bjkTX

1 hour ago, Colorado Coasty said:

Several cruises we have come home with 16 or more bottles. We have a whole cabinet full. Going to take a bunch of them on our Oceania cruise because they allow you to bring liquor onboard and only wine and beer are included.

We were running out of storage room for them - earlier this year I "donated" three zip-lock quart size bags full to a "charity."   :-)

22 hours ago, Elevatorman said:

Do those with Elite status have any new or old perks. I have just booked the Sky, caribbean, Dec 23, and read all about the packages, lots to digest. I don’t want to purchase overlapping add ons. 

Sorry - we seem to have hi-jacked your thread 🙂  I hope you received the answers you were looking for!  The only overlapping we found was the mini-bar since we have had the Plus Package on all our recent cruises.  But they all fit in my suitcase coming home 🙂

On 5/8/2023 at 10:31 AM, SteelerFanXL said:

If you book a deluxe/premium balcony would you be able to bid for a suite or only allow bids for so much higher category?

We have a premium balcony cabin booked for our 11 day Nov cruise.  We received our first bid email yesterday.  We could bid on regular mini suites for $70pp, a Club Class mini for $210pp, and a variety of suites up to $900pp.  So basically every cabin above what we had already booked.

On 8/20/2023 at 8:05 AM, PacnGoNow said:

Mine always have.  We usually book 1 to 2 years out.  Never know these days what will happen.  I booked 2024 trip 2 months ago and it went down once so far.  YMMV

Over the years we have counted on the price dropping significantly after we book way in advance.  But the last 4 have only gone up.  A 14 day cruise we have booked for Feb 2024 has gone up almost $5,000 since we booked it - and I thought it was pricey back then 🙂  The last 3 BIG sales all increased the prices on the cruises we had booked.

7 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Then I would cancel and rebook. That makes no sense, but if Princess wants the additional overhead, I can oblige.

There is also an issue with cabins being available in your category in order to re-fare.  We normally book B4 category premium balcony cabins - and when we see a price drop (not lately....) we can only get it if a B4 cabin is still available or we want to give up our cabin.  So most times we just keep what we have.

An update for those who had read the saga of our $500 Princess Gift Card purchased through AARP that we were told by Princess was empty - and between us and our TA there were many calls, emails and chats between AARP Rewards, Princess Gift Cards and Princess to no avail.  Last week my last call was with AARP and I was told my case was being sent to a resolution team....at least someone was doing something - I hoped!  I planned to call today to see if there was any update, and it bothered me I didn't have a case number or any ref to go by.  But this morning I received an email from our TA saying Princess had processed the missing gift card - and since I had made a payment from another source - that had been refunded.  So some hassle - but all's well 🙂 

11 hours ago, Shelly97060 said:

AARP can email you the numbers again.  I recently cancelled a cruise that I had used a GC on and for some reason instead of the amount going back to the original card it went to a different princess gift card I had used  (card was also from AARP). I called AARP and they sent me the numbers within a few minutes and then I could check all the balances and locate which card the money had been refunded to.

 

I had the numbers and the pin - just not a purchase date since that wasn't online anymore.  That only mattered if someone asked for that info.  But after three days of our TA and I talking with AARP, Princess Gift Cards and Princess no one asked for that info because no one was willing to do anything but say it wasn't their problem - call the other guy.  After getting another "not our problem" email response from Princess Gift Cards last night - I called AARP again figuring I gave them the money and they gave me the card so they are the likely one to press even though they had not been helpful so far.  Fortunately the individual I talked to last night seemed to understand, asked for what I thought was all the right info, and said he would turn it over to a resolution team and what would probably happen is they would issue a new card (or tell me it isn't there problem call Princess....).  He asked when I bought the card - no idea because we bought so many over the last 2 years.  He asked how we paid for it - no idea - we use different credit cards for bonus purposes 🙂  But he said he could work around that.  So we'll see.  In the mean time I paid the remaining $320 on the cruise and got my Paid In Full statement :-)

The sage of the missing AARP gift card has not been resolved unfortunately and no one wants to take ownership.  After I spent hours talking to AARP, Princess Gift Cards and then Princess - my TA took a few hours to do the same.  Right now it has been confirmed that the $500 gift card was applied to Princess (at the same time the other ten cards were processed) - but Princess says it wasn't.  My TA has contacted her Princess Rep about it but said based on past experience not to hold my breath.  Princess now refuses to talk to me since I used a TA...  It looks like I will  need to pay the last $320 some other way and fight it out with AARP since they took my money and issued the card.  Fortunately I have nothing better to do :-)

23 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Got it. Then the TA would have to straighten it out with PCL.

Sorry you have to deal with this.

 

Thanks - and just got emails from the airlines changing flights both ways.  Going is fine - coming back a flight at 6am probably isn't going to work.... 🙂

6 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

You don’t have them in your email?

 

Thank goodness you have the number and pin.  They usually ask “when” you purchased them.  Good luck.

I'm not going totally crazy anyway - I found the emails from AARP for all the gift cards.  Somehow the "AARP" folder was hidden in my "Cruise" mail boxes - I went to "move" an email to this cruise when "AARP" popped up as a choice - and there they are BUT after a certain period there is nothing there - and this is one of those.

2 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Did you know the exact balance and what the balance should be?  Do you show any obc under payments or credits in the cruise personalizer?  Or your travel summary?

 

When I use them, I usually use them and the leftover odd amount I use my credit card.  I know the exact amount I owe.

 

Go over the figures.

Yes - I know all that.  But while Princess shows one thing my TA is showing another.  The figure Princess used would be the correct number IF the gift card was used - the TAs numbers would be correct if the gift card wasn't used....  Because I use a TA nothing shows up online as far as payments.

