insidecabin

Plenty of P&O cruisers did their first princess cruise at high levels as there was a loyalty match. Our elite was helped with P&O. Let's not forget the multi point cruises. 21 nights solo in a suite on Sun Princess this summer get 9 points 6 more elite.

Good offers, when you factor the 50% in the UK is on fare which include tax the base fare reduction was even more. What surprised me they include Sun Princess cruises(if it ever sails) in the list.

Don't forget not everyone drinks wine and foo foo drinks. I do cruises where I only ever drink beers, it take a few of them even with Princess outrageous price for me to drink enough for 2 as the OH can go no drinks on a cruise.

Don't forget the captain's circle discounts on selected cruises for selected customers. Seen upto 50% and that on current fare and packages.

If you live without paying the Crew Appreciation the package is even less value. With Princess inflated drinks prices it can be quite easy to go over the threshold with just a few alcoholic drinks a morning coffee and a couple of bottles of water for the off ship time.

Some lines are now blocking routers as they have a one device policy(you can't switch), wonder if Princess will go down that route(er) to protect revenue?

Not surprised they need one for Plymouth that's a long way 5.5hrs+ Southampton is a couple of hours. Not thought about it before so had a look at the time tables for arrival and departure times of the stops. https://www.nationalexpress.com/en/help/timetables see on the 504 they have a 30min stop at Sedgemoor Services https://timetables.nationalexpress.com/routes/NX/504/London-Penzance/O/2024-02-16?from=125&to=158 Quite like the new interface,, soe routes have 5mins at some of the bigger stops, probably time for a quick dash to bathroom while they deal with the changeover

In Jan I was looking(UK) at these early cruises as they were very reasonable for a new ship, only the first sailing was "sold out" with reasonable availability for the others into March. NO insides available on those cruises, probably capacity control, sell the more expensive and keep the insides for contractors. IIRC one UK vlogger said they got a balcony for £700pp on 28th Feb 10n which is good. Suddenly sold out, I forget exactly how many but it was into March normally they drop off one at a time. For anyone disrupted there is a decent itinerary/price on Celebrity infinity out of Athens 23 Feb 2024

This happens with quite a few ships and is probably just as common as delays. Plenty of ships are sold with a buffer and when they are ready early they slip in extra shake down sailings,, then the moans are about I wanted to be on the first sailing now I am on the 3rd....... I suspect there may have been contingency in the original schedules but that got used up(and more) ages ago and attempts to bring the schedule back just failed. IME cruise lines sail(new build or drydock) to retain revenue even if the hotel is not ready, unless there is a fundamental problem(eg, no aircon, toilets...), we have been on ships where cabins not finished, venues closed, entertainment not ready, IT like TV phones and screens not fully operational etc. They sail and finish the jobs with contractors staying on board. It is looks like something that is keeping the ship in port. With 20 extra days, they don't need further hotel failures like shows not ready, closed venues ...

They tried(blame the authorities) that last year when they stopped serving alcohol for periods on cruises out of the UK, when pushed there was silence(many did not believe it), eventually an apology and compensation.

Here in Europe the data coverage the data coverage remains for some distance/time arriving and leaving ports and some times for extended periods where the ship remains close to land. . Parts of Alaska may be the same coverage is probably a bit sparse between coastal settlements.

This set menu for the casual dining is going to reduce its value to us as a package item. Does not matter how much food if it not what you would order.

Plus is now 50%+ of the total cruise price we aim for £100pppd or less. ($126pppd)

National express coach do not have comfort stops on the London(Victoria or Heathrow) Southampton route.

For central London train works well and can be very reasonable and quick(subject to strikes). National express coach is often the cheapest and for Heathrow the better option as no direct trains. Both need taxi to terminal (<£10) or can be walked.

UK you can add free at sea to the lowest GTY rates. The price I mentioned included the gratuities the free at sea is only £20-£25 of the total. For those that remove service NCL offer even lower option by not including in the package.

The equivalent of princess crew appreciation is not included, the free at sea is actually around £20-£25, service £15.50 giving the total £35-£40. There are differences like free at sea includes speciality meals(1-3) and shorex credits +... plus includes 2 casual dining and exercise classes +... The value of each element will differ for people as not every uses ever feature. High loyalty on both can swing a choice as the benefits are different. Both offer inside discounts attached to accounts, not public which can drive booking timings Last year Princess could not get close to NCL Prices as there were good late discounts that coincided with 50% free at sea and some inside offers on cruises we were interested in. Year before it was princess, plus was £30 they were winning, charging £50 went to far and it is obvious as they keep inventing charges to add to try to make it better value for this year. A good inside discount on plus and fare has brought princess back in line for us to book.

UK the law is to process the refund within 14 days not 3 weeks And also allows for all losses not limits like $200 air allowance.

We find NCL free at sea package better value than the princess option. Costs around £36-£40 against £50 for plus That covers service drinks and enough internet they have other bits What matters is the total for the bits you need, extra spending on top of the base cruise fare. Sometimes NCL wins sometimes Princess It gets competitive when they are offering discounts and there are cruise gaps to fill and the timing is right

Newer ships should be moving to cold wash and cool drying. Out last behind was on NCL new ship Viva and because the main laundry space was undergoing maintenance we got an extended tour in the area used to process the passenger laundry with more explanation than on the regular tour that focuses on the tunnel wash and the dry/folding machines.

I suggest you do the behind the scenes laundry tour the ships laundry is an amazing operation. Ship laundry is pretty much automatic with predetermined cycles, temperature and detergent doses for the types of linen. I would be very concerned about the public laundry rooms as they won't have the same attention to detail and you have no control over the use by previous passengers. You could be washing your towels/sheets in a machine that has just had a load of skiddies put through on low temp and minimum/no cleanser.

If it is 50% of a future cruise that would be independent of anything paid for the cancelled on The other anomaly is if you have flown full refund of airfare. Not flown only $200. UK bookings they need to cover all losses including but not limited to air and hotels

That's a very serious implimentation and QA failure if it is a bug/glitch of a feature was not supposed to be there or optional by design.

unlikely the UK as they are single 14n the ones with legs are Enchanted port Everglades and Sun in the med. a quick look in July and the only one with 3 sea days is Fort Lauderdale (6 July 4 Aug)

I don't get that unlimited If they save $1pp per cruise $1 might just cover the ingredients for one visit to Alfredo's per cruise (Total food cost for the day is going to be around $15+- and that feeds your share of the crew) (for some passengers that have a habit of losing the cards/medallion it may be more than 1)