bjkTX

I had an issue with our account on a cruise we completed on 10 Oct. I sent Princess an email but never heard back - BUT I received a check in the mail last week - so about 2 weeks and no way of knowing if the email had anything to do with it.

It seems to vary from port to port. We were just on a Princess cruise in England and walked right onto the ship at 11:30, never really stopped for anything and we were in our cabin by 11:45. We are Elite so that may have helped - we did see a lot of folks sitting in an area close to the ship entrance. But with the Medallion and Green Lane completed it should be a quick process. We'll be on the Ruby for Christmas so I guess we'll see how it works in Galveston 🙂

From the Galveston Port web page! Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Prima will begin with two roundtrip Western Caribbean voyages from Galveston: a three-day cruise on Oct. 27, 2022, and a four-day cruise on Oct. 31, 2022. Starting in the winter season 2023 and 2024, Norwegian Prima will homeport out of Galveston, offering seven-day voyages to the Western Caribbean out of Galveston. The ship will call to Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico; Harvest Caye, a private island in Belize; and Roatan Island, Honduras.

One thing I have always enjoyed about Cruise Critic - it's like a soap opera. I haven't really spent much time here over the last few years, but when you come back it's like you never left, the same discussions are still going on - and usually with the same people... 🙂

I did that once on the last cruise - and it told me she was right next to me in bed 🙂

Not only the Patter - I found it way more difficult to maneuver the TV or the Medallion App to find anything. I miss the old book that used to be in the cabin with all the ship info on it - and the small tri-fold card with the deck plans on it to carry in my pocket. We have, but rarely use the phone, so it's not something we routinely carry with us everywhere we go. Dinosaurs still roam the earth (and sea).

My bride and I just took a Princess British Isles cruise to celebrate our 50th anniversary. We have 17 cruises on Princess and 3 or 4 each on Carnival and Royal Caribbean. We have always preferred Princess - not only because of the perks, but we prefer the ships. Our first Carnival cruise was ok, but the ship was neon and had a very plastic looking decor - and we realized we probably wouldn't cruise with them again. But friends convinced us to join them a couple of times after that and the ships were beautiful, the food was good, and except for missing the perks - we were happy. But things we have learned. On Princess the longer, most expensive cruises are going to be full of people who can afford them - and those people tend to be more reserved and go to bed early 🙂 We did a 2 week Alaska cruise on one of the old small Princess ships and by the time dinner was over they had already rolled up the carpets. On the Carnival cruises we always watch the time of year - and for us the cruises we wanted always seemed to depart during Spring Break or hurricane season. NEVER book a cruise during Spring Break 🙂 Unlike Princess I would think a longer, more expensive Carnival cruise would be a good middle point.

We almost always book C-753 or C-752 for our cruises. We just got off the Emerald a couple of weeks ago and had that cabin and have it on the Ruby in December and back on the Emerald in Feb 2024. It's an aft facing corner balcony cabin and there are only the two of them on the Grand class ships - normally there are suites on the corners. The balconies are larger than normal and because they are on the corner you can see off to the side. The balcony is covered and protected by the ship for almost any mind of weather - so we can be out there for breakfast or late night drinks - and sail away gatherings with friends are great! I have been in balcony cabins on the side of the ship where I couldn't extend my legs without hitting the railing - not for me 🙂

Same with us on the Emerald earlier this month - a copy of the Patter was in our cabin every night without asking.

You must not have a cat!!! 🙂

I used to build up points when I was after other cruise line gift cards - but strangely for the Princess cards you don't have to be a member or use points!

I have used them to pay for the cruise - they will save me $700 on the next cruise - but they can be added to your account giving yourself OBC as well (at least our TA has done that in the past).

It's somewhat tricky because they (for some reason) aren't member only rewards - you have to find "see ALL rewards" and scroll through them.

And if you go to the AARP site and buy Princess gift cards you can save an additional 10% - I just bought more yesterday to use on a Feb 2024 cruise that was already nicely discounted by our TA.

