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38 minutes ago, Itried4498 said:

How long does it typically take for the e-cards to arrive?  I ordered them a couple hours ago and still haven’t received them.  Wondering if this is normal, thanks!

The last two times I ordered them I received the emails within a half hour.

Same one for the last 15 years or so.

47 minutes ago, voljeep said:

yes, of course it is time for you to move on.  is it too late to transfer the current cruise to your future TA?  or even back to Princess?

I could probably transfer the booking but I won't do that - I will just move on for future cruises.

Just now, cruzsnooze said:

I use a big box company and when I rebook a lower fare I get less of a credit. The TA's commission is based on a percentage so if the fare goes down their commission goes down. Why would anyone find that unusual. When I use my Visa I get a percent back and if I do a refund the percent becomes moot. 

   Personal cruise consultants at Princess used to be able to do some form of price match but not anymore. 

I find it unusual because in all the years we have taken cruises, and all the re-fares we have had (some quite substantial) - this has never happened before.

I picked the cruise, the cabin and the package - she booked it.  I let her know about the price reductions. I have no idea what her commission was for a $6k+ cruise - I  just know our cruise mates received $300 more from their TA - so the comm must be more than that.

Our Feb 2026 cruise price has gone down twice in the last month or so.  The first time our TA re-fared us (approx $400) with no issues.  This weekend I saw another drop of $237 - emailed our TA this morning and was re-fared within minutes.  But when I looked at the new fare vs the last one it didn't add up.  I knew the price should have dropped more than $237 because we have Princess insurance and since that is based on a % of the cruise price it also goes down (in this case about $10pp).  Then I noticed that the TA had reduced the discount we were given on the original booking by $25pp.  I asked her about it and was told that she didn't adjust the discount after the first reduction but now it was cutting into her commission...  We had already decided not to use her for Princess cruises anymore because our cruise mates used their favorite agency and received twice the discount (as OBC) with the same base price - so we'll switch.  But this is the first time this has come up from any of the TAs we have used.  Is it normal practice these days? It's been awhile since a Princess cruise we booked actually went down so we haven't been through this in a few years 🙂

7 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

The only problem I have with the airline cards like that is I don't like being tied to one airline. I don't live near a "big" airport so I can't choose one airline for all my travel. I prefer other cards with just cash back rewards. Each to their own, whatever works for you!

Why are you tied to one airline - you can use any one you want.  It's just nice to have a card that gives you free bags and priority boarding - and like one of the other posters said we haven't paid for a flight or hotel in many years - and we use three different airlines depending on the situation.  I do not get the cruise cards because I normally an at the limit of how many cards you can have before they cut you off from new ones - and I'd rather have the capability of taking advantage of a 100,000 miles sign up bonus (2 round trips) vs $200 for the cruise and a card that isn't worth much after that.  I don't get cash back cards because we don't spend enough to make that worthwhile - vs getting the card with 100,000 miles.  We all have different needs so it's great we have choices!

Last fall I paid for a cruise using the AARP gift Cards and had checked them all the morning before I gave the info to my TA to submit.  I got a notice saying one of them showed no balance.  It took several days between my TA, AARP and Princess to get it resolved - but it was.  I think it was the Princess folks that finally got it resolved.

On 7/3/2024 at 7:43 PM, sgttami said:

To answer your question:  You can buy $500 of bar cash and $500 of cruise cash per cabin if you want.

 

Both are non-refundable. I never would have had a problem with that!  I use a credit card but whatever works for you will work.  Enjoy!

All things being equal -  the gift cards you can save 8%.

On 7/2/2024 at 5:53 PM, Susan in Maine said:

We did this with my MIL last November and it worked like a charm! She is reasonably mobile and didn't need any other assistance on the ship. She had just turned 88, and since boarding is a bit frenetic with people moving very quickly (understandably so), using the wheelchair assist was a lot less stressful.

That's the situation I am in - glad to know it works 🙂

9 minutes ago, Rollin Tide said:

As mentioned, just to the lobby area.  But I do wonder if that's the case for all Carnival cruises.  Reason is, on a cruise out of New Orleans and one out of Galveston, the attendant pushed my spouse's wheelchair all the way to the room.  Both were pre-covid and all, since then it's been just to the lobby which is cool. 

Thanks!  This will be our 4th Carnival cruise (26th in all) and as I recall we could never go direct to our cabin like we do on Princess - so I figured they would probably get me onto the ship and that would be it - which is fine.

1 minute ago, Elaine5715 said:

To the ship lobby usually

Thank you!

A follow up question.  How far does the attendant take you?

