Cancun01

@Keith1010Hi Keith Wishing you and Anne-Marie a wonderful trip. How exciting! Looking forward to reading your feedback/blog. BTW I believe you have been to Portomao before😉. I remember it well because it was our first Crystal cruise and you kindly helped me with several questions and we met at the meet/mingle. If I recall you were at the end of a world cruise. We embarked in Miami on May 4, 2015 to Rome (Miami-Lisbon-Rome). I was sure Portomao was on the itinerary and I just looked it up and it was indeed on that itinerary.

We were on for 14 nights…North/south bound Alaska. My comments referred to the first 7 nights, are accurate and do not refer to the Lido deck. I was surprised at the number of shorts and wife beaters/basic t-shirts in the MDR ( Allegro), Crown Grill Bar area, the Piazza area which did indeed stand out to me. We are elite but have not sailed on Princess since 2018 and I was a bit taken back. The second week was completely different; a few shorts but we did not see any tuxes.

Just off the Majestic and I support everything you have stated. Saw several in shorts on “formal” night ..and we were in Alaska. We saw one Tux. Many were dressed in suit, open shirt collar and jacket but the majority were in khakis and golf shirts. On the second formal night entitled “dress to impress night” my husband wore khakis, checked dress shirt with coordinating pullover sweater instead of his suit and tie and he “fit in” better. Don’t get me started on smart casual night…yes there were “wife beaters” and shorts! In fairness, I don’t think many new cruisers ( very few repeat cruisers on this cruise) realize the distinction between “casual” and “smart casual”.

If you haven’t been on Princess in 20 years I think you will also be a bit shell-shocked!!! We haven’t been on them in 5 years and the changes are very noticeable but tolerable. There is certainly no comparison to even 10 years ago. The response from @J13C85reflects our thoughts.

We are onboard the Majestic now…this is also our experience as Elites…no personal size bathroom amenities nor sewing kit etc except the refillable bottles (eww -gross) that I assume everyone gets. Glad I brought a few travel sizes with me. I will purchase some more in port.

Are there any non-fish/non-seafood items on the menu for those in our party who don’t care for fish/seafood?

Thank you to @Keith1010et al for your advice on this thread. I applied for the exceptional initiative in April and had not received anything except the automated response when I applied. June 1 is closing in on us and I was going to reapply. However, this morning when I read the comment that a month was too long to wait for approval/certificate I took the liberty of sending an email requesting the status of my claim at 12.51pm. I couldn’t believe it…at 1:30 pm I received a response informing me that our claim had been approved in full and that a certificate was sent by separate email. Of course I couldn’t find it nor an attachment. I found it in our junk mail timed 1:28pm. It is dated May 11. I am wondering there was an original email that was was timed and in the junk mail. Perhaps they never sent it. Anyway all’s well that ends well. Thank you again !

Can anyone tell me the process to obtain a refund when EZAir arrangements were changed (by us within the permitted time limit)? We have a TA but booked the tickets online. On April 30 we booked airline tickets through EZAir. A few days later the airline contacted us and because of a change in the equipment we were bumped from premium economy to seats in a different category. We were not thrilled with the change and because we were within the “change without fee” time limit under EZ Air rules we switched our flights on May 8. The change resulted in $900 owing to us. To date we have not received a credit on our credit card. I called Princess’ EZAir number this afternoon. YIKES! The “navigator” asked when I filled out the refund form. I said I didn’t know about a refund form because when I called before changing the booking online I was told the credit would automatically be applied to our card. He told me that I must request the refund by completing a refund form which he forwarded to me. The form and instructions sent to me clearly state that the form is for passengers with “ independent arrangements “ who lose funds for hotels/air/car rental when Princess changes the itinerary ( you must attach receipts etc.). Princess already has all the information they need! Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you for sharing. Glad the clothing worked so well for you. I am going to check them out.

I agree…they are very popular for all ages in North America…my comment was in reference to the OP’s options for Barcelona…although less and less, as you no doubt know, many places still exist in Europe that frown on/deny entry to those wearing shorts/skorts.

A cap sleeve midi dress would be a better option than skirted leggings in Barcelona in June…IMO…maybe less “fun” but certainly cooler. We have been there in May/June in 4 of the past 8 years. The end of May was very hot last year. If I may suggest… if you go in the cable car at Montjuïc (sp?) you may wish to consider linen/cotton or even bamboo crops of some sort or some of the other suggestions in this thread…I found EF linen/cotton mix ( less wrinkles!) lantern pants with cotton gauze tops worked well and were presentable every where ( if you stop for a nice lunch etc) …in the end the only opinion that matters is yours so just please yourself. I would skip the beastly stairs. 😳

This is how the EF skirted legging was originally intended to be worn. I am not a fan of this particular top but this illustrates the length of the top …too short for more mature women to wear with leggings alone but gives a more sophisticated/more “rear” coverage when worn with the EF extender skirted legging. It finishes the look. May be too warm for summer in Europe IMO.