FWIW I just received my check today - we got off the Emerald Princess on 10 October - so not bad. While I probably wouldn't have thrown the envelope away I remembered seeing your comment about Bottomline so I knew what it was 🙂

We had a combination of $360 refundable and non-refundable OBC on our cruise a few weeks ago. When we checked our statements the last night it showed my wife owed $91 and I was $96 to the good. I assumed they would merge the account balances (same CC) and maybe send me a $5 check. But when we got home we noticed they had charged the CC for her $91. I sent Princess a message asking about my $96 (not knowing if the refundable/non-refundable thing was in play) and pretty much put it out of my mind. But today I received a check for $96.55. We got off the ship on 10 October - so not bad, and obviously they do what I had been told - they use the non-refundable credit first and what's left they will refund.

We agree - we just left her on 10 Oct and they were busy getting her ready for rehab. But all in all we thought she looked pretty good and we didn't notice any glaring issues other than a few elevator buttons that didn't work. We'll be back on her in Feb 2024 so maybe we'll notice the difference.

When I originally contacted them in March the price each way was 100BP (give or take 5BP). A month later (April) when I actually booked them it was 126BP. The day we used them to return to Heathrow (10 Oct) it showed 168BP and today it shows 180BP and it says the prices may be inaccurate due to a new price increase. They did honor the booked price! But then I happened to check flights to compare what we had and that was a real shock. I used points on United and had Premium Plus both ways for 90,000 points each way or 180,000 round trip (for two people). When I looked yesterday it was 480,000! Ouch 🙂

We just used Blackberry to and from Heathrow on our British Isles cruise (28 Sep - 10 Oct). They picked us up in the airport terminal and drove us to our hotel in Southampton. After the cruise they met us outside the cruise terminal and took us back to Heathrow where we spent the night. It appears the prices have gone up quite a bit since I originally booked them - and while we told them there were 2 of us with 4 bags the newish Mercedes sedan they picked us up after the cruise needed to have 2 suitcases in the front passenger seat - but it was still fast and efficient and I would book them again.

I won $160 in my first 8 minutes on a penny slot machine on the Emerald Princess two weeks ago - so yes they have penny slots. I was playing 88 pennies at a time, I'm not sure what the minimum was - maybe 36 or so and it went up to at least 888 because my wife had also won $100+ and a few minutes later I looked over and she was back to even - somehow she changed her bet from 30+ to 888 and didn't notice it... There were several penny machine scattered around. As for smoking I just didn't notice - the casino never had many people in it when we were there. Good luck!

We love the "private" entrance. We had been on a cruise where the drunks were roaming the halls at 2am waking everyone up - and we never heard them 🙂 We love the white noise of the wake, we love the movement, and we absolutely love getting back from shore and having our friends join us on the big balcony for a sail away party knowing no matter what the weather was we could be out there! The last cruise (British Isles) I screwed up because it was so port intensive with bad weather that we never really got to use the balcony other than on one of the 2 sea days - so it was wasted $$ - but we'll enjoy it on the next two Caribbean cruises 🙂

Howdy! Converse here. We had been on the Emerald before but I'm not sure when it was. We tend to always get the same cabin C-753 and all the Princess ships tend to blend together - which we like 🙂 We were in C-753 2 weeks ago and will have it on the Ruby for a Christmas cruise then again back on the Emerald in Feb 2024. We're predictable if nothing else 🙂

We have had varying experiences over the years but in 17 Princess cruises we have only been told we couldn't have access to our cabin when we boarded (normally noon or earlier). On the last cruise on 30 Sep we boarded at 11:30 and didn't stop until we got to our aft facing balcony cabin which was ready. I have always considered that a big plus for Princess. I think we heard an announcement around 1pm saying cabins were ready.

When we got off the Emerald a couple of weeks ago they were busy taping brown paper over doors and windows getting things ready - a few days before I went to a meeting next door to Sabatini's and noticed it was all taken apart and getting ready. They didn't even wait for us to leave the ship 🙂 Time is money. We loved the Emerald and they will make her even better - we'll see in Feb 2024 when we sail on her again.