2 hours ago, carol louise said:

When you arrive at the terminal, after you have disposed of your big bags, tell the staff directing people to the proper lines that you have requested wheel chair assistance. Keep in mind you will need to deal with your carry-on, so make it something you can keep in your lap or that your companion can manage along with his/her own carry-on while you are being wheeled by the attendant. Yes, I would suggest tipping the attendant.

 

To your travel companion I would advise using a backpack as their carry-on. It will likely be useful to have their hands free.

 

Have a great cruise!

Thank you!  Very much appreciated.

For the first time I decided I am going to need to use a wheelchair going through the boarding process for our cruise next Feb.  I have never done that and my TA has indicated it has been added to my booking - although I can't see anything about it online.

I would like advice from those who are experienced with wheelchair assistance - is there a certain place to go when you get to the port (Galveston) to get started - or how do you contact them if not?  And of course - do you tip the attendant.

Thanks for any advice.

We also just booked a mini (thanks Dan and Evelyn).  I couldn't see any Deluxe or Premium Deluxe or Minis until I changed it to say I was booking for 3 people - then they all showed up.  I picked one I wanted and had my TA book it.  If I tried to book it online it wanted to add the $210 port fees for the third person!

2 hours ago, RaiderDuck said:

1. FTTF lets you board earlier. This is especially nice if for whatever reason, you can't check in online early on the day when online check-ins open. With FTTF, you can pick whatever time is available, but board whenever you want. If 3-3:30 PM is all that's available, you can pick that and still show up at 10AM because you paid for FTTF.

 

2. FTTF lets you put your bags in your room right away so you're not lugging them around the ship for hours, waiting for your room to open up.

 

3. FTTF gives you priority water taxi access (meaningless on docked ports or if you're taking a Carnival shore excursion, but some people may wish to take advantage of it).

 

4. If you need to call or visit Guest Services, FTTF allows you to get in the Diamond/Platinum line, which is nice when there are a lot of people waiting in the regular line.

 

5. If you'd like to get going early on Debarkation Day (when there's really not much to do except sit around and wait for your number to be called), FTTF gives you Priority Debarkation so you can either get home earlier or start the land-based portion of your vacation several hours earlier.

 

For some people, this is worth the $160. For others, it's not. YMMV.

Than you - I appreciate the information!

I realize I am jumping in here - but since the folks that responded obviously wanted the FTF and I am interested in the reasons you like/want it.  I purchased it years ago for some friends on their first cruise - back when it was like $25 - because I wanted them to be able to board quicker and enjoy the other perks.  But in every discussion I have read recently the folks say the price now just isn't worth it for what you get.  We will be taking our 4th Carnival cruise next Spring (26 total cruises) so we have little to no status while the couple we are going with are Platinum (and said we could board with them...but I realize that won't happen). 

So I'd be interested in hearing what value caused you to pay for FTF!  I'm 50/50 right now - assuming it will even be available.

Thanks!

We mailed our passport renewals in 3 weeks ago - the check has been cashed and the web site says they are processing.

1 hour ago, coondog99 said:

Yes but unfortunately non-residents of the US cannot purchase them.

Sorry - I didn't realize that!

On 3/19/2024 at 8:30 PM, coondog99 said:

How often do these go on sale? I picked up one of these and a $300 one a few weeks ago. 

I don't know about Newegg but AARP has the $500 and $100 cards available all the time for 10% off.

We were on the same cruise - our third on the Emerald in the past year.  I think the engine shutting down (and the lights going off for a short time) was the top of the list for us - and we thought the engine shut down a few other times briefly.  But it was a great cruise regardless.

On 3/6/2024 at 10:49 AM, Steelers36 said:

Interesting how you can play penny slots - if that's your game - but need to bet considerably more for each round of Blackjack.

We play the penny slots to kill time - and DW enjoys it after dinner.  On our cruise that ended this Weds she won a "mystery jackpot" for $900 playing 34 cents a pull.   So I enjoyed it as well 🙂

8 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

No, it’s the same.  We just did a transfer from ship to LAX.  My post #11

states:  they gave us transfer tickets.  When we got outside, they told us where to catch the bus.  We got on, no one wanted to collect or see our tickets.  🥴

We were just on the Emerald out of FLL.  We received excursion tickets in an envelope as usual but we did not receive anything about our transfers.  I asked the customer service folks and they said the luggage tag was the ticket....certain colors indicate transfers - and we didn't have an issue.

8 hours ago, TW6cruiser said:

We used Blackberry cars last year. It was very easy.  Service was great.  We got through security faster than expected. But we could track our driver online and saw he was parking. He met us in the terminal and helped with bags to the parking area.  Very efficient, we would use them again. 

We also used Blackberry on our trip last year and agree it was easy and the service was great.  It was getting pricey just after we booked them - I haven't checked since.