“As somebody in Europe, I had never even heard of 'skirted leggings' before, let alone seen somebody wearing them” I have a pair of black skirted leggings from Eileen Fisher that are 10 years old. Several companies put them out at that time. For a while they were called “skeggings” but that was quickly dropped. LOL. As an alternative many collections including EF also sold short black mini skirts in their collections that year to wear over leggings. Some companies put out a padded winter version. The original intent was to allow the more mature woman to wear shorter tops with leggings and extend their existing wardrobe ( or in the case of EF sell you a new shorter top!). ————————————————————————- In Italy, Spain, France last summer the wide legged capris ( crops/gauchos if you prefer) were very popular but they have been around for a few summers pre-Covid. I saw them on all ages. I have a pair of black Ted Baker wide-leg crop/capris that are at least 5 years old. They tend to be popular with “old ladies” because they are less restricting on swollen arthritic knees but you see them on all ages. IMO almost anything goes in the cities of Europe these days but skorts over the age of 35 are a real faux pas ….for golf maybe but not as street wear….but what do I know …

I think that you could quite right. Having had a better look at pricing and thought it through a bit more since I posted, it it may be better for CDNs to pay in US $ as you have stated. SS gave us a favourable exchange rate of 25%.

We may be dreaming in technicolour for that to happen! At least being able to book in CDN dollars eliminates the potential price increase of several thousand dollars at final payment because of the fluctuating $ .That is a big plus IMO.

No tissue holder in our stateroom on the 12th deck. There was a metal plate secured across where it used to be.🤣

Seriously? The OP is simply asking about stateroom amenities. Cunard is a class-based premium line which includes a very reasonably-priced steerage category ( some cabins lower priced than MSC) but even then basic amenities are included. The dog kennels are all luxurious though.

Long story short…in answer to the OP the amenities are not the same as they have experienced on Cunard. They may wish to consider bringing their own.

You are correct that most lines provide these items no matter the level or loyalty status. We are just off the Mera…fantastica level in a balcony…we were “not allowed” tissues. I bought some in Nassau and by coincidence a couple of people in line were doing the same thing. We had to ask for facecloths that never arrived. At first we thought it was just a poor stateroom attendant but I then found out that it is standard practice. The only amenities in the room were soap by the sink in a built-in pump, shampoo ( no conditioner)and shower gel in containers in the shower and 2 beach towels ( $30 charge each towel if not in the room upon disembarkation). Depending on the length of your itinerary you may wish to consider bringing your own shampoo/conditioner.

On Jan 15…an announcement was made at 2pm that staterooms were ready…

Parking garage at term 10 if the ship is docked there. Follow signs from exit 54A. No transport required. $17 a day.

We are on the last day of a 4 night. No elegant/formal night. White night on the second night. The third night was suggested as tropical but with the cooler temps very few in tropical. The other 2 nights are listed as casual. Lots of shorts in the dining room on all nights…from nice shorts to very very short cutoffs.

I agree with you that it is a horrible time-consuming experience. I was on hold for over an hour this am. I contacted them because the CDN website is unfriendly. I am currently travelling in the US but use the CDN website because that is my residence, pp and credit card is based there. The website kept giving me a message to go to the correct country even though I accessed it earlier in the day. I always use a TA but the cruise I booked was a 3 day getaway so I booked it myself. It has been a frustrating experience.

I would suggest that you call MSC and get them the email the e-tickets as long as you are checking-in within 20 days of sailing. Fifty is a lot but it seems they sometimes have a glitch in the system. We decided to take a last minute MSC cruise just this week. We are very experienced with cruise “checking-in” from several lines mostly Princess and Crystal. I spent more time on the MSC website than the length of the cruise! LOL. It kept saying the documents were ready and the etickets (and boarding pass) were sent but they were never received including checking junk etc. I tried several emails, different devices ( all current),different browsers etc. and even asked another family member. I finally called MSC and the agent emailed the e-ticket including luggage tags ( as stated above ….boarding pass doesn’t exist) to me. He told me that I had filled in all the fields properly…including the photo and that he has had complaints about this happening before. I now have an issue with obtaining a Voyagers number after finding the correct form for the “match” program. Not a great first impression!