I sent the Paid in Fill notice I received from Princess to my TA who just came back and said they are wrong - you still owe $320.....  I just sent that to Princess and asked who was right........

1 hour ago, PacnGoNow said:

Yes, it’s a shame we can’t get through to the right dept.

Thanks for feedback.

Now it's getting interesting 🙂  I emailed my TA to tell her what Princess said and asked her to confirm and send me the Paid In Full invoice.  She just came back and said whoever I talked to at Princess was wrong and that I still had a $320 balance due since that gift card didn't process.  At the same time I received that I received a "Paid in full" email from Princess that I just sent to my TA 🙂  I hope someone has the popcorn ready.  BTW I mentioned to her about the suggestion not to batch input the gift cards and she replied that they do them one at a time 🙂  I tried to get on the AARP Rewards site to see about the change in the discount amount but it won't let me into the Rewards area at all - it keeps sending me to the "Get Started with Rewards" over and over again.  Maybe I've been blocked 🙂

I just got a call back from Princess (not the gift  card office) - as hard as it was to understand what the lady was saying - what I did understand was that the gift card had been applied, the cruise was paid for, and what did I want to do with the balance (there was $180 left - I told her to leave it on the account as OBC).  So all's well that ends well after 5 calls, 3 emails and one long chat bot session when all I needed was the last call 🙂

I just "chatted" with AARP Rewards and after a lot of back and forth he said they couldn't help me that I needed to contact Princess.....  I am expecting a call back from them (holding breath)..

5 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

You don’t have them in your email?

 

Thank goodness you have the number and pin.  They usually ask “when” you purchased them.  Good luck.

No I don't - and I'm not sure why not 🙂  I bought them some time ago when I booked the cruise(s) and I remember seeing all the email notices in a file somewhere - but now I don't see them so I'm assuming that once I printed out the certificates and deleted all the emails.  I have another 13 sitting here for the next cruise - same thing...  Yeah, I know 🙂

Thanks for all the responses!!!

1 hour ago, Kenosha Cruiser said:

 

Call AARP, they will connect you to the department that handles their gift cards. This has happened to me with one of the cards I bought and was resolved by them contacting Princess. Just have the order number, date of order, gift card number, pin number and amount to give them. It took a few weeks and a couple calls, but the amount was put back on the original card I bought. Good luck. 

 

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

 

Thanks!  I wish I had all that info 🙂  I have the gift card number and PIN but had bought a couple of dozen of them over the last year or so and all the AARP site shows is that cards were purchased - not the card numbers.  But I'll contact them and see how it goes 🙂

I'm on the way out the dorr so I don't have time to do a search - hoping someone will have the answer when I get back home later today.

Yesterday I gave my TA a list of eleven $500 Princess gift cards to pay off an upcoming cruise.  She responded that 10 had processed but one came back saying it had a zero balance.  I had checked the balances on all of them before I sent them to her.  When I check that card it also says zero.  I called the Princess Gift Card place from the website and she checked and said it had a zero balance as of yesterday - that it had been used yesterday (along with the other 10).  My TA says it's empty so they can't do anything.  I submitted an inquiry to the same Gift Card office to see what they could tell me but got a reply this morning that they can only check the balance - not where it went.

I know in reading this thread over time others have had issues.  If you did - how did you get it resolved???  Thanks.

Brian

I can't stand another sale - the last three raised the price over $3,000 🙂  Glad we're locked in - but the days of buying in and expecting a reduction later seem to be gone - at least that's the case for our last 4 cruises. 

It does get confusing 🙂  We have cruises booked for Nov and Feb - both with the Plus Package.  The Nov cruise includes the goodies, but the Feb one does not.  Maybe by Feb they will decided I really need two of those desserts everyday!!  Oh yeah - and the fitness classes...

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

What I do is track all tours on a spreadsheet with the cost and what wife and I owe and if in USD or EUR.  I get all that cash ready ahead of voyage and put the correct amount in an envelope and label with date, port, and excursion company.  When we get on the ship, I keep them all in the safe and take out each envelope as needed.  In addition, some additional for walking around cash. 

LOL I did the same thing.  BUT the tours were mixed - some I arranged and people were going to pay me, and some others arranged and I had to pay them.  So I figured out how much of everthing I needed only to be hit with "we decided to pay in $ instead of Euro's" or v/v - and all bets were off 🙂  But as always it all worked out.

17 hours ago, suzyed said:

And if the stock prices go up maybe they will pay the dividend again~  🤞

That would be great - but I think it's a long way off.  But still - I paid $9 a share when I bought my first shares many years and a LOT of OBC ago.  Sold it for a very nice paper loss when we weren't cruising for a few years.  Then bought back in again at $8 a share ($18 today) and so far $550 in OBC - so for us it's been a great investment 🙂

4 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

Look into the kinds of checking accounts your bank offers.  I bank with Wells Fargo and as ex military I have an account with no foreign transaction fees, although there may be an atm fee.  Haven’t had to use it in years.  Also check with your credit cards for foreign transaction fees, if you plan to use them in foreign countries.  EM

Did you have an account with Wells Fargo Military Bank when they were still in business?

14 hours ago, DIGTHIS said:

Thank you for your response.  I would have been caught flat footed this fall.

Dave

When we cruised to Europe last Fall I wanted Euro's in my pocket even though all the experts told me I wouldn't need them "everyone takes a CC."  I ordered some from my bank and had them delivered to my house.  I am a past employee of that bank and have the account that "waives" most things - but I felt like an idiot when I realized how much they charged me...  It was very easy getting money at the airport at a much better rate.  As for "everyone takes a CC" none of the tour operators we used did - they all wanted cash!  I did convert some money at the Pursers Desk - but I don't remember the details.