moodyb1

What announcement are you referring to?

We were booked for an American Heritage Cruise for June 24 - July 4, 2025. However, we received a notice from Princess last week that there was an itinerary change. We would no longer be stopping in Norfolk,VA and Charleston, SC, two ports that my husband and I really wanted to visit. Instead, Princess added more ports in Canada and relabeled the cruise "New England and Canada." Since we had already been to the added ports in Canada, we were no longer interested in this cruise, so we decided to cancel the cruise. My understanding is that Norfolk and Charleston no longer wanted large cruise ships stopping at their ports. If anyone has further information about this issue, please respond. The 2024 American Heritage cruises, at least the ones in June, are still going. We are very disappointed. Arlene

A few times we had balcony cabins that we hardly used because the weather was either too cold or too hot. We feel the sideways cabins have more room than the balcony cabins.

My husband and I love the "sideways" inside cabins that can be found on the newer ships. They may be the same square footage as the regular inside cabins but they do seem bigger to us. The configuration of the room is different and you do get a bigger desk and more cabinet space in them. There aren't too many of them on a ship, so we are often shut out if we don't book early. We book many cruises a year, so in order to save many we book inside cabins. Arlene

Yes, we have one booked for June 2025 out of NY. We recently noticed that Princess pulled all the excursions listed from Norfolk. Don't know why. No excursions have been listed yet for Charleston.

We love: the pizza the scones the choice of night entertainment the sideways interior cabins the itineraries the military benefits the stockholder benefits the casino discounts the Crown Grill

My husband and I have been to Japan twice. I would try to avoid going in the summer. It is hot and humid. Also, try to avoid festival cruises since they are more expensive. The fall and spring cruises are the best time to go. I see there is a 22-Day Sea of Japan Explorer Spring Flowers sailing cruise that is very port intensive and goes to both Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The Diamond Princess is a lovely ship. Hope this helps, Arlene

Steerpike, I take exception to your view of Detroit. Apparently, you have never been there or haven't been there in a while. I was there with a tour group in September and was amazingly surprised how fantastic it was. Like any city, there are problems, but compared to my hometown of LA, I saw less graffiti, very few homeless people on the streets, cleaner streets. Every where we went, I felt safe. We also took two river cruises in the spring, and like you, I am returning to ocean cruising.

Snarky!

It was a blast! My husband and I wore t-shirts with peace symbols on it that we found in a shop in San Francisco. But a lot of people bought their costumes from Amazon. One of the highlights of our Rhine River cruise!

They have GF muffins in the buffet in the morning that are pretty good. If you don't see them out, go to the kitchen and ask anyone for one. On the newer ships, I have found them in a rotating display next to the specialty coffee place. I think this is an awkward place to have them, because you have to wait in line with all the people who are ordering coffees, when all I wanted was a muffin! When I was on the Discovery last year, I complained to the chef about this situation and he said he would move the muffins to another location, but during the rest of the cruise it never happened. I agree that the bread tastes like cardboard! I bring Schar breadsticks and Graham crackers, along with other GF snacks. Arlene

I love the Plaza Deck. However, one time we booked behind the Art Gallery on the port side and it was very noisy when they were shuffling art pieces in and out. I've noticed that you can't book many of the Inside forward cabins when you choose the "I'll choose my own stateroom" option. What's going on? Arlene

Just booked! Excited about the round-trip out of LA! Yay!

I have seen it on the Emerald, Diamond and the Grand so far.

Because if you try to book one, they are just blank ("whited-out") on the deck plan, unlike Sold cabins. Try to book one and you will see what I mean. I agree that it doesn't make any sense, so I am trying to find an answer.

I agree the mid-forward cabins are noisy. But I am not asking about those. I am asking about the forward cabins and why those are no longer available. You misunderstood my question.

The Grand Class ships have cabins on Plaza Deck Forward and in the past we have booked these cabins. We have now noticed that the Forward cabins on Plaza Deck on these ships are no longer available. You can still get a Mid-Forward Plaza cabin on these ships. Does anyone know why these Forward cabins are no longer available? Thanks, Arlene

You are correct MissP22.

Just got off a chat with a representative and this is what they wrote back to us: "The new update is per guest, not per cabin. If Guest 1 has the Military Benefit, and Guest 2 has the Shareholder Benefit, both Guests can apply for it." We are still going to verify with a phone representative. However, this new policy is a bummer! My husband complained to Customer Relations about this, not that it will do much good. Arlene

Fortunately, that was not my experience with the competitive agency that I have been using for years. I have been using this online agency for years and have always been satisfied. I knew ahead of time what cruises I wanted, so it wasn't up to the agent to find something for me. If you don't know what you want, then perhaps word-of-mouth is the best way to go. I was looking for good deals, since I think river cruises are way over-priced compared to the ocean cruises we take and book using the same competitive on-line agency. The travel agent I used for the two river cruises followed up with all their discounts, OBCs and a $500 refund at the end of the cruise. For those that enjoy river cruises, we can understand the appeal. In the end, my husband and I found that river cruises are not our preferred travel style and probably will not go on another one again. We had a good time, but two and done. Thanks, Arlene

We worked with an online competitive agency for two river cruises, AmaWaterways and Uniworld, and got great deals. Very happy with service. Too bad I can't give you the name.

We just got off an AmaWaterways seven-day river cruise and used their recommendation for tipping. They do not provide a method for tipping specific people, with one exception. The cruise manager is not an AmaWaterways employee, but is rather a contractor. So they recommend a particular amount to the cruise manager. Other than that, their recommendation is an amount that is divided equally among the crew. There is nothing stopping you from giving a little extra to a crew member who provided you with exceptional service, but they prefer that you give an amount that is distributed equally to every crew member. This is typically done the day prior to the last day by providing the funds to the purser. You can use on-board credit to pay the recommended gratuity, but they will not allow you to designate a specific amount to particular crew members. I hope this helps. Arlene

My husband and I love the Majestic Princess, especially the Hollywood Pool. We have never been bothered by any chlorine smell. It's a nice place to hang out, especially on sea days when the weather is inclement. We usually book inside cabins because we take many cruises and they have the very nice sideways inside cabins on the upper decks. No complaints here! Arlene

We love the inside sideways cabins. They are roomier than the regular inside cabins. However, they are on the upper decks.