JSandage

2 hours ago, dmwnc1959 said:

THANK YOU to the OP for this thread. My cruise is still 357 days away, but having OBC and seeing an excursion that I really, REALLY want, just booked it. Not sure how quickly the Panama Canal & Locks Transit By Boat sells, but didn’t want to take a chance. This is a Once-in-a-Lifetime cruise for me. Pretty happy! 😁

That's a wonderful excursion. We did it on the Coral in 2004

On 1/25/2024 at 12:36 PM, Boiler Cruiser said:

I just noticed on the Princess website that when booking a cruise, you are no longer given the option of choosing the Premium Package, only the Plus Package. 

 

Is that a new wrinkle?  Is the Premier Package no longer available?  If not, what is the reason(s) it was eliminated?

I see all 3 options - Standard, Plus and Premier

2 hours ago, DHP1 said:

After buying that wrist band, Princess will now change the diameter of the Medallion and therefor, it wouldn’t fit your existing band.  Lol. Just a thought. 

I should find out in another week or so when I get my medallion for upcoming Feb cruise!!

We sail on Feb 10 and have seen activities for a few weeks now; enrichment talks, games etc and some entertainment. 

3 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Would you please post a photo? 

 

17 hours ago, trvlwrld said:

We always attach our Princess luggage tags before leaving home.  A gate attendant clued us in a couple of years back…if the airlines see a cruise tag or tour group tag attached, they will do their best to make sure your bag arrives with you because they don’t want to be responsible for trying to get it to you when you are a moving target on your vacation.

We always do this too and never heard that we shouldn't put them off before we even leave our house. Seems like the tags might help your bag get where it needs to be if it does get lost

We use the plastic sleeves with the metal rings and they work great

7 minutes ago, HotRoot said:

When we bought the watch, the sales lady installed the medallion.  Now we cannot figure out how to get it out to be ready for our next cruise.  Help, Please!

It unscrews. If it's like mine that is. Mine is a cloth band with a plastic medallion holder, got it on Sky Princess in 2021. If you look at the holder from the side you can see where it's split. Twist the top part to the left and it should open. Hope that helps!

They don't have boarding groups anymore. No assigned time to arrive

23 minutes ago, charliedalrymple said:

 

We're tipping in Australian dollars since that is the onboard currency and we are round-trip from Sydney.  Does your cruise originate in Sydney?  I think the crew would be thrilled with tips in any currency, since they aren't common in Australia.  

Yes we start and end in Sydney. I figured Australian Dollars would be best but thank you for confirming it! 

We will be on Majestic Princess next month for a South Pacific cruise. We usually tip extra to our cabin steward, for room service etc. Does anyone know if the crew prefers tips in Australian Dollars or US money? 

Majestic Princess Feb 10 2024 visiting Fiji ( 3 islands ), Vanuatu and New Caledonia - we can't wait!! 50th anniversary cruise

1 hour ago, latebuyer said:

I'm not sure i can ask this, so if not please let me know. I'm wondering about the benefit of booking through the cruise consultant. The price is exactly the same if i book online vs. with the cruise consultant. I've never cruised on princess so i wonder if there is some benefit to booking with the cruise consultant, but i'm not sure. I also feel guilty as if i cancel again this will be the second time. I sort of like the anonymity of booking online, paying 100.00 deposit and then cancelling if i need to. (Its just due to work i'm not 100% sure). On the other hand, as i said if he can answer questions that may help.

I had already booked my cruise when a Princess Consultant called me and introduced himself as my personal travel advisor. He explained many things he could help me with and I actually cancelled that original cruise and booked a different one, he was a tremendous help for me when I did that. He booked my EZ Air flights and helped me change seats for one of the flights as well. 

This is our 7th Princess cruise and I never used a Princess agent before. I have booked with other travel agents and also just booked everything myself. He has been very helpful though. Easy to reach via email and his response time has been excellent. 

3 hours ago, Karen Lynn said:

Anyone help direct me to where I can see I do in fact have the Premier Add on in the app or CP?

Cannot find it !! Arghhhh

Thank you!

On the website go to Onboard Services and scroll all the way to the bottom, it will show you everything that is included in whichever package you ordered. In the app, go to luggage tags and documents and keep scrolling. Mine appears right after the excursions I have already purchased. Hope that helps!

5 hours ago, arxcards said:

That fits our usual booking as well. The cabin is pretty much  like-nu.

 

Make the most of the concierge & lounge for evening drinks and the coffee machine & nibbles. 

We are definitely going to do that!!

On 11/9/2023 at 2:55 PM, arxcards said:

Say hi to Darko for us.

Geoff & Barb - recent tenants from R604

Geoff and Barb - we will be in R604 in Feb 2024, 13 day South Pacific cruise. This is our first full suite, we usually book mini-suites. This will be our 50th anniversary cruise too, we can't wait!  

