, you will be met by a Princess Representative. For domestic flight arrivals, you will be met at the luggage claim area. For international flights, you will be met as you exit the secure customs area. Transfer to the pier will begin at approximately 10:30 am. If you are arriving prior to this time you may experience some wait time at the airport." It then gives an estimate of travel time to the pier.

@PumpkinPatches, you didn't say how old your kids are. The Princess kids clubs will have a lot of extra activities for Christmas and it should be a magical time for them. There will probably be plenty of kids onboard, so you can divide the time - have as much familty together time as you want and have some couple time with the kids in the clubs. Off the subject of Christmas and New Year, I strongly recommend you read David McCullough's The Path Between the Seas. It is the definitive history of building the original locks of the Panama Canal. Depending on the ages and interests of the children, they may or may not be fascinated by the Canal itself.

I would definitely recommend the tour that takes a small boat through the Pacific locks - especially since your ship is going through the new locks. The small boat will go through the historic locks which are much more interesting. Also you will have done a full transit of the canal - even if your ship did not. The timing of the ship's return is never certain because of delays gaining access to the locks. If you take an excursion, you will return to meet the ship before it leaves, because it will wait for you. Sometimes the ship is delayed and you arrive at the dock hours before the ship, and there is not much to do at those docks while you are waiting. Also I highly recommend you read David McCullough's book The Path Between the Seas before the cruise. It is the definitive history of the building of the original Panama Canal. After reading this book, I think you will appreciate even more going through the old locks on the small boat excursion.

@Swisster, please state what country your are from. The answer is much different for US and Canadian cruisers and for UK and many other countries. US cruisers can usually book with refundable deposits and can either reprice or cancel and rebook before final payment. It's not the same for UK cruisers. If you are from the US, book what you can afford now. If the balcony price comes down before final payment, then you can either reprice or cancel and rebook at that time. Don't book a stateroom or price you would not be happy with. Even if oceanviews don't sell out, you may find that the price for an ocean view has gone up when you decide to reprice or rebook. If you don't get what you want before final payment, you can submit a bid for a balcony after final payment. Bid only what you are willing to pay.

If you have any dietary restrictions, you can order from the head waiter (aka dining room manager) a day in advance. He will know what is dairy free - the waiter may not know. He will be able to have sauces removed or modified to be dairy free even if they normally contain dairy.

If you upgrade pre-cruise, it changes to a different cruise fare. That would affect the cost of travel insurance. If you pay taxes on the cruise fare, then it would change those. If you upgrade onboard, then it doesn't change the cruise fare - it is an onboard expense.

It isn't going to happen, since it protects US companies. Similar laws apply to freight and to air travel. For example, if British Air has a flight from London to New York continuing to Los Angeles, you could travel from London to New York or from London to Los Angeles, but you could not travel from New York to Los Angeles. Without that law, would we have any US airlines? Without the PVSA, American Cruise Lines would immediately go out of business - they could not pay US wages and compete with foreign lines. Note that Viking had to build US flag ships and hire US crews to sail on the Mississippi.

You would be cancelling for what is probably a non-covered reason, since the medical condition is a pre-existing condition at the time you purchase the insurance. This would probably prevent you from getting a cash refund. But you would definitely get the future cruise credit for cancel for any reason. Note that the credit would only cover expenses you paid to Princess (including EZAir) - not expenses you paid elsewhere. The credit would by for 75% of the cancellation fee - or 100% with Platinum Vacation Protection. Also you would not receive future cruise credit for the cost of the travel insurance. The future cruise credit will have an expiration date the end of the year after it was issued. For example, my FCC with an Issue Date of September 26, 2022, had a Sail by Date of December 31, 2023. Note that this is a "Sail by Date" - not a "Book by Date".

Even if you don't want to rent a car, I would definitely look into providing your own transportation from the ship to Mendenhall. It will be much less expensive and more convenient that the Princess excursion. Since you are planning to arrange private transportation from Mendenhall to the Shrine and from the Shrine to the ship, arrange all of the transportation in a single package.