Gr8Mariner

On 5/19/2022 at 5:15 PM, flyers1976 said:

Checking in there on Saturday. 

 

Looking forward to your comments on the Hotel...sorry if my impatience is annoying.

Terrific! Please let us know how it is when you can.

Great idea...thanks... Since it is the only hotel that NCL sells in Rome, there must be someone.

Has anyone stayed there pre or post cruise? It is the only hotel that NCL offers. However, the online reviews are all over the map, one to five stars.

 

Thanks in advance.

They were closed over the weekend, so I called this morning. Even in Europe there are no exceptions.

 

Windstar will not allow any deviations; boarding late or leaving early.

There are some European lines who let you join the ship at a second or third port on the itinerary...does Windstar allow that?

 

Thanks for any guidance.

This conversation has focused on NCL, RCI, and Celebrity. None of their current solo cabins seem to be ADA compatible. Does any other line have an ADA  Balcony Staterooms with less than 200% ?

 

 

I've been on ships which have a card room. I've been on some who schedule bridge games on sea days. What is the story on Celebrity?

I just realized that I have sailed on a dozen ships which are no longer in service for their original owners. Most were scrapped in 2020.

 

This too shall pass. 2022 should be a banner year!

As a Travel Agent, Lift and Shift has been a nightmare.

Not one of them was done correctly. I have gotten several  "Balance due $0" confirmations and then there was a balance due a few weeks later. One (and I am being conservative here) then showed a $800 balance due. It required two dozen calls, at the beginning with hold times over an hour. Just today, we finally straightened it out. Well, I thought it was...the Agent copy of the confirmation is correct and the Guest copy isn't.

In the future, I will strongly suggest that my Clients take the FCC instead. The reason to L&F is to avoid paying more for a future cruise, but half of my Clients have had their 2021 fares reduced.

It is not worth the hassle if there is no financial advantage. I will go to the mat for my Clients.. I (almost) enjoy the challenge. I really think that FCC is best for the Client.

4 hours ago, Chipster2 said:

Booked on the Grand Princess in 4 weeks. If she sails, we will be on her!

I have re-booked my clients on Carnival as the soonest Grand could sail again is 3/29 ( 3/22 hasn't been  taken off sale but is within the 14 day quarantine period).

Is Carnival making inroads to what has been Princess territory?

We have about $1k in onboard credit that expires in December. I'm having surgery and can't sail...does Princess ever extend the deadline for health reasons?

 

Thanks for any input.

I love a mystery...my guess is that Grand will reposition to Seattle ( for Alaska) and a larger ship will take over SF as they are almost always full.

 

Fingers crossed!

Some previously announced May 2020 sailings have been withdrawn for reconsideration. I'm always amazed when folks on these Boards have gossip or rumor or inside information to help the rest of us plan. One specific that affects me is that the Grand sailings after April 5 2020 are off the Princess website.

 

Does anyone know if she is being repositioned or if they are just juggling itineraries from SF?

 

Thanks for any insight!

The only thing you are missing is a time machine.

 

You need to go back 10+ years to find a butler on Princess.

 

Sometimes talking about cruising makes me wish for the time machine...I wish I had a time machine to go back to the Royal Caribbean upgrade we got that had a grand piano or the NCL upgrade with a hot tub on the balcony...and both had two butlers.

 

And both were half the price of our balcony cabins on Crystal and our stateroom on SeaDream (which doesn't have any balconies).

 

That said, none of the above had Quantum's bumper cars.

Regarding TRBarton's comment about showing your Elite card to gain priority entrance at SF Piers...

 

This does not happen.

 

Passengers all are in one line until they pass through Security/X-Ray. That is why the lines on the 20th were hours long at one point for everyone, regardless of status.

 

Once inside, there are priority check-in lines and a seating area with refreshments, but until you are inside...pack a lunch and bring a good book.

Unless it is a two-ship day, all calls will be at 27 in 2015.

 

Jewel of the Seas is a transit, so the problems passengers encountered with the inaugural should be solved.

 

The issues yet to be solved are the full turns by big ships.

 

Take the coastal...by next Spring it will be fine.

So how long until complaints about the new terminal start being posted here? Want to start a pool?

 

If you build it, they will come....

I agree with all of the pro-passport posts, but here's another angle...

 

Not having a passport means that you will spend more time at check-in. The birth certificate information has to be manually inserted into the computer. For adults, it takes even more time to register the driver's license info.

 

Of course, the reasons to have a passport cited in previous posts are far more important, but any decision is a sum of its parts. Everyone should have a passport.

During the decade that I was the Executive Director, I had the pleasure of staging a mini-version of The Sausalito Art Festival on Crystal, HAL, and RCI...passengers really appreciate the opportunity to see original art and meet the Artists.

 

This change is a great move to make the art offerings as upscale as Regent and Oceania.

I wonder where the info came from in the previous posts...Star Princess is currently scheduled for Pier 27 and NCL Pearl is at Pier 35 on October 1.

NCL Sun is at 27 the next day...there is no three ship day (yet).

Just a few notes...

 

To Thrak...there are no 2 ship days in November, so you should be at Pier 27...even if another ship decides to change their schedule, Princess should surely have "first dibs" on the new digs.

 

To Treven...ditto the Princess priority comment above. If you are going to Alaska next summer, you will surely be there (although the Port of SF hasn't published the 2015 calendar yet).

 

To onefine 89...there are two Princess calls during fleet week. The Crown is in transit and the Star is a full turn (Mexico run). Both are scheduled for 27.

 

To damiross...Since Princess is currently sailing very, very full, we should see a more cruise lines testing the waters in SF (pun intended) and stealing market share. It's up to them to decide to come here and SF can now handle three-a-day...but itinerary changes and redeployments can take years. Fingers crossed.

 

Aside: I'm hearing rumors that 27 may not open on time (Crown Princess/Sep 18). I really hope that they are wrong

I heard that embarkation in SF will be delayed. Has anyone heard why?

I'm glad that it seems that they have gotten their act together. As a TA, I spend alot of time defending NCL.

 

I just booked a couple in a Haven suite in Europe for less money than a so-so cabin on Regent so I understand value.