We did a partial Panama Canal cruise on the Coral in 2004, we love the ship. We cruised on her again in Alaska in 2019. I much prefer the smaller ships and we loved going through the old locks, really amazing and a definite bucket list cruise! 

On 3/19/2023 at 10:13 AM, JSandage said:

We have booked our first full suite for our May 2024 cruise. We have always been in mini-suites before and tried Club Class dining for our Alaska cruise in 2019, loved it!!

 

My ranking based on what we are really looking forward to:

 

1. Large room and large balcony

2. Club class dining

3. MDR room service - especially for breakfast on the balcony

4. Bottled water every day

5. Fruit bowl

6. Laundry service

7. Canapes every evening

 

We don't really care about specialty dining or breakfast at Sabatini's. Not sure if there is a concierge lounge on Island Princess. We didn't have a chance to try the Elite/Platinum lounge on our 2021 cruise on the Sky Princess even though it was our first cruise as Platinum members - maybe we'll get a chance this next time. 

We ended up cancelling our May 2024 Panama Canal cruise on the Island Princess. I was starting to worry about the drought down there and heard that another cruise line has cancelled all Panama Canal cruises in 2024. I was also worried about the Island Princess itself. I heard that our cruise would be the last one before she goes into dry dock. I started thinking if anything was wrong on the ship, they might not be inclined to fix it since it's going in for dry dock soon.

BUT - we are now booked on Majestic Princess for a South Pacific cruise in Feb 2024 and we booked a full suite. This ship has the concierge lounge which will be very close to our cabin. We are really excited for this cruise.. first full suite, first long-haul flight (we booked premium economy), first ever trip to any of the places we'll be visiting and it's our 50th anniversary. Can't wait!

We'll be on Majestic in Feb 2024 for a 13 day South Pacific cruise. This will be our first long flight - 15 hours from LAX - flying premium economy ANZ there and Delta home. This will also be our longest cruise. We'll be celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary and we booked a suite. We can't wait!! Only 108 days till we sail!

On 10/10/2023 at 8:14 AM, fruitmachine said:

It depends on your nationality.

Read this page and the "Transit Visa Waiver Countries" link near the bottom of this page: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/preparing-a-visa-application/your-journey-to-new-zealand/before-you-travel-to-new-zealand/transit-passengers

Just downloaded the NZ app and have our applications completed, waiting for approval email but it was super easy. Thanks for your help!

We're on the Majestic Princess in Feb 2024 leaving out of Sydney. We do have a 2 hour layover in Auckland NZ before we get to Sydney. I got our ETA's for Australia, do I need something for NZ too? 

We did this in 2019 and loved it. We made a brief stop (2 minutes?) for the crew to exchange mail bags and maybe had to wait to enter that last bridge to Whittier but that was it. I don't think there was a good side or bad side, beautiful trip! Enjoy!!!

On 3/17/2023 at 8:41 PM, Thrak said:

Could be worse... I ordered a new Bluetooth mouse from Amazon and today got the notice that my package had been delivered. No mouse but a bunch of Covid tests. At least your order was "approximately" correct.

I ordered a wooden 3-D puzzle from a Facebook ad, I got a box of socks!!! When I contacted them they said they will refund if I ship the socks back to them. No way!! I disputed with my cc company and got my full refund that way. 

We have booked our first full suite for our May 2024 cruise. We have always been in mini-suites before and tried Club Class dining for our Alaska cruise in 2019, loved it!!

My ranking based on what we are really looking forward to:

1. Large room and large balcony

2. Club class dining

3. MDR room service - especially for breakfast on the balcony

4. Bottled water every day

5. Fruit bowl

6. Laundry service

7. Canapes every evening

We don't really care about specialty dining or breakfast at Sabatini's. Not sure if there is a concierge lounge on Island Princess. We didn't have a chance to try the Elite/Platinum lounge on our 2021 cruise on the Sky Princess even though it was our first cruise as Platinum members - maybe we'll get a chance this next time. 

@Paula_MacFan Thank you!!!

We just booked the Island for the 15-day Panama Canal Ocean to Ocean cruise for May 2024. We are Platinum level and for the first time ever, we have booked a suite. This will be our 10th cruise, the 7th with Princess. We have sailed on the Coral twice and loved it. Our last Princess cruise was on the Sky. Beautiful big ship but I didn't like it as much as the smaller ships. I found it hard to learn my way around and we spent so much time back-tracking trying to find where we wanted to be. We usually book a mini-suite and were spoiled by Club Class dining for our Alaska cruise on the Coral, looking forward to club class dining again as a suite benefit. This will be our 50th wedding anniversary celebration and already can't wait!! Any other suite benefits you can tell us about we might not be aware of? Thanks in advance!